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Acts Series Part 10: What are you looking at? Stephen, the First Martyr. · Growing Together in the Gospel

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_02: In this podcast, we continue our series in Acts by looking at the powerful account of Stephen, the first Christian martyr.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_02: Surrounded by false accusations, an angry crowd, and the certainty of death, Stephen displayed an astonishing peace.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_02: Luke shows us that the source of his peace wasn't found in his circumstances, but in where he fixed his eyes.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_02: When Stephen first faced his accusers, he made a long speech that wasn't simply a history lesson, but a reminder that God has always been faithful to his people.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_02: Again and again, despite Israel's failures and repeated rejection of God's servants, the Lord remained faithful to his promises.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_02: The contrast shifts to those around Stephen.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_02: While the religious leaders were consumed by anger, pride, and hatred, Stephen refused to let his circumstances defy his reality.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_02: The turning point in the reading comes in Acts chapter 7.55.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_02: But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_02: As the crowd saw defeat, Stephen saw glory.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_02: As others saw a condemned man, Stephen saw the risen and reigning king standing at the Father's right hand.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_02: His circumstances hadn't changed, but seeing the risen Christ transformed the way he understood everything that was happening.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_02: Finally, we see that we become like what we behold.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_02: Stephen died praying for those who were killing him, echoing the words of Jesus on the cross.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_02: Having spent his life looking to Christ, he increasingly reflected the character of Christ.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_02: The challenge for each of us is simple but searching.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_02: What are we looking at?
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_02: Let's listen to Dean.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: So we're going to be continuing in our series.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: As I said, we've been looking at the book of Acts.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: We've got up to Acts chapter 6.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: Last week we saw the choosing of those first servants, those people who appointed to serve and minister.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: And then we come to it's a very, very stark contrast.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: Last week was about admin and serving and gifts and using different things.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: And now we come to a man called Stephen.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: And Stephen, we're going to see is the first martyr, the first person killed for his faith in our church history post-Jesus and the resurrection.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: The people who died before that, but this is the first person in the early church to lose his life for his faith.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: A huge moment in the church, one that stands out and is so significant.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: Just to catch you up, if you haven't been here or you haven't aware where we are, Jesus died and rose again.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: That's the foundation of Acts.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came, lived, died, rose again, met with his disciples, met with over 500 people, witnessed to them, told them about the kingdom that was to come, and then handed over the baton and said, Now it is for you to go and proclaim this good news, to share that there is a kingdom coming, that the world is not going to be how it is forever.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: Evil is going to be undone.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: Hatred is going to be reversed.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: Destruction is going to be stopped.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: All these things that that stain and mark are going to be wiped away and cleansed, and you are going to be renewed.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to wipe away every tear.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to heal every scar.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to restore all that is broken.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: And you are going to go and you're going to herald this news to the world.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: You're going to share it.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: And so this is their commission.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: This is what they've been doing.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: They've been going out and sharing it.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: And as we've seen, as they go along, they've met opposition.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: People haven't liked this message.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: People have been confronted and challenged by it.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: So the disciples have been attacked, they've been imprisoned, they've been tried, they've been told not to do this anymore, they've been told to stop, they've been thrown back in prison, they've been brought back out again, they've been opposed by the leaders and the authorities.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: People have started to stand back from them and be a bit afraid of them.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: And here we find it in chapter 6.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: It says, Now Stephen, a man full of God's grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: Opposition arose again.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: However, from members of the synagogue of the freedmen, as it was called, Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria, as well as the province of Sicilia and Asia, who began to argue with Stephen, but they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: So Stephen is sharing this good news, trying to tell people for the love of God that God wants all to be saved, that when evil stops, he doesn't want us to be stopped.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: He wants us to be saved from our evil, to be brought back to God.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: And so he's talking about this, and they start to debate, and he's able to explain himself and proclaim the word and keep going.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: And then they secretly, it says, persuaded some of the men to say, we have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: This is a Jewish culture, and so they're very much aware of the holiness of God and the glory of God, and so they come up with this accusation.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: Stephen has started to blaspheme Moses, their treasured leader, and God, who is their authority and the one that they worship.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: So they stirred the people up, it says, and the elders and the teachers of the law.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: They produced false witnesses who testified.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: This fellow never stopped speaking against this holy place and against the law.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: Stephen then stands up, it says, and in chapter 7, you can go and read it.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: He preaches this sermon.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: We'll cover a bit of it in the message today.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: But he preaches this sermon where he outlines the whole history of God's people.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: And all he says is, this is nothing new.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: People have opposed God, people have resisted God, people always do this.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: People want to live their own way.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's the human tendency.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: We think we know what we're doing, and we think we know what's right.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: So we try to do it, and each time we do, we end up resisting God, and God keeps being faithful.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: And we keep resisting him, and God keeps being faithful, and we keep resisting and keep resisting.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: And he he comes to the end and he's sort of telling the story, and they're all going, Yeah, we know this story, we know this story.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: Then he ends with this message where he says, You stiff-necked people, your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: You're just like your ancestors.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: You always resist the Holy Spirit.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute?
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: They even killed those who predicted the coming of the righteous one, and now you've betrayed and murdered him, talking of Jesus.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: You killed the ones who predicted him, then you killed him when he came.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: You have received the law that was given through angels, but have not obeyed it.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: So the message ends, and he stands there, and people come up and say, Nice sermon, Pastor.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: No, it's not one of those messages.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: They are they are offended by this.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: They hear this, it says they are furious, they gnash their teeth at him.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: This crowd around him are enraged, their fists are clenched, their knuckles are white, their teeth are grinding.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: And he stands there and he looks up to heaven.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: It says, and he saw the glory of God.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: And Jesus standing at the right hand of God.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: Well on the screen, here we go.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: They standing at the right hand of God.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: At this they covered their ears, yelling at the top of their voices.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: They all rushed at him, dragged him out of the city, and began to stone him.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul spoiler.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: He's going to be a big feature a bit later on.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: Then he fell on his knees and cried out, Lord, do not hold this sin against them.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: This man who loses his life, the first to lose his life for Jesus.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: Shedding a message that is confrontational because it's saying, Look, you have killed Jesus, but it's not only confrontational because it's you've killed him, but he offers you forgiveness.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: You've resisted him, but he's come to give you another chance.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: You've pushed him away, you've turned your back to him, but he has come running after you to envelop you in his love, to bring you home, to restore you and renew you.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's the first part people don't like.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: And yet it's what Stephen preaches, and it ends with him losing his life.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: I love how it ends it.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: See, in the early church, the word death almost disappears.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: You'll find it in the Bible that the idea of a Christian dying sort of just isn't there.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: Instead, it gets replaced with the idea that he fell asleep.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: Because when you sleep, one day you will wake up.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: Because this is the Christian hope.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: Not that we go to heaven when we die, that's that's how we often summarize it, but it's that we will all fall asleep.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: And then one day we'll all be resurrected.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: A new heaven and a new earth, the world remade as it should be, us with God again.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: And Stephen is one who sleeps.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, there are 13 Christians every single day this year who will fall asleep because of their faith.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: Every single day, 13 Christians lose their lives for following Jesus, for loving Jesus, for talking about Jesus, for loving their neighbor in Jesus' name, for doing what Jesus told them to do.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: Go out, love one another, love the world, proclaim the kingdom.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: And today, 13 of our brothers and sisters will lose their life.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: Stephen was the first.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: And we see in him something so wonderful, something so beautiful that I just want to.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's really just that last, this last few verses that I think summarize it from verse 55 onwards, that I think just speaks so wonderfully to the power that Jesus brings to someone's life.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: You see, when we read Acts, it's very easy to quickly kind of get into church churchiness.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: You've kind of got Jesus, he died, he resurrected, he sends his spirit, he's welcomed his people, he's equipped them and sent them.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: And then we're talking about the appointing people, and there's church meetings, and there's sort of evangelism, and there's missions, and there's all these things going on, there's all the activity, but we forget that at the heart there is something that we've sung about this morning.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: It is finished.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: The church aren't doing something that adds to Jesus, the church are just simply living out what Jesus has done.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: Death has been defeated, victory has been given.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: The assurance that God is with us, God is for us, that we are with him and in him, that his love is for us, and nothing can take that away.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: That never changes through our acts.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: They don't discover it, they don't realize it again.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: It is the bedrock on which all that they do is built.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: And here in Stephen we see that.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: I want you just to look around you a moment.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: See people around you, if you're they're new people, you're not met them, just say hello.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: I just want you to ask perhaps an awkward question.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: What are you looking at?
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: What are you looking at?
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: Don't want to start any fights, but this is the heart of the Christian faith.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: Christian faith is not that we are we are well holy people that are better than everyone else.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: Christian faith is not that we've figured something out and that we are we are above other people.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: Christian faith is we are looking at something that makes sense of the world, that makes sense of us, that has changed our lives.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: We have seen something, and because we have seen it, nothing is ever the same.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: See, Stephen, it says at the start that they look at Stephen and they see in him the face of an angel.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: There's something different about this person.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you've said that to someone, or maybe you've had that said to you, there's something different.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: I look at you, and maybe not said the face of an angel, because I can see some of you, but people go, there's something, there's something about you.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know, there's a joy in you, there's a peace in you, there's a there's a something, and I can't quite put my finger on it.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: There is something about you.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's like you you glow and you raise what is it?
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe that's why you're here, maybe that's that's brought you along.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: I know many people that's the first step in the journey, just see something, and it just raises this question what is going on?
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: What is happening?
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: What have you got that I don't?
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: And they look at Stephen and they see his face glowing like an angel.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: And Stephen then he responds and he tells this message because Stephen isn't primarily interested in saving his life.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: They've they've drummed up false charges, they've got false witnesses, and he could be standing there going, no, no, no, that's not true.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: No, no, no, that they're lying.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: No, no, I never said that.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: No, that that that's completely false.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: And he would be absolutely justified in saying that, but you notice he never said any of that.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: Instead, he stands up and he says, Let me tell you a story.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's your story.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: It begins with a man named Abraham, and Abraham left his home and was taken away, and people thought he was crazy.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: And Abraham was was a flawed man and he messed things up, but God stuck with him.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: Abraham had sons, and those sons had sons, and there's a man called Joseph.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: And Joseph was betrayed by his brother.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: God had an anointing on him, but he was betrayed by his brother, sold into slavery.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: But God was faithful to him and raised him up and brought him into a place of position and power to save his family.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: And then there was a man called Moses, and if you remember Moses, he didn't start his life off very well.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: He murders another man and is driven into the wilderness.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: He's driven away, he's forsaken by his people, and God raises him up and sends him back.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: He renews him and refreshes him and sends him back with a purpose and a calling.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: And you remember the wilderness where we constantly tested God, where we constantly resisted him, and God was faithful and brought us through.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: And do you remember then the tabernacle, and you know the way we treated that and how we we degraded it, but God was faithful and his presence stayed with us?
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: And do you remember David and the trials and difficulties he had to go through and how he was God's anointed, but everyone was opposing him, and yet God was faithful and raised him up.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: And you and he goes through the whole story, all of Israel's history, and says, Look, we always reject it, and God always keeps coming back.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: And then he says, That's what's happening now.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: We still have this tendency in us to resist God.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's not particular to a group of people, it's all people.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: We have this tendency, and it goes back to the very first story.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: However, you understand it, the first story in the Bible says, God offers us life, and we say, I can do it my own way.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: That in a nutshell is it is the human condition.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's the choice we all make.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: God offers us life and we say, No, I think I can do it my own way.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: And yet we seem to lack, we do that and lack joy and we lack peace, we lack contentment, we lack the lightness and the freedom that it seems like we should have.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: But God is always faithful.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: Abraham didn't deserve God's call, but he got it.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: Joseph was betrayed, but he God was with him.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: Moses was rejected, but God used him.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: Again and again, people failed, and God remained faithful.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: And Stephen is saying, if you want to understand what's happening, if you want to understand what you're doing to me, you must remember what God has done.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, remember, look back, look back, look back and remember, look back and remember.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: He's carried us before, he's provided for us before, he's forgiven us before, he's answered our prayers before, he's done that.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: And so remember.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: Looking back builds faith.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: If I ask you today what you're looking at, maybe you are, you're looking back, you're saying, I can remember all that God has done, I can remember his faithfulness, I can remember all the times I've failed.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: We've sang it.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: You are faithful, you are good.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: You've always been there.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: I can see it over there.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: At the time I couldn't, but as I look back, I can see it again and again.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: But we also see here that looking back isn't enough.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: Because Stephen finishes his sermon, lovely sermon, but the room explodes, they're furious.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: The angry faces, the clenched jaws, they're looking at him, and they're now no longer seeing an angel, they're seeing something else.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: Something that they want to kill, something they want to wipe off the face of the earth, something they want to stop talking and stop speaking and stop living.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so they come and they press on him.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: Stephen could at that moment, the faces around him, he could look around him.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: And as he sees them, I imagine he would be filled with terror, fear, despair.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: What have I done?
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: What have I got myself into?
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: See, when we ask what we're looking at, sometimes we we look back, and that's not entirely bad.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes though, we just look around.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: We look around and then we we are filled with with anxiety.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: We're filled with despair, we're filled with heartache, we're filled with a sadness or just a weightiness that we can't seem to get rid of.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: You look around, you look at the economy, and you worry for your future and your children's future, you look at your health, and you realize you're not as strong or as fit as you once were, that time has taken a toll.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: You look at politics and you count how many prime ministers we've had, and you now need two hands to do it, because and you go, well, this is everything, none of it's working.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: Something isn't right, the world doesn't seem right, it's all wrong.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: And so what we do is we get little devices that feed us all this information more constantly.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: We can be more on top of it.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: If I'm more aware, then I'll be okay because I can keep everything where it is, I know what's going on, and we find that we can check the news and we can read on the internet, we can follow all the things in the world.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: We know more than any other generation, and we are more burdened and weighed down and heartbroken and despairing.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: All the information, all the knowledge, and yet we are heavy and broken.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: When we look around, we don't find an answer.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: When we look around, it doesn't stop the crowd from pressing in.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: Stephen can look at them, he can tell you what's going on, but he can't stop it.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't get him out of danger, it doesn't help him at all.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: And so, what does Stephen do?
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: We find that he looks up.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: That wonderful verse, verse 55.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: It says, Stephen, but Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: This isn't something he's doing in his own strength.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: Filled with the Holy Spirit and looked up, he saw the glory of God, and he saw Jesus.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: He looks up and he sees Jesus.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: I was out this morning wandering around in that little bit where it started ringing.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: I went to a little game, and what I did was I took a picture of the tops of some buildings in town.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: I was gonna show you then, see if you can work out what the building is.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: So that's the first top of the building.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_00: Anyone seen this one?
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, we got that one.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's a little engraving, it says something like, if you give all your money away before you die, get a hatchet and hit yourself on the head.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: Or something.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know why.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: There you go, that's what it says.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, it's that building.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: A building it also says I've got to say, it also says something this build was built for four decayed widows.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know, being a widow, but being a decayed widow, I don't know what that means, and whether I'd want that put on the side of a building.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um this one?
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's the church.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: The point being, we don't often look up, do we?
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: You recognise all the buildings now, but we don't tend to look up.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: No, they're not very interesting, obviously, but it it's a fact of life.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: We don't tend to, you can go along and and not look up.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: You can go through life and not look up.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's so much easier just to just to look around and see.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: And Stephen here, he does something and it's not just a metaphor for him.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: This is his strength.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: This is the difference for Stephen.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: This is how he was able to do what he does.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: You could look at his life and say, what a tragedy.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: You could look at this moment and say, This is awful, but that's when you're only looking down here.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: Stephen looks up.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: The crowd sees defeat, but Stephen is seeing glory.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: The crowd sees a criminal, but Stephen is seeing a king.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: The crowd think this is the end, and Stephen knows as he looks that this is only the beginning.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: That's why the verse says, but Stephen.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: But Stephen.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_00: They see everyone else sees something else.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: And you read this, may see something else.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: But Stephen, because of the Holy Spirit, because he has something in him.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: This isn't motivational talking, this isn't live, laugh, love, believe in yourself.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: You've got this look within the truth, your truth matters.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: Trust yourself, manifest your dreams.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: That's all looking in, looking in, looking in, and and I don't know about you.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: I look in and I can muster up some energy, but after a while it runs dry.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: But Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, he isn't looking within, he's filled with God's Spirit and able to look up.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: He's not ignoring reality, he's not pretending everything is fine, stones are flying, death is still coming, but Stephen is refusing to let this be his only reality.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: He's refusing to let the things that he sees be the only thing that he sees.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so he looks up and he sees the glory of God, the majesty, the weightiness, the fullness, the greatness of God.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: God is reigning, God is good, God is glorious, he sees this.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: And then he sees Jesus, not merely heaven, not angels, but Jesus himself.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_00: Sees his face, sees him standing, which, if you know the New Testament, Jesus is normally sat at the right hand of God, but here he's standing.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's like he's active.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: He's like he's preparing himself to receive Stephen, to bring him in.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: He's standing, he's receiving him, and because he sees him, he does this incredible thing.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: He says, God, I commit to you my spirit.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: And then he prays, Father, I forgive them.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, do not hold this sin against them.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_00: See, Stephen in his last moments doesn't just look at Jesus, he looks like Jesus.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: That's how you can tell something's different.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: Well, how do you do this?
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: How can he have such peace?
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_00: How can he be so so calm at this moment because he's looking up?
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: And when you behold Jesus, when you see his face, something happens that makes you like him.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: The Bible talks about this again and again.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_00: In 2 Corinthians, it says, as we behold the Lord's glory, we are transformed into his image.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: There's something about seeing him that shapes us.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus had this funny phrase and it said, the eye is the lamp of the body.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: And it this is a confusing idea, but the idea is that what you look at shines a light on who you are.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: The things that you see, the things that you give your attention to, the things that you focus on, they make you into something different.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: And Jesus, as he dies on the cross, his words are Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they're doing.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: And the first martyr, as he died, echoes those words as he prays, Father, do not hold this sin against them.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: In his last words, he's not just looking at Jesus, he looks like Jesus.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: The heart of God is forgive them for they do not know what they're doing.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: They do not realize the choices they have made, the harm they are bringing, the destruction that they've spread.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: Forgive them.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_00: And Stephen echoes those words as he loses his life and falls asleep.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: What are you looking at?
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: Where is your attention given?
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_00: And the way you can tell whether it's in a place that is helpful is simply by asking, am I at peace?
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: And do I have joy in my life?
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: Is love growing in my heart?
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: Am I content?
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: If the answer to those is no, it may be that your attention is given to something that can never give you peace.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: That is constantly telling you what's wrong and what you failed at.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's constantly showing you all the things that you should have done and could have done.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: Or reminding you of all the ways that the world is wrong when our attention is lifted up.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_00: Like I said, it's not meant to be a cliche or motivational thinking, it's simply there is a reality up there.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_00: There is a Jesus who died and rose and has ascended.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: And we are invited to behold him.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_00: And when we behold him, we become like him.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: If you remember our discipleship pathway that we're reminding ourselves of again and again, it's that you come and see Jesus, that's where you start.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: Then you be with Jesus, and then you be like Jesus.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_00: The more you're with him, the more you become like him.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: And here we see Stephen in this moment able to look up.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's a practice he made, maybe it's something he knew how to do, but he looks up, he sees Jesus, and because of that he becomes like him.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: What's interesting is that Stephen, Stephen's name is a Greek name, and the name means crown.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: Not a king's crown, though, but it's a wreath awarded to someone who has finished a race faithfully.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: And Stephen, the first martyr, he dies seeing Jesus.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_00: And as the stones fall, he looks up to the one who is standing, ready to give him a crown, for he has run his race faithfully.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_00: James writes it like this: Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial, because having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_00: Stephen, the first martyr, whose name means crown, falls asleep, but awakes to receive a crown that God has given him.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_00: What are you looking at?
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're looking at other Christians and you're looking at them saying, What is different about them?
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: How do they have that peace?
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: How do they have that?
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's because they've made a habit of beholding Jesus.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: They've seen something in him and they just keep looking.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: They keep coming back.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_00: They don't stray far from that.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: They see him and it shapes everything.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: I can read you, I've got this from open doors, their prayer booklet.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I can tell you some of the stories in here.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: It says here, Eva's husband.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_00: Eva's husband was killed in Colombia when he refused to follow the demands of an armed group.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_00: She asked that we would pray that God would help her to move forward and to forgive those who did this.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_00: Eva's looking up.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: In that moment of tragedy where all she could do is look around, she's choosing to look up and find a way forward.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_00: I can tell you about the others.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: I can tell you about in Vietnam.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_00: Kuang used to be a village shaman before he turned to Jesus and now expert but now experiences intense surveillance from the authorities.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_00: He asked us to pray for his protection and boldness and sharing the gospel despite the opposition he faces.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_00: He's under surveillance.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_00: His life's been turned around and but he's being persecuted by the authorities.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yet he isn't giving up.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: He's looking up.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_00: He's saying, God, would you give me boldness to continue because you've given me a message of love that others need to hear?
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: In Syria, it says in many parts Christians have are bullied simply because of who they are, says Juliet.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: We're holding on to our faith while the world we once knew shifts beneath our feet.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: Pray for a future where they're no longer season outsiders, we're no longer seen as outsiders in our own home.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_00: These people who have lost lives and homes, and yet they're praying, God, would you help us to keep going?
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_00: We're looking up.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_00: We're looking up.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_00: In Yemen, it says, My dad, he looks sick and tired, unaware of what's going on, like said Sainad Sanad, after visiting his father in prison.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like many Christian prisoners, he's likely to face torture and interrogation, pray for supernatural strength for prisoners and God's unfailing peace for families.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_00: Our brothers and sisters, losing lives, thrown into prison, and yet they're showing to us that this still works.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's still true.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_00: You can look up.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: In the worst circumstances, in the most tragic moments, you can look up.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_00: Our circumstances will change, but Jesus doesn't.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_00: Our emotions will change, Jesus doesn't.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: Governments will change and change and change, Jesus doesn't.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_00: Health will change, but Jesus doesn't.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_00: Our jobs will change and Jesus doesn't.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: Our life will change, Jesus doesn't.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so we're not being delusional.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_00: Christians aren't being delusional.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_00: Some of them are, but we're not trying to be delusional.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: We're not naive.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_00: We're saying this is true.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_00: I can't explain it any more than that.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_00: But if you look, if you search, if you if you seek, you will find and you will see.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_00: That's why one of the very first invitations of all the followers of Jesus was one going to another and saying, I think I found, I think I found the one that we've been looking for.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_00: And they say, Really?
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: Are you sure?
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_00: And he says, Come and see.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_00: Come and see.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_00: Come and see.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_00: If you're on the outside and you're thinking this all seems too good to be true, I'm not sure, come and see.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_00: There's nothing to lose.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: Come and see.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_00: But I trust that when you see, you'll go, I get it.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_00: I couldn't see it before, but now I see it.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_00: It makes sense.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's why, as Christians, we find it really hard to try and explain our faith to other people.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_00: We can come up with reasons and explanations and things, but ultimately it gets to a point where we say, you know what, you just gotta come and see.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_00: Come and meet him.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_00: Come and spend some time with him.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_00: But that's why, it's why Christians have this aura about them.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes Christians have another aura, we're not going to be go into that, but they're not going to ignore it either.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_00: But that's why people like Paul can sing in prison.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's why people like Habakkuk in the Bible can rejoice when the crops fail.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's why Stephen can forgive while being stoned.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's while all these people, our brothers and sisters around the world, can say, we're looking up, we're looking up because there we found hope.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: And so I asked you at the beginning, what are you looking at?
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: What are you looking at?
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_00: Have you spent all week looking around?
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_00: Looking at problems, looking at fear, looking at disappointment?
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_00: Have you been looking back?
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_00: Perhaps you can tell the stories of what God has done, but this isn't just about what God has done.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_00: This is the fact that Jesus is alive today and you see him today.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_00: The same Jesus that Stephen saw, the same Jesus who reigns today, the same Jesus who stands with his people around the world, is the same Jesus that every single one of us can turn to and meet, can come and see.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_00: Make an observation.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_00: When I say let's pray, we often, what do we do?
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_00: We bow our heads and we close our eyes.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying that's wrong.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_00: But I just wonder whether we should make a habit when we say let's pray, we lift our heads and we open our eyes.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_00: Because that's what Stephen does.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_00: Because he's saying, I behold you.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_00: I'm looking for you, I'm searching for you.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, in the Bible, some of the most significant prayers are talked about like this.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_00: Psalm 121, I lift my eyes to the mountains.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_00: Where does my help come from?
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_00: Psalm 123, to you, I lift up my eyes who sits enthroned in heaven.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_00: Lift my eyes.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_00: This week, as you pray, perhaps just make it a practice every now and then to lift your head.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_00: Not because God is up there in the sky or you're going to see some brighting, but because it reminds our hearts that we we lift our eyes not to a past reality but a present one.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus is alive now.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus is there now, Jesus is welcoming us now, Jesus is ministering to us now.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_00: When suffering comes, look up.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_00: When you're disappointed, look up.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_00: When life feels overwhelming, look up.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_00: Christians do not have peace because life is easy.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_00: They have peace because Christ is reigning and they've made it a habit to look up.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_00: And all of us, like Stephen, one day we will look up for the last time here on earth.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_00: My prayer is that we would have spent many times before that looking up.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_00: Many times where we've seen his face.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_00: Many times where we've beheld him.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_00: What are you looking at?
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_00: Let me pray.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_00: And then we're going to respond with some songs that remind us to keep looking up.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_00: Father, we we thank you.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_00: We thank you that you are there.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_00: We lift our eyes now and we look for you because you are the living God.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_00: You are not a past teacher.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_00: You're not a historic figure.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_00: You are the risen Savior.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_00: The one who meets with his people, the one who ministers to them.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_00: We pray for brothers and sisters around the world who are in trial, in difficulty, imprisoned, and facing the loss of their life.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_00: We pray that they would be enabled even at this very moment to look up, to find the peace that is in you, the strength that is in you.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_00: And that as they give themselves, that they would look like you, that they would radiate something.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_00: Your goodness, your grace, your beauty, your forgiveness to those who want to do harm.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_00: We pray the same for us, Lord.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_00: That as we look around and we see trial and difficulty, we see suffering and pain, we see opposition, perhaps, or resistance, that we would look up.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_00: That as we look up, we would look like you.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_00: We would respond with the same heart that you have.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_00: Father, it's it needs a work of your spirit.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_00: We are addicted to looking around.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_00: We are addicted to being in control for ourselves.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_00: Would you break that addiction?
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_00: Would you break that need?
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_00: Would you help us to realize that when we come to an end of ourselves, it is not really the end.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's the beginning of taking hold of you and all that you've done for us.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_00: Remind us, Lord, that it is finished.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_00: That we don't have to accomplish it because you have.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_00: Death has been defeated.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_00: Love has won.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_00: Christ is risen.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_00: And he is with us now.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_00: We live in light of that.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_00: Help us to do that, Lord.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_00: Help us to look up.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_00: When the world feels too much.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_00: Help us to look up.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_00: We ask it in Jesus' name.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_01: We hope that you've enjoyed listening to Dean's thoughts today.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_01: If anything that he has said has challenged you or raised questions that you'd like answers to, please don't hesitate to contact us and ask for a chat.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_01: You can find our details on our website, which is leobc.co.uk, as well as on the information that we have posted for this podcast.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_01: Alternatively, if you live in our area, you're very welcome to join us on Sunday morning at 10 30 to hear things first hand.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_01: We'd love to see you there.