Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #24437 - Turning Accusations Into Opportunities - Acts 7:1-43

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#24437 - Turning Accusations Into Opportunities - Acts 7:1-43 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the study of God's word with pastor and author.
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Ed, Taylor recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora,
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Colorado to learn more about the many resources available,
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through abounding Grace Media or to tune into our live stream
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Services. Visit us online at Calvary, Co
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dot church or download our free Calvary Church app.
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Now, here's Pastor Ed to take us into our study.
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Amen. Amen, take your Bibles.
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Open them to Acts chapter 7. We start a new chapter today in
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Acts chapter 7 and I've entitled, our Bible study
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turning accusations into opportunities turning
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accusations into opportunities, which is exactly what Steven
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does here. In chapter 7, he doesn't become
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defensive, he doesn't try to defend himself, but when false
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accusations, I mean, they We paid people to lie about him and
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when these lies came, instead of, you know, and I don't know
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how you feel, but when I'm attacked or when I'm a falsely
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accused, my natural response is defend myself.
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My natural response is to try to convince you.
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Otherwise, Steven doesn't do that here.
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Rather he takes the opportunity of all these accusations, he
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takes this as an open door to share the gospel in a very
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powerful way, in a very unique way, and he took advantage Image
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of this opportunity because he learned something that you and I
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are still learning or perhaps you have learned and it's simply
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this, we need to learn to be faithful in all things.
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God is looking for faithfulness faithfulness, in all things, big
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or small. Now, I don't even like the
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language of big or small things when it comes to the things of
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God. But for the sake of
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understanding, there are things that have greater significance
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at times or greater output. Or a greater or smaller thing.
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Certainly some things can be more important than other
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things, but at the same time, everything that's done for the
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Lord is important and valuable, you know, the questions even
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asked in Zechariah, you can jot it down, Zechariah Chapter 4.
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The question is asked for who has despised the days of small
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things and I can answer that question for you.
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Almost all of us have had our days when we've looked at
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something and said, you know, I don't Don't know.
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This is not big enough. This is small.
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It's may be insignificant or unnecessary.
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And I have to say that I've met far too many people over the
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years, that are wanting great things for God.
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And because of that, they turned their life into a time of
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waiting, for great things for God, and they wait around for
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God to open that big door and to do that big thing.
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And all the while they end up spending their whole lives,
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never really thinking that what they're doing.
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Is important or significant. And in reality, they even miss
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out on serving God because they're waiting for that big
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thing. But the big thing that you're
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waiting for is what you're involved in right now, being
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faithful in, what's before you? And that's where Steven is
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Steven, we learned about him and we met him when there was a
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great problem in the early church, and if you're not paying
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close attention, you may not even think it was that big of a
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problem. There was some widows that
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feeling neglected and they started complaining and
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murmuring and and they were in upset because they were seeing
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you know, they were seeing others have things that they
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didn't have and you know like hey just go ahead and give
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everyone the same thing and that would solve it but that wasn't
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the issue. It was a deeper issue.
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It was such a deep issue that the leaders of the church said,
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you know, you need to find some wise men to take care of this
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because this is a serious problem.
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The very essence of the problem can be summarized by looking how
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the early church was in the beginning of the early church
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there. Selling things, they're selling
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everything that they have and they're bringing it to the
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church and they're giving giving giving.
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But within the just a few short months, you find now no longer
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are those everyone talking about giving.
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Now they're talking about what they don't have, and they're
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complaining about it and murmuring about it, I do believe
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it was a real issue and I do believe there was neglect taking
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place. But what was necessary was these
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Godly men. Remember, in verse 3, in chapter
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6, they needed to find men that had a good reputation full of
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the holy spirit and wisdom and Steven was one of them.
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He was called to a Ministry. You could say, behind the
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scenes, ministering to ladies that were neglected arguing and
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we don't know in the timing of their widowhood, but there's a
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good chance that some of these widows were still deep.
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Grief and sorrow and really trying to handle the newness of
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their life. So neglect could be very large
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for them and very hurtful and God used Steven.
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It says, in verse 8 of chapter 6 that Stephen was full of faith
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and power, and he did great wonders, and signs among the
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people, and it was in this great wonders and signs that notice in
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verse 9, there were some from the synagogue that came to
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dispute. With him and argue with him and
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we covered this in our last study.
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So here you have Steven, he's called to a wonderful Ministry
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of serving widows, but you have to understand, he wasn't called
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to some great church or to notoriety or or think about it
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this way, you know, they didn't have these things in the first
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century, but to put it into terms today.
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He wasn't called to some YouTube Ministry with millions of
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followers, he wasn't called to a mega church with hundreds of
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campuses. He wasn't called to be some
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best-selling author, and to be On the platform of all these
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large churches. His calling was to serve women
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in the local church behind the scenes and he was faithful to
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it. And it was in his faithfulness
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that God knows opens tremendous doors, but it's not the way that
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we might think the doors open for Steven through spiritual
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warfare and attacks and lies and false accusations.
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It says in verse 10 of chapter 6, they weren't able to To
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resist him. And that's what led them to try
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to destroy him and you'll recall that the summary of their
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accusations was that Steven was Blasphemous.
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And, you know, they had to do something, because God was using
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Steven and a great way. They had to respond because
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their rejection and Rebellion toward Jesus needed a response.
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They just couldn't let it go. The enemy doesn't just settle
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down. He when he sees progress, he
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rises up, And in the accusation remember they accused him of
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blaspheming God they accused him of blaspheming Moses and the law
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and they accused him of blaspheming the temple and it's
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in the faithfulness of Stephen, the God gave him more.
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Remember this Jesus taught us that the reward for faithfulness
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is more and the consequence of unfaithfulness is whatever you
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have will be taken from you and guess who will be Even to the
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person that is faithful. So be careful that you don't
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look at something in your life as too small or insignificant
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but instead respond with faithfulness Allowing God to use
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you. So here in chapter 7, Stephen
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has been brought before the religious Council the Supreme
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Court of the day. It's a very intimidating time.
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70 people there laid out in a semi-circle and now you have to
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face all these accusations with there.
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Eyes and, and how they're giving you stink eye and they're coming
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before you. And they literally have your
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life in their hands. And Steven, is there ready to
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answer? Now, I want you to consider, we
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won't really get into it at all in our study today, but I want
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you to put this in the back of your mind.
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That ask Stephen is sharing this message.
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There is a guy there that Stephen knows nothing about.
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He has no idea how God is going to use him.
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He's just Just faithful, but there is a guy there listening,
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who will be troubled by this scenario, the rest of his life.
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And his name is Saul and he's from an area known as Tarsus
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Saul of Tarsus is in the, In This Moment, listening to
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Stephen and we'll see him. You can read ahead and the rest
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of chapter 7, you can see him there.
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This will have a profound effect on his life which leads us to
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one of the applications. We have for today and it's
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simply this, you don't know how God's going to use your life.
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You don't know who's watching you.
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You don't know who's listening to you.
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You don't know how important you are to some people even today.
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You might walk into the room today and go you know, and I'm
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not really that important. I'm not really that significant,
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I don't really have that note or you can list all of the things
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and yet understand this God is using your life.
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He is using your life and he will use your life pick up.
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With me, in verse 1 of chapter 7, actually, verse 15 of chapter
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6, and all who sat in the council looking steadfastly at
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him, saw his face as the face of an Angel.
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Then the high priest said, are these things.
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So, this is the open door. This question, this is the open
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door and he's basically just saying the high priest gets up.
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Here's everything and he just gets up.
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Are these accusations true again, if you were there, if I
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was I have to think I would might try to defend myself like
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oh these guys are out of their mind.
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They don't know what they're talking about.
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Why would you even listen to them?
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But Steven doesn't do that notice verse 2.
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This is his answer, his answer to the question.
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His answer to the accusations. He said men and Brethren
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father's. Listen the god of Glory appeared
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to Our Father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he
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dwelt in haran the accusation your blaspheming God.
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So where does Stephen start with God and he refers to him as the
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god of Glory appearing to our father.
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This Is Our God. You're accusing me of blasphemy
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God, but that's my God, and I love and worship him far from
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blaspheme him, Steven is demonstrating respect.
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And reverence This Is Our God verse 3.
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And he said to him, speaking Abraham, get out of your country
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and from your relatives and come to a land that I will.
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Do you then he came out of that land of the Chaldeans and he
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dwelt in haran. And from there, when his father
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was dead, he moved him to this land in which you now.
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Dwell and God gave him, no inheritance in it.
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Not even enough to set his foot on, but even when Abraham had no
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child, he promised to give it to him for a possession and to his
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descendants after him, it is a fascinating place to be in the
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Bible because this is exactly what we're studying in much more
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depth on our midweek. Bible study.
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We're Going through Genesis verse-by-verse.
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We just started looking at the life of Abraham and the call of
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Abraham in Genesis chapter 12 the call to this Pagan man was
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get out of get out of this Pagan City, this Pagan land.
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And I'm going to send you to the promised land and you're gonna
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have descendants that you can't even count or number.
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And everyone in the world is going to be blessed by your
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life. Abraham that's the call.
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But notice it says he dwelt in haran and he left with his
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father. This dwelling in a in her, on
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many people, see us. A partial obedience, which by
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the way, whenever you think of partial obedience, I want you to
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understand partial obedience is Disobedience and so there he is
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dwelling and around with his father.
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And it wasn't till after his dad died.
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That he left. Now many, look at this and say
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he lost about 20 years of his life spinning his wheels and her
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an God still uses it but he was never told.
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He was told to leave everyone behind, but he took them anyways
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there's just no room for compromise in our lives Church.
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It's just not going to lead you to where you think you want to
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go compromise, always begets more compromise.
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It always leads you away from God.
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I mean, even and I'm talking about not the kind of compromise
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where you meet in the middle with someone where you're trying
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to work things out and you give up a little, they give up a
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little that's always needed in relationships when I'm speaking
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of a spiritual compromise. Not taking a stand for what, you
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know, is right. Being able to walk in the spirit
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and not fulfilling the lust of the flesh.
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Being careful not to respond with partial obedience but
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immediate full obedience that that you would respond to what
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God is speaking to you, and what he's leading to you in the voice
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of the Lord with immediate full obedience leaving all the
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consequences to God, everything that's going to happen.
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You're going to leave to God because you trust him with your
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life. Listen Disobedience, and
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compromise will always rip you off.
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It always steals from you. It steals your vibrancy.
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It steals your faith, it steals your tenacity, your Zeal and so
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be careful. Well notice it says in verse 6,
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God spoke in this way that is to sentence with sojourn in a
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foreign land and that they would bring him into bondage and
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oppress them, 400 years and the nation whom they will be in
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bondage. I will judge said God and after
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that they will come out and serve me in this place and then
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he gave him a covenant of circumcision so that Abraham
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begat, Isaac. And circumcised on the eighth
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day and Isaac begat. Jacob, and Jacob begat.
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The 12 Patriarchs, this Biblical history lesson of the
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forefathers is a very important one because the Sanhedrin, the
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religious rulers here and the Jewish people in general revered
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and respected their forefathers. Even to the point where they
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improperly worship them and gave them reverence that only be
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along to God. So, this connection point that
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Steven is using an answering his Asians is to remind them of
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their history because their history led to where they are
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right now, the people that he is answering has rejected Messiah,
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that's where they're, I don't forget, they have rejected,
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Jesus Christ, and they have approved of his crucifixion.
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And they have neglected and they have want nothing to do with the
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work of God through their early church.
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They see the church as a threat. So they want to destroy the
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church and the response of Stephen in the desired to eat.
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One to destroy him is to lovingly, share the message of
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Hope tying it together with their history.
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Notice he says, now in verse 9, the Patriarchs he's broadening
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the history. They became envious and sold
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Joseph into Egypt, but God was with him and delivered him out
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of all his troubles and gave him favor and wisdom.
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In the presence of pharaoh, the king of Egypt and he made him
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governor. Are over Egypt and all this
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house and a famine in a great trouble, came all over the land
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of Egypt and Canaan and our fathers found no sustenance.
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So, when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our
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fathers first. So he moves right into the
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Patriarchs and then to Joseph toward the end of the book of
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Genesis. And he talks about this season
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of famine that moved. Can I just say that famines and
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troubles? And Difficulties will move you.
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They will move you. They will move your thinking.
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They will move your actions and God uses troubles to get our
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attention. He moved.
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He uses troubles to get our attention and this is a very
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practical thing a fan. This is a real famine, a lack of
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food, death could insu and when they found out that Egypt had
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food, and you remember, if you study your Bible, you remember
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the reason they had food is God raised up Joseph to Leader there
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and he's been saving food for many years.
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God is in the middle of all of this.
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When Jacob hears God is going to use the famine use Jacobs hunger
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and his his desire to take care of his family.
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He's going to use all the pain and Joseph's life, all the
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difficulty that he experienced now that he's in charge
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second-in-command in Egypt and he's going to bring them
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together for his purposes. I don't want you to miss this
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phrase when it says, In verse 9, that Joseph was sold into Egypt,
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which even in that, that phrase alone speaks of great trauma.
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Great pain, great difficulty. Joseph experience, great trauma.
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Great pain, great difficulty. And what is the next phrase?
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Say but God was with him. That is a word from the Lord to
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you today. Great pain, great sorrow, great
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difficulty. And as a believer in Jesus, God
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is with you. He hasn't forgotten you.
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He's ready to help you. It says in verse 10 that there's
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a Deliverance available to you. You have to understand sometimes
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we equate Deliverance. With like we're going to be
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completely healed and never feel bad again but that can't be the
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definition of the word here in the Hebrew or the Greek because
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Joseph's life still had a painful past.
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It didn't go away, they didn't get erased he didn't continue to
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live his life and go you know now my path like he carried that
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It formed and made him who he was when God redeems our
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delivers. It doesn't mean that he removes
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the past. It means that he uses it for his
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glory. All will you experience the
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comfort of God? Yes.
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Will you continue to grow in his grace?
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Yes. The Deliverance of God, doesn't
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mean that you're going to not have a past, but it does mean
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that you will find God growing greater than your past.
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And Joseph would give us That testimony today.
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Even as Stephen is telling these guys.
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Hey you remember Joseph, what his brothers did to him.
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That's our fathers. There's a whole history lesson
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here of rejection and rebellion and pride and arrogance.
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Among the god followers and it see, it would be easy for us to
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look back and say, oh well, you know, look at those guys and
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look with the how they respond and look how they treated.
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God no, no, this is our history. There's pride and arrogance even
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in the room right now. There's Rebellion right now.
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There's a resistance to the work of the Holy Spirit.
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Even now that God is calling you saying, why why continue to live
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that way? What do you believe you're going
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to gain by continuing to rebel against the voice of the lord?
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I want you to notice something else here.
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With Stephen. And that is as he shares, I
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won't don't want you to miss his tactfulness and his respect,
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it's very important church that you learn how to live in a very
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dark difficult world with tact and respect for the people that
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you're talking to tact and respect for the people that are
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in front of you, let's be clear. The message of the Gospel is a
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very offensive message. People will be offended when you
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bring them to the cross and you remind them of their sin.
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And you point to the Savior who died on the cross and was buried
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and rose. A people will be offended who of
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us really want to talk about our own faults and failures.
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There is an offense with the gospel.
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Unfortunately, there's also many times, an offence on how people
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share it. Like, it's not the gospel.
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That's the offense, it's the person.
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If it's the person just you can't forget church that the
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whole goal of sharing is that the person you're sharing it
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with listens to you. And so you want to be very
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careful how you share you want to be very careful on the words
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that you use. You want to be very careful to
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respect the person for who they are created in the image of God,
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that the message of the Gospel always flows through a man or a
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woman that loves God with all our heart soul and mind and
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loves their neighbors. Agape, love is the bridge.
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I Paul even put it this way, even as he share very your
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difficult things in the Book of Romans, you know what, Paul said
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he said, don't you know that it's the goodness of God that
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leads to repentance. Did you have you forgotten?
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I think is the phrase that he uses, it's the goodness of God
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that leads to repentance Steven here knows his audience.
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He knows his audience because it can be so easy to offend others
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in our Zeal and our desire to make a point our desire to win
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an argument are to, we get so emotional over something and
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forget that, it's not our Zeal, or emotions going to save
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anyone. It's the message of the gospel
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and for the message to go forth. We need to learn how you can
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even say this way. We need to learn how to dial it
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down in tactfulness and respect. So that we make a connection
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point with someone to share. Them the reality of the
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Brokenness of your life over sin and the reality even today,
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perhaps you're listening me right now.
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This is the reality. The Bible says that you have
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sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
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There's just no way around that. I know that it's easy to try to
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spend your whole life trying to avoid the truth that you have
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sinned against a holy and a righteous God, but you have and
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so have I The Bible says that the wages of sin is death, like
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you're not going to get away with it.
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Just like your job, you know when you work your job you
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expect a pay check, those are your wages you earned it.
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And so when it comes to this sinful actions with God, what
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we've learned through our sin is eternal death.
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I know it's very easy to talk about heaven.
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Everybody loves Heaven, everybody thinks they're going
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to heaven, but I want you to understand, as real as Heaven Is
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Hell, is equally real. An eternity with God is, is
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also, there is a truth of an eternity apart from God.
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And the difference between the two is, what have you done with
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Jesus Christ? Because Jesus has come as the
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bridge in love to die on your behalf, the perfect for the
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imperfect, the send less for the sinful.
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So that today, if you would turn away from your sin, the Bible
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word for that is repent. It's a beautiful word.
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If you will, repent of your sin. God will forgive you of your
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sin. Imagine that and none of us
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deserve that. I mean which one of us?
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Do you know I deserve that? No, no, don't ask God for what
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you deserve ever, never ever. But rather fall upon his mercy
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and his grace and how much he loves you cares for you.
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Stephen is very tactful here Church, please learn tact grow.
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Learn about the people you're sharing with get involved in
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their lives and let the Holy Spirit use you and great way
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Stevens. See, some hard things, you'll
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read ahead to the end of the chapter.
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I encourage you to do that and you'll see, they get so cut to
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the heart and they get so mad at him that they start.
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They start gnashing their teeth at him, like a like children.
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These are grown men. They're so angry with him, but
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it wasn't because of his delivery.
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It wasn't be the way he shared because he is one of them.
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Except that he embraced Messiah. So famine comes causes movement,
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God's using it and it says in verse 13, it says, and the
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second time Joseph was made known to his brothers and
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Joseph's family became known to Pharaoh.
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I love that this. Second time, the first time,
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Joseph wasn't recognized, the second time he was Joseph is a
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beautiful picture and type of Jesus Christ and just like
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Jesus. Wasn't recognized and rejected
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the first time he will be fully recognized in his second coming
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and he's giving them a little Bible lesson that God has taught
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them all along. Do you guys remember in Luke
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chapter 24? When Jesus was on met those guys
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on the road to Emmaus? They're all upset.
25:02
They're all just concerned though.
25:04
They are, they heard about the death of Jesus, and, and they
25:08
don't have them anymore, and they're all bummed out, Jesus
25:10
comes along side of them. He's kind of concealed from Um
25:12
them, but what does he do in Luke 24?
25:15
He gives them a Bible study from the beginning of Genesis, to the
25:18
end of Malachi. He walks them through all the
25:21
scriptures and he reveals to them all.
25:24
Along the way, all of the types, all of the prefigures
25:27
everywhere, that he was throughout the Old Testament
25:31
Stevens. Doing the same thing he's
25:34
showing. Hey, you know what?
25:35
It was the second time it was the second time Joseph was
25:39
recognized, speaking of the type and Sure that he is to Jesus
25:44
Christ. So the summary here at so far
25:47
Steven with great tact and reverence says I'm not
25:51
blaspheming God, I respect Abraham, I respect Joseph, I
25:55
respect our Patriarchs but I also as Steven sharing and he
26:00
wants to make sure you that the religious rulers understand that
26:04
their rejection in Rebellion is not new because it has been the
26:08
pattern of the spiritual leaders of Israel up to this point verse
26:12
7. And where are we?
26:13
Verse 14, Joseph sent and called his father, Jacob and all his
26:18
relatives to him. 75 people. Jacob went down to Egypt and he
26:21
died. He and our fathers, and they,
26:25
they were carried back to shechem laid in a tomb that
26:28
Abraham bought for a sum of money.
26:31
From the sons of hamor, the father of shechem.
26:34
But when the time of the promised Junior which God had
26:37
sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt
26:42
till another king arose. Who did not know.
26:45
Joseph, this man dealt treacherously treacherously with
26:49
our people and oppressed our forefathers, making them expose
26:53
their babies so that they might not live at this time verse 20,
26:59
Moses was born. And was well pleasing to God,
27:04
and he was brought up in his father's house for three months,
27:07
but when he was set out, Pharaoh's daughter, took him
27:09
away and brought him up as her own son, and Moses was learned
27:13
in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in
27:16
words, and deeds. Now, he turns a corner and talks
27:20
about Moses because he's been accused of blaspheming Moses in
27:23
the law along the way, he's quoted the law already and he'll
27:27
quoted again, but now he specifically going to say, hey,
27:30
I know I'm Blaspheming Moses in the law, I respect him and God
27:35
now is taking the season and building a nation in Egypt.
27:40
And during this time of God, using this difficult situation,
27:45
as they multiplied in Egypt and a new, Pharaoh came and enslave
27:48
them and abuse them and even made them kill their own babies.
27:54
It was in this time, Moses was born And, you know, we just
28:00
can't fathom. It's so hard in the midst of
28:05
great trial and difficulty to think that anything good could
28:09
come out of it. Anything, you know, when we read
28:13
Romans 8:28, when it says, we know all things work together
28:16
for good for those that God is working all things together for
28:19
good, that for those that love him and called.
28:21
According to his purpose, we automatically especially in
28:25
times of deep grief and pain, we automatically read that.
28:28
We may not use the exact word but we say, you know, I know
28:30
God's working most things together.
28:32
Therefore good. But not this.
28:34
I don't ever see how God could use this or God is working some
28:38
things together for good because this can't be redeemable and you
28:43
think of what would happen of a Nation Under intense slavery,
28:46
and abuse and a murderous Pharaoh, what good could come
28:51
out of that? Well, of all the good that came
28:53
out of it, I'll tell you, Moses came out of it.
28:57
Moses was born in Egypt, in this time.
29:02
And God can bring even the worst situations.
29:04
He can bring good out of them. Beauty for Ashes, the Bible
29:09
says, and so Moses is born, and I want you to notice.
29:13
This is amazing. It says in verse 20, at this
29:17
time, Moses was born and was well pleasing to God, and he was
29:23
brought up in his father's house for three months.
29:26
But when he was set out that little phrase, Refers to as Mom.
29:34
Making a little basket and putting their own little
29:37
three-month-old baby in it and letting him float away on the
29:41
Nile instead of killing him. As was required, there was a
29:48
resistance of the authorities of the Godless instructions of the
29:53
authorities. That was a quiet resistance to
29:56
make this little, this little basket cover it put their baby
30:00
and just let it float on the waters, trusting, God.
30:04
With her baby. Now.
30:08
When it says he was set out sometimes that basket is
30:12
referred to in the Old King James.
30:14
I think it's called an ark of bulrushes.
30:18
And you think where did it come? Where did the idea come to make
30:23
a basket and to cover it and to let it float on the Waters of
30:28
the Nile while judgment was coming?
30:32
There is this little Arc floating around with a baby to
30:35
be saved on the water. Where do you think that came
30:38
from? I'll tell you where, I think it
30:40
came from. I think it came from Moses, Mom
30:43
and Dad knowing the truth of God's faithfulness to Noah.
30:50
Being in an arc instructed to build an ark that will float on
30:55
the Waters of judgment. I believe they're following
31:00
through by faith of something that God had done in the past.
31:05
He was in a little arc on the waters and he was rescued.
31:10
I believe his mom and dad were a student of the scriptures.
31:13
Now, of course, they didn't have the Bible, like we have today.
31:16
They didn't have the Scrolls yet, but what they did have was
31:19
the carrying on of what was shared from generation to
31:23
generation. Which today, even though we have
31:26
the Bible today, it's the full complete work of God.
31:29
It is the faith once and for all delivered, to the Saints you,
31:32
and I still have a responsibility to pass it on,
31:35
pass it on to our kids and our grandkids, we pass it on to our
31:39
family. Our neighbors, we have the
31:42
authoritative word of God, but it's our responsibility to pass
31:46
it on, but before we can never pass it on.
31:50
The Bible has to have a pre preeminent place in our lives.
31:54
And I know you might get tired of this because I share it over
31:57
and over and over again. And then I was reminded, if you
32:00
are tired of me saying it, that means you're hearing me every
32:02
time I share it, so, it's okay. Be tired about it.
32:05
I'm going to keep telling you and it's simply this if you want
32:09
to grow in any kind of maturity following Jesus Christ, you must
32:15
be a man or a woman of God's word.
32:19
It's not going to come any other way.
32:21
It's not going to come through sermons is important.
32:24
As sermons are there are tool but it's not like being in the
32:27
word for yourself. It's not going to come and some
32:31
beautiful song that catches your heart and Praises God.
32:34
That's not going to bring the kind of spiritual maturity
32:36
you're looking for. You have to be in God's word
32:40
every day. Read your Bible and pray every
32:44
day. How is it?
32:46
That this came to heart and to light in Moses mom, but that she
32:51
knew about God's faithfulness with Noah and and thinking, if
32:56
God was faithful with Noah, then he'll be faithful with me.
32:58
I will cast my lot with God. I will trust him.
33:03
I won't try to fight Pharaoh. I won't try to run away.
33:07
I just know that God has done this before and he can do it
33:10
again and I trust him with my My life.
33:13
I trust him with my baby and I just know, God has a plan for
33:16
him. God has spoken to me and where
33:19
does that come from? How does faith get built?
33:21
But faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
33:25
It is something that you must do Church.
33:28
You're only hurting yourself. And as a result, hurting us as a
33:32
church, we aren't gaining and getting from you, what could
33:36
come from you. If you are a man of the word,
33:39
your kids are losing out because you're not a woman of the world.
33:42
Word your marriage is suffering because you're not in the word
33:45
together and praying. I mean you think about it you
33:48
just it's not because you have to some religious duty to be a
33:51
good little Christian. This is not at all the direction
33:55
that God gives it's not because we have to and we want to be
33:58
good little Christians. It's because we get to and we
34:01
want to be strong and mighty men of God and women of God for what
34:06
he has for us. And so we wake up in the morning
34:09
and we're so grateful, I mean, just think about God.
34:12
I'm alive today, I can't. But here I am.
34:16
And now, God might ears are attentive to your word and you
34:20
open it up. Or, you know, we have technology
34:24
now because I think it was something like, you know, I,
34:26
when I say sometimes, like a, you need to be a student of the
34:29
word immediately. People that were bad students.
34:31
Go, I don't want to be a student of the word.
34:32
I'm a horrible student. Okay.
34:34
Calm down. We don't want you to be like you
34:36
were in high school again. That's not.
34:38
We're not going to test you and quiz you because that's not the
34:41
kind of student. I'm speaking of the kind of
34:43
student. I'm speaking of, as you want to
34:44
learn, you just want to learn about your heavenly father, you
34:48
want to learn about his character and his nature.
34:51
You want to On a true story of someone in the past, that might
34:54
relate to your life. Right now, in the 21st century,
34:58
you might even want to thank. You know, man, God has done this
35:00
before. I he need him to do it in my
35:02
life right now. And in the word, you wake up
35:05
grateful, and then you go. But God, I'm alive to grow in
35:09
you and you start speak to me today, and you can read the
35:12
Bible. We even have technology today
35:14
where you can download the YouVersion, Bible, app, y, OU.
35:18
And there are so many versions of the Bible there.
35:20
Most of them, it'll read to You it'll read to you.
35:23
You can just play it on your phone and start listening to the
35:26
Bible. Saturating yourself with the
35:28
word of God, that's the only place where spiritual growth
35:31
will come notice in verse 22. It says Moses was learned in all
35:36
the wisdom of Egyptians. He was mighty in words and
35:40
deeds. But verse 23, when he was 40
35:42
years old, it came into his heart to visit his Brethren.
35:46
The children of Israel. This is a beautiful phrase.
35:48
It came into his heart. What came into his heart that
35:51
does Hired to be a deliverer God's call upon your life exists
35:56
right now, believer, it is in your heart.
36:00
God wants you to come to an awareness of what your destiny
36:02
is to serve him with your life. Moses was awakened to.
36:07
He's so smart. He is so learned, he went
36:11
through all the education of the Egyptians.
36:13
He knows all they needs to relate to be in that position of
36:17
the government. He has everything he needs.
36:19
God has given them but you want to know where it was really?
36:21
Leon in his life. It wasn't all his Education in
36:24
Egypt. It was God speaking to his heart
36:27
and he already knows he's a deliverer.
36:29
The problem is he got the timing wrong.
36:31
Notice verse 24, he saw one of the people suffer, one of them.
36:36
He speaks of you guys know the story, he saw an Egyptian and a
36:41
Jew and Israeli fighting one another.
36:43
That's what this is, referring to see, saw one of the Israelis,
36:48
one of the followers of God suffer wrong Any defended him
36:53
and Avenged him that oppress? And he struck down the Egyptian
36:57
that's a nice way of saying he murdered the guy.
37:00
So there was a fight going on between a June Egyptian, he
37:03
murdered two Egyptian really thought he got away with it,
37:05
really thought he was doing the right thing.
37:07
He really thought he was going to be the deliverer notice.
37:10
He's supposed verse 25 that his Brethren would have understood
37:15
that God would deliver them by his hand.
37:17
But they did not understand. And the next day he appeared to
37:21
two of them as they were fighting and try to reconcile
37:24
him. Say men, you guys are Brethren.
37:26
Why do you do wrong to one another?
37:28
But he did his neighbor wrong pushed him away saying, Who made
37:33
you a ruler in a judge over us? Do you want to kill me as you
37:37
did the Egyptian yesterday? And at this saying, verse 29,
37:41
Moses fled and became a Sojourner in the land of Midian
37:45
where he had two sons. And when 40 years had passed
37:51
pause right there. The life of Moses sensing in his
37:55
heart a calling and yet, unfortunately, as he senses his
38:01
calling, he Seize the oppression, he wants to jump in
38:05
and makes a big mistake. You could say that Moses acted
38:10
with presumption which teaches us a very important lesson.
38:15
Not only do we need to be men and women of God's word and
38:17
prayer. But truly the effectiveness in
38:21
service and Ministry and life is humility.
38:26
Humility is the place of string. It's not a valued thing in our
38:30
culture in the world today, but it is very valued by God.
38:35
Humility is required in the person that God uses Moses here.
38:42
Jumps ahead of God, tries to accomplish the spiritual work
38:46
and deliverance of God, he is going to be used, but he chose
38:50
to do it in his own strength. And his own wisdom and it led to
38:54
40 years in the desert, you know, the desert is often
39:00
referred to as a picture of dryness, 40 Years of dryness 40
39:05
years. You could say on the backside of
39:07
the desert 40 Years of anonymity, he makes the most of
39:13
it of course but he spends his wheels.
39:15
Just like Abraham Abraham spins, his wheels for 20 years.
39:18
Moses spends his wheels. Unfortunately, Joseph had delays
39:22
Because of the sin of other people because sin always brings
39:25
delays to the will of God being fulfilled in your life and 40
39:30
years in the desert. I don't know about you, but I
39:32
don't want to waste any more of my life at all ever just being
39:37
in Tennessee, recently and teaching a men's conference for
39:39
them. We talked a little bit about the
39:41
journey from Egypt to the promised land when they were
39:44
delivered and that if you measure it and people do the
39:47
mathematics on it, it would have taken a group that size about 11
39:50
or 12 days. To get from Egypt to the
39:53
promised land 11 or 12 days but because of faithless nastas in a
39:58
few, it took them 40 years. And the first generation didn't
40:04
even enter in, they didn't get to go in because of
40:07
faithlessness and now Moses because of Pride and
40:11
presumption. He's going to spend 40 years on
40:14
the backside of the desert, it won't be wasted.
40:16
He's going to get a degree, he's got all the degrees of Egypt,
40:20
but now he's going to get an important degree.
40:22
The backside of the desert degree and he's going to learn
40:25
what it means to depend upon God, he's going to learn what it
40:28
means to trust God. He's going to learn what it
40:31
means to wait upon the Lord. So this strength might be
40:34
renewed. And somebody wants said, and
40:37
I'll quote, it's been said of the life of Moses that he spent
40:40
his first 40 years becoming somebody he's educated in Egypt
40:45
Rises to the occasion, the next 40 Years of Moses life was used
40:49
by God to show him that. He was really a nobody.
40:55
And the final 40 Years of his life was used of God to reveal
40:59
to the world that God can take a nobody and make him a somebody
41:04
in the grand scheme of his plan for the Earth.
41:08
So you divide his life into three 40s.
41:11
And you know, I don't know what part if you're, what third of
41:14
your life you're in, but whatever, third of your life
41:18
here in, make it count for the Lord, you don't have years to
41:21
waste in the desert. You don't have years to throw
41:24
away and even if you look and you go well that's where I've
41:27
been the last 40 years. Well then repent today and get
41:30
back to the Lord. Come on back and serve him in
41:33
humility and Brokenness and learn from all that you have
41:37
experienced in your desert experience.
41:41
Not He got notice as he says after the 40 years verse 30, it
41:46
passed an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of
41:49
fire in a bush. So this is cool in his extensive
41:52
experience. Number one, God appeared to him
41:55
and then, secondly, verse 31, Moses saw it.
41:59
So you want to stay attentive. Don't just give up in the
42:01
desert. Stay attentive watch and then
42:05
notice he marveled at the site and as he drew near to observers
42:09
31, the voice of the Lord, It came to him, God speaks in the
42:14
desert God's voice never ceases and he speaks in the desert,
42:18
even the desert of your life today and notice what he says
42:21
verse 32, I am the god of your father's, the god of Abraham,
42:24
the god, of Isaac, the god of Jacob, and Moses trembled and
42:29
dared, not look. Then the Lord said to him, take
42:31
your sandals, off your feet for the place where you stand is,
42:34
Holy Ground. And this is so cool.
42:37
Verse 34, I have certainly seen the oppression Of my people who
42:42
are in Egypt, I've heard their groaning and have come down to
42:46
deliver them. And now, come, I will send you
42:50
to Egypt. Another pattern of God that
42:54
Steven is sharing, is the delivering power of God.
42:58
He is a delivering God. I'm so encouraged by this, in
43:02
the midst of the difficulty in Egypt.
43:05
He the Bible says, God says, I have certainly seen that's not
43:10
how it feels. When you're in the midst of
43:11
difficulty, is it when you are a groaning toward God, and
43:15
desperate and prayer. One of the reasons why your
43:18
groaning and desperate in prayer is because you believe God
43:21
doesn't hear you. One of the reason when you're in
43:24
that prolong season in, you're so desperate and you're begging,
43:27
God, one of the thoughts that pop up is, you know, if I pray
43:31
louder and I pray harder and I have nowhere else to turn and
43:35
God doesn't hear me. And God doesn't see me and then
43:37
God doesn't care and there's just this battle in your mind.
43:43
The Bible says, even those in Egypt, how do you think those in
43:46
Egypt felt making bricks and, and out in the hot sun and
43:51
basically, working with as a slaves and every sense of that
43:55
word? No doubt.
43:57
They're like God's forgotten us. God doesn't care.
44:01
We're groaning and hurting. And where's our God?
44:04
And the Bible says, in all of that.
44:07
I have certainly seen God sees and hears, and he acts so
44:15
continued like that, persistent Widow, that Jesus taught us
44:18
about keep seeking, keep knocking keep asking because God
44:22
sees and God hears Well, it says, in verse 35, Moses whom
44:28
they first rejected the first time.
44:30
Remember, they rejected in the first time, but the second time
44:35
they receive him as deliver again, a picture and a type of
44:38
Christ. Moses, they rejected saying, who
44:40
made you? A ruler and a judge, is the one
44:43
that God sent to be a ruler and a deliver by the hand of the
44:47
Angel who appeared to them in the bush.
44:50
The issue of the of the council is they rejected Jesus Christ
44:54
the first time. That is not unique.
44:57
They rejected Joseph. The first time they're rejected,
45:02
Moses. The first time, it's not unique,
45:05
it's exactly the pattern of their life and then he says, he
45:09
brought them out verse 36, after he'd shown wonders and signs in
45:13
the land of Egypt, in the Red Sea, in the wilderness 40 years.
45:17
And this is that Moses who said to the children of Israel, the
45:21
Lord, your God will raise up for you.
45:22
A prophet like me from your brethren.
45:25
Him you shall hear. Now he goes back in quotes.
45:27
The law, the one they said he's blaspheming he says, hey, man,
45:30
according to Deuteronomy teen. There's a profit going to be
45:33
raised up. It's going to be like, Moses and
45:36
this is the one already. The spirit of God is Planning a
45:39
seeds. The one that was raised up was
45:42
the one they crucified. And if you're listening to him,
45:46
you just kind of tracking along. They don't get mad yet because
45:49
of his reverence, and respect for them.
45:51
Verse 38, this is he, who is in the congregation in the
45:54
wilderness with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai with
45:58
our father's, the one who received the living oracles, and
46:01
gave them to us. I respect the Bible.
46:04
He's saying, I respect the law, whom our fathers, verse 39 would
46:09
not obey but rejected and in their hearts, they turned, Back
46:14
to Egypt, which by the way, they were delivered from Egypt,
46:18
physically, but their hearts were still there, which is a
46:22
warning to us. Your physical proximity is
46:25
important, but what's more important is your heart because
46:29
you can be delivered for something and still lawn to go
46:33
back to it. And you want to be very, very
46:36
careful because where your treasure is, your heart will be
46:41
also and here they are, they're delivered.
46:44
But then they wanted to go back. Remember you Bible students?
46:46
You remember like I go I missed the onions, I missed the leeks
46:50
and and they forgot all about the oppression and the
46:52
difficulty. They were looking at the man and
46:55
the provision of God is, I don't want anything to do this.
46:57
I want to go back because their hearts were there.
47:01
And it's always the heart of the matter in your life is always a
47:07
matter of your heart. It's not just the outward
47:10
churches, that go after, and change your behavior, change
47:13
your behavior, change your behavior.
47:15
This, I would just say this. You change your heart, God will
47:18
change your behavior. You just come as you.
47:21
Are God of the, on the inside out and you'll become someone,
47:23
you don't even know who God wants you to be yet.
47:27
But you always work in trying to look good on the outside, always
47:29
doing things for appearances, but your heart is far from God.
47:33
There's a word for that it's hypocrisy.
47:37
You want you just give your heart to the Lord today.
47:39
Just surrender to him just submit your life to him and he
47:43
will do the work in. You kind of like Moses.
47:45
It says that got that got that the idea was put into his heart
47:49
to be a delivery you know. He heard something in his heart
47:52
like he received it it reminded me of the of the truth in I
47:57
think it's Philippians were Paul talks about God working in us
48:01
both to Will and to do so he changes our hearts our desires.
48:06
That gives us the power to carry on.
48:09
So encouraging now come back. As we close it, says, in verse
48:15
40, they said to Aaron, make us Gods to go before us as for this
48:20
Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt?
48:22
We don't know what's become of him, and they made a calf in
48:24
those days offered sacrifices to the idol and rejoiced, in the
48:29
works of their own hands. Again, another failure.
48:32
These are the one forefathers. These are the people you look up
48:35
to. These are the people with Moses
48:37
and they were idolatrous even as many in the council where
48:41
idolatrous themselves it says, in verse 41, they rejoiced in
48:45
the work of their own hands and then God turned gave them up to
48:49
worship the host of Heaven as it is written in the book of the
48:52
prophets. Do you offer me slaughtered
48:54
animals and sacrifices during 40 Years of wilderness o House of
48:58
Israel? Yes, you took up the Tabernacle
49:01
of moloch and the star of your God remphan images, which you
49:05
made to worship. But To carry you away Beyond
49:09
Babel and they were full-on idolatrous.
49:10
Molech was a horrible God, an Angry God, that needed to be
49:14
appeased. He was actually the god of
49:16
excess and success. You could say he was the god of
49:20
materialism today, and the way that he was worshipped is that
49:25
Molech required the sacrifice of your firstborn.
49:30
And very different than the worship of Molech today where
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babies are aborted in the womb. They would offer full grown
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babies or the babies. They were offered delivered
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babies out of the womb and they would offer them up on the
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Statue of Molech. Statue of Molech was a statue
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kind of with arms out like this and they would it was a very
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short one, they would have them out there and they would heat it
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up, red hot and then they would bring their babies and place
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them on the arms of that statue. Moloch to sacrifice their kids
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in the name of security. SAS.
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And the name of materialism, we kind of look back at generation
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ago how primitive how idolatrous but our generation is worse.
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The sin of the sickness of killing babies is worse today
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than it ever has been. Look Church, the reality of life
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for us as the church. Is to be able to speak the truth
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in love. To be able to live a life of
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integrity and honesty. You know, it's one thing for the
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church to decry can't believe the divorce rate.
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A can't believe the divorce rate.
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When the divorce rate in the church is higher than it is in
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the culture. It starts in your own house,
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remember what the Bible says, judgment begins in the house of
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the Lord. And so maybe as I share that
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today, you might have a divorce in your past.
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It must be your last It must be it, you can't go backwards.
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Your voice is only as strong as the character integrity that you
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carry in your life. Your voice is only as strong as
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his. You live out, the Life of Christ
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in a Godless dark culture and Society words are cheap.
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Wives are valuable. and when words come from a life of
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character and integrity with tact and respect, People listen.
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Because it's very rare to meet someone like that in our culture
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today. It's very rare to meet someone
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that leads with love that leads with respect and care and
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concern. And so we look at Steven here,
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he's an encouragement to me. That's where we're going to
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pause today. And we'll pick up and finish the
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chapter next time, and you can see his reward.
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It ticks, these guys off, they end up killing him.
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He's the first martyr of the church.
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But until then, he's taking advantage of every breath of his
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life and in this behind-the-scenes.
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Their don't forget, there's this guy, Soul watching and listening
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to everything and God is going to use Steven.
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To encourage soul. And we'll get to that in another
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study. So, father, thank you for the
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word that you have for us today, strong and stirring encouraging,
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and comforting and all of the above as we prepare our hearts.
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Now, for a time of communion, let our hearts be prepared.
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Let them be readied. I wonder today.
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How many people Egypt being a type of the world?
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They've left the world but their hearts in the world, I just pray
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for deliverance guy. I pray for comfort.
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I pray, God that. I pray God for the comfort that
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comes even. Even as.
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We Face hardship and difficulty. The, you would be our strength,
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the joy, of our life in Jesus name.
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Amen. We pray that you've been
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encouraged by this Bible. Study delivered live from the
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sanctuary of Calvary Church for prayer.
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Call us at 877, 30 Grace. That's eight 77304, 2:53 to
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listen to this message in its entirety or to join us for our
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lives dream Services. Visit us online at Calvary.
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Dot church or download our free Calvary Church app be blessed as
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you worship Jesus this week.