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Acts 7
After Stephen is accused of all those things in Chapter 6 then the High Priest asks him, "Are these things so?" What lesson can we learn from this? In this chapter Stephen is preaching and appealing to them to make a change in their thinking. His sermon is cut short because of their rage, but it follows a pattern of logic and truth that could have made them repent. 7:2-5 God was with Abraham 7:6-8 Israel would be in bondage 7:9-16 God was with Joseph 7:17-19 Israel was in bondage (Egypt) 7:20-39 God was with Moses 7:40-44 Israel was wandering in the wilderness (bondage) 7:45-52 God was with David and Solomon 7:51-53 Israel is in bondage to disbelief Stephen was trying to help them see that they were acting just like their fathers, in fact the whole point of the chapter seems to be this: "As your fathers were, so are you." They didn't like that much. Their response to his sermon was: 1. Verse 54 ________________________ 2. Verse 54 ________________________ 3. Verse 57 ________________________ 4. Verse 57 ________________________ 5. Verse 57 ________________________ 6. Verse 58 ________________________ You can almost see their anger build as Stephen is presenting his points in his sermon. The longer he preaches the more physical symptoms of rage build in the crowd. Stephen kept on the thought pattern as long as he could because he understood the history of God's people and knew that they had faced similar things. Abraham had to leave his home and be a stranger in a strange land. Joseph had to face the jealous hatred of his brothers and their rejection. Moses had to deal with the ignorance of Israel after years of bondage in Egypt. They had rejected him, disobeyed the words God had given him. He even had to deal with their worship of idols, even though he dedicated his life to help them worship God. Stephen begins to say that you are just like them. You didn't respond any better to Jesus when he was sent to you. He said they were responding by: 1. Verse 51 _________________________ 2. Verse 51 _________________________ 3. Verse 51 __________________________ 4. Verse 52 __________________________ 5. Verse 52 __________________________ For those who prided themselves on their righteous activities, this was too much. The point was driven to close to home and they had to stop Stephen. I wonder if we ever respond to God's messages and appeals to us in that way. · If we withhold our hearts from him, keeping the final say for our self, we are on the rejection tract. · If we will not listen and evaluate what is being said, we are closing our self to the only way God has of reaching us, and we are progressing on the rejection tract. · If we resist the Holy Spirits prompting it is usually because we want our own way, it feels better. We are skidding down the rejection tract. · If we kill Jesus by putting him out of our life, then we have rejected the one who could help us. We are established on the rejection tract. · If we do the above things, we are settled into a life of disobedience to God's law. And that is what Stephen was trying to appeal to them to change. They had prided themselves on upholding God's law and yet they were withholding their hearts, stopping their ears, resisting the pleadings and prompting of the Holy Spirit, and killing Jesus in their life. What a revelation! Even today we are so much like our fathers. We play church and take pride in keeping the law and yet we are often guilty of the same spiritual errors that they made. Maybe we need to shift our focus and try what Stephen did. Even in the midst of persecution and stoning, he kept close to God. What did Stephen do? 1. Verse 55 ____________________________ 2. Verse 55 ____________________________ 3. Verse 56 ____________________________ 4. Verse 56 ____________________________ How simple! He realized everyone is full of something. If we aren't full of the spirit we are full of the devil, or self, or the world. If we let the Spirit fill us, He will crowd out the other things. So often we try to force people to get rid of the things in their life, but Stephen was trying to help people see that if they would co-operate with the Spirit, He would take care to their hearts. Stephen knew where to look for help. He looked up. When we face trials, decisions, persecution, discouragement, or whatever, we need to look up. We will get a different view if we do, a new perspective, God's idea. It will make all the difference in the world. Stephen spoke of the things that he saw and knew by experience. He was giving his testimony. That's all. It's what he had and he used it. God wants us to realize that if we would have an experience with him and share it with others, our lives would be a power for good. Maybe we don't testify, because we are like our fathers and have no experience to share. Ouch! Go to God and get one. Stephen prayed. He prayed for the very ones who were hurting him the most. Stephen had broken the cycle. He was not acting like his fathers before him. They had simply killed whatever had been disagreeable, or they had thrown it in a pit, or bitterly opposed it. If we want to break the cycle of disobedience, we are going to have to allow God to fill us with the Spirit, look up, and share the things we experience with God. We have two choices. We can take the steps to disobedience and rejection that our fathers took, or we can take the steps of obedience that God wants us to take. Steps to Disobedience and Rejection: 1. Withhold our heart - Stubborn 2. Refuse to Listen - Ignore 3. Resist the Holy Spirit - through Prophets, People, or the Written Word 4. Kill Jesus out of our life - Don't have devotions, meditation, prayer 5. Disobey the law - receive it in our head, but don't live it in our life Or our other option is this: Steps to Obedience: 1. Surrender our whole heart - leave nothing closed, give God the final say 2. Listen - Be open and truly hear with more than our ears 3. Cooperate with the Holy Spirit - by accepting the council of Prophets, people, or the Written Word. 4. Keep Jesus alive - Ps. 16:8 - practice His presence in our life 5. Obey the law - it will be the natural outgrowth of the above steps. It will not be coming from our head only, but from our heart.
As your fathers did, will you do the same? Are you ready to step out of the rut?
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