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  • The Gospel: Preached by Stephen

    The Gospel: Preached by Stephen

    Acts 6: Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number…

    The multitudes were now part of the way and living as disciples of the risen Christ Jesus. The twelve Apostles (with Mathias appointed to replace Judas) need the help of others. They appointed deacons – seven more men fully filled with the Holy Spirit to serve as additional leaders.

    … and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit,

    and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. 6 These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.

    7 And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.

    8 And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people.

    When God multiplies the numbers and faith of believers, without fail opposition to God will test the faith of believers. The truth of our witness by the Spirit will convert the enemies of Christ to trust in His overflowing love.

    9 Then some … rose up and disputed with Stephen. 10 But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking.

    11 Then they secretly instigated men…  12 And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council, 13 and they set up false witnesses…

    15 And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

    Filled with the Power of the Holy Spirit, Stephen now preaches to his false accusers the gospel of Christ Jesus.
     Acts 7

    ur to haran to caanan map “Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, 3 and said to him, ‘Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.’ 4 Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran.

    And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living. 5 Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot’s length, but promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, though he had no child.

    goshen and egypt map6 And God spoke to this effect—that his offspring would be sojourners in a land belonging to others, who would enslave them and afflict them four hundred years.

    Israel, the Hebrew people, chosen by God, were proud of their heritage through Abraham.

    Again, remember that Joseph, son of Israel (Jacob) became a savior to his people by bringing them into Goshen of Egypt as sojourners.

    Stephen continues with Joseph’s story and their history in Egypt, which every Jew knew so well from scripture:

    17 “But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt 18 until there arose over Egypt another king who did not know Joseph. 19 He dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants, so that they would not be kept alive.

    20 At this time Moses was born; and he was beautiful in God’s sight. And he was brought up for three months in his father’s house, 21 and when he was exposed, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. 22 And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds.

    hebrew brick makers23 “When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. 24 And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian.

    God used Moses to save Israel. God gave the Hebrew people the Law through Moses. These are the first five book of Scripture.

    Moses, even more than David, is revered by the Jews. Yet hear what Stephen points out about the relationship of the Hebrews to Moses and scripture from Moses to point to this parallel to Christ Jesus.

    35 “This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years.

    37 This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.’ 

    41 … And they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. 42 But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven…

    44 “Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness… 45 Our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua…

    … So it was until the days of David, 46 who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.

    solomon's temple47 But it was Solomon who built a house for him.

    48 Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says,

    49 “‘Heaven is my throne,
    and the earth is my footstool.
    What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord,
    or what is the place of my rest?
    50 Did not my hand make all these things?’

     

    Yes, we are proud of our great houses of worship, aren’t we?

    So were the Jews of the first century proud of the Temple Herod built, the Temple where they worshiped Abraham and worshiped Moses and worshiped David and worshiped their long-established traditions…

    Are we so different?

    Yet Stephen, by the Power of the Holy Spirit, quotes scripture reminding us that GOD is the Creator and has no need of any house of other provision of man. (This is from the Prophet Isaiah.)

    Steven then reminds his accusers, who have rejected Christ Jesus, of their sordid history of opposing the will of God:

    51 “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit.

    As your fathers did, so do you.

    52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute?

    And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, 53 you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”

    Are you so caught up in ‘church’ that you forget Jesus?

    Can you be so stiff-necked and uncircumcised in your heart and ears that you resist the gospel of the Holy Spirit being preached from the pulpit and written before you in a dust-covered Bible?

    Could you be just as one who stood by while Stephen preached the gospel?

    What must YOU do?

    REPENT! and be changed permanently by the Name of Jesus Christ.

    Do not resist the Holy Spirit.

    You with ears to hear and eyes to see Scripture, hear and see the Gospel.

  • The Gospel: Preached by Peter

    The Gospel: Preached by Peter

    “Listen carefully, all of you…

    Acts 2:

    Peter’s Sermon at Pentecost

    14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. 15 For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. [That is, 9 a.m.]

    16 But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel:

    The Spirit echos God’s voice through the Prophet Joel.

    IF God speaks to us through the Prophets of the Old Testament, do we then seek to understand how God warns us even now of the refinement to come?

    Peter spoke to these men of Judea of what is written in the Prophets centuries earlier. By the Spirit, Peter then preaches the Gospel: Jesus IS the fulfillment of scripture. He IS the Messiah of God!

    “LISTEN,” Peter instructs. This moment in the spectrum of God’s eternal time is important to your eternal soul. You know the scripture… (Do you?) … here is how God the Father used Jesus the Son as the Sacrifice for our sins.

    22 “Men of Israel, hear these words:

    Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— 23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.

    24 God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.

    Peter is saying through the Spirit, ‘YOU crucified the Very Son of God!’ Yet even though you did, it was God’s plan. AND God raised Jesus from death!

    IMPOSSIBLE; yet NOT for GOD.The SON of GOD cannot be held even by death.

    Peter then continues by the Spirit to point to the proof of Scripture, referring to David from a Kingdom a thousand years earlier.

    29 “Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, 31 he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.

    32 This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses.

    33 Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.

    THINK about this, Peter instructs. David predicted this of Jesus, his descendant.

    34 For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says,

    “‘The Lord said to my Lord,
    “Sit at my right hand,
    35 until I make your enemies your footstool.”’

    Jesus frequently referred to himself as, ‘Son of Man;’ literally meaning a ‘son of Adam.’ Jesus, through the womb of Mary (God incarnate) was a son of man, just like me… just like you.

    Jews (like us, so often overlooking our sin and remembering only the heritage of our forefathers) often referred to themselves as: Sons of Abraham, or Sons of Moses, or Sons of David.

    Many of us are proud of our heritage of birthright.  We hide our heritage that SIN came into this world as Sons of Adam.

    Jesus came into the world so that we might have a new heritage to a sinless second Adam.

    Remember: ‘Israel is God’s new name for Jacob. Remember: ‘Judah’ is a son of Jacob (not just the place of Jerusalem). Peter speaks to these CHOSEN men as chosen followers of the Living God. Peter preaches why WE, chosen by God, must bow down to Christ Jesus, the ONE risen from death by God the Father.

    36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

    37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

    What will YOU DO, to make Jesus your Lord?

    (It is not enough just to say so, while you continue to live in the ways of the wickedness of the world.)

    38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

    39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”

    40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.”

    41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

     We are sorry that Jesus had to go to the Cross for our sins. What must we do?

    “Repent and be baptized…”

    Repent: to change one’s mind for better, heartily to amend with abhorrence of one’s past sins

    Baptized:  the act of baptizing produces a permanent change…

    Have you truly repented of your daily sin?

    Have you been ‘permanently changed’ in the name of Jesus Christ?

    What must you do?

     

     

  • Sojourners

    Sojourners

    Psalm 39:12 KJV

    Hear my prayer, O LORD,

    and give ear unto my cry;

    hold not thy peace at my tears:

    for I am a stranger with thee,

    and a sojourner,

    as all my fathers were.

    I have just moved, again: this time just across town near to my church family still, near to my wife and son, nearer to my temporary workplace and, I pray as in the words of the old hymn, Nearer My God to Thee.

    As we have been traveling with Jesus in the early days of His three-year earthly ministry as witnessed through the Gospel of Luke, Jesus has already taught the multitudes, enraged many local religious authorities and worked many miracles as evidence of His authority from God our Father in Heaven. Jesus has reported to John the Baptist evidence and confirmed to the multitudes and disciples that John is the greatest of all Prophets; for he has announced the earthly Presence of God the Son, Christ Jesus, Son of Man.

    We have also noted that Jesus of Nazareth left home under inauspicious circumstances, moved to Capernaum and continued to teach in many towns in many places and also on many deserted hillsides and seashores.

    For the three years of His earthly ministry Jesus truly had no home on earth. The Son of Man was a sojourner.

    Today we leave our consideration of Jesus’ early travels and the Gospel of Luke for a time.  Tomorrow, 5 May in the year of our Lord 2014, we will commemorate Ash Wednesday, the traditional beginning of Lent and 40 days of preparation for Easter. As we pause our look at Jesus’ thousand days before His final earthly trip to Jerusalem and the Cross, consider our connection to Christ’s place with no hometown here: as sojourners.

    I had asked yesterday, “How much do we owe God?” Perhaps you will recognize some of the following Old Testament scripture from a blessing of the offering at church; but note the sojourner here.

    1 Chronicles 29: 14 “But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able thus to offer willingly?

    For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you. 15 For we are strangers before you and sojourners, as all our fathers were. Our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no abiding.

    These are the words of David in presenting an offering to the Lord at the public installation of Solomon as King at the Temple of the Lord.

    David lived much of his life (even as the anointed King) as a sojourner, fleeing Saul, fleeing Philistines and other enemies, even in a sense fleeing his own son, Absalom. Yet David knew he could never flee from God. When he sinned, he would always repent an seek God’s own heart.

    psalm 121

    David’s home was not his palace. David’s heart longed to dwell in the pastures of our God and the House of our Great Shepherd.

    Jesus, Son of David, was also a sojourner. He knew every minute and every day of His incarnate life that the Cross of Sacrifice awaited Him on an appointed day in Jerusalem.  Sojourners Jesus and David also knew our true home – a heavenly home of our loving God and Father -is being prepared for our return from this earthly pilgrimage.

    You may recall that Israel was God’s new name for Jacob. Jacob was also a sojourner.

    Genesis 27:41 Now Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him, and Esau said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are approaching; then I will kill my brother Jacob.” 42 But the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah. So she sent and called Jacob her younger son and said to him, “Behold, your brother Esau comforts himself about you by planning to kill you. 43 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice. Arise, flee…

    Jacob’s Dream

    10 Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. 11 And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. 12 And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! 13 And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac.”

    “The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. 14 Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15 Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

    16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” 17 And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

    18 So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. 19 He called the name of that place Bethel, [House of God] but the name of the city was Luz at the first.

    20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear,21 so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, 22 and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house.

    And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.”

    Again, the sojourner Jacob makes an offering to God.

    The House of El Shaddai, God Almighty, is not in a place on this earth, but a place that is in Heaven.

    An even earlier mention of the sojourner:

    genesis_cave_of_machpelahGenesis 23:3 And Abraham rose up from before his dead and said to the Hittites, 4 “I am a sojourner and foreigner among you; give me property among you for a burying place, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.”

    Commentary: Abraham stood up, &c.–Eastern people are always provided with family burying-places; but Abraham’s life of faith–his pilgrim state–had prevented him acquiring even so small a possession ( Act 7:5 ).

    (Much more could be said of this place (Machpelah) and of Jacob and Esau, dreams of Israel and dreams and of prophets.  Though the time draws near, this is not yet the time for God’s revelation of the false prophet.)

    Jesus was much more than just a Prophet. Jesus was much more than just a miracle worker. Jesus was much more than a great Teacher.

    If Jesus is NOT a liar, as is Satan and are false prophets, we must hear what our Lord, this sojourner on this earth has said – all of it, including: “Before Abraham was, I AM.”

    Jesus was worshiped by Abraham and David. Jesus was worshiped by prostitutes and tax collectors.

    Jesus IS and Jesus is worshiped by disciples and followers – sojourners and pilgrims in this temporal place, residing in failing flesh seeking the miracle of His breath of cleansing Life.

    A pilgrim in the world; a sojourner in the land

    Stranger and Sojourner (In the Old Testament):

    stranj’-er:

    Four different Hebrew words must be considered separately:

    (1) ger, the American Standard Revised Version “sojourner” or “stranger”;

    (2) toshabh, the American Standard Revised Version “sojourner”;

    (3) nokhri, ben nekhar, the American Standard Revised Version “foreigner”;

    (4) zar, the American Standard Revised Version “stranger.”

    I. THE GER

    This word with its kindred verb is applied with slightly varying meanings to anyone who resides in a country or a town of which he is not a full native land-owning citizen; e.g., the word is used of the patriarchs in Palestine, the Israelites in Egypt, the Levites dwelling among the Israelites (De 18:6; Jud 17:7, etc.), the Ephraimite in Gibeah (Jud 19:16). It is also particularly used of free aliens residing among the Israelites, and it is with the position of such that this article deals. This position is absolutely unparalleled in early legal systems (A. H. Post, Grundriss der ethnologischen Jurisprudenz, I, 448, note 3), which are usually far from favorable to strangers.

    It is the following ‘legal’ principle to which we refer as ‘the golden rule’ and to which Jesus pointed out to the Pharisee Simon, in whose home He dined while the sinful woman anointed His feet with oil: 

    1. Legal Provisions:

    (1) Principles.

    The dominant principles of the legislation are most succinctly given in two passages:

    He “loveth the ger in giving him food and raiment” (De 10:18); “And if a ger sojourn with thee (variant “you”) in your land, ye shall not do him wrong.

    The ger that sojourneth with you shall be unto you as the home-born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were gerim in the land of Egypt” (Le 19:33 f).

    This treatment of the stranger is based partly on historic recollection, partly on the duty of the Israelite to his God. Because the ger would be at a natural disadvantage through his alienage, he becomes one of the favorites of a legislation that gives special protection to the weak and helpless.

    Jesus Sends Out the Twelve Apostles

    9 And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. 3 And he said to them, “Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics.

    4 And whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. 5 And wherever they do not receive you, when you leave that town shake off the dust from your feet as a testimonyagainst them.” 6 And they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.

    The Cost of Following Jesus

    57 As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”

    58 And Jesus said to him,“Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”

    59 To another he said,“Follow me.”

    But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 60 And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

    61 Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” 62 Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

    “Follow me,” says the Lord, Christ Jesus. He IS a sojourner, yet more, He IS with you.

    Our Heavenly Dwelling

    5 For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, 3 if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. 4 For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

    6 So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.

    10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

    The Ministry of Reconciliation

    11 Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others…

    14 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

    20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.