1 00:00:04,720 --> 00:00:08,360 This is ERC Sundays, the messages at Emmaus Rd. 2 00:00:08,360 --> 00:00:12,280 Church in DeWitt, Iowa. ERC is a Church of people 3 00:00:12,280 --> 00:00:15,320 striving to grow in Jesus and make him known to others through 4 00:00:15,320 --> 00:00:19,560 our faith, words and actions. Find out more about our church 5 00:00:19,600 --> 00:00:23,400 at emmausrdonline.org. Here's this week's message. 6 00:00:24,520 --> 00:00:28,280 We have We are in a series in the book of Acts called The 7 00:00:28,280 --> 00:00:31,240 Multiplying Church. And that's an appropriate name 8 00:00:31,240 --> 00:00:34,760 because in the early church that's exactly what God does in 9 00:00:34,760 --> 00:00:37,240 and through his people, He multiplies them. 10 00:00:37,600 --> 00:00:41,120 Now I'll tell you this is the 6th week that we're in this 11 00:00:41,120 --> 00:00:43,120 series and we're going to be here all summer. 12 00:00:43,120 --> 00:00:45,840 So, you know, sit back, relax, enjoy the ride. 13 00:00:46,600 --> 00:00:52,800 But up to this point, it's actually like, it's kind of been 14 00:00:52,800 --> 00:00:56,120 sun, sunshine and rainbows. Like, I mean, that like 15 00:00:56,120 --> 00:00:58,400 everything has gone really, really well. 16 00:00:58,720 --> 00:01:02,080 And so if you are like thinking about like, hey, I want, I want 17 00:01:02,080 --> 00:01:04,000 to think about church growth. I want to think about like, 18 00:01:04,519 --> 00:01:08,160 yeah, multiplying God's Kingdom. Up to this point, everything has 19 00:01:08,160 --> 00:01:11,800 gone so fantastic. People are repenting. 20 00:01:11,800 --> 00:01:15,480 They're being baptized. They've gone from about 120 21 00:01:15,480 --> 00:01:18,360 people to somewhere in the neighborhood of 5000. 22 00:01:19,040 --> 00:01:22,000 And so I mean, like that's that's a remarkable thing in and 23 00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:23,720 of itself. And so all that's great and all 24 00:01:23,720 --> 00:01:27,480 that's fun. But we're going to come to a 25 00:01:27,480 --> 00:01:32,680 point today where I think I mentioned in in the prayer, like 26 00:01:32,680 --> 00:01:35,360 we're going to hit a brick wall and it's going to hurt. 27 00:01:37,520 --> 00:01:40,440 When I say the word martyr, What do you think of the word martyr? 28 00:01:40,440 --> 00:01:45,160 What do you think of somebody being killed for their faith 29 00:01:45,320 --> 00:01:47,080 does? Is that a fair definition? 30 00:01:47,280 --> 00:01:49,120 Yes, Yeah. OK. 31 00:01:49,400 --> 00:01:50,960 We've got a lot of head nods. Good job. 32 00:01:50,960 --> 00:01:53,880 You paid attention, doing well. Keep it up. 33 00:01:54,480 --> 00:01:57,800 Well, here's the thing. I actually think that that 34 00:01:57,800 --> 00:02:00,520 working definition that we have in our heads of somebody being 35 00:02:00,520 --> 00:02:03,840 killed, biblical scholars will tell you that that's not 36 00:02:03,840 --> 00:02:07,320 actually terribly accurate. And you're like, wait a minute, 37 00:02:08,800 --> 00:02:10,400 I've never heard it any other way. 38 00:02:10,600 --> 00:02:13,960 Well, let me let me read something to you that comes from 39 00:02:14,560 --> 00:02:17,480 New Testament scholar NT, right? Here's what he says. 40 00:02:18,040 --> 00:02:20,960 The word martyr technically means witness. 41 00:02:22,040 --> 00:02:24,480 It's just a witness. He goes on to say. 42 00:02:24,480 --> 00:02:28,920 A martyr is someone who gives evidence when they do, when, 43 00:02:29,320 --> 00:02:37,640 when words read. Hold on, here we go. 44 00:02:37,640 --> 00:02:39,960 Let's try again. Why then, do we call people who 45 00:02:39,960 --> 00:02:43,200 die for their faith martyrs? Well, at one level at least. 46 00:02:43,440 --> 00:02:47,520 Because in being prepared to die for their faith, they're showing 47 00:02:47,520 --> 00:02:51,480 that they at least reckon that this faith is not just a set of 48 00:02:51,480 --> 00:02:56,920 ideas, not merely a nice religious glow, but the very 49 00:02:56,920 --> 00:03:01,480 living truth itself, worth more than one's own life. 50 00:03:01,920 --> 00:03:08,480 Which is no doubt true. So we're going to witness the 51 00:03:08,480 --> 00:03:13,160 first Christian witness, the first Christian martyr, the 52 00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:17,520 first person to die for this gospel message of Jesus Christ 53 00:03:17,800 --> 00:03:20,280 as Lord and King. And of course, that's bad for a 54 00:03:20,280 --> 00:03:23,800 number of reasons because, well, murder is bad. 55 00:03:24,480 --> 00:03:26,960 If that's a shock to you, we should probably talk after the 56 00:03:26,960 --> 00:03:29,640 service. But friends, murder is bad. 57 00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:32,840 OK, glad we got that out of the way. 58 00:03:33,360 --> 00:03:36,240 But this is bad for a whole lot of other reasons too, because 59 00:03:36,240 --> 00:03:37,680 think about where we've been so far. 60 00:03:38,200 --> 00:03:41,320 So far we've been in a place where we saw what we called the 61 00:03:41,320 --> 00:03:44,400 ideal church. We saw the church grow and 62 00:03:44,400 --> 00:03:46,680 multiply. And within that multiplication, 63 00:03:46,680 --> 00:03:49,160 it wasn't just a bunch of individuals who thought the same 64 00:03:49,160 --> 00:03:51,520 way. What happened was it was a group 65 00:03:51,520 --> 00:03:54,880 of individuals who said, you know what, I'm going to get rid 66 00:03:54,880 --> 00:03:59,640 of this me first thing and I'm going to count others needs more 67 00:03:59,640 --> 00:04:03,640 important than my own. And so we read that the church 68 00:04:03,640 --> 00:04:07,680 had all things in common, which meant that people who had an 69 00:04:07,680 --> 00:04:10,600 abundance, what they did was they let go of that. 70 00:04:10,600 --> 00:04:16,040 They let go of a lifestyle they give, they gave till it hurt so 71 00:04:16,040 --> 00:04:19,720 that other people could have the same opportunities that they do, 72 00:04:20,200 --> 00:04:21,560 right? That's really important. 73 00:04:21,920 --> 00:04:28,120 But maybe a greater extent why this hurts is because when the 74 00:04:28,120 --> 00:04:33,560 first martyrdom happens, the church scatters, It runs for the 75 00:04:33,560 --> 00:04:37,040 hills. That's a scary thing. 76 00:04:37,040 --> 00:04:40,400 And The thing is, persecution is going to come. 77 00:04:40,720 --> 00:04:43,800 If you really live out this Christian life, it's it's going 78 00:04:43,800 --> 00:04:46,840 to happen. I don't have to promise to that 79 00:04:46,840 --> 00:04:49,640 to you, because Jesus already did, and you can trust him. 80 00:04:50,320 --> 00:04:53,200 It's going to happen. And So what happens is what 81 00:04:53,640 --> 00:04:57,120 these people who these couple 1000 people, they lose their 82 00:04:57,120 --> 00:05:02,960 church family. Now, I don't know about you and 83 00:05:02,960 --> 00:05:05,480 I don't know all of you individually super well, but if 84 00:05:05,480 --> 00:05:09,600 I lost you, if I lost my church family, it would break me. 85 00:05:11,480 --> 00:05:14,760 It really would. I don't know what I would do. 86 00:05:16,800 --> 00:05:21,960 So that's why this is difficult because the church scatters and 87 00:05:21,960 --> 00:05:25,160 the family tree, the line seems to be broken. 88 00:05:25,600 --> 00:05:28,920 But here's the thing, here's what we always have to remember. 89 00:05:29,840 --> 00:05:35,360 God plays chess, not checkers. He's already 5 moves ahead of 90 00:05:35,360 --> 00:05:38,560 this scattering. And so as the people are going 91 00:05:38,560 --> 00:05:40,520 to get scattered, they're going to run for the hills. 92 00:05:40,800 --> 00:05:43,320 God is already planting seeds and he's like, you know what? 93 00:05:43,640 --> 00:05:46,120 I know it looks like this church family is dying. 94 00:05:46,320 --> 00:05:49,120 I'm going to multiply it. I'm going to move you into 95 00:05:49,120 --> 00:05:52,280 places that you never thought you would go so that I can grow 96 00:05:52,280 --> 00:05:56,080 my church, so that I can have more people meet my son Jesus 97 00:05:56,240 --> 00:05:58,240 and have their lives and their eternities changed. 98 00:05:58,520 --> 00:06:01,320 And that's the gift. That's the gift that we're going 99 00:06:01,320 --> 00:06:04,240 to see here. So let me let me just give you 100 00:06:04,920 --> 00:06:08,120 again, I know some of you are kind of your, your note takers. 101 00:06:08,120 --> 00:06:09,440 You kind of want to know what's going on. 102 00:06:09,440 --> 00:06:11,560 So let me give you where we're going and what this text is 103 00:06:11,560 --> 00:06:13,800 going to tell us today. It's going to tell us and show 104 00:06:13,800 --> 00:06:15,960 us at least three things it's going to see. 105 00:06:16,040 --> 00:06:18,640 We're going to see that the seeking and seeming devouring of 106 00:06:18,640 --> 00:06:20,000 the church. We're going to watch that 107 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:24,360 happen, and that's hard to do. But we're also going to see the 108 00:06:24,360 --> 00:06:26,840 fact that telling the truth is dangerous business. 109 00:06:27,120 --> 00:06:29,720 And some of you know that we'll get to that. 110 00:06:29,720 --> 00:06:32,320 More to that in a minute. But then through all of those 111 00:06:32,320 --> 00:06:35,120 hard things, we're going to see that God is a faithful protector 112 00:06:35,440 --> 00:06:38,360 and multiplier of His church and we can trust in that. 113 00:06:38,960 --> 00:06:42,200 We can absolutely trust in that. So let's read the text. 114 00:06:42,200 --> 00:06:45,160 We're going to be in Acts Chapter 7 and the very beginning 115 00:06:45,160 --> 00:06:47,680 of eight today if you want to follow along on your phones or 116 00:06:47,680 --> 00:06:50,160 on the screen or however that works best for you. 117 00:06:52,400 --> 00:06:55,360 We read this in the name of Jesus because it's His word. 118 00:06:56,880 --> 00:07:00,760 You stiff necked people, uncircumcised in your heart and 119 00:07:00,760 --> 00:07:02,400 in your ears. Wow, that went hard. 120 00:07:02,680 --> 00:07:07,440 Let me pause. I'm remembering I failed to set 121 00:07:07,440 --> 00:07:11,440 up this moment for you. You're like woo pastors going 122 00:07:11,440 --> 00:07:15,160 hard today. No, what happens, Steven, the 123 00:07:15,160 --> 00:07:18,640 first Christian martyr, he's been talking before basically 124 00:07:19,560 --> 00:07:22,640 the council of what we call the Sanhedrin, the religious leaders 125 00:07:22,960 --> 00:07:26,680 and he is, he is just whooped them up one side and down the 126 00:07:26,680 --> 00:07:29,040 other. He started with Moses or Abraham 127 00:07:29,200 --> 00:07:31,920 and he went through Moses and the prophet said and he said all 128 00:07:31,920 --> 00:07:34,680 these things. He's he's in court basically 129 00:07:34,680 --> 00:07:39,600 right now and he's, he's given like a 5 minute biblical history 130 00:07:39,600 --> 00:07:41,480 in like 5 minutes. He covered the entire Old 131 00:07:41,480 --> 00:07:43,200 Testament. It's really impressive. 132 00:07:43,520 --> 00:07:47,120 You should go back and read all of Chapter 7 so you can get 133 00:07:47,120 --> 00:07:50,040 this. So this is kind of the, the 134 00:07:50,040 --> 00:07:53,280 tipping point of his talk. Let me try again. 135 00:07:54,680 --> 00:07:57,520 You stiff necked people, uncircumcised in your heart and 136 00:07:57,520 --> 00:07:59,960 in your ears. You always resist the Holy 137 00:07:59,960 --> 00:08:02,680 Spirit. As your Father's did, so do you. 138 00:08:03,080 --> 00:08:06,360 Which of the prophets did your Father's not persecute? 139 00:08:06,640 --> 00:08:09,440 And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming 140 00:08:09,440 --> 00:08:12,120 of the righteous One, whom you have now betrayed. 141 00:08:12,360 --> 00:08:15,960 And you murdered you who received the law as delivered by 142 00:08:15,960 --> 00:08:21,640 angels, did not keep it. Now when they'd heard these 143 00:08:21,640 --> 00:08:26,320 things, they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. 144 00:08:26,560 --> 00:08:30,720 But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the 145 00:08:30,720 --> 00:08:34,880 glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 146 00:08:35,280 --> 00:08:39,360 And he said, Behold, I see the heavens open, and the Son of Man 147 00:08:39,360 --> 00:08:41,640 standing at the right hand of God. 148 00:08:42,919 --> 00:08:46,000 But they cried out with a loud voice, and they stopped up their 149 00:08:46,000 --> 00:08:48,080 ears, and they rushed together at him. 150 00:08:48,400 --> 00:08:51,800 Then they cast him out of the city, and they stoned him. 151 00:08:53,120 --> 00:08:56,000 And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a 152 00:08:56,000 --> 00:09:00,080 young man named Saul. And as they were storming 153 00:09:00,080 --> 00:09:04,760 Stephen, he called out, Lord Jesus, receive my Spirit. 154 00:09:11,290 --> 00:09:13,690 And falling to his knees, he cried out with a loud voice. 155 00:09:13,690 --> 00:09:16,250 Lord, do not hold this sin against them. 156 00:09:16,490 --> 00:09:20,410 And when he had said this, he fell asleep, and Saul approved 157 00:09:20,410 --> 00:09:23,680 of his execution. And there arose on that day a 158 00:09:23,680 --> 00:09:26,720 great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they 159 00:09:26,720 --> 00:09:29,760 were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and 160 00:09:29,760 --> 00:09:35,760 Samaria, except the apostles. Devout men buried Stephen and 161 00:09:35,760 --> 00:09:37,680 made a great lamentation over him. 162 00:09:38,120 --> 00:09:42,160 But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after 163 00:09:42,160 --> 00:09:45,840 house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to 164 00:09:45,840 --> 00:09:49,160 prison. Here is the reading of God's 165 00:09:49,160 --> 00:09:59,840 Word. I remember it was April 27th, 166 00:10:00,760 --> 00:10:06,160 2018. My family and I and A friend 167 00:10:06,560 --> 00:10:11,080 were in downtown Chicago. It was opening night of this 168 00:10:11,080 --> 00:10:15,440 movie that you see a photo from Avengers Infinity War. 169 00:10:16,280 --> 00:10:20,400 Now if you don't know, it's OK. Your pastor is a comic book 170 00:10:20,400 --> 00:10:21,280 nerd. It's fine. 171 00:10:21,840 --> 00:10:25,520 It's fine. Don't worry about it, but what 172 00:10:25,520 --> 00:10:31,240 this movie was, it was the build up of a 10 year group of movies 173 00:10:31,240 --> 00:10:34,800 all coming up to a head. So 10 years worth of movies. 174 00:10:35,000 --> 00:10:37,800 If you want to go back and watch them in order, you just need to 175 00:10:37,800 --> 00:10:41,520 give up about 36 hours of your life. 176 00:10:42,800 --> 00:10:46,280 I feel like it's worth it. Just letting you know, I feel 177 00:10:46,280 --> 00:10:49,080 like it's worth it and I won't give too much away. 178 00:10:49,080 --> 00:10:51,840 But here's the thing, we see this character, his name is 179 00:10:51,840 --> 00:10:54,840 Thanos. In Greek, that means death. 180 00:10:54,960 --> 00:10:57,280 It means Thanatos, it means death. 181 00:10:57,600 --> 00:11:01,360 So we see this character at the end of the movie and he's really 182 00:11:01,360 --> 00:11:05,160 happy. He's really happy. 183 00:11:06,200 --> 00:11:09,000 I won't give you any details if you haven't seen it, but this 184 00:11:09,000 --> 00:11:12,120 character named Death is really happy at the end of the movie. 185 00:11:12,440 --> 00:11:14,360 And when I say the end of the movie, I mean the end. 186 00:11:15,000 --> 00:11:18,720 Like this is the last thing screen goes black. 187 00:11:19,880 --> 00:11:22,480 When I was there with my family and the theater was sold out in 188 00:11:22,480 --> 00:11:25,960 downtown Chicago, the screen went black and we all just went. 189 00:11:32,720 --> 00:11:35,960 I, I, I found I, I had this ridiculous feeling in the pit of 190 00:11:35,960 --> 00:11:38,600 my stomach that no movie had ever caused me to have before. 191 00:11:38,800 --> 00:11:41,520 And so I went back and I and I went, what did other people 192 00:11:41,520 --> 00:11:43,480 think? And this is what came out of 193 00:11:43,480 --> 00:11:45,040 this. A lot of why's and what's my 194 00:11:45,040 --> 00:11:48,320 fiance and I spent the credits just staring in shock. 195 00:11:48,480 --> 00:11:51,600 I just ugly cried right there. And I didn't even care who was 196 00:11:51,600 --> 00:11:53,320 watching. Everyone walked out of the 197 00:11:53,320 --> 00:11:55,360 theater silent. Everyone was so sad. 198 00:11:56,920 --> 00:12:00,680 I will tell you, I experienced all those things and I, I'm not 199 00:12:00,680 --> 00:12:04,480 afraid to say it. Weird moment. 200 00:12:05,040 --> 00:12:10,600 Weird moment, but it was true. Why do I bring all this up? 201 00:12:13,400 --> 00:12:15,760 Because sometimes it looks like the bad guy wins. 202 00:12:17,880 --> 00:12:21,480 That's what it looks like. It looks like that the bad guy 203 00:12:21,760 --> 00:12:27,160 gets to win. Saul, who we read about in this 204 00:12:27,160 --> 00:12:33,320 text, he's a Deathbringer. He is the exterminator of the 205 00:12:33,320 --> 00:12:40,280 early church and we can imagine where we stopped in Acts chapter 206 00:12:40,280 --> 00:12:42,960 8, verse 3. We can imagine that he had a 207 00:12:42,960 --> 00:12:45,040 smile on his face the way that Thanos did. 208 00:12:46,680 --> 00:12:50,520 As he's dragging people out of their homes and putting them in 209 00:12:50,520 --> 00:12:53,440 jail and approving the fact that they're going to be murdered on 210 00:12:53,440 --> 00:12:56,880 the spot. We can see him smiling like the 211 00:12:56,880 --> 00:13:02,440 villain he is. I want to show you something 212 00:13:02,440 --> 00:13:04,800 here that is kind of interesting. 213 00:13:05,400 --> 00:13:08,240 That word ravaging in the Greek, you know what that really means? 214 00:13:08,240 --> 00:13:12,440 It's it brings the idea of a wild animal ripping apart its 215 00:13:12,440 --> 00:13:16,800 prey without any concern for the harm it's doing. 216 00:13:17,640 --> 00:13:20,560 That's what Saul is doing. He's ripping apart people and 217 00:13:20,560 --> 00:13:24,280 he's ripping apart the church with no moral issue about it. 218 00:13:25,680 --> 00:13:31,480 It's a terrible moment. There's, there's this, I read 219 00:13:31,480 --> 00:13:34,640 this commentary and it really, it puts it in a, in a really 220 00:13:34,640 --> 00:13:36,520 interesting way and I wanted to read it to you. 221 00:13:37,000 --> 00:13:39,840 The New Testament record of Saul's persecution of the church 222 00:13:39,840 --> 00:13:43,480 leaves no doubt of the savagery and the brutality with which it 223 00:13:43,480 --> 00:13:46,560 was carried forward. There is no consideration of age 224 00:13:46,560 --> 00:13:50,760 or sex or other circumstances. The youth ability and energetic 225 00:13:50,760 --> 00:13:55,400 zeal of the leading persecutor, revealed here as Saul, testify 226 00:13:55,640 --> 00:13:59,480 to the bitterness and the fury with which the Sanhedrin 227 00:13:59,800 --> 00:14:05,520 brought, brought, or was sought to exterminate Christianity. 228 00:14:07,080 --> 00:14:11,200 And you see, as much as God is at work through his Holy Spirit, 229 00:14:11,200 --> 00:14:13,440 through his people, Satan is at work too. 230 00:14:14,120 --> 00:14:15,720 We should not be surprised by that. 231 00:14:15,720 --> 00:14:18,760 And if you are, again, we should probably talk after the service. 232 00:14:20,320 --> 00:14:22,320 Here's here, let me give you a little fun fact. 233 00:14:22,920 --> 00:14:27,560 In 37 AD, just a couple years after Jesus was crucified in in 234 00:14:27,560 --> 00:14:31,320 ascends to heaven, as the young church is getting started, there 235 00:14:31,320 --> 00:14:35,880 was a time frame where there was no Roman emperor in Israel. 236 00:14:36,640 --> 00:14:40,680 Do you know what that means? That means that these religious 237 00:14:41,440 --> 00:14:45,600 these religious leaders, they had the full run of the law. 238 00:14:46,040 --> 00:14:48,680 They could do whatever they wanted to anybody they wanted 239 00:14:48,840 --> 00:14:50,520 and there was no one there to stop them. 240 00:14:51,400 --> 00:14:57,600 Imagine, imagine if right here in DeWitt, any police presence, 241 00:14:57,600 --> 00:15:02,200 any, any civil presence at all, which stop people from harming 242 00:15:02,200 --> 00:15:04,880 other people. Just exited the building, just 243 00:15:04,880 --> 00:15:08,520 gone. Now, at first you say, well, 244 00:15:08,520 --> 00:15:11,880 we're all civil people. We're not like these Barbarians 245 00:15:11,880 --> 00:15:13,760 who murder people because of their opinion. 246 00:15:14,080 --> 00:15:15,800 Oh, I don't think we're that much different. 247 00:15:16,680 --> 00:15:20,560 You might be surprised what happens when somebody disagrees 248 00:15:20,560 --> 00:15:22,960 with you and then throws that in your face. 249 00:15:26,320 --> 00:15:31,400 Rage is very real, friends. I'll tell you something else. 250 00:15:32,280 --> 00:15:35,920 Satan is still trying to devour the church today, as he did in 251 00:15:35,920 --> 00:15:37,960 the 1st century. He's still trying. 252 00:15:37,960 --> 00:15:40,480 And I'm going to give you 3 quick ways that he does that. 253 00:15:40,480 --> 00:15:43,200 Because I think if we can recognize these things as 254 00:15:43,200 --> 00:15:47,680 they're happening in and through US sinful people in real time, 255 00:15:47,680 --> 00:15:50,560 if we can kind of see them for what they are, we have a chance 256 00:15:50,560 --> 00:15:53,440 to maybe work against it a little bit. 257 00:15:53,600 --> 00:15:56,920 So first and foremost, Satan is trying to devour his church 258 00:15:57,640 --> 00:16:02,160 through division. We're all sitting here. 259 00:16:02,640 --> 00:16:04,880 Not that many of us are probably related. 260 00:16:04,880 --> 00:16:06,640 I know it's a small town. So you look around, you're like, 261 00:16:06,640 --> 00:16:08,720 no, that's my second cousin twice removed, blah, blah. 262 00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:11,680 OK, fine. But like we're all sitting here 263 00:16:11,680 --> 00:16:14,320 as individual people, a part of different families and and all 264 00:16:14,320 --> 00:16:17,120 this kind of stuff for one reason, because we have Jesus 265 00:16:17,120 --> 00:16:19,880 Christ as our Lord and King. Or maybe because somebody drug 266 00:16:19,880 --> 00:16:24,760 you here. I don't know the man. 267 00:16:25,960 --> 00:16:27,680 Where's, where does division come in? 268 00:16:28,240 --> 00:16:31,080 So many different personalities, so many different opinions. 269 00:16:31,320 --> 00:16:33,840 If we decide to change the carpet tomorrow, we might have a 270 00:16:33,840 --> 00:16:37,720 problem because we're going to have people are like, Oh no, 271 00:16:37,720 --> 00:16:39,280 that's too bright. No, that's too dark. 272 00:16:39,480 --> 00:16:43,520 The coffee stains will show up. You know, we're going to have 273 00:16:43,520 --> 00:16:46,120 division, man. We need to guard against that. 274 00:16:47,200 --> 00:16:50,880 We need to guard against that. There is a biblical way to work 275 00:16:50,880 --> 00:16:53,840 out division and I don't have time to get into all that today, 276 00:16:53,840 --> 00:16:56,760 but there is a biblical standard of how we disagree. 277 00:16:58,080 --> 00:17:02,440 Let me keep moving forward. Satan wants to devour God's 278 00:17:02,440 --> 00:17:04,200 church through twisting of his word. 279 00:17:04,640 --> 00:17:06,720 We heard Pastor Mattis, he started the service this 280 00:17:06,720 --> 00:17:09,359 morning, talk about the importance of keeping God's word 281 00:17:09,359 --> 00:17:12,359 first, keeping that at the forefront of our minds, keeping 282 00:17:12,359 --> 00:17:17,920 it authentic. I love to have my ears tickled 283 00:17:17,920 --> 00:17:19,839 as much as anybody else and be told I'm right. 284 00:17:20,079 --> 00:17:24,760 But then again, God's word has supreme authority over what's 285 00:17:24,760 --> 00:17:27,079 right and wrong. And the second I disagree with 286 00:17:27,079 --> 00:17:30,520 that, I've twisted it and made it something that suits me and 287 00:17:30,520 --> 00:17:38,200 that's no longer helpful. One more God wants to or Satan 288 00:17:38,320 --> 00:17:42,520 would love to devour the church through apathetic Christians. 289 00:17:43,160 --> 00:17:46,160 What I'm, what I mean by that he would love to devour the church 290 00:17:46,440 --> 00:17:50,360 by get by, by finding Christians who are just very casual, like, 291 00:17:50,360 --> 00:17:52,160 yeah, I don't know, like it's cool. 292 00:17:52,160 --> 00:17:56,200 Like I go to church, like, I don't know when I'm not tired. 293 00:17:57,360 --> 00:17:59,040 If I did that, I would never be here. 294 00:18:01,640 --> 00:18:06,240 No, but through, through just apathy of, of our faith, man, 295 00:18:06,240 --> 00:18:08,600 it's really easy to get real casual and just kind of go, 296 00:18:08,600 --> 00:18:10,640 yeah. I, I haven't been a part of my 297 00:18:10,640 --> 00:18:12,440 church family. I haven't been in the midst of 298 00:18:12,440 --> 00:18:14,080 my community in a while, but it's fine. 299 00:18:14,080 --> 00:18:15,000 I've been busy. It's fine. 300 00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:20,000 Don't even worry about it, man. That level of apathy, Satan will 301 00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:22,840 get inside and he will grow like a tumor. 302 00:18:26,520 --> 00:18:29,320 So what are we supposed to do? What are we supposed to do about 303 00:18:29,320 --> 00:18:31,920 that? We need to encourage each other. 304 00:18:32,440 --> 00:18:34,040 We need to hold each other accountable. 305 00:18:34,200 --> 00:18:36,280 We need to do conflict the right way. 306 00:18:36,280 --> 00:18:38,800 And I don't have time to get into the details of all those 307 00:18:38,800 --> 00:18:42,320 things, but that's the start. And more than anything, man, we 308 00:18:42,320 --> 00:18:46,920 need to speak the truth, the truth that goes beyond feelings. 309 00:18:47,600 --> 00:18:52,120 Now I will tell you .2 the truth is dangerous. 310 00:18:52,680 --> 00:18:55,200 Let me give you kind of a silly example because I'm kind of a 311 00:18:55,200 --> 00:19:05,000 silly person. OK, so if your spouse wants to 312 00:19:05,000 --> 00:19:09,280 walk out of the house looking like a blue Christmas tree where 313 00:19:09,280 --> 00:19:13,840 their head is the star on top and they're like, what do you 314 00:19:13,840 --> 00:19:20,200 think of my outfit? You might be like, oh, that's 315 00:19:21,080 --> 00:19:24,320 fashionable. But you might. 316 00:19:25,080 --> 00:19:26,800 Here's the thing. If you tell that person the 317 00:19:26,800 --> 00:19:31,400 truth, you might be in trouble. Or let's say your husband is 318 00:19:31,400 --> 00:19:34,280 like, well, it's casual day. I just got done mowing. 319 00:19:34,520 --> 00:19:37,280 I need to go to the store and I'm wearing my mowing shorts to 320 00:19:37,280 --> 00:19:42,360 the store. Oh, buddy women, you might want 321 00:19:42,360 --> 00:19:45,600 to say that's a little bright up top. 322 00:19:47,200 --> 00:19:49,880 Maybe you shouldn't wear that. But here's the thing. 323 00:19:49,880 --> 00:19:52,720 That person could get very angry because how dare you. 324 00:19:52,720 --> 00:19:57,120 I I look good in this. How how dare you friends, that 325 00:19:57,120 --> 00:20:00,560 is a ridiculous illustration to prove the point that telling the 326 00:20:00,560 --> 00:20:02,760 truth is dangerous. But that's real. 327 00:20:03,880 --> 00:20:09,760 If your if your spouse, if you feel like your spouse dressed in 328 00:20:09,760 --> 00:20:13,520 an embarrassing way to come to church, please don't look at 329 00:20:13,520 --> 00:20:15,720 them right now. Don't elbow them. 330 00:20:16,480 --> 00:20:19,440 Don't do any of that because then when you guys start a fight 331 00:20:19,440 --> 00:20:21,920 because you told the truth, you're going to blame it on me. 332 00:20:22,400 --> 00:20:25,120 Don't do that. Just just let it die. 333 00:20:25,200 --> 00:20:28,440 Let it die. I I'm sorry. 334 00:20:28,760 --> 00:20:30,840 I shouldn't have even Dom and I talked about this. 335 00:20:30,840 --> 00:20:32,560 I shouldn't have even used that illustration, but I did. 336 00:20:32,560 --> 00:20:34,600 It's too late. Oh, here's the thing. 337 00:20:37,160 --> 00:20:39,520 Telling the truth hurts, it really does. 338 00:20:39,720 --> 00:20:42,400 And when Steven tells these people the truth, this is what 339 00:20:42,400 --> 00:20:43,880 he says. You stiff neck people, 340 00:20:43,880 --> 00:20:46,280 uncircumcised in your heart and your ears, you always read this 341 00:20:46,280 --> 00:20:48,640 Holy Spirit. He goes on to say you, you who 342 00:20:48,640 --> 00:20:52,200 received the law as delivered by angels, you didn't even keep it. 343 00:20:54,000 --> 00:20:56,960 What does he mean? Well, this idea of being stiff 344 00:20:56,960 --> 00:21:00,000 necked and kind of stopped up in the ears, the idea is like 345 00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:03,520 you're just stubborn. You can't receive criticism. 346 00:21:04,480 --> 00:21:07,360 You're too hard hearted. You're always right. 347 00:21:07,840 --> 00:21:09,720 You've probably worked with somebody like that. 348 00:21:10,880 --> 00:21:12,880 You're helping them, you're trying to get them to do their 349 00:21:12,880 --> 00:21:15,960 job more efficiently and they're like, no, no, no, I got this. 350 00:21:15,960 --> 00:21:19,800 I know how to do it. Aren't those people fun? 351 00:21:20,400 --> 00:21:23,960 What's more fun is if I say that and you're like, oh, no, I am 352 00:21:23,960 --> 00:21:25,960 that person. Oops. 353 00:21:29,960 --> 00:21:35,840 But that's what the idea when, when they hear this, they 354 00:21:35,840 --> 00:21:40,200 literally close their ears, They cannot take the the criticism. 355 00:21:41,160 --> 00:21:43,880 I'll tell you what, if you've got thin skin and you can't take 356 00:21:43,880 --> 00:21:46,920 criticism, I'm going to tell you why you, you feel that way. 357 00:21:47,280 --> 00:21:49,400 It's because your identity is in the wrong place. 358 00:21:50,720 --> 00:21:52,360 Your identity isn't where it belongs. 359 00:21:52,600 --> 00:21:57,120 Because if my identity is firmly put in the place of what Jesus 360 00:21:57,120 --> 00:22:00,200 Christ says about me, you can be like, hey, Pastor Chris, that 361 00:22:00,200 --> 00:22:02,680 joke didn't land. And I think your sermon stunk. 362 00:22:03,280 --> 00:22:09,800 I'd be like, oh man, that's too bad, OK, and I move on with my 363 00:22:09,800 --> 00:22:12,360 day. I'm not being insensitive to 364 00:22:12,360 --> 00:22:15,560 your opinion, but guess what? You can't hurt my identity with 365 00:22:15,560 --> 00:22:18,520 what you criticized me with because my identity isn't found 366 00:22:18,520 --> 00:22:21,440 in my performance. Lord help you, I hope you're the 367 00:22:21,440 --> 00:22:24,320 same way. I will walk off this stage today 368 00:22:24,520 --> 00:22:27,080 and I will feel just fine. Regardless of what you think. 369 00:22:28,720 --> 00:22:31,200 That's the way it is because I know who I am. 370 00:22:32,160 --> 00:22:35,720 I know whose I am. I know that Jesus Christ calls 371 00:22:35,720 --> 00:22:38,280 me his beloved Son. I know that he calls me 372 00:22:38,280 --> 00:22:40,480 forgiven. I know that I don't need to have 373 00:22:40,480 --> 00:22:42,600 any shame. That's awesome. 374 00:22:43,280 --> 00:22:45,440 I hope you find that freedom too, because it's pretty great. 375 00:22:46,240 --> 00:22:47,960 It allows you to do things like this. 376 00:22:49,560 --> 00:22:51,880 It's awesome. Let me bring out one more thing. 377 00:22:52,120 --> 00:22:55,880 He mentions to them, oh so gently, that they received the 378 00:22:55,880 --> 00:22:57,240 law, but they don't even keep it. 379 00:22:57,640 --> 00:23:01,080 Here's what he means by that. Essentially what he's saying is 380 00:23:01,680 --> 00:23:05,560 God gave you the law so that you can love and glorify and bless 381 00:23:05,560 --> 00:23:09,720 Him and care about those people who need your care. 382 00:23:10,000 --> 00:23:12,680 That's what the law does. If you sum up all 10 383 00:23:12,680 --> 00:23:15,080 commandments, if you sum up the law, it's all about that. 384 00:23:15,080 --> 00:23:17,840 It's all about honoring and worshiping and loving God and 385 00:23:17,840 --> 00:23:20,640 then treating other people the way we want to be treated. 386 00:23:20,960 --> 00:23:25,080 Kindergarten lessons, friends, very simple, not complex at all. 387 00:23:25,360 --> 00:23:28,000 And he said what you do is you've created these man made 388 00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:32,000 customs, these traditions so that you can circumvent the law 389 00:23:32,240 --> 00:23:33,920 and you can still feel good about yourself. 390 00:23:34,080 --> 00:23:36,200 You can still look right, you can still act right. 391 00:23:36,280 --> 00:23:37,640 You can still hang out with the right people. 392 00:23:37,640 --> 00:23:40,080 You can say the right things and everyone will go, oh, they're so 393 00:23:40,080 --> 00:23:41,320 cool. No, you're not. 394 00:23:42,440 --> 00:23:44,640 No, you're not. You're not keeping the law. 395 00:23:45,080 --> 00:23:48,160 You just look like you are and that is not helpful. 396 00:23:48,440 --> 00:23:53,320 So what happens ultimately, Steven, is drug out of town. 397 00:23:54,720 --> 00:23:58,120 We can understand that quite literally that they drug him out 398 00:23:58,120 --> 00:24:00,120 of the city, right? We can do that. 399 00:24:00,520 --> 00:24:03,880 And what historians tell us is that as they drug him out of the 400 00:24:03,880 --> 00:24:07,680 city, they most likely found a small pit where you were digging 401 00:24:07,680 --> 00:24:10,520 out stone and rock so that you can build buildings. 402 00:24:10,520 --> 00:24:12,000 And so you shove them down in there. 403 00:24:12,320 --> 00:24:15,160 And then what do you do? You take all those stones that 404 00:24:15,160 --> 00:24:17,320 we're going to use to build a building and you drop them on 405 00:24:17,320 --> 00:24:31,960 his head until he's dead. Now Steven is judged by a human 406 00:24:31,960 --> 00:24:36,920 court and he is found guilty. And the thing about Steven is, 407 00:24:37,160 --> 00:24:42,320 is that he has no advocate. He has no advocate, no one to 408 00:24:42,320 --> 00:24:47,760 stand up for him. But then he sees something full 409 00:24:47,760 --> 00:24:49,560 of the Holy Spirit. He gazed in heaven and he saw 410 00:24:49,560 --> 00:24:51,760 the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of 411 00:24:51,760 --> 00:24:53,520 God. And he said, behold, I see the 412 00:24:53,520 --> 00:24:56,920 heavens opened up and I see the Son of Man standing at the right 413 00:24:56,920 --> 00:24:58,240 hand of God. Why is that weird? 414 00:24:58,520 --> 00:25:02,320 Because everywhere else in the Bible we see when, when, when 415 00:25:02,320 --> 00:25:04,560 people see Jesus, he's, he's seated. 416 00:25:05,040 --> 00:25:06,960 Why is he seated? Because the work's done. 417 00:25:07,800 --> 00:25:10,760 And so he's resting and he's resting and interceding for his 418 00:25:10,760 --> 00:25:12,640 people. But Stephen sees something 419 00:25:12,640 --> 00:25:14,800 different, and we should take note. 420 00:25:15,040 --> 00:25:18,160 Why would Jesus be standing? Let me ask you a different 421 00:25:18,160 --> 00:25:23,400 question, friends. If you're in a courtroom, who's 422 00:25:23,400 --> 00:25:27,680 the person standing up? It's probably the defense 423 00:25:27,680 --> 00:25:29,680 counsel. I know you had an answer. 424 00:25:31,080 --> 00:25:34,360 It's probably the the defense counsel making the case. 425 00:25:35,360 --> 00:25:41,720 So here's the thing, Steven, he has the, he has somebody 426 00:25:41,720 --> 00:25:44,160 defending him now. Not on this side of heaven, 427 00:25:44,920 --> 00:25:48,680 unfortunately, but he's got somebody to defend him in the 428 00:25:48,680 --> 00:25:51,440 heavenly courts, the only courts that matter, the only courts 429 00:25:51,440 --> 00:25:55,440 whose decisions last forever, Steven has Jesus Christ standing 430 00:25:55,440 --> 00:25:57,800 and defending him. And guess what, friends, you do 431 00:25:57,800 --> 00:25:59,600 too. Sometimes you won't feel like 432 00:25:59,600 --> 00:26:01,240 it. Sometimes you'll think, oh man, 433 00:26:01,240 --> 00:26:04,560 I've blown it again. I've blown it again. 434 00:26:05,120 --> 00:26:06,200 I've said I wasn't going to do it. 435 00:26:06,200 --> 00:26:09,320 And I did it again and again. And I'm, I'm never going to get 436 00:26:09,320 --> 00:26:11,080 this thing right. But you know what, in those 437 00:26:11,080 --> 00:26:14,840 moments, I want you to imagine, I want you to remember that in 438 00:26:14,840 --> 00:26:18,000 the throne of heaven, you have Jesus Christ standing up for you 439 00:26:18,240 --> 00:26:21,160 and all the things that are thrown at you, all the truth 440 00:26:21,160 --> 00:26:23,520 bombs that are like, well, he did that and that and that and 441 00:26:23,520 --> 00:26:25,080 that. Yep, sure did. 442 00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:27,840 But I paid for that. I paid for that. 443 00:26:29,240 --> 00:26:32,320 Therefore you cannot find him guilty because I already took 444 00:26:32,320 --> 00:26:35,120 the punishment of that. And God is just. 445 00:26:35,280 --> 00:26:37,720 Therefore, he will not punish the same crime twice. 446 00:26:39,600 --> 00:26:47,560 We have a a defense attorney who proves us innocent. 447 00:26:47,920 --> 00:26:52,000 No matter what you've done. That should give us great hope 448 00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:53,880 and encouragement. And it did for Steven. 449 00:26:54,360 --> 00:26:56,400 It did for Steven. Because here's the thing, 450 00:26:57,040 --> 00:27:02,760 Steven, by the power of the Holy Spirit, he sees this, he sees 451 00:27:02,760 --> 00:27:05,640 this fragile life and this fragile body going away. 452 00:27:05,800 --> 00:27:08,200 He feels that. I have 0 doubt about that. 453 00:27:09,840 --> 00:27:11,840 And you know what? He dies in peace. 454 00:27:14,240 --> 00:27:18,520 He dies as somebody who is OK with what's happening. 455 00:27:19,480 --> 00:27:22,800 That's ridiculous. That doesn't even make sense. 456 00:27:23,160 --> 00:27:25,600 And, and here's the thing, we could say, oh, that's really 457 00:27:25,600 --> 00:27:26,480 cool. He died in peace. 458 00:27:26,480 --> 00:27:29,080 And man, I hope when I die, I'm like peaceful and it's not 459 00:27:29,080 --> 00:27:30,520 painful and I hope it doesn't hurt. 460 00:27:30,520 --> 00:27:33,120 And I'm afraid not. Stephen. 461 00:27:33,640 --> 00:27:34,880 Why do you think he could do that? 462 00:27:35,520 --> 00:27:36,440 Why do you think he could do that? 463 00:27:36,800 --> 00:27:40,840 I'll give you something. God, in his goodness to us, 464 00:27:41,200 --> 00:27:45,040 there are moments where He opens up our vision to see things that 465 00:27:45,040 --> 00:27:47,240 are right here that we can't see. 466 00:27:48,080 --> 00:27:51,840 Stephen had that. I don't know how many of you, 467 00:27:52,520 --> 00:27:55,600 Lord help you. I just thought about, I'm 468 00:27:55,600 --> 00:28:01,680 wearing my Hospice jacket today. I have been in rooms where 469 00:28:01,680 --> 00:28:07,360 people are dying and they see something. 470 00:28:09,360 --> 00:28:14,560 They see something that I can't describe, but they see something 471 00:28:14,560 --> 00:28:20,400 that gives them peace. I fully believe in my heart that 472 00:28:20,400 --> 00:28:23,160 just like Stephen, they're seeing what God is going to 473 00:28:23,160 --> 00:28:26,560 reveal to them so that way they can move forward in their 474 00:28:26,560 --> 00:28:30,360 existence in peace. And because you can move forward 475 00:28:30,360 --> 00:28:32,000 in peace, you know what you can do? 476 00:28:32,080 --> 00:28:35,160 You can exercise radical forgiveness. 477 00:28:36,440 --> 00:28:39,160 Radical forgiveness. There is no reason why Stephen 478 00:28:39,160 --> 00:28:41,720 should have been able to have boulders dropped on his head and 479 00:28:41,720 --> 00:28:43,760 said, Lord, don't hold it against them. 480 00:28:44,000 --> 00:28:46,480 The only reason why he can do that is because God showed him 481 00:28:46,480 --> 00:28:48,840 something remarkable. God showed him something that 482 00:28:48,840 --> 00:28:52,800 makes the pains and the hurts of this world seem mundane and 483 00:28:52,800 --> 00:28:56,040 small. That's what he saw. 484 00:28:58,720 --> 00:29:00,640 Friends, I believe God still reveals that. 485 00:29:01,280 --> 00:29:04,480 I believe that He reveals things that allow us to be radically 486 00:29:04,480 --> 00:29:07,160 forgiving, forgiving of those who don't deserve it. 487 00:29:07,280 --> 00:29:09,080 Why? Because He forgave us when we 488 00:29:09,080 --> 00:29:16,500 didn't deserve it. And here's the whole point. 489 00:29:16,500 --> 00:29:24,810 The whole point is there's no reason for you to hold on to any 490 00:29:24,810 --> 00:29:29,170 bitterness, any sour feelings. You walked in here with some. 491 00:29:29,170 --> 00:29:33,880 I have little doubt about that. But there's no reason to hold on 492 00:29:33,880 --> 00:29:34,840 to those things. Why? 493 00:29:36,320 --> 00:29:40,320 Because Jesus Christ, when he was on the cross, they gave him 494 00:29:40,320 --> 00:29:42,840 the bitter drink and he drank it. 495 00:29:44,280 --> 00:29:49,720 He took that bitterness, He drank it down so that you don't 496 00:29:49,720 --> 00:29:52,560 have to. So friends, whatever you're 497 00:29:52,720 --> 00:29:55,960 harboring, man, let that stuff go. 498 00:29:59,360 --> 00:30:02,240 It doesn't belong in your life, doesn't belong in your heart. 499 00:30:03,440 --> 00:30:06,200 It's not for you. Jesus drank that for you. 500 00:30:06,200 --> 00:30:08,760 What are you doing? Get rid of it. 501 00:30:11,680 --> 00:30:15,720 Another thing, there's no reason to worry about rejection. 502 00:30:16,520 --> 00:30:19,040 Stephen was clearly rejected by a human court. 503 00:30:20,400 --> 00:30:24,040 We don't need to fear rejection of man even when we tell a hard 504 00:30:24,040 --> 00:30:27,800 truth, because Jesus was rejected for us, so that we can 505 00:30:27,800 --> 00:30:33,680 come home, so that we have this great opportunity to see Christ 506 00:30:33,760 --> 00:30:38,600 embrace us, to feel eternity of joy and peace. 507 00:30:41,160 --> 00:30:47,480 And finally, you look death right in the face and you say 508 00:30:47,480 --> 00:30:56,080 you can't hurt me. I will, I will because I know 509 00:30:56,080 --> 00:30:59,480 that Jesus died for me and because he lives, I will live. 510 00:31:01,880 --> 00:31:06,040 So you look at right in the face and you say, you know what, you 511 00:31:06,040 --> 00:31:08,080 can't hurt me, you're only going to make me better. 512 00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:15,720 That's what it's going to do. Have No Fear because your God 513 00:31:15,720 --> 00:31:18,880 loves you and he's waiting to embrace you and he will. 514 00:31:20,360 --> 00:31:26,920 Let's pray. Our Father in Heaven, you are 515 00:31:26,920 --> 00:31:33,360 gracious beyond what we deserve. Your mercy goes beyond our human 516 00:31:33,360 --> 00:31:36,120 understanding, but you give it to us anyway. 517 00:31:38,640 --> 00:31:44,520 Father, it is my deep spirit filled prayer that we would let 518 00:31:44,520 --> 00:31:47,920 go of those things that you've already taken away from us. 519 00:31:50,920 --> 00:31:55,280 Lord, give us hearts for radical forgiveness the way you have 520 00:31:55,280 --> 00:31:59,080 forgiven us so that we might live free. 521 00:32:01,600 --> 00:32:06,200 And Lord, you know the heart of every single person in this 522 00:32:06,200 --> 00:32:08,360 room. You know what they're holding on 523 00:32:08,360 --> 00:32:12,520 to by your spirit, by the power of your spirit. 524 00:32:12,760 --> 00:32:18,320 I pray that they would let it go, that it would not hold them 525 00:32:18,320 --> 00:32:21,960 hostage anymore. That just like Stephen, we can 526 00:32:22,160 --> 00:32:29,680 see you and we can have peace. Lord God, give us the grace that 527 00:32:29,680 --> 00:32:32,520 we need. Fill us with your Spirit that we 528 00:32:32,520 --> 00:32:34,920 might live the way you want us to live, and that we might 529 00:32:34,920 --> 00:32:37,720 worship the way you want us to worship so that we can come 530 00:32:37,720 --> 00:32:42,720 home. Father, it's a big prayer, but 531 00:32:42,720 --> 00:32:44,880 you're a big God and I know you'll do it. 532 00:32:45,880 --> 00:32:48,960 And so we pray all these things in the name of Jesus Christ, who 533 00:32:48,960 --> 00:32:51,440 is our Lord and our King. Amen. 534 00:32:55,320 --> 00:32:57,560 Thanks for listening to ERC Sundays. 535 00:32:57,880 --> 00:33:00,040 To support the work God is doing at Emmaus Rd. 536 00:33:00,040 --> 00:33:04,040 Church, visit emmausrdonline.org/giving.