
The Unstoppable Force, The Church
Acts 7:51-60 (NLT)
The Unstoppable Force, The Church 07 | Mick Veach | lead pastor | first aired on 07.18.2021
Read Scripture
“You stubborn people! You are heathen at heart and deaf to the truth. Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit? That’s what your ancestors did, and so do you! Name one prophet your ancestors didn’t persecute! They even killed the ones who predicted the coming of the Righteous One—the Messiah whom you betrayed and murdered. You deliberately disobeyed God’s law, even though you received it from the hands of angels.”
The Jewish leaders were infuriated by Stephen’s accusation, and they shook their fists at him in rage. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily into heaven and saw the glory of God, and he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand. And he told them, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand!”
Then they put their hands over their ears and began shouting. They rushed at him and dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. His accusers took off their coats and laid them at the feet of a young man named Saul.
As they stoned him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” He fell to his knees, shouting, “Lord, don’t charge them with this sin!” And with that, he died. —Acts 7:51-60 (NLT)
1 ) Review
a ) Jesus ascends to heaven
b ) The Holy Spirit descends and fills the believers
c ) The church is birthed
d ) Miracles begin to occur
e ) Opposition begins but Peter and the church Pray
f ) Stephen is arrested
2 ) There is one thing that always occurs when the Holy Spirit is moving
a ) Conflict will arise because of Satan’s attacks
Internally
Externally
3 ) It is my desire that by the end of this sermon series you will:
a ) A better appreciation for the early church
b ) Have learned the principles that the early church used
c ) Decide to get on mission and do it together with others
4 ) Stephen’s speech is full of historical context
a ) He is explaining that he comes from the same heritage as the council but with a different outcome
b ) He explains it all begins with Abraham
1 ) A nation will arise
2 ) A land will be possessed
3 ) A covenant of circumcision
c ) Jacob has 12 sons and Joseph saves them while in charge in Egypt
d ) Moses is raised up by God to deliver them after many years in Egypt and was to take them into the promised land
e ) David and Solomon lead the nation to building a Temple
5 ) This was to point to a greater day when a Messiah would bring the true kingdom but they missed it
6 ) We learn three things from the Stephen in this passage that we must apply as we finish the mission of Jesus
Three Lessons learned from Stephen
I.
A. Verse 51 — Stephen comes down hard on them and calls them out as
- Stubborn
- Uncircumcised at the heart
- Deaf to the truth
- Resist the Holy Spirit
B. Verse 52-53 — Evil has been at the core of their hearts for a long time
- They deliberately disobey God’s law
C. We must remember that Stephen is not an apostle
- He is a table waiter
- He is full of the Holy Spirit
D. He teaches us that we are all called to proclaim or preach the Truth
E. He teaches us that his confidence and courage comes directly from the Holy Spirit
- 2 Timothy 1:7 — No Fear—when connected with the Holy Spirit
- Matthew 10 — Jesus said, don’t worry about what they can do to you, they can only kill you…
F. He teaches us to preach with urgency and passion
- 2 Timothy 4:2 — Preach and be ready in season and out of season to give a reason for your faith
G. We should not preach if
- Our lives don’t live up to what we proclaim
- Hypocrisy
- We don’t truly care for those we are engaging
- We only desire to win a debate or prove we are right
- We are demonstrating self-righteousness
H. Before you begin to proclaim the Truth, you must
- Know what you believe
- Know why you believe it
- Never sway from it
I. We live in a day where Truth is quickly fading away
- Everyone does as they see fit in their own eyes…
Key Point — The key to proclaiming the Truth is that you must first believe it
II. Be
A. Verse 54 — The religious leaders were so enraged that they were grinding their teeth at Stephen
Their demonic strongholds were now overtly revealing themselves
Scripture declares that light and darkness have nothing in common
Truth will always expose darkness
B. This moment brings us to the hard questions that we all ask
Why does God allow evil to bring suffering and death to those who love him?
We know two things from this moment
a. Freedom has set the basis for evil to reign
b. Sometimes God delivers sometimes he does not
C. Jesus also tells us that
Sun rises on the evil and the good
It rains on the evil and the good
D. The battle rages which means we will experience difficulty for the sake of the gospel
Jesus said they hated me, they will hate you
They will kill me; they will kill you
E. But we must look at this event in its fullness
God uses it even though it is horrible
Romans 8 - He will always do this
Verse 55-56 — We must see God’s provision for Stephen in this moment
a. He has an unbending intimacy with the Holy Spirit
b. He is not alone
c. He is empowered
d. He is given perspectiveHe sees heaven prior to his brutal death
- This supernatural moment will give him exactly what he needs
Stephen is experiencing this incredible moment with the Holy Spirit because he is committed until his last breath
a. It is not Stephen in his own strength
b. It is Stephen full of the Holy SpiritWe must decide to be committed prior to the opposition
a. My moments in my life where I did not think I was going to make it, the power of his presence was evident
- Because I had decided to be all in prior to the challenge
Key Point — Our commitment to Jesus is fueled by the empowering of the Holy Spirit
III.
A. Verse 57 — The evil men have crossed over the line and are so full of hate and the demonic that they rush him and scream so they don’t have to hear truth
- Satan is now doing his best to kill and destroy
B. Verse 58 — they began to stone him, this is a very brutal killing
Old Testament - stoning was the method for blasphemy
A side note was the young man Saul approving and holding the coats of those killing Stephen
- I believe God begins to work in Saul’s life as he witnesses how Stephen responds to this brutality
C. Verse 59-60 — Stephen models Jesus as he dies
- Submits to the Lord just as Jesus did to the Father when he died
- Asks the Lord to not hold this sin against them just like Jesus did
- We are experiencing a totally supernatural response
D. We see God provide and how faithful He is to Stephen by providing him
- Courage
- Comfort
- Strength
- Vision of Heaven
E. Stephen was the ready for glory and he was the first to be killed for his faith
- 70 million have followed him from that day to today
F. Some of the ways many have been martyred
- 10 million starved to death
- 10 million shot
- 10 million died in prison
- 7 million beaten to death
- 9 million killed with a sword
- 9 million killed during genocide
- And the list goes on and on
G. Satan thought this killing and all the killings would stop the church and the opposite has been true
- Revelation 6:10 — Their blood cries out, how much longer must we wait to be vindicated?
H. We must have an eternal perspective if we are going to finish the mission with the same intensity as the church was when they began the church.
- Hold unto everything light, it is all temporary
I. Understanding glory enables us
- To risk
- To Give
- To Serve
- To Love
- To Prioritize
J. We need to experience the supernatural reality of the heaven as we face the opposition from the world
- Very soon, we will be home free at the ultimate healing…
Key Point — Knowing that glory is before us enables us to stay the course!
Call to Action
1. Pray for the Holy Spirit to lead you to begin preaching the truth boldly
2. Decide today that you are committed until the end
3. Pray for God’s glory to be revealed to you so that you can prioritize your life to the mission of Jesus
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