WITNESSING FOR CHRIST
IN THE FACE OF DEATH
Acts 7:1-4, 8-10, 17,
33-34, 45-47, 52-53, 55
This newly formed Church of Jesus Christ grew a rapid rate. The first deacons were
installed to handle the needs of the congregation. Stephen an outstanding Deacon, was
filled with Holy Spirit and preformed miracles and signs in
the name of Jesus.
Some of the leading Jews of the Synagogue of the Freedmans,
and others became
upset with Stephen when they could not win the argument
concerning Jesus Christ.
They stirred up the people
producing false witness who claimed Stephen spoke
against Moses, the Law and the Temple
the Sanhedrin council to be prosecuted. Stephen gave his accusers a history lesson
on God's divine plan for their nation.
V:1. " Then the high priest asked him, "Are these
charges true?"
A. From time to time,
believers will be asked to defend their belief in Jesus Christ.
1. The world will
not understand why you believe what you believe.
2. Sometimes the
world will not accept you because you believe in Jesus.
3. Some times you
will be attacked because you stand on the Word.
B. We have a present
day case where an elected pubic official is being attacked
because she will not
issue marriage licenses to same sex couples.
1. She chose
to violate man's law to keep God's law.
2. She considered
God's command to be the authority over the laws of man.
3. As a result,
her personal reputation is being attacked.
4. It will take
faith and patience to see how God handles her situation.
THE START OF A NATION
V:2-4. " To this he replied: "Brothers and
fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he
was still in Mesopotamia , before he lived in Haran
3 'Leave your country and your people,' God said, 'and go to
the land I will show you.'
4 "So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran
A. Notice, Stephen did not try to defend the false
accusations against him.
1. He left his
reputation to God.
2. You cannot
protect yourself from what someone will say about you or will
do to you.
3. When we are
following God's commands, He will protect us in His way.
B. Stephen focused His attention on the historical
development of Israel
effort to show
His accusers that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior.
1. God chose
Abraham to be the father of His nation.
2. God chose a man
and separated him from his idolatrous past.
C. The core values of Christianity is Faith and obedience.
1. Abraham did not hesitate to move when
God gave him this command.
2. It takes faith to move to a different
place when you do not know what
your future holds.
3. The land that Abraham was commanded to
move to would eventually
become
the home of God's New Nation.
PURPOSEFUL GENERATION
Acts 7:8-10
8 Then he gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. And
Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him eight days after his
birth. Later Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of
the twelve patriarchs.
A. Having chosen Abraham as the father of a holy nation, God
allowed generations to
be born which
became the twelve tribes of Jacob.
1. The Lord's plan
of redemption began to take shape with His choice of Abraham as
the father of a
Nation that would produce the earthly mother and father of Jesus.
2. God's plan for
our lives began before the foundation of the earth.
B. All the events of our lives have been preplanned by God.
1. God knows the
end from the beginning.
2. That is good
news because we knows how the story of our lives will end.
PURPOSEFUL EVIL.
V:9-10 "Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph,
they sold him as a slave into Egypt
10 and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave Joseph
wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh king of Egypt Egypt
A. God plans trouble for our lives for the benefit of the
entire body of Christ.
1. It is the
trouble in our lives that causes us to seek a closer relationship with the
Father.
2. It was Joseph's
brothers who activated God's promise to Abraham that His people
would spend
400 years in slavery.
B. Joseph's brothers became jealous of the attention his
father gave him
1. They sold
Joseph, their brother into slavery and lied to the father that he had
been killed by
an animal.
2. God uses the evilness of others to promote
his plan.
3. God uses the
evilness of others to strengthen our faith.
4. God uses the
evilness of others to promote us to higher levels.
5. Because of
Joseph's slavery, he found favor with God and man and was promoted
to ruler over Israel
6. Let's not
complain about our troubles, because they may be the road to our
success.
THE GROWTH OF A NATION
V:17 "As the time drew near for God to fulfill his
promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt
A. God uses suffering to grow us into obedient, faithful
servants.
1. Joseph suffered
at the hands of his brothers.
a. He was sold
into slavery by his brothers.
b. He was lied on by wife of his owner and imprisoned.
c. Because
Joseph was faithful to God during his trials, God elevated him to ruler.
2. They meant it
for evil, but God meant it for good.
3. After being
elevated in Egypt
a. Because Joseph was ruler in Egypt
members from the
promise land to live in Egypt
b. That family
of seventy five people grew into a people of 2 million.
B. Over the course
of time because of their numbers they became slaves in Egypt
1. When the
king that made Joseph ruler of Egypt
power who
did not know Joseph and made slaves of God's people.
2. This
fulfilled the prophecy that God gave to Abraham hundreds of years earlier.
THE SELECTION OF A NATIONAL LEADER
Acts 7:33-34
33 "Then the Lord said to him, 'Take off your sandals;
the place where you are standing is holy ground.
34 I have indeed seen the oppression of my people in Egypt Egypt
A. Moses was raise up in Egypt
1. He raised in Egypt
2. Because the
numbers of Hebrews were increasing, one of the Kings of Egypt
decided to
kill all new born male Hebrew babies.
3. When Moses was
born, His mother put him into a basket in the
B. Again God used the evil of the heart of the King of Egypt
to promote his plan.
1. Moses was
educated as an Egyptian and trained as a leader.
2. Moses true to
his heritage rejected his Egyptian training,
after seeing an
Egyptian mistreating one of his people.
3. Moses killed the
Egyptian and ran away to the desert.
4. Forty years
later, God drew Moses to himself and made him the leader
who brought Israel
5. You never know
how God will use your circumstances to be a blessing to others.
THE BUILDING OF GOD TEMPLE
Acts 7:45-47
45 Having received the tabernacle, our fathers under Joshua
brought it with them when they took the land from the nations God drove out
before them. It remained in the land until the time of David,
46 who enjoyed God's favor and asked that he might provide a
dwelling place for the God of Jacob.
47 But it was Solomon who built the house for him.
A. The body is the temple of the Lord.
1. Under Joshua,
God brought His promise people into the promise land
under the
covenant He made with Abraham some 400 plus years earlier.
2. This is proof
that God keeps His promises to us, but in His own time.
B. God gave Israel
to keep His
nation holy.
1. God designed a
tabernacle for worship and sacrifice for the atonement of sins.
2. God promise
success in the promise land if Israel
C. During the course
of time, God selected David as King over Israel
1. David was a
type of Christ, a man after God's own heart.
2. David was
king of Israel
a. Christ is
king of kings.
D. David desired a
temple to be built to worship and honor God.
1. Solomon,
David's son built the temple.
2. Today we
worship God in Church buildings built with human hand.
3. Every believer
is the temple of God
THE REJECTION OF THE KING OF KINGS
Acts 7:52-53
52 Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute?
They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now
you have betrayed and murdered him—
53 you who have received the law that was put into effect
through angels but have not obeyed it."
A. Israel the blessed people of God, rejected the greatest
blessing of God, His Son.
1. Israel
behavior.
2. They were
blinded by their traditions which they chose as the authority over
Gods Word.
B. When the promised Messiah was born to them, they rejected
Him because He did not
look like their
evil desires.
1. Jesus came
preaching the Goodness of the Father and His kingdom.
2. Because of His
popularity among the people and His healings and miracles
and the
teaching of the Truth, the ruling Jews
killed Him.
3. By killing
Jesus, they lifted Him up for the world to worship.
GLORIFING THE FATHER
V:55. " But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up
to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God."
A. Stephen reminded the ruling Jews of their heritage which
they rejected.
1. We have a rich
History with Jesus.
2. Not only are we
witness to His grace, mercy and goodness, but we also
have a cloud of
witnesses that have gone on to glory before us.
B. To reject Christ is to reject the abundant living
promised by Him.
1. To reject
Christ is to reject the eternal life provided by Him.
2. To reject
Christ is to reject His love and forgiveness.
C. Stephen was stone to death glorifying God with his life.
1. Stephen
repeated the same word Jesus spoke as He was dying on the cross, "Father forgive them for
they know not what they do.
2. Jesus stood by
the Father and received Stephen into His hands.
Faith in the Word require us to trust God regardless of our
situation.
God used the faith of Stephen while he was being stoned to
encourage us
to continue in the faith in face of our storms.
Rev. M. Mitchell
Asst Pastor of Greater Macedonia
Baptist Church
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