Built for Pressure | When Gods Word Confronts Us

- Welcome to Rich Casey, everybody. It's so great to have you with us. I just want to invite everybody to stand up and join us. (upbeat music) ♪ There's no way to obey me ♪ ♪ There's a long grace ♪ ♪ I live through the earth ♪ ♪ Even though I come to serve it ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Even though I come to live ♪ ♪ That I let you keep me on my mind ♪ ♪ I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ Oh my love you've been riding by my side ♪ ♪ I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ Lookin' for me, there's only one ♪ ♪ I'll keep you away ♪ ♪ I'll let you down ♪ ♪ Even though I don't deserve it ♪ ♪ You did ♪ ♪ Even though I couldn't earn it ♪ ♪ You did ♪ ♪ Who am I that you keep me on my mind ♪ ♪ I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ Oh my love you've been riding by my side ♪ ♪ God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ Oh my love you've been riding by my side ♪

♪ God, I'm just grateful for my head ♪ ♪ You gave me a chance of a chance of a chance of a chance ♪ ♪ God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ You gave me a chance of a chance of a chance of a chance ♪ ♪ God, I'm liftin' over my head ♪ ♪ You gave me a chance of a chance of a chance of a chance ♪ ♪ You gave me a chance of a chance of a chance of a chance ♪ ♪ God, I'm givein' all that I have ♪ ♪ You gave me a chance of a chance of a chance of a chance ♪ ♪ God, I'm givein' all that I have ♪ ♪ You gave me a chance of a chance of a chance of a chance ♪ ♪ You gave me a chance of a chance of a chance of a chance ♪ ♪ God, I'm givein' all that I have ♪ ♪ I'm givein' all that I have ♪ ♪ You gave me a chance of a chance of a chance of a chance ♪ ♪ You gave me a chance of a chance ♪ ♪ God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ Oh, my God, you've been right here ♪ ♪ God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ You made my life to be your home ♪ ♪ God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ Oh, my God, you've been right here by my side ♪ ♪ God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ I've been right here ♪ ♪ Just in my God, I'm just grateful for you ♪

♪ God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ [MUSIC PLAYING] (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)

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(singing in foreign language) ♪ When you are my day ♪ ♪ It's all right ♪ ♪ Day and night, night and day ♪ ♪ It's the right ♪ ♪ Day and night, night and day ♪ ♪ It's the right ♪ ♪ Day and night, night and day ♪ ♪ It's the right ♪ ♪ Day and night, night and day ♪ ♪ It's the right ♪ ♪ Day and night, night and day ♪ ♪ It's the right ♪ ♪ Day and night, night and day ♪ ♪ It's the right ♪ ♪ It's the right ♪ ♪ Day and night and day ♪ ♪ It's the right ♪ ♪ It's the right ♪ ♪ It's the right ♪ ♪ Day and night, night and day ♪ ♪ It's the right ♪ ♪ It's the right ♪ ♪ Day and night, night and day ♪ ♪ It's the right ♪ ♪ Day and night, night and day ♪ ♪ It's the right ♪ ♪ Day and night, night and day ♪ ♪ It's the right ♪ ♪ Day and night, night and day ♪

♪ It's the right ♪ ♪ Day and night, night and day ♪ ♪ It's the right ♪ ♪ Day and night, night and day ♪ ♪ It's the right ♪ ♪ It's the right ♪ ♪ Day and night, night and day ♪ ♪ It's the right ♪ ♪ Day and night, night and day ♪ ♪ It's the right ♪ ♪ Day and night, night and day ♪ ♪ It's the right ♪ ♪ Day and night, night and day ♪ ♪ It's the right ♪ ♪ Day and night, night and day ♪ ♪ It's the right ♪ ♪ And love me ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Take it now, I am the right and take it ♪ ♪ So rise, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Take it now, I am the right and take it ♪ ♪ So rise, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Take it now, I am the right and take it ♪ ♪ So bright, oh great, I'm the night in my days ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Take your time, I'm the night in my days ♪ ♪ So bright, oh great, I'm the night in my days ♪ ♪ It's around the day, night, night in my days ♪ ♪ So bright, oh great, I'm the night in my days ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪

♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ And still you are a means ♪ ♪ You deserve for me ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ Come on, let's sing that out. ♪ Still you are a means ♪ You are worthy, God. ♪ I should have forced my voice to be ♪ ♪ You are worthy of me ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ You are worthy of me ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ And still you are a means ♪ ♪ You deserve for me ♪ God, you deserve it all, Lord. You deserve everything that we can bring. You deserve everything that we don't even know how to bring. ♪ So God, in this moment, let us just worship you. I Exaltee one. I Exaltee one. I Exaltee one. I Exaltee. You are worthy Lord. You are so worthy God. I Exaltee. You are worthy God. I Exaltee God. God we just put you on the throne. We put you back where you belong in our lives right now. We put you back where you belong in our families right now God and God we just lift you up. God we honor you in this moment. We worship you in this place God and may we just set ourselves aside in this moment so that you can have your way and that you would speak to our hearts and that you would speak to our lives in Jesus name. Jesus name. Amen. Come on can we give a shout of praise?

Come on before you find a seat would you just give one of your neighbors a handshake or a high five dab them up do something let them know hey it is so good to see you today. Now turn to one of your others your second choices and say man it's good to see you too. You may have been my second choice but you're God's first choice. Say God ain't got no leftovers amen. Let's go. You know as I look through scripture and one passage that kind of stood out to me this morning was second Corinthians nine it says whoever so sparingly will also reap sparingly and whoever so's generously will also reap generously for God loves a cheerful giver. I mean there's a difference between burying something and planting something see they almost look identical you dig a hole for both right you put something in the ground and then you cover it up with dirt and when you walk away you can't see it anymore but when you bury something you expect something not to come back from it but when you plant something you expect something to come from it so you don't plan a seed for nothing to come back from it and I think sometimes we can look at giving in all the wrong ways like we give fifty dollars hundred dollars two dollars whatever it is that you give and we think well that money's gone hope hope it goes towards something good you know I don't even dress the pastor there it's true it's true but Paul Paul actually gives us a completely different picture see he calls giving sewing in other words what leaves your hand in generosity isn't necessarily lost it's planted right that that makes a difference because notice Paul isn't teaching us to give so that we can manipulate the hand of God to make us rich the context is generosity God blesses us Not even just on Sunday mornings when the buckets come around, but to live a life of generosity. Like what is it to actually let go of something? Some people hold on to stuff so tight. You would know what it was like to bless a friend.

You wouldn't even know what it means to actually release something and watch it go away and bless somebody's life or bless somebody's family. So you got to bless us so that we can continue to be a blessing. That means when we give to the kingdom that you're planting into something bigger than yourself. You're sowing a seed so that that family that walks through the door can find hope. So that child that is in city kids could get invested in you're planting into the life of an attic that could might discover freedom for the very first time in their life. All right, you're planting into the child who grows up following Jesus that might come from a lineage of people who didn't. Amen, we're sowing so that we can see lives change. And so when you give today, don't just think about what's leaving your hand. Think about what God can produce through what you're willing to put in his hands. Does any time I see in scripture makes me think about the disciples when they, Jesus said, "Hey, go find some food." And he said, "There's too many people. There's way too many people." Jesus, "What should we do? Make them go get something to eat." And they said, "No, you go get it." And they come back, "Well, all I got is this."

I said, "Okay, put it in my hands." And then as they started to distribute it, see, that's the funny thing is sometimes the miracle don't even happen right there. Sometimes it's when we actually start giving. Because they didn't start to see the multiplication till they actually started to give it away. And then by the time they got to the end, they was like, "What the heck?" We still got a bunch left over. We got enough to feed another crowd. That's what happens when we give to the kingdom because generosity doesn't just give it plants and you never know what kind of harvest God can bring from one surrendered seed that you make today. Or maybe next week. So as the ushers come, I want that to be our prayer this morning. God, what could I plant? Maybe we've never given before in a tithing capacity. Maybe we've just dropped a few dollars here and there. God, I want to trust you with tithing. I want to trust you with the ability to be able to trust you with a percentage of my income. And believe that you will bring a harvest from it. Maybe I've never given and God, I just want to trust you with something today. God, would you bless the gift as we give and bless the giver as we give with a cheerful heart? God, may it impact the kingdom and may it move forth.

So that we can see lives changed and impacted for your kingdom. In Jesus name, amen. - Good morning, Reach Casey, Tim Stalder, Director of Reach Homes. Here at Reach Casey, we live to give time, talent, and treasure. You're going to be given an opportunity and give us some of your time and talents. October 11th, we are moving and we are so excited. We would like to share that excitement with you. Come join us immediately after Second Service and we will start the exodus to the new building. This moving project is going to require some strength. Not to discount you late either, anything, because there will be moving stuff for you as well. But men, come prepared, come ready to move. All work and no play is boring. We're about to celebrate Fall Fest, October 31st from 4 to 6. Right here in the parking lot of the new building. This is going to be a great opportunity for you to decorate your truck and welcome our new community to our new building. Don't have a trunk to decorate? That's okay, because we're going to have bounce houses, face painting, there will be food disturbed, people to greet. There's going to be plenty of opportunities, like I said, for your time and talent.

We look forward to celebrating that with you. The deadline for Fall Fest sign up is October 18th. So I know we've just farmed our new times and dates. All of this information will be located under the events tab in the Church Center Act. But let's just take a moment. Prepare for the word that God has put on Pastor Adam's heart. Remember, notebook, pen, paper, better seat in heaven. >> Come on, somebody. I don't know if you caught that because there wasn't much response. I don't know if they really heard what was said right there. But next Sunday, everybody say next Sunday. Not this Sunday, but next Sunday, we are moving, okay? So next Sunday is our last Sunday in this facility. I know some people's like, do we clap for that? It's like it's kind of bittersweet, you know? But so what we're doing is after service, I know we're crazy Sunday, it's, I know. But we're going to have a couple big U-Haul trucks, and we're just going to say, hey, you know what, we're going to designate people all over. So as many people that can stay will feed you. I mean, come on, that's the win right there. And so we would love for you to stay and help us be able to actually load up all of the trucks and get everything up there. And so we would love for you to stay directly after service next week and move everything over there. And then if you don't follow us on socials, I would encourage you to follow us on socials or download the church app. If you don't have the church app, you must be new here this week. And so we believe that you will download it by the end of service because we will get you some details because the following week on the 18th, we will have no service at all as a church because we're going to be moving everything and setting everything up and getting it going.

But then we will have some exciting updates for the actual launch dates and everything coming forward. And so I would encourage you follow us, download the church app so that we can stay in touch with you. Amen. Amen. Well, hey, we are so excited for what the Lord is doing. If you was at the church yesterday for the dream team training, you got to see what was happening. I mean, it is exciting. I was I was preaching from a lift about 16 foot in the air. I mean, I felt the Holy Spirit. I mean, it was man, it was awesome. I think I'm going to fly in on tables for the first service. I'm not sure yet. I might use the lift there too, but we'll we'll figure that out, but it'll be great. It's going to be a wonderful time. And so we are so excited. Well, hey, we just want to welcome you home. If this is your first time, maybe your first time in a long time, we're just so glad that you are here. And we just believe that God has something for you right now in this place. And in this moment, it's not even just this place. It's just in your life right now for you. And we are in a series that is titled built for pressure. We've been going through the book of Acts and it's ironic, but it's not. We actually planned this stuff. You know, it just seems like. But we're in a, it's kind of a theme for the year of church on the move and we are a church on the move. Come on, somebody, that was a declaration before we fully knew it. And because, you know, we've actually sold this building. We've had a church, another church buy it already. So praise God for that. Because if you don't know, you let a building like this sit on the east side for three days with nobody in it and it's hit. I mean, there are going to be 38 people live here.

You know, and we didn't let them in. And so we're excited that that happened. God's timing is always perfect even when you don't know it and don't see it. And so we are excited. But I want to title my message today when God confronts us. When God confronts us, and I want to look at a little bit different angle of chapter seven in the book of Acts, then I would typically look. We always highlight Stephen's martyrdom and that's obviously imperative. But I want to kind of take a look at what happened in that passage and in that whole scripture there. And so I want you to imagine, for just a minute, waking up in the middle of the night to the sound of a fire alarm. Amen, you know, just the other day, that happened to me just not too long ago. And you know, you always forget there's a fire alarm in your house till it goes off. And then all of a sudden you're like, oh man, which one is that? And then you're like trying to sniff it out and figure out, you know, but when it goes off in the middle of the night, what happens? Like you sit up, right? Like you're, you're alerted and now all of a sudden you're still half asleep, but you're looking around. You don't see no flames. You've watched Chicago PD a couple times or Chicago fire. And, you know, but, you know, you see, and it's like everything in the bedroom seems normal. So you kind of half step down the hallway to kind of see if anything is going on, and you don't see anything, so you press the button, 'cause you're just trying to silence the noise, and you go back to bed, come on, somebody. If you're like me, I just right now, we're cherishing every minute of sleep that we can get, with a seven week old in the house,

and, you know, a few minutes later, it goes off again. Now you're just frustrated. Like, you don't know exactly, exactly. That is what happens, right? Like, you go back to it, you take the battery out, and then finally some peace and quiet. This joker is not going off again, but here's the deal, somewhere in the house, something is still burning. Because, see, you can silence the warning, but you didn't stop the fire. Now imagine with me for just a moment that your child is asleep down the hall, now all of a sudden that sound means something different to you. See, you want that alarm to wake you up. Annoying as it is, you're checking the batteries, you're putting that nine volt on your tongue, come on, somebody, I don't do that. I'll just spend the money on extra batteries just in case, but, you know, you wanted to interrupt your sleep now. Like, you want enough time to be able to get to that bedroom and carry all your babies out, and be able to rescue the whole family, because when you understand what is at stake, all of the sudden you become grateful for that warning, hello. Well, church, sometimes the mercy of God comes through a truth that will not let us just stay comfortable. Right, a passage of Scripture exposes something that we've been hiding in our own life. A trusted believer loves us enough

to ask the difficult questions in our life. Right, we hear a sermon and we know exactly where it hits in our lives, but we start looking for ways to quiet it. Like, I think the pastor's just coming off a little too strong. Well, if I offended you, I'm not sorry. (congregation laughing) This probably means there's an area of your life, you need to change. You know, we say things like, well, they just don't understand my situation, and if they did, they would look at it a little bit different, or sometimes we look at things and say, "Well, I'll just, I'll stop doing that tomorrow. "I'll quit whenever, you know, whenever I see God "give me a sign, then I'll stop." And if we're honest, sometimes we just leave a service looking for relief from the conviction that we felt instead of actually responding to the truth that we heard. See, we wanna feel better while continuing the very thing that is hurting us and sometimes killing us. See, maybe you know what it is to watch someone that you love dismissing every warning. Right, you've sat across the table from people, friends, family, and you've cried and you've said, "Please listen, I can see what this is doing to you. "Do you not see what is happening in your life?" And you weren't trying to embarrass them, you wasn't trying to call them out and make them, you loved them, right?

You want them to live. And what if we brought that same seriousness to the way that we hear God's word? Right, what if we stopped assuming that every uncomfortable moment was just something that we had to find a way to escape? See, every hard truth was something that we could just find how to get away from the people that kept pointing to us 'cause only God can judge me and that should scare you. My judgment don't do nothing to you, but offends you. God's judgment will read the scriptures and find out what happens with that. I dare you to see what if we became willing to pray? Lord, show me what is true, but don't just show me, help me how to respond. Show me what to do because that was totally not godly, I don't think. I mean, there was some booty shakin' songs going on right there on that ringtone. He said, "Show me what is true and how to respond, "change that ringtone." (audience laughing) Don't know who you are, just so you know, sorry. They say don't react to things like that, I apologize. (audience laughs) before us. See, Stephen stands up before people who know the Scriptures, they know them and he walks through God's faithfulness in their lives, right? How many times have we done that?

Like, we're struggling with something and we have somebody sit there and try to identify every time that God has been faithful in our lives and in the midst of our agony and pain we're like, "I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear how God redeemed me then because I don't see it now." And so that past story doesn't really mean as much to me as it did then because I need relief now. See, he walks them through God's faithfulness in their lives and then confronts their resistance to the truth of the gospel. And when he bears witness to Jesus, they literally cover their ears. I almost titled this message spiritual temper tantrums. I thought that was a pretty clever title. I struggled like I wanted to do it, but then it would have really took like a whole different turn. But anyways, the warning had reached him, but they refused to actually hear it. But before we wonder how they could do that, because see, we read it from a 2000 year perspective, we see how stuff ends, like we got the end of the story, right? But I think that before we assume and wonder how they could do that, we need to ask ourselves what truth have I been trying to silence myself? See for some of us, it concerns a sin that we keep defending to the people that confront us. For some or others, it's the call to stop putting off a decision to simply trust Jesus. Maybe for the first time or maybe in a situation in your life. And so today, we're going to look at three responses that God's word calls for when his truth confronts us. How do we respond when the truth of God, when the word of God confronts us and the first responses this, recognize his faithfulness? This is what Stephen does. He goes through the scriptures and he starts reminding them of what's happening. And so I want you to turn to Acts, chapter seven, and kind of put your finger there and hold on to it, because we're going to look at this entire chapter today in spurts.

So I've got 39 points that we're going to go through in this chapter and look at everything that has happened and we'll get out right as the chief's game starts, amen? He's like, "I don't care, I like the Steelers." Lord, we pray right now. But Stephen stands before the council, right, the Sanhedrin that was primarily made up of religious folks. I mean, answering false accusations that were made against Stephen, and it bewilders me how the council is made up of religious folks, and yet some of this stuff happens the way that it does. But before he confronts their resistance, he has to remind them of God's faithfulness. And he walks them through their history, literally, through the ancestry.com, and shows them the accounts that they grew up hearing. Like, it's all the stories that they heard in city kids as they was going to church growing up, right? Stories about the people that they considered literally as their spiritual ancestors, but as he tells them these familiar stories, a pattern begins to emerge, and that's God kept working to deliver his people, but his people kept struggling to recognize what he was doing during it. When you look at Acts 7, verses 2 through 8, he begins to talk about Abraham, and he says, "Brothers and fathers, listen to me." So he associates himself on the same level as them, and he says, "The God of glory appeared to our Father." He said, "I'm with you in this. I understand what you are. I come from the same thing." While he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, leave your country and your people, God said, "And go to the land that I will show you." And so he left the land of the Chaudhians and settled in Haran, and after the death of his Father, God sent him to the land where you are now living. And he gave him no inheritance here, not even enough ground to set his foot on.

But God promised him that he and his descendants, remember that, after he would, that they would, man, I just lost my place, that the descendants after him would possess the land even though at the time Abraham had no child. Anybody ever got a promise from God but their current circumstances did not look like what the promise said that it was going to be? And then you're trying to wonder and you have to have faith, God spoke to him in this way. And for 400 years, so you got a promise from God and then this is what happens. For 400 years, your descendants will be strangers and a country not their own. And they will be enslaved and mistreated. So don't think that the mistreating that you have received in the past is a condition that God is not working in your life because this proves that God can still be working. But I will punish the nations and serve, they serve as slaves, God said. And afterward they will come out of that country and worship me in this place. There's something on the other side. 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. God literally appeared to Abraham and Mesotamia before he ever entered into the promised land. And before there was a temple in Jerusalem, guess what? God was speaking. He was speaking to the people and before Abraham ever had an inheritance, God had given him a promise. But he just had to hang on to it and verse five emphasizes that Abraham didn't possess the land yet. Not even enough for his foot to step on. Not even enough ground for his foot to stand on. And he didn't have a child through whom the promise would be continued through either but yet God had still spoken. And Abraham had responded to God's word before he could ever see its fulfillment.

And that matters because Stephen is reminded in his hearers that their entire history began with God taking the initiative and calling somebody to trust him. In church that's exactly where our response begins to. We don't get to negotiate the terms of obedience until everything makes sense in our life. We respond to the God who's made himself known in our lives and in our history. But sometimes we say well obey whenever I understand how everything's going to work. Well you're never going to obey them. We'll all tithe whenever I make more money, no you won't because you can't do it now. We'll all surrender when I actually know what the cost is like God. I need to know exactly what you're calling me to do before I leave the land that I'm in. Or I'll follow you when I feel a little more secure with myself and with my leadership. But see faith responds to what God said even when we cannot see everything that it has. Even when we cannot see everything that is ahead of us. See we can't keep making certainty of the outcome a condition of our obedience. See you don't have to understand every single detail of the Christian life before turning to him. And you're being called to trust the Savior, the one who died and rose again. Guess what? Just for you. If you were the only one in this earth, if you was the only one in this world, he still would have done what he'd done. And years of following Jesus, hear me Christians, doesn't remove the need to keep not responding to his word. It doesn't remove the need. Like you still have to respond because we can celebrate the steps of faith we took years ago. But guess what? Still avoiding the obedience of God's word requires us to still obey today. Those steps of faith that we took years ago does not cover the lack of steps that we take in the future.

The real question is where have I delayed obedience? Because I want God to explain everything to me first. What have I lacked doing? Because God didn't give me explicit instructions of what the next steps look like. He just told me to step out. See then we see Stephen move to Joseph. He talked about Jacob, which is Joseph's father. And then he goes into Joseph here and acts chapter 7 verses 9 through 16. And he said, because the patriarchs, I'm laying a foundation here, were jealous of Joseph. They sold him as a slave into Egypt. and he gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the Goodwill of Pharaoh, King of Egypt. So Pharaoh made him a ruler over Egypt and all of his palace. And then the famine struck all Egypt and Canaan, bringing great suffering, and our ancestors could not find food. And when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our forefathers on their first visit, because this was the 12 tribes of Israel. And on their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was. And Pharaoh learned about Joseph's family. And after this, Joseph sent for his father, Jacob, and his whole family, 75 and all. Then Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and his ancestors died, and their bodies were brought back to Shekum and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought from the sons of Hammer and Shekum for a certain sum of money. See, Joseph's brothers were moved by jealousy and sold him into Egypt.

But that didn't eradicate the promise of God. It actually ushered it in, and verse nine gives us the turning point in Acts chapter seven of the fact that God was with Joseph. See, their rejection, his brothers didn't mean that God had rejected Joseph. But yet in our lives, so often if we are rejected by people, we think that God is rejecting us. But let me tell you from somebody that has a public ministry that the denial of somebody else's approval does not equate to the denial of God's approval. In fact, it's usually automatically the opposite. Like if you begin to stand for truth, liars are gonna come against you. People are going to start saying stuff that isn't true. Their rejection didn't mean that God had rejected Joseph. God gave Joseph favor and wisdom, even in the midst of this so much that when the famine came, the family that had sold him, guess what? They needed provision and God supplied it through him. I wish I had time to preach on all that because there's also another scripture that says that God will prepare a table before your enemies. Sometimes God will do something in your life and make the people that don't like you have to sit and eat from your table. - Yay! - But here's the truth is that we need to let this confront us because jealousy affected their ability to receive their brother.

Literally, their blood brother. Their attitude toward their brother, Joseph, put them in opposition to what God was actually doing through him. Now, Joseph probably could have kept the vision to himself and not been a little braggadocious, but that's neither here nor there. We're not talking about that, but their attitude towards their brother put them in opposition to what God was doing through him. And in the local church, guess what? Ambient pride can affect our willingness to hear the truth too. See, someone else can receive an opportunity that we thought that we were rightful for. We thought we measured up for that opportunity like we've been praying that God would promote us in this ministry. We've been praying that something would happen. And then when somebody else gets appointed, a leader over that team, all of the sudden, guess what? We become so critical. We begin looking at everything in their life and man, if they did this and man, I've seen them and do you know who they were five years ago? And do you know? And all of a sudden we start bringing up old stuff and start casting out stuff. But see, someone lovingly confronts our sin

and then all of a sudden we dismiss them because we dislike being corrected. We become so preoccupied with the person speaking in these moments that we refuse to examine whether what they said is actually agreeing with scripture or not. Like, bro, you ain't gonna talk to me like that. You know what I went to prison for? You better check my file. You ain't gonna talk greasy to me, but see, that doesn't mean either that every leader is right or every correction comes from God either. See, we gotta measure what we hear by God's word. This is why your greatest revelation during the week should not be what I preached on Sunday. See, this is why you gotta start getting in your word and digging into it and studying, not just reading one verse a day, but actually getting in and studying God's word so that you can apply what people are saying to it and be able to say, well, that don't align with the word of God. I don't care what the position is that you hold. I'm not gonna receive that word that you're speaking over me. I'm not gonna receive that word that you're speaking over my family And that's am I rejecting this because it's unbiblical or because it confronts something that I'm not ready to surrender. See, repentance requires us to let God expose what's happening inside of us. Sometimes the issue underneath our criticism is actually jealousy.

Sometimes the issue underneath our defensiveness is actually pride. See, you defend and a lie, but your pride won't allow you to surrender to it. But God's faithfulness gives us a reason to actually humble ourselves even when the truth comes through somebody that we wouldn't have chosen. Hello. Well, why are they put there? Well, see, Stephen goes on to spend considerable amount of time and explains kind of this process talking about Moses. See, verse 25 tells us that Moses thought they would understand that God was bringing deliverance through him, but they didn't understand. Like the people just didn't understand. Instead, his authority was challenged. People years later, God appeared to Moses in the wilderness and commissioned him to return to Egypt after he had killed somebody, right in front of all of the people and escaped to the land. So because he felt rejected, but verse 35 emphasizes this point that Moses, the Moses that they rejected, that the people rejected was the very Moses that God actually set as the ruler and deliverer of the people. Well, the individual, guess what, didn't change God's assignment on his life. And Stephen continues this pattern and prepares his hearers for the central issue of Acts chapter 7, and that is their rejection of Jesus. See, they honored the memory of Moses. That's what brought them to this point was they thought Stephen was attacking the law of Moses, and they honored the memory of Moses while rejecting the one of whom Moses pointed to. And see, that's where I think that this becomes deeply personal for the church because we can honor obedience in a Bible story while resisting it in our own personal lives. See, we can admire Abraham for leaving what was familiar, right, walking out of a land of which he was in and going into a place that was unfamiliar but hold tightly to a relationship that God's Word tells us is sinful. See, we condemn Joseph's brothers for their jealousy, but then resent the person beside us who receives recognition. It's really the same spirit. See, we wonder how Israel could resist Moses because, see, we've got a 2000-year perspective. We know the end of the story, right, and we wonder how Israel could resist Moses when we read it, but then we become defensive. When Scripture challenges the way that we live, hear me, it's easier to applaud someone else's obedience than it is to surrender our resistance. You can applaud somebody else's obedience and you can be thankful that God called Pastor Adam and Catherine to do what they've done and carry us into the seasons that he's carrying us in while silently resisting the resistance that we have in our own life. Did you know that God has the capability of doing something through you two? Did you know that God has called us to be a church that plants churches? Maybe you could be on a team that goes and plants a church. Maybe you could be a part of something bigger than yourself. Don't discount yourself because of something that has happened in your life. Surrender your resistance. See, this is where we got to invite this message into the room because we can attend a worship service. Listen, we can serve on a team or six teams. Come on, somebody. We can give generously. We can know the language of faith. We can pray in King James Version all while keeping parts of our lives closed off to Jesus. Hear me, Church. Good activities cannot take the place of repentance.

Good activities cannot. And if you have never trusted Christ in your life, being welcomed into a church family is an invitation to know him personally. But being surrounded by believers also can't replace your own personal response to Jesus. See, Stephen's account gives us reason to recognize how faithfully God has acted. And as we apply that truth, Romans 2, 4 comes to mind and makes the invitation explicit. lives, when we remember all that God has done, our response should always be surrender. Always be surrender. Like God, I am so thankful for you. Some of the reasons I don't give into the temptations that I've been tempted with is because of everything that God has done for me. I'm not going to unravel 15, 20 years of discipline because I'm tempted by one thing. See, here's the real question. As I look at God's faithfulness, what am I still refusing to surrender? What have you been explaining away? Like, what have you made excuses for in your life that you've told people what you've done, but then you've irrationalized it using out-of-context Bible verses to condone your unbiblical lifestyle? So easy to use a passage of Scripture to explain the relationship we're in because God created us for companionship, but He did not create you for a relationship that does not honor Him. Paul actually says it's better that you would not be in a relationship like I am so that you could focus solely on God than to give yourself over to the lust of your flesh. That's just what Paul said, but what have you been postponing? What decisions has God been telling you to make that you haven't been making because you know that it's going to cost you something in your life? What has God's Word made clear that you keep treating as negotiable? Did you know you're not a good negotiator in the kingdom of God? The only time I've seen negotiation work in the Bible, and I'm not saying I'm a scholar, I'm just saying I've read through it a few times, is when Abraham was pleading for lot, when God was trying to burn Sodom and Gomorrah, and he said, "Well, God, what if I find a hundred? Well, what if I find fifty? What if I find..." You know what that tells me? That prayer can change the mind of God and things. You want to plead that way. You can't negotiate and say, "Well, God, I know He doesn't love you, but He seems like He loves me. If He loves you, He wouldn't keep having you do the stuff that you've been doing with Him." See, hear me on this. His faithfulness deserves more than just our appreciation. It deserves our surrender. The second response is this, to recognize our resistance, recognize our resistance. See, Stephen has reminded them of God's faithfulness, all of these people, and now he confronts the pattern running through their history. See, God spoke, but as people refuse to obey. This is what Stephen is highlighting

through Acts chapter 7, and God delivered, but their hearts kept turning back, and God sent his messengers, but they rejected them, and in verses 51 through 53, Stephen makes it very personal, because his hearers are continuing that same resistance that he's highlighting in Scripture through their rejection of Jesus. Listen, Church, before we can repent of our resistance, we have to stop explaining it away. See, Stephen is speaking to people who knew the scriptures, people who valued the temple. I mean, I'm talking about church attendance was on perfect, like they didn't miss an assignment. They was there, they was there all of the time, and their religious identity, they took very seriously, and yet he tells them, you're resisting the Holy Spirit. Not all to make every single one of us slow down, just a little bit, I think, because we need to, we tend to pitch a resistance to God as something obvious, right? We pitch a resistance to God as somebody that's mocking the Bible, right? Somebody that's trying to make fun of Christians, or somebody that's rejecting Christianity, or announcing that they want something they want nothing to do with Jesus, but the people that Stephen confronts would have considered themselves as defenders of the faith. See, here's the truth of the matter. It is personally, or it is possible to be deeply involved in religious activity while remaining deeply resistant to God. It is possible to be deeply involved in religious activity while remaining deeply resistant to God. That means that you could be showing up to church every week and still resisting what God truly has for your life. and still be abiding in a relationship that the only thing that honors God is the Facebook status that you updated saying you was married. Well, we don't have to. It's just a wall. Like I don't understand it's stupid. They didn't used to do that in the Old Testament. And then we'll find scriptures to say that this is what happened again, using out of context Bible verses to condone an unbiblical lifestyle.

In church, we need to let this next passage examine us in Acts 7, 37, where it says this is Moses who told the Israelites. This is the Moses who told the Israelites. God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your own people. He's reminded them that God, the Jesus that he's talking about was this person that Moses said. And now he's reminded them the words of their own leader. He was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai with our ancestors and he received the living words to pass on to us. But our ancestors refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts, they turned back to Egypt. See, Stephen speaks honorably about Moses and Moses announced that God was going to raise up a prophet like him and Moses received God's living words to pass on to the people. That wasn't the problem. The problem was their response. See, verse 39 says that their ancestors refused to obey him and turned their hearts back to Egypt. Think about that. They had experienced deliverance. First hand, they had experienced God delivered them from the conditions of their circumstances. They had witnessed God's power first hand

and they walked out of slavery as God delivered them through the Red Sea as it parted and they walked out and they seen the miracles of God and yet their hearts turned back towards the place that God had brought them out of. See, their location had changed, but their loyalties in their heart were still divided. See, experiencing God's provision doesn't make us incapable of resisting his word. You can recognize that God has been merciful to you. Hear me on this. You can recognize that God has been merciful to you and still nurture a desire to return to what enslaved you. For some of us, the struggle honestly is no longer simply what we're doing. It's what we keep making room for in our hearts though. See, we romanticize the old life. We begin to fantasize about what it's like to have that and if I could just have this and you get unhappy in your marriage so you begin to romanticize what another woman would be like and if it was just like this, listen, the grass is only greener on the other side if you never water your own lawn. (audience cheers) Did you know that the word husband means cultivator? Your job is to cultivate the soil of your wife's heart and water her with the word of God. If you was to begin to water her with the word of God and begin to wash over her, the promises of God,

baby, I'm telling you, the land is all good and the land of Gilead. You ain't got to worry about, some of y'all who know the Bible will know what that means but it's right on the fertile crescent. (audience laughs) It's true. But you ain't got to worry about grass looking greener on the other side when your grass is nice and green. See, we romanticize the old life. We remember its temporary pleasure while minimizing what had actually destroyed in our life. See time in that oftentimes will allow us to feel like we forgot and it's not as bad. That's why we keep the phone number that we know we should delete. See, that's why we protect the secrets of our temptation and we don't air them to the people of accountability in our lives because we think that the relapse actually sounds good in our lives and in our hearts. And so we begin to romanticize of what it's like for that shot of dope again or for that girl over there and for this shot of pornography and whatever it is. And then is what happens is we leave the door open just in case we want to sneak back in. And when scripture confronts it, we're like, I know, but like I know what the Bible says but you don't understand pastor. I know I need to forgive that person but you don't know what they did to me.

And I know this relationship is wrong but I just can't be alone. See, repentance begins when we stop defending what God is calling us to for sake which ultimately comes down to an issue of worship. And in Acts seven, verses 40, that they was just talking about. They told Aaron, "Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses, who let us out of Egypt." And we don't know what happened to him, man. This dude lost his mind. That was the time they made an idol in the form of a calf. They brought sacrifices to it and reveled in what their own hands had made. And, you know, they thought they was self-made millionaires and God had turned away from them and gave them over to the worship of the sun, moon and stars. And this agrees with what was written in the book of the prophets where he said, "Did you bring me sacrifice and offerings for 40 years in the wilderness, people of Israel? You have taken up the tabernacle of Melec and the stars of your God, Refen and the idols that you have made to worship and therefore I will send you into exile beyond Babylon." See, the people asked Aaron to, "Hey, would you go and make us a god that could go before us and because they were tired of Moses's leadership?" There's like a whole church hopping story there that I could go on to, but I'm not gonna go there.

And so they made a calf and offered sacrifices and celebrated what their own hands had produced and they were still worshiping, come on. They were still sacrificing stuff and they were still participating together, but unfortunately their worship had become idolatry. And the sincerity and activity didn't make their disobedience acceptable. In fact, that was what brought in their judgment. See, God's patience is never permission to keep rebelling. Just because he's being patient with you and you're getting this one off, don't think that you get it off. See, here's the real question. As are we receiving God as he has revealed himself or are we reshaping our idea of him around what we want? See, we can begin imagining a Jesus who always agrees with us. We love the comfort of Jesus, but not the correction of Jesus. See, we want a Jesus who forgives, but never calls us to turn from our sin. See, we want a Jesus that we can meet at the altar, but forget about in our week. We want a Jesus who blesses our plans, but never has authority to change them. But see, Jesus has the authority to confront what we treasure. He can confront your relationships. You can't do nothing about it, but either continue on in it.

He can confront the use of our money. He can confront the use of our sexuality. Come on, 21st century, you don't want to hear that, right? Yes, on Amendment three. Our bitterness, right? Our ambitions, listen, we cannot surrender to Jesus while reserving the right to overrule him. Because we'll see that they possessed sacred things without submitting them to God. See, they go through all of this, and I think this is some of the stuff that we need to hear because we can be grateful for what God is doing and still refuse to surrender him the things that he has called us to refuse to, or surrender to him. And then the third thing is this, respond with surrender. Let me ask you this. What is God's word made clear to you that you keep trying to negotiate? Not what someone else in the room needs to surrender. Come on, somebody. Every sermon is always for your spouse or for somebody else. You're nudging them, you know, you're sending the link to YouTube, to them after you leave church on Sunday. I was thinking about you when I seen this sermon. Oh, really? 'Cause when I watch it, I'm offended. (audience laughing) Where was you thinking of me and that?

'Cause I'm trying to figure this all out. 'Cause I believe I'm in tune with the spirit of God and the people that hold me accountable. And I'm just trying to figure out where that was supposed to correct me. 'Cause I'm just, anyways. [LAUGHTER] Stephen had just confronted them with the truth and now the question is what will they do with what they've heard. See verse 54 tells us that they are enraged, they grind their teeth at him and wave their hands in the air, spiritual temper tantrums. Well that's not what we do here religious people and see the truth and reached them but they refused to receive it now just for clarity being disturbed by the truth is not the same as surrendering to it. So you can feel uncomfortable in a service and still leave unchanged. You can recognize yourself in a sermon and still explain away what it exposes in your life even when your people's nudging you when the pastor's talking. See here's the truth is even an emotional response doesn't necessarily mean that we have repented. The question is what will we do with the truth? Well we just want the truth. You can't handle the truth. No I'm just kidding. Will we defend ourselves or will we confess our sin, right? Will we keep resisting or will we actually allow God to do something in our life because see there's a big difference from surrendering and just being okay with certain things that are actually taking place in our life but see the truth is is God wants everything that you have. He wants our hearts to be fully surrendered to him. He wants our lives to be fully surrendered to him. He wants things to happen in our lives and so I just I had three steps of how to surrender and I'm just gonna try to just go through these very fast here real quick because the truth is is when Stephen bears his witness to him they cover their ears. In church I think we need to let this scene search our hearts because we may never actually physically physically put our hands over our ears during a sermon but we can sure decide what parts

of our lives that we're no longer going to allow open for discussion. Well listen as long as you don't challenge my relationships when you challenge my relationship me and my boyfriend that have been playing house and not being married we're gonna go to another church that will accept us in our sin. Hey we accept you in your sin. We just know that there is more for you in your life that God has put in you than just settling for sin like that's not enough like I'll receive the word as long as it don't confront my bitterness. Right? Listen we don't we don't get to accept God's comfort while dismissing his authority. Jesus is worth more than just our interest. He's worthy of our trust. See surrender entrust the outcome to Jesus. See Luke introduces Saul in this passage and it's not that's not his point we're gonna get to him but it's as you see as the stones fall that Stephen calls upon Jesus to surrender his spirit and we need to feel the weight of what happens here because Stephen is full of the spirit and he speaks the truth he remains faithful and yet he still dies which this passage tells me that the promises of God and the promise that obedience doesn't always protect us from suffering. See it shows us that someone who trusts Jesus that we can do it even when obedience becomes costly. See sometimes I think we delay repentance because we want to guarantee about what happens afterwards. That's not a it's not always how it works and then third surrender allows the mercy of Jesus to shape our response. It says in verses 59 and 60, while they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. When was the last time that you prayed for the people that were persecuting you right now? When was the last time that you prayed for the people that just hurt you? When was the last time that you prayed? Period, during your current circumstances. It says, then he fell on his knees and cried out, Lord, do not hold this sin against him.

When he had said this, he fell asleep, means he died. Listen, the spirit's work in Stephen is visible in both his courage and his compassion. And I think that that matters to the local church because we need the courage to speak the truth and we need heart shaped by the mercy of God. Because we can become so consumed with proving someone wrong that we stop desiring their repentance. We replay the offense over and over and over in our minds and we keep hearing what it is and we rehearse the argument that we had and we wish we had a different opportunity and so we try to cater it in so we can speak the truth to him how we wanted to and we imagine the moment they finally get what they deserve. But see, Stephen's prayer confronts that desire for vengeance. Some of us need to repent of what we've done. Some of us need to repent of what we've allowed another person's wrong doing to produce within us. See, their actions have been deeply wrong. I get it, forgiveness doesn't mean calling even good, evil good, it doesn't mean removing wise boundaries in our lives either or even abandoning accountability but we can bring our anger to Jesus and ask him to free us from the desire to repay hurt for hurt. It's not enough, we can pray for the person who wounded us to encounter the same mercy that we have encountered in our own personal life. And so now the question comes to us personally. Act seven ends with Stephen's death

and it leaves us with this clear contrast. His hearers close their ears to the testimony about Jesus but Stephen entrusts his life to Jesus. What will we do now? Right, what will we do? Because you can respond today. You can confess what's hidden in your life. You can ask for help with what you need. You can take the next step that his word has made clear repentance is more than disagreeing with something that needs to change. It's turning to Jesus with a willingness to obey. Here's the truth. As surrender begins where your excuses end. Surrender begins. See, the beginning of Jesus is actually found at the end of you. If you could get rid of yourself, so as we prepare to respond, if you could just stand with me for just a moment, I want you to ask yourself this question. I want you to close your eyes for just a second. And ask yourself, what am I still trying to protect? That I need to place in the hands of Jesus. Is it your image? Are you disgusted with yourself? Have you been fighting your own identity and you're not happy with who you see in the mirror? Hey, did you know that when God created you,

He created you in His image. So when you don't like yourself, you're saying you don't like God? This is what I call the eye factor. When you look at yourself and you say, I am, did you know that He is the I am? And anything that you place on yourself after that, I am ugly, you're calling Him ugly. I am unworthy, you're calling Him unworthy. I am whatever, fill in the blank right there. Did you know what is it that you are holding onto? What are you trying to protect that you need to place? Is it your control? Is it a secret sin? Is it the right that you feel to get even? Listen, you don't need another excuse to keep holding onto. You have a faithful saver calling you to release it to Him today. And so if you're in here today and you're in here in this moment, I want you to think about this for just a second. Nobody needs to leave yet because maybe the person that you're with needs to hear this Maybe God is pulling on their heart right now. Sometimes we can get in such a hurry to get to whatever it is That's next that we forget the moment that is in right now So maybe you're in here right now and you say you know what man that is me. I have struggled for so many years I have been that person and and I've been religious and I've held all these things And I thought that I had a personal relationship with God But man, you just feel bankrupt and void right now in your spirit And you just need to surrender your heart to God again And you need to walk that thing out and you just need to really truly

Have a peaceful relationship with God and you want to do that today and you just want to surrender your life right now And just say I'm gonna resurrender and rededicate my life to the Lord That's you could I just get you to raise up your hand right now. Come on. I see your hand. I see come on I see those hands Hey, maybe you've never had a personal relationship with God and you say hey, you know what? I don't even know what you're talking about but I need to have that relationship today Maybe you've never had a relationship with God and you want to do that today You feel the Lord moving on your spirit right now Can I could I just get you to raise your hand right now if that's you come on if that's you Hey, if that was you on either one of those Can I just get you to step out of your seat and come down here? If you say you just want to surrender your life to Jesus come on come on come on Can we just celebrate for a moment for those that come on anybody else in here? I know there was a couple more if that was you just don't feel embarrassed don't feel called out like you Have a moment that you can surrender your life right now For the first time or the first time in a long time. There's nothing more important than this moment right now Nothing more important than this moment right now So if you're in here And that's you Go ahead step out if not Can we take just a few moments? And let's just worship through this because maybe you're dealing with some hurt In your life, maybe you're struggling with something that you've been hanging on to maybe you're you're still dealing with some of this stuff And your religious traditions have been what's been getting you through But you need the grace of God to meet you and the mercy of God to meet you right now Hey, did you know that his grace is still greater? That that your shame may be wide but his arms are wider Did you know that you could fall into the arms of Jesus today and you could say God I need to encounter your love It's not an emotional moment just that we seek But it is an encounter with the one true God that we need and maybe that encounter with God today

Is the thing that you've been needing in your life? And so if you're in here as the worship team begins to just play in and we just they lead us in this song could you just come down and and kneel at the altar and just surrender whatever it is that you're hanging on to to Jesus and Say God I just want to lay this down at the foot of the cross and I want to get back to what it is that you have asked me to get back to Because I need to strengthen my relationship with you. I've been hanging on to shame I've been hanging on to guilt, but God your way is greater You are greater still You are greater still God and so we just thank you right now Can we just worship for just a moment church and just allow the Lord to just have our hearts and have our ways right now? Yes, Lord Oh Come on just lay it down There's somebody in here hanging on to something right now Just release it I I Oh Oh Oh a ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh ♪