Timothy: Let us consider the longest sermon.
Video: Are you really in the faith? Have you surrendered to the full gospel? Are you dead enough to self that Jesus really lives in you? Is church leadership dead to themselves so that Jesus is alive in them? Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourself. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you? Unless of course you fail the test And I trust that you will discover that we have not failed the test. Second Corinthians 13:5-6.
Intro: Consider the wisdom. Consider the madness. Consider the folly. Ecclesiastes 2:12. Then I turned my thoughts to consider wisdom and also madness and folly. Today’s events, Paulorrow’s realities at www.consider.info.
Timothy: We’re going to consider the longest sermon here in a moment. And by the way when I say it’s the longest sermon, it’s the longest sermon I could find. It doesn’t mean somebody else might not find something that’s longer. If so let me know. This is not a do or die situation. We’re going to consider a very long sermon if not the longest sermon. Certainly, in the New Testament. How’s it going Jacob?
Jacob: It’s going good.
Timothy: Before we do that though I’ve got to do our pop quiz for JK first. Jacob, what was Paul before he was a Christian?
Jacob: Well, his name was Saul.
Timothy: Good, good.
Jacob: So, what was he? He persecuted Christians. So, he was, I think he doesn’t even refer to himself as like a Pharisee of Pharisees.
Timothy: That was his good qualities. Yep. Yep.
Jacob: Okay. Yeah. He was a sitter.
Timothy: And we’ll get to this in just a moment and I’ll get to it. First of all, I want to say thank you to you Jacob that you allow me to send pop quizzes your way. It does a couple of things. One, of course, it puts you on the spot. It sharpens you, but this is a double-edged sword. It also helps me to see what am I communicating or not communicating correctly. It’s very difficult to hear from the Holy Spirit exactly what to say and how to say it. Really, and I think of you and Elise in terms of your obedience. Look at Galatians 6:6. Because you do this really well. And I’m repeating myself but I’m also very appreciative of the fact that most people I couldn’t turn to and go hey what do you think about this? They think I’m trapping them. And it it’s actually an art form, isn’t it?
Because you’ve gone through several decades with me asking that and I’d say and I you correct me from we’re just kind of chatting. The first decade was me telling you don’t try and anticipate where I’m going. Just answer the question. Just be honest with what you think. If you’re wrong, you’re wrong, we go from there and so as the pride dies, you quit worrying about, okay, what’s that or what’s Tim looking for? In other words, I don’t want you to be a yes man. I want you to share what’s in your heart. So, it helps me to see, well, you know what? Maybe I didn’t communicate that clearly or maybe you’re just being doofus or hardhearted or I am or both of us or somewhere in between.
So, it’s a lot that goes on with this dynamic of going, hey, Jacob, I got a pop quiz for you. That’s a lot more than me trying to just put you in a corner in a box that says okay just see how stupid you can look. That’s not the goal at all. We’re both kind of fumbling and feeling our way in the Lord and going hey God what is your working? That’s along with the speech but my main point is thanks for being there for that. Look at Galatians 6:6 and go ahead and read that.
Jacob: “Anyone who receives instruction in the word must share all good things with his instructor”.
Timothy: That’s a seldom scripture that’s lived out among all the other scriptures that are seldom lived out.
Jacob: Yeah.
Timothy: Anyone who receives instruction in the word must. You can underline it, highlight it, astrocyte, put it in your heart as Holy Spirit put there. Must share all good things with his instructor. As I preached over the years, people were actually very reluctant to do that. Number one, it comes across they think they’re complimenting me and hey, you don’t want to compliment me because I might get all puffed up and we don’t want to think somebody has something better takes an act of humility to come and go you know, you taught this and I really learned this or I got crucified in this. But it’s a must situation in order for me to know in the Lord where a church or an individual might be as you come to share things with me. It exposes not only where you’re at but also where I’m at and maybe what God wants to clarify or work smart. Any thoughts on all that Jacob?
Jacob: Yeah, I think you have always instructed me or encourage me to pour out my heart before the Lord just like David did. That was always a clear example given and the more that somebody like me can pour out my heart to the Lord. The more you’re open and honest with the Lord the more you’re going to be opus and honest with those around us. Like me and you.
Timothy: Exactly, and obviously there’s a lot of rebukes to go with this if you’re young and somebody come to me young in the Lord and go, oh I learned this. Like, no you missed the point or you’re applying in a world you have to go through a whole rebuking process to grow up and mature. Which would seem, we do that with our children. And when I say rebuke, it doesn’t always mean some harsh kind of thing. You’re always rebuking your kids in a fun, loving way and if you need to sharply but that’s how we learn. Eventually, you want your sons or daughters to grow up to be able to at least out argue you, that would be nice. Somebody to be that more mature in the cross to start doing the correction and then I’d have the advantage of being you’re not supposed to rebuke an older man harshly. So, it gets really kind of even. Again, I’m repeating myself but it’s a rare thing that we’ve got going on here and I’m very thankful for it and we both benefit this in a lot of humble ways in the Lord.
Alright, let’s talk about the longest sermon and this is going to be obviously a long audio clip that we’re going to play and we need to think of this as just walking in a rainstorm, a nice spring rainstorm where you’re not worried about staying dry or whatever in the cooling waters are coming down and you’re just being refreshing it. When your son or daughters are playing out in the rain or the water, do they like doing that, Jacob?
Jacob: Yes.
Timothy: They’re not worried about where the rain comes from or what it’s doing or afraid of this over here. They’re just enjoying it. I want us to just enjoy what we’re going to listen to even though it’s a very serious kind of thing. Just let the word of God cleanse us, wash us, prepare us to really dig in deep before the Lord and find, okay, what can we learn from the longest sermon? I know there’s a lot of genealogies in the Old Testament. And I wish I could pronounce the names. But there’s a lot there and I just can’t soak it in. I have to go through it and that kind of thing. I would need someone to thoroughly teach me exactly what’s going on more than just God making a list and a note of who’s doing what. Any thoughts before we play that clip?
Jacob: Nope.
Timothy: Alright, let’s listen to it and then we’re going to come back and dive right in.
Longest sermon video: The longest sermon. Let us listen to the longest sermon recorded in the Bible. The longest sermon is perfect in logic. Sound in doctrine demonstrating God’s long sufferings of love. Take a minute or two and listen as a professional reader communicates this sermon found in the book of Acts. Because the punchline will be explored on the Consider Podcast at www.consider.info.
Stephen a powerful apostle of Jesus had a mob incited against him by the religious leaders of his day. Naturally the same as true today. Stephen is soon going to preach religious folk who understood their Bible. The group that opposed Stephen are Bible study groups, religious publications, and church clubs of the day. In today’s terms, Stephen is preaching to the choir, the God-focused choir of his day. The charges against Stephen have been heaped upon him. So, these religious leaders in command of the public forum, the social media of the day, flame up their accusations. Then the high priest asked him, “Are these charges true?” 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. “Leave your country and your people,” God said, “And go to the land I will show you”.
“So, he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living. He gave him no inheritance here, not even a foot of ground. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land. Even though at that time, Abraham had no child. God spoke to him in this way. “Your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own. And they will be enslaved and mistreated 400 years. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves”, God said. “And afterward, they will come out of that country and worship me in this place”.
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 12 patriarchs. Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as the slave into Egypt. But God was with him and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the good will of pharaoh king of Egypt, so he made him rule over Egypt and all his palace. Then a famine struck all Egypt and Canaan bringing great suffering and our fathers could not find food. When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers on their first visit. On their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was. And Pharaoh learned about Joseph’s family.
After this Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family, 75 and all. Then Jacob went down to Egypt where he and our fathers died. Their bodies were back to Shechem and placed in the Paulb that Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor at Shechem for a certain sum of money. As the time drew near for God to fulfill his promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt greatly increased. Then another king, who knew nothing about Joseph, became ruler of Egypt. He dealt treacherously with our people and oppressed our forefathers by forcing them to throw out their newborn babies so that they would die. At that time Moses was born and he was no ordinary child. For three months he was cared for in his father’s house. When he was placed outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him and brought him up as her own son.
Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action. When Moses was 40 years old, he decided to visit his fellow Israelites. He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not. The next day, Moses came upon two Israelites who were fighting. He tried to reconcile them by saying, “Man, you are brothers; why do you want to hurt each other?” But the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside and said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?” When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons.
After 40 years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flame of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai. When he saw this, he was amazed at the sight. As he went over to look more closely, he heard the Lord’s voice: “I am the God of your fathers, The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob”. Moses trembled with fear and did not dare to look. Then the Lord said to him, “Take off your sandals. The place where you are standing is holy ground. I have indeed seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free. Now come. I will send you back to Egypt”. This is the same Moses whom they had rejected with the words, “Who made you ruler and judge?”
He was sent to be their ruler and deliverer by God himself, through the angel who appeared to him in the bush. He led them out of Egypt and did wonders and miraculous signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea and for 40 years in the desert. This is that Moses who told the Israelites. “God will send you a prophet like me from your own people”. He was in the assembly in the desert with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our father, and he received living words to pass on to us. But our fathers refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and, in their hearts, turned back to Egypt. They told Aaron, “Make us Gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who let us out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him”. That was the time they made an idol in the form of a calf. They brought sacrifices to it and held a celebration in honor of what their hands had made. But God turned and gave them over to the worship of the heavenly bodies.
This agrees with what is written in the book of the prophets: “Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings 40 years in the deserts, O house of Israel?” You have lifted up the shrine of Molech and the star of your God Rephan, the idols you made to worship. Therefore, I will send you into exile beyond Babylon. Our forefathers had the tabernacle of the testimony with them in the desert. It had been made as God directed Moses according to the pattern he had seen. 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, who enjoyed God’s favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who built the house for him. However, the most high does not live in houses made by men. As the prophet says, “Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me? Says the Lord. Or where will my rest place be, has not my hand made all these things?”
Let’s pause for a moment. Smack dab in the middle of a sermon where Steven seems to be just warming up. The point where the name of Jesus and the story of his sacrifice would come into focus – Stephen stops. Steven realizes it is hopeless. The Christianity of his day like our day will respond only as ungodly Christian claimers can respond. Steven gives up – getting to the point of all other points he just made. Steven knows what is coming – the sinful refusal of the good news is upon the God claimer’s faces. You stiff necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears. You are just like your fathers: you always resist the Holy Spirit. 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. You who have received the law that was put into effect through angels. But have not obeyed it.
When they heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. 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. “Look”, he said, “I see heaven open and the son of man standing at the right hand of God”. At this, they covered their ears and yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus receive my spirit”. Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord do not hold this sin against them”. When he had said this, he fell asleep. (Acts 1:1-60). Let us ponder the stoning of Stephen on the Consider Podcast. The Consider Podcast at www.consider.info. Today’s events – Paulorrow’s realities.
Timothy: That video pretty much explains everything. We can just quit the podcast at the moment and go home, right Jacob?
Jacob: Yeah, that’s it.
Timothy: I’d forgotten how long that actually is. I had this done months ago. We just never could get around to it. Any quick thoughts before we started diving in just a little bit.
Jacob: No, go ahead.
Timothy: Alright. So, what was Paul? Saul before he became a Christian?
Jacob: He was a witness and looking for the word like he was sitting there approving of the stoning of Stephen. So, he was accessory to murder.
Timothy: Oh, well that’s a good point, hadn’t kind of hadn’t gone quite there. Nope, that’s not what I’m looking for. Of course, all those things are true. He was a prosecutor. He was just like today’s prosecutors. We’ll see that here in just a moment. He had letters, was obeying the law, the Pharisees, the whole bit, searching out disciples of Jesus to beat them, put them in prison. Who does that sound like today?
Jacob: The judicial system as a whole.
Timothy: Exactly. And he was a prosecutor. And now he went around persecuting. Well let’s back up here. And let’s dive in with, again this man we’re just doing a superficial analysis at this point. But let’s go to Acts chapter 6, and let’s go to Acts 6:9 Jacob, and let’s set the scene here as to what Stephen is doing and why he’s speaking and what’s going on. Was it a big revival meaning that was taking place? Let’s see was it coach Christianity where some athletic person in the Olympic Games came to Jesus Christ and won the right to pray before the Lions ate him or whatever. And so, he had this legal obligation now that he had won. So he created this ministry, wrote a book, and went out to preach the gospel among the choir.
Jacob: No.
Timothy: Is that the situation? Of course not. Let’s go ahead and read that and go on down to verse 15 there Jacob.
Jacob: So, 9-15?
Timothy: Yeah, let’s do that.
Jacob: “Opposition arose however for the members of the synagogue of the Friedman as it was called. Jews of the Syrian and Alexandrian as well as the Providences of Sicily and Asia. These men bagan…
Timothy: Let me, yeah let me interrupt you there. So, is everybody against Stephen here?
Jacob: Yeah.
Timothy: I mean all different if you went in to invest in gate who Stephen is in Jesus Christ. And you went to all these different locations and you went to Georgia and you went to Louisiana and you went to Missouri and you went to Worship State and you analyze okay who’s Stephen. Scripture says he’s a Godly man, right? But we’ve got all these people in various situations. This jury pool so to speak of Jews everywhere, right? And they like Stephen, do you see that he is a Godly man?
Jacob: No.
Timothy: In fact, read verse or I’ll read verse 9. “Now, Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people”. There’s no contest in terms of actual evidence. If you look at the evidence of who Stephen is. Did he not, God say he’s full of grace and power and did he not do miracles and wonders and signs among you? Okay. Verse 9 says, “Opposition arose”. There’s that old saying, “no good deed goes unpunished”. If you’re going to follow Jesus Christ, if you’re going to go around powerfully doing good deeds and indeed if you do any miracles even wonders. Guess what? All the other religious folks and all the other false Christians, that’s why I had you play that video in the beginning. Test yourself to see if you’re in the faith and we’ll get to that in a little bit here in a second. So, opposition arose because of all the goodness. The more good you do in Jesus Christ, what’s going increase Jacob.
Jacob: Opposition.
Timothy: Opposition. Verse 10 says, “But they cannot stand up against the wisdom or the spirit by whom he spoke”. He’s a powerful man. He speaks. People get boxed in the corner. You think they appreciate it? You think they do they like the pop quizzes that Steven brings toward them Jacob?
Jacob: No.
Timothy: Alright. So, we get into a hate crime. Verse 11. Go ahead and start verse 11 till I interrupt you again.
Jacob: “Then secretly persuaded some men to say, we have heard” …
Timothy: Oh, secretly, secretly back in darkness. You hate crime, multi-level marketing, let’s plan some slander over here and let’s plan some lies over here, right? I don’t want to over emphasize this because we don’t have a lot of time. But can we kind of experience that, Jacob?
Jacob: Yes.
Timothy: And again, Paul or Saul is the head prosecutor. I’m sorry to interrupt you. I’ll do it again. Go for it.
Jacob: “We have heard Stephen speak words of blasphemy against Moses and against God”.
Timothy: Whoa, those are some serious charges. I just received one a couple months ago that I’ve got secret pride hottie. God’s going to judge me just went down the line there was naturally no specifics. They didn’t leave their real name, so it’s all in darkness, it’s all charges. We have heard Steven. I mean we were there. We were eyewitnesses. We experienced it. We can sit in a court of law. We can swear to whatever we swear on today that these words are true. One person after another person sitting on the stand saying, oh, all these things he did is evil he’s pride, he’s arrogant, he did this, he’s bossy, right?
Jacob: Yes.
Timothy: Sound familiar, doesn’t it? Alright, keep going, keep pressing on.
Jacob: “So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law”.
Timothy: I’m going to interrupt you again. Look at hate crime moving fast, right? Washington State, so they stirred up the people. The whole town is stirred up, right? I don’t like them we used to have a sign outside the city of Venom Claude says, shop at the Salt Shaker bookstore. People would go around more. We got advertising. I don’t know the people actually came in, but don’t go there. Why are you letting that person have that sign there and so on. They secretly persuaded some men to say, we’ve heard Stephen do this. So, they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. Got it? Alright, keep going.
Jacob: “They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin”.
Timothy: Go ahead. Keep going. You thought I was going to erupt you, didn’t you?
Jacob: I did. “He produced false witnesses who testified this fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law”.
Timothy: We’d be here forever, wouldn’t we?
Jacob: Yeah.
Midpoint
Timothy: Supposedly I opened up a Christian bookstore in the town of Union Claw because I just wanted to sell my books. That’s what they were told. So, the prosecutors, these people that claimed to be in the no thought you’d walk into this building and there’d be ten copies of my book and that’s all that was there. That was one lie of many and it just went on and on and on. And it defiled the whole situation. Alright keep going.
Jacob: “For we have hurt say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the cusPauls Moses handed down to us”. All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
Timothy: Anything you want to say before we move forward a little bit Jacob?
Jacob: My only question is it 15, so had they seen angels before if they saw his face and it looked like the face of an angel or they could, you know what I mean? Or I don’t know.
Timothy: Well, he was just glowing is the best way to quit that.
Jacob: Sure. Everybody knew it.
Timothy: They knew it. It goes back to that all these people that embraced the slander or prosecuted it or persecuted inside. There’s no way God woe Wasn’t speaking and warning them. They might have seared their conscience so they don’t feel any guilt about it, but there is no way God in his quiet ways in terms of circumstances they know deep in their heart that what they did was evil and sinful. In the same way, they’re looking him seeing that the glory of God is there. What I want us to see here at the moment is just how much evidence demonstrated that Stephen was a Godly man. It was like all over the place. His whole sermon and we’re not going to go through it line for line that would just take way too long. Was not every single thing he said according to scripture?
Jacob: Yes.
Timothy: I mean, to the end degree, was there anything in what Stephen begins to preach and to say in this long sermon that would be considered blasphemed or somehow opposed to God? Remember, they said, he constantly does these things. He constantly blasphemes God. He constantly wants to bring down the government or whatever. He’s just a violent rebel.
Jacob: Against Moses.
Timothy: He never shuts up?
Jacob: Well, no, they you know, the two specifics was against Moses too, but then yeah, in his story, you know what I mean? In his sermon, it’s all accurate. He’s not changing anything that they’re accusing him of going to change the cusPauls handed down for Moses and it’s not true at all.
Timothy: Correct. In fact, on since Stephen is a man who loves God and he loves God’s word. This sermon is tight. He’s not exploring any other avenues here. He”s not going beyond anything they cannot understand or acknowledges true. But they are just serpents that will not be charmed. No matter what you say or do and that’s really the whole point of today, no matter how much evidence you put out and no matter what things you show that what they believe or false about all these things. They’re just not going to accept it. And we’re talking think of this as a jury pool. You’ve got this whole legal system, this whole religious section going on. It’s been told, oh no other persons, no other ministries have accepted what Timothy Williams has to say or what this gospel part is. It goes on and on and people everywhere confirmed that it’s all true, right? So, in Acts chapter 7 verse 1, “Then the high priest ask him, “Are these charges true?” I’m always amazed by that question. You know where I’m headed with that, Jacob?
Jacob: Well, I’m guessing you’re going to say, you’re guilty until proven innocent like, so he’s already convinced or he already believes the charges. And then now he’s turning to Steven. He’s like, well, you have to go defend yourself.
Timothy: Well and it’s even weirder. It’s like well how would you expect Steven to answer the question?
Jacob: Yeah exactly.
Timothy: Oh yeah of course. They’re all true. I’ve had people are you a cult leader? And I go, how do I answer that question if I say, no I’m a cult leader that only proves I’m a cult leader because I’m denying that I’m a cult leader. What do you expect me to say with that?
Jacob: Yeah.
Timothy: What he doesn’t do is answer the question? Are these charges true? He just doesn’t go yes or no or I plead guilty or I plead innocent, he just moves on with the facts of the gospel. The person asking those kinds of questions you can never please them.
Jacob: Yeah.
Timothy: Ever a prosecutor that comes in and they got you down to the deposition table, there are no good answers. When they arrest you. what did they say? You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law, right?
Jacob: Yep.
Timothy: That’s false advertising. They, police and prosecutors need to start saying you’re free to say whatever you want but be assured that everything you say will be twisted, will be averted, and whether you’re innocent or not, we will make you to be guilty. Now, do you have anything to say? That would be a truthful statement.
Jacob: Correct.
Timothy: So, he’s asking a question. Are these charges true? It’s a stupid question. They believe it’s true. They’re hoping now that he’s going to say something stupid. And trying to explain all of this. It’s like, are you guilty? Are you a cult leader? Okay, then as you try to explain what they’re doing is not listening to the facts, they’re hoping you say something that they can run with and go, well, I heard him say you have to do this or he said you have to hate and despise money. So, he’s after everybody’s money. You go from one fact into your slander kind of thing. So that it’s just a trap.
Jacob: Yeah.
Timothy: What’s Steven? Let me stop there. Any thoughts on that?
Jacob: No, go ahead.
Timothy: One thing to do is as I go through this and point this out ask yourself the question and if you’re listening to this podcast are you willing to preach to a group of people for which you know you’re going to die? That’s one serious question to ask. I have heard it a million times. Well, am I exaggerating? No, probably, well, probably a million would be an exaggeration. I didn’t say anything because they weren’t going to accept it. So, we just remain silent. Well, there’s no love involved. Plus, you don’t know who’s listening and that’s lesson number 2, that’s also lesson number one because who’s watching all of this but Saul who later will become Paul. And he’s participating in the act, that’s why God doesn’t have us strike back. That’s why he doesn’t have us take the sword. Because he isn’t through bringing in people that are his people and we can’t tell who that is.
We are obligated to preach the gospel as the Holy Spirit leads to a group of people for which we know they’re not going to pay attention to anything we have to say except maybe for that one true disciple who is the biggest persecutor or prosecutor in the whole situation. We don’t know who’s listening. We don’t know in a court of law who’s taking dictation or some minor official is over here listening or this is going over. You’re preaching the gospel. Let this be a warning and encouragement as the government begins to come in and close in on us and they’re going to bring in all true disciples and look, prosecutors are experts at dividing people. They’re experts at getting people to betray one another. They’re experts at taking people in. Our prosecutors beat people today. Do they not put them in the worst of prisons to torment them, to weaken them, to soften them, do they not steal all their money so they can’t defend themselves? There’s no difference in what’s being taken place here.
Jacob: Yeah.
Timothy: There’re people in solitary confinement now for doing the most minor things because I don’t know. I don’t know what goes through their head. Prosecutors, police, whatever. They’re just brutish and they their idea is to torment you and to trick you. How many people have given false confessions in police stations only to deny them later, because they are being badgered and beaten in order to accept whatever the authorities want them to say. Now, I know I’m side tracking but you have to understand you need to repent now. You need to get as close to God as possible because these people are highly trained and proficient in destroying and getting people to be separated one another.
Marriages will fall apart. Children will betray their parents. People will fall away on a massive scale. You will be driven to the point where you cannot stand it and that’s where God’s grace will pick in, if pick you up if you’ve learned to die to yourself, follow the ground, and lose your own life. If you’re not living the full gospel, you’re in from at best some serious discipline. That all make sense, Jacob?
Jacob: Yup.
Timothy: Alright, anything that stood out in his speech as I kind of look over the notes and stuff here?
Jacob: No.
Timothy: Alright, in Acts chapter 7 verse 2, Stephen says, he replied, he began a sermon with, “Brothers and fathers”. These are people that know the scriptures. These are people that claim to be Christians or religious or God fearing, correct? He addresses them as brothers and fathers. Now, I’m going to do a little side goat here. He doesn’t say sisters, does he?
Jacob: No.
Timothy: He doesn’t say wives, does he? I’ll have people chew on that and get mad but anyway, “Brothers and fathers, listen to me”, and I know there’s no explanation point in the New Testament Greek but there is. It’s you hear the Holy Spirit say, he’s frustrated. He’s done these miracles. He’s done all these good deeds and just nobody is listening. Correct?
Jacob: Correct.
Timothy: We bumped into that and this is routine so that I’m just using his example. No matter what you say, nobody’s going to listen. And then he begins his dissertation, his sermon, and everything he talks about is God’s glory. Everything he talks about is a life of faith. He goes from Fun fact to another fact. He says Abraham lived here and then he moved here and he left his people and went there, right? There’s nothing that he’s saying that is extra biblical. Correct?
Jacob: That is would you say that is extra biblical?
Timothy: Correct. He’s not sharing an opinion. He’s not deviating.
Jacob: It’s facts. It’s scriptures. It’s to the point.
Timothy: The only thing that’s missing Jacob. Well, what’s the only thing that’s missing? What what’s wrong with Stephen’s preaching here? What’s fundamentally wrong?
Jacob: Fundamental wrong.
Timothy: Oh yeah.
Jacob: Whoa.
Timothy: Way, way, way off.
Jacob: I’m not going to. I’m going to speak against Steven Servant.
Timothy: Oh no. It is. It’s way wrong. In fact, it doesn’t matter what he says because why? What’s he doing that is just so vile. Worsening in the prison for, not listening to what he has to say. What is his problem?
Jacob: Because he was just, he’s just too harsh. He’s just too judgmental. He really needs to relax, okay? I don’t know.
Timothy: No, he’s not using the King James Bible.
Jacob: Oh, he’s not using the KJV. Yeah.
Timothy: Correct. So, what could he possibly be saying that’s worthwhile? It’s not the version everybody believes in. So, you can just tune him out. Now, for the rest of the folks that are actually kind of listening. He goes down through the list. He talks about being a slave in Egypt. Talks about Jacob. He does all these things, right? And then he talks about Moses. I know I’m kind of repeating it but the hammering this home. There’s just nothing he is saying That isn’t true. Mm hmm. And this from a man who’s accused of being a liar. Being a troublemaker, stirring up riots, blaspheming God. We’ve gone from charges of blaspheming God to the most biblical sermon that that can be done, right? Then we go through and we get all the way down there go down to Acts chapter 7 verse 39 and go and read that one, Jacob. And we’ll see a little bit of a hint of what the problem is.
Jacob: “But our fathers refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and, in their hearts, turned back to Egypt”.
Timothy: There’s the core of the problem and I don’t know if he’s hinting at it or going up but that’s the problem they refuse to obey. There isn’t anything that I preach that is extra biblical, correct Jacob?
Jacob: Correct.
Timothy: I don’t talk about how many angels can dance on the head of a pen. We don’t get into all kinds of. If we do, if we answer that question, it always comes back to, okay, that’s meaningless. Let’s get back to what do we obey? How do we follow God, correct?
Jacob: Correct.
Timothy: So, on the service, these people give allegiance to God but our fathers refuse to obey him, but they didn’t claim not to be God loving. In fact, this is a Sanhedrin and the Pharisees and the officials and the high priest and these are biblical people. This is a crowd of people who would be, well, they are becoming indignant because it’s being exposed. They don’t really obey God. In their hearts, they’re still in Egypt. We see that kind of rebellion today. You mention anything that needs to be obeyed in scripture. It’s either the wrong Bible version or it’s my interpretation or I don’t want to argue about scripture. The excuses for not being obedient. Just increase hand over foot, don’t they?
Jacob: Yes.
Timothy: Alright, so let’s go down to 49 & 50 and go and read those two verses, Jacob and I’ll try not to interrupt you.
Jacob: “Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. “What kind of house will you build for me?” says the Lord. Or where will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all these things?”
Timothy: For a man that blasphemes God who is he pointing back to?
Jacob: The Lord.
Timothy: The Lord. The powerful God. Heaven is my throne. He is pointing back to what their pride is. These people would pride themselves, oh, I worship the living God. Jesus Christ is my personal Lord and savior. I really believe in Jesus. I trust in his mercy and his grace. That’s what he’s pointing to. Heaven is my throne, he’s saying and the earth is my footstool, God is saying. What kind of house will you build for me? Says the Lord, or where will my resting place be.
Verse 50, “Has not my hand made all these things”. So, he’s pointing and not only is he not blasphemy. He’s pointing to look out your window. Look up at the sky. Look at all the stars. Look at the earth and the trees and everything around you. Who is he pointing to hand over foot overwhelmingly in every way, Jacob?
Jacob: Back to the Lord.
Timothy: Back to the Lord. Then it stops. There at this point between verse 50 & 51, probably by the Holy Spirit but Steven realizes you know what? This is futile. No matter how many facts I lay out, they’re not going to believe the truth. No matter how many times or how you phrase it or how you put it together, they’re just not going to accept it. So, he just throws up his hands. He knows where this is headed. There reaches a point in time when not only they’re not going to listen and when you lay out all the facts, so they can just totally get ignore it. They’ve just stuffed their ears totally. He realizes, okay, this is pointless, this is futile.
We experience the same thing. Hate crime increases, the hatred increases in the land, the authorities think they’re on their horse, they’re doing their thing. Didn’t there reach a point when you go, there’s no point in saying anything.
Jacob: Yeah.
Timothy: It’s just going to have to run its course. We’ll have to be run out of town. We’ll have to be persecuted. We have to be prosecuted. We’ll have to be slandered. The news media’s going to do it in the local town. Everybody’s going to do it. They want what they want. They have a blood loss, a slander loss, that it’s just going to be a college because for whatever reason, right? Obviously, we can get into the whole spiritual thing because they’re not disciples of Jesus. Satan is able to influence them but most people would like you’re saying that we’re all Satan in control. Well, yes somebody’s controlling and it’s certainly not the Holy Spirit. Then he realizes that okay this is it. The gig is up. This is into my life. Let’s wrap this up and bring it to a close. Acts 7:51. “You stiff-necked people”. You ever had a stiff neck, Jacob?
Jacob: I’ve had like a creek in my neck. Or like a little pulled tendon or something.
Timothy: I actually had a stiff neck once and I’m thankful that I did, but I tell you what it is one of the most miserable things to endure. If you really ever get a stiff-neck, you literally can’t walk or move or turn your head. Everything is extremely painful. Let alone to actually turn and look. I can’t describe it to you, but it is an overwhelming stuckness of your whole life. You just can’t go and do anything. You can’t lay down. You can’t move and so on. “You stiff-neck people”. There is nothing that’s going to happen here that’s going to be good. “With uncircumcised hearts and ears”. Their ears are not that fleshly part of their ears that wants to hear what they want to hear that hasn’t been cut away.
The fleshly part of their heart, the lusting after the world or the lusting after religiosity or a sense of feeling God. All that flesh in there that just festers and you know I want what I want and I don’t want to hear the things you have said. I don’t even want to discuss them. I don’t want to examine them. I don’t want to go with you because I know where this is headed. They know that if they acknowledge any of the points that Steven said. The whole domino effect goes down. They know if they say, okay Steven, you’re right on this. Then they got to say, well you’re right on that and then you’re right on that and then what happens eventually the people have to say you’re right, you’re right, you’re right. It always ends in front of the crucified life, doesn’t it?
Jacob: Yeah.
Timothy: That’s why nobody unless you’re a disciple Jesus can agree with what I’m saying because if you agree with this one point here. Let’s give one. If you agree that we should all hate and despise money. Doesn’t that just flow all the way down to the crucified life?
Jacob: Yes.
Timothy: Then you got to go okay if that’s true then how do we obey that? And how do we follow the Holy Spirit? And that means suffering of Jesus Christ and it just keeps going down the line. Now they can’t acknowledge that and he realizes they’re just not going to do it. “You are just like your fathers. You always resist”. Now look what it is. You always resist what? What does it say Jacob?
Jacob: The Holy Spirit.
Timothy: Holy Spirit. Did they not accept all the scriptures in his sermon?
Jacob: Yeah.
Timothy: They didn’t, yeah, they didn’t argue against any of the scriptures he spoke, right?
Jacob: No, correct.
Timothy: So, I know a lot of scriptural people that are doomed to hell. Because what they reject is the Holy Spirit that can make those scriptures alive. Let me repeat that. He is and this is a very scriptural sermon and they don’t argue that point. Technically, they are a scriptural people. It’s a Bible-believing church. It can even be a King James only, Bible-believing church. Don’t they say, oh I believe in scriptures. Scriptures are number one. I believe what the Bible says, right? I got to be faithful to the text. I believe what the Bible says. The Bible, the Bible, the Bible.
Well, guess what? As I’ve said before, I don’t follow the Bible. I follow the Holy Spirit who leads me into the Bible. What we see here is a classic example of a Bible-believing people with stiff-necks, uncircumcised hearts and ears. And they’re always, always, not just sometimes, not in between they’re always resist the Holy Spirit that would make it alive. You can accept that the cross is offensive, but that’s not the same thing as accepting the Holy Spirit that makes it offensive, correct?
Jacob: Correct.
Timothy: Or another way to put that is, yeah, amen, right?
Jacob: Amen.
Timothy: “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”. He goes for the heart and they have a choice to repent or not repent. That’s all we have time for in this podcast. We’ll pick up on the next one. Jacob, take us out of here.
Outro: This has been the Consider Podcast at www.consider.info where yesterday’s folly is today’s madness. In the beginning, the unrepentant sinners words are folly. At the end, they are wicked madness. Ecclesiastes 10:13. Judgement begins with the house of God. Therefore, let everyone who loves the Lord with an undying love pick up their cross and walk the talk. As Peter the wrote. “Therefore, prepare your minds for action. Be self-controlled”. First Peter 1:13-14. The Considered Podcast, examining today’s events and Paulorrow’s realities. www.consider.info.
End
The Consider Podcast
Examining today’s wisdom, folly and madness
Ecclesiastes 7:25
www.consider.info
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