Acts Chapter 7:1-8

These are the group of people that had brought Peter and John in front of them, scolded them for talking about Jesus, beat them, threw them in jail twice, and Stephen gets up in front of them, and of course he immediately rebukes them for all the bad things they've done. No, that's not what he did. Look at his words. Brothers, fathers.

That's interesting. Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David McGee. David is the senior pastor of The Bridge in Kernersville, North Carolina. Throughout Scripture, we see that God is constantly reaching out to us, and with that understanding, we should continue to reach out to others. And today, Pastor David explains why that's important to reach others as he continues in the book of Acts, chapter 7. Now this chapter is about a young man who reminds me a lot of one of our associate pastors, D.A.

Brown, and D.A. is with us on the program today. Welcome, brother. Bob, just a little bit more than 15 years ago, I remember sitting in a chair watching Pastor David on TV, and I knew right then as he was teaching the Word of God verse by verse that God could change me too.

And so I did just that. I put my trust in Jesus, and Bob, it's been an incredible adventure that I hope everyone makes a decision to be a part of too. What a great testimony, brother. And now, here's David McGee with his teaching, Stephen's Address. Last week, we finished Acts, chapter 6, and so this week we're going to start Acts, chapter 7. And what this is talking about in the book of Acts, just to kind of give you a quick catch-up, Stephen was willing to literally wait on tables. And we talked about the fact that God desires us to use us in the small things, and as we're faithful in the small things, then God will use us in bigger things.

But a lot of times we wait on the bigger things, neglecting the small things, and so we kind of gum up the whole process. But Stephen was willing to wait on tables. And then what happened? God used him in a powerful and miraculous way. Then he gets in trouble for it, and so that kind of brings us to chapter 7, and we'll pick it up in verse 1. Then the high priest said, Are these things so?

Now, this is great. The high priest is asking a question, and he's asking a question because Stephen has been used by God and living his life in such a way that somebody wants to ask a question, and to me this is a beautiful thing. I think a lot of times we try to give answers when nobody's asking us anything. And as a Christian, you have to be careful with this.

You can live your life in such a way that people will ask you what you believe and why. One occurrence might be of this, is if you're at work, your boss comes by at 4.59, lays a pile of papers at your desk and says, Listen, I really need you to take care of this before you leave. Now, I'm sure that probably has happened to some of us, and our response wasn't very godly, but think about it. If your response was godly and you said, Oh, okay, I'll be happy to knock this out for you, and maybe somebody's watching, maybe a coworker, and they look at you and they're kind of confused, and maybe they even come up to you after and they say, I'm confused because it's 4.59. You're supposed to get off at 5 o'clock.

The boss just came and put a bunch of paperwork on your desk asking you to finish before you leave, and you smiled at him and said, Thanks, and you'd be glad to. What's wrong with you? I mean, there's something different that you would be like that.

What makes you different? Well, boom, then you've got an opportunity to share how God gave you that job, how God is blessing you through that job, and you're thankful for that job, and not only is He giving you a job and looking after you, but He's forgiven you of your sins, and boom, then you're in to sharing the gospel. There's lots of ways to do that where people will ask. Another great way to do that is simply thanking God for your food in a restaurant. I mean, that's not something that everybody does, and if you have a relationship with the Lord, you should thank the Lord for your food in a restaurant. Now, I don't mean the old hanky drop thanking the Lord for the food, where you drop your napkin and it's kind of like, Thank you, Lord, for this food. In Jesus' name, amen.

All right, let's eat, kids. No, I'm talking about thanking God publicly for your food. You know why?

Because people will notice that. Ultimately, you'll have somebody come up and say, So, are you a believer, or what's going on with that? Again, them asking a question. We see that in the Bible. 1 Peter 3, verse 15, it says, Instead you must worship Christ as Lord of your life, and if you are asked about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it. Always be ready to give to every man an answer, if you will. Let me ask you a question. If you know Jesus, if you've asked Him to forgive you of your sins, can you share your testimony in 30 seconds or less?

You should have it kind of honed down to, you know, a lot of times 30 seconds is all you're going to get. And, you know, and maybe you're sitting there and go, Well, Pastor David, there's no way in 30 seconds I can cover all the bad things I did. Well, me neither. But, you know, you don't have to go through all the muck and the mire to tell where you are now and what Jesus has done in your life. Verse 2 in chapter 7 says, And he said, Brethren and fathers, listen, the God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia before he dwelt in Haran. Now notice this. These are the group of people that had brought Peter and John in front of them, scolded them for talking about Jesus, beat them, threw them in jail twice, and Stephen gets up in front of them, and of course he immediately rebukes them for all the bad things they've done. No, that's not what he did. Look at his words. Brothers, fathers.

That's interesting. Stephen's doing something here. Now at the end of this message, he's not going to pull any punches.

He's going to speak the truth in love, but he's going to speak the truth. But he starts out, what's he doing? He's building a bridge, and that's so important. So often we think we have a ministry of setting bridges on fire and running off. That's not Christianity. Christianity is building a bridge so that then you have an opportunity to talk to somebody about the Lord. You may have a neighbor that you've known for years that you haven't yet shared the gospel with, but now there's a bridge in place where you can start to talk about those harder issues. If you have the opportunity to share with a Catholic, don't immediately start talking about the pope and Mary and how we disagree on those things. Start talking about the things that we do agree on, that Jesus is the Son of God, that the Bible is the Word of God, and that Jesus did die on the cross. Once you build that bridge, then you can discuss those other issues that quite frankly need to be discussed. But as it's been well put, they won't know.

They won't care how much you know until they know how much you care. So begin to build that bridge and communicate to them. And that's the life lesson from the get-go here is we are to build bridges with people.

We are to build bridges with people. I'll never forget playing golf with my dad, and of course all pastors play golf seven days a week, but I'm kidding. I hadn't played golf in a couple years. But my dad had this thing that he did, and God, I love my father, and my father was very helpful.

But whenever we'd go play golf, I'd be in the middle of my backswing, and my dad would be like, you know what you're doing wrong, don't you? Yeah, I'm going to do it anyway, Dad. Sometimes that's what we do as believers, isn't it? We come to somebody that's hurting and messed up and in the middle of their sins and go, well, you know what you're doing wrong, right?

Well, yeah, they probably do, but what they need is that answer. They need that hope that you can give them. God Himself built a bridge to us, and now we're to build bridges to others. See, we can tell other people if you'll come to Him, if you'll ask Him to forgive you of your sins, He's willing to forgive you of your sins.

What an awesome thing. That's the good news. That's why they call it the good news. Also, part of what Stephen is pointing out here is that Abraham wasn't in Jerusalem, wasn't in Israel when God first spoke to him. He was in Mesopotamia, which was a place where a lot of idolatry went on, and yet God spoke to him in that place. I think a lot of us can identify that perhaps we were in a bad place the first time the Lord started to soften our heart and speak to us and draw us to Himself. Well, God does that. God will speak to people in a lot of different places.

Let's go to verse 3. And God was saying to Abraham and said to him, get out of your country and from your relatives, some of you say amen, and come to a land that I will show you. Now, Abraham is often called the father of the faith, and I think that's an appropriate title, and it's certainly true to a certain degree. But let me remind you again what Abraham was when God got him. Abraham was the son, we believe, of an idol maker living in a land that made lots of idols. And certainly, you know, they kind of played a part in Abraham's life. But maybe you sit there and you go, well, yeah, but, you know, after God called Abraham, man, he was rock solid and steady. What book is that in?

See, because in this book, Abraham, even after God called him, even after his faith was counted as righteousness, still struggled with some pretty major issues. If you remember, you know, he was in a couple of situations. I mean, who's that? That's my sister. And it was his wife. You know, it's my sister, it's my wife, and there's only one woman standing there.

That's not good. And so, you know, he struggled with the truth. Abraham lied, and yet he's the father of the faith. See, the whole thing just smacks of grace, smacks of grace. I mean, here he is in this place, and yet God reaches out to him in his goodness and his grace. See, and why do I say that? To knock Abraham? No, because, you know, for all I know, he's going to ask me about it when I get to heaven and say, hey, I didn't like that one coming. But, you know, see, but here's the thing. Too often, we think God calls somebody or saves somebody because he sees something in them that's good.

Oh, whoa, whoa, dangerous thinking. God loves us so much that he desires a relationship with us. We have to leave behind this notion that God sees this spark of innate human goodness in you.

And because of that reason, he tweaks you a little bit so that now you're saved. And often, Christianity takes a form of, well, if you just hip, hip or over, you just try a little bit harder, try to do a little bit better. That's what it's all about. That's not what it's all about. It's not about playing harder.

It's about the fact that you're playing on the wrong team, and you've got to quit playing for that team and join the right team. And see, we pick up this notion of, you know, so and so saved, well, they're kind of saved. They're kind of saved? Well, they're almost saved. What do you mean they're almost saved? What do you mean they're kind of saved? Being kind of saved is kind of like being kind of pregnant. You know, I mean, it's either you are or you're not. And some people, they're almost saved. Well, to be almost saved is to be entirely lost.

The difference is the same. But see, here's the thing. God wants to call us, wants a relationship with us right where we are, in the midst of all the stuff and even the garbage in our life. The life lesson here? God wants to give meaning and purpose to each person and use them for His glory. God wants to use us.

And very often we look at ourselves and think, well, I've done things that aren't good. Well, as we look at not only Abraham's life, but as we look next week at Moses' life, we're going to see things that they did wrong and yet God still used them. And we have to consider this scripture.

1 Corinthians 1, verse 26 says, For consider your call, brother. Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards. Not many were powerful.

Not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. This is what God does. God picks some people that we just wouldn't pick. You know, and maybe you're sitting out there this morning going, Amen, what are you doing up there? But God chooses to use people where He gets the glory.

You know, I went to my high school reunion and I was kind of a train wreck in those years in the high school. And they had asked me to do the invocation. And after they explained to me that was the opening prayer.

No, I'm kidding. I knew that was the... You know, I pray. And when I got up to pray, you know, there was all these faces of people that had known me and they were like... You know, looking at the little bulletin is a typo, you know. So I just went ahead and said, Look, I'm standing before you by the grace of God.

And that's not a typo. You know, now I'm a pastor and God's done this thing and I say this because, you know, when I was in high school, most of you guys know I was pharmaceutically challenged. And, you know, and so, you know, and God got the glory.

Why? Because they were sitting there going, Can't be David. It's got to be God. And see, God meant it and set it up like that, that He would receive the glory for what He does in our lives.

As everybody else around us perhaps scratches their head. We'll be right back with more from David McGee on Cross the Bridge. Right now, here's a word from Associate Pastor D.A.

Brown. Hey, guys, we want to take just a minute to pray for some cities in our listening audience, specifically Ashland, Oregon, and Baker City, Brookings, Canyonville, Cave Junction, Cloverdale, and Colton. Lord, we thank you for these cities and everyone listening. Lord, we pray that you would pour out your spirit on these broadcast audiences. Father, we pray that pastors would have wisdom in these cities on how to love their communities. Lord, I pray that people would put their trust in you. God, I pray that you would give the governmental leaders wisdom and discernment, that you would protect these cities, Father, that there would be peace in these cities, and, Lord, that your word would be high and lifted up. In Jesus' name, Amen. Amen.

Thank you, brother. And now, let's get back to David McGee as he continues teaching verse by verse. Verse 4. Abraham came out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Haran. And from there, when his father was dead, he moved him to this land in which you now dwell. And God gave him no inheritance in it, not even enough to set his foot on. But even when Abraham had no child, he promised to give it to him for a possession and to his descendants after him.

Isn't this great? God takes the son of an automaker from a land of idolatry, tells him he's going to put him in this land that he's never seen before, and told him he was going to have a whole bunch of descendants and relatives, even though he has no kids. And the whole thing works. So what was it that God can't do in your life? God can do anything. And if you're in the midst of something and you just can't see your way through it, you know, in some ways, that's a good place to be. Because God will come through, and you'll know it wasn't you, wasn't even your prayers, perhaps, wasn't your relatives or your friends or your co-workers. It was God himself who brought you through that. And that's a great place because after you get through that, you look back and you go, it must have been the Lord. Just like Abraham, no children, no land. But the Bible says he believed God about these things, even though he didn't see any evidence yet.

The man of faith. And verse 6, but God spoke in this way, that his descendants would dwell in a foreign land and they would bring them into bondage and oppress them for 400 years. And the nation to whom they will be in bondage I will judge, said God.

And after that they shall come out and serve me in this place. Now, it's interesting because, you know, there were people that were serving God in Egypt in the midst of, again, another idolatrous nation filled with all sorts of heathen practices. And yet it says serve me in this place, meaning when they came to that land to serve them in that place as well.

And again, we touched on this last week. Serve God wherever you are. Serve God wherever you are. And some people think, well, I'll serve God if I agree 100% with everything the pastor does. Well, you're never going to find that relationship. Well, I'll serve God as soon as I find the perfect church. There is no perfect church on planet earth.

So you're not going to find that place. It's convenient that you've given yourself that loophole and that excuse, isn't it? Or, you know, well, God, if you just gave me more time in a day, I'd serve you more.

I have to challenge you on that one. Because even if God magically gave you like four or six more hours, you'd spend it watching more television or reading more magazines or whatever it is that's taken your time. That's kind of like the logic of, well, you know, I'd start to tithe if I won the lottery.

Right? The Bible says if you're faithful in small things, the Lord will entrust you with more things. So, you know, serve God wherever you are with your whole heart. Now, verse 8, it says, Then he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham begot Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot the twelve patriarchs. Part of what Stephen is saying to them is that they are forgetting their spiritual roots, they're misunderstanding their spiritual roots. We need to understand, and it'd be real easy to sit back during this chapter and go, oh, those silly Jewish religious leaders.

But wait a minute. There's a lot of application in this chapter for us because I think we, in part, at least, have misunderstood the roots of Christianity. The roots of Christianity are Jewish in nature. Jesus was a Jewish man born to a Jewish family in a Jewish society and was the Jewish Messiah, the Mashiach. This whole book, this whole Bible, there's only one Gentile that wrote any books, and that's Luke. The Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts that we're in now were written by Luke, who was a Gentile, not a Jewish person. And there's one little place in Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar, who was not a Jewish person, wrote. It's a Jewish book. And sometimes we forget our roots of Christianity. Our roots are found where? Well, the whole thing starts in Matthew, right?

No. If you ask some people, well, where does Christianity start? Well, you know, it started with the birth of Christ or it started at Calvary.

No, it didn't. The Bible itself in the New Testament says, before the foundations of the world were created, God had this plan to bring Jesus to this earth, for him to die for our sins. And so that's why on Thursday night we take time and we study in the Hebrew Scriptures. And yet so many believers, so many Christians say, well, you know, that's Old Testament. You don't need to study that because it's old, you know?

But wait a minute. It's God's plan of redemption. And as we study it, as we look at it on Thursday night, man, you see Jesus on, like, every page, on every page. And so understand, this was our roots.

Now, for some of you, you just got really uncomfortable. What do you mean Christian and Jewish roots? I agree with that. I'm sure of that. The New Testament, this is what Paul says in the book of Romans. Romans 11, verse 1 says, I say then, has God cast away his people?

Certainly not. For I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away his people whom he foreknew, period.

Now, I've had discussions with people. People say, well, God's finished with Israel. The church has replaced Israel.

It has not. Every time you see Israel in the New Testament, it literally means Israel. And replacement theology is just biblically unsound. And people go, well, no, no, no, God's finished with Israel.

Oh, is he really? Don't understand them giving them back the land so miraculously if he's finished with them. But why do you think God is finished with Israel?

Well, because they acted up. Now, let's think this through. So your view of God is that when somebody acts up, he then looks at them and says, I'm done with you? Wow, what's your relationship with God like? Are you meaning to tell me that once you get saved, once you ask the Lord to forgive you of your sins, if you mess up after that, you're done? That if you go to the Lord and say, Lord, I know you forgave me that one time, but I messed up again, and I need you to forgive me, God's going to say, oh, no, you're done.

That's it. Forgave you once, you're done. No, that's not the way the Lord is. The Lord forgives you. And then there's a couple other things.

Let's look at this. It says, circumcised him on the eighth day. There's a spiritual aspect to circumcision that is important for us to understand. Romans talks about it. Romans 2.28 says, for you are not a true Jew just because you were born of Jewish parents or because you have gone through the Jewish ceremony of circumcision.

No, a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God, and true circumcision is not a cutting of the body but a change of heart produced by God's Spirit. Whoever has that kind of change seeks praise from God, not from people. So Paul in Romans, and I think to a certain degree, Stephen here is reminding him, look, that's not all there is, just in a ritual that all of a sudden you're in the family of God.

Now, again, we're tempted as we read this to go, oh, the silly Jewish leadership. They thought because of circumcision, all of a sudden somebody was in the family of God. Well, let's bring that to modern day American Christianity. Is it any more reasonable or rational or scriptural that because we sprinkle water on an infant, they become a Christian? That is a modern day view, much like the circumcision issue was.

Pastor Dave, why are you going on the circumcision thing? Because there's a concept, a precept, if you will, that's important for us to understand. A lot of times we think that we have to turn into good people before we ask the Lord to forgive us of our sins. I believe faith should lead to good works.

I believe once you ask the Lord to forgive you of your sins, then your life should begin to change, not necessarily on your timetable or other people's timetable, but on God's timetable, your life should begin to change. Here's the problem. While faith leads to good works, good works does not usually lead to faith. And here's what I mean by that. There are people in this world who, man, you would refer to them as good people. The Bible says they're not, but you might refer to them as good. You know, they clothe the poor and feed the homeless and all these things, and yet they don't know Jesus. As a matter of fact, they're trusting in their own good works to earn their entrance into heaven. So while faith leads to good works, good works doesn't always lead to faith. Friend, do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven?

You can know right now. I want to lead you in a short, simple prayer simply telling God you're sorry and asking Him to help you to live for Him. Please pray this prayer with me out loud right now. Dear Jesus, I believe you died for me, that I could be forgiven. And I believe you were raised from the dead, that I could have a new life. And I've done wrong things. I have sinned, and I'm sorry. Please forgive me of all those things.

Please give me the power to live for you all of my days. In Jesus' name, amen. Friend, if you prayed that prayer, according to the Bible, you've been forgiven. You've been born again. So congratulations, friend.

You just made the greatest decision that you will ever make. God bless you. If you prayed that prayer with David for the first time, we'd love to hear from you. You can visit crossthebridge.com to receive our First Steps package with helpful resources to help you begin your walk with Christ.

Or you can write to Cross the Bridge at P.O. Box 12515, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 27117, and share how God is working in your life. You know, the Bible tells us that the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. But it does cost for us to come and bring that message to you and to others in your neighborhood, through radio, through the internet, and through the mobile technologies that God has gifted us to be able to use. So if you'd like to support this ministry, please go to crossthebridge.com, click on the donate button, and ask God how much he would have you give, either on a one-time basis or a continuing basis each month to help ensure that the teaching of God's Word continues to go out through Cross the Bridge.

Thank you so much. Well, D.A., before we go, what are some ways that we can bless our listeners? Each day you can wake up with encouragement from Pastor David through the Word of God with his email devotional, life lessons to consider, a daily reading plan, and a thought to meditate on throughout your day from the heart of David McGee. Those are terrific, and it's easy and it's free. So, folks, sign up today at crossthebridge.com. Thanks again for listening, and join us next time as David McGee continues teaching verse by verse in the book of Acts.