Acts Chapter 7:1-14

Now, maybe you're sitting there and go, well, yeah, yeah, he leads when we do things right. No, you know, amazingly enough, he's even going to make the best of our mishaps. Now, I'm not saying go mess up so God can lead you through that.

Don't, please don't misunderstand what I'm saying. But as we look at the life of Abraham, God led him through those things. And as we look at the life of Moses, we're going to see again, God is going to lead him through those things as well.

God is even going to redeem, and we'll see this next week very plainly, the mistakes of Moses. Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David McGee. David is the senior pastor of the bridge in Kernersville, North Carolina. Often we question the difficult times in life, but the reality is that many times when it's rough, we hear God the clearest. Today we have D.A.

Brown, one of David McGee's associate pastors with us in the studio. And brother, can you give us some insight into that? Bob, a lot of times when we're in desperate situations, we're desperate for a solution. And God would love to give us an answer in the midst of our brokenness. Today, I don't know what you're going through.

Perhaps you're in a desperate situation yourself. We've tuned into the right place because God's about to speak to you, friend. I think you're right, brother, because today Pastor David explains how to hear God in the midst of suffering as he continues in the book of Acts chapter 7 with part two of his teaching, Stephen's Address.

Just to kind of give you a quick catch up, Peter and John have already been used greatly by God, and they've also suffered persecution being brought before the Jewish leadership. And so then we see Stephen. Now, interestingly enough, and we started to look at this last week in chapter six, 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 seven and we'll pick it up at verse one. Then the high priest said, are these things so?

Now this is great. This is 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 in.

Why? Verse two in chapter seven 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 Iran 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. Then he came out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Iran. 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. 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 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. And verse eight 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 12 patriarchs. There's an interesting thing that happens in a baby.

The ability to clot the day they're born is very low, but it increases until on the eighth day, it's at the peak of it will ever be in that person's life. And that's when God said, that's when you want to circumcise the baby. God knows everything.

He's involved in every single detail. It mentions the 12 patriarchs. Those are the leaders or the fathers, if you will, of the 12 tribes of Israel. And there's no lost tribes.

Don't believe the discovered channel. So there's 12 tribes and they came out of these relationships. Now let's get back to the circumcisions for just a moment, because 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 and Romans, and I think to a certain degree, Stephen here is reminding them, look, that's not all there is just in a ritual that all of a sudden you're in the family of God. Romans 4 2 and 3 says, for if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the scripture say? Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. I'm skipping a few verses down. Romans 4 10 says, how then was it accounted? Was he circumcised or uncircumcised?

Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised. 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. That there's got to be something in us that's worthy to be saved, if you will. And God loves us, period. And a lot of times we start talking about repentance and we misrepresent the grace of God.

And it comes out like this. Well, you know, you can be saved, you can be forgiven. If you pray and you're really, really, really, really, really, really sorry, then God will accept it. How many of us in here that have prayed the prayer, asked the Lord to forgive us of our sins, have received the forgiveness of our sins, can honestly sit here and say that we were 100% sorry for everything that we'd ever done?

I know I can't. Even as I asked the Lord to forgive me, in my humanity, in my carnalness, you know, Lord forgive me of this, this, and this, and this, and forgive me next time I do that too. Yeah, God still forgave me.

Why? It's the grace of God. And somehow, you know, we've twisted this whole thing. Even as we look at it in this awesome teaching of Stevens, as we look at Abraham, who hadn't really done anything for God, and yet God counted him righteous because he believed him. Now let me, let me explain.

So we're, we're clear. 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. But 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, they're, they're, 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, 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.

And it just is not going to happen. So while faith leads to good works, good works doesn't always lead to faith. In verse nine, he continues, and the patriarchs becoming envious, sold Joseph into Egypt, but God was with him and delivered him out of all his troubles and gave him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh king of Egypt. And he made him governor over Egypt and all his house. Was God just with Joseph in Jerusalem?

No, no. He was with him in Egypt. Now Egypt is always scripturally and spiritually a picture of the world and, and our own selfish desires and those sorts of things. And we see that in the children of Israel when they kept going, you know, wanting to go back to Egypt. And, you know, it, it took just a few months for God to get Israel out of Egypt.

It took him about 40 years to get Egypt out of Israel as they came into the promised land. And God was with Joseph, even in Egypt, even through those trials he went through. You're listening to Pastor David McGee on Cross the Bridge.

He'll be right back with more in just a moment, but I want to remind you of the free resources available to you on crossthebridge.com. There's a team of hundreds of people that will pray for somebody to be saved. You have a loved one that needs to know Jesus as Savior. You need people to pray for them. You need someone to present God's word to them. Every day we're presenting God's word to them here on Cross the Bridge with Pastor David McGee. We can pray for them as well, just by simply going to crossthebridge.com and click on the pray for the lost button. All you need to do is put in the first names of the people you love that need to know Jesus as Savior. Click on submit and immediately hundreds of people will begin praying for your lost loved ones. And what an awesome way to bring your loved ones to Jesus. Here's a word from Associate Pastor D.A.

Brown. We want to take just a couple minutes to pray for some cities in our listening audience today, specifically Grants Pass, Heinz, John Day, Junction City, Keno, Lakeview, and Medford, Oregon. Lord, we thank you for these cities and the people who are listening now. God, even those who might not be listening, we lift up everyone. Lord, we pray that your Holy Spirit would draw them into a personal relationship with Jesus, that they would put their faith in Him. Father, we pray that they would get plugged into a Bible teaching church. Lord, we pray that you give the pastors in these cities wisdom on how to make disciples and how to encourage everyone that God brings. Lord, we pray for the city leaders, the mayors, Father, the police chief, the fire chief. Lord, we pray that we would be an encouragement to them, recognizing the serious responsibilities that they have.

Father, we pray that the church globally in these cities would walk in unity. And Lord, we thank you for what you're doing. 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 11.

Now a famine in great trouble came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and our fathers found no sustenance. Many in here are probably familiar with the story of Joseph. He was beaten by his brothers and he was sold into slavery. He gets a break and starts working for this guy Potiphar. But even as he's getting ahead, then he's wrongly accused of adultery. He's thrown in the prison. He interprets dreams.

These guys forget him. But then finally God puts him in the place he was wanting him to go. And part of the end of the story is the brothers out of their need are driven. Driven to Joseph. And Joseph is a really neat picture of Jesus Christ, if you will. It's interesting that during no time in that whole process do the scripture record one time that Joseph whined or complained or doubted.

It's an amazing thing. Now I'm not sure that he didn't do those things, but scripture does not record that he ever did those things. See, God will use our needs to draw us to him.

If you've been with him very long, you find this to be true. He'll find you in a place where you need forgiveness. You need maybe material things.

You need food, shelter, and clothing. And in those times, we're kind of driven to God. Why? Because during the tough times, the Lord doesn't necessarily speak any louder. But we sure hear him better, don't we? I mean, when things are going good, boy, the Lord can try to speak to us and we just can't hear him very well. But wait till we hit a snag. Man, we'll sit for hours combing the Word of God, asking the Lord to speak to us, coming here to this place, hungry, Lord, say something to me.

Why? Because we hear much better through the trials and the tribulations, don't we? And through the hard times. And maybe this morning you're going through some trial or tribulation or hard time. Well then, brother, sister, loved one, make sure your ears are open. Because no doubt the Lord wants to speak to you, maybe even through the teaching this morning.

Things that you need to hear. So we have Joseph going through all these things. And why didn't Joseph complain? I think because Joseph knew.

He had that dream. And he knew God was going to bring it to pass. And he never really wavered, we see, in Scripture.

Never really doubted. Because he trusted that God was leading him in his life. And that's the next life lesson. God is leading us in our lives. God is leading us in our lives. Now, maybe you're sitting there and go, well, yeah, yeah, he leads when we do things right. No, you know, amazingly enough, he's even going to make the best of our mishaps. Now, I'm not saying go mess up so God can lead you through that.

Please don't misunderstand what I'm saying. But as we look at the life of Abraham, God led him through those things. And as we look at the life of Moses, we're going to see again, God is going to lead him through those things as well. God is even going to redeem, and we'll see this next week very plainly, the mistakes of Moses. God has used my mistakes. You know, the whole getting caught up in the music industry and all those things, and yet all those things that I learned in Egypt, if you will, God now uses for his glory. And God will use your past that you think is wasted, and he'll even redeem that and use that for his glory. It's an amazing thing that God does. And God uses these developments with Joseph. Now, it's interesting because certainly Joseph got to be bitter and cynical through all these hard times, right?

No, we never see that. As a matter of fact, when his brothers who beat him and sold him into slavery and told their father he was dead, he gets in a place of power and prominence. And some of you remember the story in Genesis chapter 50 and his brothers are standing before him and he can do anything.

I mean anything. He could torture him. He could execute him. He could starve him.

He could do anything. And yet what does Joseph say to him? Genesis chapter 50 verse 19, Joseph said to them, do not be afraid for am I in the place of God, but as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring it about as it is this day to save many people alive. Genesis chapter 50 verse 20 is my life verse. I've been through some experiences.

I don't talk about them a lot and I'm not going to go into detail this morning, but I've been through experiences that have been extremely painful at the hands of other people. And yet God has used those things to form me into a person, into a vessel that he can use. According to this verse, he meant it for good, not for my bad, not for my destruction. Other people might've meant it for something evil, but God was going to use it for my good, for my benefit. Understand when you're going through hard times and trials and stuff, God can use that for your benefit.

And you may not understand it. I'm sure Joseph at certain times did not understand why he was going through the things he was. We look back, we compartmentalize the story.

We see the overview. It's obvious what God was doing. I guarantee you, Joseph didn't see it at that point. And you're not going to see it at some point in your life, but you can trust, you can trust God because one day you will see it.

A friend that might not be until if you've asked Jesus to forgive you ever since it might not be until you get to heaven and you look back and you go, Oh, that's why that happened. And that's why I went through that. And Lord, now I understand, but for now, trust him. In verse 12, but when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first. And the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers and Joseph's family became known to the Pharaoh. Then Joseph sent and called his father, Jacob, and all his relatives to him, 75 people during the life of Joseph. And I mentioned this, but let's go back to this.

Cause this is good. It gives us an awesome opportunity to kind of do a quick overview of the whole Hebrew scriptures. You may remember the story. Joseph was wrongly accused, thrown in jail. And while he was in jail, there were a couple of people that had dreams. And Joseph had this gift from God of dream interpretation. So these guys come to Joseph and it's interesting. It's kind of the translation in the King James and the new King James was a little unfortunate, but it mentions a Baker and a Butler. The Butler is an unfortunate translation because a better translation would be a wine steward, a Baker and a wine steward, bread, and the fruit of a vine, a pitcher of communion. What's communion for?

It's to remind us to remind us. And there's a verse in this passage of scripture, Joseph says to the man, he says, look, when you get out of here, when you're set free, remember me, remember me, you got the bread, the fruit of the vine. And you got Joseph, who's a pitcher of Jesus saying, remember me. And there's a sad verse tucked in there. Genesis chapter 40, verse 23 says, yet the chief Butler, the wine steward did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.

How guilty are we of this? We've been set free from all sorts of prisons and we forget. And God loves us so much that he puts reminders in our passage. He puts the reminder of communion. He puts the reminder of times like this where we come together and worship God and look into the word.

Why? Because God knows we need to be reminded. And yet so often we forget. There's a key here in verse 13, and it says, and the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers.

What does he mean? The first time they didn't recognize him. These men that were to be the tribes of Israel did not recognize Joseph, who was a pitcher of who? Jesus.

It's a cool pitcher. Why is that? Because many of the Jewish people who have not yet recognized Jesus as the Messiah yet will recognize him as things wind down to the second time. Steven in essence is really prophesying to him. Maybe you're going, well, pastor David, where do you get that, that there's going to be this Jewish revival in the end times? It's in the book. It's all over the book.

Let me give you just a couple of examples. Revelation chapter one, verse seven says, behold, he has come in with clouds and every eye will see him, even they who pierced him and all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of him. Even so, amen. Zechariah chapter 12, verse 10 and 11 says, I will pour on the house of David and on the habits of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and supplication. Then they will look on me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for him as one mourns for his only son and grieve for him as one who grieves for a firstborn on top of these pastors.

And we could sit here for a while and do this. We're not going to, but, um, revelation chapter seven talks about the 12 tribes talks about the 144,000. And then, you know, there's prophecy books out there talking about who the 40 144,000 are going to be. It's not going to be Jehovah's witnesses. I can guarantee you that. Why do you say that? It tells us it's going to be the 12 tribes.

It's not hard to figure out who it's talking about. If the Bible says 12 tribes, you know what I think they're talking about 12 tribes, but it took the second time and it will take the second time. Do you know in the United States takes more than that on average, the seventh time somebody hears the gospel is when they receive it. Do you realize there's places on this earth where people hadn't heard it the first time?

What a luxury, what a gift that we have. Steven was confronting these men because they needed to make a decision that day. And oftentimes in the service, you know, we get towards it in the service and I talk about a decision being made by those who don't yet know him. And certainly if you're in here this morning and you've not yet asked Jesus to forgive you of your sins, you should do that. Not because you've been partially good or because you've done something in the past week, you bought Girl Scout cookies or something that you think God is impressed with and now you're hoping he'll forgive you. No, simply on the grace of God, simply by the fact that you're going to approach him and ask him to forgive you of your sins, he'll do it. But I'm going to widen that up a little bit this morning because I think every single one of us has a decision to make, either to follow him or not to. The Bible says that his mercies are new every morning. I used to think as a believer, I used to think, okay, there's one big decision for the Lord and then that's pretty much it. You know what?

The longer I've walked with the Lord, the more I realize, yes, there is, there's that momentous occasion when the first time you ask the Lord to forgive you of your sins, he does. And that begins the relationship. But you know what? I know now you got to come to him every day. That's how his mercies are new every morning.

Let me ask you a question. Have you accessed his mercies this day, this morning? Have you looked at him and said, Jesus, forgive me for what I did yesterday and this past week. Forgive me even what I did this morning. You see, every one of us has a decision. And for some, well, I would encourage you to find your way to the foot of the cross. 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 12-515, 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, DA, 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.