The speech of Stephen the saint and Martyr

I wonder what you would say if someone asked you what the greatest speech of all time was? You might look to Martin Luther's "I have a dream" or Reagans Cold War "tear down this wall."

The greatest speech is the speech of Saint Stephen who in this very speech, was killed because of it.

Transcript

WILDLFIRE, the youth branch of Hope to Families, seeking unity and community,  helping people come to know Jesus  and pointing people  to the local body.  It's obvious to see that there's been quote-unquote issues, but praise God that we're a people who gather here not because of perfect sound or perfect seating, but because we come here to actually hear from God. Right? How amazing is that? And that we can use this as a reminder from God that God, we're here from you  and I will not be distracted. I will not let the enemy distract me. I have come to hear from you. and whenever your scriptures are read as they are now and whenever there's teaching happening, your Holy Spirit is speaking I'm ready and I am excited I mean this summarized what has just happened in this moment of history and then from this history we're going to take two lessons that should actually do something in how we live our lives Now this here story of Stephen and Acts 7 can be split up into three Part number one is we read of Stephen's arrest Part two is we read of Stephen's speech and in part number three as we read of Stephen's martyrdom that is he was killed for his faith if we look at the arrest of Stephen, Stephen was a man who had encountered Jesus and through his surrender was known as a man who was full of faith  and the Holy Spirit  so much so he was chosen among seven special men  to be charitable and to serve alongside the Apostles Stephen was a man who was  full of grace and power who performed amazing miracles and signs among his people I mean what adjectives to describe Stephen, I wonder how people describe you. Wouldn't that be amazing if people used these adjectives for us? That we were filled with power  and with grace and that we performed amazing miracles and signs. Or alternatively we'd be like people to say, hey you're good at football. Really I want to be known as someone who's filled  with the power of God. That it's obvious to see that my life has been changed. And God wants to raise up the Stephens, the Phoebe's, the Lydia's, the men and women of God. to bring glory to the Father.  Exaltation to Jesus and revelation to the Holy Spirit, that's the invitation of God to us. And it's one that Stephen lived out, but he's inviting us not to just look at Stephen and take a back seat and say that was good for him, but rather we would say, am I filled with God? And am I as bold as Stephen? At the time of Stephen, one of the main resistances to the good news of Jesus Christ was from the Jews. but they could not stand against the wisdom and the spirit with which Stephen spoke. So what did they do? They all got angry with Stephen and they created this mob. They falsely accused Stephen. They arrested Stephen and they brought him before this council known as the Sanhedrin. And during this  arrest and this council hearing while people were lying about Stephen,  Stephen's face became so bright it is described that his face was like an angel. Wouldn't that be amazing that the people who are actually persecuting and hating you could not deny the radiance of Christ within you? The very people who hate against you say the reason why I'm hating you is because you're so different and so loving and so filled. So Stephen's been arrested and what is Stephen doing in his arrest? He's actually been arrested. This is something that happened. This is real life. Stephen gives a speech. Now if you want to hear an amazing summary of the Bible, then read Acts 7. read Stephen's speech he begins by proclaiming that God had appeared to Abraham ancestor of the Jews the people he's speaking to right now and how there was a promised land that was promised to Abraham the land to which Stephen is speaking in right now Jerusalem but this promise was not received by Abraham but would be received later following 400 years of slavery from the Israelite people Then from Abraham came Isaac and then from Isaac came Jacob and then from Jacob came twelve sons The heads of Israel and one of those sons was a man called Joseph Now Joseph he was hated by his brothers, but yet he was esteemed by God So much so that in Egypt he became the second highest in command But what happened to that Pharaoh? That Pharaoh died, Joseph died and a new Pharaoh came along and he hated the Israel people He viewed them only as a threat because they were increasing and so what did he do? He enslaved them But you know God promises to raise up Moses now Moses was a man who murdered someone and then a man who ran away and then God said that's the man for me That's who I want to use to actually free the Israel people and they get freed from that amazing story where the Red Sea is parted and they walk right through it But what did Israel do with this freedom? They forgot about the God who created them, who blessed them, who freed them. And listen to this, they decided to worship a golden calf. Instead of Yahweh, creator of the universe. But our great God has mercy on them again and through the tabernacle, which means God's dwelling place, where God says, I'm going to be with my people, blesses them. And we get to a stage where Stephen keeps on talking and he says, and then we had King David. King David came along and he said, you know what? God, I love you, you're amazing, I want to build you this amazing temple that is worthy of you. And God says, David, you could not build me a temple that is worthy of me. How can meager human hands build something worthy of me? And David doesn't build the temple, but instead his son Solomon does. But Israel sinned again and again and again. They hand themselves over to foreign nations, are enslaved,  and this history just repeats itself again and again, but God, has mercy on them  again  and he sends them  messengers known as prophets who speak on behalf of God and what do these messengers, these prophets do? They talk about how God has this desire to save them but also how God, he's going to reveal the means to which he's going to do it. I have a desire to save you but I'm also telling you how I'm going to do it. But Stephen says and reminds them that God said this is not a foregone conclusion, your salvation You actually have to receive it. You're involved in this.  You have to say yes  to the salvation that I'm going to provide. And so we get to the point. Stephen's led out that whole history. But what's the point? What's Stephen getting at? He says, you are Israel. You're the people of Abraham who made your way through the patriarchs, through slavery, to the promised land, to the great temples, to be in a captive nation, to a free nation, to a captive nation. You went through the prophets. We've gotten to the Messiah, the serpent crusher, whom the whole story of humanity and of Israel and of the Bible is all about Jesus. The hope of the Jews is Jesus. And Stephen says to them, and yet in your spirit of rejection that has been in you since the beginning,  since the beginning of time, in Israel, you've rejected me again and again and again. And you have gone from rejecting the prophets of Yahweh to rejecting Yahweh Himself. Jesus and now you're rejecting his disciples of which I am one of them That's the point of this great speech of Stephen to the Jews So he's given this amazing speech, but then we come to his martyrdom See the cry hated this the Jews they hated this hearing this they got angry and enraged and so they grabbed Stephen took him outside the city  gates and they wanted to kill him. Now what would we react in that situation? We'd be looking for a way of escape and Stephen's escape was where? Verse 55. This is where the story goes to another level. Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily into heaven and saw the glory of God. And he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God's right hand. It has been said of Stephen that his escape route from this awful situation was not found around him but instead above him. How amazing is that? You see the invitation of our lives is not that we would live here on carpet and in roofs. The invitation of Jesus followers is that we are invited into a very spiritual reality. It's the invitation of all of us to see God and to see the heavenly. In declaring Jesus as the powerful God that was talked about in Daniel 7 through this title Son of man Because the jews didn't want to accept the lordship of jesus over their lives They took steven outside the gate and stoned him to death And just before those final stones were hurled at steven that would see him go to the glory that he had just seen Steven prayed to god for this murderous mob that god would not hold their sin against them Who does that remind you of? in the last moments of their torturous death would look at the very people killing him and would say Father forgive them for they know not what they do You see the calling and the invitation of our lives, let's get this is that Jesus says You can imitate me to the point of my death How amazing is that? What a history we who profess Lord that we are a part of, from Abraham to Israel to Egypt to the judges to the kings to the prophets to Jesus and to Stephen and to every martyr after that we find ourselves in this history able to say that this is our story and that we'll live it out no matter the cost let us close with two lessons lesson one is that Jesus' rejection is our salvation Jesus' rejection our salvation. Isaiah summarizes Israel's rejection of Jesus when he says he was oppressed and afflicted. This is speaking of our Lord Jesus. Yet he did not open his mouth. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before its sheers is silent so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? Yet it was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer. and though the Lord makes His life an offering for sin, He will see His offspring. You see, through the rejection of Jesus, through His suffering, through His death, we are saved. That humanity, our rejection of God, by His grace, His mercy, this amazing story of redemption that sees Jesus die, we can now be offspring, children of God, loved by Him. Which leads to our second and final lesson. We have gone from rejecting Jesus to being rejected for Jesus. We have gone from  rejected,  from rejecting Jesus to now being rejected for Jesus. Jesus said of humanity, the specific audience to which he says this was the Jewish people, why can't you understand what I'm saying? It's because you can't even hear me. If you're children of your father, the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. Praise. God that that is no longer the story of Stephen nor is that the story of us We can be thankful that our testimony is not one of rejecting God But instead being rejected because of our love for him and his love for us Paul wrote in Colossians now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you and I fill up in my flesh What is still lacking in regards to Christ's afflictions for the sake of the body, which is his church  What is lacking in the sufferings of Jesus? Sufferings of the people that he suffered for. Jesus' death wasn't just there in history just to be there. It was there to accomplish God's will. Which is that it might be possible for people like Stephen to die for Jesus instead of dying for their sins. Jesus' sacrifice made it possible for us to be light and as a result of being light in darkness, that darkness will hate the light and that's why Jesus said plain and openly to young and to old, you will be hated but remember they hated me first. That to live godly lives means that we will be persecuted but yet blessed are they who are persecuted. because of the name to which we bear and the name we are persecuted for, Jesus. There was a time in my life where I rejected Jesus and now the testimony of my life and I say this with full confidence and faith that this would be true in my life that I would be rejected for Jesus even if it means I die for Jesus because that is the blessing and the privilege that I no longer reject Jesus but instead I am rejected for Him. The invitation of Jesus is the hard privilege of taking up our cross because of the privilege of who we're taking it up for. Jesus. And it is through this testimony, the surrender of our lives, that like Stephen and Jesus and followers throughout all history, we can see the victory of Jesus' rejection through the rejection that we face in our own lives. and that we can look at the world and enjoy, watch the church explode as it is doing right now for the name of Jesus and watch as the kingdom of Jesus is advanced and watch as people are actually being set free from their sin. The mission of Jesus is truly a mission for the ages.  The is,  from Jesus this morning, is do you want to be a part of it? Let's pray.