Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: I now can sing Since I've been redeemed I'm on the everlasting, everlasting rock I faith in Christ my redeemer King I'm on the everlasting, everlasting rock Then roll, roll, billows roll I'm on the everlasting rock of ages Roll, roll, billows roll I'm on the everlasting rock
[00:00:34] Speaker B: welcome to the Voice of Hope, a Bible teaching program produced by Heralds of Hope.
I'm your host, Anthony High.
In this episode, we're finishing the first module of our study in Acts.
The early church has been growing rapidly and today we arrive at a pivotal moment.
A man named Stephen is brought before the highest religious court in Jerusalem on charges of blasphemy.
What happens next is extraordinary. Stephen delivers an incredible message, one that traces a pattern of rejection running through generations, and calls his listeners to stop, be honest and repent.
Joining me today is Arlen Horst as I take the role of teacher and unpack what Stephen said, why it matters, and what it means for us. Now I trust it will speak to you.
So let's open Acts chapter seven.
[00:01:36] Speaker C: As we get into Acts chapter seven, what's the main gist? What are we going after here?
[00:01:41] Speaker B: I'm looking at this culture of rejection that the Israelites had toward God and it seems, it seems wrong, like they were God's people. Yet Stephen is making a speech to them and pointing out how their culture has been rejecting God throughout the years.
[00:01:59] Speaker C: Like this isn't a first time event here. Just look at the nation of Israel's history and you'll see rejection after rejection after rejection.
[00:02:08] Speaker B: Yeah, Stephen is actually coming through as one of the Old Testament prophets. Like that's almost the picture you get of him in as he's forcefully addressing the people and just telling them how it is and it doesn't go down well. What I'd like to do to get started here is get a little bit of a background what's going on. I'm looking at Acts chapter 7 specifically.
But in order to understand that, we have to look back a little bit and see what was happening before this. And the way I'd like to do that is to look at the people that were involved. And the first one is Stephen. Stephen was ordained back in Acts chapter six. There was a problem with the distribution of food. And the apostles said, find people for us who are full of wisdom and the Holy Spirit. And they selected seven of them. But Stephen has this little special badge, I guess you'd say, when his name is mentioned it says he was full of faith in the Holy Spirit.
Interesting. And he's pointed out there in verse five.
Following that, those with the deacons, they called them. We call them deacons now, kind of. But they were selected, and the church really grew. It says there's a great many priests that came on board. And so there was definitely a lot happening in the church at that time.
The other group of people we have is the Synagogue of the Freedmen.
[00:03:32] Speaker C: Yeah, I saw that.
[00:03:34] Speaker B: But we don't really know a lot about them.
It seems like they may have been freed Jewish slaves from the Roman Empire, and it's possible that Stephen may have been one of them.
[00:03:46] Speaker C: These freedmen were the people that Stephen was having this discussion with.
[00:03:50] Speaker B: Yes. So there's an argument, and I'll get into that in a second. We don't know a lot about the argument, but I think we can get a gist of what it was about in some ways. I don't know if the argument was the main point. It's what started it.
The other group of people that we have to keep in mind here is called the Sanhedrin.
Now, depending what version you read, it says the High Council. The Greek word, I think, lends itself to the Sanhedrin.
Okay. Now, I don't know. I didn't look into a lot of just exactly who it was, but the Sanhedrin, if that's indeed who was meeting, was 71 judges and elders.
[00:04:28] Speaker C: And that's like the Supreme Court.
[00:04:29] Speaker B: Yeah, this is the High Court of the land, really. The group of people I want to, you know, stand in front of and make a speech to. Especially if they're not real happy with you.
[00:04:38] Speaker C: Right. They were not friendly towards Stephen, it seems.
[00:04:41] Speaker B: No, they came in there with a chip on their shoulder already.
The synagogue of the Freedmen were the ones bringing the complaint.
[00:04:48] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:04:49] Speaker B: To the Sanhedrin.
[00:04:50] Speaker C: Right.
[00:04:51] Speaker B: Now it does seem. Acts, chapter 6, verse 9. It would almost seem like they started it. It says they were disputing with Stephen. Stephen. And there it begins as. Then there arose some from what was called the synagogue of the Freedmen.
And it gives where they're from. And then disputing with Stephen. And what do you do when you can't win an argument with reason?
[00:05:13] Speaker C: Assassinate their character.
[00:05:14] Speaker B: Oh, unfortunately, that's true. Slander him. Yep. And it's exactly what they did. And they brought an accusation to him of blasphemy, which was then taken up with the Sanhedrin.
What I've also saw in this, leaders that are caught between truth and A lie are really, really dangerous. And that's what you have here. The truth that Jesus came, he died, he was the Messiah, is a really inconvenient truth to the leadership. The first thing I want to look at here, my first point, is that God was speaking through Stephen. And if you would read some of Acts, chapter 6, verses 11 to 15, I think that would give us a little picture of what the setting is.
[00:06:00] Speaker C: Sure. Then they secretly induce men to say, we have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God. And they stirred up the people, the elders and the scribes. And they came upon him, seized him and brought him to the council. They also set up false witnesses who said, this man does not cease to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and the law. For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs which Moses delivered to us.
And all who sat in a council looked steadfastly at him and saw his face as the face of an angel.
[00:06:38] Speaker B: This is exactly what Jesus said his followers would face.
So if you go back to Matthew, chapter 10, you'll find that Jesus very specifically warned the apostles, this is the kind of thing that's going to happen. And you see Stephen here, his face became like an angel. Kind of reminds you of Moses.
[00:06:58] Speaker C: Bright, very bright face.
[00:07:00] Speaker B: Yeah, he had a bright face.
The people looking at Stephen would have known that something was happening. Like this guy, Something has changed.
And they should have known that God was speaking.
And I just want to look a little bit at Matthew 10, verse 16 to 20. I don't want to read it all, but one of the things that Jesus told his disciples, he said, but when they. They meaning the governors and the kings and the rulers in the synagogues, Whoever's against you. Yeah, those. But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak, for it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak. For it is not you who speak, but the spirit of your Father who speaks in you. And here he is coming to them. They see his face change like Moses. He's kind of coming in the spirit of a prophet, but that's who he is to them.
And God is speaking.
So when we look at this, yeah, Stephen is giving a speech, but there's clear indications that this is a word from the Lord.
[00:08:06] Speaker C: Right. God is at work and filling him with the Spirit.
[00:08:09] Speaker B: Yeah. And then it's like, okay, so we got Acts, chapter seven.
High priest says, is this true?
[00:08:16] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:08:18] Speaker B: And what does he do? He gets his history lesson.
It's like 50 verses here now. I realize there wasn't verses back then, but it's long speech.
[00:08:27] Speaker C: It's a long speech. And he accounts the history of. Of Israel to the people that knew the history of Israel. These were the experts.
[00:08:35] Speaker B: And did they groan? I don't know what they did, but it's like, why does he give this? I mean, these are the people that every year they remember their history from Egypt. In Deuteronomy 6, it says, Tell your children again and again and again. Like, this is what happened.
They didn't need a history lesson.
I want to look at why did he say it? What was he trying to communicate? And then interpret that into what. What does that mean for me? He picks three heroes from the history of Israel. It's unique who he picks.
They were all rejected at first, but they were the Savior. They were. They were a sense of Messiah to Israel, all three of them.
[00:09:17] Speaker C: Interesting.
[00:09:18] Speaker B: And I also find it interesting how he uses it the way kind of Paul does in some of his writings, where there's three points, but the middle one is the big one. Okay, so we got Joseph, kind of a small point. Moses is like three times the size, right? And then we have David.
[00:09:33] Speaker C: David at the end.
[00:09:34] Speaker B: At the end of it. And all of them were rejected and they came back with a kind of a salvation.
[00:09:42] Speaker C: Right. Had a major role in Israel's history. I understand.
[00:09:45] Speaker B: So one of the lessons we can learn from that is God uses ordinary people.
Every one of them was an ordinary person. Joseph was the first one. And he was called by God to prevent his family from starving. It was him that was going to save them from this famine that came.
But he was first rejected and figuratively killed. His brothers took him.
They sold him. Well, they tried to kill him. They decided not to and sold him. And you can kind of read the story from Genesis and he's gone. And it's just kind of a way of. They killed him. In fact, his dad thought he was killed. I hear you for years.
And then when it came time to need food, he saved his family.
And it says that 75 of them went down to Egypt. And the implication there is, well, if you go back a little bit, Stephen started with Abraham. And, like, this is where we come from. This is who we are. And that promise wasn't fulfilled, so there was still need for rescuer.
But now they're in Egypt.
And then he starts in on Moses. And Moses, he says, you know, was a man mighty in words. And Deeds. And he was another rescuer.
But what I find here is Stephen gives two rejections. So Joseph was rejected once.
David, you know, we'll get to that. But Moses, twice, he.
[00:11:13] Speaker C: He gives two rejections of Moses in his speech to the Sanhedrin.
[00:11:16] Speaker B: Right? Yeah.
[00:11:17] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:11:17] Speaker B: And how the people rejected him twice. Stephen, as he's doing this, he also is linking this to Jesus. Stephen quotes Deuteronomy 18 here in verse 37, he says, the Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me. He's quoting Moses there from your brethren, him you shall hear. And if you go back to Deuteronomy 18, Moses very clearly says, there is a prophet coming like me.
And then he points out that Moses was rejected and sent away. So the first time is Acts 7:35, 36. Would you read that? Sure.
[00:11:55] Speaker C: Acts 7:35 says this Moses, whom they rejected, saying, who made you a ruler and a judge is the one God sent to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. He brought them out after he had shown wonders and signs in the land of Egypt and. And in the Red Sea and in the wilderness. 40 years.
[00:12:16] Speaker B: Yeah. So when the time was right, Moses comes and he's going to rescue them. But he's doing this. He comes to do it and the people are like, who are you? Like, go away.
[00:12:26] Speaker C: Are you going to kill me? Like you killed the Egyptian?
[00:12:29] Speaker B: You know, and going around as a vigilante, just killing people. Yeah, like, get out of here.
[00:12:34] Speaker C: So. So Moses flees, he runs away.
[00:12:36] Speaker B: Yep. And basically says he spended next 40 years in the backside of the desert.
[00:12:41] Speaker C: Right. And that's his first rejection.
[00:12:43] Speaker B: You're saying he's rejected once here, and then when the time was right again, he comes back.
And the second rejection that Stephen explains here is that despite all he did with all the signs, the wonders and everything that he did, people still refused to obey. And first they made a calf at Mount Sinai.
[00:13:05] Speaker C: Yep, we know that story.
[00:13:07] Speaker B: Which was a rejection of Moses and
[00:13:09] Speaker C: God, Moses, leadership, and definitely a rejection of who God is.
[00:13:14] Speaker B: You gotta probably sense some tension building here. Like, what are you saying?
[00:13:18] Speaker C: Yeah, where's. If you're in the audience listening to Stephen speak, you're already on edge with him because of who he is. Now he's saying, like, things. Things like this. And.
Yeah. Getting close to home.
[00:13:30] Speaker B: Yeah.
The last one has made me think a lot.
David in the temple. Now you look at David and it's like, was he rejected? Well, yeah.
Saul chased him around For a while early on. Yeah, yeah. And he is. He is considered a messiah figure because when we talk about Jesus, he's the son of David.
David was the giant killer.
David made God's name great. He was like this key person, and
[00:14:02] Speaker C: often in scripture, the man after God's own heart. This was David.
[00:14:06] Speaker B: Right.
[00:14:06] Speaker C: No one quite like David.
[00:14:08] Speaker B: And the son of David is the one that's going to sit on the throne forever.
So what was Stephen saying here? Like, David, when you read through first and second Samuel, one Samuel, second Samuel, and, you know, he drove out the Gentiles. He finally created a kingdom that his son took over. So the son of David took that over.
Now, nowhere does the scripture condemn David for building the temple or.
[00:14:36] Speaker C: Or the desire to build. Like, he got it all ready for Solomon to build.
[00:14:39] Speaker B: Well, that's. That is interesting, because he did not. He himself did not build the temple. He got it ready and he wanted to.
[00:14:47] Speaker C: Right. But he was a man of blood, I think it says. So God didn't want him to build the temple?
[00:14:51] Speaker B: Well, at first, the prophet. I think it's Nathan, who comes to him, says, build it.
That's great. And then God says, wait a minute, no. So he goes back to Nathan. No, but your son's going to build it. Okay, and so what was Stephen going at here? It seems like he's digging at something. He's digging at the whole idea that the Druze wanted a temple really bad. And then he has this quote from Isaiah, and do you want to read that there? Verse 48 and 50.
[00:15:22] Speaker C: However, the most High does not dwell in temples made with hands.
As the prophet says, heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool. What house will you build for me? Says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest?
Has my hand not made all these things?
[00:15:39] Speaker B: So God has a temple already. You don't need to build one for me.
It seems like Stephen is answering the accusation from back in Acts 6:14. So the initial accusation.
This is where I think we can see what the argument was about.
You know, he's. He was saying that Jesus is going to change everything. He's going to destroy the temple and Moses customs. Oh, dear. Don't do that.
[00:16:06] Speaker C: Right.
[00:16:07] Speaker B: And he's kind of answering that.
I would argue that Stephen is saying you turned the temple into a God. He turned it into an idol.
[00:16:17] Speaker C: Ah, okay.
[00:16:19] Speaker B: Even good things.
So David was a rescuer. He was another one of them. And the good thing that he wanted to do. You have rejected God and turned it into this big Blasphemous idol because the
[00:16:34] Speaker C: temple where God was dwelling became like the physical location became the object of their worship, not the God behind it.
[00:16:42] Speaker B: You're saying it became more important than God?
[00:16:45] Speaker C: Yeah. Okay. And so when he brings up David here and talks about David, Stephen is putting his finger on this false religious system. Maybe this thing they have built without God.
Interesting.
[00:17:01] Speaker B: You have. You have turned what God wants. He wants. He wants a temple not made with hands. Who wants to live in us. And you turn this thing around into an idol and it's more about status and wealth and gold. And it's like, oh, I don't like where this is going.
[00:17:24] Speaker C: That is a human tendency.
[00:17:25] Speaker B: Yeah.
In other words, good things can become idols. Your family, church, whenever it can become an idol. Yeah, that's what I mean. This, his message builds a tension that, I don't know, it gets a little painful and a little close home.
[00:17:45] Speaker C: Right, right. And I think Jesus mentions this in his teaching when he talks about the Pharisees and how it's almost like they created an idol out of the words of the Bible.
Like they had the scripture but they missed the author behind it. And so they're like beating people over the head with the words.
And I say, wait, how do you use the Bible wrongly?
But it seems like that's what he was warning them about.
[00:18:11] Speaker B: Yeah. They had lost the heart of it.
[00:18:13] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:18:14] Speaker B: Yeah. They kept the letter. But who cares about reality? You know, trample the poor, whatever it is.
And then I don't know how to. How to make this point here the best. But for all as elegant and diplomatic as Stephen was, he took this last point and he used a really big hammer to drive it home. Yeah.
[00:18:35] Speaker C: It was a punch in the gut.
[00:18:37] Speaker B: And I don't know if he yelled it. There's an exclamation point in here, but that's English.
And it says this.
This is Acts 7:51, 53 says, use stiff necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears.
That's a spit in the face right there.
[00:18:54] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:18:55] Speaker B: You always resist the Holy Spirit, as your fathers did, so do you.
Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the just one, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers.
You have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.
[00:19:18] Speaker C: Ouch.
[00:19:19] Speaker B: He just sums this thing up and
[00:19:20] Speaker C: just like that is very pointed and direct.
Verse 54 says, they were cut to the heart and they like the next Words are crucial there. They gnashed on him with their teeth.
But how much different would it be if they were cut to the heart and, like, the audience from chapter three and the other audiences in Acts repented.
[00:19:43] Speaker B: Yeah, they repented.
[00:19:45] Speaker C: Wouldn't that be beautiful?
[00:19:46] Speaker B: Oh, my.
[00:19:47] Speaker C: But that's not what happened here. They were cut to the heart and they went after the guy talking, and
[00:19:53] Speaker B: all of a sudden the High Council becomes just a lowly mob and lose all their dignity and all their formality and just throw him end stones and.
[00:20:04] Speaker C: Wow.
[00:20:05] Speaker B: Yeah. And he follows in the footsteps of the prophets he was talking about.
[00:20:09] Speaker C: Right. Rejected. Killed for speaking the truth.
[00:20:14] Speaker B: And he responds like Jesus. He says, forgive them, just like Jesus did. In fact, he kind of quotes Jesus in some ways, lay this not to their charge.
There was a little bit of a problem of the church at this point. They were huddled in Jerusalem and it was time to move, and they hadn't done so yet.
So there was a little bit going on there. And out of that, in chapter eight, we'll get a little bit into this. Like, Saul was there, and a great persecution arose against the church that was in Jerusalem. I'm reading from Acts chapter 8 here, verse 1. And they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.
So. So, like, there's this.
[00:21:04] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:21:04] Speaker B: The church went everywhere. Scattering starts right now when you get to Acts chapter 11.
Now, those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose from over. Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch.
[00:21:18] Speaker C: That's another level out further.
[00:21:20] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
So what this did is it actually caused the Church then to carry out Jesus instructions. So sometimes the church goes willingly, sometimes they don't go willingly, but they went because of it.
[00:21:35] Speaker C: It's very instrumental in getting the gospel out, this persecution that they're facing here in Jerusalem.
[00:21:42] Speaker B: Right.
Yep. And it planted the seeds that, you know, began Paul and Barnabas's work.
And good things did actually come from a very terrible situation.
[00:21:54] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:21:54] Speaker B: I think that's a final lesson we can get from this, that.
That even though it turned out terrible for Stephen, what it did was actually a really good thing for the church.
[00:22:06] Speaker C: Right. Very powerful. And hindsight, we can see that. Stephen didn't see that. No.
[00:22:14] Speaker B: It's a warning to those calling out leadership.
And I guess my thinking is that if you are in leadership and somebody is pointing out a systemic issue in your leadership, you must pay attention.
[00:22:32] Speaker C: Right.
[00:22:34] Speaker B: It's there.
You got to.
But it's hard. Yeah.
[00:22:38] Speaker C: It is serious.
[00:22:42] Speaker B: So to Wrap it up.
God speaks through Stephen and Jesus words in Matthew 10 are being fulfilled. Like, this is how you're going to get treated.
And then Stephen points out the culture and the culture of rejection and the culture of killing the prophets, convicting those leaders and bringing the truth to them again, like, how beautiful it would be if they repented.
[00:23:08] Speaker C: Right?
[00:23:09] Speaker B: That would be awesome.
[00:23:11] Speaker C: That was my takeaway. And that's the part that stood out to me. When you have that voice of truth like Stephens was, and you're cut to the heart, the answer is then at that moment to repent, be honest, get right with God and good things will happen.
[00:23:29] Speaker B: Right? And it's also a grave warning, you know, recognizing that God is speaking and are we going to listen?
And then last of all, like the persecution and God uses that then, even though it wasn't an ideal situation, God used that to take the Word onto the uttermost parts of the earth.
[00:23:52] Speaker C: Amen.
[00:23:53] Speaker B: Eventually. Yeah, that's the beautiful part of it.
[00:23:56] Speaker C: Incredibly, using this terrible situation for good. And it's awesome to serve a God like that.
[00:24:03] Speaker B: That concludes our teaching in Acts chapter seven here on the Voice of Hope.
Stephen's message clarity cost him everything.
Yet out of that terrible moment, the Gospel is scattered to the ends of the earth. God truly can take anything and turn it toward something good. If this episode stirred something in you, I'd encourage you to sit with it, open Acts chapter seven for yourself and ask, honestly, where might I be resisting God?
Before we close, consider this sobering reality.
One in three people around the world lacks access to Bible resources.
Pastors, ministry leaders and seekers are often left without the tools that they need to grow or to disciple others. At Heralds of Hope, we believe everyone deserves access to Bible teaching and discipleship resources in their own language.
One way we're responding to this need is is through Hope for Today, a Bible teaching program that's now available in over 40 languages. Here is a testimony from a listener in South Asia. As I listened to your program, the messages deeply touched my heart and I accepted Jesus as my Savior.
The radio program has been my greatest help in growing my faith.
I have now been appointed as a media home leader in our church.
Thank you for this great resource and for our spiritual health and growth. Having completed the first module in our ACTS series, we'll be stepping away briefly to return to our series in the Book of Revelation.
The second and third ACTS modules will be released in the coming months, so stay tuned. In the meantime, if this study in ACTS has encouraged you, we'd love to hear from you.
Your stories and responses mean so much to us.
Reach us at heraldsofhope.org contact by email at hopeheraldsofhope.org or by phone at 866-960-0292. To explore more Bible teaching and encouragement, visit heraldsofhope.org programs. You can also listen to and share the Voice of Hope wherever you get podcasts.
Join us the next time as we continue our journey through Scripture. And until then, may God's Word strengthen your faith and remind you that his work in the world is far from finished. Thank you. Thank you for listening to the Voice of Hope.
[00:26:54] Speaker A: Take Thou my hand, O Father, and lead Thou me until my journey endeth eternally Alone I will not walk one single day.
Be thou my true companion and with me stay, O cover with Thy mercy my poor weakness heart Let every thought rebellious from me depart.
Permit thy child to linger here at thy feet and blindly trust thy goodness with faith complete, though not of thy great power May move my soul with Thee through night and darkness I reach on.
Take then my hands, O Father, and lead Thou me until my journey endeth eternally.
