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Friends of the Rosary,In the Gospel today (Luke 4:16-30), Jesus, while facing resistance from his own townspeople, announces His mission: good news to the poor, freedom to captives, sight to the blind, and liberty for the oppressed.We are invited to receive Jesus as He truly comes, not only as we expect Him to come. God's word may challenge familiar ideas, but it also brings freedom, healing, and truth.Meanwhile, Saint Paul, in the first reading (1 Corinthians 2:1-5) reminds us that faith does not rest on clever words or human wisdom, but on the power of God. The Psalm teaches love for God's commands, not as a burden, but as wisdom and guidance.As a prayer for today, we ask Lord Jesus to open our hearts to His word. Help us trust not in human wisdom, but in His power. Give us humility to receive Him, courage to follow Him, and love for His commands.Also today, the Roman Martyrology commemorates Saints Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, who showed courage and devotion to Christ after His death.Joseph, a "noble counselor" and disciple of the Lord, awaiting the kingdom of God, went to Pilate to ask for Jesus' body. Nicodemus, who once came to Christ secretly, now came openly, bringing myrrh and aloes. He was a Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin, which was the ruling body of the Jews. He came to Jesus at night asking questions about his mission. In the presence of the Sanhedrin, who wanted to seize Jesus, Nicodemus defended his cause. They are mentioned in the Gospels.They received the dead body of Jesus, deposited from the cross, wrapped it in linen, and placed it in a tomb owned by Joseph. Together, they offered Christ a dignified burial, acting out of love when others had withdrawn in fear. Their actions, though simple in appearance, were precious before God and became part of the path to the Resurrection.Their example teaches that love for Christ must move us to act with courage and faith, even when it is difficult or uncertain. Like them, we are called to bring what we have to Christ and serve Him with humility, trusting that He receives every offering and fills it with His grace.Ave Maria!Come, Holy Spirit, come!To Jesus through Mary!Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.Please give us the grace to respond with joy!+ Mikel Amigot w/ María Blanca | RosaryNetwork.com, New YorkEnhance your faith with the new Holy Rosary University app:Apple iOS | New! Android Google Play• August 31, 2026, Today's Rosary on YouTube | Daily broadcast at 7:30 pm ET
Ashe in America and Ghost dig into Season 5, Episode 3 of The Chosen, "Woes," an episode Ashe says she watched three times before recording. This is the second half of the now iconic temple confrontation, and it lands harder than the first, as Jesus turns his full attention to the Sanhedrin with some of the most direct language in the entire series. The hosts walk through his string of rebukes to the scribes and Pharisees, unpack why the show frames this as righteous anger rather than simple rage, and connect it to a beautiful closing sequence involving David and the Psalms that bookends the episode. Expect discussion of hypocrisy, spiritual pride, and what it means to truly orient your heart toward God rather than toward power. Along the way there is some real talk about Ashe's ongoing legal battle, a little venting about government corruption, and the usual sponsor banter to lighten the mood. It is a heavier episode, but the hosts call it one of the best of the season.
Witness the beginning of Saul's journey as he grapples with the radical faith of Stephen and the unsettling joy of Jesus' followers, igniting a conflict that will change the course of his life.In this episode of The Jesus Podcast, Saul is summoned by the Sanhedrin to help suppress the rapidly growing movement of Jesus' followers, but his encounter with Stephen challenges his beliefs and reveals the power of humble service. Saul's rising disdain for the People of The Way contrasts sharply with Stephen's grace and generosity, setting the stage for a transformative confrontation.Today's Bible verse is Matthew 20:26, from the King James Version.Download the Pray.com app for more Christian content including, Daily Prayers, Inspirational Testimonies, and Bedtime Bible Stories.Pray.com is the digital destination for faith. With over 5,000 daily prayers, meditations, bedtime stories, and cinematic stories inspired by the Bible, the Pray.com app has everything you need to keep your focus on the Lord. Make Prayer a priority and download the #1 App for Prayer and Sleep today in the Apple app store or Google Play store. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Witness the unwavering faith of Peter and John as they face persecution, and follow Saul's journey into the heart of a city torn by the radical message of Jesus Christ.In this episode of The Jesus Podcast, Saul returns to Jerusalem to find the city divided by the teachings of Jesus' followers, who boldly proclaim His resurrection before the Sanhedrin. Despite threats and beatings, Peter and John remain undeterred, showing a defiant joy that perplexes Saul and challenges the religious leaders' authority.Today's Bible verse is Acts 5:31, from the King James Version.Download the Pray.com app for more Christian content including, Daily Prayers, Inspirational Testimonies, and Bedtime Bible Stories.Pray.com is the digital destination for faith. With over 5,000 daily prayers, meditations, bedtime stories, and cinematic stories inspired by the Bible, the Pray.com app has everything you need to keep your focus on the Lord. Make Prayer a priority and download the #1 App for Prayer and Sleep today in the Apple app store or Google Play store. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Sanhedrin, or rabbinical council, is officially petitioning heaven to reveal the Jewish messiah (Mashiach ), destroy all the enemies of Israel called “mixed multitudes,” and to construct the third temple. In Jewish eschatology, this would bring about the end of the world as we know it and the establishment of a global Judaic empire. Numerous rabbis have spoken about why and how this would be accomplished. The most powerful “mixed multitude” is the United States which must be destroyed as punishment for Rome, or Edom. The false prophet Jesus Christ must be mocked and his followers defiled. The temple must be built at all costs, including the provocation of a global war. The billions of deaths are necessary because these people are idol worshipers, i.e., Jewish leaders seek to slaughter almost everyone on the planet because their god commands it in the name of idol worship. Rabbis have said that the non-religious would be protected by their god to destroy the religious before they themselves would be enslaved. This is why they embrace every form of immorality and perversity, as duties to destroy the nonbelievers and the non-chosen. Additionally, we learn that the first and second Temples were actually destroyed by the Jews themselves, and that both Nebuchadnezzar and Titus offered numerous peace proposals to the revolting Jews before deciding to march on them with force. We also learn how the Jewish covenant with god and their divine laws were plagiarized from far older and more sophisticated cultures, from Babylon to Egypt. https://israel365news.com/420045/sanhedrin-rules-it-will-formally-petition-heaven-to-reveal-mashiach-and-rebuild-the-temple/*The is the FREE archive, which includes advertisements. If you want an ad-free experience, subscribe below.
In this episode Jeff Shepherd examines Tikkun Olam — the Lurianic Kabbalistic doctrine of cosmic repair — as the spiritual engine that, in his interpretation, undergirds a global legal-theological system he calls the beast system. Shepherd walks listeners through the origins and mechanics of Lurianic Kabbalah (Isaac Luria), explaining the concepts of tzimtzum, Shevirat ha-Kelim (the shattering of the vessels), and the Nitzotzot (scattered sparks) and how the task of elevating those sparks constitutes Tikkun Olam. The episode then connects that theological framework to contemporary movements and institutions: Chabad Lubavitch and the Tanya, the Noahide laws presented as the minimum tikkun for Gentiles, the reconstituted Sanhedrin and international Noahide conferences, and the shift of religious-political attention toward Jerusalem and reconstruction projects. Shepard outlines how the language of repair has been secularized and adopted by influential actors, including references to Nancy Pelosi's repeated use of the phrase “spark of divinity,” and traces where such language has entered public discourse. Shepard also compares Tikkun Olam to parallel streams—Alice Bailey's theosophical vision of planetary evolution, the New Apostolic Reformation's dominion theology, and charismatic movements promoting a manifest sons-of-God company—arguing these diverse impulses converge on a human-centered project to elevate the world prior to a messianic event. He discusses how that convergence can soften exclusive Christian claims about salvation and reframe Christian worship as the idolatry that obstructs cosmic repair. The episode explores the practical and prophetic implications Shepard draws from this convergence: the potential normalization of Noahide legal frameworks, geopolitical alignment around Jerusalem, and, in a sobering theoretical reading, the reclassification and persecution of Christian dissenters as obstacles to tikkun. He cites Revelation and other biblical texts as a counterpoint and highlights historical and contemporary evidence used to support these links. Throughout, Shepherd contrasts the Kabbalistic, human-driven notion of cosmic repair with the Christian doctrine of the finished work of Christ, arguing that Scripture offers a completed and sufficient restoration that requires no human elevation of sparks. He calls listeners to hold the testimony of Jesus, refuse the mark, and remain Berean in testing claims against Scripture. No outside guests are featured; this episode is a researched, interpretive message by host Jeff Shepard synthesizing documented sources, Kabbalistic texts, and scripture to present a theory about how mystical theology, political rhetoric, and institutional movements might interact in the coming prophetic sequence. Want to Understand and Explain Everything Biblically? Click Here: Decoding the Power of Three: Understand and Explain Everything or go to www.rightonu.com and click learn more. Use coupon code Summer50 for $50. value savings until August 31st.. Thank you for Listening to Right on Radio. Prayerfully consider supporting Right on Radio. Click Here for all links, Right on Community ROC, Podcast web links, Freebies, Products (healing mushrooms, EMP Protection) Social media, courses and more...https://linktr.ee/RightonRadio Live Right in the Real World! We talk God and Politics, Faith Based Broadcast News, views, Opinions and Attitudes We are Your News Now. Keep the Faith
AUG 16 | Who Is This King? | Mark 15:1-20 ...Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, made their plans. So they bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate. “Are you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate. “You have said so,” Jesus replied. The chief priests accused him of many things. So again Pilate asked him, “Aren't you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of.” But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed. Now it was the custom at the festival to release a prisoner whom the people requested. A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising. The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did. “Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate, knowing it was out of self-interest that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.“What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked them. “Crucify him!” they shouted. “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!” Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified. The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called together the whole company of soldiers. They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. And they began to call out to him, “Hail, king of the Jews!” Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. Falling on their knees, they paid homage to him. And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.
AUG 16 | Who Is This King? | Mark 15:1-20 ...Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, made their plans. So they bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate. “Are you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate. “You have said so,” Jesus replied. The chief priests accused him of many things. So again Pilate asked him, “Aren't you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of.” But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed. Now it was the custom at the festival to release a prisoner whom the people requested. A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising. The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did. “Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate, knowing it was out of self-interest that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.“What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked them. “Crucify him!” they shouted. “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!” Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified. The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called together the whole company of soldiers. They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. And they began to call out to him, “Hail, king of the Jews!” Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. Falling on their knees, they paid homage to him. And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.
AUG 16 | Who Is This King? | Mark 15:1-20 ...Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, made their plans. So they bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate. “Are you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate. “You have said so,” Jesus replied. The chief priests accused him of many things. So again Pilate asked him, “Aren't you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of.” But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed. Now it was the custom at the festival to release a prisoner whom the people requested. A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising. The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did. “Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate, knowing it was out of self-interest that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.“What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked them. “Crucify him!” they shouted. “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!” Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified. The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called together the whole company of soldiers. They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. And they began to call out to him, “Hail, king of the Jews!” Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. Falling on their knees, they paid homage to him. And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.
AUG 16 | Who Is This King? | Mark 15:1-20 ...Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, made their plans. So they bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate. “Are you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate. “You have said so,” Jesus replied. The chief priests accused him of many things. So again Pilate asked him, “Aren't you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of.” But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed. Now it was the custom at the festival to release a prisoner whom the people requested. A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising. The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did. “Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate, knowing it was out of self-interest that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.“What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked them. “Crucify him!” they shouted. “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!” Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified. The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called together the whole company of soldiers. They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. And they began to call out to him, “Hail, king of the Jews!” Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. Falling on their knees, they paid homage to him. And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.
AUG 16 | Who Is This King? | Mark 15:1-20 ...Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, made their plans. So they bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate. “Are you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate. “You have said so,” Jesus replied. The chief priests accused him of many things. So again Pilate asked him, “Aren't you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of.” But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed. Now it was the custom at the festival to release a prisoner whom the people requested. A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising. The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did. “Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate, knowing it was out of self-interest that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.“What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked them. “Crucify him!” they shouted. “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!” Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified. The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called together the whole company of soldiers. They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. And they began to call out to him, “Hail, king of the Jews!” Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. Falling on their knees, they paid homage to him. And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.
AUG 16 | Who Is This King? | Mark 15:1-20 ...Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, made their plans. So they bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate. “Are you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate. “You have said so,” Jesus replied. The chief priests accused him of many things. So again Pilate asked him, “Aren't you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of.” But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed. Now it was the custom at the festival to release a prisoner whom the people requested. A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising. The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did. “Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate, knowing it was out of self-interest that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.“What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked them. “Crucify him!” they shouted. “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!” Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified. The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called together the whole company of soldiers. They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. And they began to call out to him, “Hail, king of the Jews!” Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. Falling on their knees, they paid homage to him. And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.
AUG 16 | Who Is This King? | Mark 15:1-20 ...Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, made their plans. So they bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate. “Are you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate. “You have said so,” Jesus replied. The chief priests accused him of many things. So again Pilate asked him, “Aren't you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of.” But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed. Now it was the custom at the festival to release a prisoner whom the people requested. A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising. The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did. “Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate, knowing it was out of self-interest that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.“What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked them. “Crucify him!” they shouted. “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!” Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified. The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called together the whole company of soldiers. They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. And they began to call out to him, “Hail, king of the Jews!” Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. Falling on their knees, they paid homage to him. And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.
AUG 16 | Who Is This King? | Mark 15:1-20 ...Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, made their plans. So they bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate. “Are you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate. “You have said so,” Jesus replied. The chief priests accused him of many things. So again Pilate asked him, “Aren't you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of.” But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed. Now it was the custom at the festival to release a prisoner whom the people requested. A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising. The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did. “Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate, knowing it was out of self-interest that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.“What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked them. “Crucify him!” they shouted. “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!” Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified. The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called together the whole company of soldiers. They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. And they began to call out to him, “Hail, king of the Jews!” Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. Falling on their knees, they paid homage to him. And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.
The Modern Day Sanhedrin: Preparing the Way…But What Way? We are joined by Chris Katulka (The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry). Topics discussed include: The Sanhedrin's: Decree, History, Authority, Engine, Third Temple Pursuit, and Appeal for Messiah.
In this episode Jeff Shepard presents a theoretical, evidence-driven interpretation tying together the Noahide framework, Kabbalistic influence, and Donald Trump's political role as a potential forerunner to a centralized global authority centered on Jerusalem. Shepard traces the Noahide laws from their rabbinic codification in Tractate Sanhedrin 56a through Maimonides and cites historical sources (including the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia) on their enforcement provisions. He highlights Public Law 102-14 (1991) and subsequent presidential proclamations that recognize the seven Noahide laws as foundational to Western civilization and notes the public honors extended to Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson. The episode surveys Chabad-Lubavitch as a primary institutional driver, explaining its Kabbalistic theology (Lurianic concepts such as tzimtzum, tikkun olam, and nitzotzot) and its global reach. Shepard connects those theological currents to Western esotericism and thinkers like Alice Bailey, arguing a continuity between mystical Kabbalah, Western occult streams, and plans for an externalized spiritual hierarchy. Focusing on Donald Trump, Shepard outlines documented links—public records, personal acknowledgments, and associates (Eitan Yerdeni, Jared Kushner's family ties, Michael Cohen's red string)—and discusses invitations from nascent Sanhedrin bodies and a proposed international court grounded in Noahide principles. He interprets these ties as part of a normalization process that could shift legal and geopolitical authority toward Jerusalem, including preparation for Third Temple developments (red heifers, reconstituted Sanhedrin). The core argument presents a three-layer architecture for what Shepard terms the BEAST system: Layer 1 (technological — neural interfaces, AI, CBDC-ready identification and surveillance networks), Layer 2 (financial and governance — central banking, CBDCs, regional governance models, Great Reset actors), and Layer 3 (legal-theological enforcement — Noahide law as a religious-legal mechanism to justify exclusion and capital enforcement). Shepard explains how these layers interlock to control commerce, monitor compliance, and supply theological justification for punitive measures. In the closing segment Shepard addresses responses for the Christian remnant: documenting institutions, building resilient off-grid communities, refusing coercion, and maintaining testimony in the face of potential legal classification of Christian confession as idolatry. He frames the analysis biblically (Daniel, Revelation, Isaiah) and calls listeners to study, test the evidence, and stand with faith. Episode details: host Jeff Shepard; topics include Noahide law history and enforcement, Public Law 102-14, Chabad-Lubavitch and Kabbalah, Alice Bailey and Western esotericism, Trump's documented connections and potential institutional role, the three-layer BEAST architecture (technological, financial, legal-theological), and practical spiritual and community responses. A study through the bible verse by verse and chapter by chapter. with host Jeff Shepherd. Want to Understand and Explain Everything Biblically? Click Here: Decoding the Power of Three: Understand and Explain Everything or go to www.rightonu.com and click learn more. Use coupon code Summer50 for $50. value savings until August 31st.. Thank you for Listening to Right on Radio. Prayerfully consider supporting Right on Radio. Click Here for all links, Right on Community ROC, Podcast web links, Freebies, Products (healing mushrooms, EMP Protection) Social media, courses and more...https://linktr.ee/RightonRadio Live Right in the Real World! We talk God and Politics, Faith Based Broadcast News, views, Opinions and Attitudes We are Your News Now. Keep the Faith
IntroductionStephen's trial draws to a conclusion. We are confronted with the hardship of living in a sin-cursed world. Stephen is doing everything right. He is faithful to the Lord. He speaks the truth. He boldly proclaims Christ. The apostles' faithfulness has been rewarded with thousands of converts. One would think that this is going to be the trend. Stephen tells us otherwise. Stephen is faithful, and his reward is rejection, being dragged outside the city, and killed.We are moved to a question: What do we do with a gospel like this? We might second-guess and ask, should Stephen have backed off? Should he have softened his message? Should he have simply swept Christ under the carpet so that he could preserve his life?This narrative forces us to question: Is Jesus really essential to the Christian life, or is he something we can make optional when following him becomes difficult? We see in Acts 7 that Christ is not optional. We need Christ because our own righteousness will never be enough. And what we discover in Stephen's death is that earthly suffering does not mean Christ has abandoned his people. In fact, Christ is standing in heaven. He is not taking a passive stance, but an active stance in advancing his gospel despite this setback.The Contrasted Perspectives: Stephen and the MobThe first thing we see is the contrast between Stephen and the crowd. Stephen has just laid out the history of God's covenant interaction with Israel. His summary is that God is faithful and his people have been unfaithful. The crowd is furious. They are shouting, grinding their teeth, covering their ears, and eventually rushing him as a group. Stephen has called them "uncircumcised in heart and ears." The crowd only confirms his indictment. They cover their ears, they refuse to listen, and they refuse to evaluate their own history. They are physically demonstrating fruits that prove Stephen's accusation. They have decided that they know the truth, they know their theology, they know their system, and they are not going to listen to anything that challenges it. We are reminded to be careful when we are so certain.How do we know when to be certain and when to repent? The real issue is Christ. Stephen is not saying that Moses was unimportant or that God's covenant dealings with Israel were meaningless. He is showing that all of these things were pointing beyond themselves to Christ. The law reveals the holiness of God, and it exposes our inability to meet that holiness by our own efforts. The administration given through Moses points us toward the greater reality that comes in Jesus Christ. If we think we can stand before God on the basis of our own accomplishments, we will end up aligned with the crowd. We need Christ. Christ is not optional. We need to take his yoke upon us because there is no other way to life. He is the proper successor to Moses.The ultimate contrast is that as the crowd accuses Stephen, he receives vindication. Luke tells us, Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looks up and sees heaven opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. The very Christ whom they rejected, the Christ whom they killed, is standing in glory. Stephen sees the risen and vindicated messiah advocating on his behalf.A Contradictory Profession of FaithThis leads us to the second thing we see: Stephen's profession of faith stands in direct contradiction to the profession of the mob. Political wisdom might have told Stephen to keep his mouth shut. Sometimes silence is golden. They are already angry, and Stephen has every reason to know that saying more is not going to make things better. But Stephen is overwhelmed by the Spirit, and he says, "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God."Stephen's testimony is very important. Stephen is identifying Jesus as the Son of Man, the Messiah, the one Daniel 7 points us toward. The very man whom they had rejected and killed is now standing in the glory of heaven. And notice that Christ is standing. Normally we think of Christ seated at the right hand of God (Psalm 110), enthroned in glory. But here he stands. The picture is not of a passive Savior who has gone to heaven and simply watches what happens to his people. Christ is active. He is ruling. He sees Stephen. He knows what is happening. Stephen may look abandoned from an earthly perspective, but heaven tells us that Christ is active in his rule.The crowd thinks they are judging Stephen, but Stephen has already been vindicated by Christ. They want to put down a dangerous heretic, but Stephen bears witness to the reality that they did kill the messiah. This communicates the complexity of a fallen world. We might think that our current circumstances mean we are bearing the weight of our sin. However, we might be part of the bigger picture. We need to see that our hope is not found in our circumstances, our reputation, or our earthly success. Our hope is found in the risen Christ who stands at the right hand of God. We might not always understand why history unravels the way it does, but we know that Christ is standing as our shepherd-king.The Contrasted VictoriesThe world will view Stephen's death as an absolute failure. Stephen is dragged outside the city and executed. The crowd gets what it wants. The Sanhedrin does not stop them. A man who faithfully preached Christ is dead. If we were simply looking at the circumstances, we might ask, "Where is the victory?"But Luke is showing us something much bigger. Stephen's death identifies him with Christ. Stephen is now experiencing exactly what Christ said would happen. He is cast outside the city, just as Christ was rejected and cast out (Luke 4:29). And even in his death, Stephen echoes the posture of his Savior. He asks the Lord not to hold this sin against them, and he entrusts his spirit to Christ (Acts 7:59-60; cf. Luke 23:34, 46). There is no bitterness here. There is confidence. Stephen knows that death does not have the final word. He is passing from this life into the presence of the Lord who is standing at the right hand of God.And then Luke gives us another remarkable detail: Saul is there. Stephen's outer garment is laid at Saul's feet. This tells us that Saul has authority and could stop it. He might not give the order, but he approves of this execution. This is the man who goes to ravage the church.The Lord's victory still shines through. The persecution drives the gospel to Samaria. Saul will become one of the most aggressive missionaries in the early church. Ironically, this man will have a passion to bring the gospel to the Gentiles. We see that Christ is still ruling in the midst of what appears to be a setback.That is the irony of the Christian life. The Lord does not promise that faithfulness will always produce earthly comfort. Sometimes obedience hurts. Sometimes faithfulness costs us something. Sometimes the church appears to be losing. But Christ is not passive. He is standing and ruling over history. The gospel advances despite what appears to be a huge setback.ConclusionShould Stephen have watered down Christ's significance? Should he have made Christ less central? Should he have treated Jesus as something optional?No. Because Christ is Lord. Stephen sees him standing in heaven. And that is what gives Stephen confidence in the middle of suffering. The world may say that Stephen is the loser, that he was a fool for being so committed to Christ, that he should have kept his mouth shut. But Stephen knows something the mob does not know. His life is not ultimately defined by what happens to him in this age. His life is defined by Jesus Christ, and his certainty is guaranteed in Christ.And that is our hope as well. We live in a sinful world, and God's redemptive purposes often work themselves out in ways that are not pretty or comfortable. But Christ is not passive. He is standing in the glory of heaven. He is ruling, defending, protecting, and advancing his church. And even when we cannot see how he is doing it, Christ is still at work.Stephen's confidence was not in Stephen. It was in Christ. His hope was not that this life would turn out in victory. His hope was that Christ would shepherd him through this life and into the life to come. And so when we find ourselves facing suffering, opposition, disappointment, or things that simply do not make sense, we remember where our hope is. It is not in ourselves. It is in Jesus Christ. We are assured that taking the yoke of Christ is not tyranny. It is life. And because Christ has made us his own, we can press forward with confidence in his power.Our life is found in Christ. Therefore, let us press forward, trusting him, even when faithfulness is costly, because Christ Jesus has made us his own.
This week we learn the laws governing all kinds of leaders: The parsha begins by detailing the laws of judges, the jurisdiction of the Sanhedrin, the Supreme Court, and what happens to rebellious judges; we read about the unique laws related to kings; there are more laws pertaining to the Kohanim; and we find the […]
The Temple Comes to Samaria Acts 8:4-25 by William Klock Remember back in Chapter 5, when Peter and John were arrested and brought before the priests and elders, and Gamaliel, one of the leading Pharisees, told his fellow council members: “Leave them alone. If what they're doing is of human origin, it will come to ruin. But if it's from God, you won't be able to stop them. You might even be found to be fighting against God.” They let Peter and John go that day, but since then they haven't been heeding Gamaliel's advice. They stoned Stephen. And at the end of last week's text Luke told us that Saul of Tarsus was going house to house, dragging men and women to prison and that, while the apostles remained in Jerusalem, everyone else was scattered through Jerusalem and Samaria. And it turns out Gamaliel was right. Neither Saul nor anyone else could stop what God was doing. This new temple, not made with hands, not made of bricks and mortar, but instead of people, purified by the blood of Jesus and indwelt themselves by God's Spirit, this temple was going to fill the earth. Persecution won't stop it. Just the opposite, in fact. Luke writes in Acts 8:4 [Page 1089 in the pew Bibles]: “Those who were scattered went all over the place announcing the word.” These were people who knew, first hand, the transforming power of the gospel. Many of them had been eyewitnesses to the risen Jesus. They had seen signs and wonders, done by Jesus and then done by the apostles. They knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that God was at work and Israel's hopes were being fulfilled. There was no stopping them. If they had to flee Jerusalem, so much the better. Now the good news about Jesus would be proclaimed all over the place. Think back to Stephen's speech before the Sanhedrin and how he'd highlighted how God works through rejection and persecution. Joseph's brothers had sold him as a slave, but through their evil God delivered his people. Ditto with Moses. Pharaoh wanted all the baby boys of the Hebrews drowned, so Moses' mother put him in a basket and Providence floated him down the river right to Pharaoh's daughter. And Jesus, the supreme example: The forces of evil and death rose up to do their worst in killing Jesus, but in doing so they played right into God's hands. They concentrated themselves all in one place, in one great act, allowing Jesus to rise from death to conquer them. So Saul of Tarsus, threatening the church? God's going to use that to—to get the gospel out of Jerusalem, to all of Judaea—and even to Samaria. So Philip. You remember Philip? He was one of the seven in Chapter 6, whom the church chose and laid hands on to do the work that was taking the apostles away from their prayer and preaching. Stephen was another of them. When the church calls people and lays hands on them and commissions them to be servants of the gospel, there's no telling where that may lead. So “Philip,” says Luke in verse 5, “went off to a town in Samaria and announced the Messiah to them.” I suspect no one would have thought—or wanted—to take the gospel to Samaria—at least not for a long time—even though Jesus had said that his church would take the gospel there. But in the context of Acts, I think Luke wants to stress that even more than taking the gospel to Samaria, what Philip is doing is taking the temple there. And that's pretty significant. Samaria was the piece of land between the two Jewish territories, between Judaea in the south and Galilee in the north. The Samaritans were the people who had lived there while the Jews were off in exile in Babylon. We don't really know for certain the origins of the Samaritans. They claimed—and they still claim, as they're still there to this day—that they're the descendants of what was left of the northern Israelite tribes after the nation was destroyed by the Assyrians. The Jews claimed that the Samaritans were the people resettled in the land by the Babylonians after they'd sent the Jewish people into exile. There's probably some truth to both. Whatever the case, the Samaritans followed their own form of Judaism. They had their own version of the torah, of the first five books of the Old Testament. They rejected the Prophets and other books. They looked forward to their own version of the Messiah. They called him the Ta'eb or “The Returner”—the prophet Moses promised would come. But maybe what's most important in the context of Acts, was that the Samaritans had their own temple on Mt. Gerizim. The Jews would never let them anywhere near the temple in Jerusalem—they weren't real Jews and they had corrupted Israelite religion—but even if the Jews allowed them into the temple, the Samaritans would never go there. As far as they were concerned, theirs was the real temple. The Samaritans were a people utterly without God's presence. And now Philip finds his way there and carries the for real real temple to a people who didn't even know the old one. And when God's temple arrives in Samaria, the people can't help but notice. Verse 6: “The crowds, acting as one, clung to what Philip was saying, as they heard him and saw the signs he performed. For unclean spirits came out of many of them, and several who were paralyzed or lame were cured. So there was great joy in that town.” “But there was a man named Simon, who had lived in the town for some while and who practiced magic. He used to astonish the Samaritan people, giving out that he was some great personage. Everyone, small and great alike, paid attention to him, and said, “This man is the one called ‘God's Great Power'!” [Luke might be hinting that the people thought of Simon as maybe being the Ta'eb, the Samaritan “Messiah”.] They had been under his spell for some time, since they were amazed at the magic he could perform. But when they believed Philip as he was announcing to them the message about God's kingdom and the name of Jesus the Messiah, they were baptized, men and women alike. Simon too believed and was baptized, paying close attention to Philip. When he saw signs, and great and powerful deeds, it was his turn to be astonished.” The devil was doing one thing in Judaea in a futile attempt to quash the gospel. He was doing something else to the same end in Samaria. He'd been doing it for a long time, leading the Samaritans away from God's torah and God's temple. Now there's this man, Simon, who has enchanted these Samaritans with his magic. Maybe it was just sleight of hand magic, but the way Luke, throughout Acts, contrasts magic with the power of the Holy Spirit, it seems like Simon actually did have some kind of power and if that power wasn't from God, it was coming from demonic forces of some kind. That's just the sort of thing the devil would do to lead people astray. But Philip, empowered by God's Spirit, it's obvious to everyone—even to Simon—his power was different and it was far superior. Seeing it, these people believed the good news about Jesus that Philip was proclaiming. And they did what believers do: they were baptised. Like Israel following God through the Red Sea and into the promised land, in faith these Samaritan followed Jesus through the waters of baptism and into God's new creation. Samaritans embracing and giving their allegiance to Jesus may not seem like a big deal to us, but it was a really big deal to everyone involved. Again, Samaritans and Jews didn't mix. Even though Jesus had said that his disciples would take the good news to Samaria, they had no plan to go there—and probably little or no desire to. But God had a plan to get them there, and when Philip does end up in Samaria, he doesn't let that hold him back. It's pretty clear that these early believers thought of the gospel as something for Jews, but—hey—if gentiles came to them and wanted in, if Samaritans heard and believed, that was great. They saw God at work in these people, even if these people weren't their evangelistic priority. And yet, something odd happens. These Samaritans hear the gospel, see God at work, they believe, they're baptised, but there's something missing. I suspect Philip noticed it immediately and sent word back to Jerusalem—excited on one hand, but concerned on the other. Verse 14: “When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received God's word, they sent Peter and John to them. When they arrived, they prayed for them, asking that they would receive the Holy Spirit, since up to that point the Spirit had come upon none of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.” Like I said, something was missing. The Spirit was clearly at work. Faith in Jesus is a gift of the Spirit and no one comes to Jesus without the Spirit first moving in the heart. But so far in Acts, when people believed and were baptised, they all had some kind of experience of being transformed by the Spirit They were obviously different. The Spirit did a work of new creation in them. And they typically—and immediately—displayed supernatural gifts. Some prophesied, some healed, some spoke in other languages, and so on. Whenever we see God doing something new in the story of redemption, it's usually got miracles clustered all around it and we see this no less in the early days of the church. Bringing Samaritans to Jesus was very much something new. But this time the miracles didn't happen. I expect Philip was surprised. What was wrong? So he sent word to Jerusalem and Peter and John decided to go see for themselves. And, sure enough, something was missing. These people had believed, but the Spirit—God—hadn't yet come to live in them They were not yet part of the new temple. I don't know if Peter and John understood everything at this point. I suspect that they just recognised that these new believers were lacking the indwelling Spirit. It was weird and inexplicable at the time. And so Peter and John just did the only thing that made sense: they laid their hands on these people and prayed that God would give them his Spirit. And God did. Luke doesn't say how it was obvious, but it was apparently obvious that the Spirit had filled the Samaritans. And I think as time passed, Peter and John and the others started to figure out what God was doing in withholding the very thing—I should say, the very person—who fulfils God's promises to dwell with his people. By the time Luke wrote, it all made perfect sense. You see, there was always a danger that the Samaritans would hear the gospel and believe, but that because of the divide between them and the Jews, the Samaritans would end up with a separate church of their own. A lot of them would have been perfectly happy to have it that way and plenty of Jewish believers would no doubt be happy to have it that way. But that would undermine the very gospel itself. God doesn't have multiple people. He has one. With all our divisions in the church today, it's easy to forget this, but Jesus was clear: God has one people and one of the essentials of the gospel is that it heals the breaches, heals the divisions, heals the animosity between the people of the world. We saw the first dramatic sign of this healing at Pentecost as the men there heard the gospel proclaimed in their own languages. It was a dramatic reversal of the Tower of Babel episode. And now it happens with the Samaritans. God withholds his Spirit from them in order to get Peter and John to pray and lay hands on them and in that God makes it clear to everyone that they are all united in Jesus and the Spirit. The apostles and the Jewish believers can't dismiss the Samaritan believers and neither can the Samaritans—with their long history of doing their own thing and having their own temple—neither can they act as if they have no need of or can be separate from the Jewish believers. We need to be careful we don't mistake Luke's point here. We often read this passage at confirmations when the bishop lays hands on us and prays for us to be strengthened by the Holy Spirit. But Luke wasn't thinking about confirmation. Confirmation is a rite that developed centuries later. Pentecostals and Charismatics use this passage to explain their experience, arguing that this passage proves that receiving the Holy Spirit is a second work of grace apart from baptism and conversion. But that's not Luke's point either. In fact, his point is that what happened with the Samaritans, with God withholding the Spirit, was unique—a one-off thing—that was necessary to ensure everyone knew that there is one church, one body and that our unity in diversity is one of the gospel's most powerful witnesses to God setting the human race to rights. The whole thing that made this episode stand out was the delay in the Samaritans receiving the Holy Spirit, because the indwelling of the Spirit it not a second blessing or a second work of grace. It's what happens when we believe and are baptised. It's what makes us God's temple. Jesus purifies us so that the Spirit can fill us. And then Simon the Magician. The gospel goes to a new place, but the same old problem comes up again. In Jerusalem it was Ananias and Sapphira. The devil crept in. They let their love of money compromise the purity so essential to being God's temple. They serve as a warning: Jesus purifies us so that we can be God's temple, but to remain God's temple requires continued purity. And now the Samaritan believers their own warning about this. Verse 18: “When Simon saw that the spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money. “Give me this power too,” he said, “so that anyone I lay my hands on will receive the holy spirit.” “May your silver die with you!” retorted Peter. “Did you really think that God's gift could be bought with money? You have no part or share in this word! Your heart is not straight before God. So repent from this wickedness, and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive the scheme you had in your heart. I can see that you are still stuck in the bitter poison and chains of unrighteousness.” “Pray to the Lord for me,” said Simon in reply, “that none of what you've said will happen to me.” After Peter and John had finished bearing witness and speaking the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, announcing the good news to many Samaritan villages.” Simon liked the status his magic gave him. And now he sees something really amazing, something that clearly and dramatically upstaged whatever it was that he was doing. And Simon wanted it. But it wasn't so much the Holy Spirit that Simon wanted. Tricks were nice. He'd been doing them for a long time. But what Simon wanted was the ability to control people. He didn't want the Holy Spirit. He wanted what he thought Peter and John had: he wanted the ability to lay hands on people and to give them the Spirit. And in that, Simon was exposed. It wasn't about Jesus for Simon. It wasn't about being God's temple. It wasn't about being purified by the cross. It wasn't about being part of God's new creation. Simon was still firmly part of the old. He wanted to use and control people for his own personal gain and prestige. His old magic had been upstaged. No one would be impressed by it anymore. But if he could be like Peter and John, if he could lay hands on people himself and impart the Spirit to them, well, then he's be back on top of things. For those who read The Magician's Nephew this month, he's like Uncle Andrew, seeing a new world being miraculously born around him and new life sprouting from the ground, and all he can think of is bring bits of iron to plant so they can grow into factories and battleships to make him rich. He was blind. He heard the gospel. He heard the good news about Jesus. He saw the life the Spirit in these people and he saw new creation being born. But he wasn't interested any of it. He just wanted to be in control. He saw it as a way to get rich. So he offers to buy this gift from Peter and John—as if it was theirs to sell. As if it was their power to impart the Spirit. But Peter and John had no such power. They didn't go around laying hands on people and giving them the Spirit any more than a modern-day Anglican bishop or Pentecostal evangelist does so. This was a unique situation. God gives the Spirit, not men, not preachers, not bishops, not even apostles. This was simply a case in which it was necessary for both the Jews and the Samaritans to understand that they were one people in Jesus and the Spirit. The crazy thing is that we still see this sort of thing despite all the warnings in scripture. There are far too many people out there, preachers—people calling themselves “apostles”—offering the Spirit or his gifts for money, as if those gifts are the work of human beings and not God. I expect that when Simon asked Peter and John to sell him this gift—one they didn't even actually have—Peter immediately remembered Ananias and then Sapphira falling dead at his feet. Because he knew, this false idea needed to die. If allowed to fester, it would corrupt the church. And so he rebuked Simon—who, by God's mercy isn't struck dead on the spot. “You're no believer, Simon. You're still stuck in the bitter poison and chains of unrighteousness.” Luke tells us that Simon asked them to pray for him so that he wouldn't fall under God's judgement. I have to wonder if they told him about Ananias and Sapphira and left him quaking in his boots. Luke doesn't tell us what happened to him, whether he eventually understood and actually believed the gospel or not. What Luke wants to stress here, what we shouldn't lose of, is that the Spirit is not under human control. The Holy Spirit isn't magic. Magic is the human attempt to manipulate God. Humans have been trying to figure out ways to do that ever since our fall. Magic treats God like a vending machine. Push B5 to get this or push D2 to get that. Say this spell, offer this sacrifice—follow the right formula and you can control the divine. The so-called “Prosperity Gospel” is a modern version of this. But you don't have to be into the Prosperity Gospel or the Word-Faith movement to be guilty of thinking you can control God. When we bargain with God, we're doing the same thing. We think that if we offer God this or that, we obligate him to give us something in return. Brothers and Sisters, God's been teaching his people from the beginning that he doesn't work this way. He's sovereign. He sends his Spirit as a mighty rushing wind and, as Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Those who are born of that Spirit are blown along with it.” Those who surrender themselves to Jesus and the Spirit are blown into purity, blown into holiness, blown into godliness, blown into ministry and blown into mission. That's what Luke shows us in Acts. Jesus purifies us, the Spirit fills, and in those acts God make us his living temple. A temple through which he will make himself known and through which he will eventually fill the earth with his presence. In this morning's Collect we asked the Lord to teach to us to ask for the things that please him. Brothers and Sisters, if we understand ourselves to be his temple, his working model of new creation in the midst of the old, I can hardly think of a better prayer. It's a prayer very much like “on earth as in heaven”. A prayer that sets aside our own agendas and ask for God to bring us into his. I'd like to close praying that Collect again. Let your merciful ears, O Lord, be open to the prayers of your humble servants; and, that we may obtain what we ask of you, teach us to ask for those things that please you, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
AUG 9 | Who Is This King? | Mark 14:53-72 ...They took Jesus to the high priest, and all the chief priests, the elders and the teachers of the law came together. Peter followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. There he sat with the guards and warmed himself at the fire.The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death, but they did not find any. Many testified falsely against him, but their statements did not agree.Then some stood up and gave this false testimony against him: “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple made with human hands and in three days will build another, not made with hands.'” Yet even then their testimony did not agree.Then the high priest stood up before them and asked Jesus, “Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?” But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer.Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?”“I am,” said Jesus. “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”The high priest tore his clothes. “Why do we need any more witnesses?” he asked. “You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?”They all condemned him as worthy of death. Then some began to spit at him; they blindfolded him, struck him with their fists, and said, “Prophesy!” And the guards took him and beat him.While Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came by. When she saw Peter warming himself, she looked closely at him.“You also were with that Nazarene, Jesus,” she said.But he denied it. “I don't know or understand what you're talking about,” he said, and went out into the entryway.When the servant girl saw him there, she said again to those standing around, “This fellow is one of them.” Again he denied it.After a little while, those standing near said to Peter, “Surely you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.”He began to call down curses, and he swore to them, “I don't know this man you're talking about.”Immediately the rooster crowed the second time. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows twice you will disown me three times.” And he broke down and wept.
AUG 9 | Who Is This King? | Mark 14:53-72 ...They took Jesus to the high priest, and all the chief priests, the elders and the teachers of the law came together. Peter followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. There he sat with the guards and warmed himself at the fire.The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death, but they did not find any. Many testified falsely against him, but their statements did not agree.Then some stood up and gave this false testimony against him: “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple made with human hands and in three days will build another, not made with hands.'” Yet even then their testimony did not agree.Then the high priest stood up before them and asked Jesus, “Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?” But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer.Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?”“I am,” said Jesus. “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”The high priest tore his clothes. “Why do we need any more witnesses?” he asked. “You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?”They all condemned him as worthy of death. Then some began to spit at him; they blindfolded him, struck him with their fists, and said, “Prophesy!” And the guards took him and beat him.While Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came by. When she saw Peter warming himself, she looked closely at him.“You also were with that Nazarene, Jesus,” she said.But he denied it. “I don't know or understand what you're talking about,” he said, and went out into the entryway.When the servant girl saw him there, she said again to those standing around, “This fellow is one of them.” Again he denied it.After a little while, those standing near said to Peter, “Surely you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.”He began to call down curses, and he swore to them, “I don't know this man you're talking about.”Immediately the rooster crowed the second time. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows twice you will disown me three times.” And he broke down and wept.
AUG 9 | Who Is This King? | Mark 14:53-72 ...They took Jesus to the high priest, and all the chief priests, the elders and the teachers of the law came together. Peter followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. There he sat with the guards and warmed himself at the fire.The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death, but they did not find any. Many testified falsely against him, but their statements did not agree.Then some stood up and gave this false testimony against him: “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple made with human hands and in three days will build another, not made with hands.'” Yet even then their testimony did not agree.Then the high priest stood up before them and asked Jesus, “Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?” But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer.Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?”“I am,” said Jesus. “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”The high priest tore his clothes. “Why do we need any more witnesses?” he asked. “You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?”They all condemned him as worthy of death. Then some began to spit at him; they blindfolded him, struck him with their fists, and said, “Prophesy!” And the guards took him and beat him.While Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came by. When she saw Peter warming himself, she looked closely at him.“You also were with that Nazarene, Jesus,” she said.But he denied it. “I don't know or understand what you're talking about,” he said, and went out into the entryway.When the servant girl saw him there, she said again to those standing around, “This fellow is one of them.” Again he denied it.After a little while, those standing near said to Peter, “Surely you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.”He began to call down curses, and he swore to them, “I don't know this man you're talking about.”Immediately the rooster crowed the second time. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows twice you will disown me three times.” And he broke down and wept.
AUG 9 | Who Is This King? | Mark 14:53-72 ... They took Jesus to the high priest, and all the chief priests, the elders and the teachers of the law came together. Peter followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. There he sat with the guards and warmed himself at the fire.The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death, but they did not find any. Many testified falsely against him, but their statements did not agree.Then some stood up and gave this false testimony against him: “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple made with human hands and in three days will build another, not made with hands.'” Yet even then their testimony did not agree.Then the high priest stood up before them and asked Jesus, “Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?” But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer.Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?”“I am,” said Jesus. “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”The high priest tore his clothes. “Why do we need any more witnesses?” he asked. “You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?”They all condemned him as worthy of death. Then some began to spit at him; they blindfolded him, struck him with their fists, and said, “Prophesy!” And the guards took him and beat him.While Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came by. When she saw Peter warming himself, she looked closely at him.“You also were with that Nazarene, Jesus,” she said.But he denied it. “I don't know or understand what you're talking about,” he said, and went out into the entryway.When the servant girl saw him there, she said again to those standing around, “This fellow is one of them.” Again he denied it.After a little while, those standing near said to Peter, “Surely you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.”He began to call down curses, and he swore to them, “I don't know this man you're talking about.”Immediately the rooster crowed the second time. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows twice you will disown me three times.” And he broke down and wept.
Tim and Mary talk about two very timely, and ancient destinies: the modern EU, destined to bring forth antichrist, and Israel, destined for redemption through Jesus Christ. The EU is at a crossroads in that the world sees it as a supranational failure of bureaucracy and potential tyranny. Israel has neighbor problems, but they will not only do what they must to survive, they will continue to pursue a Temple, and await the Messiah. The Sanhedrin met recently to petition heaven to reveal her Messiah and rebuild that third Temple. They also want the spirit of prophecy revived, but Jesus IS their Prophet, Priest, and King. What a time to be alive, to see these parallel tracks of fulfillment come ever closer to one another. The future is set by God Himself, and we are at the edge of our seats. Another full hour of watching and waiting, observing and monitoring. Come Lord Jesus! Stand Up For The Truth Videos: https://rumble.com/user/CTRNOnline & https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgQQSvKiMcglId7oGc5c46A
Insights to the laws of Sanhedrin.If every single one of the 71 judges sages ruled that somebody is liable and punishable to be executed, then the person will be exonerated,.but if there are some that found him to be exonerated and only majority rule that he is liable, then he will be executed. What is the logic behind this rule?Punishment is atonement and a cleansing process. It's our job to find the good in every single Jew.
Gus Hernandez shows how through confrontation, the Gospel shines through.
https://www.maynardvillefellowship.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Carr-8-2-26.mp3 What happens when an opponent can no longer win the argument? They resort to ad hominem, suppression, and intimidation. Luke shows us that is exactly what happened with the Sanhedrin court with Peter and John.
Telling the Story: Part 4 Acts 7:35-53 by William Klock Not very long ago I got into an online discussion with someone about evangelism. The people I was interacting with were telling me things like, “I don't confront, I just plant seeds” and “We're suppose to share the gospel, not tell the gospel” or “If people are getting mad at you, you're doing it wrong” and “Jesus just loved people. He wasn't confrontational”. I found myself wondering if these people read the same Bible I read. And I was thinking about that whole conversation off and on these last few weeks as I've been working through Stephen's address—his very confrontational address—before the Sanhedrin. Because there's nothing namby-pamby or wishy-washy—or uh, I mean, “non-confrontational”—about Stephen's address. I expect that if you set Stephen down in our context today and let him do what he did, a lot of modern Christians would be misquoting Matthew 7:1 at him. You know, “Judge not lest ye be judged.” But, of course, being confrontational, calling people to repent, proclaiming the good news about Jesus and the truth that he is Lord as something more than just another choice on the religious smorgasbord has nothing to be with being judgemental. It has everything to do with knowing and having experienced the reality of God's goodness in Jesus and the Spirit and it's about having a vision, a hope of this broken creation—and of humanity—set to rights and God coming to dwell with us forever. We've made our way through Stephen's address over the last three Sundays. They accused him of blaspheming the torah and the temple and Moses and instead of defending himself, Stephen instead told the story they all knew so well. But going back to Abraham and working through it all the way to their present day, he showed how the law and the prophets, the torah and the temple had been signposts pointing the people to Jesus the Messiah. And so it wasn't Stephen who was blaspheming torah and temple—it was them—because they'd rejected Jesus. The Christians were the true followers of the law and the prophets, the true children of Abraham and Moses, because they recognised that that's what the story was working toward all this time. But that wasn't what they wanted to hear. But if we've heard the story that Stephen told, we ought to be prepared. Rejection is how God often works. Joseph had been rejected, but God worked something amazing from it. Moses was rejected, but God worked something amazing from it. Jesus was rejected, but God worked something amazing from it. So if Stephen is rejected, we can be confident God will work something amazing from it. I think they understood, which made them all the more angry, because they understand: if they reject Stephen, they're actually playing right into his narrative. But they do it anyway. We'll pick up with Acts 7:54. [Page 1088 in the pew Bibles.] Luke tells us: “What Stephen said was a blow right to the heart. When they heard it, they gnashed their teeth against him.” Picture them, sitting in their dignified counsel, the priests and leaders of Israel. But there's no response they can give that won't condemn them, so they just sit there glaring at him as they gnash their teeth. To us that's probably just a picture of rage, but Luke is pulling this image of gnashing teeth from the Old Testament—particularly from the Psalms—where it's always the wicked who gnash their teeth at the righteous or the wicked who gnash their teeth in frustration, aguish, and rage at God after finding themselves on the wrong end of his judgement. Luke wants to make it clear that these are the leaders of Israel—the men who were supposed to know and to represent God—but instead they've rejected his Messiah and are revealing their wickedness. Think of Jesus in John 8, addressing a crowd of angry scribes and Pharisees. “We've got one father and that's God,” they yelled at him. And he said back, “If God were really your father, you would love me, because I come from God…No, you are from your father, but your father is the devil.” And then, in stark contrast, Luke describes Stephen in verse 55: “He, however, was filled with the holy spirit, and looked steadily up into heaven. There he saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at God's right hand. ‘Look!' he said. ‘I can see heaven opened, and the son of man standing at God's right hand!' They've rejected Jesus. They sit there, almost demonically gnashing their teeth at him—the posture of the wicked who stand condemned before God. And Stephen stands before them full of the Spirit and with the very vision of heaven those men had longed for. Luke said at the beginning of all this that as they looked at Stephen his face was like the face of an angel. And Stephen shouts out to them, “Look!” I can imagine them looking around, wondering what he's insisting they look at, because of course, no one else is seeing what he sees. But the fact that his own face had been transformed—or even transfigured—says that he must have been seeing something and they knew it. And he goes on, “I can see heaven opened and the son of man standing at God's right hand!” I think that whenever I've read this, I've tended to picture Stephen looking up, pointing past the ceiling of the room they were in, as if he's been given a glimpse into—you know—heaven—up there. But the more I think about the imagery and context here, I don't think that's it. I think we should be thinking back to episodes like the one in 2 Kings 6. Israel was under attack by the Arameans. The Prophet Elisha and his servant, Gehazi, were staying in the city of Dothan when it was surrounded by the Aramean army. They woke up in the morning to see the huge army surrounding the city and Gehazi began to worry. “What shall we do?” he asked Elisha. And Elisha calmly told him, “Don't be afraid, for those who are with us are great than those who are with them.” I picture Gehazi standing there wringing his hands. And so Elisha prays, and as he prays, Gehazi's eyes are opened and on the hills all around he sees horses and chariots of fire surrounded the Aramean army. And that heavenly army didn't arrive when Elisha prayed, like heaven, it was there all along. The miracle was simply God's gracious allowance to open the eyes of Elisha's servant to see it. It's a reminder that heaven isn't up there, some far away place. Heaven is here. God created earth and heaven to overlap, for us to live in his presence. Our sin has driven a wedge between the two. But God and his realm are never far away. As Gehazi was reassured that day as he saw a glimpse of heaven, so Stephen was reassured as the stood before the Sanhedrin. As the highest court of the Jew was about to render a judgement against him and condemn him to death, I think we should understand what he saw as a sudden revelation of the heavenly court. And there stood Jesus, the son of man. The son of man was the character in Daniel's vision who rose to take his throne at God's right hand and from there to quelled the angry kings and nations that raged against God. And now Stephen sees the ascended Jesus, not now sitting on his throne as Lord, but standing at the right hand of God, the great judge, to act as his advocate and witness. The court of Israel was condemning him to death, but the heavenly court, the heavenly judge was ruling in his favour. What's interesting about this comparison between the chariots of fire and Stephen's vision of the heavenly court, is the result, the aftermath, the response of God's man. Because the chariots of fire didn't swoop down to crush the Aramean army. Instead, Elisha prayed again and God blinded the Arameans. And Elisha then went out and convinced the blinded Arameans to follow him to Samaria, where Elisha prayed again and the Lord opened their eyes. The king wanted to slaughter Elisha's “prisoners”, but Elisha warned the king. It wasn't the king who defeated and captured them, God had done that. So instead the king prepared a feast for them and then sent them on their way home. This was Israel in one of her finer moments, obeying God, being light to nations, making known the grace and glory of God. And I'll come back to it shortly. I think Luke's main point in telling us about this heavenly vision of Stephen's ties in closely with the theme of Jesus and the church being the new temple—something that comes up over and over through Acts. Remember that for the Jews the temple was the supposed to be the place, not just where heaven and earth overlapped, but the thin place between them where God's people could meet him. Not fully, of course. His presence was in the holy of holies where no one could go. But if they offered the sacrifices that would purify them from the stain of sin and death, they could draw near. The irony was that God's presence had been gone from the temple for hundreds of years. They'd rebuilt it when they returned from their exile in Babylon, but God's presence had never come back. As if God was hinting to them there was something new and better to come. And Stephen's been preaching on that theme. The old temple was a signpost pointing to Jesus and to a new temple, not this time made with hands, but established by God himself and filled with is Spirit. And in as much as I expect this miracle vision of the heavenly court was a gift to Stephen to encourage him—even though he doesn't seem to have needed much of that kind of encouragement—the gospel was enough—it highlighted to everyone present that day the thing that Isreal so longed for in the temple—the convergence of heaven and earth—was now happening in Jesus and his people. And while Stephen's vision seems to be unique in Christian history, we see saint after saint, martyr after martyr going to their deaths with the same sort of calm and composure that we see in Stephen. I have to wonder if God has given others similar visions to which, for obvious reasons, we simply aren't privy. Polycarp, Perpetua and Felicity, Ignatius, Thomas Cranmer, Nichols Ridley, Hugh Latimer, Maximillian Kolbe—all died with the gospel and prayers for those who killed them on their lips. Brothers and Sisters, that's the witness of men and women who are confident in the gospel, in the lordship of Jesus, and in the hope of resurrection and new creation. These are men and women who understood what the gospel is—not good advice, not another option to try on the religious smorgasbord, not something you should give a try; they knew it to be true and they knew it to be truly good news—the way, the truth, and the life. They knew the grace of God so powerfully, that they went to their deaths praying that those who killed them would one day know it. So Luke goes on in verse 57: “But they yelled at him at the tops of their voices, blocked their ears, and made a concerted dash at him. They bundled him out of the city and stoned him. The witnesses laid down their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul. So they stoned Stephen. “Lord Jesus,” he cried out, “receive my spirit.” Then he knelt down and shouted at the top of his voice, “Lord, don't let this sin stand against them.” Once he had said this, he fell asleep. “Now Saul was giving his consent to Stephen's death. That very day a great persecution was started against the church in Jerusalem. Everyone except the apostles was scattered through the lands of Judaea and Samaria. Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. 3 But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.” It's not just that Stephen stood firm on the gospel before the Sanhedrin and it's not just that he had a vision of heaven in which he was vindicated and could go to his death with calm and confidence. His prayer for his enemies speaks volumes—it's a powerful witness—to the gospel itself. I can't image what it was like for Stephen. In high school I was hit in the throat by a softball trying to catch someone's pop fly. It hurt. Apparently I was lucky it didn't crush my trachea. And that was a softball. Stephen stood there—and I expect pretty quickly knelt and then lay there—as people threw rocks at him. The biggest rocks they could find and still throw with force. It was an absolutely brutal way to die and I can't imagine what kind of sadistic person would take joy in doing it to someone. I guess that's yet more testimony to the influence the gospel has had on our culture. And there, at a little distance stood Saul of Tarsus, having given the green light to the angry mob, supervising them as they threw their stones. Keeping guard over their coats. But as the rocks were hitting Stephen—imagine a rock breaking your jaw, crushing your nose, breaking your skull—Stephen cried out to God. He cried out for mercy on those who were killing him. And that stands out as another witness to the gospel. Because the whole going to a martyr's death, calmly and confidently and stoically, that's admirable, but other people had done that before Stephen. About two centuries before, in the days when the Greek king, Antiochus Epiphanes, ruled Judaea, there had been a lot of Jewish martyrs. Antiochus wanted to break the Jews, get them to forsake their “law”. Get them to become more Greek, and they'd be an easier people to rule. And so he desecrated their temple. He made it illegal for them to circumcise their sons. And his soldiers would round up the openly rebellious and force them to eat pork on pain of death. 2 Maccabees 7 tells the story of one family of Jewish heroes. Seven brothers are tortured and, one by one, martyred as they stand firm in their faith, as they refuse the soldiers' order to eat pork. They bore witness to their faith in God, to their hope in the future resurrection of the dead, but they also call down horrible curses on those pagan soldiers as they died. With their last breath, they called down God's judgement on their enemies. But Stephen: Like those Jewish martyrs, he stood firm in faith. He warned his accusers and his killers of God's coming judgement. But he didn't lay it down as a curse. He laid it down as a warning, a call to repentance—and with his last breath, a prayer for grace. One of those Maccabean martyrs had yelled out, “This mighty power will torture you and your descendants!” And Stephen, raised on those same stories of the martyrs, he saw that same divine persistence, but in light of Jesus he saw it very differently. Stephen knew there is no escaping the Hound of Heaven. But instead of divine judgment pursuing his enemies, he saw divine grace hounding them, the redeeming love of God pursing them—and if they would not be caught by it—it would pursue and catch and enfold and transform their descendants. Somehow, someday the grace of God in Jesus, the renewing power of the gospel would catch them, because—Stephen was absolutely certain—that power will one day change the entire world. That was the point of his powerful speech before them, after all. From Abraham to Joseph, from Jospeh to Moses, from Moses to Jesus. That's what the story is about: the grace and glory of the God of Israel to save his creation—not just Abraham's family—but all of creation. It's about God, in love, giving himself to purify us from the stain of our rebellion, so that he can come home to live with us. To restore heaven and earth. And that gospel knowledge, that good news changed everything for Stephen. Brothers and Sisters, think about this. Imagine people knew nothing of Jesus or the gospel or Christianity other than the astounding fact that Christian martyrs go to their deaths, not hurling curses, but calling down blessing and forgiveness from heaven on the very people torturing and killing them. That, in itself, says something powerful about Jesus and the gospel and Christianity. That in itself, would, I think, make a lot of people constructively curious. That this is what we see from Christian martyrs down through history is witness to the gospel and to the very nature of our faith in the God of love who shed his blood to reconcile his enemies to himself. A witness to the Jesus who, as he died on the cross, prayed that those who killed him would know God's forgiveness. Would that we, Brothers and Sisters, would be captivated by this same gospel of grace and the same sure and certain hope of reconciliation and resurrection and new creation. Because our generation of Christians seems to be losing it. We no longer think of the gospel as good news to proclaim, but as good advice to share, because Jesus is no longer the way, the truth, and the life, but now a way, a truth, a life. We no longer have a clear hope and vision of creation set to rights by Jesus, maybe because we twisted this idea of “heaven” into a distant, ethereal, disembodied realm, instead of God's realm, present, but unseeable because of our sin. And so we're afraid to speak of sin as that great evil that keeps us from God and we're afraid to call people to repentance and we're afraid to speak of that day when God will, once and for all, wipe the last traces of sin and evil from the world, to heal the breach between heaven and earth, to pull out the wedge we've so firmly driven between them. And, in the same way, having consigned Jesus' lordship to a distant heaven, we fear to proclaim that most basic Christian creed—the one carved on our lychgate: “Jesus is Lord”. Lord, not just in a far away heaven, not just someday in a far away future, but here and now. Brothers and Sisters, we need Stephen's witness just as much as the Sanhedrin did that day. I pray that we would take it to heart. And if we lack his confidence, if we lack his hope, if we lack his vision, or if—in contrast to Stephen—we find ourselves gritting our teeth in anger and calling down curses on our enemies, that the Lord would give us a clear vision of his grace, of his kingdom, of his glory. Amen.
This Bible study explores the boldness of Peter and John as they stand before the Sanhedrin, asserting that salvation is found exclusively in the name of Jesus Christ. Drawing from Acts chapter 4, the message highlights how the apostles, though uneducated, demonstrated divine authority through a healed man and scriptural fulfillment. The religious leaders are shown to be silenced by the undeniable miracle and unable to deny the truth of the resurrection. Despite threats and commands to remain silent, the apostles refuse to obey human authority over God, emphasizing their role as eyewitnesses to Christ's power. The central call is for believers to exhibit similar confidence in their testimony, recognizing that they cannot stop speaking of what they have seen and heard.
On this episode of Right On Radio host Jeff — marking nearly six years on air — we walk listeners through a wide-ranging, prophetic analysis of current events and how they may fit into biblical end-times timelines. The show opens with a brief sponsor message about pet and human mushroom supplements and then launches into clips and commentary exploring the idea that global power centers are shifting toward Jerusalem as conditions line up with prophetic markers like the abomination of desolation and the arrival of the two witnesses. Jeff plays and dissects a short clip from Department of Homeland Security Secretary Mark Wayne Mullen about missing children and the fallout from mass migration, then reviews footage of chaotic border breaches in Spain to illustrate how porous borders and large-scale migration are reshaping societies. He ties these developments to broader concerns about cultural displacement and organized efforts that, in his view, are engineered to undermine national sovereignty. The episode includes two notable White House clips: a Donald Trump statement about the United States taking responsibility for the Gaza Strip and First Lady Melania Trump presiding at a UN Security Council session. Jeff analyzes Melania's language — “knowledge and understanding,” “technology without borders,” and “building an infrastructure of understanding” — and conducts a visual decode of the Security Council mural, highlighting imagery he associates with alchemy, a phoenix rising, a sword through a beast and serpent, and symbolic references to an emerging global order. Jeff also examines recent moves by global figures and groups: King Charles' shift to a multi-faith posture and outreach to mosques; the announcement of a first international Noahide congress in Jerusalem; and a Sanhedrin petition reported to seek a renewed Mashiach and the rebuilding of the temple. He explains the significance of Noahide laws and how some advocates view them as laying groundwork for new legal and religious norms in Jerusalem and beyond. Additional segments include a short dystopian film narration about civil conflict and a clip titled “The Invasion” that outlines a three-step pattern — immigrate, increase, eliminate — used to describe community takeover through demographic and political change. Throughout, Jeff warns listeners about a potential move toward a centralized, one-world religion and governance structure, and he references groups like the Temple Institute and other organizations preparing for a rebuilt temple. The episode closes with Jeff's pastoral appeal to listeners to remain rooted in Scripture, to love God and neighbor, and with a call to support the show through donations and links. Expect a dense, opinionated episode combining media clips, symbolic decoding, prophetic interpretation, and urgent cultural commentary aimed at listeners who follow biblical prophecy and geopolitical developments closely. Want to Understand and Explain Everything Biblically? Click Here: Decoding the Power of Three: Understand and Explain Everything or go to www.rightonu.com and click learn more. Use coupon code Summer50 for $50. value savings until August 31st.. Thank you for Listening to Right on Radio. Prayerfully consider supporting Right on Radio. Click Here for all links, Right on Community ROC, Podcast web links, Freebies, Products (healing mushrooms, EMP Protection) Social media, courses and more...https://linktr.ee/RightonRadio Live Right in the Real World! We talk God and Politics, Faith Based Broadcast News, views, Opinions and Attitudes We are Your News Now. Keep the Faith
Welcome to Episode 307 of The Thinklings Podcast!This week, Tim reviews Douglas Wilson's How to Exasperate Your Wife, leading to a practical discussion about biblical marriage, household leadership, parenting, love, respect, and masculine responsibility. The episode concludes with a meditation from Acts 7 on receiving biblical correction with humility.⏱️ Chapters* 0:00 — Welcome & Introduction* 0:50 — Opening Conversation: Christian Art & Substack* 6:02 — Announcements & July Book Giveaway* 7:09 — Frivolities & Josh's Absence* 8:44 — Books & Business: How to Exasperate Your Wife* 9:03 — The Wife as Ruler of the Home* 14:05 — Should a Husband Do the Dishes?* 20:21 — Teaching Boys Responsibility* 22:54 — Love, Respect & Servant Leadership* 25:28 — Strength, Tenderness & the “Two-by-Six” Husband* 27:21 — Thinklings Goodness Scale* 28:03 — Final Meditation: Receiving Correction from Acts 7
Truly following Jesus is to be Akin to him. Akin = family, closely related, aligned. In Acts 7, Stephen stands before the Sanhedrin and, instead of defending himself, boldly points to God's faithfulness throughout Israel's history. His message reminds us that following Christ means choosing truth over comfort and belonging to Jesus above all else. Pastor Scott Goodman walks through Acts 7:1–22, showing how the lives of Abraham, Joseph, and Moses all point to Christ and call us to trust God's Word, keep moving in faith, and become more like Jesus. If you're looking for a church home in Arroyo Grande, we'd love to welcome you to Harvest Church. Join us as we grow in God's Word, worship Jesus, and build authentic community together. Harvest Church is committed to Bible teaching, verse-by-verse study, and expository preaching that helps people grow in following Jesus. Join us Sundays at 9am & 11am. Learn more at www.agharvest.org.
Telling the Story: Part 3 Acts 7:35-53 by William Klock “Made by hand.” When we see that, it usually means something good, doesn't it? Someone careful hand crafted this thing. Carefully stitched it together. Put care into baking it. You can probably trust it, because it was well made. And, of course, it was made with love. But if we went all the way back to ancient Israel, “Made by hand” had a very different meaning and connotation. For us it (usually) signals something good; for them it signalled idolatry. “Made by hand” said that this thing was not made by God or that God had not commanded it to be made, but wicked humans made it anyway. And when it came to things involved in worship, it meant idolatry. This idea has come into our language too. You'll sometimes hear Christians—usually on the Puritan end of the spectrum—talk about this or that thing in worship or this or that doctrine being “man-made”. The Puritans called it the “Regulative Principle” and the idea was that everything Christians do in worship should either be something God explicitly commanded (like reading the Bible or singing or preaching) or something that good and necessary consequence demands. We Anglicans follow what's called the “Normative Principle”, which means that we have freedom in our worship, as long as what we do is not forbidden by scripture or goes against biblical principles. But you'll often hear folks who follow the Regulative Principle say things like, “Your liturgy or your hymns are ‘man-made'” or “Your traditions of using musical instruments or observing Easter, Christmas, and other holy days are ‘man-made'” and by that they mean that they're unbiblical and wrong. Some would go so far as to call these things “idolatry”. The “RP” isn't our tradition, I think more than anything else in Protestantism it has led to sinful, ungodly, and unwarranted schisms, but I do respect the fact that it grew out of a commitment to take worship very seriously. People who follow it understand that how we worship God is serious business, not something frivolous. I think most Christians today err in taking zero care in how they worship God. But you can't read the New Testament and you certainly can't read the Old Testament without realising that how we worship is serious business. God takes it seriously and so should we. I'll come back to this, but keep it in the back of your mind as we work through the end of Stephen's speech. I want to pick up where we left off in Acts 7. We've been making our way through Stephen's speech before the Sanhedrin—the body of Jewish elders. He's been accused of blasphemy and of speaking against torah and the temple and Moses. And instead of defending himself, what he's done is to tell the story of Israel and Israel's God. He's telling it in a such way that they should—hopefully—see that he's not speaking against any of those things that defined them as Jews. He's telling the story in such a way that they'll see—hopefully—that the gospel is not a departure from Israel's story, but rather the very culmination of it—the very thing that torah and temple and Moses were pointing toward all along. And so he began with Abraham and the call of Israel, and then Joseph, and then Moses. And as he's telling not just the story, but their story, he's highlighting its themes of forgiveness and grace and also that when God acts, when God does new things, it's almost never what anyone expected—but afterward you can always see that, in fact, the signposts had always been pointing to that new thing. Like I said last week, the figure of Moses towers over the story of Israel and Stephen knew that. But he also knew, as Moses towered over the story, he did so like a signpost, with his arm outstretched, pointing the people straight to Jesus. He knew, you can't use Moses to argue against the gospel. So let's pick up at Acts 7:35 where we left off. [Page 1087 in the pew Bibles, way down in the very bottom right corner of the page.] “So,” Stephen continued, “this same Moses—the one they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler or judge?'—this is the man God sent as ruler and redeemer, by the hand of the angel who had appeared to him in the bush. He did signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and led them out, through the Red Sea and for forty years in the wilderness. This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, ‘God will raise up a prophet like me from among your brothers.' And this is the one who was in the assembly in the desert with the angel who had spoken to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors; and he received living words to give to us.” Stephen's continuing the story of Moses he began in last week's text. Moses was rejected by his own people—at least at first. And there was nothing controversial in telling this part of the story. And there's nothing controversial in his reminding the Sanhedrin that despite that early rejection, Moses was indeed the ruler and redeemer the Lord had sent to his people. Moses did signs and wonders in both Egypt and in the wilderness. He's the one who parted the Red Sea. He's the one who met God on the mountain and came down with God's living words, with the torah and with the instructions for the tabernacle. And—Stephen makes a really important point here—Moses was also the one who told the Israelites that he was not the end-all-be-all of rulers, redeemers, or messiahs, because one day the Lord would raise up a “prophet” from amongst them—a prophet in comparison to whom Moses would pale. The Sanhedrin knew he was talking about Jesus. The people had already suspect that Jesus was this greater prophet whom Moses had prophesied. More than once he was asked, “Are you the prophet who is to come?” So Stephen's making it clear, just as Moses had been rejected by the Israelites of his day, so Jesus was rejected by the Israelites of his. We've touched on this last week. But now Stephen takes it a step further. Look at verse 39. It's not just that Moses was rejected by his people in the days before he was actually called by God. The more embarrassing thing for Israel was that they'd rejected Moses after he'd been called, after they'd been through the Red Sea, after they'd seen the signs and wonders and had the torah and the tabernacle. Stephen goes on: “This is the one whom our fathers had not wanted to obey, but instead rejected him and turned back in their hearts to Egypt, by saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go before us; for this Moses, who brought us out of the land of Egypt—we don't know what has become of him!' They made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice to an idol. They celebrated things their own hands had made.” Remember what happened in Exodus? Moses went up the mountain to meet God. And he was up there for forty days and nights receiving the law. And the people became afraid. They thought that Moses surely must have died on the mountain, so they gave Aaron their gold and implored him to make a golden calf, an idol, so that they could have a god who would protect them. It was a shameful moment for Israel. They'd just received the Ten Commandments. They'd just been told by God: You shall have no other gods. You shall not make a carved image. And Moses had asked them, “Will you do all these things? Will you give yourself to the worship and service of the God of your fathers, the God who has saved you from Egypt? The God who has decalared, ‘I will be your God and you will be my people?” And the people had enthusiastically declared, “We will! All this we will do!” And just days later, they didn't. As eating the forbidden fruit was the primal sin of the human race, idolatry was the primal sin of Israel: worshipping something as if it were God when it wasn't. Aaron had tried to explain to Moses that he'd merely thrown the gold into the fire and that the calf had formed and jumped out of its own accord, but everyone knew that's not how it works. Idols are made by human hands and the prophets drove that point home over and over down through Israel's history. To worship an idol was absurd. The pagans were fools for doing so. First, you create a god with your own hands and then you worship it. “How stupid is that?” the prophets asked. And yet the golden calf wasn't the last time Israel would worship an idol. That primal sin came back over and over and over. When Jeroboam rebelled and led ten of the tribes of Israel to form their own nation, he set up two golden calves, one at Bethel and one at Dan to discourage his people from going to the temple in Jerusalem. No matter how devoutly Israel worshipped the Lord, idolatry was never far off. Look at verse 42: “Then God turned and handed them over to worship the host of heaven, as it stands written in the book of the prophets: ‘Did you bring sacrifices and offerings to me in those forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? You took up the tent of Moloch, and the star of your god Rhephan, the carved images you made to worship! I will remove you beyond Babylon!'” Stephen quotes Amos 5. Even during Israel's honeymoon period with the Lord, Amos condemned them. Even then, while they brought their sacrifices to the Lord, they were worshiping pagan gods like Moloch and Rhephan and all the “host of heaven”. So the Jewish priests and rulers have charged Stephen with blasphemy and now he turns the tables. He never actually defends himself. Instead, he retells the story of Israel from the beginning and shows how it leads straight to Jesus and now, again, he turns the tables on them. He accuses them of the very thing they've charged him with. Just as Israel had rejected Moses, so Israel's priests and rulers have rejected Jesus. And—since their most significant charge seems to have been that he was speaking against the temple—and that was precisely the same charge on which Jesus was arrested and crucified—Stephen makes his second point or his second charge against them. Verse 44: “Our ancestors had the ‘tent of meeting' in the desert. [That's another name for the tabernacle.] God had commanded Moses to make it according to the pattern which he had seen. Our ancestors in their turn brought it in when, with Joshua, [meaning they brought it with them into Canaan, the promised land] they dispossessed the nations whom God drove out before our ancestors, and it was there until the time of David. David found favour with God, and requested permission to establish a Tabernacle for the house of Jacob. But it was Solomon who built him a house. [Stephen is referring to the permanent temple in Jerusalem.] Now his key point: “The Most High, however, does not live in shrines made by human hands. The prophet put it like this: ‘Heaven is my throne, and earth my footstool! What sort of house will you build me, says the Lord, Or what place will you give me to rest in? My own hand made all these, did it not?' Yes, David planned the temple. Solomon built it with the Lord's blessing. But Stephen quotes Isaiah 66. The Prophet Isaiah had rebuked the people using the very words that Solomon had prayed at the dedication of the temple. It is God who has made all things. The idea that human beings can make anything—even the temple—that can contain God, well, that's the real blasphemy. Solomon knew that with this glorious temple on the mountain top, that with God's presence manifest in a cloud of glory, that Israel—always prone to idolatry—would start to think that they had God in a box—to put as we might put it. Solomon warned them. Isaiah warned them. And now Stephen is pointing his finger at the Sanhedrin and is saying, “When Jesus said he'd tear this building down and rebuild it in three days, he wasn't blaspheming it. When I said that this is precisely what Jesus has done and when I say that Jesus has, indeed, built a new temple by purifying a new people and filling them with God's own Spirit, I'm not the one blaspheming the temple. No! You're the one's blaspheming God! You think you've got God in a box. You're thinking like the pagans. You've gone back to our people's primal sin! Heaven is God's throne and earth his footstool. The entire cosmos he's made cannot contain him. What fools you are to think your puny temple can contain him! The temple was the signpost pointing the way to what God's done in Jesus and the Spirit. It was the signpost telling us all along that God's plan was one day to enter this world as one of us, as the Righteous One, so that he could rescue us—from sin, from death, from the idolatry that has plagued us from the beginning—by filling us with his Spirit and turning our hearts of stone into hearts of flesh. By filling his people, not so we can guard it a box of stone, but so we can carry his presence to the ends of the earth. But just like our ancestors, you refused God's redeemer because you couldn't let go of your building, your box made by hands.” You can almost imagine Stephen standing there in front of the Sanhedrin and with him stand Moses and Isaiah and Amos and all the other prophets nodding at his words. He closes his speech in verses 51-53: “You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are uncircumcised! You always resist the holy spirit, just as your ancestors did before you! Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? And you killed those who announced in advance the coming of the Righteous One—and now you have betrayed him and murdered him. You received the law at the command of angels, but you didn't keep it!” They were the people God had chosen to steward his glory. They were the keepers of the great story of God and his redemptive plan. They, of all people, should have known better, but when the story came to its climax, they refused to listen. They'd stried to slam the book shut. It's not just that they rejected the Messiah and handed him over to the pagan Romans to be crucified. Stephen's point is that they were doing what idolatrous Isreal had always done. Even though the kind of obvious idolatry that had got them exiled to Babylon had been rooted out since their return to Judaea, they were still at heart idolators. As Stephen recounts the story of Israel, what we find is that it's not just a story of redemption. It's also a story of rebellion that reminds us how desperately humanity needs God's redemption. Even the people with the law and the temple, even the people with Moses and the Prophets suffered from the same rebellious attitude that infects the human race. As Calvin once put it, the rebellious human heart is a factory of idols. We can take even the good things of God and turn them into idols as the Jews had done. Stephen takes the high ground. He stands with Abraham and Moses, with Solomon and David, with Isaiah and Amos. The Sanhedrin, for all their moral posturing and charges of blasphemy, Stephen opens the book they'd slammed shut and shows that in reality they stand with Joseph's wicked brothers, with the Israelites who rejected Moses, with the Israelites who had given their gold to Aaron to cast a golden calf, with Jeroboam and all the others who had set up idols throughout the land. The temple was good, but it was made with hands. God had promised through the Prophets that one day he would make another, a better temple—and it would be better precisely because it wasn't made by human hands. Brothers and Sisters, that's us. And as I was thinking and meditating on this over the last few weeks, I was wondering what this means for us. I think the biggest takeaway from Stephen's speech—at least this part of it—is simply to hear him proclaim the glory of the God who has become present with us in Jesus, the Righteous One. Jesus has, like a greater Moses, delivered us from our bondage to sin and death. I don't think it's likely that we're going to end up like the Sanhedrin, rejecting Jesus and the Spirit in favour of the temple and the torah. But, I do think there's a warning here, even if it's a little oblique. Brothers and Sisters, it can be very easy for us to make idols out of otherwise good—and even essential—things. In an age of apostasy—and especially for those of us who came out of the battles for orthodoxy within Anglicanism, it can be very easy to make an idol of our theology and of our orthodoxy. We can make idols of the traditional Prayer Book, of the old hymnals, of our classical Protestant worship. Good things. Orthodoxy—right doctrine, right theology, right understanding of God and of ourselves—is absolutely essential. But Brothers and Sisters, none of these things stand in place of Jesus; none of them stands in the place of the Spirit; none of them stands in place of the Triune God. None of them ought to undermine the unity that Jesus and the Spirit have given us with other believers. Bp. Cummins understood this and it's why the Reformed Episcopal Church exists: because Bp. Cummins knew that Christian unity is rooted not in bishops or in sacraments, but in Jesus the Messiah. It's good to be right in our doctrine and practise. We should take theology and worship seriously, but we should also be humble about them. We should acknowledge that despite our best efforts, none of us will ever—at least not this side of eternity—have a perfect theology or perfect worship. And we ought always to guard against pride, because being proud in our imperfect theologies and imperfect worship inevitably causes us to treat them as idols. We lose our focus on Jesus. And no matter how right we may be, we lose our witness and cease to give glory to God. So let Stephen be a reminder to us to keep Jesus at the centre of our being and of our life together, at the centre of our church. Let our good doctrine and our good worship be the things that keep him there. But let him always be our God, let him always be the one we worship and glorify. And, I think, if are faithful in that, we will be faithful in giving glory, not to ourselves, not to our theology, not to our Prayer Book, not to anything made with hands, but to the God of glory. Let's pray: God of glory, as we hear your word, as we learn the story of redemption, teach us to see and to keep Jesus, the Righteous One, always at its centre. Give us the grace and wisdom necessary for sound doctrine and worship, not that we be “right”, but that we might always keep Jesus at the centre of our life together, that we might worship you and faithfully make your glory known to the ends of the earth. Amen.
Love, Community, and Truth: A Conversation with Natalie Runion In Episode 144 of Divine Table Talk, Jamie and Jane welcome Natalie Runion—USA Today bestselling author, speaker, worship leader, and founder of the Raised to Stay community—for an honest conversation about love, biblical community, and living in truth. Drawing from her experiences in ministry and the messages of her bestselling books Raised to Stay and The House That Jesus Built, Natalie shares how believers can pursue healing without abandoning the Church, embrace authentic Christian community, and hold tightly to truth while extending grace. Together, they discuss the beauty of imperfect people pursuing a perfect Savior and why healthy relationships are essential to spiritual growth. Whether you've experienced church hurt, are longing for deeper community, or simply want to love people more like Jesus, this conversation will encourage you to remain rooted in Christ and committed to building His Church. Learn more about Natalie, her ministry, speaking events, books, and the Raised to Stay community at: NatalieRunion.com ____________________________________ Connect with Jamie: Website: www.jamieklusacek.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jamieklusacek Connect with Jane: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janewwilliams ____________________________________ Get Jamie's Newest Book: Living Loved: An 8-week Journey to Living Fully Loved
Monday, 20 July 2026 So they answered Jesus and said, “We do not know.” And He said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. Matthew 21:27 “And answering, the ‘Jesus', they said, ‘Not we have known.' He said to them, also He, ‘Nor I, I tell you in where-such authority these I do.'” (CG) In the previous verse, the leaders of Israel, pondering among themselves, realized that if they said John's authority was from men, the multitude might come after them. With them being stuck in a hard place concerning Jesus' question, Matthew next records, “And answering, the ‘Jesus', they said, ‘Not we have known.'” The leaders of the nation were wholly incapable of making a simple proclamation concerning John as proposed by Jesus in His question to them. The answer was something that was as evident as the nose on a person's face if John's role was evaluated from their own Scriptures. But because they lacked any intestinal fortitude at all in relation to standing on the authority of Scripture, while at the same time standing at odds with Jesus' ministry, they were unwilling to answer His question. Because of that, Matthew next records Jesus' emphatic response to these leaders, “He said to them, also He, ‘Nor I, I tell you in where-such authority these I do.'” The leaders had a right to question Jesus. However, they did not have a right to a response from Jesus if they could not answer His question to them about John. Because John testified that Jesus was the Messiah, and because they could not validate John's source of authority through open confession, they no longer had a right to question His authority further. Life application: When a person is summoned to appear before Congress, he is required to show up. The Congress has this authority. Likewise, the leaders of Israel had the authority to question Jesus. However, if those in Congress asked a question about a matter they themselves could not properly answer, it would make no sense for the person being interrogated to have to answer that same question. Jesus worked within the framework of Israel's laws and culture, never subverting them but using them in a manner that was acceptable to anyone in the society. We possess the same rights in the nations where we live. It is true that some nations deprive their citizens of various rights. Some nations also allow rights that exist to be ignored. There is often nothing that can be done in such circumstances. We just have to live with the unrighteous conduct that is targeted against us. This is what Jesus had to suffer. During His trial before the leaders of Israel, the rights He possessed as a citizen of Israel were denied Him. An internet search immediately pulled up the following: Procedural and Timing Violations Nighttime Proceedings: Capital trials were strictly forbidden from being conducted at night. Jesus underwent preliminary trials before Annas and Caiaphas, and a final condemnation before the Sanhedrin, all occurring before dawn. Premature Scheduling: Courts were not permitted to convene before the morning sacrifice was offered. All three religious trials were concluded before this ritual took place. Holiday Timing: No legal proceedings for capital cases were allowed on the eve of the Sabbath or during holy festivals, such as Passover. Jesus's trials occurred during this prohibited period. Lack of Delay: Jewish law required a night to pass between a death sentence and its execution to allow for reconsideration; Jesus was condemned and executed within hours. Judicial and Evidentiary Infractions Bribery: The acceptance of Judas Iscariot's thirty pieces of silver constituted a bribe, which invalidates any subsequent legal proceedings under Mosaic Law. Self-Incrimination: The accused was not permitted to ask self-incriminating questions. The High Priest directly asked Jesus if He was the Messiah, leading to His own statement being used as the primary evidence for conviction. Lack of Defense: The accused was denied the right to counsel or representation. Furthermore, the court refused to allow Jesus to call witnesses in His defense. Invalid Indictment: The Sanhedrin originated the charges itself rather than investigating accusations brought by independent witnesses. Proper procedure required two agreeing witnesses to formulate an indictment publicly. Sole Judge: The High Priest examined Jesus privately before the full court assembled, violating the rule that capital cases require a full panel and public examination. Acclamation Verdict: In capital cases, judges were required to vote individually. Jesus was condemned by acclamation (unanimous shout) rather than a formal, recorded vote. Jurisdictional Errors Lack of Authority: The Sanhedrin lacked the jurisdiction to execute capital punishment under Roman rule; only the Roman governor had the authority to impose death sentences. Charge Substitution: When brought before Roman authorities, the religious charge of blasphemy was replaced with political charges (treason, subverting the nation, and forbidding taxes) to secure a Roman conviction. (Brave Browser Generated Response) Despite all of this, Jesus submitted to the ruling authorities, knowing that the tortures ahead were necessary to restore us to our heavenly Father. Today, take time to consider the love of God that would prompt Him to do what He did for us. When we face our own times of injustice, if we have the ability to appeal, we should use it. However, it may be that we will have to endure unfair verdicts and unjust treatment as Christians. If we do, let us consider it an honor for the sake of His glorious name – “So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name.” Acts 5:41 Lord God, may we honor the glorious name of Jesus Christ our Lord in all we say and do. If we find we must bear injustice because of our faith in Him, strengthen us through the trial and give us wisdom to proceed in the manner that will most glorify You. Amen.
John 7:37-52 Please turn to John chapter 7. We'll be considering verses 37-52 this morning. You can find that on page 1062. The context of chapter 7 has been the Feast of Booths - also called the Feast of Tabernacles. It was one of the three major festivals in the Jewish calendar, so there were lots of people in Jerusalem. Earlier in the chapter, Jesus appeared at the temple in the middle of the festival and began teaching. That caused a crowd to gather around him. And most of the crowd was amazed. They had heard of or seen Jesus' signs (or miracles) but now they witnessed his teaching. In our text this morning, we will hear that it is now the end of the feast. Jesus called for people to come to him but, as you will hear, he received a mixed response. Some were intrigued but others all the more wanted to kill him. Reading of John 7:37-52 Prayer There's no doubt that water is THE foundation to our physical existence. Our bodies are made up of about 60% water. Without water, we cannot survive for more than a few days. Without water, crops cannot grow and animals cannot survive. But for us in our day and age, water is readily available. Even in drought situations, we manage pretty well. Farmers can pump water from the underground water table to water their crops. We can clean and store water from storm runoff. We can dam rivers and we can pump water from one region to another. The worst it gets here, is that we're told to only water our lawns on certain days. But if you lived in Jerusalem back in the first century, it was very different. They didn't have all the modern technologies to drill or store significant amounts of water. Given its geography high up in the mountains, Jerusalem didn't have any nearby rivers. The Kidron valley and brook were dry for most of the year. And so, the people really did rely on the seasons. They hoped and prayed for rain at certain times of the year. It's no wonder that Jesus used the concept of water to symbolize spiritual realities. Remember, we saw that first back in chapter 2 when Jesus turned water into wine, symbolizing his cleansing ministry. And again, we saw that in chapter 4, when Jesus told the woman at the well that she needed his living water and that when she drank it, she would never be thirsty again. He was speaking of the eternal life that she would receive through believing in him. Well, this morning we have a new spiritual reality symbolized by water. And that is the ministry of the Holy Spirit. He will be like rivers of living water flowing forth from our hearts. So, this morning we'll begin our time with that… with Jesus' teaching about the giving of the Spirit. That's verses 37-39. As we'll see in a minute, his analogy of water directly connects to what was happening at the Feast. And then second, we'll survey the responses to Jesus' teaching. That's verses 40-52. As you heard, out of people's hearts flowed very different responses to Jesus. That's where we are headed. #1 The Holy Spirit - the River of Living Water As we get into the verses about the Holy Spirit, let me first note that the Feast of Tabernacles was at the very end of the dry season. In fact, most years, it had not rained for months in the leadup to the festival. To be sure, Jerusalem did have a source of water. Their main source of water at the time was the Gihon Spring which they diverted into the Pool of Siloam. It was on the south side of the city about a third of a mile down from the temple. It was King Hezekiah about 700 years earlier who had a tunnel dug through the rock to reach the spring and divert the water to inside the city. Just a few years after he finished that, Assyria surrounded Jerusalem and attempted to cut off the supply lines, including water, but they did not know of the hidden water channel. And so, Jerusalem was able to endure. By the way, if you go to Jerusalem today, you can actually walk through Hezekiah's water tunnel. I did that several years ago with a friend. It's about 1/4 mile long and pretty narrow and the water is maybe 1-2 feet deep. At one point my friend snuck ahead, turned off his little flashlight and then, when I rounded a corner, he jumped out at me. I may or may not have been momentarily scared. Anyway, you end up at the Pool of Siloam - or a small portion of what remains. I'm telling you this because at the Feast of Booths, every day one of the priests would make his way down to the Pool of Siloam. Jewish literature records that he would dip a golden vessel into the pool, and he would make his way back to the Temple. The crowds would follow him as he passed through the lower gates into the temple area. Trumpets would sound as he ascended the temple steps. They would read from passages like Isaiah 12:3 which says, "with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation." That was our call to worship this morning. And then with great pomp, when the festival branches described in Leviticus 23 were waved, the priest would pour the fresh water onto the altar. A channel was made for that purpose, and it would drain to the base. The purpose of the water was a remembrance of God's provision of water in the wilderness. Remember, the Feast of Booths was about celebrating God's provision in the wilderness. That included water from the rock. God called Moses to strike a rock, and when he did, water flowed forth. Well, on the seventh day of the feast, Jewish literature also records that the water ceremony happened 7 times. 7 times the priest would fill the golden vessel from Siloam and return to the temple, and pour it onto the altar. By the seventh time, the water would have overflowed from the altar onto the temple floor. And while this was happening, the people were rejoicing, waving various branches while the trumpets sounded and the water flowed. It was on this day, the 7th day, called the great day, that Jesus stood up and cried out “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'” We don't know what time of day Jesus proclaimed these words, but the people would have had water on their minds. It was hot and dry. Likely it had not rained. Furthermore, they either anticipated the priests carrying the water to the altar or they just witnessed that event. They were thirsty - physically and spiritually. And Jesus cried out to them, calling them to come to him and drink. And not only would their spiritual thirst be quenched, but if they came and drank, rivers of living water, he said, would flow from them. The apostle John then adds a brief commentary that Jesus was referring to the Holy Spirit. Those who came to him would receive his Spirit, once he was glorified. Now, before we consider what that means for you and me, let me note 4 brief things. #1. Jesus quotes a Scripture which says, "Out of his heart [the one who believes] will flow rivers of living water." There's actually no single Old Testament passage directly matching the quote. However, several Old Testament texts parallel this idea. We read from Isaiah 44 earlier in the service. Verse 3 says, "I will pour water on a thirsty land" and then "I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring." Zechariah 14:8 was another one. It was also read during the Feast of Booths. It speaks of living water flowing out of Jerusalem. There are other passages like Ezekiel 47 and Isaiah 55 which are similar. In other words, the idea of living water connected to the Holy Spirit and salvation is very prevalent in the Old Testament. #2. Some Greek translators believe that the "rivers of living water" referenced here is the Holy Spirit being given out of Jesus' heart, not ours. They argue that phrase "whoever believes in me" is actually part of the invitation to drink and does not describe the one who has a river flowing from his heart. Honestly, there are some good arguments for that. Personally, I lean toward the translation we use. But I also think that even if this alternative is true, those who believe are still the recipients of the Holy Spirit. When we receive the Spirit, then our hearts will display forth the Spirit's ministry in us. So, in the end, I don't think it really changes the impact. #3. The third thing I want to point out. The fact that verse 39 says that the Spirit would be given after Jesus was glorified does not minimize the Holy Spirit's work in the Old Testament. No. From the very beginning in Genesis 1, the Spirit was present. He was hovering over the waters. He was at work in the hearts and minds of the remnant of God's people - true Israel. The Spirit directed people to look forward to the Messiah who would come. The Apostle Peter in 1 Peter 1 tells us that the Spirit of Christ was at work in the prophets who testified beforehand about Christ's sufferings and glory. What is the difference, then? The giving of the Holy Spirit mentioned in verse 39 is the outpouring of the Spirit to all peoples, not just Israel, but every tribe, tongue, and nation. Furthermore, as the Spirit dwells in his people, he now applies the finished work of Christ to us. So, the difference is in the scope of the Holy Spirit's work and the fulness of salvation being applied. I think that's important to understand. #4 - the last brief comment. And this is related. When verse 39 speaks of Jesus' glorification, I'm guessing you have in mind Jesus' ascension to heaven where he now reigns. That's true. However, John's Gospel includes Jesus' death and resurrection as part of his glorification. We're going to see this very clearly when we get to chapter 12. We will see that Jesus finally tells his disciples that his hour HAS come. And what is that hour? Jesus tells them it is the hour of his glorification. He must die in order to be raised. So, as we think of the ministry of the Holy Spirit, we need to understand that he is applying Jesus' full ministry including his atonement for our sin through his sacrifice and the hope and new life we have in his resurrection and ascension to glory. It is out of that fulness as the inaugurated King, that Jesus sends his Spirit to continue his ministry to the ends of the earth. Now, I know that's a lot of theology packed into those comments. Let me summarize it this way. Jesus' promise of his Spirit is an amazing promise and reality for you and me. Every single one of us is spiritually thirsty. Every single person in the entire world is spiritually thirsty. Not everyone recognizes it but we all long for meaning and purpose. We all experience pain and suffering. We all know the toil of work as a consequence of the fall. Those thing weigh on us every single day. And Jesus promises that when you come to him in belief, out of your heart will flow rivers of living waters. Through the ministry of the Spirit in you, the abounding grace of God in Christ will flow to you and from you. Your heart will display to others the transforming ministry of the Spirit. And others who likewise are given the Spirit will minister to you through him. To be sure, that does not minimize the impact of our remaining sin, nor does it minimize the realities of our suffering and grief in life. But what it does is give us an unshakeable foundation. Repentance from sin. Hope in grief. Joy in suffering. Perseverance in trials. Through the Holy Spirit in us, we can live, not only with our eyes fixed on the cross and the redemption we have from our sin, but we can fix our eyes on our resurrected and glorified Lord. Through his Spirit, rivers of living water will flow. His ultimate sender is the Son, but the blessings of his ministry will flow from you to me and from me to you. It will flow between us and overflow to our community around us. An old song came to mind this week. A 1970's children's song. "I've got a river of life flowing out of me." Some of you are old enough to remember it. Do you remember the chorus? "Spring up, O well, within my soul; Spring up, O well, and make me whole; Spring up, O well, and give to me; That life abundantly" May that river of life, God's Spirit, abundantly minister in us and through us as we drink of the living waters of Christ. Amen? Divided Responses Now, we're not done. Here's where we are. Jesus made an astonishing offer. For those who come to him and drink, out of their hearts will flow the living water of God's Spirit. The question now is, how did the people respond? What did flow out of their hearts? Well for some it was curiosity, for another, it was an honest search. But for the priests and Pharisees, it was the exact opposite. Instead of rivers of living water, out of their hearts flowed hatred and bitterness. Let's consider those three categories in verse 40-52. (1) those intrigued by Jesus, (2) those who outright reject him, and (3) those honestly evaluating. That first group, those who are intrigued, find Jesus very interesting. He has interesting things to say. He's some kind of prophet. In verse 40, some said that he is THE prophet. That's a reference to Moses' prophecy in Deuteronomy that a Prophet would come after him. Others said, "This is the Christ." That may include some who truly believed. But we get the sense that it's just an external observation. After all, the apostle John does not use his favorite word, believe. He just notes that some "said" he was the Christ. I think we should also put the temple officers into this first category. Last week, we read that the chief priests and Pharisees sent the temple officers to arrest Jesus. These were Levites assigned to temple security. But notice that they did not arrest Jesus. And what was their reason? Verse 46, "No one ever spoke like this man!" They could not do what they were commanded to do because they were amazed by his teaching and authority. This first group is marked by an external recognition that Jesus is unique. He plays some important role in God's purposes. But they had yet to take the next step toward belief. I suspect some will. That brings us to the second group mentioned here - the chief priests and Pharisees. They are not intrigued by Jesus one bit. There is no possibility in their minds that he may truly be the Son of God. Their hearts are hard. Multiple times in these verses they react to even the suggestion that Jesus may be legitimate or the desire to consider his claims. And think about this: these were the very men who presided over the water ceremony at the feast. Some even participated in the water being poured out on the altar day after day, but they could not recognize the living water standing in their own temple courts Look at what they said to the officers that did not arrest Jesus. They said, "Have you also been deceived?" They then appealed to their own authority and they literally cursed the crowd. Verse 49, they said, "this crowd that does not know the law [you know, like they do] is accursed.” Think about the contrast between the hearts of the Pharisees and the hearts of those who would come to Jesus. Those who believe in Jesus are promised rivers of living water flowing from their hearts. Yet, out of the hearts of the Pharisees and chief priests came deceit and anger. And look how they responded to Nicodemus. Nicodemus was one of them. All Nicodemus wanted to do was judge fairly. But the Pharisees responded, "Are you from Galilee, too?" That's a classic ad hominem. They attacked Nicodemus for merely suggesting that Jesus deserved a fair hearing. They just wanted to kill Jesus. Rather than rivers of living water, out of their hearts flowed rivers of hate and self-serving unbelief. Out of some hearts will flow love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Those fruits of the Spirit, identified in Galatians 5, will flow forth from those who have been given the Spirit - those who believe. But out of the hearts of these so-called leaders of Israel flow self-idolatry, enmity, strife, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, and envy. Out of one flows fresh, clean water, spiritual water, that is life giving and quenches the soul, yet out of the other, stagnant, poisoned water that accuses and kills. Which brings us to the third response. I've already mentioned Nicodemus, but let's consider his response more thoroughly. In fact, I think Nicodemus was originally in that first category. He was intrigued. Back in chapter 3, as Coleman reminded us last week, Nicodemus had sought Jesus out at night. Something compelled Nicodemus to want to know more. But he didn't understand when Jesus told him he needed to be born again. He had yet to believe. But in these verses Nicodemus has moved from being intrigued to honestly desiring to evaluate Jesus' claims. He even defended Jesus, asking that he be given a fair hearing. We get the clear sense that Nicodemus was a man of integrity. Even though he was a teacher of Israel and part of the Sanhedrin, he wanted to know the truth. In verse 51, look what he says to his fellow Pharisees, "Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?" Do you hear his honest desire to know the truth? I want to remind you that John wrote his Gospel primarily for Jews of the later first century. John has been revealing who Jesus is as the Messiah. And he wants his readers to have an open heart and mind like Nicodemus. John wants his readers to give Jesus a hearing, as verse 51 says. Really, John wants them to believe, but at this point in the book, he just wants them to take a step forward and truly evaluate Jesus for who he is. As Coleman pointed out last week, some of you here are like Nicodemus and have an honest heart and seek to live a life of integrity. But you've yet to respond to Jesus calling to come to him and drink. Will you evaluate Jesus' claims and calling? You know, as we move forward in the Gospel of John, one thing that we'll see is that the two neutral responses to Jesus will go away - both the intrigued by Jesus' response and the honest search response. The temple officers will be forced to choose. And Nicodemus himself will be called to account. What will they decide? We'll find out in chapters 18 and 19. What will you decide? So where does that leave us? Well, Jesus is still standing and calling out, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink." The water that he gives will never run dry, because it is nothing less than the Holy Spirit, poured out from our risen and glorified Lord, applying all the riches of his death and resurrection to thirsty souls. And so, will you stand at a distance, intrigued but uncommitted? Will you be like Nicodemus, honestly seeking him out, but not yet willing to come to him and drink. Or will you drink of his life-giving stream? For those of you who have, the promise is yours: out of your heart will flow rivers of living water. The Spirit of truth and grace will flow in you and through you, forever. Amen.
#top .av-special-heading.av-gs9o3p-50bfbec0bb595c417fff9f2337934fb9{ padding-bottom:10px; } body .av-special-heading.av-gs9o3p-50bfbec0bb595c417fff9f2337934fb9 .av-special-heading-tag .heading-char{ font-size:25px; } .av-special-heading.av-gs9o3p-50bfbec0bb595c417fff9f2337934fb9 .av-subheading{ font-size:15px; } Through My Bible Yr 03 – July 20Acts 24:1-21 LISTEN HERE Through My Bible – July 20 Acts 24:1-21 (EHV) https://wels2.blob.core.windows.net/tmb-ehv/03-0720db.mp3 See series: Through My Bible Acts 24 Paul on Trial Before Felix 1 Five days later the high priest Ananias came down with some elders and a lawyer named Tertullus. They brought formal charges against Paul to the governor. 2 When Paul was called in, Tertullus began to accuse him, saying, “We are enjoying a long period of peace because of you, most excellent Felix, and reforms are coming to this nation because of your foresight. 3 In every way and in every place, we acknowledge this with all gratitude. 4 But in order not to detain you any longer, I beg you in your kindness to give us a brief hearing. 5 For we have found this man to be a public menace, one who stirs up riots among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the Nazarene sect. 6 He even tried to desecrate the temple, so we arrested him. [1] 8 By examining him yourself, you will be able to learn from him about all these accusations we are bringing against him.” 9 The Jews also joined in the attack, asserting that these things were so. 10 When the governor motioned to him to speak, Paul replied, “Because I know that you have been a judge over this nation for many years, I gladly make my defense. 11 You can verify for yourself that it was no more than twelve days ago when I went up to worship at Jerusalem. 12 They did not find me arguing with anyone in the temple or stirring up a crowd in the synagogues or anywhere else in the city. 13 And they cannot prove to you the accusations they are now making against me. 14 “But I do confess to you that I worship the God of our fathers according to the Way, which they call a sect. I believe everything written throughout the Law and in the Prophets; 15 and I have the same hope in God that these men have, that there is going to be a resurrection [2] of both the righteous and the unrighteous. 16 This is the reason I continue to do my best to have a clear conscience toward both God and people. 17 “After several years, I came to bring my people gifts for the poor and to present offerings. 18 While I was doing these things, they found me ceremonially purified in the temple, without a crowd or disturbance. 19 But there are some Jews from the province of Asia who ought to be here before you and bring charges, if they have anything against me. 20 Or let these men here state what crime they found in me when I stood before the Sanhedrin, 21 unless this is about the one thing I shouted while standing in their presence: ‘It is concerning the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial before you today.'” Footnotes Acts 24:6 Some witnesses to the text add and wanted to judge him according to our law. 7 But Lysias the commander came and took him out of our hands with great force, 8 commanding his accusers to come to you. By. Acts 24:15 Some witnesses to the text add of the dead. #top .hr.hr-invisible.av-aocsdx-89cb4ca21532423cf697fc393b6fcee0{ height:10px; } The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved. #top .hr.hr-invisible.av-4vzadh-3f04b370105df1fd314a2a9d83e55b26{ height:50px; } Share this entryShare on FacebookShare on LinkedInShare by MailLink to FlickrLink to InstagramLink to Vimeo
Series: Showdown: Part 4 - Peter and John, and the Sanhedrin Title: Peter and John, and the Sanhedrin Pastor: Scott Grabendike Scripture: Acts 4:1-31 https://www.venturamissionary.com/
Telling the Story: Part 2 Acts 7:1-16 by William Klock When I was an American school kid in the 70s and 80s I learned that the defining events in the history of the United States were was the founding of Jamestown in 1607; the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth in 1620; and, of course, the Revolutionary War that began in 1775 and the signing of the Declaration of Independence—well—almost exactly 250 years ago. There were plenty of other events that shaped the story, but those were the events that set the United States on its trajectory: a heritage from Britain with a good dose of religious freedom and Protestant work ethic coming together in a grand expression of the rights of man shaped by the Enlightenment. Were there flaws? Yep. Slavery was a big one. But the way I learned the story, the British mainland colonies of North America were on the fringe of the slave trade. We received a tiny fraction of it. The real slavery problem was in the Caribbean and Latin America. Plus, we dealt with it. The whole Civil War thing—a tragedy. But it was a story to be proud of. But in 2019, the New York Times began a new publishing project. They called it The 1619 Project. It was subtitled, “A New Origin Story”. Why 1619? That was the year the first African slaves were brought to Virginia. Before the Pilgrims. Before the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. It was a deliberate attempt to reframe the story of the United States. Instead of a story rooted in a proud English heritage and religious liberty and Enlightenment ideals of freedom and liberty, the 1619 Project told the story of the United States as one rooted in racism and slavery and oppression. Instead of a story that makes you stand proud, it's a story meant to instil shame and guilt. The 1619 Project didn't come out of nowhere. It made public a story that many people had already been telling, especially to younger generations. And, as you would expect, this resulted in a great cultural clash. Both sides shouting at the other, basically saying, “How dare you tell our story wrong!” It wasn't so much a matter of the events themselves. Both versions of the story involved the same events, the same people, and all of that. But it highlights how much how you frame a story, how much you stress certain events and people and ideas over others, that you can end up with stories that are essentially the same, while dramatically different. One instils national pride; the other instils national shame. That doesn't mean there's no right or wrong. Framing the American story as if slavery and racism are its fundamental core is dishonest. But at the same time, telling a story that glosses over those evils for the sake of instilling pride, well, that's a problem too. And as much as this Postmodern metanarrative dilemma was nowhere on the radar of First Century Jews, I think it's a good way to understand what was going with Jews in those days and it's a good illustration of what Stephen is doing in his speech before the Sanhedrin in Ats 7. [It's page 1087 in the Pew Bibles.] There were different “parties” competing for influence and control in First Century Judaea and as much as they all told the same story of Israel, reaching back to Abraham and Moses and David, to the law and the Prophets, all rooted in the same exodus and exile and the same promises, how they told the story produced very different results, different feelings about Israel's present situation, different ideas about the future and how to get there—just as how I learned American history makes you smile when you see the Stars and Stripes, but others, having learned The 1619 Project story, feel shame. For Pharisees, unfaithfulness to the law resulted in exile—one that was still effectively ongoing—and only national faithfulness to the law would get them out of it. For the Sadducees, that was all in the past. God had restored them from their exile, and the temple and its priests were the proof. All was well. For the Zealots, the story said that armed revolution was the only way out of their oppression. For the Essenes, the group responsible for the Dead Sea Scrolls, the story said that the everyone and everything had been defiled by unfaithfulness, even the temple itself. God would wage holy war on the unfaithful, so they—the only truly righteous ones—retreated to the desert to wait and to keep pure. And there was the historian Josephus. A generation later, he told the story—after the disaster had happened—to say that the Jewish revolutionaries had brought God's wrath on themselves and that God had raised up the Romans to act as his instrument of judgement. Same story, but the different ways they told it, the different parts they emphasised, the way they interpreted certain events like the Babylonian Exile, landed them in very different places. Like I said last week, the story got them to the airport, but they were all waiting at different gates—and none of them the right gate for the God's real homecoming. That said, all of them held the same markers of Jewish identity dear: the torah, the temple, the promised land, their circumcision. They disagreed on a lot, but attack any of those things and they'd all join in stoning you after charging you with blasphemy. So what Stephen is doing before the Sanhedrin, backing up all the way to Abraham and telling the story yet again, was in good keeping with what was going on in First Century Judaea. So—in case you missed last week or have forgotten—in the first sixteen verses, Stephen began telling the story of Jesus and the Spirit by going back to Abraham. This was the moment when the God of glory—Stephen wants to stress that he's here to glorify the God of Israel, not blaspheme him or his holy things—Abraham was the moment when God stepped into the darkness and misery of his broken, fallen, corrupted creation and called to Abraham. In Abraham, God was launching his project to restore rebellious humanity to himself and to set to rights the creation that we broke. Now, there was more to it than this—it's online if you missed or forgot it—but Stephen's main point is that the gospel is not a departure from the story of Israel. It's not something new that has no roots in what happened before. He's saying to the Jewish elders: When the God of glory, the God of Israel called Abraham out of Ur and settled him in the promised land and established his covenant with him to make him a nation, that was the beginning of the story that brings us to Jesus, to the cross and the empty tomb, to the ascension and to Pentecost. The story of Abraham is the story of the gospel and vice versa. Remember, they accused him of blaspheming torah and temple and Stephen's saying, “No way! Torah and temple are good. They're glorious. They're how God prepared us and brought us to Jesus.” Like I said last week, when you leave your car and board the ferry, you are in no way saying your car was bad. It got you to the ferry. But you can't drive on water. Now it's time do something new—to do the very thing your car brought you to do. And then from Abraham to Joseph. Stephen tells Isreal's story in such a way to highlight that when the God of Israel acts to bless and to save his people, it's often in unexpected ways. Abraham was promised the land of Canaan, but never had any more of it than a little burial plot. And Jacob and his sons were forced to flee the land of Canaan in order to survive a famine. And Jacob's sons were wicked men who sold their brother, Joseph into slavery after nearly choosing to murder him. And Joseph went from slavery to prison. How was God going to work anything good from any of that? But he did. The sovereign God was at work all along. Slavery and prison led Joseph to the premiership of Egypt just in time deliver his family when they arrived. None of them had ever expected any of that. But God delivered them. And Stephen's telling of the Joseph story also highlights that gracious forgiveness has always been at the heart of the story of God and his people. There was Joseph, hated, abused, sold into slavery by his brothers, but instead of taking revenge, he welcomes them and throw a party. This is what Jesus had been doing as the lost sheep of Israel, the tax collectors and sinners, came to him in repentance and faith. And this is the sort of rejoicing that would take place in heaven were the Sanhedrin to see how the story leads to Jesus and repent. God was waiting for them with open arms and a promise of blessing, and they should know that, because that's how God's great story has always worked. It's the key in which this great symphony is written. So now, Moses. As important as Abraham and Joseph were, Moses stands like a colossus over the story of Israel. Moses was the deliverer who led Israel out of Egypt and parted the sea. It was Moses who went up Mt. Sinai and saw God for himself. It was Moses who came down and delivered the torah to Israel. It was under Moses that God made a nation out of Abraham's family. And this is where they've accused Stephen of blasphemy. They've accused him of speaking against the torah and temple and Moses. So look at Acts 7, beginning at verse 17. Stephen highlights three things about Moses. The first thing he stresses is how Moses was raised up by God to be the right man at the right place at the right time—even though no one would have guessed at the beginning that Moses was God's man for the hour. Stephen says: “God had sworn an oath to Abraham. [Remember the promise to make him a great nation and to give his descendants the land of Canaan?] When the time drew near for this promise to be fulfilled, the people had increased and multiplied in Egypt, until another king arose over Egypt, one who had not known Joseph. He got the better of our people, and ill-treated our fathers, forcing them to abandon their newborn children so that they would die. It was at that time that Moses was born, and he was pleasing to God. He was nursed for three months in his father's house. But, when they abandoned him, Pharaoh's daughter claimed him and brought him up as her own son. So Moses was educated in the full teaching of Egyptian wisdom, and he was powerful in what he said and did.” Already, in the life of Joseph, Stephen has stressed that God works human evil for good. Nothing escapes his sovereign hand. And just so with Moses. First, this new Pharoah decides to make slaves of the Hebrews. Not good. And then, when their numbers increase so prolifically that Pharaoh fears being able to control them, he hatches a plan to murder all the baby boys. And so Moses ends up in a basket in the river, where Pharaoh's daughter finds him and decides to raise him as her own. God turns Pharaoh's hate, prejudice, and injustice against him, sovereignly placing one of those Hebrew boys right in Pharaoh's own home, raised at Pharaoh's expense, and tutored by Pharaoh's own tutors in the famed wisdom of the Egyptians. God ensure the story is full of irony. Pharaoh unwittingly nurtures and educates the very man who will be his downfall. And Moses, himself, receives the training needed one day to oversee, to govern the people of Israel. Again, at the time, none of this made any sense. No one could see any significance to the story as it was unfolding. But God has a plan and one of the things the Jewish people learned from Moses' story—and so many others—is to trust God. In the famous words of William Cowper, God moves in a mysterious way. It's another motif in the divine symphony—one that comes back over and over and that God's people out to recognise when they hear the music. Second, Stephen stresses the rejection of Moses by his own people. Look at verse 23: “When he had grown to forty years old, it came into his heart to see how his brothers, the sons of Israel, were doing. He saw someone being wronged, and came to the man's defence; he took revenge on behalf of the man who was being oppressed, by striking down the Egyptian. He thought his kinsfolk would grasp the fact that God was sending him to their rescue, but they didn't. “The next day he showed up as two Hebrews were fighting, and he tried to bring them back together again. ‘Now then, you two,' he said, ‘you are brothers! Why are you wronging each other?' But the man who was wronging the other wasn't having it. ‘Who made you a ruler or judge over us?' he retorted, pushing him away. ‘Do you want to kill me in the same way you killed the Egyptian yesterday?' At that word, Moses ran away, and lived as a guest in the land of Midian, where he had two sons.” Yet another motif in the symphony, another recurring theme in the story. Jesus wasn't the first of God's deliverers to be rejected by his own people. The story highlights that this is sometimes how God works. Now, there's no one-to-one equivalence between Moses and Jesus. Moses was rejected because he wasn't ready yet. He had a desire to see his people freed, but he hadn't yet been called by God to that mission, nor had he received instruction on how to do it God's way. This way of telling the story, this way of looking back to the Old Testament is something we see all through the New Testament. I think of the way Matthew regularly explains how something in the Jesus story “fulfils” this or that thing from the Old Testament. And often we're left wondering how the connection works. Thanks largely to the Church Fathers, we've been taught to see these connections as literal prophecies or as “types”, as spiritual shadows that prefigure Jesus and various events in his life. That's kind of close, but it's not quite what Stephen (or Matthew) do. When Matthew, for example says that in the birth of Jesus Isaiah's words about the virgin conceiving and bearing a child are fulfilled, we wonder how that works. Isaiah was talking about a young woman in his own day bearing a child…and she wasn't a virgin. What Matthew was doing was pointing back to an event in Israel's past, in Israel's story, where the birth of a child to a young woman—maybe a princess, maybe the Prophet's wife…it's not clear—but where the birth of this child signalled that God was about to act to deliver his people. Matthew latched onto that. This is how God works, but this time—in the birth of Jesus—it's not just a young woman, it's an actual virgin, and this time God's not just delivering his people from a foreign king; this time it's deliverance from sin and death. Matthew recognised the motif in the music. It was there in Isaiah's day, a lone violin telling a story that most people missed, but in the birth of Jesus that motif returned, and this time the whole symphony was playing it. Stephen's drawing on the story of Moses the same way. Moses was rejected by his own people. A repeating theme in the story that the Sanhedrin—people who know this story, know this symphony so well already—a theme they ought now to see plain as day in what happened to Jesus. It should be obvious. They were the ones playing the instruments this time, after all. And then, third, Stephen stresses how through Moses, the God of glory, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God Israel had known for two thousand years, had revealed himself in a new way that no one had expected. Look at verse 30: “After another forty years, an angel appeared to him in the desert at Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning bush. When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the vision. But, as he came closer to see, there came the voice of the Lord: ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob.' Moses was very frightened, and didn't dare to look. But the Lord said to him, ‘Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. I have looked long and hard at the trouble my people are having in Egypt. I have heard their groaning, and I have come down to rescue them. So, come on now: I'm going to send you to Egypt.'” Stephen wants to be clear—and we see this all through early Christian preaching—the God revealed in Jesus the Messiah is not new. He is the same God who has been directing this story, this symphony from the beginning. This is the God of their fathers, the God who has been rescuing his people according to his promises for two thousand years. The God they know. The God whose character and ways they ought to have recognised in Jesus. Yes, Stephen's saying, Jesus was not what we expected. In Jesus—and now in the Spirit—God is doing something amazing, something astounding, something new. And that's why you rejected him. But knowing the story, knowing the music, we should have expected God would do precisely this: something new, something wild, something we didn't expect. Because the story is already full of episodes where God does just that. No one, least of all Moses, exiled to the wilderness, tending his father-in-law's sheep—expected the burning bush. And yet in that moment, heaven and earth came back together, God spoke, a man was called, and the world was never the same again. And Stephen's point is this: You can't predict the unexpected thing that God will do; but you can be sure—because the story is full of such moments—that God does act unexpectedly to do the things he's promised and that we expect, the very things in which we hope. Holy ground, for example, was something Stephen and his fellow Jews understood. The temple was holy ground. It was where heaven and earth met. But it wasn't the end-all-be-all of holy grounds. It began at Mt. Sinai—not in Isreal, but in the wilderness—where God met Moses in the burning bush, where the plan to rescue Isreal from her bondage began. When the Israelites built the tabernacle and the cloud of God's glory descended to fill it, God upstaged what he'd done at the burning bush. And then again, with the temple. As if it were the strings playing the motif at the burning bush, and in Exodus 40 as God's glory fills the holy of holies, the woodwinds join them. And the music was good and it was beautiful, but the Sanhedrin should now be hearing that same motif as, in Jesus and the Spirit the whole symphony comes together to play. Stephen isn't disparaging Moses. He's not blaspheming the law or the temple. He's saying, “Can't you hear it? Their beautiful theme is now being woven into something far grander and played by the whole symphony. The motifs have been there all along, the story has always been told this way. Don't plug your ears to this new thing. Listen. And hear how it's taken up all the old themes into something that is nothing short of glorifying to the conductor, to the God of glory. That's as far as we have time to go this morning. Like I said, Acts 7 is long and there's a lot to unpack. But I think the great take-away for us from this part—in addition to learning to hear the great story of God and his people—I think the most important thing here is to know that God really does do new and unexpected things. As we get to know the story, we ought to expect for God to do the unexpected, for God to do new things that upstage what he's done in the past. And yet, the story also emphatically tells us that as much as God does new things and upstages the things he's done before, those new things are always in keeping with what he's done before. The past always points to the future and the future never undermines the past. As the writer of Hebrews tells us, “God is the same, yesterday, today, and forever.” We live in an age where too many people are ready to do something new themselves—something that breaks from what or how God has already revealed himself, something that breaks from or that disparages or that blasphemes God's past actions or his past instructions—they take this new human thing and declared that God is doing a new thing. Andy Stanley saying we need to unhitch from the Old Testament so that God can do something new. No! Churches embracing sexual immorality and post-modern notions of identity and sexuality and family and marriage and then saying, “See, God is doing a new thing!” A thousand times, no! Brothers and Sisters, the theme of the story, the key of the symphony doesn't change. God does new things, but those new things follow from what God's already done. On the other hand—and I think it's mostly in response to all the proclamation of “new things” that aren't godly at all—on the other hand, we can become too fearful, too conservative and we can end up where the Pharisees and Sadducees and the Essenes were: locked down, afraid of the new, and turning away from burning bushes, and unwilling to go where God is actually leading. This why we need to steep ourselves in the story. This why we need to immerse ourselves in the great symphony and to let the music wash over and through us. Brothers and Sisters, we need to know the themes and the motifs, to learn the key in which God is playing, to be intimately familiar with how they interact, weaving around and through each other, so that as the story continues to unfold, as the symphony bursts into new movements, we can hear God bringing those old familiar themes to new heights, while also being able to recognise when a different story is being told, or a different symphony is being played. I've said over and over, Brothers and Sisters: God's word is life. Know, meditate on it, let it mould you, and then let it pour forth from you to give life to others. Let's pray: Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things: Graft in our hearts the love of your Name; increase in us true religion; nourish us with all goodness; and bring forth in us the fruit of good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Stephen stood before the Sanhedrin, the most defendant-protective court in the ancient world, a court that had just thrown out every one of its own protections to kill him. As the stones fell, Stephen did not cry out for vengeance. He cried out for forgiveness. That single prayer, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin,” marks the moment the new covenant broke the old cycle of compounding vengeance and introduced a gospel of extreme, unreasonable forgiveness. And watching over the coats of the men who killed him stood a young man named Saul, the very man that forgiveness would one day reach.
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