For me one of the most exciting things in life is to see someone new come to faith in Christ, or someone who has been kind of surface-level about Jesus, really commit and dive deep. I love the passion, the excitement, the willingness to share about Christ. It’s a special time. 

If you’re a new Christian, this sermon is for you. How can we keep a good thing going? I want to talk about how we can plug you in and keep you growing in your walk with Jesus.

If you’re a longtime Christian, this sermon is also for you. How can we help new believers flourish and in the process be renewed and reenergized ourselves? How can we help disciple new believers?

Where are you in your walk with God? Which category are you in? New believer, longtime follower, in need of renewal? I want to look at the new-convert Saul. He’s a brand new Christian. He’s energized. He’s excited. And things go poorly for him. I see three life-lessons we can take from this time of his life.

Life-Lesson #1: Share the excitement for Jesus. (v19b-22)

As a new believer, one of the best things you can do is share Christ (Rom 10:9-15). The great part is, right now, at this stage, maybe it feels natural. You’re like, “I’m a Christian! Why isn’t everyone a Christian!” I think Saul was a little like this. After Jesus appears to Saul on the road to Damascus, he tells everyone. 

Acts 9:19b-22 (ESV)

For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus. 20 And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” 21 And all who heard him were amazed and said, “Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name? And has he not come here for this purpose, to bring them bound before the chief priests?” 22 But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ.

The Jews in Damascus are so confused. “Isn’t this the guy who came here to persecute the believers? To drag them away and throw them in prison? Now he’s teaching that Jesus is the Son of God and Messiah!” For Saul to identify Jesus as the “Son of God” and the “Christ” (Hebrew “Messiah”) is especially significant (Psalm 2:7). God promised David, the most famous king of Israel, that one day one of his descendants would rule as God’s specially chosen king, which is what “Messiah” means (anointed king). See how God identifies one of king David’s descendants as “son” and also “king?” 

2 Samuel 7:12-14a (ESV)

12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son…

It doesn’t just matter what Saul is saying about Jesus. It also matters where he’s saying it, in the synagogue, the place where the Jewish people studied the law, the prophets, and yearned for the Messiah to come. It would be like walking into a Graceland, Elvis Presley’s home, and telling everyone, “Guys, Elvis is alive!” And then proceeding to make a logical and reasonable case Elvis is alive. The people wouldn’t know what to do with you. That’s how the Jews respond to Saul. They’re baffled and confused. 

Have you ever seen someone come to Christ who starts posting all about Jesus on Facebook or telling everyone how great their church is? Sometimes it really weirds other people out. You know what, I think that’s okay. Let’s embrace the weird. When I really got serious about Jesus in my teen years, I viewed it as my mission to tell others about him. At the time I would write devotionals and email them out. If I got your email, I’d add you to the list (without asking!). Some people liked it and others told me to take them off my list. Spamming for Jesus! Now I don’t think I was super effective. I could have used a mentor guiding me. But I also think that new-convert enthusiasm

Who is the least likely person you know who would ever become a Christian? Take a moment and think of them. Is it a family member, a friend, a coworker? Is it because they’re apathetic to Christianity? Or is it because they’re totally against Christianity? Maybe they identify as an atheist, or Buddhist, Muslim, or even Jewish. All you know, is they’ll never follow Jesus…

Nabeel fit the description of someone who would never follow Jesus. His parents were from Pakistan and they were devout Muslim believers. They moved to the U.S. and Nabeel grew up obedient to Islam. By the age of five he was saying the five daily prayers and had memorized the entire Koran in Arabic. He knew what he believed and practiced it rigorously. 

His family blamed American Christianity for the moral compromises they saw all around them, for the immorality of culture. These people claim to be Christians but they promote all this stuff. The Christians Nabeel encountered as a child and teen didn’t know their faith beyond a surface level. He would question them and they didn’t have the answers. This only confirmed that Islam was true and that he was on the right path. Nabeel is the kind of person who if we were friends with him, we would assume he would never come to Jesus. Nabeel is a little like Saul. Saul was a devout Jew who practiced his beliefs rigorously.

Saul was the least likely of disciples.

Saul identified himself as “zealous” for his faith (Acts 22:3; Gal 1:14). To understand what this means we need to understand Judaism at that time. I’ve been reading Paul, A Biography by N.T. Wright. In it Wright talks about Saul’s teacher, a man named Gamaliel. Gamaliel was a part of a school of thought called “Hillel” that generally allowed for disagreement and debate within Judaism. In Acts 5 when the Sanhedrin put Peter and John on trial for preaching the gospel, Gamaliel argued that they should let these men go and see what happens. If their mission has human origins they will fail. If not, Gamaliel doesn’t want to fight against God (Acts 5:38-39). Gamaliel is from Hillel and took a “live and let live” policy.

But there was another school called Shammai who were a little more fiery, who believed in prayer, but with a sword strapped to your side. Saul likely identified more with Shammai than Hillel. Those like Saul who were especially zealous would have identified strongly with the Old Testament hero, Phinehas. After Egypt, when Israel wondered in the wilderness, the men of their camp became interested in foreign Moabite women. These women took the Israelites away from the one true God and they began to worship Baal. God sent a plague on the people in judgment and ordered the Israelites to kill any who committed this act.

Numbers 25:6-8 (NIV) 6 Then an Israelite man brought into the camp a Midianite woman right before the eyes of Moses and the whole assembly of Israel while they were weeping at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 7 When Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw this, he left the assembly, took a spear in his hand 8 and followed the Israelite into the tent. He drove the spear into both of them, right through the Israelite man and into the woman’s stomach. Then the plague against the Israelites was stopped;

Phinehas is so zealous for God’s law and holiness that he took a spear and rammed it through the Israelite man and Moabite woman. The Psalms actually say this was reckoned to Phinehas as “righteousness.”

Psalm 106:30-31 (NIV)

30 But Phinehas stood up and intervened,

        and the plague was checked.

31 This was credited to him as righteousness

        for endless generations to come.

So Saul must have been thinking, “If I am zealous for God’s law, and put to death those who are spreading false teachings, this too will be credited to me as righteousness.” Christianity was a threat to Judaism. You have to eat the body and blood of a dead guy they claimed rose again from the grave? How is this not pagan? To not act would

Have you ever tried to buy something that’s not for sale? When I was a teenager, I worked at a tourist shop in the mountains of Colorado called Indian Village. Occasionally tourists would try to buy the big brass pots we had in the back of the store, but they were a decoration. Not for sale. Occasionally tourists would try and buy this big beautiful Navajo rug we had hanging on our wall. But that rug also was not for sale. Sometimes tourists tried to buy the little old lady, Charlotte, who had fallen asleep behind the counter, my boss. The legend goes that one time she was so still that someone thought she was a life-sized doll. She was not for sale. In today’s text one man has to learn the hard way…

The Holy Spirit is not for sale.

My hope and prayer is today’s sermon will make us more aware of the Holy Spirit’s power and how we sometimes attempt to purchase the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not something we can purchase or buy, not with money or good deeds. The Holy Spirit is not like the big brass pots or Navajo rug. He’s not a thing. The Holy Spirit is a person, more like Charlotte.

Maybe you’re wondering, “Who would ever try to buy the Holy Spirit?” Well, I’m glad you asked because a Sorcerer named Simon would. This man lived in the town of Samaria, north of Jerusalem. Samaria is a land where the people are Jewish but not Jewish. They share some beliefs and background with their Jewish neighbors, but this has only caused religious and ethnic division. They know enough to get themselves in trouble, which is perhaps why Simon is someone who has so much power. 

Acts 8:9-11 (NIV)

8 Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, 10 and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is rightly called the Great Power of God.” 11 They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery.

Simon’s sorcery is no The Magician’s Apprentice. Micky Mouse isn’t dancing around wearing a big blue pointy hat with stars on it and waving his fingers at a broom. It’s no fantasy. It’s real. It’s demonic. It’s witchcraft. He’s arrogant, prideful, and claims to be someone great. The people of Samaria think he has divine powers— “the Great Power of God,” like a mini Hercules or Perseus, sons of Zeus. Here is the root of all idolatry—thinking we can handle God, that we can control him with our religious deeds, our prayers, our words. The Holy Spirit won’t be bought. He is far too powerful to be controlled by us. 

The Holy Spirit is unstoppable.

When Philip, one of the leaders of the early church tasked with caring for the Greek-speaking widows, and other early believers are chased out of Jerusalem by persecution, he goes north to Samaria where he begins to preach the gospel—the good news about Jesus Christ. He does so with power and authority, full of the Holy Spirit (Acts 6:3). 

Acts 8:12-13 (NIV)

12 But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. 13 Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.

Simon sees that the Holy Spirit is unstoppable. The Holy Spirit, through Philip, brings people to faith and repentance. Through the Spirit Philip performs great signs and miracles. If we as a church could experience even a taste of the Spirit’s power like Philip did, it could change everything. 

Francis Chan wrote a children’s book called, “The Big Red Tractor and the Little Village.” There’s a little village where the people live off what they farm each year. Each year they pull out their big red tractor and use it to plow their field. They attach ropes to it. They get a group together. Some pull and others push and every day of plowing season they move the tractor a little further across the field. On a

During this pandemic, more than any other time in my life, we have depended on technology to remain connected, employed, and on the go. You may be experiencing or are currently experiencing “Zoom fatigue.” Zoom fatigue is when you get done with a day of work and you’re completely drained from all those online meetings and interactions. This happens because it takes more energy to have a meeting over Zoom. You have to focus or you might get lost in the conversation. Typically, the screen is right in front of you, which means you’re chatting with one or even a room full of people, right in front of your face. There’s nowhere to hide and it can leave you feeling tired and anxious. Welcome to all the church people watching us on Facebook Live! I hope we don’t wear you out! 

While many of us feel grateful for how technology has kept us connected, it has come at a cost, hasn’t it? Zoom isn’t the only place we feel the cost. Technology is everywhere, not just digital technology, but this lectern, our church carpet and chairs, the clothing we are wearing. Kevin Vanhoozer defines technology, “Technology includes all tools, machines, utensils, weapons, instruments, housing, clothing, communicating and transporting devices and the skills by which we produce and use them.” We all use technology whether we’re using Zoom or a toothbrush and it all comes at a cost. Today I want us to count the cost. I’m not trying to tell us to throw out our iPhones, but hopefully, to think a little more critically about our use of technology. I love technology, but that means I need to question it all the more.

The Bible does not specifically address our use of smartphones or computers but it can help us understand our use of technology better. Today I want to give us a Biblical overview of what the Bible has to say about technology. We don’t have the time to examine this topic through a microscope. Our journey will be more like a satellite image. Let’s start at beginning of the Bible, Genesis.

God made us to be creative beings.

In the first chapter of the Bible we find God fashioning and creating the earth and heavens. As he gets to the end of this creation God makes man and woman in his image, which means they’re also creative like him. He then calls them to rule over all of creation.

Genesis 1:27-28 (NIV)

27 So God created mankind in his own image,

       in the image of God he created them;

       male and female he created them.

28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

God makes men and women in his image, which gives them value and authority, and then he calls them together to “rule over” all of creation (Gen 1:26-27). The Hebrew root of the word “subdue” (kabash), means to subjugate something, which means to bring it under our dominion or control. We’re to to steward creation. The root of subdue is the same for “footstool” (kebesh) or “kiln” (kibshan). There’s the inherent idea that to subdue (steward) well will require tools and technology.

1. We can use technology to express creativity and beauty.

If we were to leap forward in the story of the Bible to the Israelites as they come out of Egypt, it is clear that during their 400 years of captivity they picked up skills and the use of tools. Just like “Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians” (Acts 7:22) it seems like some of their laborers were too.

Exodus 31:1-5 (NIV)

Then the Lord said to Moses, 2 “See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, 3 and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills— 4 to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, 5 to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of crafts.

Here we find Bezalel using tools to create the tabernacle and all its be

Listen to Mark Pender preach on Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch from Acts 8:26-40. You can watch the full service on Facebook or only the sermon on YouTube.

A God Who Weeps (Isaiah 15–16)

Introduction

Remembering Dating: Three Questions

Staying with Sara’s parents—daily driving between their house and my old house. Place and memory—remembering dating days.

Dating is about getting to know someone and growing a relationship with them.

Process: learning what they lovelearning to love what they lovejoining them in that thing

Example: I love the AstrosSara came to love the AstrosSara brought me to see the Astros together

I hope that you’re listening this morning because you want to know God, be in relationship with him, love him or want to love him.

Three framing questions:

What does God love?

Do you love what God loves?

Will you join God in what he loves?

Unexplored terrain: The Nations Collections

My guess is that you’ve never heard a sermon preached from Isaiah 15–16 before.

ProphetsCollections of Prophecies addressed to foreign nations. For Isaiah, this is chapters 13–23.

It is good to revisit familiar places—but sometimes it can be more exhilarating to venture away from the familiar to get a fresh view.

I hope that you gain a fresh vision for God and his plans for the world this morning.

Background on Moab and Its Demise

Location: Modern Jordan (Maps 1 and 2 [not a big deal about city names])

Moabite beginnings: Descendants of Lot and his daughter

Resistance to Moses and Israel; Balaam

Not allowed into the temple: Deuteronomy 23

Judges and Kings: Perpetual enemies of Israel and Judah

Economy: Sheep and wine; religion: Chemosh (human sacrifice)

Isaiah 15–16 proclaims coming doom for Moab. Fulfilled in either Assyrian or Babylonian conquest (northern to southern movement in passage), after which Moab ceases to exist (later settled by Arabian tribes).

Order: Structure and Message of Isaiah 15–16

The Structure of Isaiah 15–16 (text at bottom)

A-B-C v. A-B-A

We usually think and write in a linear fashion: point A to point B.

Ancient Hebrew literature: follows a more symmetrical pattern.

A-B-C v. A-B-A

Example: Creation-Fall-New Creation

A Simple Outline: A-B-A (Destruction-Hope-Destruction)

A. Destruction (15:1–9)

B. Hope (16:1–5)

C. Destruction (16:6–12) Simple Outline Slide

A//A’: The Futility of Moabite Worship (15:2–3; 16:12)

Going up to weep—sites of worship on the tops of mountains and hills as the abode of the gods.

Verse 3 ends with the Moabites going down weeping—going up and going down=they accomplish nothing.

Reflected in 16:12—read.

B//B’: Destruction and Lament (15:4–9; 16:6–11)

Read 15:4–9. Focus is on destruction and the weeping Moabites.

Read 16:6–11. Focus is on destruction and God’s weeping over Moab, a theme to which we will return.

C//C’: The Son of David as Refuge (16:1, 4b–5)

Read 16:1. Ram is tribute.

Read 16:4b–5. The enemy will pass away and a new king will reign.

X: Command: Shelter Moabite Refugees (16:2–4a)—Read w/ brief explanation

Message of Isaiah 15–16

Transition: More than Moab (the OAN and list-making—farm animals [horses, cows, chickens, pigs, sheep, alpacas], Green Eggs and Ham [on a boat, with a goat, in the rain, on a train, in the dark, in a tree, in a box, with a fox, in a house, with a mouse]). Rhetorical technique of saying something general by means of a list of particulars (compliment one’s wife). This is part of the reason that every book in the prophets has a collection of prophecies about foreign nations (references). By collecting prophecies about foreign peoples that would have been familiar to ancient Israel, God is able to saying something about his feelings and plans for all nations more vividly and comprehensively. Moab is not just Moab—God is saying something about his heart for all nations. While you might not know any Moabites, God still has a word for you from Isaiah 15–16.

The folly of false worship exposed.

We see the folly of false worship at the beginning and end of our passage in describing how Moab’s appeals to its gods are fruitfulness (16:12).

Additionally, the disaster shows the worth

Sermon John 13:12-17 | Philosophy of Missions

12 When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to

his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. 13 “You

call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14 Now that I,

your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one

another’s feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for

you. 16 Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a

messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 Now that you know these

things, you will be blessed if you do them.

The unit of thought starts at verse 2.

Subject: Are we greater than Jesus?

Compliment: If Jesus wasn’t above serving others, certainly we are not above

serving others.

Homiletical Idea:

We should humble ourselves and serve like Jesus.

Introduction

On a Sunday in 2007, I was sitting in the usual pew at Immanuel when Becca

Kulah (then Taylor) got up to announce a trip to Haiti. I listened to the

announcement, and I had this overwhelming feeling I was supposed to go on that

trip. I had never been on a missions trip before. Even though I grew up in the

church, my parents never let me go, and by the time I went to college, I hadn’t

really thought much about it again. After church, I told Keri I thought I was

supposed to go on that trip in April 2008 to Haiti. She said, “okay, then go”, or

something like that. So, that April, six of us headed to Haiti for 10 days. I was

outside my comfort zone for sure. I had never travelled outside the US, Canada,

or Europe at that point. I didn’t know what God had for me or why I was there.

But, I felt strongly I was supposed to be there. I think I know well now why I was

there, and why I continue to go, but it was not obvious to me at first.

The team was 5 women and me. And, although we were a team, I was left to my

own devices frequently. The women had a bedroom and bathroom on the second

floor; I was relegated to the first floor by myself. And, the first night in Haiti, there

I am lying in the pitch-black bedroom, which is probably about 90 degrees, when

something crawled across my body. At that point I decided having the sheet

wrapped around me was not optional no matter the heat. Then an hour or two

later, a huge ruckus started in the storage room attached to my bedroom by an

adjoining door. So, I did what every courageous man does their first night in a

new place when strange loud sounds happen; I pulled the sheet, which had

become by security blanket, over my head and hoped morning would come

quickly. Well, in the morning, I was questioned. “I must have heard it; why didn’t I

do something.” Apparently, goats had gotten into the storage room and

ransacked the whole place. I now had zero credibility with the women who

worked at the guest house having just met them for the first time.

The women on the trip with me did medical work the first half of the trip while I

did construction projects and surveying around the mission. I would be apart from

the group, working with people I never met before and with a major language

barrier. Well, the first workday morning I was picked up in an ATV by a man

named Destin. I climbed in, looked at him, and in my first Creole words ever

spoken to a Haitian man, I said, “Komman ou ye?”. He said, “I’m fine man, how

are you?” I said, “Wow, your English is really good”. He said, “It should be, I’m

from Chicago”. So, as you can see, my trip was off to a great start.

Skipping ahead to the second half of the trip where we went as a team into

several remote villages to visit with people, play with the kids, and share the

gospel. We arrive in a village, and a lot of people are gathering around a large tree

in the center of the village. The leader from the mission tells me that I am going to

share a bible story with the people. Mind you, this is the first I am hearing of this

plan. While I am scrambling to come up with something, I hear her

Today I want to talk about the power of the gospel—what the gospel is and what the gospel does. I want to talk about the gospel because I think it speaks to the cultural friction and racial brokenness we are experiencing today. The gospel not only identifies the problem, but provides a solution. Here’s my thesis:

The gospel actively crosses all racial and ethnic barriers to bring healing in Christ.

The gospel actively crosses all racial and ethnic barriers to bring healing in Christ. There are so many barriers right now. In the news we’ve seen lines of protestors and law enforcement, literal barriers. We hear of social, economic, and racial barriers, more barriers. We’ve see the split on social media among friends of different viewpoints, more barriers. What can cross these impenetrable barriers? The gospel can.

The gospel is the good news of restored relationship.

This word “gospel” means good news. But to use this word back in ancient Israel had a different meaning as it was typically used of military victories. Author Preston Sprinkle explains: 

[The Roman emperors] were believed to have brought unprecedented peace to the world, which they referred to in Latin as the Pax Romana, or “peace of Rome.” Rome was known for securing such peace and justice through warfare. And whenever Roman leaders returned home from another military victory, heralds were sent throughout the empire to announce the gospel—the good news—that Rome had been victorious. Fight: A Christian Case for Non-Violence

The gospel of Rome is that the emperor has won. The gospel of Christianity is that the king has died. The gospel of Rome is that the empire is strong. The gospel of Christianity is that God is most glorified in our weakness. The gospel of Rome is that we can save ourselves. The gospel of Christianity is that nothing but the blood of Jesus can save us. The gospel is the good news that we can once more be in right relationship with God and each other through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The gospel can not only heal our relationship with God, but with each other too. 

2 Corinthians 5:18-20 (NIV)

18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.

God wants to reconcile “the world” to himself— people from all races and ethnicities. As we reconcile to God it makes it possible to become reconciled to each other. We are ambassadors of reconciliation to God and to those around us (Matt 18:21-35). The gospel has the power to cross any broken relationship, God to man, rich to poor, white and black. The gospel is the good news of restored relationship.

Let’s think about the wooden cross for a moment. Typically, when we see the cross we think of the vertical relationship. I’m made right with God through the death of Jesus Christ. But the cross has two beams, one vertical, but also one horizontal where Jesus’ arms were outstretched. The vertical beam can remind us of our restored relationship with God but let’s use the horizontal one to remind us that God also came to restore relationships among us. The cross points both directions—up and down, God and us, but also side to side, us and our neighbors. The gospel is the good news of restored relationship (with God and others). To do this the gospel has to be resilient. 

The gospel is surprisingly resilient.

This gospel is not furthered through violence done to others like Rome, but through self-sacrifice and suffering. The Jewish Supreme Court called the Sanhedrin has just executed the first Christian, the first martyr, a man named Stephen. Here’s what happens next:

Acts 8:1b-3 (NIV)

…On that day a great persecution broke out against t

Today we are finishing the story of Stephen. I had written my sermon for today’s service a couple weeks ago, but when I read it this week, it just didn’t feel right. I sensed the Lord had a different sermon for me. Today, I’m sharing what the Lord is teaching me through the lens of Stephen’s story about the issue of racial justice. I’ve felt really drained this week. I’ve felt anger and grief, sadness, despair, as I know many of you have as well. I think the Lord is trying to tell me something. I don’t have the answers but I’m trying to open myself up to new possibilities. I’m trying to take a posture of listening. 

I want to take a posture of listening.

If the Sanhedrin had really listened to Stephen, maybe things would have turned out differently. Stephen is put on trial for crimes he didn’t commit. Those who are against him level two charges: 1) that he wants to change Moses’ law; and 2) that he wants to destroy the temple (Acts 6:8-15). In response, Stephen preaches a sermon that retells a slew of embarrassing events in the history of Israel. He reminds them of how they’ve rejected God and his leaders again and again, ultimately rejecting Jesus. He reminds them God doesn’t live in a temple and suggests their temple has become idolatrous (Acts 7:1-53). He tries to tell them these things so they’ll repent, but they don’t want to hear it. I want to take a posture of listening.

I don’t want to miss what some of my African American brothers and sister in Christ are telling me. They’re telling me they don’t feel safe, free, or like they really have a fair shot like I do. In this story I’d much rather compare myself to Stephen. He’s the hero. He’s the martyr. He’s the one talking. But I’m not Stephen. I’m one of the Sanhedrin, deciding if I’m going to listen or not. I sense the Lord telling me to take a posture of listening because many in the black community have something I need to hear. They’re calling me to repent. They’re telling me my silence has enabled sin and injustice. My heart is grieved. I want to hear.

In his sermon Stephen reminded the Israelites of their low-points to help bring them to repentance. My black brothers and sisters in Christ have recounted my history too. 

They have reminded me of 250 years of American slavery from 1619 to 1865. 

They have reminded me of 89 years of segregation till 1954 and all the Jim Crow laws that disadvantaged them and their descendants. 

They have reminded me of redlining in the 1930s that prevented their grandparents from buying homes and transferring wealth to children and grandchildren, even in and around Boston. 

They have reminded me of Eric Garner’s last words in 2014, “I can’t breathe.” 

They have reminded me of twelve-year-old Tamir Rice who was shot in a park gazebo where he was sitting all alone. He had an orange-tipped BB gun. I used to play with a BB gun when I was his age.

They have reminded me of Ahmaud Arbery who was jogging and Breonna Taylor who was sleeping and now George Floyd who made a mistake, and how I’ve jogged, slept and made mistakes, but I’m still here. 

They have reminded me that they are sick and dying from Covid-19 at higher rates than other Americans due to poverty and frontline work. 

I believe my black brothers and sisters in Christ are reminding me of these things because they love me and so I’ll repent. It’s hard for me to hear a prophet’s voice. I don’t think I would have heard Stephen if I were sitting in the Sanhedrin that day. 

Acts 7:51-53 (NIV) 51 “You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit! 52 Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him— 53 you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.”

I see Stephen pointing the finger at me, “You’re stiff-necked Jonathan. You haven’t helped

What do you think it would be like to have a biopic made of your life? A biopic is a movie made about someone’s life story. I recently watched Ford v Ferrari, which is a biopic of Carroll Shelby, a car designer, and Ken Miles, a British race car driver, building the Ford GT40 to beat the Ferrari racing team at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, a long and difficult endurance race in France. Shelby is played by Matt Damon and Miles is played by Christian Bale. 

You must really have to know a person’s life to make a movie like this. You can’t include everything, as that would turn into reality TV, nor do you want to just happy moments as that wouldn’t be very interesting. A director has to make specific choices about what to include and what not to include. If a director were to come along and say, “I want to make a biopic of your life” what events do you think they would choose? It would depend on the director. A movie of your life directed by Steven Spielberg would look very different than a movie directed by Wes Anderson. What actor would you want to play you? Obviously, I’d either be played by Denzel Washington or Michael Caine. Doctor Fauci joked that he wanted Brad Pitt to play him on SNL and Brad Pitt did. It’s that easy. So Denzel, you’re the perfect fit.

Today’s passage is a lot like a biopic of Israel. It’s the story of their people, emphasizing a few key moments that tell a story. The director of Israel’s biopic is an early church leader named Stephen. Here’s what we know about Stephen. He’s a Greek-speaking Jewish Christian who helped take care of the Greek speaking widows. He’s like a Deacon. He’s servant-hearted and the entire community respected him. He was known to be full of faith, full of the holy Spirit, full of God’s grace, and full of God’s power (Acts 6:5, 8). He “performed great wonders and signs among the people” and was sharing about Jesus Christ with great wisdom (Acts 6:10). He was so on fire for God that the religious leaders in Israel had him arrested and put on trial before the Sanhedrin, which was like the Jewish supreme court. Those who oppose him don’t fight fair. They use false witnesses to accuse him of wanting to destroy the temple and the law.

Acts 6:13 (NIV) They produced false witnesses, who testified, “This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law.

Acts 7:1 (NIV) Then the high priest asked Stephen, “Are these charges true?”

When questioned, what does Stephen do? He doesn’t cower in fear. He is full of the Holy Spirit. Instead, he stands up and begins to tell Israel’s story. Much like a director chooses certain moments in a person’s life to highlight, Stephen begins to tell a biopic that tells us about Israel as a people. As Stephen chooses these moments he begins to make points that don’t make his opponents or the Sanhedrin look good. It’s like if someone made a biopic of your life and they chose all your most embarrassing moments—that time you lied, that time you stole, that time you got arrested or cheated. 

That sounds pretty miserable, and it was, but it was for a good reason. Stephen was showing them that their life was headed a certain direction, and they needed repent and turn to Jesus. Today I want us to reflect on our own lives and the direction we’re headed. Where is your biopic headed, towards God or away from him? Do you need to repent and return to Jesus?

Movies, even biopics, typically have three acts, a beginning, a middle, and an end. The first act introduces us to the characters and what is going on in the story. The story opens with Abraham and Joseph:

Act I – God is good to his people and present with them. (Acts 7:2-16)

Stephen directs our attention to Israel’s forefather, the father of all the Hebrew people, Abraham.

2 To this he replied: “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Harran. 3 ‘Leave your country and your people,’ God said, ‘and go to the l