Three Assaults of the Evil One

July 14, 2013 · Acts

Listen Transcript Study guide Save

Series · Acts · Week 8 of 120

Scripture referenced 7 passages

The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.

Matthew 16 Jesus said he would build his church and the gates of hell would not prevail against it

1 The Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing him, asked him to show them a sign from heaven.
2 But he answered them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’
3 In the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but you can’t discern the signs of the times!
4 An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and there will be no sign given to it, except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” He left them, and departed.
5 The disciples came to the other side and had forgotten to take bread.
6 Jesus said to them, “Take heed and beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
7 They reasoned among themselves, saying, “We brought no bread.”
8 Jesus, perceiving it, said, “Why do you reason among yourselves, you of little faith, ‘because you have brought no bread?’
9 Don’t you yet perceive, neither remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you took up?
10 Nor the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many baskets you took up?
11 How is it that you don’t perceive that I didn’t speak to you concerning bread? But beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
12 Then they understood that he didn’t tell them to beware of the yeast of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
13 Now when Jesus came into the parts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”
14 They said, “Some say John the Baptizer, some, Elijah, and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.”
15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
18 I also tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my assembly, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.
19 I will give to you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven; and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven.”
20 Then he commanded the disciples that they should tell no one that he was Jesus the Christ.
21 From that time, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised up.
22 Peter took him aside, and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This will never be done to you.”
23 But he turned, and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of men.”
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, and whoever will lose his life for my sake will find it.
26 For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world, and forfeits his life? Or what will a man give in exchange for his life?
27 For the Son of Man will come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will render to everyone according to his deeds.
28 Most certainly I tell you, there are some standing here who will in no way taste of death, until they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom.”

World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Keep this verse

Acts 3-4

persecution after Peter healed the beggar, apostles arrested and told not to speak in Jesus's name

3:1 Peter and John were going up into the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour.

3:2 A certain man who was lame from his mother’s womb was being carried, whom they laid daily at the door of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask gifts for the needy of those who entered into the temple.

3:3 Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive gifts for the needy.

3:4 Peter, fastening his eyes on him, with John, said, “Look at us.”

3:5 He listened to them, expecting to receive something from them.

3:6 But Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have, that I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk!”

3:7 He took him by the right hand, and raised him up. Immediately his feet and his ankle bones received strength.

3:8 Leaping up, he stood, and began to walk. He entered with them into the temple, walking, leaping, and praising God.

3:9 All the people saw him walking and praising God.

3:10 They recognized him, that it was he who used to sit begging for gifts for the needy at the Beautiful Gate of the temple. They were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

3:11 As the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch that is called Solomon’s, greatly wondering.

3:12 When Peter saw it, he responded to the people, “You men of Israel, why do you marvel at this man? Why do you fasten your eyes on us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made him walk?

3:13 The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up, and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had determined to release him.

3:14 But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you,

3:15 and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, to which we are witnesses.

3:16 By faith in his name, his name has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which is through him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

3:17 “Now, brothers, I know that you did this in ignorance, as did also your rulers.

3:18 But the things which God announced by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he thus fulfilled.

3:19 “Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, so that there may come times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord,

3:20 and that he may send Christ Jesus, who was ordained for you before,

3:21 whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God spoke long ago by the mouth of his holy prophets.

3:22 For Moses indeed said to the fathers, ‘The Lord God will raise up a prophet for you from among your brothers, like me. You shall listen to him in all things whatever he says to you.

3:23 It will be that every soul that will not listen to that prophet will be utterly destroyed from among the people.’

3:24 Yes, and all the prophets from Samuel and those who followed after, as many as have spoken, they also told of these days.

3:25 You are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘In your offspring will all the families of the earth be blessed.’

3:26 God, having raised up his servant Jesus, sent him to you first to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your wickedness.”

4:1 As they spoke to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came to them,

4:2 being upset because they taught the people and proclaimed in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.

4:3 They laid hands on them, and put them in custody until the next day, for it was now evening.

4:4 But many of those who heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.

4:5 In the morning, their rulers, elders, and scribes were gathered together in Jerusalem.

4:6 Annas the high priest was there, with Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and as many as were relatives of the high priest.

4:7 When they had stood Peter and John in the middle of them, they inquired, “By what power, or in what name, have you done this?”

4:8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “You rulers of the people, and elders of Israel,

4:9 if we are examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed,

4:10 be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, in him does this man stand here before you whole.

4:11 He is ‘the stone which was regarded as worthless by you, the builders, which has become the head of the corner.’

4:12 There is salvation in none other, for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, by which we must be saved!”

4:13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and had perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled. They recognized that they had been with Jesus.

4:14 Seeing the man who was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.

4:15 But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves,

4:16 saying, “What shall we do to these men? Because indeed a notable miracle has been done through them, as can be plainly seen by all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we can’t deny it.

4:17 But so that this spreads no further among the people, let’s threaten them, that from now on they don’t speak to anyone in this name.”

4:18 They called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.

4:19 But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, judge for yourselves,

4:20 for we can’t help telling the things which we saw and heard.”

4:21 When they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, because of the people; for everyone glorified God for that…

World English Bible · Read it in another translation

Keep this verse

Acts 6:1-7

main passage read aloud covering the murmuring of Greek speaking believers and the appointment of seven men to serve

1 Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, a complaint arose from the Hellenists against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily service.

2 The twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, “It is not appropriate for us to forsake the word of God and serve tables.

3 Therefore select from among you, brothers, seven men of good report, full of the Holy Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.

4 But we will continue steadfastly in prayer and in the ministry of the word.”

5 These words pleased the whole multitude. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch;

6 whom they set before the apostles. When they had prayed, they laid their hands on them.

7 The word of God increased and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem exceedingly. A great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.

World English Bible · Read it in another translation

Keep this verse

Acts 6:8-15

Stephen full of grace and power performing miracles, then arrested after lying witnesses accused him of blasphemy

8 Stephen, full of faith and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people.

9 But some of those who were of the synagogue called “The Libertines”, and of the Cyrenians, of the Alexandrians, and of those of Cilicia and Asia arose, disputing with Stephen.

10 They weren’t able to withstand the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke.

11 Then they secretly induced men to say, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.”

12 They stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes, and came against him and seized him, and brought him in to the council,

13 and set up false witnesses who said, “This man never stops speaking blasphemous words against this holy place and the law.

14 For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place, and will change the customs which Moses delivered to us.”

15 All who sat in the council, fastening their eyes on him, saw his face like it was the face of an angel.

World English Bible · Read it in another translation

Keep this verse

2 Corinthians 2

cited for the phrase we are not ignorant of the devil's schemes

1 But I determined this for myself, that I would not come to you again in sorrow.

2 For if I make you sorry, then who will make me glad but he who is made sorry by me?

3 And I wrote this very thing to you, so that, when I came, I wouldn’t have sorrow from them of whom I ought to rejoice; having confidence in you all, that my joy would be shared by all of you.

4 For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears, not that you should be made sorry, but that you might know the love that I have so abundantly for you.

5 But if any has caused sorrow, he has caused sorrow, not to me, but in part (that I not press too heavily) to you all.

6 This punishment which was inflicted by the many is sufficient for such a one;

7 so that on the contrary you should rather forgive him and comfort him, lest by any means such a one should be swallowed up with his excessive sorrow.

8 Therefore I beg you to confirm your love toward him.

9 For to this end I also wrote, that I might know the proof of you, whether you are obedient in all things.

10 Now I also forgive whomever you forgive anything. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ,

11 that no advantage may be gained over us by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his schemes.

12 Now when I came to Troas for the Good News of Christ, and when a door was opened to me in the Lord,

13 I had no relief for my spirit, because I didn’t find Titus, my brother, but taking my leave of them, I went out into Macedonia.

14 Now thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and reveals through us the sweet aroma of his knowledge in every place.

15 For we are a sweet aroma of Christ to God, in those who are saved, and in those who perish;

16 to the one a stench from death to death; to the other a sweet aroma from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?

17 For we are not as so many, peddling the word of God. But as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God, we speak in Christ.

World English Bible · Read it in another translation

Keep this verse

Ephesians 6

our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers

1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.

2 “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with a promise:

3 “that it may be well with you, and you may live long on the earth.”

4 You fathers, don’t provoke your children to wrath, but nurture them in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

5 Servants, be obedient to those who according to the flesh are your masters, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as to Christ;

6 not in the way of service only when eyes are on you, as men pleasers; but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart;

7 with good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men;

8 knowing that whatever good thing each one does, he will receive the same again from the Lord, whether he is bound or free.

9 You masters, do the same things to them, and give up threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no partiality with him.

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his might.

11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

12 For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world’s rulers of the darkness of this age, and against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

13 Therefore put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and, having done all, to stand.

14 Stand therefore, having the utility belt of truth buckled around your waist, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,

15 and having fitted your feet with the preparation of the Good News of peace;

16 above all, taking up the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one.

17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;

18 with all prayer and requests, praying at all times in the Spirit, and being watchful to this end in all perseverance and requests for all the saints:

19 on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in opening my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the Good News,

20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

21 But that you also may know my affairs, how I am doing, Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will make known to you all things;

22 whom I have sent to you for this very purpose, that you may know our state, and that he may comfort your hearts.

23 Peace be to the brothers, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

24 Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with incorruptible love. Amen.

World English Bible · Read it in another translation

Keep this verse

Matthew 18

the principle of going to someone alone first then with another brother before escalating a conflict

1 In that hour the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who then is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?”

2 Jesus called a little child to himself, and set him in the middle of them,

3 and said, “Most certainly I tell you, unless you turn, and become as little children, you will in no way enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.

4 Whoever therefore humbles himself as this little child, the same is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.

5 Whoever receives one such little child in my name receives me,

6 but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him that a huge millstone should be hung around his neck, and that he should be sunk in the depths of the sea.

7 “Woe to the world because of occasions of stumbling! For it must be that the occasions come, but woe to that person through whom the occasion comes!

8 If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off, and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life maimed or crippled, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into the eternal fire.

9 If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out, and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into the Gehenna of fire.

10 See that you don’t despise one of these little ones, for I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.

11 For the Son of Man came to save that which was lost.

12 “What do you think? If a man has one hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine, go to the mountains, and seek that which has gone astray?

13 If he finds it, most certainly I tell you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine which have not gone astray.

14 Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.

15 “If your brother sins against you, go, show him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained back your brother.

16 But if he doesn’t listen, take one or two more with you, that at the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.

17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the assembly. If he refuses to hear the assembly also, let him be to you as a Gentile or a tax collector.

18 Most certainly I tell you, whatever things you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever things you release on earth will have been released in heaven.

19 Again, assuredly I tell you, that if two of you will agree on earth concerning anything that they will ask, it will be done for them by my Father who is in heaven.

20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the middle of them.”

21 Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Until seven times?”

22 Jesus said to him, “I don’t tell you until seven times, but, until seventy times seven.

23 Therefore the Kingdom of Heaven is like a certain king, who wanted to reconcile accounts with his servants.

24 When he had begun to reconcile, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.

25 But because he couldn’t pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, with his wife, his children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.

26 The servant therefore fell down and knelt before him, saying, ‘Lord, have patience with me, and I will repay you all!’

27 The lord of that servant, being moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.

28 “But that servant went out, and found one of his fellow servants, who owed him one hundred denarii, and he grabbed him, and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’

29 “So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will repay you!’

30 He would not, but went and cast him into prison, until he should pay back that which was due.

31 So when his fellow servants saw what was done, they were exceedingly sorry, and came and told their lord all that was done.

32 Then his lord called him in, and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt, because you begged me.

33 Shouldn’t you also have had mercy on your fellow servant, even as I had mercy on you?’

34 His lord was angry, and delivered him to the tormentors, until he should pay all that was due to him.

35 So my heavenly Father will also do to you, if you don’t each forgive your brother from your hearts for his misdeeds.”

World English Bible · Read it in another translation

Keep this verse

Recap

The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.

This message worked through Acts 6:1-15, tracing three ways the enemy tries to disrupt the life of the church: persecution, hypocrisy, and murmuring. Pastor Cameron opened by connecting what the early church faced to what believers face today, and closed with the account of Stephen's arrest as evidence that when one scheme fails, the pressure only increases.

What was said

Jesus said in Matthew 16 that He would build His church and the gates of hell would not prevail against it. Pastor Cameron pointed out that gates are defensive, which means the church is the one doing the crashing. That framing set up the whole message: the adversary is not winning, but he does keep trying, and recognizing his tactics is how believers stay ready.

The first assault is persecution, which is external pressure. In Acts 3 and 4, Peter and John were arrested and told to stop speaking in Jesus' name. That kind of pressure looks different here than it does in Bangladesh or Azerbaijan, but it still shows up, often as the steady social weight of being told you are narrow-minded or exclusive. The early church responded by going back to scripture, praying to a sovereign God, and asking for boldness to keep proclaiming. That is still the answer.

The second assault is hypocrisy, which is internal pressure. Pastor Cameron was direct: every person has the capacity for self-deception, for wanting to look better than they actually are. The story of Ananias and Sapphira from just the previous chapter showed what that looks like when it goes unchecked. Security mattered more to them than generosity, and they put on a mask. The way past it is the boldness to admit the truth to yourself and to God, and then to repent. God provides a way of escape, but it almost always runs through repentance.

The third assault is murmuring, and it was the one Pastor Cameron said hit him hardest in his own preparation that week. In Acts 6:1, the Greek-speaking believers were grumbling against the Hebrew-speaking believers because their widows were being overlooked in the daily food distribution. The Greek word used, which he described as onomatopoetic, points to quiet, directed whispering against someone. It is not random discontent. It is complaint aimed at a person or group, and it carries the potential for real division.

What is striking about how the apostles responded is what they did not do. They did not dismiss the complaint, dig in, or remind everyone who was in charge. They called a meeting in front of all the believers, acknowledged the problem, and handed real responsibility to seven men chosen from within the community, men described as well respected and full of the Spirit and wisdom. They laid hands on them and sent them to do the work. Pastor Cameron noted that the laying on of hands was not a new invention; it was the way God had commissioned people for ministry throughout the Old Testament.

And it worked. God's word kept spreading, the number of believers grew, and Jewish priests were converted. Pastor Cameron connected that to the principle that keeps returning in Acts: let your good deeds point toward your Father in heaven. Those priests were watching how the church handled a real conflict, and what they saw convinced them.

Acts 6:8-15 then shows what happens when murmuring fails to stop the church. The enemy came back with persecution, this time against Stephen, who had been one of the seven set apart to serve. False witnesses were brought against him, and he was arrested. The face of someone walking in the Spirit, Acts says, looked like the face of an angel. Pastor Cameron closed by noting that these three assaults do not stop, they cycle and intensify, but none of them prevailed in Acts 6, and none of them have to prevail now.

Doing a Bible study?

Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.

The pastor described persecution in the American context as often taking the form of social pressure rather than outright hostility. Where have you felt that kind of pressure, and how did you respond to it?
The pastor said hypocrisy is like putting on a mask, and that all of us have a capacity for self-deception, even to the point of out-Christianing one another. Can you think of a time when you were more concerned with looking right than being right, and what helped you see it?

and 3 more questions in the guide

Open the study guide

Read the full transcript 4,476 words

Find in this transcript

0:01 Speaker 2I would like to invite up just for a minute here, Cameron Maloney. Cameron is here. Cameron is a youth in our church and she came recently and said, hey, I'm headed on a mission trip. I was really with her. And she said, I'm going to New York.

0:19 It's an inner city mission trip in New York. And so whenever God is stirring up our young people, we wanna recognize that Thanks, Kevin.

1:19 Speaker 1Good morning. I'm I'm excited about that. That's cool to see. I went when I was 19 years old, I went on a summer missions. They called it fun in the sun '91 and it was yeah Panama City Beach it was a tough gig somebody needed to do a campground ministry but it was one of those kind of a foreshadowing of what God had for me in life So I really do appreciate that.

1:45 We want to celebrate like you said and commission her to go out. It's probably going to come up at some point during the sermon to lay it on the hands of the elders when you're equipped to do a work or commission to do work. I want to start off with the proposal here. My proposition today is that every Christian will be better equipped for life and ministry by recognizing these three assaults of the evil. I'm gonna start off with it.

2:11 Okay. I'm starting off there because we have been so far in Acts. We've gotten up to chapter six and we've seen a couple of the ways that the that the adversary, the devil, say, can you hear me over the mic, sir? Okay. We 've seen a couple of the ways that he's been trying to get at this nation church, this very beginning.

2:34 Jesus said that he would build his church in Matthew 16. Remember when he said that I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. It's interesting that the gates of hell are defensive weapons. That means when we are doing the Lord's work, we're crashing the gates of hell. So I want you to recognize the three assaults of the evil one.

2:56 And the first one is persecution. That's external pressure. We saw that in the first couple of chapters. We saw that there was persecution in chapter three and chapter four. For sure we saw it with after Peter through faith and God's power healed this beggar, they were arrested.

3:16 They were told not to speak in the name of Jesus anymore. Don't do that anymore. So, there was external pressure and we face external pressure today too. Persecution that we face is a little different shape in this country. In Bangladesh, there's a little more pronounced persecution.

3:33 In Azerbaijan, I got an email from a missionary this morning from Azerbaijan and it's a little different there too but the persecution we face is a little different than The US usually it can take the form since we're speaking of youth this always comes up of peer pressure just kind of the societal blow of things. It's okay to do this. It's okay to do that. Don't be so crazy. Don't be such a prude.

3:55 Don't be ugly. This is just it's only ugliness. It's so narrow minded that you think that. You excluded all these people. Well, the gospel is by nature actually exclusive.

4:07 It is, but it's also inclusive and there is a very clear invitation. So the persecution that we face is different usually than the persecution of these guys face. So once we recognize it, I'm not propositioned being, we need to recognize those hostages. And once we recognize persecution, how do we get over it? Well, hold fast to the word of God.

4:29 Do you remember what they did? They said we must obey God rather than man. They went back into the scriptures and started pulling out references. All of these different places and these were with people, the Jewish leadership, Sadducees, and Sanhedrin that agreed with. And when we pray, when we pray today, we should pray like they prayed to a sovereign God who can change things and can make a difference and wants to include those people who are now excluded.

4:57 We should pray for the boldness to continue proclaiming his word, and then we need to do so. That's the way to go. I'm getting to that. I'm just defending. But this is kind of the groundwork.

5:07 So that's persecution. Every Christian will be better equipped for life and ministry if we recognize the second one. It's hypocrisy. This is internal pressure. We all have the capacity for this.

5:20 Don't pull yourself into thinking. Peter would say later on, be careful. Let's be followed. Paul would say the same thing. Hypocrisy is internal pressure that we get from it within ourselves to try to make ourselves look better than we are.

5:33 We are all dissidents. If we're extending the gospel call to someone else, it's like one beggar who's found bread telling another beggar where to find bread. We don't deserve it. So hypocrisy, it's putting on a mask. Once recognized, how can we deal with this assault?

5:51 All of us need to realize that we have a capacity for self deception. We can tell ourselves we're the right thing and we can out Christian one another. We can do that. Recognizing that's a good step, but the boldness again keeps coming up. The boldness to admit it to ourselves and to God is what's required to get past it.

6:11 God will give us a righteous way of escape. There's nothing that's ever befallen you that God will not give you a way out. But usually that way, humbly said, is repentance. It's almost always that we see what's wrong in our lives and we have to take a step of faith and admit to God that we're wrong and then repent of it. God can forgive.

6:31 This sound more like a class today than it does a sermon to me. So Acts six one through seven. Let's go through the scripture and then I want you to look for the third one. So that's the first two. There is a third one that I think it comes around so often.

6:45 This comes around so often in scripture and I want you to look for it as we go through and see what you see. Acts six one through seven. The first verse. But as the believers rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings and discontent. This is the New Living Translation about.

7:05 The Greek speaking believers complained about the Hebrew speaking believers saying that their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food. That's a very practical problem in there. If we look at that, as the believers rapidly multiply, there were rumblings of discontent. We've seen some pretty amazing things. The word there for the rumblings of discontent in in Greek is gongousness.

7:31 Gongousness. Gongousness. Can you hear that? Gongousness. Can you hear what that sounds like?

7:36 Murmuring, whispering. It's an onomatopoetic word in the Greek. It's saying there are rumblings of discontent, meaning people are whispering. And it's the Greek speaking believers that are doing so about the Hebrew speaking believers. So it's not just that they're grumbling or whispering or murmuring, they're murmuring against.

7:56 And it's a very specific word that's used and it's only used twice in the New Testament. It's used a ton of times in the Greek version of the Old Testament. It's only used twice in the New Testament. And that word is where that third one lies. So bring it through.

8:14 Every Christian will be better equipped for life and ministry by recognizing these three. Persecution, hypocrisy, and murmuring. I wanna say this week, as I was going through this, the first sermon that I came up with this week was all for me. And it took me till Thursday to finish it and probably took me till Friday to repent of it. So a lot of my preparation this week was towards me and it wasn't about these three things necessarily.

8:42 I don't think it was. Maybe I might have to repent of it later but these things were not the ones that were bothering me. The next few verses, how did the apostles handle it? How did they handle the murmuring? How did they handle it?

8:54 So the 12 called a meeting of all believers. They didn't just call the meeting a secret. They called the meeting of all believers and they said, we apostles should spend our time teaching the word of God, not running a food program. That sounds kind of extreme, don't it? And so brothers, select seven men who are well respected and are full of spirit and wisdom, and we'll give this responsibility to them.

9:21 Then we apostles can spend our time in prayer and then teaching the word. The ministry of the word is what they say. And everyone liked this idea, and they chose the following Stephen, a man full of faith in the Holy Spirit, Philip, Prothuris, Nicaragua, Timon, Parmenus and Nicholas of Antioch, an earlier convert to the Jewish faith. And these seven were presented to the apostles who prayed for them as they laid their hands on them. I'll come back to that.

9:55 So the message that I had for me this week, I'll just share with you. I try to do a whole lot. I try to keep on doing pretty much everything. I love playing the bass. I love doing all those sorts of things.

10:08 But I realized this week that the thing that lacks the most is ministry for the work, handling the work well and so it's I love it and I do it every morning. It's what the first thing that I do when I get here in the morning but I just want you to know that I take that very very seriously and know that that's kind of why y'all have meat standing up here on Sunday morning. I take it very very seriously. I'm more nervous this morning than I am most mornings. The reason being because it was straight at me But the cool thing about it is, God has given us lots of options for how to deal with stuff.

10:42 What he did, I don't think that these apostles had a specific format that they just came together. They brainstormed and they said, well, what we should do is form a committee. What we should do is x y z. What we should do is wait and see if it'll go away. What we should do is just forget about them.

11:00 They're Greek speaking anyway. We're Hebrew speaking. Let them build their own church. Will they take care of their own business? No.

11:09 They kinda continue the tradition that God had had throughout the Old Testament, the laying on of hands, the equipping people for ministry and work. That's the way that God had done it throughout the Old Testament. They set up for people that were taking on new offices especially spiritual offices. They would lay their hands on them and say God has commissioned you for this work and we're sending you out to do it. It's a great great thing.

11:32 It's cool to be a man and staff here. That was not part of this, but to see that and go, wow. God is equipping people from ministry from within this body, and he's sending out people like Cameron, and sending out ladies like the ladies going to Kenya. And he's working right now through this body. If there is something this is the way my missionary career started.

11:56 This is the way my ministry career started. If there's something that you feel like God is currently telling you that you need to be doing It's that simple. So, if God is doing something in your life, this is the this is what I got this week. You can't do it all. You can't do it all but the thing that God has specifically asked you to do is the thing he wants you to do And if you will let us know, maybe we can help with that.

13:01 Does that make sense? Now, we'll get back to the message. If you recognize that murmuring is going on and if I am the one that's murmuring, it would be best for me if I'm the one murmuring to go to the person or group that I'm murmuring against as the scripture said. If people they were murmuring against the Hebrew belief. If I'm murmuring against, I need to go to the person I'm murmuring against for resolution and see if I can help them get to the point where we can come to a resolution.

13:31 Does that make sense? Yes. It's the Matthew 18 principle. If you see somebody that's kind of saying whether it's against you or not, you go to that person alone first then back with another brother and then bring it further if you have to. But it's not something just go around.

13:45 Murmur about. Right? Now, boldness is required to do that. It's harder to go to them and just go, I don't like the way so and so is going. It's easier.

13:56 I think if they're they're overlooking our lids, all they care about is their own. It's easier to say that to somebody than to go to the apostles and say, hey, check it out. You're skipping so and so and so and so. Boldness is required. If we're the ones being murmured against and that apostles were in this case, it's best to boldly confront the situation to bring about reconciliation.

14:18 What's cool about what the apostles did is that they didn't say, we're in charge. We've been given this. Jesus laid his hands on us directly. We've been given this charge and we're it and what we say goes and if I don't want your widows to get anything, they don't get anything. Period.

14:34 Build your own church. They didn't say that. Try to see the merits of the murmuring. That's tough. If somebody comes up to you and says, I really think that the way you do that is not the best way to do that.

14:52 Well, it's the best way I know how is the response, but could you help me get better at it? Does that make sense? Same same thing. You can see why this is happening to me. Can you see that?

15:07 Can you see why this one was a strong one for me? Try to see the merits of their mourning and then act accordingly, and that's what they did. So did it work? Did it work in this passage? We're read back through the passage again.

15:20 The 12 called the meeting of all believers out in front of everybody that said, we apostles feel that we should spend our time in the ministry of the word. That's what we need to do. Not running a food program. Now, the the way that the pregrees there, it can be not running a food program especially looking back at what they were complaining about who lives or being overlooked in daily distribution food. But it's about tables that says not looking at your tables.

15:49 Waiting tables, you read it that way. But you know how Jesus flipped over the tables in the temple? The money stuff. That's another. That's something else where he said, we really everybody's coming in there laying this at our feet, laying the money at our feet.

16:05 We don't feel like we're the ones that need to necessarily do this. We just need to finish the word. Free us up to do that and then choose from among you, all believers. Choose from among you seven guys who are well respected and full of spirit and wisdom and will give them this responsibility. That's an incredible amount of trust, isn't it?

16:27 It's not control free. It's not somebody saying upfront that says, this is the way that it is because this is the way that I say that it is. It's handing over to the elders in this case in our church but it's handing over to these guys who were not called deacons at this point the verb and the noun there was service They were service. They were ones who were willing to serve and the qualifications were that they be well respected, full of the spirit, and wisdom. I'm laying the groundwork for next week's sermon too because Stephen, first one on the list that says flat out that he's a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit.

17:10 There's no doubt about where he stood. He believed God. He believed the apostles teaching. He was all about the breaking of bread and about prayer. There's no doubt about it, and we see that in the next chapter, especially in later on in these verses.

17:24 But it says, Stephen, a man full of faith in the Holy Spirit. And Philip we'll meet Philip in another chapter. It's an introduction to these people. They have been paying attention closely to the ministry of the word that the apostles have been doing, and they saw that they were overworked, and they were glad to take part. Those seven represented to the apostles that had their hands on them, did it work?

17:49 And the next verse I love, so God's message continued to spread. The number of believers greatly increased in Jerusalem and many of the Jewish priests were converted to. Now that's awesome. That is saying, now they did things the same way that they have been doing in Judaism. It would be probably ten more years before they started calling people Christians and saw them as different from Jews.

18:13 Does this make sense? So the priests are still in Judaism, but they're seeing something different. Now this is the way we do things. We appoint them the seventh man. Seven's the number.

18:23 Yeah. Seven's the right number of guys. And laying on their hands, that's the right way to do that. But you know what? They did it when someone was murmuring because the purpose of murmuring was right.

18:35 Woah. That's crazy. They actually did this. And it touched the heart of those Jewish priests, and they said, this is the way that it's supposed to be. That's what convinced them.

18:47 You know, every week we come back to let your good deeds point towards your father and who's in heaven. Let men see your good deeds so that they may glorify your father in heaven. These two priests that were converted were seeing what these guys were doing. They were considering the merits of murmuring. The first verse said, as the believers were rapidly multiplying, there were rungings of discontent.

19:14 Times of growth and change always present an opportunity for the adversary to scheme And the potential for destruction is at hand. This is quiet. This is a somber place this morning. It seems the potential for destruction is always at hand. It's the tent the potential for sin is always at hand.

19:33 It's ever before us but looking to God and just walk in my faith. We can get past that. The murmurer needs the boldness to go to the one in charge and this is not something that specifically right now. I don't think anybody's murmuring. I'm not trying to point that out.

19:47 That's what the passage is saying. Every Christian be better equipped for life and ministry by recognizing these three assaults. That persecution, that external pressure, do not just go downstream. It's easy to just go downstream, but swim upstream. In order that no advantage be taken of us by Satan, second Corinthians two says, we're not ignorant of his schemes.

20:15 Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, Ephesians says, but against principalities and powers, the prince of the power of the the air. This side, our old nature is working against us in hypocrisy and murmuring the potential for division is always there. I think that it's cool that just last chapter he said in great grace was upon them all. We saw the hypocrisy played out in Ananias' Sapphira that was a very hard lesson to teach, a hard lesson to learn but Ananias and Sapphira had gotten to the point that they wanted to look better than they actually wanted to be. Security was more important to them than generosity So that internal pressure, that hypocrisy that was there was one of those things where it's a devil's trick.

21:01 It's a scheme. And then the mermaid. So how will the enemy respond? And this is I'm just gonna give you scripture on this. We're not gonna preach this for a long time.

21:10 But how will the enemy respond if he tries the first line? The first line is persecution. He tries the second line hypocrisy. He's trying to convince you you're better or you need to look better than you really are. And if murmuring doesn't work because it didn't work none of those things work.

21:25 Do you see that? You'll see it? They got past it. Reading Acts six:eight-fifteen, Stephen, a man full of God's grace and power and he's been called a man of faith. He's been told we've been told he's well respected and full of the Holy Spirit.

21:41 Now he's full of God's grace and power. He performed amazing miracles and signs among the people. Now he's doing the same thing the apostles were doing. That makes sense. He has paid attention to their words, been paying attention to the ministry of the word.

21:56 He's not just waiting tables. He has the word so to be written on his heart that it's coming out and he can't help it But one day, some of some men from the synagogue of the free slaves as it was called, started to debate with them. There were Jews from Cyrene and Alexandria, Cilicia, and the pilots of Asia. That's just a list of names to us. We could be saying smooth acting thing we could be saying anything but Cilicia is the capital of Tarsus and the guys around there we took their work very very seriously.

22:30 Saul of Tarsus were setting things up. For people who would have read this and knew Saul and Paul was they started to debate with him but none of them could stand against the wisdom and the spirit with which demons spoke. So there is a persecution that started. They persuaded some men to lie about Stephen saying we heard a blasphemy about Moses and even about God. This roused the people, elders, the teachers of religious law.

22:58 So they arrested Stephen. They brought him before the high council. Is that persecution? If the devil can't issue with persecution or with hypocrisy or with murmuring, he's gonna try persecution again, and it's gonna get stronger. And he's gonna give you a direct temptation to be a hypocrite, and he's gonna give you a greater temptation to murmur.

23:19 He doesn't have a whole lot of schemes, but they're pretty effective. The lying witnesses said, this man is always speaking against the holy temple and against the law of Moses. We've heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy the temple and change the customs that Moses handed down to us. People love their tradition. That's the way that we are.

23:40 When I said that about the murmurings at the beginning, if you look back at the which is the Greek version of the Old Testament, everywhere where they're leaving in Exodus and they murmur against Moses. Wow. It's horrible. They love the tradition. You like what we did in Egypt.

23:55 Egypt. You were slaves in Egypt. It was horrible. We're building bricks, sometimes without a straw. No.

24:04 You don't wanna go back there. And Moses was the gun the guy that they were going against. Isn't that funny? Moses is the guy he's gonna change the things that Moses Moses was the guy that were most consistently murmuring against. Stephen is gonna point this out in the next chapter, and it's not gonna go well for Stephen.

24:23 It's gonna go well for Christ's church though because God will spread his word. God will. Christ will build his church, and he will do it through persecution. He will do it through hypocrisy, and he'll do it through murmuring. But it's even better when you can get on board and be told to speak for him in the face of all that.

24:46 At this point, everyone in the high council stared at Stephen because his face became as bright as an angel's. So, Gloria, you don't come on like that. I've got a story that's about a couple of different people. One of them is Isaac Watts and the other one is Rinsey Reno. Rinsey is not here this morning and I have not mentioned it yet, but Rinsey's dad, we've been praying for him to have a comfortable death or a miraculous healing.

25:20 Either or. Do you want him to be fine? By 11:00, midweek, Rinsey called Tuesday Wednesday and said that his father had passed and that he would hold his hand he he said I I don't think I can get up now. So they helped him up, they helped him back to bed and Rizzy knew that it was coming, his father knew it was coming, coming to hold his hands and he said pray for that says, be the change you wanna see in the world. Have you seen that?

27:08 That's a terrible quote. It's inaccurate. It's find the real quote. He didn't say being changed once in the world. There are lots of little ellipses in that quote.

27:19 What Gandhi actually said was if we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As man changes his own nature so does the attitude of the world change towards him. We need not wait to see what others do. That's what he said. If he said, if we could change ourselves, though, that's the opportunity.

27:42 Praise there. We can't change ourselves. That's why Christ is available. That's why he's there. That's why I hope as That's ugly.

28:37 I hope it hits you just as hard that if there's something that you're burned about, you're probably one to change. So praise God that that's true. It's not a traditional invitation to him coming up after this message, but we're gonna sing glorious day. Living he loved. Amen.

28:53 Let's stand up.

Topics

Bold Faith Church Conflict Hypocrisy Mission Trips Murmuring Peer Pressure

Recap

What was said

Doing a Bible study?

Topics

Share this message

Come find us