Grace Chapel Bible Ministries
241110 "7"
(light piano music) (light piano music) (light piano music) (light piano music) [Music] Welcome to worship call with Bible teacher Buzz Lawbeck. Buzz is the pastor of Grace Chapel Bible Ministries located in Duncan, South Carolina. This ministry is dedicated to the verse by verse teaching of God's word and discipleship programs aimed at strengthening the faith of God's people. Now here's today's message. The church history is our history. It's our origin. It is a place by which we set the precedence for the church age. It gives us something to go back to. And if we ask ourselves, what does a church look like, or maybe you're looking for a church, and what should a church look like? And I'd say that it may not be a bad course of action to measure the church today with the church as it began back in the days of Acts. This is the sixth day of the week in God's created order, the eighth day of the eleventh month. Two thousand twenty-fourth year of our Lord, and this is another fine day in the Lord, and let us turn to Him in prayer. Father in Heaven, we thank you for another day. This morning we extend our prayers to our brother, going through some challenges with his health. We pray Heavenly Father that we lift him up, and we pray Heavenly Father for healing. We pray Heavenly Father for another sister that's going through cancer treatments that starting out Monday. We pray Heavenly Father that she continues to keep her spiritual footing and pressing forward. We pray Heavenly Father as we continue on with our study, guide the speaker, and guide the hearts for discernment. Open our hearts this morning to study your word in Christ's name. Amen. And just a little bit of review. I like Charlie said. I like to review. Especially here, because here in Acts this is the Word of God. Remember that the Word of God is profitable. All scriptures are properly approved for training and righteous at the man of God, may be adequately equipped for every good work. So don't treat. We're going to come into a lot of history here. I was asked the other night, how do I treat this? Because there seems to be less application or something that we can take away. But I think we can find take away from this, that we can apply to our spiritual lives as it were. But let's look at this as good history and things that we can learn from. Church history is our history and history of the body of Christ. That started with the head of the church, which is our Lord Jesus Christ. And it sets a precedence as we should be living our church lives. And I believe such a matter. And the head of the team of apostles. So you start it with Christ, now you've got the team of the apostles, which is Peter. It's interesting as they go in. First you had the one. First you had the one. If you look at it, you had the one that the priest had to deal with. And that one was Jesus Christ. And they murdered him. And now they bring in two, which is Peter John. And I think that's kind of interesting right there. Because Peter is the elder. And I say elder in that he is the leader of the apostles. We know that because in every breakdown of the apostles, Peter is always first. He is the one who is charged by Jesus when you have returned, then help your brothers to return. He has the leadership positions, the first one that speaks up. So there you have Peter. So now on the first arrest, the priest had to deal with two, Peter and John. And then you come up to the second arrest. Oh yeah, let's go with John. You have Peter who is the elder, and you have John who is the least. And I mean that he's the youngest. He normally does. I don't know if you find him in any oracles or any oratory fashion. He's speaking up or anything. But he is the youngest of there. He outlives all of them. And as we had mentioned the other night, we know that John was the writer of the last book of the Bible. And that was around 80, 95, 98 somewhere in that period of time. And he would become the teacher of a number of the early church fathers. And so he would be the least, or at least I'd say the youngest. So we find in the book of Acts the fires are being kindled of persecution. And persecution there has been by the world against the church has been there in order to persuade or discourage anyone from following Christ from mentioning Christ for sharing the gospel. And certainly the Christian can get away without persecution if he shuts his mouth. If he keeps his quote unquote religion to himself, you know, and that's what the world wants. So if you're a Christian and you can keep your mouth shut and you you don't say anything. And as I said, you keep your faith and cognito. You don't offend anybody. And is that what we're supposed to do is create world unity. You don't offend anybody. You keep your, you know, you keep it to yourself. And I'm not even going to, I'm not even going to compare that to that. But, you know, you don't ask, you don't tell. Don't ask, don't tell whether you're a Christian or not. And then you can live the world and look like the world and act like the world. But there will come a time when there are going to be those that are going to take the mark. They are going to have, and there are those in the world now that they are asked in Muslim countries. It's stamped on their ID card. You know that, are you a Christian? Are you a Christian? You know, your faith is stamped on your card. What are you going to do? You're going to lie. So it's not for the Christian to say shut up. It's for the Christian to know his Lord, to know his God, and to speak boldly up. And it's in the time of persecution. That the earth isn't, that the church doesn't run off and high, but it's emboldened. And so these, so when they, when they stand before, even before, when they stood just Peter and John and then the apostles, they didn't come into defiance. Our stand is not in defiance against the world. It's, we can all say all day the things that we are against. It's not what we're against. It's what we're for. And it's the same thing in our spiritual life. We're against sin. And that's, that's a statement. We say, I, you know, I'm going to refrain from doing this. I'm not going to do this. And that's all well and fine. But the question is, what are you for? And the strength of your faith isn't what you're against. It's what you're for. And so when Peter and John stands before the, the Sanhedrin, it's not, they're not there in defiance. Then we can be respectful to a, a, what does Peter, what does the proverb say, that a gentle word, a gentle word will steer away wrath. Don't invite wrath. We need not invite wrath to ourselves. That's uncalled for. But when it comes time to stand for the Lord and to make, make a stand that this is, I will not, I cannot deny. I will respectfully decline the law where the law supersedes the, the law of God. And when you tell me to shut up, I can't do that. Because scripture tells me that I am to go out to the world and to make disciples that requires communication, verbal communication. So this is, so then we, we have, they have to stand before the Sanhedrin after they were jailed. And after they released by the angels and we, the angel, and we talked about that yesterday. And that, that was kind of a fun thing because the fact is that, all right, they get up the, the priest get up in the morning. Okay, it's time to conduct business and that business is to drag these guys in and discuss this matter. But they find out that the jail's empty. Well, where are they? And then they get another, they get someone to come in and say, Hey, these guys you're looking for, they're, they're in the temple teaching Jesus again. I thought that, I thought this matter was settled as someone a priest would say, or maybe a few of them would say. And, so, and again, the same reply would come from these men, plus the others whom they arrest, which was probably gave the apostles the Pharisees false, pause again, because their number is growing. We had to deal with two now, and that would deal with more of them. I don't know if three or four or five, or if all the apostles came out, I generally think that was all the apostles. Acts 5, 8, saying, we gave strict orders not to continue teaching in this name. We did, you know, you get to the point where, where God says, remember where Jesus often said, but I say to you, this is my authority, but I say to you. And the, and it was, I say it was Jesus and his word that says, once again, that go out into all the world and make disciples. They could not do what Jesus said to do. That was the, the, the higher authority. But we gave, we gave you ours. Look at that arrogance right there. Strict orders not to continue teaching in this name, not, and, and they don't even, they don't even give it dignity. They don't even give the name Jesus. They don't even want to mention the name Jesus. And yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, with your teaching. It's not our teaching. It's a teaching of the Spirit. And intend to bring man's blood upon us. They killed him. And they, and, and now they want to bury the incident and put it far behind them and move on. Can we not just move on here? But there's a skeleton in the closet that's not going to come out in a few, a few, a few, a flutation of Jesus of words found in Matthew 23, 25 to 36. So that upon you, this is Jesus. So that upon you may follow the guilt of all the righteous shed, blood shed on earth. From the blood of, of righteous able, to the blood of Zechariah, and the blood of America, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. The, and Acts coming to Acts 5, 29, and to 32. But Peter and Apostles answered, "We must obey God rather than men, that God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you had put to death by hanging on, hanging him on the cross." He is the one who God exalted to his right hand as a prince and a savior to grant repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses of all these things. So is the, so is the Holy Spirit. What the, the matter of between two witnesses. So it's the Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit is watching over these things too. He is also a witness to this, who God has given to those who obey him. Camellio's advice in the, as we come into the, verse 33, camellio's advice, counsel was to wait. And it was good counsel. He wisely understood the situation. He understood that if you take, you only give credence, this man is a wise man. I don't know if he's a believer or not. He's a Camellio, Camellio is a teacher of Paul. And he's a prominent teacher. He's a well-known teacher. And he's somebody you can brag about saying, "I'm with Camellio, El." And that was Paul. And Paul was the prized student here. And Paul when he was the Pharisee. So he wisely understood whether to believe her in this Jesus movement or not, that he is like in today's understanding, throwing, he understood that throwing, it'd be like throwing water on gas. It only spreads it out. It only, it's only going to spread the fire and it'll move it much faster. Give it time was his advice. Let's make no martyrs. One was bad enough. Just let this movement come to an end like the others. He mentioned the others here. These fizzled out. But on the other hand, if this movement is from God, what are you going to do? And this is very wise. I don't be a believer. I really do. I would like to meet this man one day. But he recognizes that when we pick our fights, you see, and mentioned this before again, you've got to wisely pick your fights, folks. Because my brother Tim mentioned this too, because you may raise up your crusades and you may, and you may be yelling for God wills it, but God may not will it. The battle that you're in, and those, the things that you fight against may be the very end of God's execution. So the first thing before you go into battle is better be praying for wisdom to properly assess the situation. But these men could not get away with just being released. They said this advice, this counsel is a good counsel, but they couldn't just let them get away. So they had them flogged. And flogging was a physical punishment, and there were many forms, and it stopped short of killing, but could never last be quite severe. It wasn't just an ouch kind of moment. This could really bring some extreme physical pain and that suffering in the wounds from that probably could last for days. And the Old Testament was beating with rods or switches, and that was a traditional form of discipline for children. And for fools and for slaves, scourging is also called flogging. Find out in Exodus 21, 20, Proverbs 13, 24, and 26, 3. It was severe, and it was a severe beating. And when Jesus was flogged, he was flogged with a flagrum, and these were hideous things, and they to affect more pain, they would interrupt woven beads and charred glass and bone in there to inflict even greater and more severe punishment. So before the victim was beaten, they made sure that he could endure that punishment. But for a healthy person, they didn't, and this wasn't to kill someone, they didn't set out to kill, but so therefore they weren't, I don't want to make sure it didn't. The Mosaic Law, I was mentioning this yesterday, Mosaic Law, Deuteronomy 25, 1 through 3, spoke of 40 lashes, no more than 40 lashes. So just to make sure that they were with the guard, and this was mentioned yesterday, and I thought it was there, but just in case the guard lost count, they reduced it to 39 lashes. And so under some law code, scourging could be used as a private punishment in that case. If the victim died, another life was forfeited, so you didn't, you know, you did not, a life or life in that, so. So the hebraic law mostly crimes, it was mostly crimes against God, and certainly, and so here was a statement that believing the flogging of the disciples was not only going against the Sanhedrin. Against their law, you broke our law that, but it was a statement in a sense that speaking of this Jesus is a violation against God. Because he certainly wasn't God's son, he's certainly not a prophet, he's certainly none of this, he's a criminal, he died a criminal death, you speaking in his name requires a punishment because what you did was against God. So, but the aftermath of the beating, there was, in the aftermath of beating, they'd come out with their poochy lip and they didn't go boo-hoo into theirs, and I'm sure there was pain in there, for me, I'm sure, for me, it was, I try not to yell, but I wouldn't promise that, but in the aftermath, there was joy. There was, there, there was, there was celebration because they saw themselves as being worthy, this is Acts 541. So they went on their way from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for their, for his name. And every day in the temple and from house to house, they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ. So it, it only motivated them. You see persecution where persecution seeks to shut down the church, it only stimulates the church. The persecution is, as, as mentioned, it is that, that water on gas, which only spreads and spreads quickly. The biggest danger for the Christian like our, our lives and the life of the church is complacency. Is complacency is, is when, when we all can get along with the world. I mean, we get, we're, we're like the, we're like the Israelites that, that, um, Balaam said, told King Balak, listen, this is how you get to them. You, you just get them to, to intermingle with the unbelieving world, the Moabites and, and their daughters will, well, and their, their sons will give to, their daughters and daughters and sons and all that. And therefore, they'll full indicate with, with the Moabites. And that's what we, so that's the biggest danger of all, when we, when the world accepts us and we come in and we can be one big happy family, unite it and all that. That's where the church believers, the church, the believers in church becomes, becomes very vulnerable. And that's where we start tripping up. Um, Acts 542 and every day that, um, in the temple and from house to house, they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ. We have an assembly point and that assembly point might be pretty big. They, they, there are those that are, you know, churches with quite a bit. We have some churches on our prayer list that are, that we can, that, that they're forming into quite a big church. So you come in, you've kind of, and, and, and that, as, as, and our believers, and when we go into a big church, we might get lost in the number, but we come and you have a pastor there and he equipped, uh, he, he, um, he equips us with the word and then, and then from house to house, we go to the small groups. And in those small groups, it's more of an intimate setting and, um, and you're able to take care of each other a little bit more in those small groups. So those small groups are just as important and that's the house to house. They're just as important if not, um, and as, as important as the, the greater number they, the, the large churches. So we don't stop just because we go out to the temple, but that teaching continues on. So now as the assembly grew and the care for the people also grew, the church was a community. There wasn't just isolated believers going about their way, but the, but the church became a community. And there were two within the church, there were two sets of people. There were the, uh, Hebrews and there were the Hellenistics. That's what will designate them by the Helen, uh, the, the Hebrews were the cultural Jews. They were the, uh, the, um, they were the traditional Jews. The Hellenistic were the Greeks. They, they were Jews, but they were, um, more ingrained into the cultural setting of the Greeks. And, um, this, this happened with, with Alexander and when Alexander conquered nations, he sought to, for a, um, he sought to unite all the people under one culture and one language and, um, and, uh, and that one nation. That's how we got the coin a Greek, by the way, it's the common, common Greek. So there were those, those Jews that were, they were not bad Jews, but they, they're not bad people, not at all, but they, they, uh, but the culture that they grew up in was more of a Greek culture than it was a Jewish culture. So within the church, you had the, uh, Hebrews and you had the Hellenistic, but they were not being treated equally. They were, they were not being, um, and, um, more, uh, it seemed, and I, again, I don't know if this was, um, the complaint came up and, you know, sometimes there's sour grapes or bread you just, uh, peered preaches, somebody felt like they're not getting enough attention or what have you, the, the Hellenistic thought that they were not being the widows there and, and a point, again, the widows were being taken care of. They, another mark of the church is that the widows, um, and, and the culture, just like the orphans, they were cast out. Widows were left on, on the street to beg for their sustenance. Um, except for Anna, we, yeah, we know Anna, she, she spent her time at a temple, but if you didn't have a family, if you, if you didn't have children, if, to take care of you, the church did not take, listen point, church did not take care of widows as long as the widow had a family, like Jesus said on the cross to John, John behold your mother. Um, and she, she even had, um, he even had brothers and sisters, but he told John who wasn't a brother. Anyway, no story altogether. But, um, in the, in this, um, the widows, uh, the church took care of the widows, those that were in need, those that had no, no means, they were taken care of. And, um, so it was the complaint here. Um, look at acts six, one through five. Now, at that time, the disciples were increasing a number of complaint arose on a part of the Hellenistic Jews against the New America standard, um, put it in through in their native Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked and they're daily serving of food. So the 12th summoned the congregation 12th apostles summoned the congregation of the disciples that said, it is not desirable for us to neglect the Word of God in order. Um, I missed it. Um, it is not desirable for us to neglect the Word of God in order to serve tables. And, um, again, we mentioned yesterday, it does, they're not talking about a demeaning work that serving tables is less important. They're not saying that. They're saying that, um, that, that they had a, they were busy with the Word of God, learned the Word of God preparing themselves. And so, um, you know, to serve tables would take them away from that important work. Therefore, brethren, select among you seven men of good reputation, full of spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task. But we will devote, about, vote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word. That's what we want our pastors to do. The statement found approval with the whole congregation. And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit. And that's where we're, we've introduced to a phenomenal and Stephen, um, Steve himself at the, and this is on these. Stephen was, and these are the Hellenistic gentlemen. These are Hellenistic. These are Hebrew, but Hellenistic Jews. And Stephen, uh, as it is with Peter, the head, um, Stephen is mentioned first to find us. And I believe Stefanus means that, uh, his name means crown. If I'm remembering right. Yeah, crown. Stephen means crown. And a man, uh, so Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit and Philip and Prochorus. And, uh, Nicanor, Teman, and Parmenas, and Nicholas, a proselyte of Antioch. And these, they brought before the apostles. And after praying, they laid hands on them. And the lay known of hands is a, um, is a ritual type. It's, um, they're already, they're already filled with spirit. They're not receiving something more. Um, but throughout the Bible, we find that, you know, you have different times of laying on hands. He laid hands upon the sick to heal them. Um, you had, and at times also laid hands upon the baptized, that they might receive special gifts. But there was the laying on of hands in the apostolic age. Um, and that was to receive the Holy Spirit. Okay. They had, they, these men already had the Holy Spirit. They didn't. Um, there wasn't, um, this wasn't to that. Um, it's to transfer authority. And I believe at this point, I believe that the laying on of hands, even to this day, is ritualistic. The laying on of hands was to, um, it was a point of departure. It was maybe a salute or an acknowledgement. I would, I would all, I'd say the laying on the hands is like the, uh, and I do like the, the picture of it was, is when the night. Uh, when the one is knighted, he, he, he kneels down and there's the, there's the sword that remember the king will touch him on this shoulder and this. I sort of knight you, you know, on his head, on his shoulders and whatnot. And I say the laying on the hands was this is more symbolic. Um, in this case, as the laying on of hands is for first for the, for the ones, um, receiving the, the responsibility to have a line of departure. I think baptism, a water baptism, the ritual itself also gives us that, that, that line of departure. This was, it marks the time that we come into the new life as baptism. Um, the laying on of hands was the mark of from this time forward that our lot and we have this responsibility upon us to, to, to, um, and this was given to us. Uh, we see it with the, uh, again, the laying on of hands today upon deacons upon elders and upon pastors that, um, as coming into the ministry. So that's where we will finish it off today. I want to get to Stephen. Um, that was more of a review of where we've been so far and I do want us to, to keep track of it. Again, my emphasis in the message today is, is, is learning the history. This is our history and it's important. This is our, um, heritage, you might say, that, um, this is where we started. This is, this is our point of, as, as a part of church body. This is our history. And we should know it, Father in heaven. Thank you for this opportunity of fellowshiping in your just morning. I thank you Heavenly Father for the recorded history that you've given at Luke has given us in the bookbacks. I pray Heavenly Father they will encourage us that we will look back on these, um, these early Christians and model our lives after them. And when the time that, that as the time grows and the fires of persecution rise, that we will be ready and that we will not let our ancestors down. We pray these things in Christ name. Amen. All right, it's another fine day in the Lord. Keep your armor on. Keep fighting. Good fight of faith. Lord, will spare God. Hey, have yourself a great weekend. We'll be back here. Um, Sunday, uh, as we continue in the book of Revelation. Hope you're with us. So until then, stay motivated Lord. Keep your armor on. Keep fighting. Good fight of faith. We'll see you. You can hear this message again as well as previous lessons and get note by visiting us online at www.gchapel.org. [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO]
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