Grace Chapel Bible Ministries
worship Call 1181 - 2024/11/14
(light piano music) (light piano music) (light piano music) (light piano music) (light piano music) (light piano music) (light piano music) (light piano music) (light piano music) (light piano music) Welcome to Worship Call with Bible Teacher Buzz Lullbeck. 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. I thought it was pretty interesting yesterday with Mike Huckabee. The clip we showed Michael Huckabee saying no longer is. It's not West Bank, but it's Judah and Samaria. Mike Huckabee is now the ambassador to Israel. I find today equally because of that and it's in the bold stance of this incoming administration to recognize Israel and their right to the land and they are not. They are not occupiers, but this is their homeland. And the recognition of that, I think today was, and it came out yesterday, maybe some of you have seen it, the defense, the incoming secretary of defense, Pete Hexett, speaking from Jerusalem. And I've got a clip here for you. Let me see if I can bring this up. Again, yes, and here's a clip from address to Israel yesterday and I thought this was pretty good to go. But we are here in Jerusalem. And today, Jennifer and I had a chance to go see the western wall of the Temple Mount, the western wall tunnels so much of the old city. As you stand there, you can't help but behold the miracle before you. And it got me thinking about another miracle that I hope all of you don't see too far away. Because 1917 was a miracle. 1948 was a miracle. 1967 was a miracle. 2017, the Declaration of Jerusalem of the Capitol was a miracle. And there's no reason why the miracle of the re-establishment of the Temple on the Temple Mount is not possible. I don't know how it would happen. You don't know how it would happen, but I know that it could happen. It's all I know. And a step in that process, a step in every process is the recognition that facts and activities on the ground truly matter. And that's why going and visiting Judea and Samaria, understanding that sovereignty, the very sovereignty of Israeli soil, Israeli cities, locations is a critical next step to showing the world that this is the land for Jews and the land of Israel. And I believe, as was mentioned, what was mentioned is you need to buy the ticket. Don't just wish for 40 years to win the lottery, buy the ticket. I would submit to you in light of the support you have in Washington, D.C. The support you have amongst patriotic Americans, amongst evangelical Christians, amongst believers, amongst republicans, even amongst some democrats who can barely say it anymore in Washington. Buy the ticket, take your action, do what needs to be done here in Israel, because I truly believe this is a moment where America will have your back. You have Donald Trump in the White House, you have Mike Pence as Vice President, you have Nikki Haley at the UN, you have true believers in Israel in America that have your back. Well, I don't know, I have a few questions on the end. I think he missed a little bit on who the Vice President is and who the Nikki Haley, I don't know, maybe I'm screwed up on that. But nonetheless, I think that's a pretty interesting situation in developments, because that's, of course, I'm sure my friend, Tim, and I both, considering the implications and how close we are to that time. And, but with that said, this is the fifth day of the week in God's created order, the 14th day of the 11th month, 2024 year of our Lord, and this is another fine day in the Lord. Father in Heaven, we thank you for this opportunity. Once again, the fellowshiping in your Word, and we ask Heavenly Father to open our hearts to the things that we continue to learn in your lesson and in your wonderful book of Acts in the history of our church. And we pray, Heavenly Father, I made the teaching edifier hearts in our minds and these things we pray in Christ's name, amen. So this, so as we come into it, this, our lesson examines the key moments of the rejection faced by Joseph of Israel and ultimately Jesus Christ leading to God's redemptive plan for his people and establishing a foundation of faith in the midst of trials. And when we look at Stephen, Stephen is brought into it and Stephen could be trying to cover his own, what we call in the military, cover his own six. And that means covering his own rear end and trying to get himself out of hot water and, and get free, but he's not, he's making a case for Christ. He's making a case that, and perhaps with his testimony, we, we don't count on these, these murders, those who had actually have blood on their hands already. We can't count on their redemption, but we certainly can imagine that there were those around who are listening and who, even to this day, are reading Stephen's defense. And again, it's not about him. There are those people that want to, to disregard the Old Testament and says it's irrelevant to the Christian life, absolutely not. The Old Testament is very much relevant. This is, this is the church age, the church age has begun with the day of Pentecost. So here it is, Stephen, who's walking the, the religious leaders through the Old Testament. A kind of another testimony or another witness for the Old Testament scriptures and the importance that they are in building our faith on this person, Jesus Christ, because the Lord Jesus Christ, and there are those scholars today that continues to argue that Christ is not in the Old Testament scriptures. Warning that these all, all these things are an attack to get you to persuade for you to, to try to persuade you and to, I say, dissuade you from learning your Old Testament. We should be learning our Old Testament and it does speak of Christ. So Stephen's defense is the word of God. It is he who is defending the word, who's defending the scriptures. And after all, who and what are on the trial? Stephen or the word of God? What's being questioned? So Stephen gives the biblical scholars a lesson. And yes, they, these were smart men, these weren't dumb. They knew their scriptures, they weren't knowing this at first time, these were brothers. They, they were racial Jews. They were, but they were unbelievers. And they were more so protecting their position than they were the truth itself. It is Stephen who is standing up for the truth. And this council was not ignorant, but they were without spiritual discernment. They, they were blinded by their own lust, their own arrogance. And that's what arrogance does is blinds of person, of the truth. And while Stephen may have been a newcomer, like Stephen didn't, and Stephen may be a layman, I should say, he didn't grow up in all the rabbinical schools. But he, but nonetheless, here's one, he has the, the trumping, I would say, the trumping card, which is the fact that he is filled with the Holy Spirit. The one who teaches, the one who recalls the mind, all these things. Whereas these, these Pharisees may have been quipped with all, with, with so much knowledge and so much schooling and so, the PhDs and the academics. They were not filled with the Spirit, they did not have the Spirit. They had knowledge, but no discernment. Stephen had knowledge and discernment. It is Stephen that begins to connect the biblical thoughts of the Old Testament. What, what did it all mean? Um, and when I said connect biblical dots, we grow up in Sunday school, as Becca's often mentioned that before we started really learning the scriptures, we, we started connecting the dots. What does this mean? In Sunday school, when you're growing up in Sunday school, you learn about Adam and Eve in the garden, and you have a moral story there, you know, about sin, and then you might learn about Moses and David. And no, and, um, but the problem is that many of us grew up in the, the Sunday schools. And we, we learn the stories, but we never learned how to connect them together as a, um, narrative from Genesis to the Christ. Uh, I love what John crossed it on a road to a man. If you've never got it, um, I, I encourage you to look it up and, um, good, it's under good seed. Um, about John Cross's ministry. He's a Canadian. He, he does a wonderful 11 hour series from Genesis to, to the, um, to that, uh, to Genesis to the cross. Wonderful narrative. Charlie cloth, um, does a, a, a 240 lesson, um, on frameworks. Again, he goes from, from, um, event to event. And this shapes our, our understanding of the Old Testament and what it means to the Christ that's joined to come and even further on to the establishment of the kingdom. So here it is that, that, um, Stephen addresses them, he addresses them as brothers, which reminds them that they both share the same heritage at seven, eight. And give me just a moment to set this up because I didn't set it up. There we go. That wasn't hard. Okay. Seven, eight. And he gave him a covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him on the eight day. And Isaac became the father of Jacob and Jacob, the 12 patriarchs. Okay. This is their heritage. And again, he calls them brothers, which means that they're the, that they, that this is their heritage and they share in a circumcision. The circumcision is a sign of the covenant. The Paul will go on later on to speak of the more importance. They were circumcised in a flesh that made them fleshly brothers, but it's the circumcision of the heart. That brings them in to be, um, to be the true Israel, um, that, that they come in as not only a racial sea, but also a, the circumcision of the heart is the one that brings them in as brothers in Christ. Um, this covenant is an unconditional covenant that depends on the faithfulness of God and not the unfaithfulness of man. The Abrahamic covenant as the, um, is the, the, again, depends upon the faithfulness of the Lord. And from Jacob, there comes the 12th patriarch. Jacob, well, when you read about Jacob, he has four wives. He has, um, Leah, um, Leah, Rachel, uh, Rachel, Leah, however old you want to put it. Rachel, Leah, uh, Bilha, and the two concubines, Bilha and Zelpah, and through those four women, he produces the, uh, comes from them, the 12 tribes of Israel. These would be the forefathers of the tribes of Israel. And also, when we look in Matthew chapter one, the records of genealogy, you come to the point where it says, um, Judah and his brothers. That, that excludes the, um, excludes this other narrative that, that, um, that Stephen's going to mention is Joseph. Joseph is, was the younger brother, and this younger brother was the son of, of Rachel, and he becomes the favorite son, the, the favorite son of the father, um, Jacob. At this point in history, a spirit filled messianic Jew could have seen the life of Joseph and our Christian life and our discernment and our understanding of the Christ we can look back and we can see how Joseph in so many ways parallels to Christ. And again, this is through our, as we study, um, the scripture and then we see Christ and we go back to the Old Testament and we look at Joseph and we just, we are just wowed by the, by the images that Joseph portrays. And, and, and the parallels that is laid out to, to point to the Christ and how his brothers became jealous of him because he was favored by the father as it is that our Lord Jesus was favored by the, and Jesus was a newcomer, like Joseph was a newcomer. And these pharisees, the religious rulers, they don't see that, they're blinded by their own arrogance, and they've been through these schools, they've been through these grammar schools, they've been, they've, they're on their high and lofty perch and here comes this newcomer that, that threatens their authority, just like young Joseph threatens the authority of his brothers. Uh, we, we know that Joseph was soul for, and to Egypt for 20 pieces of silver, like Jesus was betrayed for 30 pieces of silver and Matthew 27, and yet God was with both Joseph and God is with Jesus. Never leaves, never leaves them, Joseph and Joseph and Jesus were both suffering servants, there is two aspects of Joseph and Jesus, both of them were suffering servants. And then both of them are going to be ruling kings, both of them will be redeemers, both of them will, will share these, these characteristics. Acts 7, 10. And rescued him from all his afflictions, and granted him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he made him governor over Egypt and all his household, and that is Genesis 41, 38, and 44. And I believe that's, Pharaoh makes a interesting thing here, let's look at going back to Genesis in this. This is after the dream, and Joseph, Joseph gives the dream, he tells the Pharaoh about the interpreter's dream and, and what the Pharaoh should do, and here it is that the Pharaoh responds to this. Then Pharaoh said to his servants, "Can we find a man like this, and whom is a divine spirit?" So Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Since God has informed you of all there is, no one so discerning and wise as you are, you shall be over my house, and according to my command, all my people shall do homage, only in the throne I will be greater than you." Very interesting statement, because again, just like Jesus is subordinate to his father in heaven, as Joseph will be the subordinate to the king of Egypt. So historically, this should be a lesson learned. If these leaders were so discerning of mine, they could recognize the parallels as we do, as parallels between the life of Joseph and the life of Jesus. And it should also be a warning, and Psalm 210, we read, "Now therefore, O King, show discernment, take warning, O judges of the earth, worship the Lord with reverence, and rejoice with trembling, to homage to the Son, that he not become angry, and you perish in the way. For his wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are they who take refuge in him?" And let me remind you, 80-70 is coming, and these Pharisees are going to see their end. Acts 7, 11-14, "Now a famine came over all Egypt, and Canaan, and great affliction with it, and our fathers could find no food. But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent his fathers their first time. On the second visit, Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph's family was disclosed to Pharaoh. Then Joseph sent word, invited Jacob and his fathers, and all the relatives to come to him, 75 persons in all. Joseph became the Redeemer. He became the salvation, a deliverer, I should say, the one who was persecuted by his brothers. And the one who the brothers find who has become their Redeemer, saving them from the famine of the land, their eyes, the scales that have fallen off of them, off of their eyes. There is coming a time when Jesus is going to reveal himself to Israel, and those that will be mourning on that day, because the one whom they pierced, they will recognize as being the Savior. It is Stephen not only showing the past, but in a foreshadowing of things, it is the spirit that is revealing what is going to be had for Israel. Jeremiah 3021, their leader shall be one of them. This is what these leaders should be thinking about, the religious leaders. Their leaders shall be one of them, and their rulers shall come forth from their midst. And I will bring him near, and he shall approach me, for I would dare to risk his life, or who would dare to risk his life, to approach me to curse the Lord. You shall be my people, and I will be your God in Acts 716. And somebody brought up the other day about Romans and says that not all of Israel is Israel. This is what Paul says, not all of Israel is Israel. Those that are redeemed, those who not only circumcise, it is those not only circumcise by flesh, but those who circumcise, in the heart and their faith and their belief in Christ, that circumcision opens up their eyes to who the Christ is. Acts 716, from there they were removed. Stephen continues on. From there they were removed to Shechem and laid in a tomb which Abraham had purchased for some of money from the sons of Haman in Shechem. From the tomb the patriarchs will be resurrected. And then comes another Christ figure after that. And I'd say where we find much to say about the parallels between Joseph and Jesus. I think there are many more parallels between and for shadowings. For Moses is a type of Christ in so many ways. Acts 717. But as the time of the promise was approaching, which God assured to Abraham, that people increased and multiplied in Egypt. Until there arose another king over Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph. This is the Pharaoh. It was he who took true advantage of our race and mistreated our fathers so that they would expose their infants and they would not survive. It was at this time that Moses was born and he was a lovely in the sight of God. And he was nurtured three months in his father's home. Pharaoh practiced genocide as he sought to kill any of the newborn babies. I should say newborn Hebrew boys. And this is Exodus 3. And just like Herod sought to destroy the messianic line as well when he attempted to kill the Hebrew boys two years younger in Bethlehem. And that's in Matthew 216. It was at that time, verse 20. It was at that time that Moses was born and he was lovely in the sight of God. And again, a God favored him and he was nurtured for three months in his mother's home. Again, a favoritism, we see the favoritism, Acts 21, 22. And after he had been set outside Pharaoh's daughter took him away and nurtured him as her own son. Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians. He was a man of power and words and in deeds. And in Luke, here we have another parallel of Jesus and Luke 252. And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature. And in favor with God in man. Stephen continues Acts 7, 23, but when he was approaching the age of 40, he entered his mind to visit his brethren, the sons of Israel. And when he saw one of them being treated unjustly, he defended him and took vintage for the oppressed by striking down the Egyptian. And he suppose that the brethren understood that God was granting them deliverance through him, but they did not understand this understanding. And here's parallel. And maybe we can glean some other things out of it. Not all of these things are connected, I don't think, in the parallel, but you have to glean out the parallels. There's no perfect, there's no perfect type. So there are things that you can glean out of a narrative. So not all of these things, Jesus didn't, I don't know if you could parallel Jesus killing someone and paralleling Moses' ignorance with Jesus. You can't do that, but then you can look down here at this passage. He says, "He suppose that his brethren understood that God was granting him deliverance through him, but they," that's the Israelites. There's your Vader, there's your pro now. They, the Israelites, they didn't understand those who were slaves to Egypt. They didn't understand. The brethren did not understand when they had Jesus crucified. They stood around shouting, crucify him, crucify him. They were, just like it was in the time of Moses, they were misled. And they didn't recognize, and they didn't understand what Moses were doing. They were quite dissatisfied with him, you know, at the start. But this is also like it was that we find in Luke 23, 34. But Jesus was saying, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they're doing." And they cast lots dividing up his garments among themselves. And they were without understanding, Acts 6, 7, 20, 60, 27. On the following day, he appeared to them as they were fighting together. And he tried to reconcile them in peace, saying, "Men, you are brethren. Why do you injure one another?" But the one who was injuring the neighbor pushed him away and saying, "Who made you, ruler and judge over us?" See, God, the Father had sent him. It was the Lord from that burning bush who sent Moses. And Moses was initially rejected. Who sent you? But so was Jesus rejected when it was the Father who sent him to redeem his people, and yet he was rejected. And when we look at these, and there's so much on there, I can continue on there. But as we're looking at this, we understand that there was initial the rejection. There was the initial rejection of Jesus. That was through ignorance. It was through deception. It was through many other things. But later they opened their eyes. Why did they open their eyes? What happened to the Jews that at one time they were saying, "Crucify him, crucify him." And then they were able to repent and come back to the Nazareth. What did they do? What happened was that the Jews took the historical narrative of their to not, their Old Testament Scriptures, the Torah, the writings, the prophets. And they were able to equate it to the historical Jesus, the one whom had come. They were able to put these things together. And that's exactly what Stephen is doing at this point. And he's putting these things together for the ones who he's standing. Once again, is he defending himself? No, he's not defending himself. What is he doing? He's defending the doctrine. He's making a good statement. He's making a case for Christ. And while they may not do this, that they may be rejecting this. There are people around that are hearing it. And they will hear the testimony. We read the testimony here. So here's a point of application. These passages encourage the believer to trust in God's sovereignty. During a time of rejection or suffering, reminding them that God can transform their struggles into a testimony of redemption. These messages implore Christians to hold onto their faith. Showing that even in their lowest moments, God is working behind the scenes for good. Father in Heaven, thank you for this opportunity of fellowshiping in your Word this morning. We thank you for it. We thank you for your Scripture. We thank you Heavenly Father for your entire gift from Genesis to Revelation. And when I pray, I thank you Heavenly Father for making us disciples. So open your eyes to the importance of Scripture. We love them as we love thee and we love your Son. I pray, Heavenly Father, may these words edify our souls in Christ's name. We pray, Amen. All right. It's another fine day. No Lord. Keep your armor on and keep fighting good by the faith. Lord, will and spirit. Guide. Wrap your pen in. As Bob Molin would say, "Keep your armor on." And till tomorrow, we'll see you. Joining us. You can hear this message again as well as previous lessons. And get note by visiting us online at www.gchapel.org. . . [ Silence ]
Summary: This sermon examines key moments of rejection faced by Joseph, Israel, and ultimately Jesus Christ, leading to God's redemptive plan for His people and establishing a foundation for faith amidst trials.