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May 2004
Dear Friends,
As I write this newsletter to you I am burdened for the church of America. In an effort to become more relevant to the culture, many have watered down the gospel message. It is common today for "Christians" to drink, to go to bars, to be sexually loose, and to think that they are still Christian. There is such pressure to find acceptance with the world.
Today's church in America has many parallels with the Corinthian church.
The problem in Corinth was a desire for natural wisdom and knowledge without a true, spirituality, and acceptance in the world. They wanted:
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The world's money
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The world's methods
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The world's approval or friends in the world
This created a problem of not offering a real alternative to the world system. Church became a cultural Christianity lacking the substance of the Lord. Today we have an American gospel filled with music, entertainment, and a substitute obedience.
Paul addressed the following:
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Sexual sins (1 Cor 5:1,9-11)
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Taking believers to court (1 Cor. 6:1)
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Alcohol abuse - drinking (1 Cor. 11:21)
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Not giving financial support for ministry (1 Cor. 8:11)
Nehemiah in rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem demonstrated God's action in a day of spiritual declension.
The Significance of the Wall:
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The Wall was a DEFINITION, a clear defining of what is and what is not Christ.
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The wall represents the real character of Christ. It is Christ's character that has to become established and clearly defined.
Multitudes of people today have no clear discernment, perception or apprehension as to what is Christ and what is merely Christianity.
God is calling His church to rise up with a clear expression of who He is. Let us be sure to be a part.
I need you to be faithful in your giving, doing whatever you can to help us reach the lost, raise up a new generation of leaders, and to see the glory of the Lord rise upon the nations.
As partners of World Outreach, I am believing God to bless you as you give to touch this generation. I count it a privilege to personally pray for your various prayer requests. Please send us your prayer needs so that I can bring them to the Lord with you.
Philippians 1:3-7
I thank my God for you every time I think of you; and every time I pray for you all, I pray with joy because of the way in which you have helped me in the work of the gospel from the very first day until now.
And so I am sure that God, who began this good work in you, will carry it on until it is finished on the Day of Christ Jesus.
You are always in my heart! And so it is only right for me to feel as I do about you. For you have all shared with me in this privilege that God has given me…
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This study of martyrdom should encourage all believers to stand fast in persecution no matter the cost. The cause of martyrdom is not from accidental death or because one is in the ministry and death occurs during ones life calling. The cause of martyrdom is a reaction against God, and the believer is murdered because of that reaction.
Stephen was on trial for his life. He had been called upon to defend himself according to chapter 7. But instead of defending himself, he preached about the failure of the people to follow and obey God. His message had been effective and convicting. Conviction can go either way. It will turn a person toward God or against Him. When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, (means to saw asunder; to cut through; the reaction was anger not godly sorrow) and gnashed on him with their teeth (to bite, to grind, to gnash the teeth just like a pack of snarling dogs).
The reaction of these leaders was a violent reaction. There is no godly sorrow or intention of confessing any wrongdoing especially towards Christ. The people were so filled with anger and rage to the point of violence that they were grinding and biting with their teeth, ready to do violence, and ready to unleash the fury of their emotions.
As the fury of the crowd mounts, Stephen declares what his inward eye beholds, the Son of Man at God's right hand. That was too much for the audience. Only Stephen, besides Jesus Himself, uses the "Son of Man" title. The last time the Sanhedrin heard it Jesus was on trial and He said they would see the "Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, coming in the clouds of heaven." (Mark 14:62). They knew what the term "Son of Man" meant, for Daniel declared that the Son of Man would rule over all peoples and nations with an everlasting kingdom (Daniel 7:13-14).
If the council accepts the statement by Stephen, they must acknowledge their guilt in slaying Jesus. This is too much. The people cover their ears and shout down Stephen's words. They attack him and stone him illegally. The law required the Roman governor's permission to execute a death penalty.
God gave Stephen a provision. God is always present when one of His children is facing a crisis, especially martyrdom. God's promise is, "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world" (Matthew 28:20). Note the provision of God to Stephen.
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God filled Stephen with the Holy Spirit. Stephen was a man who was filled with the Holy Spirit, but there was a special infilling that day of the Holy Spirit. God came in a marvelous provision of His manifest presence. There came in the infilling of the Spirit, a special consciousness and awareness of God's presence, engulfing and embracing him, a presence of the Spirit that would carry Stephen through the trial.
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God gave Stephen a vision into heaven. Stephen saw an open heaven enabling him to see into the spiritual world of heaven or the spiritual dimension of being. First Corinthians 2:10 tells us that the Spirit searches the deep things of God and reveals them to our spirit. Stephen saw the glory of God. He saw the radiance and brilliance of God's person. He also saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God. This is a prophetic picture of the last generation before the return of Christ. We know that Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father until all His enemies are put under His footstool. The last enemy to be conquered is death. Jesus rose to His feet to welcome Stephen home.
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God gave Stephen a glorious testimony. Stephen gave a glorious witness of the truth that he was seeing Jesus, and that Jesus was receiving him. Even in the face of pain and suffering our faith in Jesus is not in vain. Jesus is exactly whom He claimed to be, the Son of God. In Stephen's final moments he, like Christ, forgives those who are hurting him in their rejection of the love of God. He calls upon the Lord to receive his spirit. He is putting all his trust in his God.
In the final moments of Stephen's martyrdom, there is no struggle. The scripture simply says, "He fell asleep." Stephen simply passed from this life into the next world, an experience that amounts to nothing more than falling asleep.
Saul of Tarsus stood by, deeply affected. Saul's entire ministry message in the epistles finds its roots in Stephen's address!
Thus Stephen was like Jesus in his life and ministry, in his witness before the Sanhedrin, and in his death under false witnesses outside the city of Jerusalem (Philippians 1:21; Luke 12:4). "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church."
That light on the martyr's face; that evident glimpse into the unseen Holy of Holies; those words; that patience and forgiveness; that peace which enraptured his mangled body, crushed and bleeding as he fell asleep - Paul could never forget them. Not only did he mold his own great speeches on the model of that never to be forgotten address; not only did those conceptions of the spiritual nature of Christ's kingdom effect his whole teaching and ministry, but the very light that radiated from that strong, sweet, noble character seemed to have been absorbed by his spirit.
Jesus had told the disciples of a time when persecution would arise to try their faith and bring a witness to the world. The early church would see these words come to pass in a greater way than through the lives of Peter and John. Stephen is the first martyr recorded in the New Testament. I believe that many Christians, like Peter on the shores of the sea of Tiberias, receive a martyr's call.
Stephen shows us truths that help us to know that God can use this call to bring man to completion.
Luke 21:12-19
12 But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake.
13 And it shall turn to you for a testimony.
14 Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer:
15 For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.
16 And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death.
17 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake.
18 But there shall not an hair of your head perish.
19 In your patience possess ye your souls.
Verse 12 - We have seen these events begin to take place in the early church. This is the beginning of martyrdom through persecution.
Verse 13 - And it shall turn to YOU for a testimony. The word testimony also means witness, it is a similar word for martyr: the same root. God's promise to the one who lays his life down for the witness of the gospel is that he will see the event of his martyrdom turn his life for a testimony before the throne. Stephen saw the heavens open and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, the High Priest was standing to witness the love and the testimony of the one who received the martyr's call. The One who was seated at the right hand of the Father, now is standing to receive the life of the one being poured out.
Verse 14 - Jesus tells his disciples to settle it in their hearts, in other words, do whatever you must to be prepared. They were not to worry about responding to the persecutors. This is the Lambs' Nature. The Lamb of God was slain from the foundation of the world. It was settled before the fall, before man was created. He was to be the substitute for judgment, before, so no vengeance or retaliation was to be given at the time of death or persecution. Jesus did not answer His false accusers, not a word. He came to offer His life as a ransom for those who chose His death.
Verse 15 - For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist. This is shown in the story of Stephen. Verse 10 of Acts chapter 7 says, "they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spoke." God says that He will bring us to a place in Him where they will "find nothing in us."
Verse 16 - We will be betrayed by parents, brethren, relatives, and friends. Some of those who will be betrayed will even be killed.
Verse 17 - We have settled the issues, we are not going to be moved, and it is our faithfulness to God in the fire that will cause us to be hated.
Verse 18 - But there shall not a hair of your head perish. No matter what happens in the persecution, it is always measured. We don't have to worry. God is the one who is in control, even in the loss of our life through martyrdom.
Esther said it like this, "If I perish, I perish." Job also said, "Though He slay me yet will I trust Him."
Trust is when a believer puts his faith in God's character, when the situation is not changing, and one does not know the outcome.
Verse 19 - Literally, in the Greek this says, "In your patience (in the character from God that doesn't surrender to circumstances or succumb under trial) possess ye your souls (literally you will see the giver of your souls; you will see the Lord). This is the quality of the character of a martyr, one who loves enough not to speak out in defiance, or one who will not run from the test of a fiery trial. The love of God constrains us to come to the place of perfection, and in that place we are made perfect, finishing our course, and we will see the Lord. This is clearly seen in the life of Stephen.
In closing our study of Stephen there is another aspect of Stephen that is represented as a picture and type of a life that comes to completion. Stephen represents the 7th day ministry, the ministry of completion.
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Short time - in the last days we will see a quick work cut short in righteousness that will finish the course and see the culmination of events.
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Signs and wonders ministry.
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Power and purity.
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Full of the Holy Spirit - The revelation and power of the Holy Spirit to keep the church to the end. There will be manifestations of the Spirit that will come through the fullness of Christ in His Church before He comes for His Church.
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The break of Judaism and Christianity (Israel cut off and Gentiles grafted in); paralleling the transition from the terrestrial to the celestial, and to see the fullness of God; the transition period of culmination for the church and the purpose of the church age.
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The Glory of God revealed - Beholding His glory we shine brighter and brighter until the perfect day.
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Seeing an open heaven - Jacob's ladder and the authority of the kingdom come in earth as it is in heaven.
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His life and ministry was like Jesus (lay not this sin to their charge). As He is, so shall we be in this world. "That they may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou has sent me." (John 17:21). If they see the believer they will see Jesus.
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Martyred - witness in the true sense of the word; He is the message.
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Jesus is standing to receive him. He is seated at the right hand of the Father until all His enemies are made His footstool. The last enemy to be conquered is death.
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