Four minutes off.
Yeah.
Well, maybe the atoms are moving slower today.
uh Good evening.
Ahem.
Figure we'll start by my clock and end by that clock and I get an extra four and a half minutes.
So
Take your Bibles, if you will, and open them to Mark chapter 14.
Mark chapter 14.
Alright, we will begin with a word of prayer as we get into our study.
Gracious Father in heaven, we bow before your throne, grateful for the day you've blessed us with, grateful for the opportunities that we have to serve you, to speak of your name,
to speak of the things that you have placed in scripture for us.
We are mindful of all that you do for us and pray that we might be diligent in our service to you.
Lord, we pray that you be with those who are ailing and those who are sick, those who are going through the midst of uh recovery.
from difficulties or from surgeries.
We also pray for Brother Michael as he prepares to have surgery tomorrow.
We pray that your hand will be with each and every one of them, that they will be returned back to their desired health, and that they might be able to fully recover.
Lord, we pray that you be with those who are traveling and those who are away from us.
We pray that you allow them to reach their destination safely and return home as well.
We pray for the lectureship that is coming up this next week at the Forest Hill Church of Christ.
to the Memphis School of Preaching.
We pray that the people who will travel in and travel to attend it will do so safely.
Pray that the lectures will be well attended and many will be encouraged, uplifted, and edified by the things which they hear.
Pray that we might be an encouragement to that congregation as they are involved in that good work.
Lord, we pray as we open your Word this evening that we might be mindful of what you would have for us to do.
that we might apply the things that we read to our lives and strive diligently to grow closer to you each and every day.
All this we pray and ask in Jesus' name, amen.
Mark chapter 14, we're down to around verse 31.
As Jesus has told them that all of them will be made to stumble because of me this night, for it is written, and he gives the quotation we discussed last week.
He says, But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee.
Peter said to him, Even if all are made to stumble, yet I will not be.
Jesus said to him, Assuredly I say to you that today, even this night before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.
But he spoke more vehemently, if I have to die with you, I will not deny you.
And they all said likewise.
One of the things that
strikes me from both this account and the account of the denial is that quite often when someone speaks to us and tells us about something, they have what they meant, they have
what they said.
Now sometimes what people meant to say and what they said, two different things, right?
Remember my dad preaching one time and he talked about as he was discussing Genesis chapter 6.
He talked about Moses in the ark Well, he meant Noah in the ark, but wasn't Moses in an ark at one point?
Ark of bulrushes, right?
So Moses was still in an ark, but that was not what he was talking about.
Alright, sometimes there's what you meant There's what you said and then there's what someone heard you to say and quite often
What you said isn't what they heard.
Not just that they didn't hear distinctly the words, but they understood it to mean one thing and you intended it to mean something else and what you said is possibly a
completely different thing from both of those.
Jesus always, being perfect, said what He meant.
He always meant what He said.
but that doesn't mean that what everyone heard was what he meant or what he said.
So the disciples are going to be told by Jesus that they are going to be caused to stumble that very night and they insist not gonna happen.
And Peter says, I will never deny you.
I will die before I will deny you.
Sometimes when somebody says, you're going to do X, we perhaps think of it, let's use Peter's example.
If somebody told Peter, you're going to deny the Messiah, Peter might have thought, you mean I'm going to turn my back on the Messiah and never follow him again?
Not a chance.
but Peter might not have considered it to be a momentary denial of knowing who he is and knowing that he is his Lord.
So you see the degree difference between turning back and following him never again and just simply not being willing to admit who he is.
There's a pretty big separation between those two.
I know a few people who've been willing to not admit that they know who I am.
before, in spite of the fact they've known me their entire lives.
Both of them happen to be my brothers, but anyway, are insidious.
I don't know who that is.
That's no, definitely not related to that.
Now, as you look at the text, Jesus is saying, you're going to deny me.
Peter is saying, I will never deny you.
Maybe there's some separation between what Jesus is saying and what Peter had in mind and what Peter understood him to be saying.
But Peter was insistent, I will never deny you.
Bring that up because often...
We look at things from a degree of extremes and we fail to realize the little actions that lead to the extreme.
So let's look at another person who denied Jesus that same night, Judas.
Judas, if he had been asked, probably would have said the same thing that all the other apostles did.
No, I'll never deny and forsake you.
I'll never turn my back on you entirely, but I will trade you for 30 pieces of silver one time.
You see, the extreme, I firmly believe, Judas did not imagine that Christ was going to go to the cross.
Judas did not imagine that his action was going to turn into Jesus being put to death.
As a matter of fact, that is evident by Judas' actions when he comes and tries to return the money and throws it at the feet of the high priest.
Judas had seen Jesus
uh still the waves, feed 5,000, walk out of the midst of a mob that was trying to kill him, ride into Jerusalem on a donkey to the praise and the cry of Hosanna before all the
people.
I'm firmly convinced Judas had no intention of leaving Jesus's presence as a disciple.
and he was firmly convinced that he could do this, he could turn Jesus over, he could get paid, and Jesus would still continue his ministry.
Now, he's looking at a small action, not seeing the large consequences.
He's seeing a single payday, a pretty good payday for somebody in his line of work.
and not seeing the ultimate results.
I think probably, again, my opinion, Peter's doing the opposite.
Peter's looking at a denying Jesus and turning his back on him, and Jesus is talking about, you're just going to deny you even are part of my disciples.
Now, had Peter taken the small point actions and turned it into a larger denial and from those three denials turned his back on Christ forever, he would have turned a mistake that
could have easily been resolved.
into a mistake that could have ultimately cost him his eternal soul.
He could have denied him there in that courtyard and denied him again and then denied him again.
And if he had continued in those single small point actions, he could have lost his soul eternally because the little things lead to the big things.
Judas chose to go against Jesus in the little things.
And when Judas realized the mistake that he made, did he repent and come back?
No.
He grieved.
He cast the money before the high priest and he went out and hung himself.
the difference between allowing the small actions to snowball into greater actions with greater consequences with greater results only to then deny God and Christ is exhibited in
Judas.
The temptation to deny Christ and doing so is exhibited in Peter, but the difference is when Peter realized his sin, what did he do?
He repented.
Yes, He went out and grieved immensely, but He turned back to Christ.
bring all this up to point out that sometimes in our lives, we allow the little things to compound because we don't deal with them when they're little.
We excuse them when they're little.
We make excuses that it's just a little thing.
It's a bad habit.
until time goes by and now it's not a bad habit, it's a way of life.
And now it's not a way of life, it's something we're not willing to get rid of even though we realize it is in opposition to God.
You see, we have to be careful with the little things.
Jesus will point out, be faithful in little and I will make you ruler over much.
Jesus directs his disciples to pay attention to the little things.
to concentrate on the little things so that they can be assured of the faithfulness in the big things.
Jesus will point out in that very same context that it is the problem of the scribes and the Pharisees and the Sadducees and others that they want to be seen to be faithful in the
minutia.
They want to tithe of the mint and the cumin.
They want to take the smallest of seeds and say, there's exactly 10 % for the Lord and there's 90 % for me.
And says, they'll go to the lengths to do that, but when it comes to justice and mercy and judgment.
They miss it entirely.
because what they have done is they've taken the little things and they've made them all about themselves.
They've said, look, I did the little things, therefore I am so good.
and they've ignored the greater and the weightier matters of the law.
So as we look at this and go, wait a minute, okay, so I have to be faithful in the little things, but I can't allow the little things to allow me to be blind to the big things.
At the same time, I can't look at the big things for so much that I ignore the little things.
So Jesus says concerning the Pharisees and the scribes, he says, you ought to have done that.
the tithing of the mint and the cumin, and these other things.
You should observe the way your matters of law and not leave those things undone because little things compound, little things build up.
Jesus is going to be told by Peter, if I have to die with you, I will not deny you.
Peter's ready to sacrifice himself for the Lord.
He's just not willing to be criticized for the Lord.
I will go before you to Galilee." So Jesus is telling them that they're gonna be restored even after denying him.
I don't know whether they got it or not.
Well I don't think they got the first part.
So I'm pretty sure they didn't get the second part.
But yes, he's going to indicate to them because bear in mind there's only the 11 present at the moment.
Judas has already gone out to find the chief priests.
But Jesus is going to indicate to all of them, you're going to get through this.
And that's a reminder for us and especially for mature Christians is that there are going to be times that people are going to go through difficulties.
People are going to go through phases where they're going to be more faithful and phases where they're going to be less faithful.
And it is important upon those who are faithful to not give up on them when they're struggling.
Turn to Galatians chapter 6.
Galatians chapter 6.
Paul will write to the churches of Galatia and he will write to them in chapter 6 verse 1, brethren, a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in
a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.
He says, here's the spiritual person and here's the struggling person.
and the person who struggling has been overtaken by the sin.
Here's the spiritual person.
What you do is you take a bazooka and you blast them with it so that they learn better,
No.
He says, you go restore them, you go, the idea there, build them back up into a spiritually mature person and set them on the right course, but you do it in a spirit of
gentleness.
not with a whip, not with a pen that's just going to describe how horrible they are as a person because they were overtaken by a sin.
but with gentleness.
And then he says, as you're doing it, by the way, I believe there's a whole lot of this considering yourself that looks right back to Matthew chapter seven, where Jesus says,
judge not that ye be not judged, for with what judgment ye judge, it shall be judged to you again.
Now, in that passage, he is not telling people don't judge.
He is saying you be assured that you better judge yourself according to God's before you start judging anybody according to your standard.
Because your standard is gonna be held back to you.
had the Pharisees held themselves to their own standard, they'd have been pretty good people because they held the people to an incredibly high standard of living, which most
of them failed to meet, which is why the Pharisees thought themselves better than everybody else.
Unfortunately, what the Pharisees didn't do is apply their own standard to themselves.
That's why Jesus over and over and over over over again called them hypocrites because they would hold a standard against somebody else and say, you don't measure up.
And then they'd be like, and you can't measure me by that standard because I'm not gonna let you.
As Paul points out in chapter 6 verse 2, says, bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.
For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
Paul, as he tells these brethren, you go help the person who's struggling.
but as you're doing it, you put the mirror of the word of God back on you and make sure that you're doing what you ought to be doing so that you're not also tempted with the sin
that they're involved in.
But then you further, you pick up their burden and you carry it for them.
You take whatever is the struggle that's causing them to stumble
and you lift it so they can be faithful.
And then he says, if you think that when you've done all of this, you're now something really, really significant in the brotherhood, in the body of Christ, in the church, he
said, you be careful.
Because the person who thinks themselves to be something when in actuality they're nothing, they're just deceiving themselves.
Paul will so often as he opens letters to churches write that he is a bond servant to Christ.
He would emphasize to the congregations over and over and over again, I am nothing but a slave.
And when I've done everything that I've been commanded to do, because this is what Jesus taught, when a servant has done everything that he is commanded to do,
he should still say, I'm an unprofitable servant, I've only done that which I was commanded to do.
I'm still nothing.
I only did that which was expected of me as a servant.
And that's Paul's position.
So we turn back to Mark chapter 14.
So Mark 14, verse 32, then they came to a place which was named Gethsemane.
And he said to his disciples, sit here while I pray.
And he took Peter, James and John with him.
And he began to be troubled and deeply distressed.
Then he said to them, My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death, stay here and watch.
He went little further and fell on the ground and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.
as Jesus is nearing the time where this is going to occur.
As He is nearing and approaching the point at which His betrayal is going to occur and that event is going to basically domino event after event after event after event leading
to the crucifixion.
Jesus is anticipating what's coming.
And would you describe his admitted statements here as he was looking forward to it?
Jesus had been telling his disciples for months, I'm going to Jerusalem to be put to death.
I'm going to be betrayed to the chief priests and the elders.
I'm going to die.
And they have missed it and missed it and missed it.
Sometimes as parents, as you're trying to instruct your children and you've told them the same thing again and again and again and again and again and for some reason after 1800
times of telling them the same thing, they are still completely unaware that they are supposed to do that thing.
Anybody familiar with this or am I the only one who has children like that?
Can you imagine that's got to be how Jesus felt with the apostles at times?
was trying to get them to a point of being spiritually mature, that he was trying to get them to a point of being ready for this to occur, and they're still, as of that very
night, oblivious.
to everything that's Mary Magdalene wasn't.
Mary the sister of Lazarus wasn't, but the apostles are.
So as they go out into the garden to Gethsemane, he tells the eleven, stay here, except for three, Peter, James, and John, that of that core group from among the eleven that if
you pay attention through the text of Mark and Matthew, Luke, and John, those seem to be the three that are the closest to Jesus in some of these unique scenarios.
They go with him a little bit further than he tells them to remain behind.
and he tells them, my soul is exceedingly sorrowful even to death.
Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but I think in that you see there's some things you can tell some people that everyone else isn't ready to hear.
There were things Jesus could tell Peter, James, and John that the other apostles would not have been able to hear.
And that's kind of normal for life.
You're going to have people at different levels of maturity around you.
You're going to have people who have had different experiences in life around you.
Some things we know about Peter, James, and John, they were all, by all indications of scripture, already disciples of John the Baptist before Jesus started his ministry.
They're already from the earliest point in John chapter 1, they are looking for the Messiah.
They are looking for the prophesied one.
They are aware that the time for that to occur is at hand.
They're looking actively because Andrew's going to come to Simon Peter, his brother, and he say, we found the one we've been looking for.
These three individual, now why Andrew's not on the list, I don't know.
Why he wasn't part of the core three, I don't know.
ah We don't really know a lot about Andrew after some of those few interactions.
But Peter's going to be kind of that signal individual.
James and John together, the sons of thunder, are going to stand forward as that.
And then of course, James is going to be
the very first of the apostles to be killed.
But you look at this and Jesus is going to tell them something that he hasn't even yet told the other of the 11.
And that is his great sorrow, even to death.
Turn over to Hebrews chapter 12 for a moment.
Hebrews chapter 12.
In Hebrews chapter 12 and in verse 1 we read, Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so
easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him,
endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
For consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, lest you also become weary and discouraged in your souls."
The Hebrew writer, as he is writing to these Christians, will tell them, you look at Jesus.
You fix your eyes on Christ because he set the example.
You'll notice he says, looking at Jesus, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross.
Now, you go, wait a minute, I don't remember Jesus mentioning joy back here in Mark chapter 14.
I remember him saying he was exceedingly sorrowful.
The answer is, he's both.
The joy wasn't the experience of the cross.
The joy was what the cross accomplished in the salvation of mankind.
Notice it said looking at Jesus, the author, that is the originator, the originator, the author and, I lost the other word, what's the other word?
Finisher, the originator and the finisher of
our faith.
He went to the cross to complete the work He was sent to do.
And it was a joy to Him to do the work the Father had sent Him to do.
So it was a joy, but it also was an exceedingly sorrowful burden even to death.
that he asked if there be any other way for this to occur than him to go to the cross, let that happen.
And we're reminded, at least we should be.
that everything that's good isn't always pleasant.
If we in life only do what is pleasant and enjoyable, we will often fail to do what is good.
for the greatest thing that Jesus came to accomplish as He came to this life and came to this earth so that we might have salvation could only be accomplished by that which is
incredibly unpleasant, to use the mildest of terms.
The Hebrew writer said he despised the shame, but he endured the cross.
And he did so for us.
Now, as we look at ourselves, as we look at the things that we have to do, as we look at the challenges that we face, there are going to be times where we are going to look at
something that is entirely unpleasant, but is good.
And we're going to have to look at that and go, well, if I'm following the example of Christ...
I know what I'm
So the Hebrew writers telling those Hebrew brethren, says, you haven't even if you go to verse five, he says, you haven't even suffered to the shedding of blood.
None of you have even been beaten with stripes and bled for this yet.
So what are you complaining about?
When your Lord and your master and your savior who authored your salvation went to the cross and died for you.
as Jesus goes into the garden.
He goes and He prays and He said, verse 36, Abba, Father, all things are possible for you.
Take this cup away from me.
Nevertheless, not what I will, but what you will.
Jesus exemplifies for us that there can often be a separation between what we would desire to be true, what we would desire to have to do, and what we have to do.
what we would want to have to go through and what we actually have to go through.
few of the mothers in the room might be able to express that they would desire to painlessly, easily, in a day or so, bring children into the world and then be done with
all the labor.
Like, just one done.
There was one comedian who said that he thought maybe Polaroid was gonna figure it out where, you you could just kiss and then just about a few seconds later, if you shook the
baby, you know, there they were.
All right, it'd be a whole lot easier than labor.
Right?
Seems like a good idea.
It'll just pop them out.
But the reality is that there's a difficulty that you have to go through.
It doesn't happen overnight.
There's labor and pain involved.
Jesus is going to look at what He had to do and He's going to ask for the cup to be removed.
He's going to ask for the burden to be removed and at the same time acknowledge that it won't be.
He knew what had to be done while He had a desire to not go through it, while He simultaneously knew it was the Father's will.
We're complex human beings.
So was he.
fact that the Romans, they wouldn't even crucify a Roman citizen because it was so horrible.
ah That was only for the other nations.
uh
this to me.
He came.
is going to do, you know, because He's God, knows, you know, and please, if you could take it away from me, you know, that's just the...
I think there's an interesting contrast as well, leaving off of that point, and that is the contrast between the false bravery of the Apostles who said, we will never deny you,
Peter who said, I will die before I will deny you, and Jesus who knows He has to die.
for Peter.
and yet Jesus' bravery wasn't false.
Jesus' understanding of the situation was perfect.
and Jesus is going to say, I'll do it anyway.
and then notice He came to them, verse 37, and He found them sleeping.
Now, if you go through some of the historical events and some of the things that are going on, give the disciples a little bit of leeway here.
They'd probably been up for 22 or 23 hours at this point.
They'd had a long day.
They had gone through the entire Feast of Passover.
They had gone through all of these things.
They had gone through an extended discussion.
They had gone through the uh washing of the disciples' feet.
They had gone through all of the things at the meal.
They had gone through three chapters.
If you read John 14, 15, and 16, the things that Jesus had told them about the Comforter coming.
They had gone through the uh prayer in John chapter 17.
They had gone through all of these events and now it is
in the middle of the night and they are out in the middle of a garden.
And Jesus will tell them...
to stay here and watch.
and they got the stay here part right.
But the watch part, they didn't get that one.
As he comes back and they're asleep, he said to Peter, the one who said, will deny, I will never deny you, I will die, but I will not deny you.
And he asked Peter, Simon, are you sleeping?
Could you not watch one hour?
So let's go back to the point about little things.
the stay and watch?
wasn't a little thing.
It seemed like a little thing.
It was little to them because they didn't understand what was going on.
But it was really not little to Jesus.
So he comes back and he asks Peter,
I've literally just told you my soul is exceedingly sorrowful even to death and you couldn't even stay awake.
He then says, verse 38, watch and pray.
Lest you enter into temptation, the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Jesus having observed that they were failing in the little thing of staying and watching will admonish Peter to watch and pray.
because he's already told Peter, Satan has a target on your back.
He wants you.
And now to directly to Simon, according to Mark's record, Jesus says, watch and pray that you don't enter into temptation.
Now notice this, okay?
So Jesus has told him, you're going to stumble.
Jesus has told him, you're going to deny me.
Peter has denied it.
And now Jesus is instructing him on what he could do to be ready for the moment so he doesn't deny him.
Watch how the little things compound.
First, Peter didn't comprehend the prophecy.
Second, Peter denied what Jesus told him was true.
Third, Peter insisted he was going to succeed.
Fourth, Peter failed to stay and watch.
Fifth,
Peter is going to be told to watch and pray and he'll be asleep again.
little thing, little thing, little thing, little thing, little thing, little thing, little giant failure.
You see the little things compound.
The little mistakes matter.
Even when we don't understand the big picture.
And Jesus is going to be emphasizing to Peter, go do the little thing.
One passage as we close.
Revelation chapter 2.
This is to the angel of the church of Ephesus right.
These things says, he who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands, I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you
cannot bear with those who are evil.
And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not and have found them liars.
And you have persevered and have patience and have labored for my namesake and have not
become weary.
Nevertheless, I have this against you, that you've left your first love.
Remember therefore from where you have fallen, repent.
And what's the next phrase?
and do the first works." He says, "'Repent, therefore from where you have fallen, repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from
its place unless you repent.'"
Jesus will say to the church at Ephesus,
You go do the little thing.
You've done all these grand things and I commend you for it.
Somewhere along the way, you forgot the basics.
you forgot to do the first works.
So turn around, recall where you came from and go back.
Now do you think Jesus is saying, and you know what, I don't really care about the whole patience thing, I don't care about the labor thing, I don't care about the persevering, or
I certainly don't care about you standing up against those false apostles, I don't care about any of that, just go do the little things.
You think that's what he meant?
No.
He said, you turn around and you go do the little things and you don't leave these things undone.
Go be faithful.
That's what he calls all of us to do.
Thank you for your attention.
you
want to welcome everyone to the Wednesday night devotional for the Collierville Church of Christ.
By way of announcements, uh our sympathies extended to Seomi and her family and the loss of her brother Clayton Glass.
He passed away Monday, so keep the Glass family and the Shanks family in your prayers.
Keep Michael Stax in your prayers.
As we already mentioned, he is headed uh in the morning for surgery.
His surgery is supposed to start about seven in the morning.
uh On doctor's time, that's kind of like 11.30, I think, but anyway.
Potter's Children's Home Pantry item for March is individual drink packets.
March 28th at 9.30 a.m., the Forest Hill Youth Day is occurring.
So encourage anyone with youth to encourage your youth to be there.
uh March 29th through uh April 5th, we have the, uh sorry, let me read this the right way.
March 29th, we have the fifth Sunday potluck and singing.
uh Sign up sheets are on the bulletin board for the singing and for the potluck.
So if you would like to sign up for what you're going to bring, please plan to stay for lunch that day, as that is a whole congregational potluck.
um
March 29th through April 2nd, we have the Memphis School of Preaching Lectureship occurring, and we encourage you to be in attendance for that as much as you can.
April 1st, Memphis School of Preaching Cakes, we've been asked to provide 20 cakes for the MSOP lectures like we do each year.
Sign up sheet is also on the bulletin board.
So uh Sunday potluck, singing, and cakes for the lectureship.
Those are all on the bulletin board.
If you're willing to help as a volunteer during voting in 2026, please sign up on the bulletin board.
There will be a mass exodus straight out the
door to the bulletin board as soon as we're ah No, but in all seriousness, if you'd be interested in volunteering, uh the volunteering would look like this.
It will be just helping the people who are coming in, making them aware where the bathrooms, answering questions they may ask, ah if there's an elderly person or somebody
who's handicapped or has some disability, making sure that they can easily get inside to vote.
So it's more so just being here and being a smiling face and a warming
welcome person.
uh But the reason why we need the sign up sheet is because we're going to get shirts that say volunteer so that we're not being confused for being with the people campaigning or
other things like that.
uh So we'd like to make sure everybody has a shirt in their size that is going to be involved in that.
So please sign the bulletin board if you're interested.
Ladies, there are uh there's a sign up sheet on the bulletin board for our ladies day, May 16th.
Please see Eddie Kozort or Rebecca
a rush more with any questions.
All right, that's enough discussion of the bulletin board.
Now we will begin our devotional.
In his time.
In his time 839.
in his time.
If it's time
He makes all things beautiful
in His time.
Lord, please show me every day as you're teaching me your way, that you do just what you say in your time.
In your town
In your time
You make all things beautiful in your time.
It takes long I have to see be to you
In your time
the imitations.
988 is the song of invitation.
9-8-8.
If for a moment you would turn to Acts chapter 7
in Acts chapter seven.
Stephen has been arrested.
He has been taken and put before the council.
As he stands before the council and as they look at him, they see his face and it is shining as the face of an angel.
and Stephen begins to speak.
The high priest said, Are these things so, the things that have been accused towards him?
And Stephen replies, verse two, Brethren and fathers, listen.
The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia before he dwelt in Haran and said to him, Get out of your country.
and from your relatives and come to a land that I will show you.
Then he came out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Haran, and from there when his father was dead, he moved him to this land in which you now dwell.
And God gave him no inheritance in it, not even enough to set his foot on.
But even when Abraham had no child, he promised to give it to him for a possession and to his descendants after him.
But God spoke in this way that his descendants would dwell in a foreign land and that they would bring them into bondage and oppress them for 100 years.
and the nation to whom they will be in bondage I will judge said God and after that they shall come out and serve me in this place.
Then he gave him the covenant of circumcision and so Abraham begot Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day and Isaac begot Jacob and Jacob begot the twelve patriarchs and the
patriarchs becoming envious sold Joseph into Egypt but
God was with him and delivered him out of all his troubles and gave him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and made him governor over Egypt and all his
house.
Now a famine and great trouble came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan and our fathers found no sustenance.
But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first.
And the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers and Joseph's family became known to the Pharaoh.
Then Joseph sent and called his father Jacob and all his relatives to him, seventy-five people.
So Jacob went down to Egypt and he died.
He and our fathers and they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for the sum of money from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem.
When you keep reading down the text, you go through the whole chapter, and the whole chapter is a sermon from Stephen to the Council of the Israelites about things every
single one of them already knew.
and already agreed with.
except
when Stephen drew the conclusion.
that they had killed the very Son of God.
from all of the things that they already knew and they already agreed with.
And as a result...
They will turn and kill Stephen.
because He told them things they already knew and they already agreed with.
But those things demanded that the thing that they didn't want to hear was true.
And that is that Jesus Christ is Lord, Savior.
He is not dead.
He is risen and He is reigning.
As you look at your life, and sometimes as you sit down and you study the Word of God, you're going to read things you already know.
You're going to read things that you've known for a long time.
There will be times that the scripture will make obvious to you that there are things that you are not doing that you ought to be doing and you have to determine whether or not
you're going to accept that change and conform to God's will or you're going to reject it.
Stephen's going to tell them of their own history.
But as he does so, he's going to accuse them of making the same mistakes their fathers made in rebelling against God.
when we are faced with the truth.
It is then necessary for us to choose.
Will we be obedient to the truth?
Will we do what God says?
Or will we comfort ourselves in our knowledge of the past,
and act as though the command doesn't apply to us.
Too many times in the religious world someone will say, Aaron, I know I'm saved because my grandmother believed the same thing that I do and she was the most saintly woman I've ever
met in my life.
And with all regard to anyone's grandmother.
On the day of judgment you will not stand before your grandmother and give an account for whether or not you are obedient to God.
You will stand before God.
Jesus said in John chapter 12 and verse 48, by my words you will be judged.
If you're here this evening and you're outside the body of Christ,
Don't stay there.
If you're here this evening and you are firmly convinced you know a lot about the Word of God and you know that your salvation is assured, but you couldn't open the Word of God and
show why, maybe ask for a Bible study.
Maybe talk to one of us here and say, you know what, I'd like to be able to open the Bible and know why I'm saved.
and we can help you with that.
If you have need of the invitation for any reason, why not come forward now as we stand and as we sing.
When the Savior calls, I will answer.
When He calls for me, I will hear.
When the Savior calls, I will answer.
I'll be somewhere listening for my name.
I'll be somewhere listening.
I'll be somewhere listening for my name.
I'll be somewhere listening.
If my robe is white when he calls me If my robe is white I will hear If my robe is white when he calls
I'll be somewhere listening for my name.
uh
I'll be somewhere, listening, be somewhere, listening for my needs.
Let us pray.
Dear Lord, our Almighty God, we come to Thee prayer at this time, thanking You so very much for the lessons that were given us tonight and the devotional as well that we can
hopefully partake of and apply to our daily walks of life.
Lord, we know that there are many things in Your book that so many of us in here agree with.
If there's anything that we do not agree with, in Your Word, Lord God, may we tune our hearts so that we do agree.
For we know that You are far more knowledgeable
beyond any knowledge that could ever be had in this universe.
You are all knowing, you are all patient, you are all kind, you are all loving, and you are all powerful.
Lord God, may we always strive to serve you in every capacity that we possibly can, not to do the mere minimum of what we can, but to do the maximum, because that's the minimum of
what we could do.
Lord God, please be with us as we go throughout our daily walks of life.
Guard, guard and direct us all.
And so we pray to you in Jesus' name, amen.