Faith: Stir It Up

0:01 You know, I, I decided to take two weeks and I had, I had a couple things that I had to do, and all of a sudden the world just decided to erupt. The sun was so afraid that I was turning 40, that it hit its face. Oh, hi. Last week I was out of town for my cousin's daughter's bat mitzvah. And of course, the first, okay, dude, you're making me nervous. Now I understand what everybody else says about me when

0:46 I get close to the edge. Go see, mom. Thank you. Of course. Last week is now the first time that Iran has launched an open attack against Israel. Over 300 aerial projectiles were sent toward Israel. The number I heard was that there was a 99% success rate at shooting them out of the sky. I saw a picture of one that landed in the Dead Sea, and, and they pulled it out, and I think it was, it was a, a ballistic missile, and I think it was 38, 37 feet long, about as,

1:33 as wide or, or in diameter, if you will, as a man is tall. I, I think if nothing else, we can say that our God is still watching over Israel. Amen. There continue to be, by the way, I, I, I'm assuming maybe I shouldn't assume so much, uh, Israel, just in case you hadn't heard Israel retaliated yesterday morning and, uh, struck an air base or, uh, a, um, military site deep in Iran.

2:21 And so I, I think now we're waiting and, but really we're not waiting because this morning, Hezbollah started launching repeated attacks in the north again. And all the while, everyone is continuing to call for a ceasefire. Again, I don't mind the calling for a ceasefire. It doesn't bother me. I mind the calling for a ceasefire if you don't mention that the hostages need to be returned first, because there's still over 130 hostages, including dead bodies. I mean, who keeps a dead body? There's over 130 hostages that have yet to be released.

3:09 In fact, Hamas doesn't even know where some of them are to call for a ceasefire. And actually, there was a un vote yesterday for the recognition of the state of Palestine to call for anything moving forward without the release of the hostages is immoral hole. Israel was in a ceasefire when 8,000 rockets got launched at Israel on October 7th, 7,000. I can't remember the exact number for that day. Israel was in a recognized ceasefire when they were attacked

3:59 without provocation. And in that process, not just Israelis, not just Jewish people were taking hostage Thai people, foreign nationals that were in Israel we're taking hostage. You know, when, when these, when, I think it was this week, the Hezbollah launched an attack in the north and they hid an Arab village, not a Jewish village, and it cause injury and death. Why? Because they're trying to provoke a war.

4:49 The purpose is not for the preservation of life. What Israel does is for the purpose of the preservation of life, and again, I will tell you, the state of Israel is not a perfect nation, but what they're doing and, and, and having spoken to American military personnel, what they're doing is above and beyond anything that we've ever done in restraint. And yet, the world continues to call restraint for restraint when over 300 projectiles are launched against Israel, and the world says, don't retaliate.

5:36 I, I don't know if you can like those missiles that were launched, or maybe somebody can correct me, but some of them, to my understanding, have the ability to carry a nuclear payload. That's a real deal. And the rest of the world is sitting on pins and needles, because if something happens, we're all joining it. It, it's a, it's a, it's a difficult situation. I understand the call for restraint, but the reality is is Israel has a right to defend itself. And if Israel does not have a right to defend itself as the only Jewish nation in the world, then

6:23 that's the definition of antisemitism, because you are putting different regulations on Jewish people or Jewish nations than you are on the rest of the nations. So I I, I just took a few more minutes than I wanted, but I just, it's a reminder there remain over 130 hostages. Why do I hold up my hand? Because if you can't tell, I have one of the hostages names written on my hand. Why? Because this started, actually, I think it was like the week after October 7th, um, there was a ministry in Israel, and they said, write a, a name of a hostage on your hand. Why? Because it's, it's to be like the, in Isaiah

7:09 where it says the names of his people are inscribed upon the Lord's hands so that he remembers them. So on, on my left hand, I have a name of one of the hostages, and on my right hand, I have the name of one of my friends who's actively deployed in fighting for the safety of Israel. My, this name changes daily. Um, this name, I, I've, I've decided to stick with the same hostage. So I just stand here to remind you, because obviously the world is not remembering, oh, did I not say the days?

7:56 It's over 130 hostages, 196 days. I, I don't know if you comprehend 196 days. That's more than six months. It was six months a week ago, or two weeks ago, six months, two weeks ago. Can you imagine living in a hole in a tunnel for six months being deprived, basic human rights, including the medication that was sent in and found floating in the sea, including the Red Cross, has not been permitted to go and check on the status of the hostages.

8:43 Everything that has been done, by the way, by Hamas, is a violation of the Geneva, uh, international law, war law, everything that they've, everything that they've done is a violation of the Red Cross. Everything that they've done is a violation of every po, every potential rule that could possibly be engaged. It's a violation of, and yet, Israel is the one who's told to stand down or don't overreact. I'm reminded, I I just got going, sorry. I'm reminded of a song that I, that my father has played

9:32 up here before, and I don't have it to play, but it's called The Neighborhood Bully by Bob Dylan. If you go look it up, it's a fascinating song because Israel's portrayed as the neighborhood bully, but Israel is the one being bullied by the rest of the countries. Now that being said, I don't know if you saw any headlines, but both Saudi Arabia and Jordan acted in defense of Israel to shoot down some of the 300, over 300 projectiles from Iran. Uh, they openly joined in Defense of Israel. It was a fascinating, um, fascinating response to me.

10:27 So we are going to continue our series in the Book of Acts, acts chapter six. Last week we covered the first seven verses, seven verses of Acts chapter six. In fact, in this week, we're gonna finish Acts chapter six. I think this will mark record time that we finished one chapter in the Book of Acts. We'll, we'll have finished a chapter in two weeks, but don't get used to that because I'm pretty sure Acts chapter seven is going to take us nearly two months. Um, so here we go. Acts chapter six, And we're starting in verse eight, and I'm, I'll read the whole passage

11:12 and then we'll come back and discuss it. Now, Stephen, full of grace and power was doing great wonders and signs among the people, but some men from what was called the synagogue of the freedmen, both cyrenians and Alexandrians, as well as some from Ccia and Asia stood up and began arguing with Stephen, but they could not withstand the wisdom and the rah by whom he was speaking. Then they secretly instigated men into saying, we have heard him speaking blasphemous words against Moses and against God. They also incited the people, the elders and the Torah scholars, and they rushed at Stephen, seized him and led him away to the Sanhedrin.

11:57 They set up false witnesses who said, this man never stopped speaking words against this holy place and the Torah, for we have heard him saying that this Yeshua Han Nati will destroy this place and changed the customs that Moses handed down to us, watching him intently. Everyone who was sitting in the Sanhedrin saw that his face was like the face of an angel. Now, let me just review, before we get into this discussion, I, as I'm just gonna call to re uh, to our memory, call to our memories. What we discussed last week is there is a conflict that is growing between the Hebrews and the Hellenism. Now, I I wanna point out, this is not between Jews and Greeks.

12:43 This is not between Jews and Gentiles. It's between Jews and Jews. It just happens to be Jews from Israel and Jews from the diaspora or, or outside of the land of Israel. And it seems actually as those Jews who are from the outside of the land of Israel, the Hellenism are actually now living in Jerusalem. That's what it seems to me. So they all live in the same place, but they, they're now, these are the Hellen Jews, and these are the Hebrews. And so what happens is there's a complaint that the Hellen Jews, oh, by the way, I just realized I forgot to, I, I forgot to say one thing when I was talking about Israel. I'll come, I'll come back to to the message in just a second.

13:28 Um, I don't know if you've seen the songs, but there are songs like Bring Them Home. There's a, you know, all of this stuff saying bring them home. In my opinion, it's actually Misworded, because that puts the onus on Israel. Israel's not responsible to bring them home. Hamas is responsible to set them free. So I wore my set them free shirt today, because this is the right holiday that we're just getting into. It just seems right to say, let my people go. So anyways, I just remembered I wore the T-shirt, and I forgot about it as I got into, uh, to talk about the message. Anyways, here we go. So last week we discussed there was, there was some,

14:15 some widows that weren't being cared for, and the, and, and they happened to be Helens. And so there's an, an up and a, a, a kind of a, a grumbling that begins to arise. And they say, you're not caring for the Hellen us widows as much as you're caring for the, the Hebrew widows. And so the apostles, they say, okay, you ch you go choose for yourself. Some representatives, uh, choose for yourself seven. Uh, and, and they will take care of, of the hellness in, in particular, or they'll take care of the administration and the service. And so what happens is, I don't know if you notice in the reading of the verse, but actually all of the men that they choose carry Greek names.

15:02 Why? Because they're likely all Hellen is Jews, uh, except for the last one who's a convert to Judaism. So they're there, they've chosen these seven to help serve the community, and the introduction to them is actually begins with Steven. And Steven is described, uh, as having, hold on, let me lemme go back for just a, having a, a, the, let's see, A man full of faith and the Ruakaka kodesh, And then it lists out six more including Philip. And, and what we'll see is, we'll see the, um,

15:47 why this pa this passage is going to kind of launch us out into a new section in the Book of Acts, because, uh, starting next, starting in two weeks, we're gonna start into chapter seven, which is Stephen's defense. And then after chapter seven, it's actually followed by chapter eight, which is where Philip is highlighted. And so what we see is we see the first two of these seven, um, highlighted over the next two chapters. And then actually after that we see kind of some after effects of their, of their, um, testimonies. This language that's used to describe Steven, it it's reminiscent of the language that's used to describe, uh, Peter.

16:35 And it's also foreshadowing the language that's used to describe Paul, uh, all, all, all written by Luke. So I want you to see what's happening as Luke is connecting Yeshua to Peter, to Steven, to Paul. And you have this line of transmission that is unbroken, and it's the spirit of the God acting through the Ruach, uh, excuse me. It's, it's God acting through his spirit, the ruach in the wisdom, uh, and application of the rah within people. And it's from disciple to disciple. It's not held in only one disciple, and it's not held in only one generation. It continues to move.

17:20 The spirit of the Lord continues to move and continues to, uh, act in the community. And in fact, what we actually also see is that the, the, the, the Ruach is not just reserved for those who walked with Yeshua or those who follow Yeshua or Jewish people in general. It actually now we're, I'm kind of looking ahead to like August, September maybe, or or October. But we also see that the Ruach will be poured out on Romans on a Roman centurion named

18:06 Cornelius and his family. And so what we, what what was is beginning to get set up is that the news, the good, the good news of Yeshua and what has happened is about to go beyond Jerusalem, and it will go beyond Judea, Samaria, and it will go to the end of the earth, Jewish people and people from the nations. This is, it's all a setup if, if you will, for what is going to happen. Now, here we have a description of Stevens starting off this week's reading in in chapter six, verse eight. Now, Stephen, full of grace and power was doing great wonders

18:51 and signs among the people. I, I wonder actually if, if part of this are what I would call character attributes of Stephen, he was full of grace. And what's interesting is this full of grace actually has a connotation in it of full of faith. He was full of faith and not just faith, if I can, I I don't mean to, um, step too hard on anyone's toes, but not faith in terms of belief, but faith in terms of what you do. You see, there's, there's this, this, I, I think it might even be a delineation, maybe perhaps from Hebrew to Greek in the idea that faith

19:38 is a verb in Hebrew and faith is a noun and Greek. And I just wanna make sure I'm not, oh yeah, I'm gonna get ahead of myself. We'll, we'll come back to that to, to the description of faith. But also it's not just that he has faith and power, it's now that there are great wonders and signs, if I can take, say this, actions that follow with it. By the way, I know I said this before, but this great wonders and signs is reminiscent of this holiday that we're about to, uh, uh, about to celebrate this next week. When the Lord drew his people out

20:24 of Egypt, how did he do it? Through great wonders and signs. We also call them plagues. And where is Stephen doing these, uh, exercising his faith and his power and, um, doing great wonders and signs? Where is this? It's among the people. He's not doing it off on his own so that he gets his own recognition or, or to hide it from others. It's actually for the purpose of showing what God can do among all of the people. They weren't just for Steven's sake. In fact, they were for the sake of everyone else watching. Why is it important? Because Yeshua tells us

21:12 in Matthew chapter five, let your light shine before men. You are the light of the world. You guys all know this verse. You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden, neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand and get, gives life to everyone, light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others that they may see what your good deeds, your good actions, and glorify your father in heaven. The purpose of your good deeds is not to be a good person. I hate to burst your bubble. It's not to go, Hey, I am a good person. Did you see what I just did? Your good deeds are for one purpose,

21:59 for glorifying God. If your good deeds draw attention to yourself and not to God, then your good deed is the wrong deed, or it's at least presented in the wrong light, or you haven't redirected to actually the the one who's enabled you to do the good deed. Your good deed is for the purpose of glorifying God. Hands down. That's it. That's if your faith is walked out in good deeds, then your faith actually is, the purpose of your faith is for bringing glory to God.

22:45 The signs and wonders are not for the sake of Stephen, they're for the purpose of the people giving glory to God. And every action that we do, it's not for our sake that we do these actions. It's for the sake of encouraging others to give glory for God. I don't come up here and share messages with you so that you come up to me after service and say, brother, that was a great message. It's nice to get a little encouragement every now and then, but that's not why I do it. I do it so that you can then go, let's give glory to God because oh my goodness, I saw something I didn't see in the scripture before. It's an amazing thing. I never saw that we need to continue and, and maybe I should say, increase the glory that we give

23:31 to God and stop saying, well, you know, I, I worked hard this week and it was my labor that allowed me to pay my bills. I mean, God gave you strength to do your labor. If he took away your strength, you wouldn't have the strength to do your labor and you couldn't pay your bills. So in fact, the reason your bills got paid is because of God. The reason you were eight this week was because of God. The reason crops are growing right now while it's raining outside is because of God. Sometimes we think that we control a little bit more than we think we do.

24:19 Really, I think what you can control is your response. And, and that might be about it. You have a good situation happen. What's your response? You have a bad situation happen? What's your response? That's, that's about what you can control. And some of us have difficulty with that. So here we go. We, we, Steven is this full of grace, full of faith and power, doing great wonders and signs among the people, but some men from what was called the synagogue of the freedmen. Okay? So we're gonna stop here for just a moment. And, and I, I know I'm, I'm kind of getting into super basic things, but we're gonna ask a couple questions. First of all, what is a synagogue?

25:06 Well, that's probably relatively easy 'cause we're all here in a synagogue, but the synagogue served as a place of gathering. It dates back, actually people don't know when it started. Most scholars presume it started in Babylon, uh, after the destruction of the first temple, and that it served as a place of gathering a place of prayer. The Jewish encyclopedia says the synagogue as a permanent institution originated, originated probably in the period of the Babylonian captivity when a place for common worship and instruction had become necessary. The synagogue was a place of assembly, and one source reports that in, uh, at, by the time of the destruction of the second temple in 70 ce, that there were 394 synagogues in Jerusalem

25:56 in addition to the temple. I just want you to think about that. I don't even think there's 394 synagogues in Dallas. So there's 300, at least 394 synagogues around this time period. And this one actually has a name, it's called this Synagogue of the Freedmen. So synagogues often or sometimes bore names indicating who, who, who, who, who their patrons were. Yeah, I think that's right. Anyways, the synagogue, this synagogue seems to have been, uh, of high status and likely influential. What they serve, uh, is

26:44 the citizenry of Rome who were also Jews or Jews who were also Roman citizens. It depends on how you say it, and not just Roman citizens, but they were citizens from, uh, they were, they were Jewish people from the diaspora. And at some point in their history, they weren't citizens. And so those people were slaves, but they, they could purchase their citizenry in, in Rome. So if the founders and their descendants were Roman citizens, then they would therefore have a readier hearing with the Sanhedrin and probably even with Rome itself. So this synagogue seems to have been very influential in Jerusalem during this time period.

27:36 Jewish Roman citizens would've likely attended this synagogue that just that phrase should draw to mind. One person in particular who, who seems to be responsible for nearly the rest of the Bri Kha, not quite all but a substantial part. Paul was a Roman, a Jewish Roman citizen. Again, we, we don't know that he was here, but I, it seems to me highly likely, it also seems to me highly likely that perhaps Paul was one of those ones who was debating against Stephen. Stephen stands up. Paul is highly trained mind you and Paul goes at him,

28:24 but nobody could withstand the wisdom and the spirit of the Lord that was within Stephen. There's a good chance also that there, there are two other, um, emissaries that are mentioned in Romans, Andronicus and junior Romans 16, seven. It's also highly likely that they were part of this synagogue, And it says that they're notable among the emissaries or they're of, of renowned among the emissaries. So if I can have you guys pop that map up for just a second. Well, actually for just a minute, this map, you know what I forgot to ask Joshua, but can you do me a favor? I'm gonna point out on the, on this horn of Africa is Cyrene right there.

29:10 So when you read Cyrenians, this is where they're from. Uh, there's a large Jewish settlement in this city in North Africa. It's in, it's in modern day Libya. Then you also read about, you read about Cyrenians and Alexandria. So Alexandria is here in the north part of Egypt. Alexandria is one of the largest known settlements of Jews outside of Israel. And in fact, Alexandria, uh, became very influential, uh, in the Jewish world and, and held that influence for many, many years. The Jews in Alexandria enjoyed a greater degree of political independence than in any other part of the Roman Empire.

29:56 In fact, they had a functioning, uh, just outside of Alexandria. They had a functioning replica temple where they carried on sacrifices by the priesthood. We also have cia. This is an area up here where anybody want to take a guess as to the city, primary city and cia, Tarsus, who's from Tarsus, Rob Shaul Paul. And it also mentions Asia, which is up here, uh, on the western side of modern day, uh, Turkey. So this, this synagogue in Jerusalem serves primarily all of those people groups.

30:42 It, it just seems highly likely to me that Paul was involved here. And now the, the men from these places stood up to argue with Stephen, but they couldn't withstand the wisdom in the Ruach by whom he was speaking. You remember, Stephen is full of wisdom and the Ach, no argument, by the way, can withstand the ach. When you are, when you allow the spirit of the Lord to speak through you, nothing can withstand him. So we continue onward,

31:33 Lemme Find my place in my notes here. We continue onward in verse 11, Then they secretly instigated men into saying, we have heard him speaking blasphemous words against Moses and against God. They also incited the people, the elders and the Torah scholars. And they rushed at Stevens, seized him and led him away to the Sanhedrin. They set up false witnesses who said, this man never stops speaking words against this holy place and the Torah. For we have heard him saying that this Yeshua Han Nati Yeshua from Nazareth. Or if you recall months ago, um, the recollection

32:22 that Han Nati could be a title for the Messiah, Yeshua, the Messiah, will destroy this place and change the customs that Moses handed down to us watching him intently. Everyone who was sitting in the Sanhedrin saw his face was like that of an angel. We are now being set up for Acts chapter seven. Acts Chapter seven is Steven's speech, his defense speech. These accusations that are being leveled at, at Steven is what he's responding to in Acts chapter seven. I'm telling you that because, uh, it's helpful to have the little bit of background, the people who are involved here from this portion, and we're gonna spend a long time in Acts chapter seven.

33:11 But here, these men, they instigated, they're probably presumably influential. And in the synagogue, the synagogue of the freedmen. And now I wanna read to you Proverbs chapter 16, verse 28. A deceitful person stirs up strife and a slanderer can separate even close friends. These men, they are working behind the scenes to stir up trouble in the synagogue and in Jerusalem. And how are they stirring up trouble? They're saying he spoke blasphemous words against Moses and God accusation number one. By the way, there's three accusations here that we will we'll see, and then we'll come back to in, in Acts chapter seven, accusation number one,

33:57 he spoke blasphemous words against Moses and God. Now, before we get to accusation number two, I want to, I want you to, to note the order that the text goes in here. They incited the people, the elders and the Torah scholars. What did they inci? What did they incite? Where where are these people, elders and Torah scholars? They're not in the Sanhedrin because it says, then they take them to the Sanhedrin. The people, the elders in the Torah scholars are all a part of this synagogue. You see how I can under, how I can draw the conclusion that this synagogue is highly influential. The elders of the people of Israel attended this synagogue.

34:45 The Torah scholars attended this synagogue, and they stirred them up. And this group of people, these these different groups of people they rushed at Steven, seized him and led him away to the Sanhedrin. You see, those are two different locations. You have to read very carefully to, to realize that those people are all in one site before they take him somewhere else. I presume actually that there's quite a bit of overlap between the people who seized him with the elders, the Torah scholars, and the Sanhedrin, and then they set up false witnesses. Verse 13, who said, this man never stops speaking words against this holy

35:30 place and the Torah. So accusation number one, he speaks blasphemy against Moses and God accusation number two, he speaks, uh, against this holy place or the temple and the Torah, for we have heard him saying that this Yeshua will destroy this place and change the customs that Moses handed down to us. Accusation number three, destroy the temple and change the customs of Moses. So we have three accusations that are here, Uh, laid out before the Sanhedrin again, Moses and God, the temple, uh, the temp.

36:15 He's speaking words against the temple and the Torah, and he talks about Yeshua who will destroy this place and change the customs. Now, if, if you remember Luke at all, and even the beginning of acts, you'll recognize that some of this, it's actually a distortion of what Yeshua says. Yeshua says, if you, if if you destroy me, I'll rebuild it and or I'll come back to life, I'll resurrect in three days. And there's a, there's a, um, he's, he's intertwining the destruction of the temple and the destruction of himself in the same conversation.

37:01 This, what it's doing is it's separating it and saying, here, we're gonna go down this part. We're going to, we're gonna push them away from the truth. I don't know if you ever realize this, but lies can have quite a bit of truth in them. But if it's just enough to divert you in another direction, eventually you'll get away from the truth altogether. Their purpose is they're just, their, their purpose is deceit here. They're, they're just pushing it far enough away so that they can have these accusations against Moses and God against the temple and the Torah, and against, uh, de for the purpose of destroying the temple and changing the customs by the way the temple gets destroyed and the customs change.

37:50 I just wanna point that out. And it's not the followers of Yeshua who changed the customs. And so everyone watching him intently, who everyone who was sitting in the Sanhedrin saw his face was like the face of an angel. Everyone should have this basic question right now. How does Luke know what the Sanhedrin thought? If you don't have that question, you need to train yourself when you're reading the scriptures to ask questions like that. Because my presumption is that one of those, at least one of those, perhaps a number of those who sat on the Sanhedrin

38:38 had a change of heart at some point, and were able to fill, were able to talk to Luke as a source and tell him what exactly happened. Because I'll tell you, this seems to be a very detailed account of what happens in the Sanhedrin, not something Luke could be like, Hey, they kind of were sitting in a horseshoe, uh, setting. They probably thought he looked like an angel, because you know, we all know Steven. He's, he, he's an angel and he is a perfect pitch. But, um, I I, I took Rabbi Sean's joke from last week. I thought it was a fantastic joke. Anyways, but we know Steven just looks like an angel. We can presume that's what everybody thought. No, it's as if he's, Luke is a historian here. He's recording details for us, the reader or the hearer.

39:27 So it seems to me that this necessitates at least one of Luke's, uh, sources is someone sitting in the room Now, we could, we could spend an, an afternoon discussing who that might be. Could it be Joseph who came and took Yeshua's body down and was one of, was one of those influential, could it be Gamliel who said, Hey, let's not do anything and see if this is from the Lord. Then it will prosper. And if it's not, it will fade away. It could be someone else. We know it's not Paul yet,

40:13 but it could be Paul in the end after Paul had some reflections. We do know, by the way, I know I'm, I'm jumping ahead to probably July or maybe end of June, but we do know that Paul was there when Steven was stoned. What sentence do the Sanhedrin give to Steven? Now, again, I'm jumping ahead for the purpose of understanding these accusations in this, the setting here. They stone him for blasphemy. It's a capital punishment. And the next question you should ask yourself is, who is permitted to enforce capital punishment?

40:59 Right now, only Rome. So for the Sanhedrin to enforce capital punishment and actually stone Steven, it means one of two things. Either A, it didn't start off as a, as a, as a capital, uh, what do you call it? A, a, a defense against a capital accusation, you know, something with a, with a sentence of death and it just happened. Or B, perhaps the Roman government was in turmoil at this point and Pilate stepped aside and there was no governor to enforce anything. So just so you know, that happened in, in 36 and 37, there was a period of time where Pilate had been deposed

41:45 and the new governor was not yet in. And it also coincides with the end of Caiaphas as the high priest That occurs in 36 and 37, this event could have potentially occurred in that gap before the next governor arrived. So what does this mean for you and me? A lot of this that I talked about today was really historical in helping you understand the geography and where people are from.

42:32 But there's a couple things that I want us to walk away from with. Number one, how do others describe our character? If someone were, if, if, if the book of Acts were to be written today, and they were, they were analyzing us here at em and they said so and so, what descriptors would they use for you? Would they use full of faith and power? Would they use full of wisdom in the Holy Spirit? Is that a descriptor that would be used for us or not? It seems to me that we should aspire to have these same characteristics in our own lives

43:19 as exists in the life of Yeshua, uh, Yeshua, Peter, Stephen, the rest of the emissaries. Do people describe you as a person of faith? What does faith mean to you? Does faith mean to you that I believe that Yeshua died for my sins? Or does faith mean to you that I believe that Yeshua died for my sins and has empowered me to act as his agent here on earth to do good for others? Because James talks about this. James says in James chapter two, he says, show me your faith without works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

44:07 Again, it's not that the works are for the purpose of you gaining salvation. It's that your salvation and your faith and your understanding leads you into this. It's a direct byproduct of your faith. Your faith is an action, not a noun. It doesn't just exist. It exists for a purpose to be active. So how do others describe our character? What does it say about our faith? Are we described as full of faith? And what does that mean? Secondly, let us let the Ruach use and speak through us in our experiences and in our trials

44:56 and tribulations like happens with Steven. You all know this, but Steven becomes the first martyr for the faith. We will, again, we will get into his defense and his subsequent, uh, stoning over the next two and a half months. But Steven, during this defense, it is my belief, and I think I can prove it, that Steven sowed a seed and a young man named Rob Shaul that we will see the fruit of later in the Book of Acts, and really through the rest of the Brit Kaha, Stephen's faith had actions

45:42 and his actions influenced Paul. I I don't think anybody could, could say that Paul was not an active influencer in the world. And just think about that. Steven was the one who planted the seed in Paul, when we are difficult in difficult situations, do we allow the spirit of the Lord to stir us up and to speak through us to those in need of hearing about Yeshua and receiving his provision? Do we allow that or do we say, God, not right now. I'm busy.

46:31 I, again, I'm not trying to be, uh, uh, I'm not trying to put any condemnation on anyone because all of us end up busy and sometimes we feel the, the Holy Spirit leading us and we're like, Lord, not right now. I'm doing your will. Don't you remember, again, I'm not trying to condemn you. This happens to all of us, but we need to become, we need to develop a sensitivity to when he says move or jump, our response is how high, how quick where, which direction? Who, what's the name? Where do you like? Tell me, Lord, what do you want me to do? He shouldn't have to hit you over the head with a symbol.

47:19 He should just have to go, Laurie, That's it. Or, or whatever your name is. I recognize, I I spoke my own name. It just, you have to be ready for the whisper. You have to be ready for the gentle touch. You have to be ready. You know, some of us, we get a gut check. You ever hear that? Well, I had a gut check. That person just, my gut just didn't sit right or I wanted to choose this option because my gut just told me that's the right option. Oftentimes that gut check, that's the Holy Spirit directing you. Now, maybe, maybe your gut craves Cadillac barbecue more than other things.

48:06 Maybe that's not so much the Holy Spirit, but maybe it is. Anyways, I'm, I'm starting to talk about lunch. I think I'm hungry. How do others describe our character? Do they talk about us as full of faith? Do we allow the ruach to speak through us and to minister through us? And remember finally that in all of this and everything that we do, all of the glory goes to God. It's not for the sake of me leading bru Hashem. It's not for the sake of you leading your business. It's not for the sake of, of you leading your family. It's not for any of our sake. It's for the sake of God.

49:01 You know, it's a common phrase in Judaism to say for his name's sake. Why? Because we want to, we want to do stuff so that it builds the name of the Lord in, in esteem among all peoples. And we can either build up the name of the Lord or we can tear it down, both of which come through our actions. One of them, dare I say, uses the name of the Lord lightly, which is a violation of one of the commandments. The other is us building up the Lord and directing, Hey, you, you had a great word today, rabbi Ari.

49:47 Great. I'm glad the Lord ministered to you because I, that that must have been for you. 'cause I didn't have, that part wasn't in my message. I can't tell you how many times I've had someone come up and say, this really spoke to me. And, and I thought I didn't prep that part. I don't even know if I said that part. Why? Because that's what God will do to use me to stir you up. Why? Because it's for his glory for you to go out and be active and to, to be His representatives in this, in, in Dallas. That's for his glory. It's not for the glory of Brook Hashem. Uh, I don't know that we have glory, but what we have is all the lords. I do know that. So in all that you do, just think about

50:36 how do people describe you? Talk about your faith. Do you permit the Holy Spirit, the ruakaka kodesh, to operate in your life and to direct you and in all things? Do you remember to give glory to God? Ave Sha may our Father in heaven. Lord, we thank you for the Shabbat. Lord, I thank you for this opportunity, uh, to study, uh, about Stephen and, and about the circumstances that, uh, that set up for his defense of his faith. Lord, I pray that you would, uh, remember us today. Remember your people. Remember those who are in captivity today. Lord, I just ask that you would set your people free. Lord, we bless you

51:21 and praise you in the name of our Messiah, Yeshua. Amen. Anim the benediction. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

52:21 In the name of our Messiah, Yeshua Shalom.