Episode 136 – Don’t Forget to Remember – Acts 7:1-29

Speaker 1:

It is time for a pause in your day. Welcome to a podcast where we press the pause button on our busy lives for a few moments, and we focus on God’s word with Sharon and Nicole. We pray this is a time of refreshing for you. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries.

Nicole:

Welcome to Sweet Selah Moments. This is episode 136, Don’t Forget to Remember. Today we’re going to look at one of the Bible’s most famous sermons preached by a man about to be stoned to death. Yes, Stephen, one of the earliest followers of Christ, has been accused and is now about to give his defense in Acts chapter seven. It’s an interesting defense, Sharon. He basically recites the history of the Jewish nation, at least in the first part of the speech that we’re gonna look at today. Why do you think he spends so much time repeating old history?

Sharon:

That’s such a good question, Nicole. It’s something that I pondered a little bit because everyone there knew the history that Stephen shared and that we will read later in today’s discussion. So why share it again? I can think of several reasons. First of all, Stephen wanted them to know that he was a devout Jew. He knew his history. He remembered all that God had done in the past. Second, I think Stephen wanted to set the groundwork for the message of Jesus by grounding it in what had happened in the past, sort of finding common ground with his accusers and showing them his orthodoxy. See, I am orthodox. I do believe all these things to be true. I do support Moses, even though you told me I didn’t, you know? He believed the scriptures as they did. And third, simply that remembering the past is super important. We need to do that too. So we’re actually gonna do that. Before we look into Stephen’s remembrances, we’re gonna share a few of our own. This has been fun preparing for. (NIcole: It has) So let’s go back and forth sharing pivotal moments in our own faith journeys. I’d like you to start, what’s one of your early memories of something that drew you closer to God? Let’s start with our childhood years and kind of walk ourselves in faith up to today. We’ve gotta remember these pivotal moments and share them with others. So it’s story time. (Yay!) Go ahead Nicole.

Nicole:

This is so fun. So one of my very first early childhood memories was right after I asked Jesus into my heart and was baptized that next Easter. We were in my favorite childhood church ’cause we had moved quite a bit with military, but this church was just my favorite. They had lots of kids programs. They had dramas and play productions. I just loved being there. And that Easter, they did a really special drama. They dramatized, Jesus’ death and resurrection and it was so profound for me. It had a whole new meaning to me. Now that he was my personal Savior. (Sharon: Yes) It just felt so special and real. And then they did this very special communion where they passed out whole dinner rolls.

Sharon: Wow.

Nicole:

To a 6-year-old that’s like, wow. No dry wafers. But I remember holding this whole dinner roll going, this is amazing. But the fact that they connected communion with his sacrifice, it was so special, that first communion. (Sharon: Oh) I just remember eating that roll and thinking, wow, this is his body. He did die for me. (Yes) That was a big moment in my little heart.

Sharon:
I love that. And isn’t it fun how you saw what a difference the Holy Spirit made?

Nicole: Yeah.

Sharon: That’s lovely.

Nicole:
So cool that he revealed himself to my little heart.

Sharon:
I think that’s so sweet.

Nicole:
And I just loved that roll.

Sharon:

I was just gonna say to make you remember your first communion (NIcole: Yes) he said, here’s a honking big roll to remember it with.

Nicole:
I know. So fun. I love it. How about you?

Sharon:

Oh, well, you know, as I look back I thought, I have a rhythm in my early childhood that has stuck with me all these years, I think ’cause it was repeated every single night from the time, probably I was three or four until maybe 12 or 13. And that was family devotions. My parents did family devotions. So we read a Bible called The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes.

Nicole:
Oh, that’s cute.

Sharon:

And so there’d be a picture and they’d tell us the Bible story. And then there were three questions to answer. And my other siblings, two were close in age to me and then my brother was born quite a bit later, so the three of us that was a question for each of us for most of the years; so we’d answer the question and then we would kneel.

Nicole: Oh!

Sharon:

My father, my mother, me and Bethany and Raymond. And then little baby David was hanging out. (He came along) Yeah. So we would kneel and pray. Youngest to oldest, we would pray. (That’s so special) And then we would sing a little song called Jesus Tender Shepherd Hear me, Bless your little lamb tonight, (Oh my goodness) Through the nighttime be thou near me, Keep me safe to the morning light. I will not sing it. You can thank me, but I can hear it. And it was every night.

Nicole:
That’s so special.

Sharon:

All my growing up years, if anything solidified Christ in my life, it was that daily pattern. I will be forever grateful.

Nicole:
Oh, that’s so beautiful.

Sharon:
Forever. Ever grateful for it.

Nicole:
I love that.

Sharon:
Yeah. Aren’t we blessed?

Nicole:
We are so blessed.

Sharon:
We are both blessed with good childhood memories.

Nicole: Yes. Yes.

Sharon:
I mean, we have some bad ones too. But, you know, I’m really thankful for the good ones.

Nicole: Yes, indeed.

Sharon:

So let’s move on to marriage. I think our listeners will be happy that we’re not going to go year by year on this section.

Nicole:

This could take a long time.

Sharon:

Yes. Let’s move to marriage. So marriage to Josh. What was pivotal for becoming a godly wife? What is some of the things about marriage that you remember? What should you remember?

Nicole:

Yeah. I know there’s been so many moments, but I was thinking back to the one that kind of stood out the most. It was right before I’d had my first child, Olivia. I was pregnant with her, and I was reading this great book about insecurity and how we as wives fall prey to trying to get our sense of worth from our spouses. We put too much pressure on them to satisfy that longing that we need to get from God. And how that kind of shifted to, you know, that’s not good because a marriage of an insecure flawed human who will, mostly inadvertently, not make me feel loved all the time (Sharon: Of course) and glorious. So it was that moment that I stopped trying to please Josh and to get him to fill my self worth, and then looked to God instead for that. So it didn’t depend on if he’s having a bad day or forgot to tell me I looked cute today, or told me I had a good lunch or made him a good supper, that didn’t mean as much, it didn’t matter as much if he forgot.

Sharon: I love it.

Nicole:

So the pressure was off of him and I became a much better wife. And he reaped the benefits of having a more settled, I think, wife that wasn’t always like, oh, you don’t think I’m beautiful today? I didn’t need that from him as much.

Sharon: Yeah. Yeah.

Nicole:

Not perfect. Still falter. And sometimes I really do want to hear that I made a nice supper, that I look cute. (Sharon: Yes) But I don’t cling to his words as much. Now I cling to what God says to me.

Sharon:

That’s an awesome shift. It really is. And it’s one we all have to make because we can’t idolize our spouse. I think, you know, most of us have been there where it takes a while to realize that we put too much pressure on them. That’s good.

Nicole:

They don’t want that pressure. And if they’re having a bad day, I would have a bad day. And that just wasn’t, it wasn’t going very well.

Sharon:

Yeah. No. Oh, man. Well, mine was definitely what I sadly refer to as the PhD years. (NIcole: Oh yeah) When Ray was teaching at West Point, trying to write a dissertation, having to drive half an hour, literally over a mountain to get to West Point. (Wow) We lived further away, totally exhausted all the time and had no time for us, had no time for himself. They were hard years. They really were. And I felt bitterness

creeping in because I had all the work of the home and the children on my shoulders. And instead of seeing how busy he was, I focused on poor me. Right.

Nicole:
We’re so good at that.

Sharon:

Which is a very sad and selfish thing. So I turned to prayer through the advice of a godly mentor, and took every bitter thought as they came. And, oh, there were quite a few that came, and I turned them into a prayer right away. I had a set prayer, I prayed to fight off the bitterness that Satan was trying to hamper me with. (Nicole: Right) So I would just pray, Lord, help Ray to love you and love us more and more, even in this hard time. That was it. And that just turned off it. And after a while, whatever tormenting spirit was having fun, was like, I give up.

Nicole:
She keeps praying. It isn’t working.

Sharon:

She keeps praying. And that is when I really realized the power of prayer too. That if I wanna fight a negative thought, well if the negative thought’s coming from the enemy, the last thing he wants me doing is praying. So I can just say, oh, thank you for that bitter thought, ’cause now I’m gonna pray.

Nicole:
Oh, that’s a great reminder to pray to God. Right.

Sharon:
Yeah. So there’s that. Okay. Let’s move on to mother-ing. We’ve done wife-ing,

Nicole: We have.

Sharon:
So let’s do mother-ing.

Nicole:
Ah motherhood.

Sharon:
What have you learned about that?

Nicole:
Oh gosh, yeah. Motherhood is very refining, isn’t it?

Sharon: Oh, yes.

Nicole:
There’s something about kids that point out all your flaws a little bit more than husbands do, I think.

Sharon: Yeah. Yeah.

Nicole:

So I was thinking back to, I’d had two pretty scary pregnancies, and I’ve talked about that before. And then I lost a baby, which was obviously very difficult. And I remember during that time, I had a dream about Jesus, he just gave me this beautiful dream, and I had a picture of holding my baby and giving it to him and placing my baby in his hands. And that image has stuck with me through mothering all these years. You know, when I’m overwhelmed or worried and I’m trying to fix the girls on my own, I don’t know what to do with these four beautifully exhausting humans that need me all the time, I just sit back and in my mind, I visualize just like, kind of pushing my little herd of girls toward Jesus. Like they’re yours. You love them more than I ever could. You know their whole path. Like, why am I trying to control them so much again?

Sharon: Yes.

Nicole:

Their health, their everything, their character. You just kind of get so caught up in the daily things sometimes that I forget. He knows the big picture for them.

Sharon:
He does. Yeah.

Nicole:

He knows every hair on their head every day that they’re to live on this earth. Like, why do I need to keep pulling them back from him? So I do this, but he just whispers that to me, you know, I love them more than you can.

Sharon: Yeah. Yeah.

Nicole:

So I just keep giving them back to God. But in mothering that image is so precious to me of just passing them into his capable hands. Yeah.

Sharon:
What a beautiful memory, that is so, I love it. I love it. And it stood you well,

Nicole: It has.

Sharon:

Through the four that are still with you here on earth.

Nicole: Yes.

Sharon:

I like it. So one of my favorite memories now as having adult children, is again, a rhythm. I think I must be a rhythm person.

Nicole:
You must be a really good dancer.

Sharon:

I don’t even know. But a rhythm that we do with our adult children, because they don’t live near us. (Nicole: Right) We will fly to visit them or drive to visit them, and they’ll have to do the same to us. is the last night of a visit. The adults sit and share prayer requests with each other. (Oh) And then we go in a circle. Ray always decides, we let him, and he’ll say, okay, so Sharon, you’re gonna pray for Mary. Mary, you’ll pray for me. You know, and we pray for each other until we see each other again.

Nicole:
Oh, that’s really cool.

Sharon:

It is so beautiful. And so I have this beautiful memory of multiple times doing this with them. And as we do it, we’re remembering the visit and then we’re reminded on how to pray. So there’s all kinds of things that come out of that in the future. I love hearing what my son-in-law wants prayer for. (Nicole: Right) Because it gives me an insight into him that I might not get in casual conversation.

Nicole:
Right. Right. So she may not get to that. Right. Oh, I love that. Yeah. That’s a great idea.

Sharon:

Isn’t that sweet? Oh man. It’s so fun. Okay. Now, recent memory of something that, that has caused you to grow and that you should remember.

Nicole:

I should remember. Yes. I’ve been journaling again, I haven’t been journaling in a while, but I’ve been practicing rhythms in my life because they’re very helpful.

Sharon:
They are. Yes.

Nicole:

When one is busy, easily distracted. So, the rhythm of journaling, the title of my journal says, ‘now all I know is grace’. And I’ve just been pondering that and like, God, what does that mean? What does that mean? And I’d read a passage in, I think it’s 2 Corinthians, it might be first about, where Paul says that

you don’t judge me God, so I don’t judge me like I am free. There’s no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. And I sat with Jesus one day and said, I don’t think I fully understand this God. I’m so hard on myself still. I still assume you are so hard on me. But then he did. He just revealed it to me. He spoke right into my heart and he’s like, before I even saved you, I knew you were still gonna sin. And he still saved me, Sharon.

Sharon:
He did, Honey. He did.

Nicole:

He knew I was still gonna be as messy as I am today. And still, even if I go through life as stubborn as Samson, where God still uses me blind and dying at the end, he’s still gonna accomplish his will through my life.

Sharon:
He is. He is.

Nicole:

So I can choose to be super stubborn, or I can walk with him and reap the benefits of fellowship with him when I get to heaven. He’s still gonna say, well done, thou good and faithful servant. Whether I did all the perfect things or all the wrong things. He still loves me and I just can’t get over that.

Sharon:
Yeah. That grace.

Nicole:

That grace, it’s so beautiful. But just something that he’s just really pressed upon me again. So now there’s this, there’s a freedom that comes from knowing how deeply he loves me. I can’t get this wrong. And it draws me to him. Like, how can I not wanna give him my whole life in this? Because his love for me is so beautiful.

Sharon:
Isn’t it? Yeah. Yeah. I love it. Well, I’ve got a phrase too. Isn’t that interesting how he gives you phrases?

Nicole: Yes.

Sharon:
And you remember them and they help you.

Nicole:
It helps you remember, yeah.

Sharon:

Yeah. I was reading John 15 for one of our online bible studies and noticed something new about the vine and the branches. Usually when I read, I’m ‘remain in him so I can bear much fruit’. I’m a doer. Right.

(Yes) Must bear fruit. This time I just camped on ‘remain in my love’. (Oh) He doesn’t just want me to remain in him to bear fruit. Although I do love that. I love being useful to him. (Yes) He would like me to remain in his love because he loves me. (Oh) And he wants me to feel the love he felt from his Father as a human on earth. That love is what he wants for me. So, it’s another thing. He’s always calling us closer. (He is) He’s calling you closer. He’s calling me closer. And I can just whisper throughout the day, I want to remain in your love. Keep me that close. I don’t wanna walk away from it. Yeah.

Nicole:
Oh, I love it.

Sharon:
Oh, our God is so good.

Nicole:
He is. He’s so nice.

Sharon:

So, when we review history, what we’re doing is remembering how he met us in the past. And then even our recent history we’re reminded of things he told us in our quiet times that carry us through the days. Remembering is huge.

Nicole: Yes, it is.

Sharon:

So we’re gonna let Stephen remember and we’re gonna read all about it today. So Acts 7 is where we are. So why don’t you start and let’s do it by sections.

Nicole:

Okay. This is a big passage. “Then the high priest asked Stephen, are these accusations true? This was Stephen’s reply: Brothers and fathers listen to me. Our glorious God appeared to our ancestor Abraham in Mesopotamia before he settled in Haran. God told him, leave your native land and your relatives and come into the land I will show you. So Abraham left the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran until his father died. Then God brought him here to the land where you now live. But God gave him no inheritance here. Not even one square foot of land. God did promise, however, that eventually the whole land would belong to Abraham and his descendants, even though he had no children yet. God also told him that his descendants would live in a foreign land where they would be oppressed as slaves for 400 years. But I will punish the nation that enslaves them, God said, and in the end, they will come out and worship me here in this place. God also gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision at this time. So then Abraham became the father of Isaac. He circumcised him on the eighth day, and the practice was continued when Isaac became the father of Jacob. And when Jacob became the father of the 12 patriarchs of the Israelite nation.”

Sharon:

There you go. Then that was Acts 7:1-8. Well, what stands out to you most in this about Abraham and his faith walk? This is all about Abraham mostly.

Nicole:

Yeah. It’s so interesting. When he first starts out, he leaves everything behind. He didn’t have a child yet for descendants. He didn’t have any land. God didn’t say, oh, go here, you already have land set up for you. He stepped out in complete and utter faith. There was no plan B for Abraham.

Sharon:
He didn’t even really understand plan A.

Nicole: No.

Sharon:
He just did it.

Nicole:

He just did it. Like, when we step out, we always have a path or a plan or kinda like, well, if this falls through, we have this, like we move to a house, we have another house waiting for us.

Sharon: Right.

Nicole:

And from what I remember in a Bible study, the place he left was actually very nice. Like he was, I think he was fairly wealthy. He had like a nice home. So he left so much to just trust God. Like, okay, I have no kids, no land here I go.

Sharon: Here, I go.

Nicole:
You’re making something totally new, a whole new nation that’s yours. Like, what does that even mean?

Sharon:
And I have no children. Yeah.

Nicole:
Right. Just a lot of unknowns. But he just left and followed God.

Sharon:

He did, all his life. And even though he actually never gained the land himself. (Nicole: Right) He still believed. The faith was huge. Absolutely. So cool. So we remember Abraham as a father of the faith.

Nicole: Yes.

Sharon:

Okay. So now I’m gonna read about another famous guy, Joseph, as Stephen continues his history lesson. So this is Acts 7:9-16. So we’re back to talking about the patriarchs, Abraham and Jacob. And verse nine says, “These patriarchs were jealous of their brother Joseph (the sons of Jacob). And they sold him to be a slave in Egypt. But God was with him and rescued him from all his troubles. And God gave him favor before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. God also gave Joseph unusual wisdom so that Pharaoh appointed him governor over all of Egypt and put him in charge of the palace. But a famine came upon Egypt and Canaan, there was great misery, and our ancestors ran out of food. Jacob heard there was still grain in Egypt so he sent his sons, our ancestors, to buy some. The second time they went, Joseph revealed his identity to his brothers, and they were introduced to Pharoah. (Man) Then Joseph sent for his father Jacob and all his relatives to come to Egypt, seventy-five persons in all. So Jacob went to Egypt, he died there, as did our ancestors. Their bodies were taken to Shechem and buried in the tomb Abraham had bought for a certain price from Hamor’s sons in Shechem.” So, okay. God certainly lets his people suffer to refine them.

Nicole: He does.

Sharon:
Joseph gets this great dream, gets this pretty little coat, and next thing he knows, he’s a slave in Egypt.

Nicole: Right.

Sharon:

And then he allowed a famine. God allowed a famine. So, we’re recounting history and we’re remembering that God doesn’t always do things in the way we would expect.

Nicole: Right.

Sharon: Right?

Nicole: Right.

Sharon:

So that’s kind of where I came down on this one. That Joseph was definitely refined through all this. He could have been so bitter and been delighted at a chance to get back at his brothers when they showed up, and he did not.

Nicole:

Right. I was thinking that like what if he had just gone right to secondhand man in Egypt under Pharaoh to that position without the refinement. He might have used his power for evil. He might not have had a humble heart that was kind to help them when they needed food. (Sharon: Right) You know, he could have, like you said, taken vengeance on his brothers. I mean, he could have very easily destroyed all of

them because he was second in command in Egypt. (Yeah, he absolutely could have). So I just, that refinement that God walked him through, he didn’t seem to complain. We don’t see that in the text. But I mean, God was with him through all that, everything. He didn’t keep him from the trials, but he was with Joseph in the trials. And he delivered him out of the trials.

Sharon:

Exactly. So, we’re here in a rocky history really aren’t we? So, okay, let’s finish this part of the sermon with Moses. Would you read verses 17 to 29?

Nicole:

(All right) “As the time drew near when God would fulfill his promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt greatly increased. But then a new king came to the throne of Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph.” (I wonder what happened about that. How come he didn’t know about Joseph? I’ll have to look that up.)

Sharon:
Did they not write about him in the history books?

Nicole:
Right. Were there no pictures of him? I mean.

Sharon:
No. Or maybe that king didn’t like history.

Nicole: Maybe.

Sharon:
And he forgot.

Nicole:

(Maybe. That’s for another day) So verse 19, “This king exploited our people and oppressed them, forcing parents to abandon their newborn babies so they would die. At this time Moses was born, a beautiful child in God’s eyes. His parents cared for him at home for three months. When they had to abandon him Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and raised him as her own son. Moses was taught all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was powerful in both speech and action. One day when Moses was 40 years old, he decided to visit his relatives, the people of Israel. He saw an Egyptian mistreating an Israelite. So Moses came to the man’s defense and avenged him, killing the Egyptian. Moses assumed his fellow Israelites would recognize that God had sent him to rescue them, but they didn’t. The next day, he visited them again and saw two men of Israel fighting. He tried to be a peacemaker. Men, he said, you are brothers. Why are you fighting each other? But the man in the wrong pushed Moses aside. Who made you a ruler and judge over us, he asked, are you gonna kill me as you killed that Egyptian yesterday? When Moses heard that he fled the country and lived as a foreigner in the land of Midian. There his two sons were born.”

Sharon:

Do you know, Nicole, as I’ve been listening to all these stories, I’m sensing a theme that I think Stephen wanted his listeners to get ahold of. And that is that things don’t happen the way you think they’re going to.

Nicole:
That’s a great point.

Sharon:
Moses thinks he’s going to, you know, take over and be the hero. He speaks well at this point, 40 years.

Nicole:
Yes. Did you notice that?

Sharon:

Yeah. And forty years later in the wilderness, he’s like, I’m a stutterer. I can’t do this. So he had to be totally humbled before he could be used. Well, Stephen’s, eventually next week when we do the podcast, gonna get to talking about Jesus. And I think he’s setting them up to say, Hey, our God does not work in the ways we expect. So you are expecting a king, and Jesus didn’t come as a king.

Nicole: Right.

Sharon:
But he always works in ways that are ‘off’ from a human perspective.

Nicole:

Right. So it doesn’t seem like the easiest, quickest path. Like Moses just wanted to waltz down and like, Hey, I’m your relative. God told me to deliver you. They’re like, who are you?

Sharon:

Right. Exactly. So, and Jesus came as a lamb, not the lion yet. You know? So I think he’s kind of, he’s, you know, he is repeating the history for a lot of reasons. But one of them is, can we remember that God told Abraham to go where he didn’t know where to go, and that Joseph had to be a slave first. (Nicole: Yes) And that Moses started his career at 80, basically. You know, God works differently. So why did you think you knew how Jesus would come?

Nicole:
Ooh, that’s so good.

Sharon:

That’s my theory, anyways, so, but anyways. Okay. We’re gonna choose favorite verses. So my favorite verse was verse 22, because of that speech thing. “Moses was taught all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was powerful in both speech and action.” Yeah. I never noticed that until this reading you and I both, that stood out to us because we remembered that at the burning bush, Moses is like, I can’t speak.

Nicole:

Mm-Hmm. Yeah. Like what happened in forty years?

Sharon:
God actually had to weaken him so that his strength could be manifested in him. It just fascinating.

Nicole:

Wow. That is neat. I wonder if, ’cause he learned the wisdom of the Egyptians, I wonder if he was trying to do it in what he knew in his own strength.

Sharon: Right.

Nicole:
And well, I’m a great Egyptian speaker, I’m gonna come to the Israelites on my own.

Sharon: Yeah. Yeah.

Nicole:
Very interesting.

Sharon:
He had to be emptied first. (Nicole: Yeah) What was your favorite verse?

Nicole:

Oh, that’s cool. I liked verse nine. It said, “These patriarchs were jealous of their brother Joseph, and they sold him to be a slave in Egypt, but God was with him.” (Sharon: Aw) And I love that. And the first part of that 10 says, “and rescued him from all his troubles”. But I love that again, when things don’t go the way we planned. He had a vision. He probably had an idea of how God was going to use him. He was really excited about this dream. God took him down a really rough path instead. But God was with him. (He was) He didn’t like, well see you at the end of this rough patch. You know, you’re on your own. But He, God is with us through hard things.

Sharon:

It’s so amazing. It’s like he has to weaken us so we notice him. (Nicole: Yeah) Abraham’s going where he doesn’t know where he is going. Joseph’s a slave. Moses gets kicked out of Egypt and lives in obscurity for forty years. It’s almost like, I can’t use you till you realize you need me.

Nicole:
Right. Would get us out of our little comfort area, out of our safe little, you know, routines?

Sharon:

Yeah. Fascinating. Okay. What did we learn about God from this passage? What did you learn about God?

Nicole:

He has been with us from the start, as he’s recounting the history of all these men. He was with Abraham, he’s with Joseph. He was with (Sharon: Moses) Moses. I was gonna say Stephen. I’m like, no, we’re not there yet.

Sharon:
He was definitely with Stephen.

Nicole:

He is, he’s with him right now as we’re talking. But just that he was with all of these men of faith that paved the way for the fact that God is with me today.

Sharon: Yes!

Nicole:
And it’s kind of neat.

Sharon:

It is. It’s beautiful. And I put God uses unlikely circumstances to train us. So when we face something we don’t like, like when I lost my hearing, that was not my favorite time. But there was a training that came from that that was good. So I have to remember that. (Nicole: Yeah) The most unlikely things God uses for good. (He does) And what did I learn about the early church? Well, the early church reasoned from the Bible. Scriptures were huge for them. And we need to never walk away from the living word of God, the Bible in our own churches. And then I also learned they were bold and passionate, really wanting others to see and come into the truth. I mean, Stephen’s in a dangerous situation and Oh, he’s not backing down. He’s giving a sermon. He’s not like, sorry guys, I’ll be a little quieter. You know, he’s preaching.

Nicole:
He goes at it full throttle. That’s cool.

Sharon:
Yeah. What did you, what did you learn about the early church?

Nicole:

I think that they seem to go back and talk about history. And I think that’s really important. Like, remember, oh, remember our fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, they continually remember who came before them. And they don’t just highlight their, their highlights, their big moments. They go through the low moments too. And I think that’s really important.

Sharon: It is.

Nicole:

You have to remember where we’ve come from and what God has brought us through, and not just the big mountaintop experiences, so we don’t fool ourselves or trick new believers into thinking it’s all gonna be like these powerful moments where your face is glowing. Well, also this happened before and this is

gonna happen tomorrow for him. (Exactly) So I think it’s really important to accurately remember our history with God.

Sharon:

I agree. Remember the hard as well as the good. And present it as, and this is the Christian walk. (Yes) There’s hard as well as good, but oh man, even in the hard, it’s good.

Nicole:
It’s good in the hard. Yes.

Sharon:
Because he’s with us. And to be real, people that don’t have Christ also have hard.

Nicole: They do.

Sharon:
They just don’t have God with them in it.

Nicole:
Right. The hard is harder.

Sharon:

What would you like? Would you like the hard without God trying to figure it out on your own or would you like him to make your face glow in the middle of it?

Nicole: Right, aww!

Sharon:

There’s our choices. So, okay. Well, let’s pray. Oh, Father, thank you for the gift of memory. Thank you that we don’t just sort of live in today without any remembrance of what has happened before ’cause memories can be so sustaining. Father, thank you for everything recorded in your word, the sort of communal memories of our faith, starting way back with Adam and Eve. I’m just so grateful for that. And Lord, help us to never forget the things you have done in our own personal lives and our stories that have shaped us, that have helped us, that enable us to serve you and that draw us near so we can just remain in your love, amazed by your grace. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Nicole:

Well, that was fun. Exploring our own histories of life with Jesus. We’d love to hear your stories too. Write us by emailing us at sharon@sweetselah.org or by commenting on this episode. You can find all our episodes @sweetselah.org/podcast. We’d be so grateful if you would give us a review and share this podcast with others. Thank you to those of you who have already done that. And please come back next week for episode 137, The High Cost of Rebellion. Thanks so much for listening and have a great week.

Speaker 1:

We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found @sweetselah.org. Thank you for joining us.