Text: Acts 6:8-15, 7:44-53

= Blessing of Obedience

John 14:23 - Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

Vs. 53 - you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it.”

Topic: Overcome the Spirit of

Disobedience

= Obedience of Abraham: Hebrews 11:8 - By faith

Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.

= Example of Obedience: John 15:10 - If you obey

my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.

How Can We Enjoy the Joy of

Obedience in this world?

1. Stubbornness – Hardened Spirit

Vs. 51 - “You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears!

(1) It is against God’s Heart Romans 5:5 - we know how

dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

Romans 5:8 - But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

(2) It is against God’s Thought Isaiah 55:9 - As the

heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

(3) It is against God’s Plan Jeremiah 29:11 – For I

know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

A Case Study of Simon’s Folly

(1) No View of God’s Heart Acts 8:21,23 - You have no

part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.”

(2) No View of God’s ThoughtActs 8:20 – Peter answered: “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money!

(3) No View of God’s Plan Acts 8:19 - “Give me also

this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”

2. Secularism – Heathen Spirit

Vs. 51 - “You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears!

= What is the Definition of “Uncircumcised” from the Reading of the Bible?

Vs. 51 - You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit!

(1) Covenant between God and Israel - OT

Genesis 17:10 - This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised.

Genesis 17:14 - Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”

(2) Covenant between Jesus and Christians – N.T

Luke 22:20 - In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.

= Is it Possible for Christians to Keep Non-Christian Ways in their Life?

1Cor. 3:1-3 – Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men?

= Why is it Possible for the Circumcised People to Remain as Uncircumcised People?

Vs. 51 - “You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit!

Acts 6:12 - So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin.

A Case Study on Circumcision of Heart

Rom 2:25-29 - Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised. If those who are not circumcised keep the law’s requirements, will they not be

regarded as though they were circumcised? The one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you who, even though you have the written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker. A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and

physical. No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man’s praise is not from men, but from God.

(1) What will happen if non-Christians hold the positions of leadership in the church?

(2) What will happen if Christians with Non-Christian’s hearts hold the leadership positions in the church?

(3) Is there any difference between the two written above?

= How does One’s Heart Affect One’s Hearing?

Vs. 51 - You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears!

2Kings 17:14 - But they would not listen and were as stiff-necked as their fathers, who did not trust in the LORD their God.

(1) Hinder Knowledge Ephesians 4:17-19 – So I tell

you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.

(2) Hinder Wholeness Revelation 1:3 - Blessed is

the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.

Mt. 23:2-3 - The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses. So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practice what they teach.

(3) Hinder Renewal Hebrews 3:13,15 - But

encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.”

The Steadfast Love of the Lord Never Ceases

His Mercies Never Come to an End

The Steadfast Love of the Lord Never Ceases

His Mercies Never Come to an End

They are New Every _______

The Steadfast Love of the Lord Never Ceases

His Mercies Never Come to an End

They are New Every Morning

New Every MorningGreat is thy faithfulness,

O LordGreat is thy faithfulness.

= How does the Written Word Come Alive to You today? (1) Study the Words of God(2) Learn the Lessons of God(3) Catch the Principles of God

3. Resistance – Rebellious Spirit

Vs. 51 - You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit!

= Why was the Sanhedrin Rejected by the Holy Spirit in the Early Church Movement for the whole world?

Vs. 51 - You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit!

John 14:16-17 - And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.

= How do the Scriptures Show on the Destiny of the Disobedient People?

(1) God’s Warning Exodus 33:3 - Go up to

the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way.”

Nehemiah 9:29 - You warned them to return to your law, but they became arrogant and disobeyed your commands. They sinned against your ordinances, by which a man will live if he obeys them. Stubbornly they turned their backs on you, became stiff-necked and refused to listen.

(2) Jesus’ Prediction Mt 23:37-39 - O

Jerusalem, Jerusalem you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.

Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’

(3) Paul’s AgonyRomans 9:1-5 - With Christ as my witness, I speak with utter truthfulness. My conscience and the Holy Spirit confirm it. My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief for my people, my Jewish brothers and sisters. I would be willing to be forever cursed—cut off from Christ!—if that would save

them. They are the people of Israel, chosen to be God’s adopted children. God revealed his glory to them. He made covenants with them and gave them his law. He gave them the privilege of worshiping him and receiving his wonderful promises. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are their ancestors, and Christ himself was an Israelite as far as his human nature is concerned.

= How Can We Stop the Spirit of Disobedience from Being Handed Down to the Next Generation?

Vs. 52 - Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him.

2Timothy 1:5 - I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.

How Can We Enjoy the Joy of Obedience in this world?

Let Us Get Rid of Stubbornness - Hardened

Spirit Secularism - Heathen Spirit Resistance - Rebellious Spirit