I heard a message by Clayton King while visiting the church our son and his family attend near Quantico, VA. His message was about Stephen, titled \u201cSuffering and a Standing Ovation,\u201d from Acts chapters 6 and 7. The things he said and the point of the message were probably different from what I heard, which is the case in a lot of sermons we hear. I say this because \u2013 1. I don\u2019t want you to think that I know more than I really do, and 2. that you don\u2019t think Clayton King has lost his mind.<\/p>\n
Saint Francis of Assisi said, \u201cPreach the gospel at all times, when necessary use words.\u201dThe early church did not have the New Testament to read about Jesus and the things that he said. They relied on the testimony of the eyewitnesses who had seen and heard Jesus. In the same way, people today who are not Christians do not read the New Testament to know about Jesus, they watch our lives and hear our testimony (our witness) to formulate their opinions of Christ, either good or bad. It is like the saying goes, \u201cYou may be the only Bible some people ever read.\u201d <\/p>\n
In Acts chapter 6, Stephen is selected to serve because he was \u201ca man full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom.\u201d Clayton said, \u201cOne of Stephen\u2019s greatest gifts was his boldness. It takes boldness to be a witness for Christ. We are bold about the things we are passionate about.\u201d If we were as bold about our witness for Christ as we are about other things in our lives, we would probably be more successful in our witness.<\/p>\n
When Stephen is falsely accused and brought in before the Sanhedrin, he boldly called them out for who they truly were \u2013 the ones who \u201cbetrayed and murdered\u201d Christ. This angered the leaders so much that they dragged Stephen out and began to stone him. The scripture says, \u201cLaying their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.\u201d In Acts 22:20, Saul, who was by then called Paul, has this to say about the events of that day, \u201cAnd when the blood of your martyr, Stephen, was shed, I stood there giving my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.\u201d Paul saw firsthand how Stephen suffered and died; fearless, bold, and asking the Lord to forgive those who did this.<\/p>\n
Stephen, in the middle of his greatest suffering, being stoned to death, asked God to forgive those who were doing this to him. Can you imagine the impact this had on Paul\u2019s life? Clayton King said in his sermon, \u201c\u2026without Stephen, there is no Paul. Don\u2019t miss your opportunity because you want to miss your suffering.\u201d Because you never know who is watching, even in your suffering.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"excerpt","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":5888,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,4],"tags":[940,175,1206,1205,1220,712],"class_list":{"0":"post-5887","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boys-ministries","8":"category-discipleship-ministries","9":"tag-940","10":"tag-david-moore","11":"tag-quarter-4","12":"tag-successful-in-witness","13":"tag-successful-in-witness-through-suffering","14":"tag-suffering","15":"entry"},"title_es":"Exitoso en el testimonio a trav\u00e9s del sufrimiento","content_es":"Escuch\u00e9 un mensaje de Clayton King mientras visitaba la iglesia a la que asisten nuestro hijo y su familia cerca de Quantico, VA. Su mensaje fue sobre Stephen, titulado "Sufrimiento y una ovaci\u00f3n permanente", de Hechos cap\u00edtulos 6 y 7. Las cosas que dijo y el punto del mensaje probablemente fueron diferentes de lo que escuch\u00e9, que es el caso en muchos sermones que o\u00edr. Digo esto porque: 1. No quiero que pienses que s\u00e9 m\u00e1s de lo que realmente s\u00e9, y 2. que no crees que Clayton King se haya vuelto loco. San Francisco de As\u00eds dijo: "Predica el evangelio en todo momento, cuando sea necesario, usa palabras". La iglesia primitiva no ten\u00eda el Nuevo Testamento para leer acerca de Jes\u00fas y las cosas que dijo. Confiaron en el testimonio de los testigos oculares que hab\u00edan visto y o\u00eddo a Jes\u00fas. De la misma manera, las personas de hoy que no son cristianas no leen el Nuevo Testamento para saber acerca de Jes\u00fas, miran nuestras vidas y escuchan nuestro testimonio (nuestro testimonio) para formular sus opiniones sobre Cristo, buenas o malas. Es como dice el dicho: "Puede ser la \u00fanica Biblia que algunas personas leen". En Hechos cap\u00edtulo 6, Stephen es seleccionado para servir porque era "un hombre lleno del Esp\u00edritu Santo y la sabidur\u00eda". Clayton dijo: "Uno Uno de los mayores regalos de Stephen fue su valent\u00eda. Se necesita valent\u00eda para ser testigo de Cristo. Somos audaces con las cosas que nos apasionan \u201d. Si fu\u00e9ramos tan audaces con nuestro testimonio de Cristo como con otras cosas en nuestras vidas, probablemente tendr\u00edamos m\u00e1s \u00e9xito en nuestro testimonio. Cuando Stephen es acusado falsamente y llevado ante el Sanedr\u00edn, los llam\u00f3 audazmente por lo que realmente eran: los que "traicionaron y asesinaron" a Cristo. Esto enfureci\u00f3 tanto a los l\u00edderes que arrastraron a Stephen y comenzaron a apedrearlo. La escritura dice: "Poniendo sus ropas a los pies de un joven llamado Sa\u00fal". En Hechos 22:20, Sa\u00fal, que entonces se llamaba Pablo, tiene esto que decir sobre los eventos de ese d\u00eda: "Y cuando la sangre de su m\u00e1rtir, Stephen, fue arrojado, me qued\u00e9 all\u00ed dando mi aprobaci\u00f3n y protegiendo la ropa de los que lo estaban matando. Paul vio de primera mano c\u00f3mo Stephen sufri\u00f3 y muri\u00f3; valiente, audaz y pidi\u00e9ndole al Se\u00f1or que perdone a los que hicieron esto. Esteban, en medio de su mayor sufrimiento, siendo lapidado hasta la muerte, le pidi\u00f3 a Dios que perdonara a los que le estaban haciendo esto. \u00bfTe imaginas el impacto que esto tuvo en la vida de Paul? Clayton King dijo en su serm\u00f3n: \u201c... sin Stephen, no hay Paul. No pierdas tu oportunidad porque quieres perder tu sufrimiento \u201d. Porque nunca sabes qui\u00e9n est\u00e1 mirando, incluso en tu sufrimiento.","author_name":"David Moore","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/10\/BM-Q4.1-Article-Graphic-Moore-e1572295333821.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4T9u2-1wX","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5887"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5887\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}