Book of Acts

5 February 2017

Dear Phyllis,

Last week with Sangha was absolutely incredible. He is easily the brightest thing that has happened to me since I have been in Thailand. It was truly a fortuitous day when Pammy went looking for a kindergarten to put our little girl Annie in. Annie was only with us for a few months but our relationship with Nettlahong kindergarten has persisted with increasing strength ever since then. It was a hallelujah day when Sangha accepted Jesus as his savior three years ago but little did I realize the deep bond that would develop between us since then. It is particularly amazing because Sangha's ability in English is stunningly poor. It would be unreasonable to expect him to understand much of any conversation, yet we spend at least an hour every day discussing deep things of the Spirit and the Word of God. Seldom have I met a man with such a hunger for the Bible. Every morning last week was fantastic. Wednesday we were talking about Stephen.

The Book of Acts is basically divided into two parts. From chapter 1 to 12 it is Peter, and from 13 to 28 it is Paul. But right in the middle of Acts there is an odd two chapters (6 &7) devoted to a man that was only an obscure deacon (Act 6:5). He certainly was a good man and surprisingly his message before the Sanhedrin is the longest message in the Bible. He was not a disciple. He was not an apostle. He was not a pastor or evangelist, but only a man that was chosen to “serve tables” (Act 6:2,3). The one thing that made Stephen outstanding was that he was filled with the Holy Spirit (Act 6:5; 7:55). We sure could use a few more Spirit filled laymen today. If we had a few more Spirit filled men like Stephen perhaps we could get by with a few less TV evangelists. He was so powerful that he got called to stand before the Jewish Sanhedrin (Israel congress). In his message from Act 7:2 to 50 basically all he is talking about is Jewish history. Then from verse 51 to 56 suddenly he goes ballistic and goes for their jugular. That so enraged the Sanhedrin that they took him outside to stone him. Stephen was the first NT martyr. But why should the Lord devote two chapters of the Book of Acts talking about this obscure deacon? For years I have pondered that question. Two week ago I believe the Lord gave the the answer to that question and I had a wonderful time sharing it with Sangha.

When everyone on the Sanhedrin lost their cool and dragged Stephen outside to kill him, a zealous young man said to one of his friends, “Here let me hold your coat”. This is the first time Saul's name appears in the Bible (Act 7:55).

This is a very weak argument, and if anyone wants to challenge me from the Word they can, but I believe it is a significant that the first verse in the next two chapters begin with “AND Saul”. The fact that both chapter 8 and 9 begin with “AND Saul” suggest that there is a grammatical connection with chapter 7, 8, and 9. The word AND is always used to connect two thought together. Admittedly, the AND at the beginning of 8 is to connect Stephen's martyrdom to Saul's intense program of persecution in the first three verses of Chapter 8. And the AND at the beginning of chapter 9 is picking up the story of that continued persecution. Anyone who knows the Word should know that Acts 9 is the story of the conversion of Saul. It was a special blessing for me Wednesday in sharing this story with Sangha that he didn't know that Saul's name later became Paul (Act 13:9).

Here is the secret to the mystery of why I believe these two chapters should appear so parenthetically in Act. Admittedly there is nothing in Stephens message that would account for Saul's conversion. Obviously, it was not the message that he heard from Stephen, but the bright light that shone from heaven and the Voice that spoke to him, is the reason Saul got saved. But the fact that the Holy Spirit should arrange the appearance of Saul's name so strategically in chapter 7, 8, and 9; suggest that all of this is tied together. There is one more spiritual law that I believe is applicable here. Jesus told us that, “Unless a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone, BUT IF IT DIE, it bringeth forth much fruit”. I believe the conversion of Saul is the direct result of one corn of wheat that fell in the ground and died that day. It was not Stephen's message, but the seed that fell in the ground that day is the reason why Saul was saved.

When we read of the result of Peter's message at Pentecost we see that the Lord gave Peter 3,000 souls that day (Act 2:41). A few days later, in his second message, 5,000 were saved (Act 4:4). That's pretty good. The Lord gave Peter 8,000 souls for two messages. The Lord only gave Stephen 1 soul.

But in God's tally, He doesn't just count the first generation. He counts all the subsequent generations that come from the first. God told Abraham that his seed would be like the stars in the heavens – innumerable millions. He only gave him one son but from that one, ultimately, came millions. Millions are the seed of Abraham. That is also true of our spiritual fruit. If I lead one soul to Christ that is one soul that goes in my basket to present before the Lord. But if that person leads 5 more to Christ then I get credit for 6. And if that 5 lead 25 to Christ that means there are now 31 in my basket. The Lord only gave one soul to Stephen for giving his life for Jesus. But, oh my goodness, what was the result of that one soul that was saved? We have no idea how many souls Peter can claim as he presents the fruit in his basket to Jesus. But when Stephen empties his basket I believe we will see all the souls that have been won as a result of the life of Paul. That might explain why the Lord put these two parenthetical chapters slam in the Book of Acts.

Sangha was deeply impressed when I showed him this truth. Then I told him, “Look, the Lord has given me very few souls since I came to Thailand. Now you are going to have to get on your horse and win a multitude.” Sangha is more sensitive to the Holy Spirit than any man I have ever met. When the Holy Spirit speaks to him he always gets goose bumps all over his arms. Wednesday his arms looked like a bird that had just been plucked.

Lord, let it be so. Give Sangha thousands.

                                                    bill

PS: And to you too.