October 29, 2025 –  Good News and Bad News— Acts #18
Acts 6:8–15

Acts 6:8-15   And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen. But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council, and they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law, for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.” And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

Today, we discuss Stephen.  He was one of the seven we spoke of last week, appointed to ensure that everyone (specifically widows) received the assistance they needed.  They were given the task of distributing resources.  That may not seem very interesting, but look at verse 8.

Acts 6:8   And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. 

Verse 8 tells us that Stephen was not some glorified waiter passing out food or serving tables.  When Stephen began to allow God to use him in this ministry, the Holy Spirit began to work in his life in even more dramatic ways.  This is an important lesson.  Jesus said: 

Luke 16:10   One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much,

And in his parable of the master rewarding his faithful servant, the servant is told:  

Matthew 25:23“Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much.

Stephen was faithful over the work of distribution, and next thing you know, the Holy Spirit is doing miracles through him.  There is a lesson here.   Do something small in obedience to God, and watch the Holy Spirit turn your small act into something big.  Do you want to see God do mighty things?  Then be obedient to do small things.  Visit a neighbor, bake a cake, rake someone’s leaves, take someone to lunch, volunteer in a local mission.  Be faithful, and watch God come alongside you; then the Holy Spirit starts doing what the Holy Spirit does, and before you know it, you are seeing the power of God at work through you.  Stephen is bringing the gospel to people through his words and his actions. 

Remember that our word “gospel” comes from the Old English “godspel,” which meant “good story.”  This is the word most translations use for the Greek ‘evangelion,’ which meant “good news.”  The gospel of Jesus Christ is the best news the world has ever heard.This is the gospel:  God so loved the world that He gave his only Son, that whosoever believes in him may have eternal life.   Hear the good news: God, the all-powerful creator of the universe, sees you and loves you so much that he would do whatever it took to bring you back to Him.   God’s love led him to give His Son for you, even though that meant suffering at the hands of those he came to help, so that complete forgiveness for our sins is available.  The good news is that the wages of your sin -death – have been paid.  The good news is that, because sin and death have been defeated, we can dwell with God forever in his love and grace.

But have you noticed — not everyone receives it as good news? Some are offended by it, angered by it, even threatened by it.  That’s precisely what we see in Acts 6.  Stephen is doing good — full of grace, full of power — but his message stirs up fierce opposition.  The very ones who should have recognized the hand of God accuse him of blasphemy.  How can the same message that brings life to some bring fury to others?  Look back at Jesus’ sermon in his hometown of Nazareth.  He reads this scripture out of Isaiah:

Luke 4:18-19  The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

This passage in Isaiah was very familiar to those there.  They prayed for the day when this good news would come, for it would be the time of the Messiah.  They prayed every day for this time to come.  So Jesus reads the scripture that foretold of the coming good news to the poor, the captives, the blind and the oppressed.  And then:

Luke 4:20-21  And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.

Jesus gives them the best possible news they could ever hear.  You know that thing you have been praying for your whole life?  That your mother and your grandfather and your great-grandfather and people for hundreds of years have prayed for? Well, here it is.  The Messiah is here.  Good news!  And how do they react?

Luke 4:28-29   When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff. 

It should have been good news to them.  But they took it as bad news.  As with Stephen, they are ready to kill the messenger.  How can the gospel be seen as bad news?  The scriptures tell us that some will see the gospel as good news, but some groups will see it as bad news.  We just looked at Jesus quoting Isaiah that the gospel is good news for the poor, the blind, the captive, and the oppressed.  Now look at the Beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount, we find in Matthew 5.  These are the people that Jesus says the gospel is good news for:  the poor in spirit, the meek, the merciful, the pure in heart, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness…. The gospel is bad news for the proud, the powerful, the corrupt, the comfortable, the demonic. Let’s take a look at these groups.

The Gospel is Bad News for the Proud.
The gospel says: “You cannot save yourself.” That’s humbling. It tears down pride and ego. The proud want to believe they’re good enough — that their morality, religion, or hard work will earn them favor.  But the gospel says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23). To the proud, that’s not good news — it’s offensive.   Because it means they stand in need of mercy; they aren’t good enough.  That’s why some of the Pharisees couldn’t stand Jesus.  He told them their righteousness wasn’t sufficient.

Matthew 5:20  For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

These guys that all of the Jews looked up to as the righteous ones, these guys who followed every single law in the Torah.  They were so careful to tithe every penny and not walk too far or do work on the Sabbath.  If you can’t be more righteous than they are, then you can’t be part of my kingdom. This offended some of the Pharisees, and they turned against Jesus.  Their pride in their keeping of the law was challenged by the gospel that says “no one is good enough.  We can never be.  We need the righteousness of Jesus.”

In Luke 18, Jesus tells a story about two men who were praying in the temple: one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 

Jesus said, “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”  We see this all through the Bible.  From Proverbs to James

Proverbs 16:18   Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
James 4:6   God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.

So, the good news that only grace can save may be great news to those who know they are sinners, but it is bad news for the proud and self-righteous.

The Gospel is Bad News for the Powerful.
The message of Stephen — and the message of Jesus — was a direct challenge to the power structures of their day.  And they were both dealt with in the same way.  Jesus was put to death on a cross, and Stephen was stoned to death.  When the gospel says “Jesus is the authority: it also says “the Chief priest and the Sanhedrin are not.  When the gospel says “Jesus is Lord,” it also says “Caesar is not.”

The powerful, the elite, and the controlling forces of society don’t like that.
They build their empires on fear and domination — and here comes a carpenter from Nazareth proclaiming a kingdom built on love and justice.  No wonder rulers trembled.

The gospel is bad news for every tyrant, every oppressor, every unjust system — because it proclaims that Christ alone reigns.  We read in the Bible that God’s Kingdom was bad news for Pharaoh in Egypt, for Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon, and for the Emperors of Rome.   We have seen this in modern times also.

In 1949, Mao Zedong announced the formation of the People’s Republic of China.  He is easily the worst mass murderer in the history of the world, responsible for over 45 million deaths.   And he highly opposed Christianity and the gospel.  Mao’s communist regime aggressively persecuted Christians, methodically searching out Christians, torturing them, and letting them die in labor camps, seeking to eliminate the faith.  

He wanted to stamp out the gospel.  To him, it was not good news.  But bad news for you, Mao, the gospel is unstoppable.

Mao’s attempt to eliminate Christianity from China ultimately backfired, leading to an explosive growth of the church. The persistence of the faith under a state that sought its destruction demonstrates the Gospel’s power to endure in the face of tyranny.   But China is a slow learner.  Persecution of Christians in China continues.  They demand that churches be registered with the state and then place in their churches images of Xi Jinping and sing communist anthems and praise communist heroes.  The government places rewritten Bibles with passages removed that contradict communist beliefs and others rewritten to align with socialist values.  They use spies and facial recognition to identify underground churches, and they arrest church leaders.  

Despite all these government attempts to destroy or control the gospel, listen up, China.  I have some terrible news for you.  Over the past 4 decades, Christianity has grown in China faster than anywhere else in the world, from 1 million Christians to 100 million.  The underground house church movement flourished under Roman oppression in the first century, and it continues to do so today in China. And Jesus is just getting started.

The Gospel is Bad News for the Corrupt.
John 3:19–20  Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.

That’s why they couldn’t stand Stephen — he was shining too much light.  His words exposed hypocrisy. His life reflected holiness.   When light enters the room, darkness doesn’t debate — it flees or fights.  The Gospel was bad news for the corrupt Herod Antipas.  His corruption was exposed, and it was his downfall.   The gospel is bad news for the corrupt, not because God doesn’t love them, but because His love won’t let them hide any longer.

The gospel calls us to die to self, take up our cross, and follow Jesus.  That’s uncomfortable. It demands change.  For those who want a safe, easy religion, the gospel is bad news — because Jesus doesn’t offer comfort without commitment.  He calls us out of the pew and into the mission field.  He calls us to forgive, to serve, to sacrifice.  The gospel is bad news for those who just want Jesus to make their life smoother — instead, He makes it meaningful.

The gospel forces a decision; it never leaves us neutral.  It confronts us with the question: “What will you do with Jesus?”  You can’t ignore Him. You can only receive Him or reject Him.   That’s why the gospel is bad news for the indifferent — because it insists on a response. Indifference dies at the foot of the cross.  You must either fall on your knees or turn away.

So the Gospel is bad news for the Proud, the Powerful, the Corrupt and the Complacent and finally, the gospel is bad news for darkness, for Satan, and all evil powers.   Every time the good news is proclaimed, hell trembles.  Colossians 2:15 says:

Colossians 2:15  He [Jesus] disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in the cross.

The gospel announces that evil’s time is up.  The serpent’s head has been crushed.  The victory of Christ is final.  That’s bad news for every force that opposes the reign of God.

I had the opportunity this past Thursday to talk to a missionary, Joe Fleming, who is working with the Holy Spirit doing some amazing work in Africa.  His story is amazing.  He was working with Voice of the Martyrs in West Africa when he happened to meet up with this man.

His name is Emmanuel Momo Kante.  Momo grew up in a small village in Sierra Leone, where for a thousand years, people there worshipped idols and regularly sacrificed their children to these idols.  The village priests would hear from the idol how many children were required.  They would go to the home and choose a child from birth to 17 years old for sacrifice.  The child had to be free of blemishes or deformities.  They would then take that child that evening up on the mountain to an altar there and slit his throat.  When he was 8 years old, Momo was chosen to be sacrificed, but his sister helped him escape to a city where a family took him in and raised him.

At 20 years old he developed a severe illness and went to a Baptist missionary who prayed for him.  He was healed and gave his life to Jesus.  Several years later, his brother persuaded him to return to his village to bring the gospel.  He was afraid to go as he thought they would kill him.  But he did return and shared the good news that they didn’t have to kill their children any longer.  He told them of a God who did not ask for them to die but instead sent his Son to die for them.   He spoke to the whole village for 3 days of the gospel and 150 people accepted Jesus and were baptized, and the child sacrifice stopped in that village immediately.

Momo took John to his village and they sat in a hut and listened as over a dozen women told him how they had to give up their children.  A mother talking about how she had 11 children, but only one lives.  The rest were taken and sacrificed.  A grandmother who lost six children and five grandchildren.  A young man who had no siblings because they were all taken, and no parents because they were killed for mourning their children.  But in this village, they told him, because the gospel came, we don’t have to give up our children anymore.  See, now we have children.  Jesus did this for us.

This is the power of the gospel.  This is the power of the Word of God.  Do you think the gospel is good news?  What if you woke up every morning wondering if today was the day you would have to give up your child to be sacrificed? Your parents, your grandparents, your great-grandparents- for over a thousand years parents lived in this fear.   And then someone comes and tells you that there is a better way.  That you can follow the one true God, who doesn’t require you to give up your son because He gave up His son for you.  How good is the news that no more children have to die?  You can understand why that in almost every village that the gospel enters there are mass conversions.  Most of the village all at once chooses to leave thier way of life and follow Jesus.  150 baptized in a day.  How can you not choose so great a salvation?

In 2020 they identified 600 villages where the gospel had not reached, where they still practiced child sacrifice.  By June of this year the gospel has entered 200 of those villages and there are no more sacrifices of children.  This is good news.  But the gospel is very bad news for the power of evil.  The demons no longer have their way in those 200 villages.  And listen up Satan, your days are numbered in those other 400 villages, because the gospel is going there too.

This past Monday, six days ago, one of my pastor friends in Alabama heard this story and how John had 12 teams ready to go out to 12 more villages, but didn’t have the funds.  It costs just over $12,000 per team to equip them and pay the teams salary for the 14 months it takes to establish a church.   So in 3 days this week they raised over $200,000 to send these teams and more.  So those 12 teams will be equipped and sent out next week.  The gospel will go into 12 more villages, and that is bad news for the forces of darkness.

Joe has trainers now all across Africa and into Pakistan and Afghanistan.  He told us Thursday they have started 2100 churches and have over 373,000 believers.   Since May of 2023, just over two years they have baptized 35,000 new believers.  This in places where evil had ruled people for over a thousand years.  And now all of these people can claim this verse in Colossians:

Colossians 1:13-14   He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

So to review:
Jesus told us the gospel is good news for: the poor in spirit, the meek, the merciful, the pure in heart, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness…. I think we in America really don’t comprehend what amazingly good news our gospel is.  We are somewhat insulated from the horrors of our world. When we really take a hard look at the world and the evil in the world around us, child sacrifice, child trafficking, the killing of unborn babies, the horrible treatment of the poor, only then can we appreciate the good news of the light of the gospel.

And how can we possibly hear the stories of child sacrifice and do nothing about it.  How can we hear the stories of child trafficking and ignore it?  How can we see people created in God’s image being oppressed and just look away?  Because, as the Gospel is incredibly good news to these, it is bad news for some.

The gospel is bad news for: the proud, the powerful, the corrupt, the comfortable, and the demonic.  Watch out you proud, you powerful, you corrupt, you who are comfortable, and beware forces of darkness… your time is almost up.   The gospel is more powerful. The Gospel is unstoppable.   Sin and death have been defeated, and you are next.   

As children of God,  as followers of Jesus, our eyes opened to the goodness of God and the evil in this world, we go out into this world as representatives of the gospel, as reflections of King Jesus.

2 Corinthians 2:15-16   For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing: to the one an aroma of death leading to death; to the other, an aroma of life leading to life.