How to Take Ground When We're Off Track | Year One

Have you ever looked up and realized you’ve drifted off course spiritually?
It happens to all of us.

We forget the story we’re part of.
We lose focus.
We settle for comfort instead of courage.

In Acts 7, Stephen reminds us what it looks like to stand firm in the truth—even when it’s unpopular, uncomfortable, or costly.

As we step into Year One of our 15-year vision at Fierce Church, we’re making one thing clear:
We will not drift.
We will not water down God’s Word.
We will stay on mission.
Because taking ground for God’s future starts with getting back on track today.

This message will help you:
Remember the bigger story God is writing
Find courage to stand for truth
Realign your life with Scripture
Step forward with bold faith

🙏 Ask God today: Where have I drifted?
💬 Comment “I’m getting back on track” if you’re choosing truth over comfort

🔔 Subscribe for more messages from the Year One series
👉 Learn more about our vision: https://fierce.church

God isn’t done with your story.
It’s time to take ground. 🔥

Transcript

Remembering Who We Are

SPEAKER_01 0:00

We're talking about how to take ground when we're off track. How to take ground when we're off track. We all get a little bit off track from time to time. I remember I couldn't have been more than five years old and I got hurt and my brother was in the room. Now, to be honest, he might have been the one who hurt me, but even so. He said, Hey Mark, you know, carters can take a little pain. Carters can take a little pain. And that stuck with me, man. I was like, oh yeah, carters can take a little pain. I am a carter, and therefore we can take more pain than most people. Like that's what that's immediately that became part of my self-identity. And as I went on through the years, like that thing didn't, I still remember exactly what that was. It stuck with me and it has shaped how I see life. Hey, man, look, carters are tough, dude. Carters can take a little pain. That's what we do. It's influenced my story because something in my past defined who I am. There's a danger for every one of us. We can all forget what story we're in. We can all forget who we are. And when we forget who we are, stuff, we become smaller. We forget who we are. This is why, I'm not trying to offend anybody, okay? But this is why you you know this. You remember, if you're not a teenager now, you remember being a teenager. Teenagers will throw in anybody that just lets them in the group. Even if they don't, if they don't necessarily they wouldn't, as an adult agree with those perspectives, but they'll jump in because someone accepts them because they don't know who they are. They don't have the foundation, they don't know where they're from. And so they'll just go with whoever applauds them. Or adults, it happens to us too. Whatever voice is loudest in the room or loudest in the online room, we're like, yeah, yeah, that's what I think too. And and maybe we didn't even check with is that who I am? Like, is my position radically changed from who it was when this noise wasn't in my ears? When we don't have a story, when we don't understand who we are and where we're from, we just drift all about. And unfortunately, that's what can happen with the Church of Jesus Christ. We can drift all about when we're not anchored to God's word and the story we're actually in. So we're gonna talk about the story that you and I are in. If you're not a Christian, I would just encourage you, hey, just hang out with us, just pay attention. Maybe you'll understand a little bit better what the Christians are all about and what they're trying to do as we look at this. But the people, the nation of Israel, they'd forgotten some of the lessons that God had been trying to teach them through centuries of his word. They'd forgotten some of the lessons. They'd forgotten that they sometimes reject the very deliverers God sends them. We sometimes forget. We forget the story of the cross, and we think that glory is supposed to come before the cross, and it's actually not. It's supposed to come after it. And so today we're gonna ask the question what would the Holy Spirit remind us of about our story that might strengthen us for right now, for our for our time on this planet? We're gonna ask him, and we're gonna go back to almost the very beginning. We're gonna see a guy who, I think, at least in in my time as a Christian, has been not underplayed, but he just isn't talked about as much as I wish he would be because he's so doggone dope and awesome as I've studied him this week. We're talking about Stephen, and Stephen has the longest monologue, so to speak, in the entire New Testament. He just keeps talking and just keeps talking and keeps talking. And we're gonna understand why he was the church's first martyr. And there's lessons in that for us. He was the first guy that wasn't even an apostle, like he wasn't even one of Jesus' right-hand people, but he was a person who is so overcome with love for God and love for people that he left us all a model to follow. So let's go back in time. The church is exploding with growth. And as it's exploding with growth, there's some tensions because suddenly now we've got the Hebrew Christians, and they're getting in a little bit of a fight with the Greek-speaking Christians because these guys, widows, they get taken care of, and these guys, widows, they don't know the system, and so they don't know how to interact. It's not malicious, but it's probably just a systemic oversight. And now they're fighting a little bit. And so the apostles come along and say, Hey, look, man, we can't stop the whole train and get into this. We got to preach God's word. We got to be praying, and so we're gonna appoint some people. And one of the first people they appoint is Stephen. Now, Stephen, he's he's appointed as an administrator of this team that's supposed to help distribute food. But he also does a little moonlighting, he's like Batman, dude. Like he sneaks out at night and he goes to, it's not really at night, he goes to synagogues and he preaches God's word because he cares about people. He goes from town to town and he's even so anointed, like he does signs and wonders confirming that this really is the message of God. This is what God is trying to say to people. He cares about people, he goes from town to town and he goes into the apostle Paul's town. Now, Paul is not an apostle at this point, still goes by the name Saul. He's a younger man. But Stephen rolls up into his town and he's in a synagogue, he's doing all the normal stuff that he does, and some people begin to bicker with him. Some of the the high-ups, some of the really smart guys in the synagogue are like, wait a minute, no, that's that's not how we're and Stephen, he's beating them. Like in terms of his his debate, he's beating them. And so they call in the Sanhedrin, and that's like the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court comes on in. And okay, now the Supreme Court has got to get involved. But you know, sometimes when people get beaten and beaten and beaten, they just do what they think will help and they cheat. And so these folks cheat. That's what they do. They just decide to cheat. And they start to say, hey, this guy, this Stephen, here's what he's done. He's blaspheming Moses. He's blaspheming God, he's blaspheming the temple. He's claiming that Jesus Christ said he was gonna tear down the temple. This guy is an enemy. He's creating anarchy. Let's everybody get away from him. Now, the truth is probably Stephen was teaching him in the temple, even though you, you religious leaders, you all idolize the temple and you think it's the dopest thing ever, you think it's God's footstool. He's saying, actually, that that points to Jesus. Like that's really about that. It wasn't always supposed to be permanent, that was supposed to point to Jesus. But people don't like that, even though they think the temple's the center of the universe. So the Sanhedrin comes in and they're about to put him on trial. And listen to what happens. You don't have this in your notes, but I'm gonna read it to you. Acts 6.15. All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel. Now, this is this is the writer Luke teaching us hey, at the very moment when he's getting on trial for blaspheming Moses, all these people would have known that in Exodus 34, Moses comes down the mountain and his face is shining with the glory of God. So much that he has to put a veil over it. I mean, can you imagine that? And now God is affirming right as he's about to go on trial, he makes Stephen's face shine. So the very person they're accusing of, man, you're going against Moses, God's like, uh, he's actually representing what Moses would want in this very moment. What's weird, we wouldn't do this. Stephen starts instead of being like, no, I didn't, no, that's not what happened. He starts with essentially what sounds to us like a history lesson. He starts going back in time and he starts going through all these different heroes of the faith. But there's meaning in it, and we're gonna pull it out. Let's start with the accusation, chapter 7, verse 1. Then the high priest asked Stephen, Are these charges true? To this he replied, Brothers and fathers, listen to me. The glory of God appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia. He's gonna be dropping little hints about different lands that God has been in. And the reason he's doing that, God's calling his different servants in different lands that aren't uh Israel, that aren't uh the place where people of God have now dwell. He's saying, God has always been at work at these different lands. God is not tied down to a zip code like you people think he is. So he was still in Mesopotamia before he lived in Haran. Leave your country and your people, God said, and go to the land I will show you. So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you know are now living. Now, these people in Haran, this was all, or the Chaldees, this is all pagan country. This is all places where these people are idolatrous, but God is active among the idolatrous. We're gonna skip down. Then he starts talking about Joseph. Because verse nine, because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, he's going somewhere, stick with him, because they were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt. These guys love to talk about the patriarchs, but he's reminding him, do you remember that the patriarchs all rejected Joseph, the very one who was sent to deliver them? Do you remember? He's being bold, he's bringing up their hero's sins. Do you remember there's this pattern? Are y'all not seeing it that he were that y'all, you, you, you religious leaders, you tend, like your ancestors, to reject the salvation that is sent to you. Verse 22. Moses, now on to Moses, was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action. And then Joseph tells the story of how Moses thought it was his job to deliver the Hebrew people. And it was, but not yet. He does it the wrong way, the way God wouldn't want him. He kills this Egyptian. Then another Egyptian knows about it, calls him out on it. Verse 28, are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday? When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, another land where God's gonna be, where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons. Verse 34, he gets re gets rejected, and now he gets rejected again. This is the same Moses they had rejected with their words. Who made you ruler and judge? He was sent to be their ruler and deliverer by God himself through the angel who appeared to him in the bush. He led them out of Egypt and performed signs and wonders and signs in Egypt at the Red Sea, and for 40 years in the wilderness. This is the Moses who told the Israelites, God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your own people. That's from Deuteronomy 18, 15. He's he's he's setting up all the chess pieces, man. He's saying, Moses said a prophet like me would come, and whatever you do, you better listen to him. So Stephen's implying, wait, wait a minute. You're saying I'm going against Moses? I'm the only one here who's obeying Moses. I'm submitting to the prophet like him that was sent, whose name is Jesus Christ. Verse 39, but our ancestors refused to obey him, Moses. Instead, they rejected him, and in their hearts they turned back to Egypt. They told Aaron, make us gods who will go before us. And this fellow Moses, who led us out of Egypt, we don't know what's happened to him. Now, this is if we were to take more time and go through more of the verses, you would see this other theme that's being threaded through by Stephen. And it's this not only do you guys tend to reject the Savior sent to you, but you love things made with human hands. You love to just do the human thing. You kind of forget about God's plan sometimes. You don't even ask what God wants, you just do what you want to do. Verse 44. Our ancestors had the tabernacle of the covenant law with them in the wilderness. Just to clarify what that is. Okay, really, it's just a worship tent. It's a big old tent. And at the very back center of the tent, there's the Holy of Holies. But it's all in a tent. And it was the place for the Ark of the Covenant, it's the place where God Himself would dwell. It it houses the presence of God. That was the purpose of the tabernacle. And it was portable. You just take it wherever God's leading them, they can just take it and just go. It had been made as God directed Moses according to the pattern he had seen. So he's he says, there's something unique about this tabernacle tent. God showed Moses exactly how to make it. The book of Hebrews tells us it was actually a copy of a real temple in heaven. But God gave Moses, is that trippy, man? God gave Moses, these are the exact ways I need you to make this, these are the exact measurements. But it was God's idea, not Moses's. It came from God's heart. After receiving the tabernacle, our ancestors under Joshua brought it with them. When they took the land from the nations, God drove them out before them. It remained in the land until the time of David, who enjoyed God's favor. Now listen, and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who built a house for him. That means the temple. Okay, that's true. God did not ask for a temple to be built. David wanted, because he he did love God, he wanted to honor God, but he also wanted to be like the nations around them, who all had temples to their God. So he made this temple of stone and brick and gold and wood. And they made it. He and his son David made the plan. Solomon ended up building it. Verse 48. However, the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands. He said, Solomon himself pointed this out in 1 Kings 8:27. But then also the prophet Isaiah said it in Isaiah 66. As the prophet says, Heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me? says the Lord. Or where will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all these things? So God, even right there, is saying, Guys, I let you build me a house, but are you serious? Like you think I'm really like that confines me somehow? Like that's my favorite pieces of wood on the planet? Like, you think that's it? My hand made all the things that surround it as well. Verse 51. Now he breaks in. So he's he's spent all this time setting it up. Now he breaks in, you stiff-necked people, your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. Now that's that's Bible Easter eggs he's dropping right there. Okay, stiff-necked people, that's what God called the Israelites who were rebelling coming out of Egypt into the promised land. Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. Okay, circumcision was their pride. They're like, We're the people of God, man, we're circumcised. Yeah, we got the right marking. And he's like, dude, your hearts are not circumcised. You can't feel anything that God wants you to feel. Your ears aren't circumcised, you can't hear what God wants you to hear. You're just like your ancestors, you always resist the Holy Spirit. Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the righteous one. And now you've betrayed and murdered him. You who have received the law that was given through the angels, but have not obeyed it. Then the members of the Sanhedrin heard this. They were furious, and they gnashed their teeth at him. Now here's what's about to happen. This is the same Sanhedrin that a few years ago put Jesus to death. And baby, they're mad now. And they're gnashing their teeth. They're like, that means they're going, rah-rrhr. Like they're almost growling. They're getting out of control. This is a mob, dude. So this isn't even like Jesus, it was sanctioned by Rome. Hey, we're gonna, hey, can we can we put this guy to death? We're gonna do that. With this, they're just they're so mad. They're gonna lynch him right now. They're gonna take him out on the street. We're just gonna kill this guy right now. We're so angry at what he's called us.

SPEAKER_00 15:20

Pause for a second. In the story.

Moses, Rejection, And Return

Tabernacle Versus Temple

You Stiff-Necked People

Vision, Martyrdom, And Saul

SPEAKER_01 15:23

We're in this series called Year One. We got into this series saying, hey, over our next 15 years, as we do this, as we try in Jesus' name, this 15-year vision, we're gonna start with repentance. We're gonna start with just asking for forgiveness. We're gonna start humbling ourselves and lowering ourselves because the things we want God to do are just, they're so big that we're gonna need all of his power. We don't want any of our sin to get in the way. And so we've spent a couple weekends or a couple weeks praying and fasting, different ones have. Asking God, would you convict us? Would you convict me personally? And I think it's been working. I've certainly been convicted. I don't know about you. But we did that so we could get to the place. Now, God, lead us. Would you lead us into what you want us to do? We have we have an idea. It's it's the 15-year vision. Let's take a look at it again. Over the next 15 years, we believe God is calling us to join Him in building a church marked by affectionate, Christ-centered, high-challenge teaching, a culture of audacious prayer and fasting, and a relentless commitment to reaching people in new ways, both in person and through digital mission. We will invest deeply in the next generation, raise up a diverse and scalable leadership pipeline, and pioneer bold, creative pathways that invite more people to the feast of Jesus. We've asked God to do that. And now we're going to ask, finally, on this final week, on the end of the trilogy of messages here, we're saying, God, would you lead us? Lead me personally. We're all saying that, lead me personally, and lead our church. And if there's any way that we're off track, we want to get back on track. And so we're looking at Stephen. Stephen was on track, baby. But there might be places we're off track. So if you've ever felt off track spiritually, I just want to bring you back to home, to the homepage. Let's let's get back on the home page and let's move forward. Here we go. The Holy Spirit. And it is the Holy Spirit. It's not humans. When the church really grows and expands, it's the Holy Spirit doing it. The Holy Spirit causes the church to take ground through, number one, courage to engage. Courage to engage. Stephen had courage. That's why he was out there. That's why he's going to all these synagogues. He had the courage to engage. Now you know that wasn't convenient, right? But we are to mimic the acceptance of inconvenience of Stephen. We're to follow in his footsteps. He was the first martyr. He's like, this is what you do, y'all. That's why we say we will severely inconvenience ourselves to help people find their way back to God. Guys, whatever we're going to do, we've just repented a lot. We're talking about what we're going to do. Whatever we're going to do, this is what it means to go to church here. We're going to severely inconvenience ourselves to help people find their way back to God. That's what he was doing. That's what we're going to do. And that requires, dude, it requires a lot of courage. For real, it requires God is going to ask you. If you're going to be part of that mission, God's going to ask you to do stuff you're like, I don't know, man. That sounds scary. One of the things that happens over the years as a pastor is people want you to come visit. They want you to come to their house. They want you to come to, hey man, you know, uh, my grandma's sick. Would you come pray over her or what have you? And oftentimes I go into those situations and I know the person. It's like, hey, man, great to see you. Let's have some time in prayer, talk about the good things of God. And other times I don't know them at all. I like it. It's it's it's less frequent, but I don't know them at all. And when I'm going into those things, I'm driving over, and guys, you know, I get insecure like you. I'm I'm like, dude, do they even want me here? Like, what am I supposed to do when I get there, God? And I have a plan, but like, I don't know if they're even gonna like that. I don't even know if they're really the one who wanted me to come. Like sometimes it's just a relative that wanted me to come. And I'm like, are they gonna kick me out of here when I get here? And as I'm driving over, the only thing that goes through my head is, okay, Jesus, I don't want to do this. But I'll do it for you. I'll do it for you. Courage is saying to Jesus, I'll do it for you, though I don't particularly want to do it. Does anybody need courage today? Just to be willing to go, not because you want to go, but because Jesus is asking you to go. For those of you familiar with what a rip current is, if you're ever on the beach and there's a rip current, what that means is the the current is gonna suck you out. It's gonna suck you out fast. And if you try to resist it, you're just gonna wear out because it's gonna keep sucking you back. In fact, I read that you can travel like eight feet per second when you're in a rip current. So it's it's pretty dangerous. Now, if you were a lifeguard on the shore, you would have a flotation device. And what would you do? You probably wouldn't start a conversation with someone at a beach town nearby and be like, hey man, you want to know about rip currents? Let me tell you how it works. You see them out there, yeah, they're about to drown. Yeah, because you know, the water, this is how it goes, and there's a little funnel of water and it's pulling out. No, you wouldn't, you we would hope that that lifeguard wouldn't do that. Instead, they would they'd grab their flotation device and they would make their way determinedly to the water and they would swim out there and they would put that struggling person on that flotation device, and they would swim down the beach with them to get away from the current, and then they would come in. They would do that because they they would know rescue requires engagement. Fierce Church, rescue requires engagement. It doesn't just require knowing things, it requires engagement. This is what Stephen knows. He knows I've got to close the distance between me and the people God wants to reach. And so even if that might be a little bit of confrontation, it's still gonna be compassion. Because why? Because these people, spiritually speaking, are drowning. And he's gotta reach them, and we gotta reach them. So as we're asking today, God, what do you want me to do? Maybe one of the things we should be asked, God, would you help me lead me into spiritual conversations with the people at my school or the people at work? The people that you're already preparing, lead me into those conversations so I can engage and be a voice for you. God, would you lead me into inviting somebody, maybe first to watch online and then coming physically to a fierce experience? I'm afraid to do it, I don't particularly want to do it, but I'll do it for you, Jesus. I know that you care about people that are drowning. And maybe as a church, we should repent on behalf of the entire church. See, we work really hard, man. We we try to do big days, that's an engagement strategy. We're trying to engage with the outside culture. Sometimes when you see Abby and my Myself online before church. We have a little pre-show that we do. Can we see that image? Yeah, we do that, and we're doing that to engage people. But you know, I'm sure there's been times when you personally, or the church at large, or even our church, we failed to engage. We just drew back. And that's not the job of the church. Stephen's our blueprint. And so instead, we say, God, would you forgive us? Help us engage. We need to be engaging people. So we have to have the courage to engage. And then here's number two. We have to have clarity in our teaching. Clarity in our teaching. Did you see what Stephen did? He helped them understand the big story that was always there. Like he didn't add anything. He said, guys, you're missing this piece, this piece, and this piece. He got it clear in their minds. We've got to have clarity. Love explains things clearly. We're in an age right now where it's really about how loud can you shout? Can you be louder than the other voices online? Can you just be the loudest and the angriest? My friends, no, no, no. Let's not get distracted by that. Our job is to be as clear with God's word as we possibly can because it's only when it's clear is it the antidote. It only helps people. People that are really hungry, they're attracted to deeper teaching that's going to go below the surface and show us the nuance of stuff. But we've got to be able to bring it consistently over the next 15 years. We've got to be able to point people to the Bible and then take the Bible into our personal conversations. It's not just that we preach the Bible from here, it's that we take the Bible with us wherever we're going because people need a real healing. Let's pretend that you just fell out of a tree. You're like, ah, my arm hurts. And you go to immediate care or something, you're like, ah, my arm. And they're like, okay, great. Just put it right there on the table. We're gonna take a selfie of it. Get the light right. That's that's okay, that's a good arm. And you'd be like, oh, dude, I don't want, I don't want to just have a picture of it. Let's put it in an x-ray because I want to see what's hidden. I want to see what's wrong. I want to see what's on the inside. I want to see the fracture if it's there. The word of God, that's what it does. It's an x-ray to people's hearts. It doesn't just say, oh, yeah, you're doing well. Oh, that's great. Yeah, let's all agree about everything. It says, no, here's the x-ray, dude. Here's what's going wrong in the human soul. That's why we need God's word. It's the x-ray that we need. That's what Stephen did with the Sanhedrin. He said, guys, I'm not just gonna agree with you. I'm gonna tell you, this is the x-ray. This is what you're missing. These are the patterns that somehow you did not discover. And I'm being compassionate, therefore I'm being clear. The spirit-filled, Jesus-filled, fierce church. Do we're compassionately clear? We want to teach clearly, not just yell. That means we're gonna pray. God lead us into clarity everywhere we go. Lead us into explaining the Bible clearly. Here's one thing that you might want to engage in. You might want to accept this challenge. Why don't you go to our YouTube homepage and look under, let's see that image, there's a latest sermons playlist. Go look through that. And the reason you would do that is because you know people with actual problems. Find a problem people actually have, like someone you know, like, hey man, I was thinking about you. Send them that link. Dude, that is super easy and it's super relevant. We we try to like name stuff in such a way that you know what that's about and how it's helpful. Not, hey, here's a religious thing. Want to look at this? No, it's hey man, I know I heard you were going through, I know you got this tension in life. Here's a thing about that. Feel free to check it out. Let me let me know what you think. Now, I'm not talking about just like bothering people, strangers, and everybody, hey, here's all my links. But when you're in relationship with people and you know, I know they're going through this thing, why don't I just go ahead and engage and give them something clear from God's word? So I just want to give you a little status update progress report. Um, hopefully, this is a this is a heavy message a little bit, which is why I'm willing to overlook the lack of amens that are clearly not happening in the room. Um, but if you want to be, you know, if you want to help preacher out a little bit, you can give me, even if you're just faking it, man, no one's gonna know. Just hey, amen, yeah. If we want to repent, though, and say, God, I haven't been, I haven't been asking who I can help. I haven't been asking who I can bring clarity into the life, I haven't been bold, courage to engage, clarity in teaching. And the Holy Spirit causes the church to take her on through costly sacrifice. Costly sacrifice. Stephen knows as he's talking, this is gonna cost something. But Stephen knows this is the way of the kingdom. I've got to be willing to lose temporarily so I can gain permanently. I've got to be able to lose face a little bit so that I can gain for the kingdom permanently. The kingdom is built by people willing to look like they're losing.

unknown 26:53

That's right.

Year One Vision And Repentance

Courage To Engage

Clarity In Teaching

Costly Sacrifice

SPEAKER_01 26:54

Let's say that again, because everyone wants to win, everyone wants respect, everyone wants to be the next big thing online. No, the kingdom is built by people who are willing temporarily to look like, oh, they're losing, because that's what it looked like to the Sanhedrin. They're like, this guy's we're to tear him apart. We're to we're to kill him, we're gonna put him to death and be done with this whole thing. But the kingdom, dude, it comes in little ways, it comes in places that no one's really paying attention to. So you think about the mom who's holding the baby at 2 a.m. and she's walking up and down the hallway in the dark, trying to get this thing, this sweet little baby, to calm down. She's trying, man. And you know what? Nobody sees her, but if they did, they might be like, hey man, that's not Instagram ready. Or they might be like, man, I can't believe like you've got to go to work in like four hours. What are you doing? You better do something else to get get yourself some sleep. But know that mom, she says it's worth it because I love this baby. Are we hearing that? It's worth it because I love this baby. And that's how God wants us to think about our costly sacrifice. It's worth it because God loves these people. Stephen is not just having like a drama moment. He's not just having like a heart there's like, watch this, everybody. No, he he knows this is gonna cost me. And yet God cares about these people, and this is the way of the kingdom, so here we go. I think a lesson we need to take from that is, hey man, a lot of the most costly sacrifice in our lives, let's get this, please, let's get this in this generation. It's not gonna be epic. It's likely gonna be repetitive and unseen. That's how it's gonna be for now, because it's gonna look like we're losing. But it's ultimately gonna look like from heaven, like a win. Maybe that means for you, as as we say, God, lead me, lead this church, maybe that you take the challenge, I'm gonna serve for a whole year. It's gonna be costly, it's gonna be a sacrifice, but I'm gonna believe God sees it and God's gonna use it to help people find Him. Maybe you say, I'm gonna reroute some of my finances because I have a lot. In fact, I have a little bit more than I need, and so I'm God still takes care of me, but I'm gonna take, instead of my life just being about me and building my giant sandcastle, I'm gonna make my life about extending the kingdom. It will be costly and it will be a sacrifice, but God will use it. Because the truth is, my friends, if the mission costs nothing, it doesn't mean very much. Let's finish this thing up, verse 55. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven. Okay, remember he's getting he's getting stoned right now in the very like painful way. Rocks, can you imagine getting like rocks thrown at you? They're attempting to crush your skull, like they're trying to kill you with rocks. That's what's happening to him. He looked up to heaven, he saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. So he's seeing two realities right now. He's seeing all this violence come against him, and he's seeing the master standing at the right hand of God. Look, he said, I see heaven open, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. At this, they covered their ears and yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed him and dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. And here is Stephen's vindication because he's seeing the glory of God the way Moses saw it. Only he sees, and this is this is interesting, theologians talk about this. He sees Jesus standing up. Now, most of the time, Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father because his work is done, like redemption has taken place. But in this moment, Jesus stands up. Why is he standing? Well, some think it's because God is the heavenly judge, but Jesus is the lawyer. The judge is seated, but the lawyer stands to defend the accused. And do we see this? It's the tale of two courtrooms. There's an earthly courtroom that is condemning him and putting him to death, and there's a heavenly courtroom where Jesus himself stands up and is like, here he comes, guys, here he comes. This is my guy. This is the guy that stood up for me. He loves me so much, and he loves these people so much. Watch this. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Now check it out. He's this is the disciple, he's he's forgiving, he's not retaliating, and this is the disciple becoming like the master. Do you remember? That's what Jesus said, Father, receive my spirit when he expires on the cross. Then he fell on his knees and cried out, Lord, do not hold this sin against them. When he had said this, he fell asleep, just like Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do. Now his sanctification is about to be complete as he mimics his master and dies. And then 8 verse 1, this is where it's all going to change. And Saul approved of their killing him. Saul was there. Saul, a future good guy, but for a few years now is going to be a bad guy. Because he's going to persecute guys like Stephen. But I think it also had an effect on Paul because he watched the way. I never really understood how theological Stephen is before I studied this passage in depth. Stephen is sharing all these like deep insights about Israel's past and about holy scripture that they had totally missed. Paul is the New Testament's theologian. I think he learned a lot from Stephen, and he learned a lot about sacrifice and about laying down your life for the sake of the sheep, which Paul also did. And this is the moment, guys, this is where it changes. In the book of Acts, everything got stuck up until this point. See, Jesus told them, You'll receive power and you will be my witnesses in Judea, in Samaria, and even the ends of the earth. But they got stuck on about year two or three, they got stuck in Judea. Like church was going great, but it wasn't moving. And Stephen comes in and he's like, I'm gonna take it, I'm gonna be the sacrifice. He dies, and persecution immediately begins. And now all the Christians are running, but they're running to these different lands where the gospel needs to go. They're on the run, but now the gospel is spreading. Why? Because Stephen chose to lose his life that others might find it. That's the message of the kingdom. So, see, guys, Stephen knows where this is going right at this moment. He knows where this is going. He knows what the prophets knew, he knows what Jesus knew. He knows for me to speak up is going to cost me deeply. Why does he do it then? Because he remembers who he is. He's not for him, he's not just standing in this court in front of the Sanhedrin, he's standing in a story that began long ago. He knows he's in the same story as Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Moses and David and all the prophets and John the Baptist down to Jesus himself. He's in that story. And it may look to the Sanhedrin like he's losing, but he knows, now I'm winning. And that's that's the model we have to follow as a church. That's what characterizes us, yo. Are we hearing that? We are the people, who are we? We're the people who engage. We're the people who clarify God's word. And we are the people who lay down our sacrifice, even if, God forbid, it is us. That's what we do. Because we know that loss is not really the end of our story. So, my friends, let's loosen our hold on this world. When we remember the story that we're in, we're not small anymore. When we remember that the church takes ground by laying down its life, when we do that, then we're ready to ask, Holy Spirit, would you make my life count in all the most meaningful ways for the sake of the gospel, because I remember who I am and what story I'm in. Let's pray. It's a privilege to be in your story, Jesus. We don't deserve to be in this story. Yet here we are. We find ourselves here, and God, life is short and it our days are fleeting away from us. We want to make count. Jesus, help us to take our place in your story. Help us to follow the pattern of the first martyr. Help us to engage. Help us to clarify God's truth in every conversation that allows it. And Father, in Jesus' name, show us the places you're asking us for not only sacrifice, but in some places costly sacrifice for the love of our God and for the love of those you love. In Jesus' name. Amen. All right, folks, that's all the time we have, but thank you so much for listening to this sermon. 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