Christlike Under Pressure

What happens when following Jesus puts a target on your back?

In this sermon from Pastor Matt Shackelford, we continue our Growing Pains series through Acts and examine the life of Stephen, one of the most courageous believers in the New Testament. As pressure, opposition, and persecution close in around him, Stephen responds with remarkable faith, wisdom, and peace.

Whether you're facing challenges at work, in your family, or in your faith, Stephen's example shows us how to remain Christlike when life gets difficult. Discover what it means to be filled with the Spirit, faithful under pressure, and fearless in the face of opposition.

📖 Scripture: Acts 6:8-15

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Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:00

Let's take our Bibles. Let's open to Acts chapter 6. Go ahead and turn there. Acts chapter 6. As you're turning there, you know, I know I've told this story or one like it before, but uh there was a man, and you may recognize his name. His name was George Costanza. I think I have a picture of him. Um no, that's not him. I don't know where that, I don't know where that came from. I don't know what that's um George Costanza. You might notice that that he actually uh in this picture has a hair piece because he thought if I could just be like someone else, if I could just get a hair piece, if I could a hair system, then I would be more uh attractive to the ladies, I would have more friends, life would just be better. He got one, it started to work. Everything started to work for him. He started to get noticed by the lady in the coffee shop. And the story goes that he she invited him to come and sit down at the table, and and he walks over and everything's going great. He sits down at the table, everything's great until he runs his hands through his hair and it goes flying off, and everybody just dies laughing, all right? And um now I really connect to that for this reason. When I read Acts chapter 6, the word that keep coming kept coming back to me is the word imitation. Like, what's he doing? He's doing what comes natural to all of us, he's he's imitating someone or a look, something, and and that happens in all of our lives. The other day, I walked out to the pool and one of my kids was trying to baptize the other kid. It's like imitation, you know? And and it's like the other day, I mean, I I see this all the time. It's like imitation's part of a life. When I was a kid, when I was young, my brother John and I, we had pictures of of football players and basketball players all over a wall. My brother John and I, we had this this little nerf basketball goal on his door, and what we'd do is we'd play indoor basketball, and we wanted to be like that commercial that was out at the time. I want to be like who? Yes, I want to be like Mike. And so we would slam dunk that thing. And you who knows what we were doing when we did the slam dunk? Yes. Yes! Tongue out. That's exactly just like Michael Jordan, right? And it's like we have all these idols in our life. We have all these examples in our life. Some of them are good, some of them are terrible. But the problem in life is that we most often don't have and follow the right examples. So often the examples that we look up to, the examples that we want to follow, they're often more worldly than godly. And we're missing the Christ-like example that God is calling us to. And we know this is true because whenever a hard thing comes into our life, when the pressure is on, what happens is we tend, we tend to just sort of do exactly what the world does. We respond the way the world responds, we get bitter, we revert to worldly tactics, we become rude, we slander. It's like we use the world's weapons because we often want to be just like the world, and we're looking at the wrong example. We tend to miss the imitation, the example of Jesus Christ to copy him, to relive his life. So today, we're back in Acts chapter 6 in a series I've entitled Growing Pains. And today, what I want to do is I want to look at the life of Stephen. Some of you are in great pressure in this season of your life. You feel it. You feel the pressure, it's on. Maybe it's in your family, maybe it's at work, maybe you you would come to this room and some of you would say, Pastor, I just feel surrounded. I'm surrounded by the weight of my career. I'm surrounded by the weight of my family, I'm surrounded by the weight and the problems of my health. I just feel, I don't know what to do. The pressure is on. And Stephen is such a great guy for us to study because he's worthy of imitation. You see, Stephen lives his life. Stephen's goal is he doesn't want to be like Mike, he wants to be like Jesus. And that's true for everyone who becomes a Christian. When you want to become a Christian, your goals change. You want to start being like Jesus Christ. He's your hero. Stephen has a hero, and it's so powerful in his life that Stephen is actually going to say the same things as Jesus. He's even gonna die by the same counsel that killed Jesus. They will kill him and they will stone him and they will say things like, like, he will say things like, like, Father, forgive them. Where do you get that from? Jesus says that from the cross. Jesus is his hero. Jesus is the example that he wants all of his life to match. And so today we see that reality that do you understand that anything that comes into your life, the painful things, the hard things, Romans chapter 8 reminds us that those things come with great purpose, to conform you to the image of Christ. And Stephen sees that as the goal of his life. I want to be like Jesus. I want to follow in his example even in my suffering. And so, dear friends, that's where we're going today. We want to ask the Lord to do this to us, to conform us to the image of his precious Son. And so today, would you take your Bible? Let's stand in honor of God's word. We're talking about being Christ-like under pressure. From Acts chapter 6, verse 8. It's a story of Stephen. It says this. 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 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 secretly they then they 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 to 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. Then gazing at him, all who sat on the council saw his face was like the face of an angel. Amen. Well, today what we're talking about is that under Christ-like pressure, under that persecution pressure that we will often feel we need a Christ-like presentation. We want to do the things that Stephen did because Stephen was copying Jesus. And today I have three very simple points for us. We need to understand three ideas if we're going to be like Christ. We need to imitate Christ's filling with power. That's what Stephen did. Stephen's a great example of this. He imitated the filling of Jesus, the control of Jesus Christ. Second, we need to imitate Christ's faithfulness with persecution. Jesus stood and delivered, he delivered even if it was going to mean persecution. We've got to learn how to do that. And then lastly, we need to talk about imitating Christ's fearlessness. We need peace. We need boldness and fearlessness, even in the face of persecution. So much so that our face looks like a messenger of God. And so that's where we're headed today. May God bless the word. May God strengthen his people and build up Central Church. You may be seated. We need to be Christ-like in our presentation, under Christ-like pressure. How do we do that? First of all, we need to imitate the filling power, his filling power. You see, what made Stephen so great is that he was like Jesus in the sense of self-control and even control of the Holy Spirit. It says in verse in verse 8, it says that Stephen was full. And I want to just remind us who Stephen is for just a minute. In Acts chapter 6, we're introduced to Stephen, and what we see is this progression to prominence. Stephen is more and more progressing as a servant. We saw him last week in Acts chapter 6. He's one of the seven, right? He's one of those servants who rise up because there are problems in the church. And that's, if you weren't here last week, that's what we talked about. That even good churches have seasons of difficulty and problems. And this church had problems that were not necessarily sin issues, they were situational issues. The church had grown to 20,000 people, and now we can't feed certain widows. That's a capacity issue. And yet there's a problem there, and division is rising up because of that in the very initial stages of the early church. And so what do they do? They elect Stephen and six others to be servants, to be deacons, to serve in the church and take the pressure off and be the peacemaker. Now here's what I see. What you're going to see over this chapter and the next two chapters is that Stephen's going to be used in one of the greatest ways in the whole New Testament. In fact, he is the most, maybe he is the most Christ-like individual in the book of Acts. He'll say the same things. He'll be martyred in the same way by the council, by the Sanhedrin. I mean, he's one of the most Christ-like guys in the entire book of Acts. And Stephen is this great example for us of someone who said yes to one thing. Yes, I'll serve tables. And God says yes to another thing. And it's like, how does a man's influence grow? How does a man's ministry grow? That's a great question. Stephen shows us that it's by saying yes to the open door that he's given you that more doors open and more opportunity. He's entrusted you. This is a biblical principle. To those he entrusts some things and they're faithful with them, he entrusts more things, more responsibilities. He gives responsibilities to those who say yes to the small responsibilities. And so Stephen goes from waiting tables to preaching one of the best sermons in the New Testament and being a bold witness for Jesus Christ. And it's because of Stephen, his service, that the church explodes. The blood of the martyrs pushes the church out of Jerusalem and into the world. And so, friends, first of all, this calls all of us, inspires all of us to be a servant. Stephen is filled in servanthood. He's also filled with a yieldedness to the Spirit. Write that down. Stephen is yielded to the Holy Spirit. Now we need to understand what this means. Notice the word fool in verse 8. Verse 8, it says that Stephen was full of grace and power. The word full here is the word saturated, and it really speaks to the nature of the filling of the Holy Spirit. We've got to uncover what that means. You see, to be filled with the Holy Spirit, some people think of it like water in a glass. That's a terrible way to think about the Holy Spirit. It's not that Pastor Matt has this much of the Spirit, and Ralph and Sam only have this much of the Spirit. It's not like this filling up of your life in measure. In fact, a better way to think of the Spirit is not like a glass half empty or half full. That's not a good way to think of it. The Holy Spirit is a person. You get all of the Holy Spirit the moment you become a Christian. He comes and he indwells you fully. So what does it mean to be, and the Greek word is saturated? The fullness that we're talking about, a better example is the fullness of like a hand inside a glove. It's control. It's as the hand goes inside a glove, it gets control of every part of that glove, and there is a controlling work inside of the glove. And so when I think of fullness, that's the word I want you to think of. I want you to think about control. It's not that Stephen had this massive amount more of the Holy Spirit, it's that the Holy Spirit had more of Stephen. It's not that you need more of the Holy Spirit. If you're a Christian, you're born again, no one born again is living without the presence of the Holy Spirit indwelling them. It's not that you need more of the Spirit, it's that the Spirit needs more of you. It's that you're yielding the rooms of your house. If you imagine your life as a house, you're opening every door to the authority and the leadership of the Holy Spirit in your life. That's what made Stephen so powerful. You see, you and I have to get to that place where we are filled, controlled, and not clinging to control ourselves. Now, let me just talk about this for a second. The most terrified, how many of you are either right now or you've done this previously, you've raised two-year-olds and three-year-olds. How many of you have gone through that terrible time in your life? Yes, amen. So so let me just talk about this. This this is this is hard. One of the most terrifying phrases that you can hear from a two-year-old or a three-year-old is the phrase, I'll do it myself. Now here's why. You've got to get to church, you've got to get somewhere, and you tell them, put your shoes on, and and they go over there and they've got their shoes on backwards, and you just want to jump in and just help them, and they s that little viper in a diaper swats your hand, and and they say, I'll do it myself. Right? Am I the only one? Do you know what I'm talking about? That's a terrible phrase. And it's like, you're like, okay, guess we're gonna be late. And it's like you're having to work through this. Do I jump in there and force it? But it's like, your shoes are on backwards, sweetheart. Let me talk to you, you know. And unfortunately, that's what a lot of Christians look like. A lot of Christians are saying that to the Lord. They're saying, I'll do it myself. I don't need your help. I don't need your word, so I don't read your Bible. I don't need your strength in my life, so I won't get counsel. I don't need you, I'll do it myself. And we bring that two to three-year-old attitude into our daily living, and unfortunately, it just creates chaos. Stephen didn't do that. Stephen was a man committed to the word of God. He was a committed to a committed Christian serving and and and and serving the church and and and sat satirizing, uh saturating himself in scripture. What would that look like if we did this? I sat with a saint this last week, and with some of you know her, she has a she had a uh a brain tumor in her head. Had to have surgery, got it out, praise God. She's doing much better. I went downstairs to counsel her this week. To just say hi to her, to pray over her. And I was gearing myself up to say, okay, what do I need to say to encourage her? I walked in, she encouraged me. I was just like, she was so strong. She was just, it was just, you just felt the courage and the power. And I was just like, oh my goodness. And she was so excited about teaching in vacation Bible school. And it was just like, okay, she's like, look, I trust the Lord with this. I know He's in charge of my life. How do you get there? That doesn't just happen. Because a lot of people who have medical issues or relational issues, what happens is they fall apart. They fall to pieces when their hard days come. It comes from daily dwelling in the pasture of the Lord. It comes from daily dwelling in the scriptures, it comes from daily strengthening and yielding control. So much so that you can say, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. Friends, that's that's what you and I need. We've got to start learning how to yield to the Lord and yield to the power of the Holy Spirit. Stephen was a servant. Stephen was yielded in and to the Spirit. And lastly, Stephen imitated the filling of Jesus Christ in his love. Notice that with me. He cared for people. Notice that in verse 8. He's doing great signs and wonders. Now we know that the signs and wonders that were happening in the early church came with great purpose. It was to authenticate the message of the gospel. That's what was happening. I mean, Stephen's doing signs and wonders. The apostle Peter. Peter's got a shadow that's like healing people. We saw that in previous chapters. But what is it aimed at? Who is it aimed at? Maybe a better question. He's doing these great signs and wonders. To who? The people. What people? Well, it's the early church. Maybe, maybe even some of the people he was sent to be a servant to. He's doing signs and wonders to maybe people who are hurting, who need healing. And this is the reality, and this is the test. For those who are filled with the spirit, it doesn't mean that they're always looking for recognition or the spotlight or the pat on the back. That's not what they're looking for. The people who are filled with the spirit don't need recognition. They don't need the pat on the back. That's not what fuels them. Why? Because their life terminates in a place of mercy to others. They want to help as many people as possible. It's about a love for the people of God. Some of you are serving this week. We have over 160 volunteers for vacation Bible school. Unbelievable. That may be a record, actually. That's fantastic. This is the kind of service that we use here. It's a servanthood that says, I am in this for the glory of God. I want to minister to the needs of the people. It's all about loving people. Evidence of the Spirit isn't flashy, it's mercy. You might write that down. The evidence of the Holy Spirit, it isn't flashy, it's mercy. Do a gut check this morning. Why is it that I do what I do? Do I operate with the fullness of the Spirit? Am I preparing even now to live out the fullness of the Spirit? Am I daily yielding control back to the Lord? Am I saying yes to the servanthood opportunities that I currently see in hopes of the Lord opening other opportunities to serve? Those are great questions. Number two, if you're taking notes, second main point. We need to do some imitation. We need to imitate the filling with power. Christ was filled with power. We saw that in Luke. He was filled with the Holy Spirit. So was Stephen. Stephen and he imitates Christ's faithfulness with perseverance. Now, I'm going to give you an image that's going to carry this whole point, okay? Let's put it up on the screen. Who is this?

unknown 19:01

Mahomes.

SPEAKER_00 19:02

Patrick Mahomes, thank you. All right. This is a uh a quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs, Patrick Mahomes. And here's the thing the quarterback's job is so hard, isn't it? It's like this is why this guy makes the big bucks. Why? Because basically his job is to be the guy out there that everyone wants to kill and tackle, and every time you get hit, it's like you're in a car accident, all right? And so over and over and over again, it's car accident, contusion, and bruises. And this guy, he has the job to sort of plant his feet, and he's got to discipline his mind and his feet to get the ball to the right place and release, and one second or less later, he's gonna get wiped out. That's his job. It's to discipline his mind, to discipline his body, to plant his feet, to release and get wiped out. And you just know that's the job. They want to kill me. Right? If you ever played high school sports, if you ever played football, that's the job. That's the gig. Notice it with Stephen. I want you to see this. Stephen expects the hit. Write that down. Stephen expects the hit. That's the gig. In Matthew 10, 22, uh Jesus said this of his disciples, you will be hated. Can you imagine that job interview? Can you imagine? Like you sit down with your the guy and you're doing a job interview, and you sit down and say, okay, what are the benefits of this job? What's the 401k? Uh what's the stock options? What's uh, you know, what's the pay? And the guy at the job interview says, Now, listen, you're gonna be hated by everybody. You you are gonna be the most unpopular person. They are going to hate you in this position. But that doesn't sound real attractive unless you're being offered eternal life. Then it's very attractive, right? Jesus is offering us eternal life, and Stephen says, Yeah, I get it. That's part of the gig. To follow Jesus might mean that no one wants to follow me. That's fine. I can deal with that. To be loved by God, to be hated by the world. The dichotomy is real, it's it's powerful. In 1 Peter 4 12, it says, do not be surprised. Do not be surprised when the fiery trial comes upon you to test you as though as though something strange were happening to you. You see, we've got to understand, and we've just got to we've just got to grasp this, that our association with Jesus Christ will oftentimes bring hits into your life. And you have to understand that is the normal pathway of discipleship. That's the normal thing of what it means to follow Jesus Christ. There's this dad I've been watching on on social media, and he makes it his goal every day when his kids get off the bus, he wants to embarrass his kids in front of all the other kids. So he dresses up. He dresses up as a unicorn, he dresses up. As, like a I guess, Aquaman, and he will be there. In fact, one day on the last day of school, he had all his friends come out, and they had a rock band playing School's Out for the Summer. And his goal is, and every time the kid kind of walks across and he walks about with his head down, and all the kids on the bus are just dying, you know what I mean? And the dad loves it, and the dad just runs over there and gives him a big hug. And uh, I'm like, Yep. How many of you said I'd be that kind of dad? I'm that kind of dad. Just enjoy the association. Sometimes your association can actually bring ridicule. How do I endure that? Well, my my love for God is greater than the ridicule the association brings. That's the answer. Stephen loved Jesus. Jesus was Stephen's hero. He didn't want to be like Mike. He didn't want to be like the world. Their opinion of him was very small. But his opinion of Jesus was very big. And that made all the difference. See, God's calling you to bear the ridicule, to go outside and suffer reproach for the shame or for the fame of his name. We have to learn that associations will bring anger, and we've got to be faithful, to plant our feet, to be disciplined, to deliver the message of the gospel, and understand that that's part of the gig, to take the hit. Notice where his hits come from. It's from the synagogue of the freedmen. And then Luke puts in this little parenthetical, as it was called. Now you need to understand this, okay? Very similar to today. There's the Jewish temple, and that's the Yom Kippurah moment of the year where the big sacrifice happens. And then throughout the land and in different countries and different lands, there were these things called synagogues. In fact, there's seven in Israel today that they've excavated. But there were literally hundreds and thousands of these things all over the world. And so a synagogue was like a local gathering, and each one had its little bit of its identity. It's kind of like today. You know that phrase I say all the time? It takes all kinds of churches to reach all kinds of people. We have a certain way of doing things here at Central Church. We're not ashamed of that. It's just who we are. And we have a certain way of organizing and a certain way of deploying, and that's okay. Everyone has their own identity. This is the synagogue of the freedmen. So it was made up of mostly freed slaves. And it's like it's like Luke is basically saying, as it was called, this little parenthetical. And it's his way of making a joke. He's almost saying, they call themselves the freedmen, but they're not. Right? They need to be freed. They need to be freed of their sins and repent of their sins. But that's what they call themselves. The Cyrenians, the Alexandrians, the Shalishans, right? And those from Asia. Now, what's really interesting about this is that these passages build, and it's like you're going from Peter to Stephen, and eventually we'll get to a guy named Saul, who's also called Paul. And it's very likely that Saul was actually in this group of people, freed slaves. It's very interesting. It's like the solutions were actually Tarshius is right there. And so it's very likely because of the proximity of Saul in the next chapters, he's standing there. He could have even been the leader of the synagogue. And they rose up and they disputed. Now look at verse 10. We're almost done. Look at verse 10. Jesus endured persecution. He persevered. And look at verse 10. Stephen is following in his footsteps. They could not withstand the wisdom and spirit with which he was speaking. How did Stephen persevere? Spirit and wisdom. You might underline those two words. Spirit and wisdom. So on one side, it's the Holy Spirit. On the other side, it's the wisdom of God's Word. And you will only persevere. You will only make it in life if you are saturating yourself in the scriptures. The Scripture is a powerful tool, guys. I've told you my story of Pat Nimmers. He's just a brand new Christian. He knows one verse. He knows John 14, 6. Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father. I mean, this guy went from drugs. I mean, he's smoking weed and he's drinking every weekend and he becomes born again, radically saved, and he stops all that stuff, but he's still going to parties and he's coming out of that lifestyle, and he's at a party. You know what happens next? He's at the party with all his godless friends. And they circle up. And they said, Hey, one of them says, Hey, I'm getting married. Where do you think I should get married? Should I go to this church or this denomination? And Pat, my friend Pat, who's now a pastor, he speaks up and says, I'll tell you this right now. I wouldn't go to any church to get married in if they didn't have the gospel. And it's like he went, I can't believe I said that. He said it was almost involuntary. And then it was like the music stopped at the party, and everybody kind of looked at him and said, What did he say? And they said, Wait, you mean you don't think that every gathering of people goes to heaven? Every denomination, every belief system, you don't think all ways make it? And he said, I only knew one verse. And I looked at those people and I said, Well, John 14, 6 says that Jesus is the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. And they were all furious. They were all angry. He said, He said, For the next hour, what about Mormons? Those guys are the nicest people ever. And they're so sincere. I mean, just you're around them. It feels like they're about to break out in song in any moment. And it's like, well, I don't know much about Mormons, but I'll tell you this. In John 14, chapter 14, verse 6, it says that Jesus is the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the Father except through him. Well, what about Hindus? What about what about these religions with other gods? Those guys are so sincere. I don't know anything about them. But in John 14, 6, it says that Jesus is the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the Father. He said, I defended my position for two hours. With one verse. And they could not overcome that one verse. And he says, at the end of it, I stepped back and I said, The power of scripture, the power of scripture, it gives wisdom. That was one verse. What would happen if I memorized two? He's like, I feel the power of this. Friends, we we have to have wisdom, but we also have to have the spirit. It says in this passage that they couldn't withstand the wisdom that comes from the word and the spirit with which he was speaking. You see, it was the spirit that gives you confidence in the moment. Stephen trusted God's rule for protection. He trusted that God would keep him safe. In fact, over in Luke chapter 21, verse 12, Jesus gave the prophecy of what's going to happen. He just said, I just want you to know this is going to happen to you. You've got to be ready for this. They're going to lay their hands on you, they're going to deliver you up to synagogues. We're there, synagogue of the freedmen. And you will be brought before kings, governors for my name's sake. This will be your opportunity to bear witness. Settle it, therefore, in your minds, not to meditate beforehand, how to answer, I will give you a mouth, and there it is, wisdom which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand. This is happening in Acts 6, right before our eyes. You'll be delivered up, even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends. And some of you, what are they going to do? Put you to death. But not a hair of your head will be harmed. That doesn't make sense. Jesus is speaking in categorical terms. He's essentially saying, even if they kill you, you're fine. So be brave, be bold, be courageous, take a risk. You see, what happens is whenever we go through trauma, a lot of times, we tend to kind of recoil. We tend to sort of say, I'll do it myself. I'll protect myself and I'll be in charge of my own safety. I just want to live a good, safe, risk-free life. And I'll keep my mouth shut closed. I won't go on the trip. I won't do the thing that might put me at risk. It's like Abraham and Isaac. Remember Abraham and Isaac? Abraham takes his son Isaac on Mount Moriah. Because God says, I want you to give up your son, your only son, the son who you love. I want you to sacrifice him. I imagine Isaac tied up, laying on the wood, being ready to be sacrificed. I imagine that was pretty transformative for him as a young man, probably 13, 14 years old. What do you think? I bet that's a pretty life-changing moment. Do you know that in the rest of the book of Genesis, Isaac never takes another road trip with his dad? Did you know that? I can just imagine the conversation. Son, let's go camping. Nah, I'm good. I'm good. And it's like, you know, I'm fine, dad. What happens is we can tend to sort of desire to protect ourselves. Stephen shows us that while you can know the Word of God, that's a great protection and it's a great weapon in the hand of a strong warrior. It is the sovereign protection of entrusting your life to God. That's what we need. And in the midst of persecution, how do we plant our feet and deliver, knowing the hit is coming? We trust that God said it would be this way, and not a hair of your head will be harmed. So live boldly. Live courageously. Who is it at work that God's calling you to share the gospel with right now? Who do you need to invite to vacation Bible school to hear the story? We're at 300 kids signed up. That's great. Who do you need to go and be courageous with to get the gospel out? You'll do it if you are confident that the Holy Spirit has guarded your life, that not a hair of your head has been harmed. You will face your synagogue of the freedmen. One day you'll be surrounded. And you've got to have this mindset about you that you're safe. Number three, and we're done. We need to imitate. That's what Stephen teaches us. He teaches us to imitate Christ's filling with power. He teaches us to imitate Christ's faithfulness with perseverance. And he teaches us to imitate Christ's fearlessness with peace. You can be fearless. You must be fearless. Notice that Stephen is going to be attacked. And by the way, that is always the pattern. Whenever someone tries to do something for God, they will be attacked. You will be attacked. The moment you do that in your family or at your work, you are going to be attacked, ridiculed, slandered. Notice in verse 12, it happens to Stephen. Unfair attacks. They came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council. Who's the council? The council is the Sanhedrin. Who are these people? They're the same people that killed Jesus. It's happening again. Oh no. This is an unfair attack, right? You children of the 80s, this is karate kid. You can't beat the move, right? So what do you do? Sweep the leg, Johnny. This is that moment of you gotta cheat. You gotta get him out of here. Write these down. Four unfair attacks, a smear campaign. We've heard him speak blasphemous words. Can't defeat his arguments. You gotta lie. You've got to take him out of context. You've got to start a mob. Number two, a sedition campaign. They stirred up the people. Now, this is normal. This is very normal. Before me, there's all sorts of problems with this before I got here. Even in this area in the church world, people would go to person to person and try to stir people up to divide churches. Memphis has a very long history of church divisions. And how does it happen? It happens through little people dropping nuggets and half-truths and false words and trying to stir people up. They go person to person. A silence campaign. Look at verse number three. They seized him. They set up what? False witnesses. False witnesses. It's always the pattern. Can't defeat him? You gotta take him out. Does this still happen today? One name. Charlie Kirk. It happened. Can't defeat his arguments. What do you do? Take him out. This is a reality. It'll happen to anyone who's speaking any kind of truth. Number four, a slander campaign. Speak words against this holy place and the custom of Moses. What is that? What are they even talking about? Words against this place? Words against the customs of Moses? What in the world? What is this? He's probably explaining the teaching of Jesus Christ. Jesus said, if you tear down this temple, I'll rebuild it in three days, and he was talking about his body. And then that maybe, maybe Stephen is explaining that why did the veil in the temple tear at the exact moment that Jesus was crucified? It's because the shadow is passing away and the fulfillment is here. That we don't need to worship at a temple anymore. Jesus is the temple. We don't need a sacrifice anymore. Jesus is the sacrifice. We don't need to have blood atone for our sins year after year after year. Why? Because Jesus' blood has atoned for our sins fully and finally. He's explaining the gospel. That we no longer live in the shadow, we live in the reality that Christ has provided to us. I think that's what's going on. And his fearlessness is a powerful witness to all who see it. Look at verse 15 and we're done. Gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel. Now, some of you are under the false impression of what angels look like. Some of you think that this is what an angel looks like, that it's this cute, chubby, uh, precious moments angel. And unfortunately, that is the mentality, these little two-winged creatures. Uh angels are um are multidimensional uh beings. Um every time we see one in the Bible, they are incredibly serious, almost robotic, and powerful. And um they are filled with flame, covered with eyes. These are extra just dimensional creatures that are not in our existence. They are polymorphic, and they are serious. They're serious. So, what does it mean here that Stephen's face is like the face of an angel? I think this is probably write down Exodus chapter 34, verse 29 through 35. I think this is probably a direct reference to what Moses was like meeting with God. One of the things I'm really excited about next summer is the Egypt tour because we're gonna go to Mount Sinai. We're gonna go to the place where Moses came down off the mountain after having met with God, and his face kind of radiated this seriousness, this reflective glory. That's incredible. And the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. I think it's probably something, this attestation, this guy has the radiance of someone who knows God. And they saw that. So here's the question in the midst of your pressure. Do other people see that in you? Like when it's your time, when the pressure is on, is there this acknowledgement that this guy who's talking, he's met with God. Whatever he's got's real. Whatever he is saying, it comes from a place of power and truth. And this guy's not messing around. We learn a lot from Stephen's life. I think there's a lot of lessons we have to take on. Number one, we've got to be ready for our day, our moment of persecution. You may have a Stephen week this week where you are surrounded, and in the midst of your surrounding, in the midst of pressure, God wants you to put on qualities that are Christ-like. A second application is this calls us to acknowledge that persecution should be a normal pathway for following Jesus. And so the question is if I'm not being persecuted right now, am I not following Jesus the way I should be? Am I not being bold in my witness? Because when you are bold in your witness, that association is going to call. When you stand and deliver, the hit is going to be coming. So, like, connect the two. If I'm not being persecuted, if I'm not feeling the pressure, if I'm not expecting the hit, then am I really following Jesus the way that the disciples did? That's a real question. I think this passage also calls us to see persecution as a moment of opportunity. Like you'll have, like, this is your moment. When you're surrounded at work, when you're surrounded in a relationship, and everyone's expecting you to respond with evil, this is an opportunity to lift high the name of Jesus. And if you're here today and you don't know what it means to follow Jesus, I want to tell you. This may be the most important part of the sermon. If you don't know Jesus Christ, you're missing out on what life is all about. God sent his son Jesus. And Jesus lived the perfect life. He died for your sin. And he rose from the dead. And he calls you, he offers you real life by trusting that his sacrifice on the cross was for you. Do I have to work for it? How many people do I have to trust in? Who do I have to trust in? Just one. John 14, 6. Jesus is the way. He is the truth. He is the life. No one comes to the Father except through him. It is to put all of your faith, hope, and love on Jesus Christ. That may be the first step you need to do today. You can't have the kind of imitation we're talking about until it starts with Jesus Christ. I think this passage lastly calls us to honor the right heroes. I think back to my childhood. I laughed today. It's like, really? Michael Jordan? Patrick Mahomes? This chapter honors Stephen. In fact, the Bible calls us to do that. 1 Corinthians 16 says that we're to give recognition to people who serve Christ well. We're to do that. Like when someone is out there and they are getting destroyed, right? They're getting the prophet's reward, right? If you have a prophetic ministry and you're speaking truth, sometimes what you say will not be received well, and they're going to get the prophet's reward. You need to encourage such people to honor them. I think that's a powerful application. Speaking of doing that, let's do that together right now. This week is VBS. As the theme comes out, at VBS we're praying, and uh the theme is an Irish theme. And I was I've been thinking about this a lot. Like if I have the opportunity to share with anybody, to share a story, maybe you will if you're serving at it, but the theme is sort of a Psalm 23 adventure, and it's it's an Ireland experience. That's why you see all the green outside, all right? And we're hoping to lead people to Psalm 23 to find green pastures in Jesus Christ. Now, a bit of a scandal that I discovered this week, okay? Who's heard of St. Patrick? Some people call him the patron saint of Shamrocks, patron saint of Ireland, the patron saint of beer, the patron saint of lucky charms. All right? Whatever it is. He's not Irish, he's English. Did you know that? Did you know that? It's true. In fact, his story is awesome. This guy, as a young man, was kidnapped by pirates, Irish pirates. And he worked for years as a slave. And he hates his life, he hates his existence, and one day the door is open where he gets the chance to escape. And he escapes, he goes back to England, and while he's in England, he gets saved. And he can't stop the dreams that keep coming to him over. And over and over again. He just keeps dreaming. What is he dreaming about? He's dreaming about those pirates. And he comes to the conclusion I think God wants me to go be a missionary and see those Irish pirates trust in Jesus Christ. He goes back to his captors. He takes a massive risk. Why? How? Because he's entrusting himself to the Lord. He knows that I need to stand and deliver and leave the consequences to the Lord. I'm going to trust him. And sometimes you get stoned, sometimes you get celebrated. Peter speaks on the Temple Mount and 3,000 get saved. Stephen speaks to the Sanhedrin on the Temple Mount and he gets stoned. I'm going to trust the Lord with the consequences. I'm going to stand, I'm going to deliver. He does it. And all kinds of people start trusting in Jesus Christ as their Savior and God. This morning we're going to take communion, heads bowed, eyes closed. How in the world, how in the world did he do this? If you need the elements, just lift your hand and we'll have some ushers pass those out. Just keep your hand up and we'll bring those elements to you. How did they do this? Listen to his prayer. Listen to his Christ-exalting prayer. The prayer of Saint Patrick. He said, I arise today with God's strength to pilot me. There's the filling of the Spirit. He says, I arise with God's might to uphold me, God's wisdom to guide me, God's eyes to look before me, God's ears to hear for me, God's words to speak for me, God's hands to work for me, God's shield to protect me, his host to save me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise, Christ in every heart of every man who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me, Christ in the eye that sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me. That, dear friends, is how we live our life. That's how God's calling you to live your life. It is to see the example of Christ in every part of your life and to desire to be like your hero, Jesus Christ. Heads bowed, eyes closed, we're going to take communion together. You can go and pull out the bread and let's remember our Savior together. The bread, what does it represent? It represents the body of Jesus that was broken for you. And just as you grind up the grain of wheat and it produces a powder and you mix it with water and other things, life comes from it. But it doesn't come without suffering. In this passage of suffering, let's remember that Jesus suffered for us. And because of his suffering, he has brought life to us. Father, we remember this goodness. And we thank you for this object lesson of your grace. That it's not about our suffering that brings life, it's all about you. It's all about what you have done through your Son Jesus Christ. So, Lord, as we receive this bread, we remember the sacrifice of our Savior. We remember his love for us. Father, may we love him so deeply that we accept our calling, that we take some risks this week, knowing that we're safe. Let goods and kindred go. This mortal life also. And he will win. He will win. You must win the battle. So, Lord, we thank you. And we say it with Stephen. We love you. Be our hero. Help us to be like you. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Let's take the bread together. Let's peel back the cup. And in an act of worship, we're going to take this. And we're going to remember together. Jesus paid it all. All to him I owe. Sin had left its crimson stain. But he did what? Washed it white as snow. It's Jesus' death on the cross that makes us acceptable to God. And we're going to remember that together as we take the cup. Let's worship our Savior and take it now. Amen.