Pastor Mac v.1 "Still Looking Up!" Acts 7:54-60

words of encouragement and inspiration

"A Few Minutes with Pastor Mac"
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Transcript

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Whatever you saw. Whatever you can fix a book.

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Thank you for doing it to another cast. We hope this one morning. We hope we appoint for this new week. If you can't make service, we have to give the fucking app your donations and fresh fruits. Thanksgiving. If you can't make it to service, so don't forget about that. We always want to make sure we give opportunity to uh sources into ministry. And if you can't make it again, our website as well, uh Give website and on our app uh Gibbilify. Good day, glad to be with you again with a few minutes with Pastor Mike Podcast. We hope your week has been blessed. It's May in the middle of May already, 2026, uh third Sunday. And we're looking for God to do mighty and wonderful things as He's already done. Uh again, thank you for tuning in to Podcast Broadcast. We're going to uh hopefully pray that something is said or you've been worshiping and praying all week, something is triggered in your mind, your thoughts to uh help you just go on a little longer. We'll keep praying for your steadfastness in Christ. His faithfulness is uncomfortable, it's is never wavering. But our faithfulness all sometimes always dips a little bit. But God keep us where we should be. We keep our hands in God's hands for what He is and who He is in our life. Let's pray. Oh God, we thank you for the chance to uh hear a little bit of word for you, from you. Let something be said and help someone in whatever situation, condition they're in. We don't have the power to do anything but fail. So Lord, we give it all to you. We surrender to you, we release it to you, we bend it to you, we bow our knees to you, give you glory, the glory is to you, for you, all the praise and word is for you. So Lord, we love you for what you are, you what you've done for us. Woke us up this morning, that's it, be enough, but decided to give us a little life activity of our Lambs Lord. We be like you. We love you. Now let something be said, bless your people, those who log in and download. In Jesus' mighty name we pray. Now let the words of my mouth and meditation of my heart be acceptable in the Saint, oh my Savior, my redeemer. In Jesus Christ's name we pray at all. Amen. Um last time I gave you the text, Acts 7, 54 through 60, is ending the seventh chapter. Last week, Stephen had given his soliloquy. But I read four volumes along history from the beginning. Uh Moses all the way through to him. Of course, he got to him and could not be completed without talking about Jesus. So we went through Jesus went in to him because Jesus has already ascended back into uh heaven. So matter of fact, next Sunday being Pentecost Sunday, um on the twenty-fourth. Yeah, I'm gonna be praying for that. Be excited about that. Should be Pentecost every Sunday in the life of believers. But Acts 7, 54 through 60. Next Sunday Lord's saying Acts eight, one through eight as we continue on through uh the book of Acts. Pray my strength that we stay, stay on the job, stay focused, stay encouraged, stay on this book. Going all the way through, hopefully. The year. But 54 says, I'll be reading the AMP translation, what translation you have, we ask you to follow on. When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. I mean, they were angry, raging. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the Lord, glory of God. Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56. Look, he said, I see heaven open, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. Verse 57. At this they covered their ears and yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed to him. Fifty-eight dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. 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. And he fell on his knees and cried out, Lord, do not hold this sin against them. When he had said this, he fell asleep. Word of God for the people of God, for the edifying of God. I want to tell you this human pastor, Matt. Still Looking Up. Still Looking. Church, beloved, brothers and sisters, there are some moments in our life when looking around will discourage you. The plight of the world society and what we live in now, it will cause you to weep and moan. If Stephen had looked around, all he would have seen was angry faces. The Bible says they were cut to the heart, but instead of repenting, they started grinding their teeth. Their conviction turned into hostility. And their guilt turned into rage. Their resistance to truth turned into violence. Stephen is standing there surrounded by people who hate him, reject him, and misunderstand him, and are ready to kill him. He has preached the truth, told the story, lifted up Jesus, and instead of receiving the word, they resist the spirit. Sound like some of us today. And here is the tension of the text. Stephen is doing the right thing, but the right thing has put him in a rough place. Have you ever felt that way sometimes before? That we're preached to somebody today because sometimes you can be faithful and still be fought. You can be obedient and still be opposed. You can tell the truth and still lose friends. You can stand for God and still have through stones thrown at you. But Acts 7 shows us something powerful. While they are looking at Stephen with anger, Stephen is looking up with faith. The crowd is full of rage. The haters in the crowd, the clapbackers are in the crowd. But Stephen is full of the Holy Ghost. The people are closing in, but heaven is opening up. His enemies are preparing stones, but Jesus is standing in glory. That is the word for somebody today, under the sound of my voice. Don't let what is happening around you stop you from looking above you. Because when life gets hard, the temptation is to look around at your enemies, look down at your pain, and look back at your regrets, or look ahead with fear. But Stephen teaches that that when it's pressure is high, faith must look higher. He's not looking at the stones nor the crowd. He's not looking at his pain nor his problems. He is still looking up. And what that is, I came to that's what I came to tell you today. When the world gets loud, the people get cruel, when life gets heavy, when your assignment gets costly, keep your eyes lifted because if you can still look up, you can still see Jesus. So from this passage, this text, I want to preach from that thought of still looking up. Touch your neighbor, somebody around, say, I'm still looking up. Well, first look past their reaction. Acts 7, 54. They were furious, gnashed their teeth, grinding their teeth. Stephen preached truth, but they responded with rage. Stephen's sermon did not make them shout, it made them mad. And the word would either make you glad or make you mad. You can't hear the word. You gotta go somewhere when you hear the word of God. You gotta, it'll make you mad or make you glad, make you glad, make you mad. The word reached our hearts, but instead of repenting, they resisted. They were cut to the heart, but they did not let conviction become correction. They turned conviction into anger. Isn't that typical about some of us? We hear the word, and even us believers, we hear the word and we still stay in what we're in. Talked in our Bible study Thursday night about accountability. We gotta you gotta have some wontuitedness in this process of sanctification. You can't let the word, the word is for correction and reproof. You can't let that become your wall that you build in front of your heart that keeps you from moving from conviction to correction. The Bible said they were cut to the heart. That means the word hit the place it needed to hit. Hit different in that place. But instead of letting the word heal them, they let pride harden them. And there is a difference between being convicted and being offended. Conviction says, Lord, change me. Offended says who they think they are. Conviction bows. Offended or offense bites. Conviction leads to repentance, offense, offense leads to rage. And some people do not reject you because you are wrong. Sometimes they reject you because the truth got you close. Ah, Stephen teaches us that you cannot let people's reaction make you abandon your assignment. If the word of God and the will of God, you keep on doing what you're doing. Do not let their anger make you question your obedience. Do not let their resistance make you water down the word. Do not let the rejection make you retreat from righteousness. Everybody will not celebrate what God called you to carry. Preach Pastor Matt. Everybody can't handle truth. Some people don't want conviction, they want comfort. That's what some of us church folk, we want to stay comfortable. Don't say nothing that's gonna make me come out of my situation because make me uncomfortable. I don't like feeling convicted because I like doing what I need to do, but I like to stay in church, but I still like to stay in the world, but I like to do, but I like I like to be comfortable. That's where we got a bunch of comfortable folk in the church. When you stop running with the crowd, they start looking at you funny. When you speak righteousness, people will call it judging, but truth is truth, even when it hurts. Steve will teach us that teaches us that faithfulness will not always be popular. Sometimes telling the truth will cost you applause. Sometimes standing for Jesus will make people uh uncomfortable. Sometimes the same people who should celebrate your coverage will criticize your conviction. Remember this, remember this on the sound of my voice. Just because they were mad doesn't mean you're wrong. Dietrich Bernhoffer wrote that when Christ calls a man, he bids him to come and die. What he means that Jesus is not a casual walk toward comfort. Sometimes it is a costly walk toward suffering. Stephen did not follow Jesus because it was safe. He followed Jesus because Jesus was worthy. And I think we've lost that stigma now in our 2026. We don't consider Jesus worthy enough for us to change our ways and change our behavior. He's not worthy. We got to be careful right about in here when we don't recognize the worthiness of Jesus and all he's done for us. Everything we have is because that man died and rose again on Sunday morning. And I'll preach about that later. I'll close out because that's the ultimate gospel there is that Jesus gave his life, but we've got too comfortable. Yeah, we we we we we got too comfortable. We we follow him because we want to be comfortable. Steve said, it's costly to walk. Somebody say it's cost to walk. He didn't follow because he was saved. He said it called uh he followed Jesus because Jesus was worthy. And the word will read either break your pride or expose your rebellion. You can't follow Jesus with your ego. Uh you can't follow Jesus trying to be comfortable and do what you want to do. Not a real saint. You cannot measure obedience by how people respond to you. Some people will clap when you compromise and criticize when you obey, but your calling is not to be liked by everybody. Your calling is to be faithful to God. God will do just what he said he'll do. And ought to have a witness out there, somebody under the sound of my voice. Ought to know that God will do just what he said he'll do. If we're serious about God, yeah, it it'll it'll it'll change, it'll change for the best. If we're serious about about him. Because our faithful our calling is to be faithful to God, not to impress people, not to impress man, but I'm an audience of one. Then secondly, look toward his glory. At 55, 56, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven, saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. He said, I see heaven open. The Son of Man standing at the right hand. Here, at the power of the text right here, it said, While they were looking at Stephen with hate, Stephen was looking toward heaven with hope. They were reaching for stones, but Stephen was reaching for glory. They are controlled by rage, but Stephen is controlled by revelation. The Bible says that he saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Usually Jesus is described as seated at the right hand of God. But here he's standing. That shows that Stephen is not alone. Heaven is paying attention. Jesus standing as witness, advocate, savior, and welcome. Stephen did not just see what was happening around him. He saw what was happening above him. You can survive what is coming at you when your eyes are fixed on who is standing for you. I preach, Pastor Mac. I'm doing the best I can. Let me say that again. You can survive all this mess when you're looking at, when your eyes are fixed and you're looking at who is standing for you. And this is the turning point. They're looking at Stephen with hate, but Stephen is looking toward heaven with hope. The text says, but he, and that means Stephen had a different spirit. He wasn't involved, just had the same spirit with them, but see, because it's easy for us to be charismatically carried into the same feeling as those around us, meaning they were full of rage. He could, in turn, be full of rage for revenge, but he had a different spirit. Yeah, they were full of rage. He was full of the Holy Ghost. They were looking for rocks, and he was looking toward glory. They were controlled by anger. He was controlled by the spirit. And don't miss this, Stephen did not see heaven because things were easy. He saw heaven while things were dangerous. Oh my God. I don't have time to go in your least moment. That's what we should be seeing heaven. We should be seeing Jesus. Sometimes God does not remove the pressure immediately, but sometimes he gives you a vision that is bigger than the pressure. Oh, what you focus on will determine what you can survive. Let me say priest pastor, man. Let me say that again. What you focus on will determine what you can survive. See, a lot of people have lost the battle in the mind already because you focus on the issue. I told you last week that Michael Jordan does not concentrate on the missed shot. He steps up and shoots it because why is he going to think about a shot he hasn't taken? He already thinks it's going to miss. If you already think in the negative, you already focus on what you don't need to focus on. You need to be on the positive. So what you focus on will determine what you can survive. Stephen had only looked at the crowd, he might have been overcome with fear. But he looked up, fixed his eyes on heaven. There's a word for somebody. Stop staring at the stone, start looking at the Savior. Yes, I know the pressure is real. Yes, the pain is real. Yes, the opposition is real, but heaven is real too. Glory is real too. Jesus is real too. And when life gets heavy, look up. When the enemy gets alive, look up. When people misunderstand you, look up. I'm in the text right here. When your assignment is painful, look up. Because if Jesus is standing for you, you can stand through anyone and anything. Tell someone around and say, look up. When life gets too heavy, look up. When the enemy gets loud, look up when people misunderstand you. Look up when your assignment gets painful. Look up because Jesus is standing for you. You can stand through anything. Life will try to pull your eyes down. Bill's drama, betrayal, and stress. But if you keep looking up, God will give you a different perspective. Stephen didn't see the defeat. He saw Jesus standing. Jesus used to sit, but he stood up for Stephen. As a woman notes here, he stood up for Stephen. Stephen took on what he took on. You become like what you keep looking at. Stephen looked up long enough to start looking like Jesus. Well, that goes to my last point. First, look past your reaction. Look past their reaction. Look toward his glory. And then you start, I told you, he looked up long enough, you start looking like Jesus. Last one, look like your Savior. And I'm done. At 57 and 60, they covered their ears. At this, they covered their ears and yelled at the top of the voices. They all rushed. Dragged them out the city, began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet. A young man named Saul, don't forget that name. While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. He fell on his knees and cried, Out, Lord, do not hold this sin against him. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. Stephen's final words sound like Jesus. Jesus prayed, Father, into my hand, thy hands I commend my spirit. Stephen prayed, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Jesus prayed, Father, forgive them. Stephen prayed, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. Yeah, the stones hit Stephen's body, but they did not poison Stephen's spirit. Do not let what they did to you change what God is doing in you. Stephen does not die bitter. He dies forgiven. He does not ask God to get them. He asks God to forgive them. Some of us, we say, get them, Lord. This is when you know the gospel is gone deep in your soul when you can pray for people who hurt you. Uh-oh. Real spiritual maturity is not just how loud you shout, it's how much you look like Jesus under pressure. Stephen preached like Jesus, stood for Jesus, suffered for Jesus. It is possible to send out and preach it and still refuse correction. You may not be physically stoned, but life can throw stones at you. Stones of betrayal and rejection, stones of misunderstanding and criticism, stones of grief and disappointment. But do not let what hits you get inside you. They can throw stones at your body, but do not let stones build a wall around your heart. In a culture of revenge, coping back, holding grudges, God calls us higher. And forgiveness is not weakness, it's kingdom strength. You don't win by getting evil. You win by letting God handle it. And how many of you know that God can handle it? They threw stood, they threw stones, but he threw prayers. If you can look up while they're tearing you down, God will raise you up beyond what they tried to bury in you. Priest Pastor Maggie, I'm doing the best. Let me say that again. If you can look up while they're tearing you down, God will raise you up beyond what they tried to bury you in. Well, that's a good point right there to stop because we just need to know that we're still looking up. Despite all the triumphs and the pain in life, we're still looking up. Despite all the heartache and the heartbreak, and despite what the task may look like, it it may be hard sometimes. It may be a little begrudging burden sometimes, but I'm gonna still look up look up to Jesus, the author and finisher of my faith. I'm looking up like the cross 'cause it was at the cross. At the cross where I first saw the light and the burdens of my heart rolled away and I'm still looking up despite my burdens, I'm still looking up despite all my life's pressure. I'm still looking up because I gotta see King Jesus, and if I can see King Jesus, everything will be alright. Can I talk about it? Do you mind if I talk about it for a moment? Born in Bethlehem, raised in Nazareth, baptized in the Jordan, walked the streets of Jerusalem, healing the Sheikhan, raising the dead. And one Friday on a hill called Calvary, they nailed him to an old rugged cross. He riveted his feet and he pierced him in his side and he died till the sun stopped shining. Died till the moon dripped away in blood. Till the earth shook like a drunk man. Till the soldiers said surely surely this must be the Son of God took him off that cross, put him in a borrowed tomb, stay there all night Friday night. Stay there all day Saturday and Saturday night. But the reason why I can still look up the reason why I can still find Jesus is that early early He got up from the grave with all power in his hands and since I he got all the power I can do most anything because I can do everything through Christ which strengthens me. Give me that Holy Ghost power that can turn my life around. Give me that Holy Ghost power that can help me love my enemies. That can help me hug my haters. That can help me give grace to those who scandalize my name. Just give me Jesus in every thing. Allow him to come into your life. Simply say this prayer. Jesus, I need you in my life. I believe you died and rose again on the third day. I trust you to control my life and to enhance my future. If you said that prayer, it's as simple as ABC. Accept, believe, and commit. If you did that, we would love to hear from you. You may contact us through our email, get praiseon at house of praisepp.org. Or you may go simply to our website, www.house of praisepp.org, contact us, and someone from our discipleship team will get back with you with other information you need in order to begin this new life in Christ. We love you to life. We look forward to hearing from you. Thank you again for listening to our podcast. We hope something was said, be a blessing for you, be a blessing for you this week. We know that we are still in the hands of God, and we will trust Him to keep and deliver us. Bless you. God bless you. County Line, we love you to life, and you can't do anything about it. Look forward to next week. The Lord says the same. We hope that you are praying and reading the word and staying true and standing on the promises of the Lord. God bless you. And we'll see you next week. Pastor Mac.

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I need to be on me.