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Starts partway through Austin's welcome and includes his reading of the passage and his opening prayer. Ends as Austin invites the congregation to pray.
or you consider Living Oaks your home. We're just genuinely excited to really step into this season together and step back into our series together as we continue our journey through the book of Acts this summer. So if you have your Bibles, I want to invite you to turn with me in your Bibles to Acts chapter 7. We're picking up where we left off last week in Acts chapter 6, and we're going to continue our series in the book of Acts.
Starting this morning in Acts chapter 7. And hey, as you turn there, I just want you to think with me this morning about how life is full of moments, right? Life is certainly full of minutes, and those are some small increments that we use to count time. But life is also full of moments, right? Life is full of big moments. Life is full of small moments. Life is full of happy moments. Life is full of hard moments.
Life is full of average moments and ordinary moments. But then there are certain moments in life, certain moments that are big and significant. And those moments we often call defining moments, right? Because those moments, they have the power, they have the potential to really shape the trajectory of your life and even shape the trajectory of other people's lives. Life is full of moments, big and small, and it's those bigger defining moments that are a real bummer when you miss them.
I wanted you to think with me this morning about maybe a big defining life moment that you missed out on. Or you almost missed out on. So thinking about some big moments that we might miss. You know, it's one thing to miss your exit on the freeway, right? It's another thing to miss your flight when you're planning to travel, which has probably happened to all of us. Has anybody missed a flight or missed an exit on the freeway?
You know, it's another thing when you miss your moment to walk down the aisle, right? Or you miss your moment to meet your first child Now it was eight years ago That I made the questionable decision while my wife was nine months pregnant To take a bus full of students to summer camp While my wife was nine months pregnant don't miss that detail That's what made that a questionable decision and so we got on the bus and we went up to camp and you know where we went and
It's where we're sending our kids this summer to Hume Lake Christian Camps. And what I love about Hume Lake is it's one of those places on planet Earth that still doesn't have cell phone service, right? And so you can't be on your phone and you actually get to connect with God. And that's part of why we love sending our students there. Now, here's the problem. If you're putting things together, my wife is what?
Nine months pregnant. And I'm going to one of the places on planet Earth where there's no cell phone service. So she can't contact me. So here's what I did. I went to campus safety and I gave them my name and I gave them my my cabin number. And in so many words, I essentially said, if a frantic pregnant lady calls you, please come find me because I probably need to head home if you get that phone call.
Now, this story actually works out, so don't get worried. However, not more than 48 hours after I get home, we're standing in the kitchen and her water breaks. And no more than 36 hours after I get home, we welcome our first daughter into this world, right? Talk about cutting it close, am I right? Too close for comfort. A moment, a defining moment that I almost missed out on to be there to hold my wife's hand, to be there to hold my daughter for the first time in my arms.
Those are big moments in life that you don't want to miss out on. And I want you to be thinking about moments in life that you don't want to miss out on. This morning, maybe you can reflect on moments that you have missed out on, and I want you to begin thinking with me about moments that you don't want to miss out on. Now, I mentioned that there's big moments, but there's also small moments. And it was recently that I realized that God places moments, big and small, in our lives each and every day, and it's those moments that he doesn't want us to miss out on.
God is placing moments in our lives each and every day, moments for us to learn, to grow, to impact, to influence, to share, to serve. And I don't want you to miss out on your moment today. I don't want you to miss out on your moment this week. It might not be as big and significant as walking down the aisle or meeting your first child, but every single day is filled with moments that have meaning today.
And significance and purpose. And there are moments that God places in front of his people that we never want to miss out on. And it's the book of Acts that is full of those moments. I hope you have your Bibles open to Acts chapter 7. I want to turn your attention to a moment. Guys, it's a big moment. Guys, it's a significant moment. It is a moment that you do not want to miss out on. It's a moment that Stephen missed.
Did not want to miss out on. It's a defining moment. It's a significant moment. And it reminds us. And it invites us to think about. How our lives are filled with moments every single day. And do we have eyes to see them? And are we prepared to meet them? As intentional providential moments. That God has placed in our lives. For a purpose. And I want you to see in Acts chapter 7. We meet a man named Stephen.
And it's Stephen. And it's Stephen. Who I think is an example for us to follow today of what it looks like to never miss your moments. This morning we're going to be talking about the idea of don't miss your moment. You're going to get moments this week to influence others. You're going to get moments this week to share your faith with others. You're going to get moments this week to love on others.
You're going to get moments this week to be present with others. And I just want to invite you to consider what it would look like to never miss your moments. As we think about Stephen's moment that he refused to miss. So I want to preview where we're going. I want to preview what we're going to be talking about today. And that is Stephen's moment invites us to never miss our moment. Stephen's moment invites us to never miss our moment.
And we're going to see there's three moments that God doesn't want us to miss. First is your moment to serve. And we've been thinking a lot about this in our series in the book of Acts. Each and every one of us has a circle. Each and every one of us has a circle of people that we know and love. A circle of people that we can impact and influence. And Stephen's example reminds us to never miss out on your moment to serve those people when God gives you opportunity to do so.
Second, we're going to see your moment to speak. God is going to give you moments to speak. To share your faith, to speak up, to communicate your values and your beliefs to people in your life. And what if all of us was just ready to meet that moment? And we refuse to let it pass us by. And then lastly, we're going to see your moment to stand. Now, we're looking at a very unique passage this morning.
We're going to look at Stephen's life. We're going to look at this man who refused to to to to miss his moment but he stood for his faith and it cost him everything and and while we might not be invited into moments that cost us everything they might cost us something and as you are our follower of jesus today i just want you to think about what would it look like to be willing to stand and not miss your moment to stand when god gives it to you so let's let's look at the passage before us i actually want to i want to pick up where we left off and
Last week in Acts chapter 6, we'll briefly, I'm just going to read verse 8. Then I want to read the first couple of verses of Acts 7 to kind of get us to where we're going. And then I want to read the last few verses of that chapter, Acts 7, 54 to 60. I want to introduce you to a man named Stephen. I want to get you thinking about what it would look like to never miss your moment when God gives it to you.
So let's read God's word together. Acts chapter 6, verse 8 says, And we'll pick up in chapter 7. We met Stephen last week if you were with us. And it says this about him in verse 8. It says, and Stephen, he was full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. And then in chapter 7, verses 1 through 2, we pick it up with Stephen again. The high priest said, are these things so?
And Stephen, he said, brothers and fathers, hear me. And then what he goes on and does is he gives the longest recorded sermon in the book of Acts. And he shares about how everything in the Old Testament points to Jesus. And then finally, at the end of everything that he shares in this chapter, finding his moment to speak, this is his moment to stand. And we pick up in chapter 7, verse 54 to the end.
It says, now when they heard these things, What Stephen had to say about Jesus. They were enraged and they ground their teeth at him. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God. And then this, Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him.
Then they cast him out of the city and they stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And falling to his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not hold this sin against him. And when he said this, it says what? He fell asleep. Guys, let's pray together this morning.
Father, we just want to come to you this morning and welcome your presence in this space and invite your spirit to teach us your word today. God, we're thankful for these incredible portraits and pictures of men and women that faithfully stood and served you as members of your church. And as we think about what it means to be a 21st century Christian and follower of Jesus, Father, we want to be ready for our moments to serve you.
We want to be ready for our moments to speak. We want to be ready for our moments to stand. And so, God, I just pray that you would fill us with the same power that filled Stephen. Lord, we pray that you'd fill us with the same spirit that filled Stephen. That you might enable us and empower us to be ready to never miss our moment. Lord, thank you for this example from your word. We pray that we learn from it today.
We ask all these things in Jesus' name and all God's people said, Amen. Well, again, good morning and welcome to our church. We've been in this series through this summer, through the book of Acts. And I just want to take a moment to think about where we are in the storyline of Scripture. And even the timeline of Jesus' life and ministry as we continue in the book of Acts. Now, the book of Acts is called Acts because it's all about the acts of the spirit, the acts of the church, the acts of the apostles and the disciples, who they were and what they did.
Really, it's this hinge in the Bible between what Jesus began to do and teach and what we begin to do and teach as his followers as we carry out his mission to From his ascension into heaven until his return to this earth. It was actually Luke who wrote the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts as one unified story. So if you ever get the opportunity, I'd encourage you to read Luke and Acts together as one unified story.
I like to think about them this way. Luke, the Gospel of Luke, is the story of Jesus Christ. Acts, the book of Acts, is the story of the church. It's really our story, guys. It's our history. It's who we are called to be and how we're called to live as followers of Jesus each and every day. Now, we've been thinking about, over this whole series, about how Acts chapter 1 was the last moment in time when Jesus set foot on this earth, right?
We saw him commission his disciples. We saw him ascend into heaven. And Acts chapter 1 is the last moment in time that Jesus set foot on this earth. But then we've been thinking about how his power has never been more present. And his presence has never been more present than it is right here and right now because of what he told his disciples in Acts chapter 1 verse 8. He says, but you will receive power forever.
When what? The Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my what? Witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, even to the ends of the earth. And so that promise is fulfilled. God pours out his spirit. just like he said he would in the Old Testament. And now in the book of Acts, we see all people, all believers are equally filled with the presence of God, the spirit of God, and therefore the power of God.
And that's where we begin to see the story of the church unfold, right? Peter proclaims the gospel, the church is born. And then in Acts chapter two, we saw that the church, does and practices certain things together. We've asked the question, what does it look like for a team of spirit-filled Christians to live together and do life together? And what are the things that they commit to doing together?
Because church, after all, is a team sport. What does a team of spirit-filled Christians do together? We saw how they practice certain things together, they share certain things together, and And they win certain things together. And we define winning as serving people and sharing Jesus with our community. Then we picked up in Acts chapter 4 and the church has grown from like 120 people to 5,000 followers of Jesus.
The church is growing. And we see that there's no such thing as a problem-free church, right? Can I get an amen to that? There's problems, right? We're people, right? There's no such thing as a problem-free church. There's no such thing as a perfect church. You'll never find one as hard as you look and as hard as you try. But what we see is the conflict begins to rise from external pressures and internal pressures.
There's conflict that comes as the Jewish authorities and leaders are now beginning to oppose the disciples. And there's even conflict within as some of the disciples are neglected and some of their needs are not being met. That takes us to Stephen. If you were with us last week, what the disciples do is they workshop a solution to a problem of certain needs not being met in the church. And so they raise up a group of seven people chosen to serve and meet those needs.
And the first in that list of seven people is who? Stephen. Now, we don't know much about Stephen's story, but here's what we know. He was a Christian. He was a Hellenist, which means he was a Greek-speaking ethnic Jew who became a follower of Jesus. Stephen means, or his name means crown, which I think is a beautiful reminder as we think about this passage. And finally, we see that Jesus, or yeah, the disciples of Jesus appointed Jesus
Stephen to serve, and he served as a man of exemplary character. So I want to think about what Stephen was full of today. Now in Acts chapter 6 verse 5 and Acts chapter 6 verse 8, it says that Stephen was full of a few things. It says that he was full of faith and of the Spirit. It says that Stephen was full of grace and full of power. And as we think about the calling that God placed on Stephen's life and the calling that God places on our lives, I want us to think about what Stephen was filled with, right?
What Stephen was fueled by that enabled him and empowered him to fulfill his calling and to meet his moments. And as we think about serving our community and loving on those in our circle and meeting our moments that God gives us, I think we need to think about what Stephen was fueled Filled with and fueled by, empowered him to fulfill his calling and accomplish what God called him to accomplish. Now the word full in Acts 6, 5 and 6, 8 where it says that Stephen was full.
He was full of these things. That word full, it means complete. It means filled. It means full. It actually means containing all that it will hold. It's just as full as it can be. You know, my brothers and I, we try every summer to break away from our busy schedules. And we try to plan a backpacking trip together. And so my brothers and I, we've hiked Catalina Island, we've hiked the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and just this last week, we hiked the Lost Coast Trail.
which is this 25-mile remote through hike through the Northern California rugged coastline. It's kind of where the mountains meets the ocean, and it's this beautiful stretch of pristine, inaccessible beaches in Mendocino County that you can only access by backpacking. And, you know, I, for some reason, I decided to downsize my backpack this year and get the smallest backpack I think that I could possibly fit all of my gear into.
Now, if you've been backpacking before, you know that you have to stuff inside of that backpack everything that you're going to need to survive for at least a few days, right? You need, what? Food, water, clothing... shelter, and any other comforts that you don't really want to go without, right? Um, and, and so inevitably, um, as we would pack up camp every day, um, we, there's this like hour long process for me holding up my brothers, um, of just trying to stuff and fit like everything that I brought with me back into my backpack.
Right. Um, I, I'm forcing my sleeping bag in there and I'm forcing my, my sleeping pad in there and I'm I'm forcing the bear canister you had to bring in there, I'm forcing my blow dryer in there, right? Forcing my pour over coffee kit in there, you know, all of those comforts that I'm gonna need along the trail. And sure enough, by the end of that hour, I mean, my backpack is just bursting at the seams, right?
Every cinch cord, every cable, every buckle, every pocket, It's just stretching as far as it can stretch because this thing is now holding all that it can hold. Right? I put my iPhone in the top compartment, and after the cinch straps were pulled, I actually broke the screen protector on my iPhone because that thing is just so full of gear. Right? To say that it was full, I think, is actually an understatement.
Like, it was bursting at the seams. It was filled to the brim. And now we're beginning to understand what it means that Stephen was full of something, right? That's the word in the original language. He's full, complete, filled, containing all that he can hold. And what was Stephen full of? Four things. Faith, the Spirit, grace, and power. Stephen was full of faith, the Spirit, grace, and power. And I'm here to remind you that you cannot do the Christian life on your own.
And you're not going to be ready to meet the moment that God places in front of you if you're not filled like Stephen was filled. And if you're not full like Stephen is full. Not of your strength and your own power and ability, but of God's strength and God's power and ability through faith in the presence of his spirit who lives in us. Who gives us the grace and the power that we need to love and serve those in our lives.
It was one of my brothers who actually had the idea. He actually insisted that to get up to the trailhead up in Mendocino County, some 600 miles away, about a 10-hour drive. He insisted that we take his electric vehicle to get there. Now I'm hearing groans in the audience. And I had never heard of what they call range anxiety before, until now, right? And so we get in the car and I'll admit it was a great experience.
It was a nice vehicle, lots of cool gadgets and technology and really cool to be thinking about like we're doing this whole trip off of electricity. And it was a great experience until you're on the five freeway In 107 degree weather, and you're kind of in this stretch of nowheresville, right, from, I don't know, Bakersfield to Sacramento, and you're down to 10% battery on your electric vehicle, and you miss the exit to the charging station, and there's not another charging station for another 100 miles.
Now you're beginning to understand range anxiety and electric vehicle owners a little worried that they're not gonna make it to their destination with the charge that they have. And so thankfully there was another exit to turn around, but that wasn't for another 15 miles, which means it was a 30 mile round trip to get back to the charging station. And we got there with about 2% battery to spare. That was a moment, all right?
Now, it reminded us of how important it is to have an external battery source or energy source for you to plug into, right? Because there's no way we're going to make it to our destination on 2% battery by the time we got there. And you had to plug in to external power. Now, this was actually a really cool idea. Power charging station somewhere in the middle of California. It's off grid and it's called a micro grid because it's got a solar farm and the solar farm is charging all of the cars that come in and out.
Kind of a cool concept. But we plug into power and we recharge our battery and we finally, eventually, after more charging stations along the way, made it to our destination. As Christians, guys, we have to plug into an external power source because we do not have the strength and the power and the ability to live the Christian life on our own. Right. There is an external power source to us whose name is the Holy Spirit that Jesus said would fill us to empower us to fulfill the mission.
That he's given us. And we need to be faithful to plug into that external power source so that we can be fueled up and charged up and ready to serve and meet the needs of those around us. So I just want to ask you, are you plugged in? Are you plugged into the Holy Spirit and his power in your life? And do you know who he is? And do you know what scripture teaches is our relationship to him? And do you know what it looks like to walk in him and abide in him and be plugged into him so that you can be fired up and charged up and ready to serve those around you?
And that's what we see Stephen was all about in chapter six, verse eight. He was plugged into the spirit of God. He was charged up and ready to go. He was doing great things for God and good things for people. Acts chapter six, verse eight says that Stephen was what? Doing great things. Wonders and signs among the people. Now, if you're like me, the words wonders and signs might stand out to you from that verse.
But what actually began to stand out to me from that verse as I was working through this passage this week, it's not signs and wonders. It's the word doing and the word among. Right. Stephen was so charged up and so fired up by the spirit's power in his life that he couldn't stop doing whatever he could to be among and around other people and to begin doing things that would love and serve and bless other people.
He was proactive. He took initiative. He didn't wait for opportunities, but he looked for opportunities and he found ways to creatively serve the people in his circles. This is a mindset that I think every Christian should embrace to be more like Stephen, to be proactive in seeking ways to love and serve and be faithful to serve the people in our circle. There's a great missionary who brought the gospel to India and his name is William Carey.
And this was his mindset some hundreds of years later, thinking about Stephen and the ambition he had in his faith and his pursuit. of loving and serving others. And William Carey went on to say, and he wrote in his journal in October of a year that I can't remember. But he says this in his journal. He says, expect great things from God and attempt great things for God. Expect great things from God
And attempt great things for God. And certainly that characterized William Carey's life. That characterized many missionaries' lives. That characterized Stephen's life. And you know what I love about Stephen? He didn't set out to make history, did he? And yet his story echoes through two millennia. As we're even thinking about him today. And the stand that he took. And the life that he lived. To serve and love those around him.
Stephen was somebody who expected great things from God and attempted great things from God. He was just an ordinary person. He was an ordinary Christian who woke up every day and showed up every day and said, how can I love and how can I serve the people around me? And so I just want to invite you to think about what would it look like to adopt that mindset for your Christian life? To expect great things from God and to attempt great things for God and to be that ordinary, average Christian person that history may never remember.
But you woke up every day and you showed up every day in your circle, proactively looking for opportunities to do great things for God and good things for people. Maybe you'd write that down today. Expect great things from God. Attempt great things for God. William Carey. Maybe you'd adopt that mindset today as you think about Stephen and the great things that he accomplished for God. And maybe, just maybe, God is going to place a moment in your life this week that you, being plugged into the power of the Holy Spirit, filled and ready to
Will be faithful to attempt something great for God in your life this week. So Stephen's given this moment to serve. He's given this moment to speak. And I want you to fast forward with me to chapter 7, verse 1. Here's what happens. His story, it's inviting us to never miss our moment to serve. But also never miss our moment to speak. And we pick up the story in Acts 7, verses 1-8. And two, so what happens is Stephen is chosen to serve by the 12.
Those are the apostles. And then Stephen is actually confronted for serving by the council of Jewish authorities and leaders. They began accusing him of doing something wrong when Stephen was actually doing something right. Right. Stephen was accused of doing something wrong when he was actually doing something right. And that's probably quite relatable for you if you're a follower of Jesus. In fact, Jesus said that that is inevitable for you if you're going to follow him.
People are going to sometimes some people are going to express curiosity about our faith and they might want to learn more about who we are and what we believe. But oftentimes scripture also teaches that people are going to express hostility toward our faith for who we are and for what we believe about Jesus. And so Stephen, I think, was both the recipient of curiosity and questions about who was he and what was he doing.
And I think he was also the recipient of hostility. People didn't like who he was anymore. And what he was doing. But my observation about this text and what I love about Stephen's story is that people knew exactly who he was and exactly what he stood for, right? Like Stephen lived out his faith publicly and authentically to the point that people in his circle knew exactly who he was and exactly what he stood for.
Some people were curious and wanted to learn more. Some people were hostile and didn't want to learn more. But the point is, they knew who he was and what he believed. And maybe a challenging question of reflection for us is, do people know who I am? And do people know what I believe? Because Stephen lived out his faith publicly and authentically, and people took notice. And people began to ask questions.
And if you look at chapter 7, verse 1, what does the high priest say to Stephen? Are these things so, Stephen? Now, they had spread false rumors about him. And so the high priest was asking, are those rumors true? But nonetheless, it was his life being lived out publicly that brought these questions to And this curiosity about his faith. And I just want to invite you to begin thinking about what would it look like to live in a way that invites curiosity about your faith and causes people to ask questions about who you are and what you believe.
Right? I may have shared this before, but one of my brothers is a pastor and one of my brothers is a physicist. Now, I actually share the same faith with the former, but I share a different faith with the latter. One brother who's a pastor, I've shared the same faith with him. The other brother who's a physicist, I actually don't share the same faith with him. And so as you can imagine, that led to some very interesting conversations on our backpacking trip last week.
Now, we had a great time, right? And actually what made it such a great time, more than the food that we ate and the wildlife that we saw and the conversations or the adventures that we shared, what made it a great trip was the conversations that we had. You know, you could imagine probably some of the things that we were talking about, right? Our jobs, our hobbies, our gear choices for the trip. Our muscle soreness during the trip.
Why in the world I brought a blow dryer on the trip and my pour over kit for the trip. You know, there's all kinds of conversations we were having together and it was wonderful. And there's this moment, guys, I was looking for my moment because God gives us moments. And I was looking for my moment on this trip for that conversation with my brother, my Who's a physicist that doesn't share the same faith that I do.
And God gave us that moment. It was the last day of the trip. We're walking along the beach and the pastor brother fell a little bit behind. And so I got the moment, guys. And I'm walking side by side with my physicist brother. We're just we're talking. We're having a good conversation. It's. Five o'clock in the morning, the sun is about to rise. We're on the beach. We're going through this impassable zone during low tide.
We're just enjoying God's creation and we're finishing the trip. And my brother just starts showing a bit of curiosity about me and who I am and what I believe. And he actually was curious about my kids and he was wondering what it's like to have children together. And what our goals for our kids are and how my faith is going to influence my parenting choices and how I raise my children. And that became an open door for a full-on conversation about what he believes and about what I believe because his curiosity presented an opportunity for clarity.
And I want to ask you, are you living a life that welcomes curiosity about your faith, that opens the door to clarity about your faith, and gives you that moment to share and articulate what you believe and why you believe it. I was waiting for that moment. And I distinctly remember quoting a favorite author of mine, C.S. Lewis, and he's got this incredible quote that I thought resonated with that moment on the beach and
and some of the scientific background of my brother's personal journey and education. And I just told him, I believe in Christianity like I believe the sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else. Think about that. I believe in Christianity like I believe the sun has risen, Not only because I see it, but because by it, I see everything else. And I just started sharing with them my ideas and beliefs about God and this world and purpose and meaning and identity and future.
And granted, we were walking along the beach, so we had sand and stuff in our shoes, but I'm hoping I put a few extra pebbles in his shoe. You know what I mean? Just like giving him some things to step on and think on and And I'm now praying that now I know how to pray for him. And now I'm praying that God is going to use those things to nudge him that much closer to understanding who Jesus is. And why I believe what I believe.
Guys, we need to be ready for our moment to speak and live in a way that invites curiosity and offers clarity for the things that we believe. And that's what Stephen did in verse 2. It says that Stephen, in response to the curious question of the high priest... Stephen opened his mouth and he said, brothers and fathers, hear me. Now he goes on to actually give the longest recorded sermon in the book of Acts.
I contemplated just reading that sermon for you today and saying nothing more. It would be a lot shorter than the sermon I'm giving you now. But it's about 10 minutes when you read it out loud. Now Stephen goes on and he knows his audience. He knows he's speaking to Jewish people and so he gives the most excellent treatment of the entire Old Testament showing how Abraham Joseph the the temple and Moses all point forward to Jesus
And how all of those things in God's word are supposed to point to a Messiah who would come to redeem us and deliver us and save us and free us. And so Stephen points his audience to this message about Jesus. And it's a wonderful treatment of the Old Testament. And if you maybe aren't familiar with the Old Testament, I encourage you to read this passage again. And what I want you to see is that Stephen knew his audience and he knew his message.
And I just want to ask you to be ready. Know your audience and know your message. When you get that moment to speak, know who it is that you're talking to and have in your heart some kind of message about your faith and your understanding of Jesus and be ready to share it. In the same way that Stephen refused to miss his moment. And I want to end thinking about our moment to stand. We've been talking about these ordinary moments.
Maybe these defining moments. And God is going to give you moments this week. To serve, to speak, and to stand for your faith. And I want to close by reflecting on how Stephen stood. For his faith. And I just want to point out a couple of observations as we close. We see in verse 55. Just before we get there, we need to be prepared for our moment. And I want you to see that Stephen was prepared for his moment.
And I want you to see what prepared Stephen for his moment. Because just to get real with you, it's not easy to be a Christian in this world, if you've noticed. And it's not easy to stand for... Biblical values in this world if you've noticed. And it's not always easy to share your faith in Jesus with this world if you've noticed. And so we need to kind of be ready for this. We need to be prepared for this.
That's why I was talking about plugging into God's power and being filled with God's spirit. And so look at the couple of things that prepared Stephen for his moment. He could stand for Jesus because Jesus stood for him. And you've got to see this. Verse 55 says, This is what Stephen says. He says that he saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Okay, so this is his final moment.
He gets a view into heaven and he sees Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Have you ever thought about where Jesus is? And have you ever thought about what Jesus is doing right now? Like where is Jesus at this very moment? And what is he doing at this very moment? We describe that actually, that moment, that space in between Jesus' ascension to heaven and his return to this earth. We call that space, that time, Jesus' heavenly session.
And there's two things that Jesus is doing right now in his heavenly session. Number one, he's ruling from his throne and he's interceding for his people. Right now, as we sit here, In this place, Jesus is sitting on his father's right hand, ruling over everything in this world. Let that comfort you. And he is interceding for every believer in this world. Let that bring you peace. And you know what's so interesting about this passage?
What does it say? What is Jesus doing at the Father's right hand? We know that Jesus is sitting at the Father's right hand. He's ruling. He's interceding. But every time scripture talks about where Jesus is right now, it says that he's sitting at God's right hand. Until this passage. Until verse 56. What does Stephen see Jesus doing? He's not sitting at God's right hand. He's what? Standing at God's right hand.
And I'll admit, Scripture does not tell us why this one moment Stephen sees Jesus in heaven and he's standing, not sitting, but the image is unmistakable. Right? As these people reject Stephen, Jesus is ready to welcome Stephen. Right? As these people attack Stephen, Jesus is ready to defend Stephen. Right? It's this moment where Stephen is prepared to standing for Jesus, knowing that Jesus is standing for him.
And I'm just here to remind you, friends, that Jesus is standing for you. Jesus literally is in heaven, standing for you, ruling over the events of your life and interceding on your behalf each and every moment of each and every day. And when you find your moment to serve and to speak and to stand for him, you know You can remember that he is standing for you and he's interceding for you and he's defending you and he is representing you and you can stand for Jesus because Jesus stands for you.
And that's the reminder we need to be ready to stand is that Jesus stands for us. He's interceding for us. He represents us. He defends us. And one day he will welcome us. And that's what we see Stephen doing as we close this passage. He's standing for Jesus, seeing Jesus stand for him. And he's living for Jesus, knowing that Jesus lives for him. And this is how I want to kind of conclude. It's this idea that Stephen lived to his heart's content.
very last moment, knowing that Jesus is living in heaven now and is ready to welcome us in. This idea that Jesus lives and we too will live. And then verses 59 and 60, notice what Stephen does. Were those words familiar, the final words that Stephen said to his accusers? He says, to forgive them of their sin. And then he says, Jesus, receive my spirit. Does that ring a bell? Those are the words that Jesus said on the cross in his final moment.
So Stephen is modeling Jesus' life and he's now serving as a model for us of how to live for Jesus like he lived for Jesus. He's asking that Jesus would forgive them. He's asking that Jesus would receive him. And then verse 60 concludes and says what? He fell asleep. And that's because death as a follower of Jesus has lost its sting, guys. Do you notice that the Bible describes Christians not as dying but as falling asleep?
Because when we meet that moment, we fall asleep in this world and we wake up to another world. And what do we discover in that other world? Jesus, who is alive and who is ruling and who welcomes us in to receive an eternal inheritance. And an indescribable reward beyond all comparison. And it was Paul. Do you notice who's standing by watching what's happening to Stephen? A young man named who? Saul.
And Saul would go on to become Paul, the Apostle Paul, whose life was transformed by Jesus. And he went on to do what Stephen did to the ends of the earth, making Jesus known to the world around him. And it's Paul who goes on to say... Understanding the incredible reward that is waiting for us in heaven when we're faithful to stand for him. Paul goes on to say in Philippians chapter 1 verse 21, For to me, to live is Christ, and what?
To die is gain. So friends, I just want to invite you this week to think about what would it look like to not miss your moment? Right? To be ready for your moment to serve. To be ready for your moment to speak and to be ready for your moment to stand. Because to live is Christ and to die is gain. Would you pray with me?