- Let me ask you a question as we begin today, how do you live your life well so that you can actually finish strong, no matter the years that you have left in life? It's a great question to ask, especially if you're on the younger side of life, because you can begin to develop some pretty helpful habits and disciplines in life, that can help you finish strong especially when the road is rough and life is not always going well. As a matter of fact, some of the shortest lives lived end up having the greatest impact. And why is that the case? Because they've been transformed by Jesus Christ and they realize they need to make the most of the time in which God has given to them. I agree with one person who actually said that medical science can add years to your life, but it's God who can add life to your years. And that is especially true when it comes to the subject that we're talking about today, a life that finishes strong and one that has impact and influence and leaves a godly legacy. Today we're gonna look at someone's life again that was cut short, but it wasn't a waste. As a matter of fact, Stephen had an enormous impact, not only on his day, but on someone who was listening to him as he clearly points out some wonderful truths about Jesus Christ. And his example shows us how to finish well, especially when the road gets difficult. I would like to invite you to take your Bibles out and go to Acts 7 and locate verse 17, Acts 7 and locate verse 17. This'll be the third week we've looked at Stephen's message to the council and we started with a couple of weeks ago, where Pastor Seth actually began to unpack for us Abraham. And then last week, pastor Kevin talked about Joseph and today it's all gonna come together as Stephen winds down what he's actually saying. Now, while you're turning your Bibles, your iPhone, your iPad, whatever it is to Acts 7 and locate verse 17, let me mention one other thing. This week on Wednesday, we're going to be having what is referred to as our business lunch. It's really a leadership lunch, and it's actually gonna deal with a subject that is akin to what we're talking about today and that is finishing strong. It's led by Kenny Larson, who's former CEO of Slumberland, and we've been going through this past year, this topic of what it means to finish strong. He's had some phenomenal speakers and this week he's actually gonna feature Dr. Bob Peterson, who led us in our Legacy Summit, who will help us understand how to live the kind of life we wanna live, but then transfer that to the next generation. So if you can physically be here at 12 o'clock on Wednesday, it's downstairs in our classrooms. If you need to connect online with the Zoom and just hold your phone up to the QR code or go to our website, you have all the information you need so that you can sign up. I would strongly encourage you to be a part of that because we're unpacking this very subject of what it means to actually live life and live it well and live strong. We're gonna see that today in the life of Stephen. Let me just review briefly, when we started the Book of Acts, Jesus told the disciples to go to Jerusalem, wait for the Holy Spirit to come. He would come upon them and give them power to be witnesses, and actually says, you'll be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and then to the ends of the earth. In other words, this message that you are to share has global implications. By the time we get to Acts 6, we encounter a man by the name of Stephen. Stephen was one of those Hellenistic Jews that the apostles recruited in order to help serve and provide food and funding for widows who had moved into the area who were being overlooked in the church. So Stephen came forward and he was recruited and he was a part of it. And by the time you get to verse eight of Acts 6, it actually says that Stephen was full of grace and power. And more than likely, he attended a synagogue, which was where Jewish people came to worship. It was part of their community life, it was called the synagogue of the Friedman, which was more than likely made up of those that were ex-slaves or descendants of ex-slaves. And Stephen was more than likely a part of that synagogue and a discussion broke out about Jesus Christ. Well, because he was full of wisdom and power and was really a first century apologist or defender of the faith, they couldn't win the argument with him. Intellectually he was proving that Jesus Christ really was the son of God and then you need to put their faith in him, he was a strong witness. Well, they got so frustrated that they took Stephen and brought him before the council or the Sanhedrin, the ruling body of the nation. And then all of a sudden we pick up the story in verse 17, because again, Stephen's address was, he was historically walking them through the life of Abraham and Joseph, and now he's gonna move to another subject, another person really, and then a couple other key points. And he says in verse 17, to start, he says, "But as the time of the promise drew near, "which God had granted to Abraham." Now, he's reviewing a very important principle and this principle is this, that God's message of salvation to the world has never changed. And he's anchoring it in a promise that we oftentimes refer to as the Abrahamic promise. It's a promise that was given way back in Genesis 12, it's repeated in Genesis 15, Genesis 17, Genesis 22. It's given to Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob, but it all goes back to this beginning in Genesis, the book of beginnings, chapter 12 verses one through three. So what he's doing is he's anchoring what he's about to say in this promise. So let's look at it briefly, but I want you to see a couple of points. He says, "Now the Lord said to Abraham, he hadn't changed his name yet to Abraham, go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I'll make of you a great nation and I'll bless you and make your name great." And he will be the father of the Jewish people. "So that you will be a blessing," now that's significant. I'm gonna bless you so that you can then go bless other people, that's the point. "And I will bless those who bless you and him who dishonors you, I will curse, and in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed." Now there's a ton here, but I just want to unpack a couple of things which ties into the rest of what Stephen is going to say. He says that I'm gonna give you a blessing, and then you're gonna bless others with his blessing. And we see this in the life of Abraham, we see this throughout the nation, that God blessed them. And as long as they followed God's will, and God's ways they became a blessing to the nations around them and the nations that honored God and didn't curse them, that's an important part of this, were also blessed. But then we have this phrase at the end, which is really significant. And in you, or in the line of your descendants, the families of the earth shall be blessed. And what we know is that the ultimate fulfillment of that prophecy was found in Jesus Christ because Jesus Christ, the Messiah was a descendant of Abraham. And it was Jesus Christ who had come to bless us with salvation. And once we receive that blessing, just like the Abrahamic promise says, we're to go and bless others. This has universal implications. So Jesus said in Matthew 28, we spent so much time here over the weeks as we've jumped into the Book of Acts, where Jesus gives what we call the great commission. And the idea is to go once you've received me, before he went to join the father and ascended to the father, he says, go and what, make disciples. So now that you've received that blessing, you go and bless others because I came to save people, that's the idea. And Stephen is really understanding and beginning to grasp really quite frankly, and have a clearer vision than others have had. Even to this point in the Book of Acts of the universal implications of the good news of Jesus Christ. It's not just for the Jewish people, it's to continue to go on and it's consistent with everything that's been stated, but then he begins to give this historical layout even further guts as he walks his way through and talks with his council. So he says, but as the time of the promise drew near which God had granted to Abraham, the one that has universal implications, the one that's fulfilled in the person of Christ, the one that we are to pass on to everybody, he says the people increased and multiplied because now again, he's talking about the Jewish people in Egypt, until there arose over Egypt, another king who did not know Joseph, and he dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants so that they would not be kept alive. And you can read about the story in its full form at the beginning of Exodus. But many of you know that story of Moses, and if not go back and read it. If you watch Charlton Heston's "Ten Commandments," just be careful, it's not totally accurate, but at least it gives you an idea. The point is Pharaoh didn't want the Jewish people to grow and so he was gonna kill every male baby. Well, in verse 20, "At this time, Moses was born and he was beautiful in God's sight. And he was brought up for three months in his father's house. And when he was exposed," meaning they couldn't keep him quiet anymore 'cause he was getting kind of loud like every baby does, "Pharaoh's daughter adopted him and brought him up on her own," because he was placed in a basket in the Nile. "And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and he was noticed this mighty in his words and deeds." Now, the reason why that's significant, I'm just gonna pause here is that when Moses was on Mount Sinai, and again, for some of you, you'll connect the dots if you go back and read the full account, but we'll read about it in just a minute. Moses met God on Mount Sinai and God was telling Moses, I want you to go back and deliver the people. And for those of you who are familiar with the story, what did he do? He said, not me, not me, not me, not me and he did it over and over and over again. And one of the excuses he used was I can't speak very well. Well, the Bible is truthful in all that it says and claims, but it's also truthful in recording untruthful statements at times. And that was untruthful because Moses was making an excuse. Stephen clearly says he was mighty in words and deeds. He was a smart guy, but he didn't wanna lead the people and so he was making excuses. Now, verse 23, "When he was 40 years old," that's important, "40 years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel and seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand." In other words, Moses had a clue at this period of time that he was gonna be used by God, to redeem the people. Isn't that significant? But he went about it the wrong way. He went about it under his own strength, but he obviously had some idea. Maybe it was because he thought he was so high up in the Egyptian government, I have no idea, but there's clearly an indication by Stephen here that he had an inkling. Wrong time, wrong way, trusting in his flesh and not God. Well verse 26, "And on the following day, he appeared to them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them saying, "Men, you are brothers, "why do you wrong each other?" But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust them aside saying, "Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? "Do you want to kill me "as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?" Well, at this retort, Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian where he became the father of two sons. You read again, the story in Exodus where Pharaoh was after his life because of this. Verse 30, "Now when 40 years had passed," so add that up, he's 80 years of age, 40 years in Egypt, 40 years on his own in the wilderness. And at age 80, he's gonna meet God. So just for fun, for those of you that are 80 or plus, never live your life as if you're sliding for home. He didn't get drawn into God's work until he was 80 years of age. So just a great word, it says 40 years, so 80 years old, "An angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai in a flame of fire and a bush, and when Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight. And as he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord. "I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham "and Isaac and Jacob." And Moses trembled, and did not dare to look. Then the Lord said to him, "Take off the sandals "from your feet for the place where you are standing "is holy ground. "I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and I've heard their groaning and I have come down to deliver them. "And now come," notice this, "I will send you to Egypt." He's the guy. Now, stop here just for a second, there is so much to see in Stephen's address here to the council, but I'm just gonna bring a couple of highlights up because I want you to see at least the general idea of where he's going. Now, there are some strong parallels between Moses and Jesus Christ. Moses' life was threatened as an infant and so was Jesus. That's why Herod said, "I'm going to kill every male baby "under the age of two." And Joseph and Mary were told by God to take Jesus and go to Egypt. There's a parallel there. Moses was rejected at first, now he's gonna come back as the Redeemer and lead the people out of slavery towards freedom. Jesus was rejected by the leaders. He's gone to heaven, but what happens someday? Jesus returns, right before he sets up his millennial kingdom here on earth. So Moses points to Jesus so much so that in verse 35, "This Moses," Stephen says, "whom they rejected saying, "Who made you ruler and a judge?" "This man, God sent as both ruler and Redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush." Moses was judge and ruler, redeemer who was rejected and Jesus Christ is the judge, the ruler who was rejected, who will return as the redeemer. You see what he's doing here? At verse 36, "This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for 40 years." Who else performed wonders and signs when he was here? It was Jesus. He continues to point towards Christ. "This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, "God will raise up for you a prophet like me "from your brothers." Now he gets right to the point that even Moses himself, his life pointed to Jesus, his circumstances pointed to Jesus and Moses own words said there will be a greater profit to come. And he was talking about the Messiah and that is Jesus. In verse 18, "This is the one who was on the congregation, "in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai and with our fathers. He received living Oracles or the law of God to give to us. And our fathers refused to obey it, but thrust him aside and in their hearts, they turned to Egypt saying to Aaron, "Make for us gods, who will go before us "and for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, "we do not know what has become of him." "And they made a calf in those days and offered a sacrifice to the idle and we're rejoicing in the works of their hands. But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven as it is written in the book of the prophets, "Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices "during the 40 years in the wilderness or house of Israel, you took up the tent of Molek and the star of your god Rephan, the images that you made to worship. And I will send you into exile beyond Babylon." Here's what he's doing, he's condensing hundreds of years of Jewish history. And he's saying even when the law was given on Mount Sinai, the people rejected it, they wouldn't walk in faith, obedience, and God eventually turn them over to idolatry, which is seen over and over and over again. It was seen the moment Moses came down and gave them to the law and then eventually they didn't go into the promised land when God told them to go, so they spent 40 years in the wilderness. Eventually they're gonna get into Joshua, but then you read the rest of the Old Testament and it's one situation after another situation where they rejected God. His point in doing all of this is that not only does Moses point to Jesus, the law pointed to Jesus, Paul picks up on this, and he says, the law was given to show you that you can never be perfect, that you needed to be perfect, but you can't because of your sin. And therefore the law provides a sacrificial system whereby a sacrifice was offered in faith, obedience so that there would be a temporary atonement or covering of sin. But those sacrifices were never an end in and of themselves. Those sacrifices pointed to the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus. So Moses pointed to Jesus, the law points to Jesus. And now he goes after one other sacred point, and that is the temple. And he says in verse 44, "Our fathers had the tent of witness." He's talking about the tabernacle that was to give witness of something more, "The tent of witness in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it according to the pattern that he had seen. Our fathers in turn, brought it in with Joshua when they disposed the nations that God drove out before our fathers. So it wasn't until the days of David, greatest king of Israel, David, who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon, his son who built a house for him, yet the most high does not dwell in houses made with hands as the prophet says, "Heaven is my throne "and the earth is my footstool. "What kind of house will you build for me?" says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? "Did not my hand make all these things?" His point is this, blessings, blessings, blessings occur outside of the land and the temple was not an end in and of itself. The temple was symbolic of the very presence of God. It was a symbol of something, more, something greater, and the tabernacle was temporary. It was built and then torn down and built and torn down and happened all the way through until finally Solomon built a temple, but the temple never housed God. It was a symbol that pointed to God and he actually proves it by quoting from Isaiah 66, God doesn't dwell in a temple. He's not like one of those pagan gods that people who don't worship the true God, believe that some God exists in a temple, he says that's never been the case. In other words, Moses pointed to Jesus, the law pointed to Jesus and the temple whereby the sacrifices were offered also pointed to Jesus. And that's why on the cross, when Jesus finally died, some of you are familiar with this. Remember what he said? "It is finished." It's done, I'm then final sacrifice. And right after that, if you read the account, it says that the veil that separated an unholy people from a holy God was torn, not from the bottom up, from the top down. In other words, God provided the final sacrifice, so that now through Jesus Christ, the one Stephen is pointing to, we can finally have redemption. And so, yes, this message was universal and Stephen had a clear message, but here's the other thing, even though the signs are clear, God's message of salvation has always been rejected. And Stephen proves it over and over and over again, as we've given you some of the highlights. And quite frankly, the accusations against Stephen, that they were trying to make actually stand an accusation against the very council, because they're not seeing the historical message that God has laid out. The incredible narrative redemptive plan, that all points to Jesus Christ. So now, if you'll look at verse 51, he says, "You stiff-necked people." , he's so direct. The word actually means self-willed. And he says, "Uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit." Now his point there with the word uncircumcised. Circumcised means to cast off the flesh, here is using it metaphorically, describing how they weren't casting off their will and their pride and their arrogance and their sin. And in the first century, they tried to follow God on the outside, but their hearts were far from him because all they were doing is going through a ritualistic ritual. They were never really poor in spirit, which Jesus brings up in Matthew 5. They were never willing to look at the inside of the cup. And the biggest sin was rejecting Jesus, the Redeemer, they were resisting the Holy Spirit. They were resisting the promise that was made all the way back at the beginning of the Bible and all the way through Abraham and all the way through the Old Testament. And he says, "As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the profits did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the righteous one, Jesus." There it is, that's the point of it all. "Whom you have now betrayed and murdered. You who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it." "Now, when they heard these things, they were enraged." I mean, he poked his finger in a hornet's nest, I guess a stick 'cause you wouldn't want to do that. "And now they ground their teeth at him, but he full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God." Now his message stopped short of the resurrection, but here he brings it up because as he looks in heaven, he sees Jesus, the resurrected living Lord. And he said, "Behold, I see the heaven open and the son of man standing at the right hand of God." Now they would not have missed this. The son of man is a divine title, Luke uses it over and over again. It's in reference to Daniel 7, a prophecy he's given were by the son of man, the divine son of God would come on the clouds to deliver his people. And what he's saying is Jesus is the one. Well, the moment they heard that, that's why it says in verse 57, "But they cried out with a loud voice "and stopped their ears." They plugged their ears because they didn't believe, they rejected Christ. "and rushed together at him, and they cast him out of the city and stoned him, and the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul." That's significant, because we know Saul to be Paul. And we read his conversion in just a couple of chapters, but he was listening. "And as they were stoning, Stephen, he called out, "Lord Jesus receive my spirit." Falling to his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, "Lord do not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he fell asleep." And it was Jesus standing, coming to him as his advocate, welcoming him into heaven. It's much like if you have someone of honor coming to your house, someone that you've been waiting for and the doorbell rings, what do you do? You don't say, oh yeah, there's the door, open it yourself. You go to the door, you open it, you welcome them in. That's the idea of what is happening. Stephen has faithfully lived his life, he gave his life and now Jesus is welcoming him. Well, what do we learn from this guy? I mean, it's just a great point to stop here at the end and start thinking through. When the road is difficult, how do we learn to live with integrity and influence regardless of the times in which we live? Stephen in many ways was a forerunner of the Apostle Paul, who was another great evangelist who clearly understood the universal implications of the gospel. The gospel was not just for Jewish people, it was for all of us, regardless of who we are. And it was Paul who would eventually come along and in Ephesians 5:16, I love this verse, "Making the best use of the time," he tells us, "because the days are evil." What a great verse for the days of today, how do we live in light of these days? Good times, bad times, how do we live in such a way that we make the most of our time? Stephen didn't realize that he was moments from death when he started this thing, he just got up and knew he was exactly where God wanted him and he swung for the fences. Don't you love that? Had no idea it was gonna give his life and he had no idea the influence that he was going to have. You never know the influence you are gonna have, people are watching and the great Apostle Paul was. So what are some things that emerged from Stephen's life and from all that we've covered over the past couple of weeks? Well, here it is, you wanna learn to live with integrity and influence regardless of the times, oops, sorry, make disciples. That is so clear, that's why we've reviewed it over and over, Matthew 28, "Go and make disciples." You've received the blessing of salvation, go and offer that to others. "Be ready," Peter says in 1 Peter 3:15, "to give a defense for what you believe." Next we learned from Stephen, "Live under the control of the Holy Spirit." It says that at the beginning of chapter six, he was full of the Holy Spirit. To be filled with the Holy Spirit as we've talked about over the past several weeks is to be under control of the Holy Spirit, to surrender to his power in our lives. The moment we receive Jesus Christ, it's getting up every day and saying, "Lord, my life is yours, give me your power "to live the kind of life that I could never live." And as we surrender to him and we surrender to his ways, he moves within us so that we then can speak the truth in love. And notice, did Stephen speak the truth? Absolutely, but he did it with love. You might say, well, he was antagonistic. Sure he was, but sometimes the difficult truth is what you need to say, because it's the most loving thing to say, because we want people to understand where they're going in life so that they can receive Christ as savior and Lord. He purposefully agitated them so that they would begin to understand that their very Jewish story spoke of Jesus. And under the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, teaching us, guiding us, directing us, we then have the ability to speak this truth, but do so in love. So that in the midst of the days in which we live, we make the most of those days. And let me give you another great verse from the Old Testament, because Stephen used the Old Testament. I love this next verse and set it up because it speaks of the time when David was becoming king and the tribes were coming to him and giving him the throne, not Saul. And here's what it says in first Chronicles 12:32, that the men of Issachar, those men who had understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do. Isn't that a great verse, to be able under the control of the Holy Spirit, knowing the truth, because Stephen knew his Bible, do you? Do you know your Bible well enough to communicate your story about Jesus and who he is? But then to understand the culture and understand how we speak the truth in love in the midst of our culture, so that we can be a witness. And one of the greatest lessons we learned from him is this one, intentionally cultivating character. Under the power of the Holy Spirit, speaking truth in love. And it is with the power of the Holy Spirit that we begin to understand how the spirit of God changes us and transforms us so that we are speaking the truth, but actually living the truth. Now, let me give you three key words to give you some handles to really make this practical. This is not original with me. When I was down at Dallas Seminary 30 years ago, believe it or not, one of my friends and mentors was Dr. Howard Hendricks. We would affectionately call him Prof. And I remember him giving to us as students, he said, "You know what, as you live your Christian life, really, you need to strive for the goal of being fat Christians." How do you like that one? But it was an acrostic and the F stands for faithful. If you were to boil it all down, yes, with some of the principles we've talked about and you are to really practically begin to apply this. He said, you've got to live a faithful life. Stephen was faithful in the little things, was he not? He was recruited to serve food, to hand things down. I mean, these are little things. It's why Jesus said in Luke 16:10, he said one who is faithful in the very little is also faithful in much and one who was dishonest in the very little is also dishonest in much. His point is to be a servant. The entire gospel of Mark is about Jesus being a servant. And he's saying to us, be faithful and serve in the little things. Character is found in what you're willing to do and keep doing, regardless of the task. When I was in high school, I was invited to become part of a camp that our church was connected to up in White Lake, Wisconsin. So I'm from Chicago and so we'd bus kids up from Cicero and Berwyn and Chicago area, and we'd go up to camp and we'd serve and we'd lead and that's when God began to move in my heart and in my life. Now, when I started serving in high school, up at this camp, they didn't immediately start asking me to preach or speak, they didn't ask me to start running the waterfront. No, I started with little tasks that they asked me to do and then there was faithfulness along the way. So I got assigned pots and pans duty. That wasn't something that I would necessarily pick to do. And then the other one that you never wanted to get assigned to do was garbage detail. Let me show you how we do that in a camp. We had a big flatbed truck with sides to it and then you and a team of other, usually high school students would go around camp and grab these big dumpsters full of oozy, goosy, garbage, and dump that in the back of the truck. Now you'd think, oh wow, right in the cab. No, not really, you would ride in the back of the truck with the garbage. It was something you never wanted to get assigned, but I assigned to this and it just so happened while I was on one of the garbage detail weeks, we had two kids and remember I'm from the inner city, so we grew up a little different and they got into a wrestling match in the garbage. So in Chicago, we refer to kids like this as idiots. Are you faithful though in doing those things because eventually I stayed in and was asked to do other things and you know the cycle. If you've got kids and grandkids, tasks are not always glamorous. How about taking care of aging parents, anybody identify with that one? I've had to do some stuff that I would never ask anybody to do, but we did it. What about tasks that need to happen here at church? Are you ready to go ahead and jump in and do those things faithfully and not give up even when they're not noticed because you're not serving people, you're serving Jesus. And then when you're faithful, you also remember to be available, that's the, A. That means willing to serve when called on, regardless of the task and the setting. It's a servant's heart that we're after here. Willing to do anything. Oh my, can you see these people? You know exactly who they are. Right now names are coming to mind of people you know, who are not just faithful, but they're available. And you know, what else is happening? Names are coming to mind of people who aren't. They are above it, they don't wanna do it, it's below them. Well, the next one though is to be teachable, faithful, available, willing to do anything and then also being teachable. I never hear Stephen saying, Hey, got this guys. There was no arrogance, there was no pride. He obviously learned, he grew, no ego. Ego will keep you skinny when it comes to character in your spiritual life. Here's a couple of good questions to evaluate this. You know, what's your reaction when someone tries to tell you how to do something at work or in life, that you already know how to do or that you're more qualified to speak into? What's your reaction? Do you pause, do you listen? Do you look for something that you can learn from that person to grow or do you immediately disregard it and you make it perfectly clear to them which belittles them? Humility is often seen in how you receive advice you already know from a source that doesn't know as much as you do. Did you catch that? Humility is often seen in how you receive advice you already know from a source that doesn't know as much as you do, that's the test. And it's also seen in what you're willing to do. Well, there's a couple other things here. Stephen teaches us this, trust God's new ways of working, especially when they are beyond our understanding. Stephen had no idea what was going to happen in his life. And we look back and say, wow, the guy was an incredible apologist. Why couldn't he have lived to 120, like Moses, why couldn't he have done all the, I mean, his life was cut short, what a waste? No, you got to trust God's new ways of working. God was spreading the gospel from Jerusalem, Judea, Sumeria to the uttermost parts of the earth. God's ways don't always match our ways, God's gonna use the difficulties, the difficult road in our life, the persecution for our faith, the difficulties we might be facing in our culture. And are we willing to look beyond the stuff and focus on the person of Christ in the middle of the stuff? That's what he did. It was beyond his understanding, and quite frankly, by the time we get to this point where we realize that Saul was listening to him, we begin to see his impact. He didn't know, he didn't know Saul was gonna come to Christ, he just swung for the fences and then he was killed, that was it. He didn't even find out what it was this side of heaven, and yet, by the time we get to Acts 9 and then you get to Acts 22, it's Paul, the apostle that remembers this moment. He was there, a seed was planted and you never know who you are influencing by finishing strong, the legacy of your life. Making disciples under the control of the spirit, developing integrity and trusting God's plan. And then finally, never stop caring for the lost. He ends with praying for them, asking for God's forgiveness. He ends by saying, God, I want you to forgive them. I tell you it is so easy in the midst of a difficult road to get into the blame game and it is so easy in our culture, and this is a great word for us today. I don't know about you, but man, I struggle with righteous indignation today, do you? I mean, it won't take you long to get there, but then are you willing to stop and say, wait a minute, God, you're doing something I may not always see. And what an opportunity for me to live this kind of a life and to pray for others to come to faith in you, because that's the goal, it's the gospel. Everything points to Jesus. So your life, when it's over, will have an influence, it will have an impact, whether good or bad. This is especially true with family and friends. So do all you can to finish strong, leave a godly legacy, influence people for Christ. And so the questions are, are you living faithfully now, regardless of how difficult the road is before you? Do you share your faith, are you living it? Who are you investing in? Who are you sharing Christ with? Who are you discipling? Who are you depositing truth in their life and influencing? You never know who you're really influencing. As you live this life, sometimes, maybe not even until heaven, but you are. Let Stephen remind you of what it means to stay faithful. And then one final question, do you know Jesus? Do you know him? Stephen's entire message points to Christ. Historically he proves he's the one. So are you gonna finally bow your will to Christ and stop fighting it? You realize what he does here at the end for everybody that knows Christ as savior and Lord, if they die this side of heaven, they immediately go into the presence of Jesus. That's exactly what happened to him. And by the way, there's no purgatory, there's no soul sleep. Whoever teaches those kinds of concepts, they're not teaching you God's word, so be aware of that. If you die this side of heaven, without knowing Christ, there is one place you go, it's not purgatory. You go to unconscious torment separation from God forever, which is hell, it is real, it is real, it is real. But if you know Christ as savior and Lord, what happens? You're welcomed into his presence. So do you know Jesus? Church doesn't save you, the temple didn't save them. Your proximity to God doesn't save you, the land didn't save them. Your pedigree doesn't save you, your family background, whether or not you're Jewish, Gentile, doesn't matter, those things don't save you. What saves you? Jesus. A prayer doesn't save you, you may have uttered it as a little child, you may have uttered it later on in your life. The words don't save you, what saves you? When you finally come to the end of yourself and there's no more excuses and you admit you're a sinner and you turn and you put your trust wholly in Jesus Christ, as a person who died for you and rose from the grave and you ask him to save you and you tell him you wanna follow him as the leader of your life. That's what saves you, that's the call. He was calling religious people to repentance. And maybe that's your call today because you've never surrendered your will to Christ. Would you bow your eyes, bow your heads, close your eyes as I pray for us here. Lord, thank you for our time and the power of your word and the point of conviction that should come in all of our lives. A time where we examine our faith, is it real? And father by your spirit, you can make it real in our hearts and assure us that we know you if we've repented of our sin and we turn to Christ as savior and Lord. However that may happen, work your work in us so that as we leave this place as followers of Christ, we might be a blessing to others. It's in Christ's name we pray, Amen.