Those in Junior Church may be dismissed. I want to welcome each of you this morning. We've got just a little bit different set up this morning, and I'll explain that just in a minute. I want to tell you about next week first. Next week, Pastor Wes will preach from the seventh chapter of the Book of Acts. We're gonna continue on that. And Paul View will lead our worship next Sunday morning. So that gives Pastor Wes a little break. And we want to be training someone else to step in at some point. So you can be praying for both those guys. It'll look a little younger up here next week. We desire here to grow individuals in their walk with Christ. We have many ways we do that. One is we've had some studies and from 2-7 it's a navigators course and we're seeing individuals grow. At times we give opportunity for individuals to share their their story, their walk of faith. We have a young man here this morning that probably is last Sunday here for quite some time. He's be training to become a state trooper. They don't know what his next assignment will be, where that will be. But we're trusting that God will lead he and his wife Sarah as he would determine. And I'm going to ask Josiah, I asked him just this week, heard his testimony. We've been working on these in our study group. So I'm going to ask Josiah to come and he's going to share his story of how he came to faith in Christ. Josiah. Good morning. As the pastor said, we worked on these in our Bible study, and I forgot to bring my paper. So I'm going to read it from my phone. I'm not scrolling Facebook or something. But, okay. I grew up in a strong Christian home where my parents each had a Bible study with us each day, giving me a solid knowledge of Christianity. From a young age, I knew that everyone would spend an eternity in heaven or hell, which was something that weighed heavily on my mind. I was very fearful of the future and terrified of dying to the point where I would lie awake in bed for hours, too scared to sleep because I didn't think I'd wake up. One night, when I was eight or nine, I had enough and talked to my mom about becoming a Christian. She ran over some Bible verses with me, such as John 3.16 and Romans 3.23 and 6.23, and I asked Jesus to be my personal Savior. Once I did, a majority of those fears subsided. For a couple of years, things went pretty well, and then I began to feel guilty because I knew I wasn't putting in the effort into cultivating my personal relationship with God. Over time, I began to base my self-worth as a Christian on what other people thought of me. I began volunteering for anything I could with different events the church had, attended church service and youth group every Sunday, and was able to convince myself that I was doing enough for God. Unfortunately, I began to use these self-gratifying works to rationalize my private behavior and began to lead a very different private life than the one I worked to portray to others. When Sarah got pregnant, I was devastated. I knew that I wasn't going to be able to hide behind my good works anymore. I felt like people could see right through me, and as news of the pregnancy became known, I felt extremely uncomfortable and ashamed at church. I felt very guilty for the way I had been living, and also for what I was putting my family through. With nothing to hide behind anymore, With nothing to hide behind anymore, I had nowhere to turn except to God. I confessed my sin to God and to my family, and in time to the church family. The grace and love of God that poured out through their forgiveness was astounding. I had been attending counseling with pastor, and over time my priorities about life had changed. My recommitment to God didn't happen overnight, but rather over a couple of months. I began spending more time reading my Bible and praying, and worked at becoming less self-serving, and to not do things to please others, but rather do it for the glory of God, whether or not anyone else even knew. God has really blessed me over these past couple of years. I have a wonderful wife and two healthy kids, great relationships with my parents and siblings, and a loving church family. Through these tough economic times, he hasn't allowed us to feel need, and has always supplied us with at least the necessities. Because God promises salvation to those who believe in him and call upon his name, I know I will spend eternity in heaven with him. As Pastor said, this might be my last Sunday here for a long time. I have to be back in Lansing every Sunday, so I won't be able to be here at church. But I just want to say that I've had a great time being part of your family, and I'm going to miss you all. Amen, right? What a great joy for us to see individuals grow in their walk with Him. None of us are here this morning because we're perfect people, right? We all have issues, we're all in progress, and looking to the Lord, hopefully, surrendering ourselves to Him as we go along. And so I wanna say thanks, Josiah. Let's turn to Acts 6, and we're gonna pray, and then we'll get into the text. Acts 6 chapter. Let's ask God's help. Loving Father, we thank you for all you do and all you've done. Thank you for your grace to us. It does amaze us. Thank you that none of us here this morning have gone so far that you cannot reach out to us and will not welcome us back. Thank you for what Jesus Christ did in taking our sin, all of it. on Himself and taking the punishment for that sin as you poured your wrath out on Him. Thank you that He not only went to the cross and died, but that He rose again in triumph. And that through faith in Him, in Him alone, we can have a right standing with you. And thank you that you continue to work in our lives to develop us and grow us into the people that you would have us to be. As we open this Word this morning, Father, we need Your help. We need the Spirit's leading. We want to see You. We want to see Christ in a fresh and amazing way. May You be exalted and Your Son as well. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen. Acts the 6th chapter, I want to look at verses 8 through 15. And Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people. But some men from what was called the synagogue of the freedmen, including both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and some from Cilicia in Asia, rose up and argued with Stephen. but they were unable to cope with the wisdom and the spirit with which he was speaking. Then they secretly induced men to say, we have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God. And they stirred up the people, the elders and the scribes, and they came up to him and dragged him away and brought him before the council. They put forward false witnesses who said, this man incessantly speaks against this holy place and the law, for we have heard him say that this Nazarene Jesus will destroy this place and alter the customs which Moses handed down to us. And fixing their gaze on him, all who were sitting in the council saw his face like the face of an angel. There are Bibles in the pews. If you didn't bring one today, we would ask you to open that. Also, in the bulletin, there's an outline of this sermon. Our God is in the business of shaping individuals into the likeness of His Son. He desires us to grow. He doesn't save an individual to leave them as they are. We as believers are to be continually growing in Him. He allows circumstances of life to chisel us, to Pound away, if you would, at that dross that needs refining. And he's in the business of growing us and making us to become the people who will run this race of faith as he would delight for us to do. I would encourage you this morning and challenge you both in this to nurture a walk with the Lord Jesus Christ. that allows you to grow and be used of Him in a tremendous way. Not all of us are going to do what Stephen did here. But God has a plan and a purpose for each of us. You, right where you're at, me right where I'm at, to declare Him. And one's walk with the Lord must be a priority. Listen, I know we've got A lot of things coming into our world, into our lives, into our minds. But we need to get back really to the basics and understand that it must be a priority, my walk with Him. And here's Stephen. Remember earlier, two weeks ago we talked about this, there was this issue in the early church. and the widows were being neglected, the Hellenistic widows, and so the church leadership understood, look, we're not going to, it's not that we think it's not a good thing, but we're not going to set aside the preaching of the word, and the studying of that word, and the discipline of prayer to serve people to serve tables to minister to these needs and so if you remember the church they chose some men in verse 5 of this sixth chapter the first and there were seven of these men but the first one that's mentioned there is Stephen and then it goes on to and it says about him he was a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit and Philip and so forth So he stood out, and the church brought him forth, and he has grown from that simply, I don't know if I should say simply, but that ministry of meeting others' needs and ministering to those widows. He's come further than that, though, in his own personal walk. And there's a remarkable attractiveness to who He is. And I will just note this, that there are followers of Jesus Christ, that they're just amazing to be around. When you're with them, and you hear them, and you understand where they're at, when you walk away from that, you are encouraged. Christ seems greater. And it seems that the journey is a little easier to go. And the love of Christ just overflows, it spills out of them. That was Stephen. That's who this man is. So he had this remarkable attractiveness. In verse 8 you'll see he was full of grace and power, performing great wonders and signs among the people. He was a man of faith. He was full of faith. He was a man that was looking to Jesus. And as Pastor West goes through this text next week, and I the following, Lord willing, you're going to see him. This is what it was all about. It was all about his relationship with the risen King, the King of glory. But he was full of faith. He was understanding who Jesus was and what he was done. It mentions, too, he was full of the Spirit. The filling of the Spirit only occurs when one is fully surrendered sin, rebellion, stubbornness, disobedience, they all restrict his ability to lead us and control us. This isn't something mystical or magical that we would be filled with the Spirit. It's a matter of surrender. That's really what this is about. That's this man, Stephen. He had humbled himself before Almighty God. And he's saying, use me. I'm here for your glory. But he was full of the Spirit. These are just some things I want you to note about him. If you were around him, you would want to be around him. You'd want to hear what he had to say. You'd want to hear what he was thinking. But he was full of the Spirit. He was full of faith. And he was growing. His personal walk with God was one of learning, of the scriptures and understanding that as God laid out his plan in redemptive history, that there was a time when Abraham had faith and Moses and he took all that Old Testament and he understood the promises of the Old Testament that one day all these things, all these types, all these pictures were leading to one great event. That is the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ and his crucifixion. And Stephen was a man, I believe, that was disciplined. And he took the scriptures that he had and he understood, you know what, we're in a new dispensation. We're no longer under the law. Jesus fulfilled all that. He's the one sacrifice for sin for all time. We no longer need to bring a sacrifice. This is the kind of man he was. There was a remarkable attractiveness to him. And he was witnessing. He was witnessing. He was speaking what God has done. He's proclaiming, and you see God powerfully moving here. Great wonders and signs he was doing among the people. And so there was this nearness to the apostolic teaching, to the apostles themselves. And here's Stephen, a man that has grown in his faith. And by the way, we can all grow in our faith. If you're here this morning, you think, well, you know, here's where I'm at. I don't know. Is God done with me? No. He calls us to grow in our faith. And he's got the next step for you and I as well. But I had to ask myself, you know, here's Stephen, a man who has this remarkable attractiveness to him. What made that? Why was he like that? It was because of who he knew. It was because he knew the Lord Jesus Christ. And Jesus was so much a part of his life that you would want to be around him. And God was powerfully moving him. But I want to tell you this, it doesn't happen without surrendering oneself to the Lord Jesus Christ and his will. If you want the Spirit to lead you, it is a point for us to be humble before God, to be confessed up, to make sure we're where we need to be so that Spirit can take us and move us and direct us and help us. But there was this remarkable attractiveness about him. You see in verses 9 through 14, there was this sinister approach. So some of the men from what was called the Synagogue of the Freedmen, including both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and some from Cilicia in Asia rose up and argued with Stephen. And there are these individuals that they're opposing him, verse 10, and they're from, and now this may be all synagogues that are right there in Jerusalem proper, right in that area. Or maybe just individuals that attend synagogues. I think it's the first. It says, they were unable, verse 10, to cope with the wisdom and the spirit with which he was speaking. I want you to note something here. There's an argument going on. Peter was one certainly who took and understood the word of God and defended that word. Here's Stephen doing the same thing. What are they arguing about? I had to ask myself that question. I think it is this, I think it's about this age of grace. I think it's a message that's being proclaimed and the person they're proclaiming. If you remember back in Acts 4.12, and this was the word of the Lord, Peter's defending the faith. Again, I want you to know this is the beginning of the church. The book of Acts is a historical account of the work of the Holy Spirit and the development of believers and the church age. Here is this age of grace that we're talking about. And here's the word. It says there's salvation in no one else. For there's no other name under heaven that has been given among men whereby we must be saved. And so the early apostles are saying, you need to place your faith, everything that you hope in, whatever you're believing, set that aside, bring it over to faith in Christ. He's the one who died, rose again, never to die again. He's the one whose name alone wherein is their salvation. And if you remember those third, fourth, fifth chapters, it was all about his name. And we kept coming back to that again and again. This is what they're talking about. Stephen's saying, for a man to be right with God, to be justified before God Almighty, isn't through some religious practice, isn't by trying to keep the law, is not by this or that. And that flew right into the face of those who opposed him. He says it's by faith alone, in Christ alone. And that's what the argument is about. Remember, Peter had mentioned this even as he stood before the same group. In verse 29 of chapter 5, Peter and the apostles answered, we must obey God rather than men. There's this push back to silence this message that's going out. And Peter just stands up boldly. He is defending the faith. And he says, the God of our fathers, verse 30, raised up Jesus whom you had put to death by hanging Him on a cross. He would not let them escape that fact. Not a politically correct message in that day or today, but it's the truth. You put Him on a cross, each of us here. Each of us here had a part in the Lord going to the cross. He bore my sin, took the punishment for that, which is death. You too, each of us. Peter's saying, you guys did as well. He's the one whom God exalted to the right hand as Prince and Savior. And he's, Peter's saying, he's the glorified, resurrected, risen Christ. He's at a position of power. to grant repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sin. That is an amazing statement that he makes. And I believe that what Stephen and the others are arguing about is this very thing. That's the thing. It's the gospel. The gospel of grace. That God sent his son to die for my sin, and through faith in him alone, I have a right standing. I'm justified, declared right. That's what they were arguing about. And you'll notice here that Stephen is outnumbered big time. He's outnumbered big time. They argued. That argument was about, I believe, the gospel. They couldn't cope. Cope here means to stand against, to resist. Stephen is at a major disadvantage. He's by himself. And these men that he's standing against, that he's arguing with, they are men that have been to the elite schools of the day. They were well-educated. They had all the background. And here's this group against one. And guess what happens in that argument? They can't cope, they can't resist, they can't keep up with him. They can bring nothing to sway or dissuade his argument. I want to interject this right at this point. I believe the Apostle Paul, we'll see in the eighth chapter, a man named Saul, I believe the Apostle Paul is one, because this is one event. Chapter six, verse eight, right through the end of chapter seven is one event. It's one moment in time, probably a few hours. And I believe there's one man there that is listening to this, who cannot in all of his training, under the greatest teachers of the day, cannot say, look, and demonstrate from Scripture, you're way off, you're totally wrong. None of them could say that. This man, filled with the Holy Spirit, had the advantage. He knew the truth. And God was using him. And every argument they brought, he won. And so here he is, and you've got this gang here, if you would, this group, these spiritual religious leaders of the day, the guys that everyone looked up to, and they couldn't stand against Stephen. So what did they do? They schemed. Look at verse 11. By the way, This is what religion gets you. Biblical Christianity is not religion. It's a relationship with the living God through faith in Jesus Christ. Religion is man's attempt to be right with God. Rules, regulations, laws. Look at verse 11. When they secretly induce men to say, We have heard him speak blacksmith's words against Moses and against the law. And they stirred up the people, the elders and the scribes. They came up to him and dragged him away, brought him before the council. They put forward false witnesses. Who did that? Who did that? Those were the religious elite leaders of the day. Religion is a lot like putting lipstick on a pig. That's really what it is. You can dress him up, you can clean him up, but inside he's still bacon, he's still an oinker. That's what religion does. It doesn't change, it cannot change a man from the inside out. Religion can't do that. Only a person in Christ is changed, lasting change from the inside out. You can doctor it up and paint it up, Make that person look a little better, but on the inside, look at what it is. Look at what it is. This is contrary to the Word of God that they proclaimed. They've put forth false witnesses. They're living a lie. That's what they're doing. So there's a sinister approach by way of fabrication. There are three charges of blasphemy brought against Stephen. They are blasphemy against God, verse 11, the temple, verse 11, and the mosaic law, verse 13. They put forth false witnesses who said, this man incessantly speaks against this holy place and the law. So there's this fabrication. Then they take him by way of altercation. Do you see that? They roughed him up, hauled him away, verse 12. They stirred up the people, the elders, the scribes, they came up to him, dragged him away, and brought him before the council. That's what they do. When you can't win the argument, you'll see this often. The attack then comes from a different way. They can't talk about salvation. They can't talk about the gospel. They can't win that. And so what do they do? They rough him up. They drag him off. You'll see this often in our world, a lot of times in politics. If someone has, you might say, a solid argument, what's the opposition often do? If that argument doesn't fit their criteria, they attack the person. They undermine them. They go after their character. They spout out lies and so forth. That's what's going on here. So they take him by way of altercation. And by way of misrepresentation as well. Look at verses 13 and 14. They put these false witnesses forward and they bring this charge of blasphemy. And verse 14 says, we heard him say, that this Nazarene Jesus will destroy this place and alter the customs which Moses handed down to us." That's a misrepresentation. of what was said, of what was being proclaimed. Not only of what Stephen said, but of what our Lord said. Our Lord did talk about the temple. He said in John 2, destroy this temple, in three days I'll raise it up. But it's very clear He's not talking about a building there, He's talking about His body, which He did raise up again. By the way, we're reminded today that He's risen. Amen. And that's why Stephen is standing here so powerfully. Because the word in Acts 1.8 says, you will receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem. This is Stephen's Jerusalem. And he's proclaiming the Lord. He's being misrepresented. And Jesus did speak one time about the temple. that the temple would be destroyed and he was speaking about the temple where they worship but Jesus never said he was going to do it Titus came in AD 70 and did it so this misrepresentation goes on but there's a sinister approach by religion against a man full of the spirit full of Christ but also there is this and I want you to note this and I'm going to finish here there's this supernatural glow There are verses in the Bible that just jump out to you. This is one that jumps out to me. Look at verse 15, fixing their gaze on him. And I want you to know, I believe with all my heart, that Saul, later to become the Apostle Paul, was one of them that looked. And I believe this was sealed in his memory. the look of this man who was being charged with blasphemy, who'd been drug off, who'd been roughed up, who now was taken before the council, this religious ruling Sanhedrin, 70 individuals, the same guys, most of them, that sent Christ to the cross, fixing their gaze on Him, and they're all looking at Him. All who were sitting in the council, notice what they saw. His face like the face of an angel. Isn't that amazing? Think of that. I would think he would be afraid. I would think maybe he would be embarrassed, intimidated. But no, look what's going on. Here's Stephen standing before his great God. The Spirit of Christ in him. And he has this remarkable countenance. He had this supernatural glow about him. Why? Because of his walk. That's why. It's because who he loved and knew. It's noted, by the way, in the Old Testament there was something like this as well. Moses, when he would go into the tabernacle, after he'd been with God up on the mount, the tabernacle was there, he would go in with God, spend time with Him. He would come out and he would have to veil his face because of the glow. That's found in Exodus 34. But here was Stephen, and his outward appearance was indicative of what was going on in the inside. And he was standing there, he was at peace, he understood his Lord was with him, he understood his greatest man was. They couldn't do anything without the Lord's permission. And ultimately, these ones he stood before. were held by the grip of God. And he was a man, I believe, that at this point really wasn't showing any fear. But the presence of the Lord in him had his face glowing like an angel. That is amazing to me. So, it's noted, but it's indicative. There was a reason for this. Stephen was a man who was walking with God. He was a man, I believe, that was confessed up, Every sin he knew he'd taken it before God. He stood out from others. It was noted he was full of the Holy Spirit. And you know, for us, what about us? Well, God can powerfully use us, friend. I want you to know that He takes people, like you and I, to use to reach my family, my neighbor, a co-worker, a fellow student. God uses individuals that know Him. We have the same Spirit living in us. We have more of the Scripture than Stephen had. And God is powerfully using men and women these days, powerfully using them. to bring the gospel into their sphere of influence. And it will look different with all of us, but listen, don't sell yourself short. More than that, don't sell the Lord short this morning. He has a work for each of us. He has people that he will put in our lives. But here's Stephen, and this man has this presence about him that was noted. What about you and I? Do we walk with the Lord in such a way that it comes out of us? And people take note, that man, that woman, that person has been with Christ. I hope so. I hope so. The life of Jesus and the message of the cross radically changed Stephen. He, at this point, I believe is a new believer. He's on a fast track in his growth with the Lord, but I believe he's a new believer. And God is using him in a powerful way. You'll note next week as Pastor Wes preaches that there are two things that, especially one thing I should say, that stands out. Peter was a, excuse me, Stephen was a man who knew the Word. Now he's just been, you know, here he goes, he's been drug in before the council, hasn't had time to prep, none of that. He's going to give a sermon. You're going to hear it next week. Lord willing, if he tarries, it's going to be powerful. 21 times, Stephen quotes from the Old Testament. 21 times. How does that happen? That man has spent time with God. As you and I look at these days that we have, we want to ask ourselves, I think, some questions. Am I a serious student about the Word of God? Is it a one-way street where I get up in the morning, hey God, here I go, bless me, watch over my family, see you later. At night I lay my head down and there I go. That's no relationship. You know, we might say we pray, but listen, what are our prayers, what's flowing into those prayers? Have we spent time with God? Do we know Him? Do we know His Word? The scripture's clear, study to show yourself approved unto God. Study 2 Timothy 2.15, a workman that needs not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. I believe those two things that the apostles mentioned, the word of God and prayer, were dominant in Stephen's life. And if we want to be used powerfully by God, I believe we have to be disciplined. You know, if you're a soldier, we hate that word discipline, right? Why has he got to go there, right? I'm just kind of flowing around. If you're a soldier, you're going to be disciplined. If you're a Navy SEAL, you're going to be disciplined. When you're in that battle, all your training up to that point comes into play. And so, we're soldiers of the cross. We're in a spiritual battle. Let's make sure we're taking in what we need to. And you know, Stephen understood the issues of his day in light of the word of God. He brought that. And if we would say, did he love the Lord? Absolutely. And if we love the Lord, and I believe we do, we would have to say we need to be students of the word and of prayer. Maybe you're here today without Jesus Christ. One day you're going to stand before God. One day you will. It's a point on a man wants to die after this, the judgment. Every one of us will. We're all going that route. Every one of us. You won't escape it. If I ask you if you died today, do you have any assurance you would go to heaven, what would you say? And however you answer that, if I ask you, if you died today, why should God let you into his heaven, what would you say? If it's anything other than I have come to faith in Jesus Christ, you are under the wrath of God. You will not enter in. It's not you coming to this church, it's not you sitting in those pews, it's not you serving God in some way, it's not you doing good works. God certainly wants all those things in your life. But listen, the issue is what or who are you trusting for heaven? If you would put your faith in Jesus Christ, he would gloriously save you today. You would be a child of God today, in this moment in time, right where you're at. I would encourage you to do so. Let's pray. Loving Father, we thank you for this powerful word. What a reminder it is for us to the possibility that you would have for each of us. And you have a plan, you have a purpose, you didn't save us just to sit in a pew to hear a message, to go home and sort of set aside my faith for the rest of the week till I gather again. No, not that at all. You've saved us to grow, you've saved us to serve, you've saved us to proclaim. Help, Father, that we would be Men and women are the word. Men and women are serious about this relationship because all of our life, what we think and believe and do flows out of that. So I pray for my brothers and sisters today, Father, that they would not sell you short, not sell the possibilities short of what you'd have for them. Help us to be faithful right where we're at and to be growing as we go forward. And if there's someone here today that wouldn't know where they would spend eternity if they stepped out of this world and death came knocking at their door, I pray that you would help them to understand that there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. It's Jesus, Him alone. He's finished everything that needed to be accomplished. We simply need to do the hard thing to say we're sinners, we have no hope, and we're trusting in Him. Help that that would occur as well, in Jesus' name, amen. Please stand with me as we close by singing one pure and holy passion, may it be our desire to grow in our walk with the Lord this