The Witness

with Pastor Micheal Oxentenko

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The title of the message is the Witness, and the
Bible calls Stephen God's witness. That's his title. The word
witness means martyr in the Greek. Did you know how
many of you knew that the Greek word for witnesses martyr.
It means someone who bears witness to God enough to
be willing to die for him. Is that a witness? Okay?

(00:23):
Jesus said that we need to die daily. We need
to bear witness to Him every day of our lives.
So in a way, we have to be martyrs every day.
We must die to be a Christian. Some people want, oh,
I want easy Christianity. I want the kind of Christianity
where I get what I want and I tell the
Lord what I want and then that arrives to me.

(00:43):
That's not how it works. Diedrich Bonhoeffer was correct when
he said this. When God bids a man or woman come,
he bids that person come and die. We must die
to live as witnesses. Living for God can be harder
than dying for God because it takes consistency, courage, and commitment.

(01:06):
You have to have buy in to be a witness
for Jesus and John fifteen twenty seven. Jesus told his
disciples plainly that they were his witnesses because they had
been with him from the beginning. He says, because you've
been with me, you are my witnesses. We can't be
a witness unless we have a relationship with Christ. Jesus

(01:26):
is the true witness, the true martyr to the lukewarm
latency in church, naked and lacking in a vital relationship
with Jesus Christ. Jesus identifies himself as the true witness,
the true martyr, who is the answer for a vibrant,
end time faith in life that is wholly lacking unless
we have a real relationship with Christ. Revelation three point fourteen.

(01:49):
Take your bibles, open them with me. Now the slides
are back, but your bible should be in your hand,
and we'll be hovering over Acts six and seven. So
that's where where he should probably put your marker. Jesus
is telling John to the Angel of the Church and
lay us see aright the words of the Amen, the faithful,

(02:10):
the true witness, the beginning of God's creation. That's Jesus.
So in the midst of his titles, the creator of
the universe of the world of the beginning. In the end,
he is the true witness, He is the Martyr. Stephen
was one of the Magnificent Seven set apart by the
Apostles to serve the Apostolic Church's needs, serving God, serving

(02:32):
others as a high calling in the church. That role
would later be called deacon in the church. Stephen became
a role model for those who seek to serve the
church as deacons in the church. Stephen did more than
just take up the offering, take care of the windows,
feed people. So the apostles, why do you do that?
So the apostles could spend time in the Word, they

(02:54):
could minister, they could have time to pray. Their focus
is that Stephen's was to serve and to help them
achieve those ends. Turn to Acts six, verse eight, and
here we're going to land in the role of Stephen
as he functioned as a deacon, and Stephen full of
grace and power. What does it say in your Bible
he did? What great wonders and signs among the people? Friends,

(03:20):
If God has called you to serve in the church,
God has not called you to mediocrity. God has not
called you to come and get what you need and
go home. He has called you to serve. In fact,
we are informed in the book Acts of the Apostles
that strength to resist evil is best found in aggressive service.

(03:41):
So if you're willing to beat down the devil in
your life, you're one to overcome sin. And you're doing
nothing to make a difference in the church or the world,
be it through Bible studies, prayer, making yourself available for
the needs of the church. Listen, God doesn't move when
everybody do the same thing. If you're not doing that,
you're in a spiritually vulnerable spot your life. You must

(04:01):
be engaged, involved and serve to be okay. And so
this is what he's doing. And so as a deacon servant,
look what he does. Great wonders and signs were performed
among the people Verse nine. Then some of those who
belonged to the Synagogue of the Freedman, Luke adds as
it was called, and of the Sirenians, of the Alexandrians
and those from Silician Asia arose and disputed with Stephen.

(04:24):
You know, he didn't go after them. They came after him.
Why because he was performing great wonders and signs among
the people Verse ten. But they would not withstand the
wisdom and the spirit with which he spoke. Now that's
an unusual deacon. He's not just some silent force. He
learned his Bible. Now take your bibles out with me.
You got him with you. Take these lovely book outs.

(04:48):
Do you realize this is the most precious thing we
own in our lives period, the Word of God. To
live it, to know it, to share it. Steve even
had mastered the Bible. Why because he was a deacon,
He was a servant of God. He was the first
of the Magnificent Seven chosen by the Apostles to serve

(05:10):
and as the first of the seven three bold characteristics
of Stephen's characters stand outs that we can learn from,
we find the first two bold characteristics are in verse eight.
Coupled together, The Bible says Stephen was full of all right,
we don't have grace and power. Those are the two

(05:30):
words great. Say it with me, grace and power. Grace
and power. Now we have someone here today whose named Grace.
It's a great name. The word grace in Greek communicates
the idea of a graciousness with a favorable attitude that
maybe like interacting with people who are always sour pusses
and you know, angry and frustrated with you. Every time

(05:54):
you walk by, they set you straight with a bony finger.
Now he's okay to have bony fingers. Mine's getting more
that way. But yeah, you did it. Isn't that awful
to be around that kind of thing. But when you
meet someone who's gracious, kind, considerate, not perfect, but gracious,
they care about you, doesn't that kind of lift you?

(06:15):
So he was full of grace, that attribute of graciousness,
that is kind a favorable attitude. There are many people
today who want to be leaders, but few people are
willing to cultivate the soft quality of grace in their life.
Grace is a manifestation of kindness from the heart. But

(06:35):
grace without power can disintegrate into weakness and codependency and
even in effectiveness. You see, it must be coupled with
a strength to be really strong. Grace is not weakness
when Holy Spirit power is manifested alongside of grace. So strength,
power and grace. Now grace can do great things. Stephen

(06:58):
possessed both grace and power together. Luke is very careful
to write that down the Greek word for power. Say
it with me is dunamous, dunamous one more time, dunamus
and we get our word. Now. There was a there
was a sitcom years ago, and I don't watch sitcoms,
but I did as a kid, and they had this

(07:21):
guy on it. I don't remember his name, but he'd
always do this. I'm gonna do a mimicking of it.
Here he goes dynamite. You remember the sitcom? You want
to throw me out of the church, right, he was known.
I lost my voice saying it. I can't believe it. Yeah,

(07:42):
let me get a drink of water. Here, dunamite. He
was known for that signature statement on probably every single
episode of that sitcom. And I remember as a young
person doing the high fiving dynamite and that's okay if
you're thinking along spiritual lines, I'm sorry. I'd surprised you

(08:04):
didn't I now think about it. Stephen had grace and
dynamite in him. The Gospel of Luke, Jesus had the
Holy Spirit, which is identified by Luke in the very
first part of the Gospel of Luke as the power
of God, the hand of God, or the finger of God.

(08:24):
The Holy Spirit is the power of God. Thus the
spirit power in Stephen's life was not an ordinary kind
of power. He had dynamite from God. The Bible says
that pul says, I'm not ashamed of the Gospel. It
is the Dunamus, the dynamite power of God for everyone
who has faith, the jew first and also the Greek

(08:45):
Holy Spirit power comes through the Gospel. Stephen was full
of it. It was Holy Spirit power that gave boldness, clarity, courage,
and strength to serve God without compromise in a gracious
way x five thirty two. He and it says, and
we are witnesses to these things, and so is the

(09:05):
Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those. And what
does the Bible say here to those who do what? Now?
If you're choosing to be wilfully disobedient in your life
now I'm not saying perfect, because none of us are,
then you have a problem. But if you're getting up
in the morning, you're saying, Lord, I commit myself to
you today, take my life. Make me an obedient Christian,

(09:29):
you know, take the self and put it down and
bring Christ in and help me to be focusing on others,
not me all the time. If you're doing that and
you're committed to God's law as an moral standard in
your life, with Jesus as the love that makes it happen. Friends,
you have a right to receive the Holy Spirit in
your life. God will give you the Holy Spirit for

(09:51):
that ends because it says He has given his spirit
to those who obey him. The Holy Spirit is called
the Spirit of wisdom and of knowledge in Isaiah eleven
two and is reaffirmed by Paul and one, Corinthians twelve eight,
and Ephesians one seventeen as such. The Holy Spirit, friends,
not hear me here now? Is not an i personal
force like the force in George Lucas's Star Wars genre

(10:14):
you hear me. The Holy Spirit is not George Lucas stuff,
just an impersonal force that comes from God. That's not
what the Bible teaches. The Holy Spirit is a wise
and kind person full of power as the third person
of the heavenly Trio, we are told in the Spirit
of Prophecy, as part of the eternal Godhead, the hearted

(10:34):
love of Eternity. As we're told in the Spirit of
Prophecy in the Bible, there were times in the Bible
some people don't realize this. When the Holy Spirit healed
a person before Jesus knew about it. Remember the woman
who had the flow of blood. Holy Spirit healed her
in Christ said, who touched me? Holy Spirit made that decision.
There was a time when the Holy Spirit commanded Jesus

(10:56):
drove him into the wilderness, and Jesus obeyed the Holy
because the Holy Spirit has authority and power. When Christ
was baptized in the Holy Spirit, he went throughout Judea
within the power of God. The Bible says he was
submissive to the authority of the Holy Spirit. Christ recognized
the power of the person and the lordship of the

(11:19):
Holy Spirit his life as a man. That cannot happen
if the Holy Spirit is not a person with authority.
It's a pagan idea to believe in the Holy Spirit
as an impersonal force. You can find that in the
Eastern religions, but that is not the Bible religion. Stephen
was no pagan from the East. Stephen was a man

(11:39):
of God, full of the Holy Spirit. He had a
relationship with Jesus Christ. He recognized the lordship of the
Holy Spirit as the ambassador of Christ in the Apostolic age.
Stephen was attacked from different sides because he stood for Christ.
He was opposed by the Synagogue of the Freemen. We
just read, which Luke writes, it's very interesting look at
that footnote as it was called. Now the reason why

(12:03):
Luke says this, it was really a synagogue of Satan
because it had cerroned itself to opposing the work of God.
And so he said, it was called the Synagogue of
the Freemen, but they are really slaves in that place.
It was really a synagogue overcome with Satanic influence. In
Jesus in book Revelation, identifies ancient Judaism that opposed the

(12:24):
Gospel that persecuted early Christians as a synagogue of Satan.
Any church or any group that does the same is
a synagogue of Satan. The other places mentioned were Hellenistic
Greek centers of Judaism. What do you mean by Hellenistic, Well,
I told you the word Greek in the diaspora, and
the spreading out of the Jewish faith and of Christianity.

(12:45):
Also as part of it, we find that the Judaism
became Greek. The Greek language was spoken. The Bible was
translated two fifty BC into the Greek language. It's called
the Subtuagint, and that's the Bible of the New Testament
to a large not exclusively. And so these Hellenized Greek
Christians converted from Judaism were very important early church. But

(13:08):
there were then holdouts people who were from these synagogues
that were Greek, that opposed Stephen and others because they
would go to the synagogues, they would engage them and
share the truth, and so it created controversy. Verse ten
is very clear they could not withstand the wisdom and
the spirit with which speed Stephen spoke. Stephen was full

(13:29):
of and hear the key words. Write them down. Grace, power,
and wisdom is the third component. These are the three
bold spiritual credentials and qualities needed for true leadership in
the church. And say them again together, what are they? Grace, power,

(13:50):
and wisdom. I didn't have time for a slide. So
you'll have to remember that the Bible says Stephen performed
great wonders and signs among the people. His life was
power orfully directed by the Holy Spirit. He wasn't in
the business of tearing down the church. He was in
the business of building up the church, of working to

(14:10):
help people come to Christ, of reaching beyond boundaries to
bring people in of loving the unlovable and sharing the
truth that people need. He was best known for his
ability to handle the Word of God effectively with grace, power,
and wisdom. Would that we had many Stevens in this
place doing the same in the power of the Holy Spirit.

(14:34):
Satan's methods are always the same in every age. You
know Satan is not very creative. You can tell what
he's doing because of his methodologies. Here they are slander.
Is that Satan's method yes or no, Working in secret
to get an outcome rather than bringing it into the light. Manipulation,

(14:56):
lying and intimidation friends, and and also trying to bully
is also an evidence of Satan's methods. Friends, The truth
doesn't need this kind of defense. Stephen was full of
the truth in the Holy Spirit. So let's review the
three bold characteristics of leadership in Stephen's life. Number one

(15:19):
Bold characteristic number one, what is it I'm quizzing you? Grace,
Bold characteristic number two, Bold characteristic number three Wisdom, godlike kindness, grace,
Holy Spirit, explosive dynamite energy which is power and Holy Spirit,
christ like wisdom that comes from relationship to God. Look

(15:40):
if we're lacking. James one five says, if any man
lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, and God will
give him. And he doesn't care who you are, he'll
give you wisdom. How many of you need wisdom? I do.
When my wife, by the way, is not here today,
she's gonna be meeting with her her parents, parents in Alabama.

(16:01):
It's a part of our responsibility to take care of
our grandparents and our parents or our children's grandparents. But
they're wonderful people. But she takes care of me because
I lack wisdom. I come through the door. She says, honey,
what you got to do here? Your tie is always crooked,
and so she says, you've noticed it too, okay, And

(16:23):
so I think of a dangles it's free. You call
that free. No, she bought me these tie clips like this.
She said. Now you put that right there, and you
tack it down good, and then use and close both
buttons on your coat. And I was taught to only
do one. She says, both of them, okay, both of them.
And she'll notice if my if my pocket's out, you know,

(16:46):
you see your pocket, Look see my pocket? Have to
make it even on each side right, and she says,
don't slow just honey, I sometimes I have to look
at my notes. Keep your head high. So I cracked
my neck. And then she'll she'll say, by the way,
don't get upset at me, because I'm helping you. That's

(17:07):
good advice, but not always achievable, all right, And then
she'll move the tie around. She says, you got the tyron,
Gotta put it in the center. It's my tight center. Now.
Got to help me because Diana's not here. Now. Look,
I'm saying that I need wisdom in life in certain areas,
and I like, there was a point in my sermon.
She says, that's a bad word to put in your sermon.

(17:30):
Change it from closet to house and you'll see what
I'm talking about. Now. Look, and the Bible, wisdom is
a woman. Very often in the Book of Proverbs, she
cries out in the in the marketplace. But wisdom is
Jesus Christ in Proverbs eight. He is called the wisdom
of God in First Corinthians. When we seek wisdom, we

(17:52):
seek the attitude the mind of Jesus Christ in our lives.
Whenever these bold qualities are manifesting, the church, friends, Satan
attacks people like Stephen. If you want to be a leader,
and you possess these three bold qualities because you've asked
God for them in humility, expect the enemy to come

(18:13):
after you. They rose up to oppose Stephen. This is
the cost of spirit field leadership. Acts six, verse eleven.
Open your bible and look with me. Then they secretly
instigated men who said, we have heard him speak blasphemous
words against Moses and God. And notice the order here
against Moses and God, not against God and Moses. So

(18:35):
who's foremost in their thinking here Moses? Verse twelve. And
they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes,
and they came upon him and seized him and brought
in before the council. So they were troublemakering, and they
were stirring up and stewing up. And they got a
coalition of the small, the weak, the leaders of the

(18:55):
church and everything to go after Stephen. And they brought
him before the council, that's the Seni verse thirteen, and
set up false witnesses. Can you think of anybody else where?
They brought in false witnesses to condemn him Jesus, And
they said, this man never ceases to speak words against
this holy place and the law, for we have heard

(19:17):
him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this
place and will change the custom which Moses delivered to us.
These instigators had methods that were slick and quick, and
I might add sick all right. Number one, they secretly
instigated men. We call that a coup attempt, by working

(19:39):
the rat line and the gossip channels. Number two, they
lied about Stephen's message, falsely claiming he was against God
and Moses. Number three, they stirred up the people and
the religious leaders together to form a coalition to destroy Stephen.
Number four, they set up false witnesses to law and

(20:00):
to distort the record of Stephen's life. Stephen was Jesus'
true witness who faced these false witnesses down with what
are the three attributes? Again? Helped me? Grace, power, and wisdom? Okay.
Number five, they distorted and decontextualized. That's kind of a
big word, isn't it. Say it with me. Decontextualized. In

(20:24):
other words, they took it out of context. They didn't
pay attention to what he was saying in the light
of what he was saying, they made it into something else.
They distorted and decontextualized the truth to make it into
something other than the truth. And because the Jewish leaders
rejected Jesus. In his father's word, Jesus did indeed predict

(20:48):
the destruction of Jerusalem. But Jesus said, the Prince of
this world is coming. He's quoting the book of Daniel
Dale nine to twenty six. I believe when he says,
the Prince of the people, of the prince who was
the calm will destroy the city and the sanctuary. That's
the prince of this world. See Christ withdrew and Satan

(21:08):
came in and the Roman legions destroyed the city. Jesus
also chose to set aside the customs of Moses, but
not the law of God, those laws that were made
in time and space for Israel, to keep them safe
until the Gospel could come online, till Christ could die.
Not dietary rules, but more so ceremonial rules that had
to do with touching this or that and uncleanness rules.

(21:32):
Was to teach them a consciousness of sin, as well
as the sacrificial system which ended of the cross. But
nowhere in the teachings of Jesus or the apostles, did
they teach that the Ten Commandments were set aside to
the contrary. Paul says in First Corinthians, neither circumcision counts
for anything, or uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God.
He's talking at the Ten Commandments, and James tells us

(21:54):
in James too, that we will be judged by the
royal law of liberty. Then he quotes the Ten Commandments
and he calls it the law of liberty. It's a positive,
not a negative. Friends, if you really follow Moses, you
look for Jesus, who is the new Moses. Because Moses
says God will raise up a prophet for you like me,

(22:15):
and whoever doesn't obey him to be cut off from
God's people. They couldn't tell the difference between their customs
and God's eternal covenant, the law, their political future and aspirations,
and the spiritual future the King of God. They're compromised
ways in contrast to God's unchanging Ten commandment law and
the Gospel that are eternal truths. They couldn't tell the difference.

(22:39):
Now it's possible that people can't here, can't tell the difference.
Now there are times when the Holy Spirit says, I
don't care about your scruples. I'm going to act in
a way that makes you nervous. Is that okay? No
Amen's coming out? Sure it is. See, the Holy Spirit
does not need to have an excuse to do the

(23:00):
right thing here in our lives. When Mary washed Jesus' feet,
the Holy Spirit didn't need an excuse to move on
her to wash Jesus' feet because and that'll happen from
time to time. But friends, the law of God is
the guiding light, the moral standard where we can test
the spirits. Those who despise the truth will always misuse

(23:21):
the truth to get their way to destroy those who
carry the truth. Did you hear me? Those who despise
the truth will always misuse the truth to get their
way and persecute those who carry the truth. Act six
point fifteen and Act seventy to one. Roll through your bibles.
Here it is on the screen, and gazing at him,

(23:41):
that is Stephen all who set and the council saw
that his face was like the face of a What
does the Bible say an angel? Have you ever seen
someone like the face of an angel? Now? Men. I'll
give you heads up if you tell your wife in
the morning, honey, your face is like the face of
an angel. You're going to be all right for the
rest of the day, okay, But you better mean it okay,

(24:04):
because they can read between the lines. But Stephen's face
was like the face of an angel. Act seven to one,
and the high priest said, is this sou? So? The
indictment by the instigators have been leveled. He was now
standing as one man against the mob, as Jesus had
stood before the Sanhedri. Now he stood alone, as many

(24:28):
a Christian has done so ever after, has died in
the flames for Jesus Christ, who died in the Amphitheater,
who died in the Hippodrome of Rome as they torched
Christians in the time of nero Annis was almost certainly
the high priest here where he stands in direct opposition
to Stephen, just as his father in law Caiaphas did

(24:49):
when Jesus was crucified. What does this mean? It means
that evil can run in family systems. You can get
a bad apple, and that can be passed on. In
the trial and witness of Stephen, Jesus was on trial
all over again in the person of the witness, who
was Stephen, God's witness. Stephen. The instigators had accused Stephen

(25:11):
of setting aside the law of Moses. Stephen started his
defense with the law of Moses. He started right where
they accused him, and he gave extra details that are
not in the Law of Moses. When you read his defense,
you'll notice that he's saying things and you go back
to the Old Testament. Where's it at. I'm gonna explain this.
Look at Acts seven, verses two and three, and Stephen said,
brethren and fathers, hear me, the God of Glory appeared

(25:35):
to our father Abraham, and when he was in Mesopotamia,
before he lived in Heron, and he said to him,
depart from your land and from your kindred, and go
to the land which I will show you. If you
carefully read Genesis eleven and twelve, you'll notice that this
is extra biblical material. Stephen addressed this hostile assembly as
brethren and fathers, Now of the three Grace, power, and will?

(26:00):
And which one was that it was grace, wasn't it?
It took its self control, which you can say a
little power in there. And what about wisdom. Is that
wise to address them that way? Okay? So he wasn't
obnoxious in their face, rude in that kind of way.
Stephen didn't mock his accusers, but rather Stephen appealed to
them and engaged them as brethren and fathers. Stephen spoke

(26:24):
to them with respect and affection when they really didn't
deserve it at all. Immediately, Stephen begins with the Law
of Moses and the call of Abraham to show these
religious leaders the truth about themselves and the light of
the eternal Gospel, the history of Israel, and how Christ
culminates the whole pattern. Here, he states that God appeared
to Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia. The Law of

(26:47):
Moses doesn't give us that kind of detail. You go
back to Jesuis twelve. It doesn't say that. So what's
going on here? At this point Jesus is speaking through
Stephen as a prophet. He's just become a prophet in
their eyes. He's given the spirit of prophecy. Later prophets

(27:08):
will often add details as the Lord sees fit to
inform his people. In Salvation history, God has a right
through the spirit of prophets. He let us know more
as we move to the end, don't lock the truth
down just in the past. When a prophet arises that
has the true spirit of prophecy connection with the Bible,
it will illumine the Bible. And we see that happening here.

(27:30):
So it's in play more detail from a prophet. Stephen
has been transformed into a prophet on the spot. In
the Law of Moses, in Genesis twelve to one, God
called Abraham while Abraham was in Heron. In the context,
Steve is making the point that God called Abraham from
er to go to Heron. That is not in the

(27:51):
Law of Moses. What did that mean and why does
he go out of his way to say that to them?
It means that Abraham didn't start his journey on his own.
You see, he didn't get to Heroin, and then God
called him. God was at the beginning of his journey.
God appeared to him. God called him, and that's how
he got to where we have the call in Genesis

(28:11):
twelve one, leave your kindred in your father's house and
go to land. I'll show you. And so the point
is we don't find God in the middle of the journey.
God starts the journey in our lives. That's what he's
trying to say. It means that he took the very
first step in his life to leave the land of
her because God called him out of that wicked place

(28:32):
and that culture that would not let him advance in
a relationship of God. This will be central, a central
theme in Stephen's discourse. Friends, God is always in the
business of calling his people out of darkness and delight,
out of sin and the righteousness. Now, let's focus on
the name Er, which is an Acadian word which also

(28:53):
has Hebrew identification. Excuse me. Er was a prominent city
in Mesopotamia, the land of ancient Babylon. In fact, Doctor
Willsee excavated it over one hundred years ago, and they
found the royal tombs there, magnificent discoveries. I've read his
good portion of his book. The word er in Hebrew

(29:15):
means light. In fact, member in Genesis One when says
let there be light, you' all remember that I hear
his vagghi or and you can hear the er in
there vagie or it's er. It's the same root for er.
It means the same in Acadian as it does in Hebrew.
Or was a city called light, but it was really
full of darkness, greed, immorality, and idol worship. God called

(29:38):
Abraham out of er when he was in er. The
Greek word for church is ecclesia. Say it with me
ecclesia and Greek, and it means the called out ones.
So what are we as church members? Were called out?
Just like Abraham. Stephen was God's witness calling people out
of darkness into the light, the true light that is

(30:00):
Jesus Christ. And we should be in the same business.
Steven had a choice to make. We have choices to
make in our lives. Friends, your character is determined by
the choices you make in life. Don't think it isn't
make good choices. They matter. Good choices will lead you
to eternal life. Stephen, as the witness, had to make

(30:21):
a choice in his life right there he was on
the spot. Would he stand true? Would it have been
easy for Steve and to say, all right, I give in.
You guys are big, you have a mob, You're gonna
probably kill me. I'm gonna do what you say. You're
in charge. Would that have been easy interact with me?
It would have been when you have peer pressures in

(30:41):
your life, and people are trying to get you, young
people to do things you shouldn't do, and you say,
I'm gonna I live for christ. I'm a Christian. My
best friend, who used to be my best friend, challenged
me just before I became a Christian. He says, I
know what you're getting ready to do. You're getting ready
to go off and be a Christian. You're gonna wreck
your life. The next day I would I find my father.
I'd be moving there in a car and discover that

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he was alive. I turned to Jeff and I said, Jeff,
you're right, I'm going to be a Christian. And I
took my stand at Freeze Dam in the middle of
the night. We'd fished all night, and I let him
know that's exactly why I'm going away to be a Christian.
I had to get out of that place. It was
dragging me down. I was introduced to alcohol as a

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young person. I was introduced to vandalism as a young person.
I'm not proud of any of that. There's nothing glorious
about it. But when I came to Fletcher Academy and
my father, who was I discovered was alive, led me
to christ gave me the book Steps to Christ. I
started making good decisions. I still stumbled at times, But friends,

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I'm a Christian today, growing imperfect though I be, because
I made good choices. I want my children to make
those good choices. They put Stephen on trial for being
a whitness for Jesus. Have you ever been on trial
for standing up for Jesus when you could give in?

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I hope. So it takes grace. What are the three things? Grace, power,
and wisdom in the Holy Spirit to bear witness of
the truth that is Jesus. God called Abram out of
darkness from the false land called the land of light
er to bring Abraham into the light that is Jesus.

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The Bible says he was looking for a city that
has foundations. Who's building maker is God. God is the
same thing in our lives. He takes us out of
a past that has to change, and he takes us
into a future that's His future for us. One Peter
two nine and ten. Let's read it here and you
can read it with me. Why don't you try that?
But you, but you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood,

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a holy nation, God's own people that you may declare
the wonderful deeds of Him who called you out of
dark darkness into his marvelous light verse ten. But once
you were no people, but now you are God's people.

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Once you had not received mercy, but now you have
received mercy. God calls us out of darkness so we
can become children of light. Jesus is the light of
the world. Jesus is God's mercy. Friends, when you are
forgiven by Christ and you have mercy, you have light
in your life. Your light is illumined by the mercy

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of God. Matthew five, fourteen to eighteen. I'm gonna focus
on verse fourteen. Jesus says this, you are the light
of the world. A city set on a hill cannot
be hid. John three, nineteen to twenty one. Move forward
a little bit. Jesus said, and this is the judgment.

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Let's read it together, that the light has come into
the world. Men love darkness rather than light. Why because
their deeds were evil. He goes on to say, and
I'll quote this, for everyone who does evil hates the light,
does not come to the light lest his deeds should
be exposed. But he who does what is true comes

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to the light. That it may be clearly seen that
his deeds have been rocked in God. Look, transparency doesn't
hurt us as Christians. We can grow because of transparency.
If there are faults in our life, then we can
address those faults. It pays to have a mentor in
your life, someone who will help you along the way.
I had a mentor here reaching hearts for many years,

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and I do still. But that mantor was John Butler.
I remember him sitting me down even saying, Pastor Mike,
you know, there's just a couple of flaws here I
want to help you with. And of course you always
you do this. You know your throat, you swallow hard.
But I knew that man loved me, and so I

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listened to him and I grew friend. You may not
be a superstar the church. You may not be an
ultra talented person in the church or the world or
anywhere else. You may be a nobody at your school.
You may be considered a great a d student in
many people's eyes. Maybe you are. You may not be
the brightest candle in the house. That's the word. My wife.

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You may not be the brightest candle in the closet.
She's any closet makes no sense. You may not be
the brightest candle in the house. Okay, so I wrote
it in You may not have all the money you
need or the money you want to have for the
needs of others. But there is one thing you can
do in your life as an ordinary person like me,
like many of us, or less than ordinary person, just

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like Stephen. You can be a witness for Jesus with
three bold qualities in your life. Bold quality number one,
what is it? Grace? You can choose Holy Spirit grace
so as to be gracious and kind, to make a
difference in the lives of others. Bold quality number two,
what is it power? Can choose power, not your power,

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God's power in Jesus name. To stand for truth, To
do the right thing, no matter the consequences. To have
courage when you could cave in. Bold quality number three?
What is it Wisdom? The wisdom of God. Christ is
the wisdom of God. And the Spirit is the spirit
of wisdom. Not because you're smart, not because you're wise,

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but because Jesus is wise. The Holy Spirit lives in you,
and Christ in you is the wisdom of God, the
hope of eternity and friend and never forget this that
when you are a witness for Jesus, it's not about
you anymore. Say it again, it's not about me anymore.
Want to say it. It's not about me anymore. I

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me and my is your worst enemy. It's about Jesus.
Now you are a witness for Jesus. Stephen was the
witness God's witness, and that's exactly what we need to
be today. When you are a witness for Jesus is
there's a change in your life. And they call that
change the new birth conversion. The Apostle Paul's life was

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changed by the witness of Stephen. When you bear witness
with Jesus and you, other lives are changed. Here is
his confession, Acts twenty two twenty. And when the blood
of Stephen, thy witness was shed, I was standing by
approving and keeping the garments of those who killed him.
It converted the Apostle Paul through an intervention from Jesus.

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And what did they see that day when they saw
the witness God's witness Stephen die, Acts six fifteen, Because
they stoned him to death, and gazing at him, all
who said and the council said, they saw that his
face was like the face of an angel. I'll end

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with that, the face of an angel. Let's come up
and saying, may our faces be like the face of
an angel. Dear Father, give us grace, power and wisdom
to be witnesses for Jesus, whether we're a deacon or not.

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And help us to live for you as Stephen lived
and died for you. Thank you that the first of
the seven was the first to sacrifice himself for you.
That being first means giving yourself for others and for God.
So Lord, maybe strive for this kind of first in
our church, not the other kind that's kind of ugly.

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Give us kindness, give us Jesus, give us power, give
us understanding, wisdom. And Lord, bless every young person here
who's challenged, being at a college or high school or
with friends, to live for Jesus and not sacrifice just
because they have friends who need Jesus. Maybe they be

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the delight in their community in Jesus' name. Amen,