Acts 6:8-15
Focus on vs. 8 and 10
Stephen was a man full of faith, a man of God and was unstoppable from serving God.
3 things that can make you unstoppable for God:
1) He was Chosen from his peers
--you have to be righteous
We just need people to make up their mind that they are going to do right!
Thought: "If your Youth Pastor picked you as the spiritual leader of the teen group, would your peers snicker and say, "him/her, yeah right?!"
--he was righteous from the inside out
--he was full of faith and power
vs. 15--"The reason why the wrong side comes out that's because it's wrong in the inside."
*Pray God's Will
2) I need to be radical
Radical- different from the usual
Anyone can be worldly, but to go against the flesh is a radical.
Differences between Stephen and the Mob:
The Mob Stephen
a.Spiritual Blindness Spiritual Sight (Acts 7:56)
"What do you do when you're going through hard ships?" Instead of being like everyone else giving in to their hardships, your friends can see you look to God.
b. Hatred (Acts 7:54-58) Forgiveness (Acts 7:59-60)
You can only have that forgiveness if you have Christ--the Spirit in your heart. If you get mad at the truth, you're not right with God.
3) It's going to be risky vs. 51-53
"You're not going to be listened to if what you say is not how you live."
--Stephen put them on the defensive.
--It costs something to follow Christ, just as an athlete takes years to become unstoppable
--you may lose popularity
--you may risk persecution
KEEP YOUR EYES ON GOD!
All is worth suffering for Christ! He was beaten,broken and tortured for you so how is telling someone about Christ and being called names measure up to all Christ went through?
--loss of people
God may have to take a godly loved one to get your attention.
IT WILL ALL BE WORTH IT!
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