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Oct 19, 2025

Stephen’s Ordinary But Legacy Life | His Word, His Plan, His People

Stephen’s Ordinary But Legacy Life | His Word, His Plan, His People

Passage: Acts 6:5-7:60

Speaker: Matt Petty

Series: His Word, His Plan, His People

Category: Sunday Sermons

Keywords: sermon, persecution, gospel, holy spirit, legacy, obedience, church growth, courage, stephen, boldness, acts 6, acts 7, his word, his plan, his people, ordinary faith, stephen’s ordinary but legacy life

In this week’s message, we explore what it means to live a legacy life, using Stephen in Acts 6 and 7 as our guide. Though not an apostle or church leader, Stephen’s deep faith and unwavering commitment to Jesus shaped the early church in a lasting way. Learn how the Holy Spirit empowers ordinary believers, how spiritual boldness overcomes opposition, and how your life—no matter how “normal” it seems—can reflect God's glory.

Well, good morning Church. Every now and then before we jump into the message part of a sermon or of a morning, I really just need to pull back just for a minute and address something that is either happening in culture or a question that I'm being asked. And I feel like I need to do that today because over the last six weeks, over the last six weeks, I bet at least six or seven times a week, somebody has asked me the same question. And it is the question, "Matt, do you feel like we as a country are in a moment of revival or do you feel like we're in a moment of awakening or do you feel like we're in a special movement of God right now?" Man, I've been getting it a lot, a lot, a lot. I know people have been asking it out loud.

Many of you probably have been asking yourself that, so I'm going to speak to that for just a moment, and then we're going to pray right after that, and it'll make sense in a minute. So is this a revival moment in our country? When you think about it or in the world when you think about it, what we're seeing internationally right now in the UK, there is a major movement of God happening in the United Kingdom, right now in London particularly. When you look at Asia right now, man, you are seeing a massive movement of God sweep across that. We are seeing thousands and thousands of Muslims right now giving their lives to Jesus through miraculous ways. I'm talking dreams and things that the Lord is doing in their lives. Even right here in the United States, we're seeing these outbreaks on university campuses, these awakenings, these public baptisms, these movements of God, whether it be Asbury or some of those that are happening all across our nation.

Even just a couple of weeks ago on a Sunday afternoon, the memorial for Charlie Kirk was the largest Evangelical event in the history of the world. The numbers have just come in when the Gospels was shared there. So you're seeing that all over the world, we're seeing Gen Z that is returning to church. The young people are beginning to point their lives to Jesus. We're seeing this. So the question I'm getting is, is this a revival? To which I would go, I don't know. I'm not really good at putting things into words. Is it a revival or is it a movement of God? I mean, that's a great coffee conversation, but I can say that God is doing something and he's moving in a particular way. In fact, I read a book called The Distinguishing Marks of the Work of the Spirit of God.

That's the title, right? I read that book this week, and it was written by a man named Jonathan Edwards a few years ago in 1741. Read it this week, and here's how he describes the marks of a true revival. He would say it's always focused on the person and the work of Jesus Christ to not man. He would say, secondly, it opposes evil, and it's bringing the once blind into a recognition of who Satan is more clearly. He would say, third, revival is always grounded in the Bible, and the word becomes highly more relevant than any other subjective experience. He would say revival is a moment that is proclaiming and promoting sound doctrine he describes it and deep theology. And he would say number five, revival always produces love, humility, unity among believers and pointing to who God is less than self. So if that's a good definition, maybe. I think we're seeing that.

I think it's a pretty great description in the 1740s from somebody to come up with. But here's what I want us to do. I want us to focus less on defining something and more on just saying, "Hey, move Lord Jesus." And I want us to do that today because here's what I know about us as a church. I think those five things are our heart. We do desire God to do those things. In this moment, in the beginning of this time, I just want us to pray that God would move, that God in His power, in His spirit would sweep across this land. So we're going to do that together this morning. We're not just going to talk about praying, we're going to pray together this morning, but I want to do it in a particular way this morning. And actually, I want us to change into a posture of prayer because I know sometimes we can get in a regular posture, and it's just like, "Oh, it's message time."

No, no, no. I want us just to pause for a minute, and I want us to pray. So here's what I want you to do. If you're an able-bodied person today, I just want you to get into a posture of prayer, posture of prayer. Maybe for you that means you need to get on your knees and put your elbows in your seat, and you need to present yourself before the God of the universe in a posture of prayer. If you can't do that, maybe you just need to get on the chair in front of you in a posture of prayer. This altar is open for the next couple of minutes in a moment that we're going to ask God whether it's revival or awakening or a movement.

Hey, we don't care about what it is. We just want God to do those things. So listen, I'm going to lead us in a moment of prayer, but I want you to get into a posture of prayer. Ready? One, two, three, go. Get where you need to. All right? This is the group participatory part of the message, right? And then we're going to pray together this morning. Let's pray.

Lord Jesus, God, we do sense that you are doing something special in this generation. And, oh, God, we beg of you to pour the fuel on the fire of your spirit moving in our place. God, fuel the fire of a movement of yours at Burnt Hickory in this community, in this nation, in this world. Lord, we pray that you save many, that you reach into the lives of many that are hurting, that you deliver them from darkness into your light, and, oh, God, heal them. Save them. Use them for your kingdom.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Lord says that when you're in revival, you don't have to ask if you're there or not, and, God, that's our prayer so that you move mightily amongst us and in us and through us. Oh, God, make this place a place that is willing and able and receptive to your spirit, King Jesus. And it's in your name we pray, amen and amen.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Well, listen, if you've got a copy of scripture this morning, I want you to go ahead and turn with me to Acts chapter six. Acts chapter six is where we're going to launch from this morning, and then hopefully by somewhere around three o'clock this afternoon, we're going to get finished with Acts chapter seven. I'm just kidding. That was a nervous laugh from you guys there for just a minute. But we're going to make it through both of those chapters today because we're walking through the Book of Acts, and it's this model that shows us as a New Testament church and as individuals how to walk out what God has in our lives. We've been watching the disciples do it. We've been watching the Spirit of God fall. We've watched the church be born. We've watched the disciples lead, and all these miracles happen.

We've watched persecution start. We've watched God begin his church and save many. And then over the last couple of weeks, we've also watched Peter preach. We've seen these 20,000 at this point, believers in Jesus really begin to stand for the Kingdom of God. But here's the problem though. When God begins to do something big, in a culture, in a nation, in a moment in time, Satan hates it. He hates it so much so that we've been able to see already in Acts chapter four and Acts chapter five and Acts chapter six, we've been able to watch him oppose what is happening. And what does Satan do? He begins to attack his church. He first starts to attack it through the government leaders, then he starts to attack it through the religious leaders. Then he starts to attack it through some grumbling and complaining among the widows.

And my goodness, if the widows are complaining, we're all in trouble, right? We saw that a couple of weeks ago in Acts six. We saw last week just the general spirit of the church moving forward. But here's the great part about Acts. We see that God keeps moving, and he keeps providing. And then two weeks ago we saw that there was these seven men that were appointed, these deacons, if you would, in the scriptures. These deacons were appointed to help continually push the cause of Christ, and in the middle of that language of those deacons being appointed and moved into service, we saw this guy who came to light by the name of Stephen. Now, Stephen this morning is going to be who we're zeroed in on as really and truly as an example of what it looks like for us to live a legacy life of scripture.

So what we're going to do this morning is we're going to look at Stephen's account in Acts chapter six and Acts chapter seven, and at the end of this message today, we're going to ask ourselves, does my life look like that? Am I living a life of legacy like Stephen is living, or at least today, I'm going to ask to ask yourself, what would it look like or what would it take for me to point toward the glory of God? Now, I'm going to warn you today, we don't have time to read every verse in Acts chapter six and Acts chapter seven, all right? You're going to have to go back and read specifically Acts seven on your own this week, but we're going to see what it looks like as a follower of Jesus being controlled by the Spirit. What does it look like for me to live a life that no matter what comes my way, points to Jesus?

All right? I'm going to start in Acts six, verse five. The second part of that verse says this, "They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and full of the Holy Spirit." Now, other than what we get from this event or these pages in scripture, we really don't know anything else about Stephen. But what we see here starts off strong, doesn't it? It starts off strong by telling us that he is full of faith and full of the Holy Spirit, and actually what you're going to see through the rest of the text today, that he's not only just full of it, but he's quite possibly one of the greatest human beings to ever live for the cause of Jesus. We're going to see that in just a minute. Now, we could read that through the lens of, "Well, I'll never be there," or "I'll never reach that level," but I don't want you to do that because you're going to see today that you can actually have more in common with Stephen than you could ever imagine.

In fact, Stephen is a modern day follower of Jesus in the same way that all of us can be. Let me give you the first thing about Stephen that all of us should probably look at for our lives, and that is Stephen's legacy model shows us that we too should be number one, here it is, empowered by the Holy Spirit. We should be empowered by the Holy Spirit. Now, in verse five, it just told us at the first mention of his name that he was full of faith and full of the Holy Spirit. You say, "Well, Matt, how do I know if I'm full of faith and I'm full of the Holy Spirit?" Well, one of the greatest indicators to know that is ask yourself, do other people notice the Spirit moving in my life? Do other people see that? Not just people noticed it in Stephen's life, but did you see what we just read?

Not just people, but the people that were closest to him noticed. Remember in early Acts six verse five what they were looking for in those men that they were choosing for deacons? They were looking for men who were full of faith and full of the spirit, and what are we seeing right here? We're seeing right here that that is exactly who Stephen was, and those that were closest to him, notice that's who he was. Let me ask you something. What's the first thing that people think about when they think about your name? What's the first thing when you pop into the scene, when you pop into the group, when you step into a room, do people automatically look at you and go, "Hey, that person is full of the Spirit"? Or do they ask themselves, "Are you full of something else?" Are you empowered by the Spirit?

I love what's said about him right here, that he was full of faith and full of the Spirit. This is what that means in scripture. Anytime in scripture, you see somebody being full of something, whether it's love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self-control, whether it's anger, whether it's sorrow, you fill in the blank, whatever it is, anytime it says that someone is full of anything, what that means is is that they are 100% controlled by it, that they're controlled by it, that it is the indicator of what rules their life and makes them follow. And it means there's no balance. So when you say someone is full of faith and full of the Spirit, it means that there are not days that they're full of the flesh and full of the Spirit. There are not days that they're full of themselves and full of God. It means that they always, always, always fall in the Spirit realm.

Let me ask, does that represent who your life is? Because that's who Stephen is. It means that he was controlled by it. He was ruled by it. But I know where your mind goes when you read this because it's same where mine goes when I read about these men and women in scripture. You're thinking, "Well, Matt ..." I mean he was like a professional Christian, right? And I'm just a student or I'm just a mom or I'm just a dad or I'm just an accountant. Whatever you are, no, that's not what it is. And let me tell you one of the reasons I love Stephen so much, and that's why we're spending so much time on it this morning. I love Stephen so much because Stephen was an average guy just like you and just like me. Stephen was just an average person. You see, in Acts so far, who has been the main character of Acts so far?

Name them. Ready, one, two, three. Peter, right? That was a trick question. You're like, "I'm not saying it. It might be God." No, no, it's been Peter, right? It's been Peter, right? Peter's been the main character, and whenever you see Peter, it's easy to discount your life looking like Peter because he was an Apostle for goodness' sake. He walked with Jesus. He was given these special gifts and abilities. So when you look at Peter, it's so easy for Satan to tell you you'll never be like that guy, right? You'll never be able to live like that.

Who is the main character? Not today, but for the rest of the Book of Acts. Ready? Paul, right? Okay. Holy Spirit, I get that, but who else, right? Paul, right? He is the main character. We're going to see that in two weeks when Paul becomes the primary force of the moving of the church. It's really easy for Satan to discount that, to make you go, "Well, you'll never be like Paul. You'll never have that Damascus Road experience or that commissioning like he is." But, listen, Stephen, I love how God works this out. You got Peter on the front end, you got Paul on the back end, and then right in the middle, right here in Acts, you've got Stephen, this average Joe that was just this guy that was out there living his life for Jesus one day, and somebody points at him and says, "Hey, you're up. You're up."

But, man, isn't that our lives? Isn't that who we are? I love that Peter was the minister to the Jews; Paul, minister to the Gentiles, but right in between them is Stephen, the average Joe. His life, his death was literally the bridge that was the catalyst for the church to move out of Jerusalem and to be spread to all the surrounding nations. Listen, guys, that's what it looks like to be empowered by the Holy Spirit. It means that I'm just an average person that just says yes to God, and God continually propels me forward. Watch what it says about Stephen in verse seven. It says this. It says, "So the word of God spread, and the number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith."

Now, trouble's about to hit. You know that. But watch this. Now, Stephen, a man full of God's grace and power, he performed great wonders and signs among the people. So for those of you that are like, no, no, no, it was just the Apostles. No, no, no, it was just the whatever. No, no, no, it was Stephen. An average guy that was empowered by the Spirit said, "Yes, Lord, here I am." And God used him mightily. Stephen was number one empowered by the Holy Spirit and so should we be. But number two, also, he also spoke with the wisdom of the Holy Spirit. Now, I want you to see this in scripture because not only was Stephen doing these mighty, mighty works in God's power and for his name, but I want you to keep watching in scripture.

Now, between verse eight and verse nine, we're really not sure what kind of time period progressed. Maybe it's weeks, maybe it's months, but you're about to see that trouble is coming, and the trouble that you're about to see is way more than just one message or one week of Stephen doing something. But here comes trouble. It's the model in Acts. Any time that the light is shown off of the religious leaders and onto the glory of God, there's always trouble. Look at verse nine. It says, "Opposition arose, however, from the members of the synagogue of the Freedmen, as it was called. The Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the Providences of Cilicia and Asia, who began to argue with Stephen."

I love that line, verse 10, "But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke." Now, where did Stephen get the wisdom? From the what? From the Spirit. From the Spirit. Now, let's talk about these synagogues for a minute because this is important. These synagogues were set up for travelers. They were set up for people that were coming into Jerusalem and into the area. These weren't local Jews that were in here. These were people that had moved into the area, and you really only worshiped with your people, all right? It was a shame. That's how it happened. Now, Stephen, what was he doing? He was visiting these synagogues. He was preaching in these synagogues. He was moving from synagogue to synagogue to synagogue. You could have a synagogue as long as you had 11 people present, 11 men plus the women and children.

You could establish your own, and he was moving and preaching and debating in all of these synagogues in all of this area. Now, it's interesting here that Luke points out that one of these synagogues was in the region of Cilicia. All right? Now, that doesn't mean anything to a lot of us, but in two weeks we're going to meet, actually later today, we're going to meet this man named Saul of Tarsus. Now, Tarsus' head city was Cilicia. So listen to this. Scholars really, really believe that at some point, Paul would've debated Stephen before meeting Jesus, which probably could have caused some of his hurt in getting owned by the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, all right? In fact, look at verse 10. Watch what it says right here, because only God can put this together. Verse 10 says, "They could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke."

What does that mean? That means that probably at some point, Saul, which became Paul, got owned on the floor of debate by Stephen, and he got so upset, it's what caused him to be thrown into rage against the church. But what happened? Nobody could stand against Stephen because of what the Spirit did in his life. You say, well, Matt, what does that mean the Spirit did in his life? Does that mean that Stephen would just stand up not knowing anything and go, "Holy Spirit, you're going to have to tell me what to say"? Well, yes and no, but here's what that means. That means that Stephen studied, and Stephen learned, and Stephen put the time into the word and hearing the Apostles teach like it was up to him, but he trusted like it was up to the Holy Spirit. Listen to me. Never stand up and think the Holy Spirit is going to download something into you that you have not put the time in to learn.

That's what it means to stand and speak in the wisdom of the Holy Spirit. Never think the Holy Spirit's just going to download something into your lazy self. That's what it means. It means you put the time in, the Spirit will help you recall what you have learned is what that means. So number one, he was empowered by the Spirit. Number two, he spoke with the wisdom of the Spirit, but keep reading, watch this. They couldn't beat them, so watch what they did. Verse 11, it says, "They secretly persuaded some men to say that we have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God." You see who they're more concerned with there? Was it Moses or God? It was Moses, right? So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen. They brought him before the Sanhedrin. They produced false witnesses who testified.

This fellow never stops speaking. Oh, may that be said about us, right? Against this holy place and against the law for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs of Moses handed down to us. Now, write this principle down, and I'll explain it. Not only was he empowered by the Holy Spirit and spoke with the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, but he endured number three by trusting the Holy Spirit. You see what's happening here? In verse nine, the opposition starts, right? By verse 11 through 15 that we just read it is now moved into what we could call a lying smear campaign against this brother, right? They've hired in these people to lie. They're charging them with a false crime. This is the same playbook that they came up with Jesus a couple of months earlier, but what a testimony, right?

What a testimony that they hired people to lie against him, but then they're yet, "Hey, he just won't shut up about Jesus." I'd be like, "Well, glory," right? Thank goodness, right? But let me ask you this. Is that what they would say about you? I'm not sure it would be what they said about me. But they're like, "Hey, this guy will not quit talking about this man named Jesus." He keeps saying that He's the fulfillment of everything. He's the fulfillment of the law. He's the fulfillment of the temple. No matter what people say, he challenges them, and he's enduring, and nobody can get a foothold with them. It's almost like he's got some supernatural power. He does. He does. Man, what an example Stephen's given us in this ministry, but watch what happens. Watch what happens. It gets even better. Verse 15, all those who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

Now, he's not like watching TV going, "That's a face of an angel." That's not what he's talking about. It's not like looking at a baby going, "Oh, that's a little face of an angel." No, no, no, no. These brothers in the Sanhedrin were looking at him trying to debate him, had hired these people in to lie about him for preaching about the name of Jesus, and now God in his glory has made Stephen's face glow with the radiant glory of God. It's almost like God flipped the switch on, and now, Stephen, I don't know if he knows it's happening or not. I don't know if it's lighting up the room. I got lots of questions to ask him later on, but these brothers are looking at him, and they're like, "Wait a minute. That's the Shekinah glory of God." And then a light switch flips off in these Pharisees' mind, and they begin to go back to a man named Moses that this happened to in Exodus 34. Remember?

He's up on the mountain. He's receiving the law of the Lord. The covenant of God comes on him. He's standing in the presence of God. It lights him up so much. He comes down off the mountain, and Moses, his face is lit up, he's shining with the Shekinah glory of God. Now, remember, Stephen is being on trial for standing against Moses' principles and Moses's law that God confirmed coming down off the mountain, and now Moses is no longer present, but God has lit up the face of Stephen. It's almost like God is saying, as you received Moses and that Covenant received Stephen and the Covenant and my son Jesus, you better get your act together. You see how this is happening? This is incredible. He's enduring in the Spirit, but here's the question this calls me to ask myself this week. Do others see the glory of God or my glory when they see me?

Let me ask you, when other people see you, do they see the glory of God or do they see the glory of you when they see you? Or maybe even a little bit more personal, what do I put the most work in glorifying? Myself or God? Man, I love this. He's enduring in the Spirit. He's enduring in the Spirit. He's standing. He knows something's coming. He knows something powerful is about to happen. He has no idea what's about to happen, but he knows that God is faithful and God has a plan, and I believe that even these other brothers in the Sanhedrin know, Uh-oh, something big is about to happen.

Now, as you turn the page from Acts chapter six over to Acts chapter seven, if this was a documentary about Stephen's life, the music would change. All right? In your minds, all right. It would change right here because God's about to do it again. If you think about it, God now has Stephen in a position that Stephen could never have got into himself. He couldn't have called the Sanhedrin up, and be like, "Hey, boys, I need an appointment, and I need to come preach to you the name of Jesus," right? No. But God has orchestrated this because he's empowered and he's speaking. He's enduring.

But I want to show you what Stephen does next because it's really what all of our life should represent. Number four, write it down. We'll talk about it. Number four is Stephen kept the main thing, the main thing, and that's Jesus. He just kept the main thing, the main thing, and that is Jesus. That means that the main thing that Stephen is about to point to in his message is not politics, it's not how evil these people are, it's not how bad it was when he was raised or his job that he hates, he just talks about Jesus. In fact, watch the interaction, watch what he does. Acts chapter seven, verse one, watch what happens. Here's how it starts. It says, "Then the high priest asked Stephen, 'Are these charges true?'" Man, as a preacher, you could never get a better intro than that. Are these charges true?

To this, Stephen replied, "Brothers and fathers," I could just see him in my mind grabbing the microphone. It's like, "Give it to me," right?

"Listen to me."

The high priest stands him up, and now Stephen standing in front of the Sanhedrin is about to give the longest sermon in the Book of Acts. Now, this is another reason why I love Stephen so much. He's about to give the longest one in the Book of Acts, and he's about to walk these guys through the Old Testament of God's faithfulness. You're going to have to read it on your own this week. It's a long message from him, but he gives it. He walks into this idea that He, God, is faithful to his people through Abraham, through Joseph. He's faithful through his people through Moses. He actually corrects them on their Moses theology and says, "Hey, listen, even Moses pointed to who I'm talking about right now."

Look at this one in verse 37. It says this. It says, "This is the Moses who told the Israelites that God will rise up for you, a prophet like me from your own people." Stephen's like, "Listen, you tell me that I'm blaspheming against Moses. Even Moses said exactly what I'm saying." Our ancestors doubted Moses. They walked away from Moses. They built an idol. They did their own thing, and Stephen says, "Listen, all I'm doing is pointing to the one that Moses was pointing to, and his name is Jesus, that Abraham was pointing to, and his name is Jesus that David was pointing to, and his name is Jesus."

But Stephen's looking at him going, "You're just so religious that you just keep rejecting Jesus, and you don't understand the scriptures." That's what he says. Now, does that ring a bell in any of your minds that have read the gospels lately? You know what Stephen is doing here? He's just following the model that Jesus lived. That every time somebody brought something up against Jesus, Jesus just talked about himself. He just talked about salvation. In fact, watch this in John chapter five, when Jesus was standing in front of the Pharisees, which is a part of this group, watch what he says in verse 39, John 5:39. Jesus says, "Hey, you guys, you study the scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very scriptures, Jesus says, that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me and have life."

Keep going in verse 46, Jesus says the same thing Stephen's saying, Jesus says, "Look, if you believed in Moses, you would believe in me, for he wrote about me, but since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?" You know what Stephen's doing? He's doing the same thing that all of us should do. Everything they say, they just point it back to Jesus. Everything they do, they just point it back to Jesus. Every time something comes up, he's like, "Let me tell you about a man named Jesus."

Stephen's taken a playbook from Jesus's life, and he's going, "Listen, if you don't know Jesus, you can know everything else and still be lost, and still be in pain, still be in shame, and still not be in the kingdom." In fact, watch what Stephen's message does at the end. This is the greatest closing you'll ever see on the message in verse 51. Stephen looks at him, and this is probably what took things over the top by the way. Stephen looks at him in verse 51 and says this. He says, "Hey, you stiff neck people, your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised." Now, that'll win some friends right there, right? You were just like your ancestors. You always resist the Holy Spirit. Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the righteous one, and now this is what took it over the top, the powder kegs about to blow, and now you have betrayed and murdered him.

I'm not sure you noticed or not, but those are fighting words, right? I mean, that's not like a little homily in the message part, right? That right there, he's like, you killed the prophets, you killed the Messiah, you're resisting the Holy Spirit, and then he looks at him and going, "You're getting stiffer and harsher every day." Now, I want you to notice this is not a public account, this is Stephen dealing with the people that have been harsh against Jesus. He's not posting this on his Facebook message, all right? This is not the verse for your Facebook this afternoon, all right?

I got some news for you, neighborhood, right? No, no, no, no, no. All right. He's actually speaking against the people that are bringing a personal account up against him, and he's saying, "Listen, you're missing Jesus, and you're so stiff-necked you can't see him." What does that mean to be stiff-necked? Two images from the Bible come to that. Number one, it's almost like an animal that you're trying to pull to follow you, but it's just resisting and resisting and wants to go its own way.

But secondly, it's like a person that is standing and will not bow its head to the Lordship of Jesus. Its neck and back are stiff. That's the image here. Stephen says, "Hey, listen. This is the theme of your life. You keep becoming harsher and harsher and harsher, and God will judge you." Now, look, when Stephen did this, he knew there was about to be a consequence. He knew it. But Stephen, write this down, here's the fifth truth of the morning, Stephen trusted that knowing and proclaiming Jesus was worth whatever came his way. He trusted that. He knew it was about to come. He knew that to trust and obey and to stand is what God had called him to do. Now, God had been preparing him. God had been moving in him. God had been making him for this moment, and Stephen knew that just to trust, just to obey, that God would give him the grace and power to move, and that Stephen knew that his job was just to stand. And what happens next?

Now, if we were writing the story, what would happen next is God would sweep in and save every one of these guys, right? If we were writing the story, that's how we would do it. But let me show you what God does right here, because God knew he was doing, and God always knows what he's doing. And God always is playing chess and not checkers. And God says, "Okay, Stephen, you're mine. Watch what happens." In verse 54, it says, "When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious, and they gnashed their teeth at him." Now, you can feel the demonicness in this, right? You can feel the power in this. This is rage mixed with anger, mixed with frustration. This is like when you were a kid and you made your mama so mad she couldn't even speak. Remember that? She was just like [inaudible 00:35:29], right?

Remember that? Anybody got that in your mode, right? You know what I'm talking about, right? This is also the image of Jesus, what he says, when those that are eternally separated from Him and thrown into the pit of hell, right? This has been growing. This has been angering. This has been spreading. These people hated Jesus and hated his followers, and now they don't even have words because the power was being removed from them and placed on to Jesus, and that's a problem for them, right? But keep reading, watch this. The mob was full of rage, but Stephen was full of something else. Watch this, verse 55, but Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit. Now notice here, Stephen, he's not having to get his life together because something's coming. He's not having to change anything he's doing. He's not changing his lifestyle because he knows something big is coming. Stephen is just continually being full of the Spirit.

He's been there for a while. He's not given some last remarks and being, Hey, Lord, let me clean my life up because something bad's coming. But Stephen being full of the Holy Spirit, watch this, this is so good, looked up to heaven, and he saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, verse 56, "Look," Stephen said, "I see heaven open and I see the son of man." This is the only time son of man has been ever used in the Bible, except for Jesus calling himself that. I see heaven open up, and the son of man standing at the right hand of God. What does Stephen see? Stephen sees a glimpse of what God has already put on his face. Stephen sees a glimpse, and he gets to peek into glory.

He gets to peek into the glory of God. And Jesus, what does he see? He sees Jesus, and now he knows he's not living in faith any longer, right? He's living in sight. He's seeing Jesus the king of kings, the Lord of Lords, his savior, and what is his savior doing? We just read it. He's standing at the right hand of God. Now, listen, the book of Hebrews tells us at the moment Jesus ascends to the Father as our redeeming king, that he ascends, he moves by the Father, and our redeeming king sits at the right hand of God. We see that in Hebrews, but here it's almost like that Jesus gets up when his kids are in trouble. He gets up to welcome his saint home. He gets up to welcome him home as his king, savior and redeemer. Yes, Jesus sits as the redeemer, but he stands as our high priest in heaven.

So what we're seeing right here, it's like Stephen here is now calm and he's collected. In my sanctified imagination, he might even have a smile on his face because he knows, he knows. He knows now what he has been living for is fully worth whatever sacrifice is about to happen. He's not spiritually blinded like these brothers are that are about to throw some rocks at him. He has spiritual sight, and what does he do? He takes his eyes, this is a lesson for us, he takes his eyes off his problems, and he puts his eyes on his king. That's what Stephen does in this moment. He looks up, watch this in verse 56, "Look," he said, "I see the heaven open and the son of man standing at the right hand of God." And at this, they covered their ears, and they yelled at the top of their voices.

Why? Because they were so in tune with the voice of the world, they could not hear the voice of the king. Sound like anything you've been seeing? They all rushed him. They drug him out of the city, and they began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. We're going to see him in two weeks. He becomes Paul, but don't think that he's the intern here, he is in charge of this band of people about to kill Stephen. Look at verse 59, while they were stoning him, oh, man, such a point here that one of the biggest ways that we can give God glory is even in the middle of suffering. Lift up the name of our king Jesus. While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus receive my Spirit." And he fell on his knees, and he cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them."

And when he said this, he fell asleep. Now, from the outside looking in, it looks like Stephen is lost. It looked like Stephen lost the battle. It looked like Stephen's voice finally caught up with them, and now they've gotten rid of him. But don't see it as that brothers and sisters in Jesus because number six, Jesus has shown him here that He is now number six, received His glorious and eternal reward. He's received what He has lived his whole life for, what He has pointed His whole life for. His life of legacy has pointed to this moment. And now Stephen has stepped out of the arms of those that held him and bonded and stepped into the life and the love of King Jesus, and with what seems to be, it seems to be what Max Lucado would call an applause of heaven and a standing ovation for the King Jesus to say welcome home Stephen.

Welcome home. God said His life has pointed to me in such a way that I'm going to show Him through my words. I'm going to show him through the wisdom of the Spirit. I'm going to show Him through the testimony of Stephen. I'm going to show Him through lighting his face up. And I'm going to show him that even in the moments of suffering, that our God is worth every single one of us say coming, Lord Jesus, use me. Use me.

And he steps into glory in Stephen's life. If he would've lived right here, do you realize we wouldn't be talking about him? If Stephen would've lived right here, do you realize that all of the Christians in that area would've probably turned inwardly one more time and said, "Whew, I'm glad that's over. Let's just keep doing what we're doing"? But as a result of this moment, and this guy, an ordinary man living a life of legacy, as the result of this, the Christians are like, "Well, we better get out of dodge away from these people." And when they did that, the church began to explode. It went from this little nucleus and this little bitty town in this little bitty village to now it is a regional movement of God. And we are sitting here today because of the movement that began in this moment from this ordinary man named Stephen that just said, "Yes, Jesus, use me."

So let me ask you this morning, does your life look like Stephen's life? I'm not talking about are you at the point of some hierarchy government about to stone you? That's not happening in our country. Let's just be honest right now, maybe down the road, but not right now. But are you at a point to where people are seeing the Spirit move in you? They're recognizing the words of the Spirit come from you. They're seeing the face of Jesus on you. They're seeing how you're being used for the kingdom. Or are you still just living for your fading glory? Man, what's that going to take for us to go, "Come for Jesus"?

 

Follow Along with the Message

 

Stephen’s Ordinary But Legacy Life

October 19, 2025

Acts 6:5
...They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit.
STEPHEN’s LEGACY MODEL FOR EVERY BELIEVER:

1. by the Holy Spirit.

Acts 6:7–8
7 So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith. 8 Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people.

2. with the wisdom of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 6:9–10
9 Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called) — Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia — who began to argue with Stephen. 10 But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.
Acts 6:10
1 But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.
Acts 6:11–14
11 Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.” 12 So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. 13 They produced false witnesses, who testified, “This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. 14 For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us.”

3. by trusting the Holy Spirit.

1 Peter 4:12–14
12 Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.
Acts 6:15

All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

QUESTION: Do others see the of God or your glory when they see you?

4. the main thing the main thing, and that is Jesus.

Acts 7:1–2
1 Then the high priest asked Stephen, “Are these charges true?” 2 To this he replied: “Brothers and fathers, listen to me!"
Acts 7:37
12 “This is the Moses who told the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your own people.’ 
John 5:39–40
39 You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me to have life.
John 5:46–47
46 If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. 47 But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?”
Acts 7:51–52
51 “You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit! 52 Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him."

5. that knowing and proclaiming Jesus was worth whatever came his way.

Acts 7:54
When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him.
Acts 7:55–56
55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
Acts 7:56–60
56 “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” 57 At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, 58 dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep. 

6. his glorious and eternal reward.

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