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Collierville First Baptist Church
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(Music)
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I'm beginning a series today. Excuse me, Daniel.
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I'm beginning a series today entitled Difference Maker.
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This is our capital stewardship campaign. We'll be receiving our harvest offering in a couple of weeks. And I just wanted to draw your attention to our theme, Difference Maker.
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Today we're going to look at a Difference Maker in the New Testament. His name was Stephen.
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Now you may be wondering why I have these baseball gloves. Well, you don't have to wonder a little bit longer because I'm going to keep you in suspense. But I'm going to use these in a moment to make a point.
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I don't have them up here. Somebody say, "Are you going to play pitch with somebody?" No, I'm not playing pitch with somebody.
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But I hope and pray that today the Spirit of God would drop a kernel of truth in your heart.
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And I hope today that every single person in this room would become a Difference Maker for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Take your Bible, turn to Acts 6.
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Acts 6.
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Michael Jordan changed the game of basketball.
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Steve Jobs changed the cell phone industry.
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Sir Isaac Newton changed the scientific world.
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They were all Difference Makers.
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It's God's will that every born-again believer make a mark on this world for the good of other people and the glory of God.
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That's His will. If you're a born-again believer here today, that's what God expects out of you.
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In Matthew 5, verse 13 to 16, Jesus said this.
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He said, "You are the salt of the earth." You're the salt of the earth, but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.
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You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.
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Nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand. And it gives light to all who are in the house.
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Listen to this, verse 16.
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This is a word to every believer. "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven."
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That's God's plan for your life. God wants you to be a Difference Maker. In Ephesians, chapter 2, verses 8 to 10, the Bible says, "For by grace you've been saved through faith,
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that not of yourselves it is a gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast." Now listen to verse 10.
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"For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."
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So these two passages I just read to you in Matthew in the book of Ephesians indicate that it is God's will that every single believer whether they be 10 years old, 15 years old, or 85 years old, that every single believer is to be a Difference Maker. Now the Bible highlights many Difference Makers. Think of Noah.
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Think of Moses.
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Think of Joshua, David, Esther, Daniel, Peter, James, John, and many others.
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Today I want to draw your attention to a Difference Maker in the first century church.
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He was not an apostle.
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He was a deacon. His name was Stephen and he was the first Christian martyr.
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Now, by the time we get to the story of Stephen, the enemy has already tried to sow seeds of discord in the freshly minted church of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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He's tried to do it through external persecution, through internal corruption.
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And now the enemy uses a different tactic. He uses the tactic of dissension in the body.
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You see, there were widows who had lived in Israel. They were Jewish through and through, and there were widows who had lived in the Greek world.
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And these Jewish, excuse me, these Greek widows thought that they were being treated unfairly when it came to the provision of food for them as widows.
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And so the apostles prayed.
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By the way, that's always a good thing for a church to do when there's a problem. Pray about it. Before you do anything, pray about the problem. Ask the Holy Spirit to give wisdom and discernment and then do exactly what the Spirit of God leads you to do. And that's what they did.
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And as a result, the church decided they were going to select some deacons to provide for the widows and make sure there was a fair distribution of the food for the widows. Whether they be from the Greek origin or from the Jewish origin.
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In every sense of the word, Stephen was a difference maker.
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Now here's the truth I want to drop in your heart today.
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You can be a difference maker.
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You can be a difference maker. Even small actions have ripple effects and can make a large difference in people's lives in the church and in the community.
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Hey, just in the last week, we've had our serve days.
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You may say, "Well, Pastor, I can't preach like you or I can't do this or I can't do that." Listen, God didn't call you to do what you can't do. He calls you to do what you can do. Okay? So in these serve days, listen to this, we had over a hundred members serve in eight projects across Carville and Memphis.
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We picked up trash around Carville.
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We made repairs at the animal shelter.
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We serve residents at the Harsh Side assisted living. We reorganized space at the Harrell Theater. We reached out to residents in local apartments. We fed breakfast to the Carville Public Service Workers. We served with the Sin Relief Center in Memphis with the food ministry and the building project. And we served at the Race for the Ville benefiting the Carville Resource Center.
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Now I want to share with you about a special lady in our church.
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She's 90 years old.
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Her name is Martha Appel, Miss Appel. Miss Appel, where are you, Sadie?
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She's somewhere over here.
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Well, Miss Appel is 90 years old. Now let me tell you a little something about Miss Appel. Her and Dr. Appel became a member of this church, I think, in 1993.
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And Miss Appel has served in the preschool ministry since January 1993 and continued serving preschoolers and their families until August 2017.
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Now there was somebody else, Mr. Humphreys. Many of you remember Mr. Humphreys.
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Mr. Humphreys served until his 90s.
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And Mr. Humphreys and Miss Appel would sit in the floor as elderly leaders in this church and they would teach preschoolers about the Bible.
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Now Miss Appel is moving to Alexandria, Alabama to live with her daughter, Lynn.
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And this is her last Sunday here. And I just wanted to point out to you this special lady and what she's done to serve the Lord. Let's give her a hand.
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Miss Appel and Mr. Humphreys taught Cade and Ainslie when they were in preschool.
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Man, what an impact they've made on so many young lives. So listen, wherever you are, whatever excuse you were pulling up in your mind that you can't serve the Lord and you can't be a difference maker. I'm telling you, you can be a difference maker.
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These folks who served in our serve days and Miss Appel and Mr. Humphreys, boy, they were difference makers and you can be a difference maker too.
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Now listen, taking Stephen's life as an example,
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I want to share with you three characteristics of a person who's a difference maker. Number one, a difference maker has spiritual authenticity.
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Lord Jesus is the greatest difference maker who's ever walked on this planet. I tell you, he made a difference in my life.
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And if you're born again believer, I guarantee you he's made a difference in your life.
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And he made a huge difference in Stephen's life. By the way, you can't make a difference in anybody else's life until Jesus makes a difference in your life.
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It's interesting how Luke, who wrote the book of Acts,
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used the word full to describe the authenticity of Stephen's spiritual life.
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Notice verse three, five and eight, chapter six, verse three.
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"Therefore brethren select from among you seven men of good reputation,
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full of the spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task of making sure the widows are fairly taken care of." Verse five, "The statement found approval with the whole congregation and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith." There's that word full.
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"Full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip and Proctorus and Nicanor and Themon and Permanus and Nicholas," a proselyte from Antioch, verse eight.
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"And Stephen, full of grace and power,
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was performing great wonders and signs among the people."
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So the Holy Spirit inspired Luke to use the word full to describe the fact that Stephen was full of the spirit.
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Now, what does a word full mean? Well, it means total domination and total saturation.
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Stephen was filled with the Holy Spirit. He had surrendered to the ministry of the Spirit of God in his life,
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and he wanted to be a difference maker to give honoring glory to the Lord Jesus.
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Now, the Spirit-filled life was not a novelty to Stephen. It was a necessity. And by the way, if you want to be a difference maker,
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you have to be filled with the Spirit of God. You cannot make a difference in the flesh.
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You have to be filled and anointed with the Spirit of God.
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So he was full of the Spirit, the Bible says. The Bible also says he was full of wisdom.
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Now, wisdom is the ability to properly apply knowledge in a given situation.
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Stephen was dominated by God's wisdom, not the world's wisdom. By the way, the Bible says in the book of James, "There is the world's wisdom and there is God's wisdom." Can I just urge you today, make sure that you drink deeply from the well of God's wisdom, not from the little shallopool, cesspool of the world's wisdom.
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And this man was full of wisdom, God's wisdom.
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He regularly went to the synagogue where Hellenistic Jews gathered to study the Old Testament, and he spoke to them concerning Jesus the Messiah as revealed in the Old Testament.
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In all likelihood, Saul of Tarsus was probably there. And he was listening to Stephen as Stephen took the Old Testament and preached the truth about the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.
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In chapter 6, verse 10, the Bible says, "But they were unable to cope with the wisdom and the spirit with which he was speaking."
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Now, this story reminds us that we can't always see the outcome of the decisions that we make in our lives.
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Little did Stephen know that Saul of Tarsus would eventually become Paul, the apostle, the greatest missionary in the life of the New Testament church.
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I tell you, the same is true with you. When you make a difference in somebody's life, Ms. Apple and Mr. Humphreys, they'll never know all the ramifications of the difference they've made in young kids' lives. They'll never know it.
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I tell you, the thing we've got to remember is that the Lord expects us
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to be difference makers.
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Now, this story reminds us that our family, our friends, our coworkers, and our neighbors, they need us to make a difference for the cause of Christ.
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So he was full of the spirit. He was full of wisdom. He was full of faith.
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He was full of faith. This godly man was dominated by a strong and vibrant faith. You say, "Well, what did he believe, Pastor?"
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Well, he believed in God's Word.
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He believed that God's Word was truth without mixture of error. He believed in God's faithfulness. He believed in God's sovereignty. He believed in the ministry of the Holy Spirit of God. He believed in the atoning death and the glorious resurrection of his Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. He believed that Jesus was and is the Jewish Messiah.
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He believed in the ascension of Jesus back to his throne in heaven. He believed in heaven.
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This man was full of faith.
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He was also full of grace.
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In verse 8, it talks about him being full of grace. The unmerited favor of God. He was saved by grace through faith in Christ alone. Just like anybody in this room is saved. Nobody can be saved in any other way other than by the sheer grace and mercy of God.
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However, he was so filled with grace that even when he was being martyred for the faith through stone, you know what he did? You want to know how full of grace he was? He was so full of grace that even graciousness poured out of his life when he was being stoned to death. You know what he did?
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He said, "Lord, forgive them."
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That's grace.
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That is grace. And I'll tell you, when you're full of grace, it's going to leak out. I promise you, it's going to leak out.
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And he was also full of power.
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Verse 8 talks about him being full of power. "And Stephen, full of grace and power,
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was performing great wonders and signs among the people.
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He was full of the Holy Spirit.
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He was full of spiritual power.
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God even gave him the ability to do miracles, miracles like the apostles were doing. And he was totally devoted to the Lord Jesus Christ.
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No wonder he exerted such a powerful influence over people's lives, including Saul of Tarsus."
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Hey, let me ask you a question. When people look at your life,
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do they see your commitment to the Lord Jesus? Do they?
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What fills your heart?
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Is it materialism?
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Is it popularity?
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Is it sports or music?
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Is it pleasure? Is it convenience?
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Is it your career?
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I pray in the name of Jesus
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that every single person in this room, every person watching live stream, as you examine your heart, I pray that you find that you're so full of Jesus
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that you're about to bust, that your cup overflows.
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And that as a result, you're full of the Spirit. You're full of wisdom. You're full of faith. You're full of grace. You're full of power.
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I'll say all that to say this. The first characteristic of a man or woman, a boy or girl who's going to be a difference maker is that you have spiritual authenticity.
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Secondly, here's second characteristic,
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biblical insight.
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Biblical insight.
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Now, Stephen was a man who had deep convictions about the Word of God.
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I mean, he studied the Bible and he preached a marvelous sermon here in chapter seven of Book of Acts.
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Remember the accusations that the Jewish Pharisees and religious leaders leveled against Stephen.
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They said he spoke against Moses and God.
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They said he spoke against the temple, against the law.
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They spoke about the fact that he claimed that Jesus was changing everything.
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A careful analysis of this message he preached, sermon he preached in chapter seven,
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reveals several distinct sections.
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He talked in this sermon about Abraham and the patriarchs in verses two to eight.
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Now, notice how he emphasized that God appeared to Abraham while Abraham was in Mesopotamia. You know what the Jewish religious leaders had done? They wanted to put God in a box.
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They wanted to believe and they wanted everybody to buy into their belief that God can only work in Israel and among the Jewish people. God was not concerned about the world.
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And I'm going to tell you, Stephen stuck the needle in and he preached the truth of God's Word. Now, just listen to verses two and three.
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This is a sermon. He said, "Hear me brethren and fathers, the God of glory appeared to our father Abraham," underline this, "when he was in Mesopotamia
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before he lived in Iran." Now, both Mesopotamia and Iran are outside of Israel.
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And he said to him, "Leave your country and your relatives and come into the land that I will show you."
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Now, the Jewish leaders revolted at that
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and they blasted Stephen.
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But he also talked in his sermon about Joseph and the Egyptian exile.
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Once again, he strengthened his emphasis upon the fact that God is concerned about the whole world.
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"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life." In Acts 7, verses 9 and 10, he preached, "The patriarchs became jealous of Joseph and sold him into Egypt.
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Yet God was with him." Where was God with him, church?
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In Egypt.
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"And God was with him and rescued him from all the afflictions and granted him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he made him governor over Egypt and all his household." Listen, God's hand of favor was so powerfully upon Joseph that God promoted him to be prime minister of the nation of Egypt.
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Listen to this.
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He also talked about Moses and Exodus in verses 20 to 24.
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"Now, Stephen knew more about the Old Testament than the Jewish scribes and Pharisees and Sadducees.
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He knew a lot more than they did. He showed how God's covenant people had resisted him and disobeyed him in Acts 7, verses 38 to 40.
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He said in his sermon, "This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness together with the angel who was speaking to him on Mount Sinai, who was with our fathers, and he received living oracles to pass on to you.
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Our fathers were unwilling to be obedient to him, but repudiated him." Listen to the Jewish people.
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They repudiated him, and in their hearts they turned back to Egypt.
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They resisted and rejected the leadership of Moses and Aaron, and they said to Aaron in verse 40, "Make for us gods who will go before us, for this Moses who led us up out of the land of Egypt. We do not know what happened to him."
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Now, where did God appear to Moses?
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In Midian, in Midian, a country outside of Israel,
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and God called him to be a deliverer to set his people free who were in bondage there in Egypt.
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Stephen's convictions were rooted in the Bible, not his opinions.
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We talked about corveirs when we dedicated the children a moment ago, and we talked about being a family-focused church and the importance of parents being the primary disciples of their kids. We have another corveir in this church. We believe that the Bible is our final source for faith and practice. Can I tell you that Stephen believed the same thing 2,000 years ago. He had biblical insight, and I promise you this on the authority of God's Word. If we are going to make a difference in people's lives,
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we have to know the Bible. We have to study the Bible.
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We have to honor God's Word and operate under biblical convictions, not opinions.
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Now, he taught also in this sermon about David and Solomon.
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Stephen ramped up his challenge to a fever pitch when he did this.
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The temple that the Jewish religious leaders viewed as holy and that it contained the Creator God, that's what they believed.
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But in this sermon, Stephen preached that a temple cannot contain God. The whole world cannot contain God.
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Look at verses 46 to 49.
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David found favor in God's sight and asked that he might find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.
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But it was Solomon who built a house for him.
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However, the most high does not dwell in houses made by human hands as the prophet says. Verse 49, "Heaven is my throne and earth is a footstool of my feet. What kind of house will you build for me?" says the Lord. Or what place is there for my repose? These hypocritical religious leaders had no answer, no answer for the biblical insight and wisdom of Stephen the Deacon.
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Now, Saul of Tarsus, the Pharisee of Pharisees, the persecutor of the church,
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would eventually become the greatest missionary in the history of the church. Why? Why?
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Because of the difference Stephen made in his life.
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Because when Saul of Tarsus looked at Stephen, he found that he had spiritual authenticity and he had biblical insight and he was moved to the core of his being because of that. Now, I want to say this to you. You can be a difference maker.
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You can be a difference maker.
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Listen, your ability to be a difference maker is directly related to your spiritual authenticity and to the level of your biblical insight. But there's one more characteristic I want you to see, and that is personal courage. Number three, personal courage.
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No one will be positively influenced for the glory of Jesus by a person who is not deeply committed to Jesus, who has no solid biblical convictions, and who does not have the personal courage to stand for Jesus when the going gets tough.
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Nobody like that will make a difference for Christ.
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Just look at what happened next.
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Look at chapter seven, verses 54 to 56.
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Now, with all of Stephen's sermon here, and I'm going to tell you, God's word is like a two-edged sword, sharp like a two-edged sword. It pierces. It really pierces, and it pierce these religious leaders.
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Notice verse 54 to 56 in Acts 7.
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Now, when they heard this, they were cut to the quick. You know, I pray that you'll be cut to the quick today.
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I pray that if you're not a believer, that the Holy Spirit of God will cut you deep
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and cause you to come under deep conviction over sin, righteousness, and judgment, and that you would repent of your sin and place your faith in Jesus as your Savior and your Lord.
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Now, when they heard this, they were cut to the quick and began gnashing their teeth at him. Please don't gnash your teeth at me.
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No, don't do that.
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I remember my mom, when I was a little boy, she had a problem of grinding her teeth.
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I remember waking up in the middle of the night and hearing her grind her teeth.
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You know, the Bible says that in hell, people will spend all of eternity in torment gnashing their teeth.
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Oh, I pray that's not you.
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The Bible says in verse 56, and he said, "Behold, I see..." Here's what Stephen saw. Here's what Stephen saw.
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"Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God."
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Now, here he was. They had their stones in their hand, and they were ready to throw their stones at Stephen until his life ebbed out of his body and blood just poured out of his body, and he died.
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But Stephen looked to heaven, and he saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God.
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And Jesus was there standing so that Stephen would know that he had the strength and power to handle this and to do what God had called him to do.
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But he was also standing at the right hand of God to remind Stephen that Jesus is his advocate before the Father
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and to remind Stephen that Jesus might have said to the Father at that time, "Lord, he's mine. Father, he's mine. He's mine. Help him."
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But I want you to see what Stephen said. That's what he saw, but what did he say?
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Look at verse 57 to 60.
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"But they cried out with a loud voice."
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This is the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the religious leaders of the day, the scribes. "They cried out with a loud voice and covered their ears and rushed at him with one impulse.
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And when they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him.
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And the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul.
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And they went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord. And he said, "Lord, Jesus, receive my spirit."
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And then falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them."
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Oh my goodness.
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Having said this, he fell asleep. That means he died.
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Stephen asked Jesus to receive his spirit.
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Who else asked Jesus to receive his spirit?
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Jesus did that on the cross, right? He said, "Father, receive my spirit."
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And he did it as they were stoning him.
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That's the response of a difference maker.
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By the way, Saul was there that day, it tells us right here.
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"In fact, those who stoned him laid their robes at his feet, and he fully supported the stoning of Stephen."
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And he never forgot it.
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He never forgot it.
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You know what got to him?
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Stephen's spiritual authenticity, Stephen's biblical insight, and Stephen's personal courage.
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I want to say this.
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You can be a difference maker.
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But you know, we have a problem.
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In our churches, Christian church,
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we have too many believers who are wearing gloves on both hands.
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And here's what they're saying.
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"Lord Jesus, bless me.
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Lord Jesus, give me the help that I need. Lord Jesus, help me financially.
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Lord, make me well."
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And we're so busy looking for ways to receive blessings. And we do that in the church. We say to the church, "Church, bless me.
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Church, what can you do for me today?"
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You know what we got to do?
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We got to take the glove off so we can receive a blessing,
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but also so we can give a blessing.
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Hey, the Bible says you were saved to be a blessing.
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You weren't saved to be on the receiving end for the rest of your life.
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You were saved to be a difference maker.
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But you cannot be a difference maker
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if you're wearing a glove on both hands and you don't have the ability to give a blessing to others.
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So examine your heart today.
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Look at your heart. Don't look at your wife's heart or your husband's heart or your kid's heart or your parents' heart.
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Look at your heart and ask yourself this question.
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Are these three characteristics prevalent in my life?
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Do I honestly and truthfully have spiritual authenticity?
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Do I honestly and truthfully have biblical insight?
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And do I honestly and truthfully have personal courage?
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Let me tell you, your spouse, your kids, your coworkers, your neighbors, your friends, your cousins,
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everybody around you, your fellow students, teenagers,
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everybody in your sphere of influence needs you to be a difference maker for God.
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Now, here's a question. Will you?
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Will you take the steps necessary to do that?
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So here's what I want us to do during the event. Ask our worship team to come. Ask our staff to come. Here's what I want you to consider doing.
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I want you to consider looking at your heart. Now, remember this.
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You will never be a difference maker until Jesus makes a difference in your heart.
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Are you saved?
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You said, Pastor, I'm a member of the church. What do you think? Let me tell you, being a member of church don't mean you're saved.
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It doesn't. I'm telling you.
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If you're in this room and you've never repented of your sin and placed your faith in Jesus, come to one of our pastors and staff members and they'll help you.
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But if you're in this room and you say, I'm a believer, okay, so look in your heart.
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In your heart, do you see spiritual authenticity?
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Do you see real genuine biblical insight?
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And do you find in your heart personal courage to take a stand for Jesus when it's tough?
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Do you?
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I'm going to ask you to come to this altar.
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I'm going to ask you to bow your knee before King Jesus.
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I'm going to ask you to ask him to give you these three characteristics until like Stephen,
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you're full.
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You're full of spiritual authenticity. You're full of biblical insight. You're full of personal courage and your cup overflows.
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You come and ask the Lord for that. I promise you that's a prayer he will answer.
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But listen, there's people in your life and they need you to make a difference in their life.
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And the Spirit of God had brought them to your heart this morning.
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And I'm going to ask you to come to this altar and lift their name before the Lord and pray that he would use you to make a difference in their lives.
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Maybe you're looking for a church home.
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Come to one of our staff members and we'll help you.
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Let me pray, Heavenly Father, in the precious name of your son.
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Oh, my Lord, I pray that we would be true genuine difference makers,
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that we would glorify you and honor you in everything we say and do.
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I pray, Lord, that you would give us some Saul of Tarsus's that we can make a difference in.
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Lord, we love you and bless you.
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Lord, help us pierce our hearts the way you pierce the hearts of those religious leaders when Stephen preached.
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In Jesus name.
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