The Spirit of Stephen

A few things, Lord willing, from these verses. Verse 8 says, And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people. Then there arose a certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and the Cyrenians, and the Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen.

And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake. Then they suborned men, which said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God. And they stirred up the people, and the elders, and the scribes, and came upon him, and caught him, and brought him to the council, and set up false witnesses, which said, This man ceases not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and the law.

For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us. And all that sat in the council looked steadfastly on him and saw his face as it had been the face of an angel. Well, what an interesting story that is.

And Stephen is going to preach here a whole message to them all the way through chapter 7. It's a long chapter, 60 verses. And at the end of the message, they're going to stop their ears. That's not being open to the word of God.

They're going to stop their ears and run upon him and stone him in their anger and in their rage. So Stephen is only a deacon maybe for a week. I don't know, maybe for a month.

It's not long, but Stephen is then removed, and his life is taken from him. So let's pray. And I want to draw some lessons from this passage here this morning for us.

Heavenly Father, we again acknowledge you, Lord, as we read this morning. And the Lord said, and God said, and it was so. Lord, may that be reality in our hearts that the word of God would have a true impact upon each one of us, that it would change us into the will of God.

May God speak this morning into our hearts, into my heart, for your purposes to be accomplished. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Well, I do believe that the Lord is changing my heart. And just to give you an example, you know, I do believe that it's the will of God, having studied this last week, to have people that give themselves continually to prayer and to the minister of the word. And that's something that we as a church need.

We could use two or three of them. It would really be a blessing. Men who give themselves to building the kingdom of God.

And so if my faith continues and holds out, and if I am not choked up with the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the lust of other things, that's an avenue I'm going to be pursuing, and hopefully here in the next days, weeks, months, that God says, and in my life, it is so. Praise the Lord. I want to see that happen in my own life.

He's ministering that to me. I've been dealing with that most of my ministry life, just looking at this and realizing, you know, somebody needs to give themselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word. It's the example of the early church.

And so I'm going to move in that direction. So you pray for me and keep me accountable. I want the word of God to be changing.

Not only all of you, but also me. So let's look here at Stephen. And Stephen, I thought about Stephen.

You know, Stephen here is not someone that's anyone special. You know, he's not one of the apostles. And there's nothing here that talks about his great spiritual gifts or anything in that matter.

But the thing that is common to hear about Stephen in verse 8 is that he is full of faith and of power. So that's really the important thing about Stephen's life. He was a man that was full of faith and he was full of power.

And this was not something that happened when they laid hands on him. Because if you go back to verse number 3, it says that the apostle said to the church, Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom. And so this is something that Stephen is already a man full of the Holy Ghost, a man full of wisdom, full of the truth, full of faith.

And so the laying on of hands didn't change that. Maybe the laying on of hands gave him some gifts to be a better deacon. But the thing that really makes Stephen and Philip and anyone, if you're sitting here this morning, anyone, a man or woman, greatly used of God is the fact that Stephen was full of faith and he was full of power.

And of course, that power comes from the Holy Spirit of God. And so faith and the Holy Spirit, believing the Word of God and the Holy Spirit of God. And, you know, I thought about those two things.

And the thing, some of the basics of the Christian life is to walk in the Spirit. That's the Holy Ghost. That's the power.

And secondly, is to walk by faith. That means to have a heart full of faith, to have a heart that is trusting in the will of God. And so the basis of our Christian life is walking in the Holy Spirit and walking by faith.

And here's Philip, full of the Spirit and full of faith. And that's a good place to be, amen? You can certainly fulfill out the idea of walking in the Spirit and walking in faith. Well, the idea of walking, you know, walking is something in the Bible that is a day-to-day thing.

We get in cars now and run off and do our things. But in that day, walking was a common everyday experience. And so when the Bible uses the word walk with God, it means to day-to-day-to-day have a relationship, communicate with Him, He communicate with you.

Walk in the Spirit. Walk day-to-day being led of the Holy Spirit of God. Walk by faith.

Have your day-to-day life looking to the Word of God, looking to believe His promise, respond to His Word. So Philip was a man who was full of faith. And he was full of power and the Holy Ghost.

Well, we all know that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. And so that's what we're asked to do is to read the Word of God daily. Let the Word of God fill our hearts.

And then by faith, we respond to it. And that's what pleases the Lord. The Bible says without faith, it's impossible to please Him.

And so faith comes from the Word. Without faith, you cannot please Him. What God is saying is this, I give you My Word.

I want you to read it, believe it, and respond to it. That's the only thing that's going to please Him. That's all that's going to please Me is you responding to My Word.

Hear it and respond to it. Pursue its promises. And I would encourage you to live by faith.

I would encourage you to read the promises of God and say, Okay, Lord, You said it. I'm going to make it so in my life. I'm going to believe Your promise and I'm going to pursue that promise.

You told me to do this, to walk in this way. Okay, I'm going to do it and expect Your blessing as I pursue Your will. And so the Bible says, ask and it shall be given unto you.

Some of us need to just take that promise and say, Okay, Lord, I'm going to take that promise and I'm going to pursue some things. Ask according to Your will. How about this one? Give and it shall be given unto you.

Okay, Lord, I'm going to begin to be a giver. I'm going to start giving because You said You'll give unto me. And so God is pleased when you read His Word and you say, You know what? I'm going to go ahead and pursue that.

I'm going to trust God and His Word and I'm going to respond to it in faith and believing. So allowing the Word of God to move you to respond to the Lord. That is what pleases God.

So as the Word of God is preached and it's put in your heart, God is hoping that you'll say, You know what? I believe that and I want to respond to that. Alright, I like that. It pleases me when you do that.

It doesn't please me when you hear the Word of God and it just kind of runs off your heart and you just go on your own separate way. There's no faith. There's no pleasing me.

I love to see my children hear my Word and respond to it and believe it and put me to the test and let me respond in a wonderful and miraculous way. And so we saw some of that recently with the deliverance of the hostages. God, in time, on His purposes, responded.

And of course, the Lord is glorified in that. Now, these two things, walking by faith and walking in the Holy Spirit, there are many ways that we get distracted from those things. So if God is wanting you to walk by faith and He wants you to look at the Word of God and faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God and He wants you to read it and He wants you to respond to it, you know there's ways that the devil tries to distract us.

Even people who love the Lord and who are trying to do the right thing. And Jesus in the Bible, in the New Testament, talks about distractions from that living by faith. And one of those distractions is tradition, traditions of men.

You know, we come and we say, well, my grandmother did this and my mother did this and my great-grandmother did this, so I guess everybody's doing it, so I guess I'm going to do it. It's our tradition. Do you think that pleases God any? You didn't come to His Word, you didn't see it in His Word, you didn't understand His will and you didn't respond to Him, faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of God, faith doesn't come by tradition.

So God is in heaven and I don't want you to respond to traditions, it doesn't please me. I want you to respond to my Word and faith. And that's one of the dangers of traditions and commandments and doctrines of men is they suddenly turn you away from God said, I'm going to do.

But man said, and I'm going to do. Oh, this is a different direction here now. I'm going to be a man pleaser.

Tradition, and not be a God pleaser. So, Stephen was a man who was full of faith. He read the Word of God and he said, God said it, we'll have it done.

We'll let it be done. And he trusted in the Lord. So, walking in the Spirit is another thing that is mentioned here.

Stephen was a man that was full of power, full of the Holy Spirit of God and that is to have the heart and mind led about by the Lord. You know what that's like? Some of us can live our whole day and never have our minds communing with God. Our hearts communing with God.

We tend to also be led about by many different things. Rules and regulations, we tend to be led about in religious settings. But you know it's the Lord who wants to walk with you every day.

It's the Lord who wants to help you with your day-to-day decisions. I'd like you to turn with me to 1 Samuel chapter number 8. I'd like to read an Old Testament passage. Here's a problem with humanity.

It was all the way back in the early Jewish time. The Israelites had this issue. In 1 Samuel chapter 8, starting in verse number 4, it says this, Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together and came to Samuel unto Ramah, and said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways.

Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the Lord.

And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee. For they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me and served other gods, so do they also unto thee.

Now therefore hearken unto their voice, albeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and show them the manner of the king that shall reign over them. Now it was the heart of God to lead about the Israelites as he brought them out of the wilderness. He wanted to have a relationship with them.

He wanted to teach them. He wanted to instruct them. And day by day by day he wanted to lead them and walk with them.

But they said, We don't want you to be our leader. We want a king like the other nations. We want a man to be our leader.

We don't want to walk under your authority and listen to the voice of the Spirit of God and walk in the Spirit and walk with God. We'd rather have some man tell us what we need to do. And you'll find that human nature is that way.

You know, politics is that way. Nobody's crying out for the Lord to lead America and to direct the people and to give us wisdom and direction. We want some president who can lead us.

We want some great man that can lead us. That's human nature. Make us a leader.

Make us a king that can go before us. Do you know it's the heart of God even today in the early church of today is for us to be led by the Spirit of God. Walk in the Spirit.

Day to day be sensitive. Have your heart leaning toward the Lord. Having Him lead you day by day, moment by moment.

That's what it means to walk in the Spirit. But generally we are just like the saints they are. That's hard.

That means I have to turn my heart away from the cares of this life and all the things I want to do and be sensitive to the voice of God. I'd rather just let me do my thing and give me some elders who will tell me what to do and we'll be fine. Let's let men make the rules and we'll follow them.

But this walking in the Spirit thing is a hard thing. We have to have fellowship with God and keep in communion with Him. So human nature is that way.

And it was that way way back here in Israel's day. Look down here a little bit farther to verse 19. It says, Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel, and they said, Nay, but we will have a king over us.

We don't want God to lead us. They didn't reject the Lord. But they wanted a king.

They wanted a man, something they could touch, to give them direction. Verse 22, And the Lord said to Samuel, Hearken unto their voice and make them a king. And Samuel said unto the men of Israel, Go ye, every man, unto his city.

So God said, Okay, they want to be led about by men? Let them have it. And you know what happened? After a while they didn't like it. He said, Men will make a slave out of you.

And they'll rule over you. And they're unjust. And he goes on here.

He talks about many of the things that they're going to do to you. So in a church, and here just to encourage you in this, God is looking for you to do two things. Walk by faith.

Walk by faith. And that is to hear the Word of God and respond to it. And that pleases Him.

And the second thing is to let Him rule your life. Moment by moment, day by day, and walk in the Spirit. And do not allow men to take that place.

Do not allow traditions and the commandments and doctrines of men to lead you away from those very important things. Walking by faith. And walking in the Spirit.

So the Lord Jesus, He's the one that wants to be your Lord. And He wants to give you direction. So I encourage you to walk by faith.

Let's keep reading here in Acts chapter 6, verse number 9. So Stephen is full of faith and power. In verse 9 it says, Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and the Cyrenians, and the Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia, and of Asia, disputing with Stephen. And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake.

And you say, boy, Stephen must have gone to college or something. He had a lot of degrees. No.

No, Stephen got this wisdom from the Holy Spirit. He was being led of the Spirit. And guess who was doing his debating for him? The Lord was doing his debating.

And when God does the debating, He generally wins the debate. God is the all-wise God. And so Stephen is full of the Holy Ghost.

And the Holy Ghost is leading and directing him to speak. And he speaks with such wisdom that the people, their mouths are shut. They cannot, it says, resist the wisdom by which he spoke.

So you can argue with men and you can win, but you can't argue with God. You can't debate with God and win. And so Stephen here is a man that is allowing the Lord to give him direction in his speech and in his thoughts.

And that is not something that is new. I'd like to read an example of this in Matthew 10. You don't have to turn there.

But when Jesus sent his 12 disciples out, he tells them this as he goes to go and preach the gospel everywhere. He says this, Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves.

Now this is what's happening here in Acts, right here, this next verse. But beware of men, for they'll deliver you up to their councils. That's what Stephen, he's before the council.

And they will scourge you in their synagogues, and you should be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them. Now listen to this. But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what you shall speak, for it shall be given you in that same hour what you shall speak, for it is not you that speak.

That's interesting. But the spirit of your Father which is in you. There's something.

As the Lord sent his disciples out, he says, you're going to stand before these people. They're going to persecute you, and they're going to beat you. But I don't want you to premeditate.

I want you to just get ready, be connected to me, and I'm going to speak directly through you to them. When God speaks, he confounds them. And here Stephen is, is a man that's believing the word of God.

He is before this council. He is going to get more than beaten. He's going to get stoned here in a few minutes.

But we won't actually see it until maybe next week or the following week. But the spirit of God speaking through Stephen. And I think we all ought to experience that.

We all ought to be so sensitive and walking with God, full of faith, that the spirit of God is able to give us the words. And have you ever experienced this? You're speaking, and you know, I'm just a spectator here. These words are coming out, and they're not something I've thought about.

They're just coming out. That's when you know you're in a good place. But Stephen is a man that's speaking great wisdom because he is led of the spirit of God.

And there's many examples of this in the Bible. I thought about Moses, you know, Moses when he was sent down to Egypt. He told the Lord, I'm not eloquent, I cannot speak.

You know what the Lord said to him? Who made man's mouth? Then he goes on to say this. Now go, and I will be with thy mouth, and will teach you what you shall say. I'll be with your mouth.

Don't worry about it. And Moses, when he got in that position, he said some pretty good things to the king, the ruler of the known world. And so we ought not to think that, well, I need to go to college, I need to go to Bible school, I need to have all this wisdom and stuff before I can go out.

No, no, no. You just be filled with the Holy Ghost and faith. And you say, Lord, you said you're going to give me wisdom.

And how many times throughout my life have I said, when I don't enter into a situation, pray, and God give me wisdom to say what I need to say. And coming back many times afterwards, like where did those things come from? Just trusting him. And Stephen, Stephen spoke, and he spoke with great wisdom.

And I have a couple examples here, but for the sake of time, I don't think I'll read them. You'll probably remember some of these stories. But Jesus, when he spoke, he often confounded the people.

He would oftentimes confound them. It says they would not answer him or ask him any more questions because he brought them almost to ridicule. And so the example of Christ is seen throughout the Gospels.

I thought about this this morning as I was meditating on this passage. You know, in Daniel, he was a wise man, very wise. Daniel got the privilege of stopping the mouth of lions.

And that's a figurative thing. That's an Old Testament shadow. Paul talked about stopping the mouth of lions.

He talked about those who would resist him with their words, how that the word of God stopped their mouth, closed their mouths. And that's something that I think we ought to do as children of God, is you have an answer and to speak in such a way as to stop the mouth. I'd like to read here in the book of Titus.

Paul is writing to Titus and he says this. Maybe you could turn there. Titus chapter 1, he's talking to bishops, the qualifications for bishops in Titus chapter 1, starting in verse number 9. I want to jump in here.

Here's one of the qualifications. Holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, especially they of the circumcision, whose mouth must be stopped.

There's what you want to do. Stop the mouth. You know what it means to stop someone's mouth? As you're talking with them and you're debating something and you get them to the place where they're like, I don't have anything else to say.

You've totally shut me down. You've totally convinced me that my position is ridiculous. Whose mouth must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not for filthy lucre's sake.

Of one of themselves, even the prophet of their own said that the creations are always liars, evil beasts, and slow bellies. This witness is true, wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be shunned in the faith, not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men that turn from the truth. So an elder, one of the requirements is to communicate and teach the truth in such a way as to stop the mouths of all these different types of people.

Vain talkers, liars, those who are teaching Jewish fables, commandments of men, to put an end to it and to show how foolish and ridiculous those things are. So when we're full of the Holy Ghost, when we're full of faith, much like Stephen here, we are able to stop the mouths of those that are speaking against the truth. So verse 10 here of Acts 6 says, they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he faith.

Now there's two things there I'd like to mention. Wisdom and spirit. And there was two testimonies that Stephen was giving here.

They couldn't resist the wisdom and they couldn't resist the spirit by which he spake. And that wisdom is truth. And it's good to have truth and know the truth and to speak the truth, but there's also a spirit involved too.

And I love this story because it's a beautiful picture of a spirit that is in a good place. Because if you look down to verse 15, it says this, and all that sat in the council looked steadfastly on him and saw his face as it had been the face of an angel. You know, most people when they get into debates, they're back and forth, they get angry, you know, they get into arguments.

But here was a guy who was teaching truth, stopping their mouth, and they looked upon him and he had the face of an angel. Like, wow, this guy not only is able to speak truth, he's also able to have a good spirit. He's an angel.

And that was very hard to resist. I think that's something we ought to seek after is having the right answer to give to every man, but also to have the right spirit. A lot of people have the right answer.

I've shared this with you before, but oftentimes people don't have, they have a face of a demon. And they're just angry, they're just bitter, envious, and though they may have truth and they may be speaking truth, they're not like Stephen who not only has the words and the wisdom, but he has the right spirit. And those two are important.

And I've shared this illustration before. It's a children's lesson in grief. God made us a good example of this truth, spirit, wisdom, and spirit because he made us with bone and flesh.

And I'm standing here before you with a skeleton. And most of you think I am still a skeleton with no flesh. I'm a skeleton.

There's a skeleton here and there's a lot of bones. And that skeleton is necessary for me to walk uprightly and to function. But you know, if you're only a skeleton, if we all were a bunch of skeletons, it'd be scary.

Sitting around here just with bones and no flesh. You see, God put the structure and then he wrapped it around with that soft flesh. And that's the beauty of a human being is not only the bone but also the flesh.

And truth is like the bone. You know, truth is going to stand. It's firm.

It's hard. It's not going to compromise. But you've got to put some flesh on it.

And that's what Stephen is doing. He's speaking truth, but he has some flesh on it. And it's the right spirit by which he is speaking.

And that's why the Bible tells us to speak the truth. Truth is good, but it needs to have the right spirit involved. And there's many examples, and I've talked to you about some of them in the past.

Those Jews who brought the woman taken in adultery was one I've taught on before, but they spoke truth. They told Jesus this woman was taken in adultery and she ought to be stoned. That's truth.

The Old Testament required those who were in adultery to be stoned, and everything they said was the truth. The problem wasn't with the spirit. Their faith was not the faith of Jesus.

They wanted to destroy the spirit. So, let's make sure that when we speak truth, like Stephen, we speak the truth, and we have the right spirit. And that can only come by the Holy Spirit of God, as we walk in the spirit and are full of faith.

Well, here's a lesson in human nature. They couldn't resist his words and his spirit. And verse 11 says, Then they suborned men which said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.

And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes and came upon him and caught him and brought him to the council and set up false witnesses which said, This man ceases not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and the law. For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place and shall change the customs which Moses delivered unto us. So, here these men in the council, they're not able to resist him.

He's speaking very wisely. He's making their positions all to pieces. And not only that, he's got a good spirit about him.

Like Joseph, a man with a good spirit. He's got the face of an angel. So if you can't receive the message, what do you do? Kill the messenger.

And so they went after him personally. They couldn't address his message. So they went after the messenger himself.

So they began to stir up people against Stephen. They began to lie about him. It says here they got the people and the elders and the scribes all stirred up.

And they come upon him. Verse 13, they set up false witnesses. And they say, Well, Stephen said this, which he actually didn't.

And Stephen said this, which he actually didn't. And so they set up false witnesses. They lie about him.

The idea of, well, if we get enough people against him, we can defeat him. Stir up enough people. You know human nature.

I've been around long enough to know my own nature. But it seems like when you get more people on your side, it just kind of makes you feel better. And so they had a bunch of people.

And here's Stephen by himself. And everybody else is against him. They bring these false witnesses in.

They lie about him. They're angry at him. They're offended at him.

He's their enemy. Something I noticed here about these false witnesses. And the same thing happened to Jesus.

They brought false witnesses. I think Brother John read about that this morning. But in all these false witnesses, there's a little bit of truth in it.

Notice what it says here in verse 13. They set up false witnesses who said, This man ceases not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and the law. For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place and shall change customs as Moses delivered.

You know, that's the same thing they got Jesus on. Jesus one day said, Destroy this temple and in three days I'll raise it up. And they thought, talking about destroying their temple.

But he was really talking about destroying the temple of his body. And in three days he would raise it up. So what they did is they didn't hear right because they had such anger and envy and jealousy in their hearts.

When he would say something, it would come into their ears. They would twist it. And they would go back at him with a lie.

They would twist his words. And this happened not only with Jesus, but it's also happening here with Stephen. And it's coming out of hatred.

You know when you hate someone. You hate someone, they might speak to you, but you'll take their words, twist them, and try to get back at them and make them look bad. You know why that is? It's because of the hatred in the heart.

And it didn't matter what Stephen said. It didn't matter how nice he was. It didn't matter his face shown as an angel.

They just were so angry and hateful at him that it didn't matter what he said. They were going to turn it and use it against him. Remember when Donald Trump was the president, they so hated him.

It didn't matter what he did. It didn't matter what good he did. Something was going to be wrong with him.

So they're stirring up the people. There's hatred. Proverbs 10, verse 18 says, He that hideth hatred with lying lips, and he that uttereth a slander is a fool.

Oftentimes we hide hatred with lying lips. And so probably in 30 minutes they're going to kill him. And so they couldn't resist his words.

They couldn't resist his spirit. And so finally they get so angry at him, they set up false witnesses to start trying to lie about him and stir the people up against him. So we come down here to this last verse.

And all that sat in the council, looking steadfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel. Now when you think of a face of an angel, what kind of a face do you think that Stephen is showing here? He's showing a calm face. He's serene.

He's probably happy, joyful. Face of an angel. He's not agitated.

He's not angry. He's not trying to get back at them. He's not debating with them.

He's not striving with them. He has a face of an angel. Quiet.

He is suffering without complaining. He has peace in the midst of false accusations. That's not true! You're lying! And here we go.

The Bible says, The servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men. So he was at peace. You know, we don't have to defend ourselves.

Amen? You don't have to defend yourself. When Jesus was falsely accused, he answered not a word. Just smiled.

And it angered the people. They wanted him to get into a debate, try to defend himself. He answered not a word.

Stephen here doesn't try to defend himself. He just sits, and his face is the face of an angel. You know, we read this morning, John read, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

I want you to turn. I've read this verse a number of times, but it's a good one for our passage here this morning. Turn to James with me.

James chapter 3. James chapter 3. I learned this many years ago. Unfortunately, it took me many years to learn it. I wish I'd have known this earlier.

But Stephen is a great example of this. In James chapter 3, in verse 13, this is some wisdom for some of you younger folks here. It took me a while to learn this.

But who is a wise man? James 3 verse 13, and endued with knowledge among you. Stephen is one full of wisdom. But notice what happens.

Who is a wise man, and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom, and it may be the right answer, this wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, and devilish.

Well, that's a pretty strong word there, isn't it? You know, if Stephen is there, and striving with them, and they're striving with him, if you're observing that, you should come up and say, neither of you all have any wisdom. You don't have any wisdom. Stephen, I have the right answer.

Yeah, you may have the right answer, but you don't have any wisdom. That's why when we have these Brothers' Meetings throughout the years, I wish I had known that I should have been more observant about the spirit of the people in the meeting than the right answer. And a lot of people had right answers, but boy, they were destructive.

It says here that those who are striving in their hearts, you know that feeling that comes up in your heart? And then words come out, and then there's debate and fighting. But I'm right. No, you're wrong.

You've got a wrong spirit. Verse 16 says, For where envy and strife is, there is confusion in every evil work. And you know, the devil would just love to bring that into the churches through individuals who are not wise.

Through individuals who are not like Stephen, but like to strive and debate and to be controversial. You know, some people love controversy. They love that strife and debate.

Verse 17 says, But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable. Look for people who are peaceable, who are gentle, who are easy to be entreated. You know what that means? Someone who says, you know, I'm open to listen and to learn.

Yeah, you can teach me. You've got something for me. I'd love to hear.

Easy to be entreated. Full of mercy and of good fruits without partiality, without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is shown in peace of them that make peace.

And he goes on to talk about wars amongst you. And that's not something that we want to get involved with, wars amongst us. So, Stephen is representing wisdom.

The wise man, he's filled with the Holy Spirit. You know he has the right answers and they can't resist his answers, but he has the right spirit. He's got the faith of an angel.

And they're going to hear him preach a sermon. And that sermon is going to fill up all of chapter number seven. And I'm going to talk some about that sermon next week, Lord willing, but he's going to preach a sermon and that sermon is going to lead them to pick up stones, run upon him and kill him.

And that's the nature of man. Angry, jealous, envious, bitter. They're willing to kill him because they cannot resist the wisdom of his words.

So, one of the lessons for us is that certainly we need to have the spirit and the wisdom of Stephen. And I think one of the great tests of that wisdom and spirit is when people start to accuse you falsely, start to tell lies about you. By the way, you don't have to argue your position, show yourself right.

You know you may be right. You don't have to strive. The servant of the Lord must not strive.

And this is going to cost Stephen his life. And some people say, well, what a waste of a life. Here is Stephen.

He's just been probably converted a few months. He's been ordained as a deacon within days or weeks. Now he's dead.

What a waste of a life. Well, interestingly enough, much like Abel in the book of Hebrews, he being dead still speaks, amen? And we're speaking about him here this morning. His life, the testimony.

And I remember one of the first sermons I ever preached when I was a young man in Bible school was, quality is more important than quantity. I remember using the illustration of taking a semi-truck, like Brother John has some of his semis there, and filling that semi-trailer with wood, hay, and stubble. A lot of stuff going on.

Even religious activity, wood, hay, and stubble. But it's not being led by the Spirit of God. It's not a response of faith.

And looks like a lot of things, but in the day of judgment, that's all going to get burned. It's all going to be nothing. And then setting another tractor-trailer load and putting in a little dining room.

Look, that's big. Putting it in that whole thing. And you know what? The fire comes and burns, and that thing stays, and it's valuable.

God is more interested in that diamond, that quality, live by faith, walk in the Spirit, and a whole bunch of religious activity that is not connected in any way to being filled with the Spirit or to be full of faith. Walking in the Spirit or walking and living by faith. And so Stephen had a short life, but it was a quality life.

Some people live long lives, but in the day of judgment, it's all going to be wood, hay, and stubble. And you know, I know how that can be. It's so much easier just to, by habit, I come here on Sunday morning, time to preach, so you preach a sermon.

By habit, it's time to have devotion. By habit, it's time to do your Christian thing. By habit, all these things are done and you get disconnected from living by faith or walking in the Spirit.

Well, it's just the way I've always done it, so I'm going to do it again. And so I want to encourage us here this morning that life needs to get back to faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. How can I respond to the Word of God? How can I respond to the Word of God that I heard this morning? How can I walk and live by faith? How can I walk in the Spirit? Do I get up in the morning and my immediate thought goes to how I'm going to build my kingdom? You know, many people today, their thoughts are all about building their kingdom.

They have a kingdom they're building. What about living and being conscious of the fact that God is building a kingdom and that He wants me to be connected to Him, my mind and my heart, day by day so that I can do the will of God? So Stephen, we're going to see a lot about Stephen here over the next couple of weeks, but he is a man that is full of faith and he's full of the Holy Ghost. And because of that, he speaks wisdom and he has a good spirit.

Now, I've wrestled with this over the years and I'll close with this. I go out and preach on campuses. Spring and fall, there's a lot of preachers out there that have truth.

Boy, are they contentious. And I've struggled with a lot of the contention and strife and all those things. And it's a challenge to go and speak truth and yet have the faith of an angel.

I just can't get it with this guy. I can't get him to be angry. I can't get him to respond.

He's got a different spirit about it. And that's the way we ought to be. People hear truth, but they see your faith and your countenance is that of an angel.

He tried it on in our marriages, amen? In our homes, faith of an angel. Well, we can learn some things from Stephen here. Let's close with that and we'll pick him up.

He's going to preach a sermon. Then he'll go back into the Old Testament. He's going to talk about some of the types of Jesus and how the Jews have rejected every deliverer God sent them.

And now he's sent you another one and you're rejecting him. You're not listening to his voice. You're not hearing his words.

And of course their hearts are not going to be open. They're going to rise up and stone him. So let's be wise.

Some of you who are argumentative, some of you who like to argue with your wife, your husband, your children, your brothers and sisters. You like to argue and you like to strive. You need to lay that down.

That's not wisdom. Hey, well, I'm right. I got the right answer.

Yeah, but you got the wrong spirit, amen? The servant of the Lord must not strive. So let's not strive with men. Let's not strive in our homes with our children.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you again for your word. May we respond to it here today in faith.

And may even as we read this morning, God said, and it was so. Lord, may each one of us be like Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost. May we learn to respond to others in a right way.

Bless each one here. Give us this grace. In Jesus' name, amen.