MAR 6 2016 | The Martyr in the Pew

Sea Change Church · "The Martyr in the Pew" · Adam Stadtmiller · March 6, 2016
Acts 6
Automated transcript. Not reviewed for accuracy.

Let's welcome Alex Young up to read the scripture today for the sermon. Let's try that again. Let's welcome Alex Young up again. Better. I want more. More. Thank you. That was rough. Okay. So I'm starting at chapter one. In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.

So the twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, it would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and we will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.

This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit. Also Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicholas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. They presented these men to the apostles who prayed and laid their hands on them. So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly and large number of priests became obedient to the faith.

Now Stephen, a man full of God's grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people. 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. But they could not stand up against the wisdom the spirit gave him as he spoke.

Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God. So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. They produced false witnesses who testified, This fellow never stopped speaking 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 Moses handed down to us. All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen. And they saw that his face was like the face of an angel. Thanks, Alex. And where I grew up in church, they said the word of God. And you say, Thanks be to God, right?

Am I right? Did I get it right? All right, let's do it again. Let's try it again. We're going to learn. We're going to get old school, all right? The word of God. Yeah, that's so good. All right. Moving the pulpit over. Great. Well, good to have you here. Mom, you made it back. A few weeks. Good to see you. I didn't know. Just getting ready to text you up there.

Yeah, let me just read through this again. Stephen, the gifted martyr. Now, I had said in last week that we're going to go back to Acts chapter 8. When I started looking at the scripture, I actually needed to back it up to Acts chapter 6 to really take some time to look at really a prominent figure in the New Testament. which is Stephen. He's only in there for about three chapters, but just is an example of what it means to follow Christ, a Christ follower.

What I love about this story is it's a story about you. It's not a story about the apostle. It's not a story about Jesus. It's not a story about where God is kind of the main person you're focusing on in the story, but rather it's a story about a congregant. It's a story about a guy that just shows up at church to be a faithful guy, does some ministry at the church, and God elevates him to a place in ministry where 2,000 years later, we're looking at his story as one of inspiration, where he helped change the face of the church.

And so let me just say that as you listen to me share the story out of Acts chapter 6, the story of Stephen, the church's first martyr, I wanted you to know that it's a story about you. Like I said, it's not a story about the stage. And one of the things I want to do is try to take the emphasis from the church away from the stage, away from the pastors that are leading, and we need leaders, but to put it back onto you as a sent people, that you live, that we live, like Kai said, as a sent people, that we're trying to change this corner, but we also want to see the corner that you live in change, that you are the church on the corner.

We make a lot of comments about this being a church on the corner, but you are the church on the corner where you live. And the world will be changed when we become Christ's church, Christ's representation on the corners in which we live, and then we can go to the four corners of the earth. Let me read about Stephen here just out of verse 8 through 10.

These are the ones I'll be focusing on. Now Stephen, a man, and this word, circle that word full, because Stephen is a man who walks in fullness. It's a man, and it says that there's four or five characteristics. If you look through it, he was full of these things. He had a fullness about his life, that he was living at maximum potential, that he was living at a place where his life was being completely spent by God.

He was just a loose change in God's pocket. He showed up as a servant. He said, I'm just willing to clean the tables. He was willing to sweep the floors. He was willing to be a janitor for Jesus. But yet God elevates him to a place of renown in heaven. The book of Revelation talks about the, I don't want to use the word glory, but how that martyrs in heaven will be respected.

They'll have a place of respect. He goes from being a janitor, basically, a server. Maybe he's cleaning up after people eat or serving the tables, or a server, someone who is maybe a busboy, and God elevates him into a place in eternity where he will hold eternal respect from the throne of God. It's just powerful. And he started out just like you, just sitting in the pew.

It's a story of a sent people. But he was a person that lived in fullness. Let me ask you this. Do you feel that the life you're living has a quality of fullness? Jesus comes and he offers fullness. He offers integrity. He offers something that will have a holistic, more than a fullness, an abundance. John 10, 10 says, I have come to give you life.

It says, I have come to give you a fullness in life. And the word there is a super abundance. I have come to give you life. And so Stephen was living in this. Now Stephen, a man full of God's, now look what he's here, of grace. Full of grace. What would your life look like if you were full of grace? What does grace look like when someone offends you?

You'll know how much fullness of grace you have in your life when you're offended by someone. He has a fullness of power. Do you feel weak? Now Christ says we're weak and we become strong. But do you feel that there's a sense of power when headwinds come into your life? When there's an opposition, when there's a problem. Do you feel like you have the powerful tools, whether emotionally or spiritually or through prayer or through even wise thinking to face those headwinds, to overcome them?

Or is there a lack of power? The Bible is a book of power. Jesus was a powerful person on earth. He was God. But he also said that I will give you this power. And you will have a super abundance of power. The only power we need is to meet the headwinds that face us each day in our lives. And do you feel powerful? Or do you feel perhaps not powerful, but you have access to God's power?

Stephen walked in a fullness of grace. Once again, Stephen sits beside you in the pew. Stephen is a man who would have sat beside you in the pew. Okay, you're a sent people. You're the star of this story, the Christian church that goes out into the world. It's not about the pastors. It's not about the worship leaders. It's not about the authors, although we want to make it about ourselves that are up the front.

It is about you, and it has always been a you religion and a you faith where Jesus comes and takes simple people and sends them out to change the world. We are a sent church. You are a sent people. Go change the place you live with a fullness, a fullness of grace, a fullness of power. I could drop the mic right now. We could be done. Right, Chris?

Yeah. Boom, I might. Drop the mic. He performed great signs and wonders among the people. Now, let's put this in context, and we'll talk about that in a second. These great signs and wonders were an escalation of his days as a busboy. He started out as a busboy. It doesn't start with he may have great signs and wonders and power and all these things.

There's an escalation to the fullness in his life. There's an escalation to the responsibility in his life as he steps up, and he wasn't willing to be a pew sitter, as he stepped up and said, I'm willing to make a change around me. And if that change means being a busboy to serve the widows and the orphans and those that weren't being taken care of, then I will do it.

And God has a special heart for the widows and the orphans. If you want to know what religion, and people say, I don't like religion. Well, God says he likes religion. It says true religion is what? To look after who? The widows and the orphan. If you hear someone say, I don't like religion. I'm like, well, God does like religion. He just doesn't like certain types of it.

And the type he likes is those that looks out for the widows, the brokenhearted, the orphan. And if you look through the Old Testament, he is so acutely aware of their suffering. And he comes in and he comforts them. And so those gifts of compassion are so important. Whether it be people in our streets who have no place to live. Maybe they're becoming a nuisance because we're tired of passing them on the streets and them asking for money.

Or whatever our calloused hearts because we begin to get compassion fatigue. We lose compassion. We're no longer full of compassion. I was with a group of pastors and leaders yesterday. And I said to them, what was the last mass shooting that we had in the country? And they went, hmm. And I said, does anybody know how many people were injured or killed?

Was it 15? I said, well, I think, yeah. I think it was 15 that died and then four were injured, right? Does anybody know where it was? New York? Anybody know where it was? Not San Bernardino. There's been one since then. Yeah, there was one. Was it Arkansas? Okay. That is, okay. Let me just say, that's a great representation. One, we should never move our flag past half-staff anymore.

Is there a reason even to bring it up anymore? We see, we don't even know. There's an argument. Is it Arkansas, New York, Kansas? These were pastors. Teachers. Why? I can't take it all. Lose compassion? I don't know. And ultimately, sometimes I just don't care anymore because there's just too many. Right? We can't lose our compassion. How do we get that back?

You've got to lean into Jesus. You've got to spend time with prayer. God, what's your heart? Pray that. If you're going to read the headlines, pray through them. Just pray through them. God, what's your heart here? Stop. What's your heart here? What are you doing? Stephen was full of this. We want to be a church full of compassion. Don't lose your compassionate edge.

Don't lose it. It's so hard in this world. In the end times, because of the increase of wickedness, you will know it's the end times. Because of the increase of wickedness, people's hearts will grow. Right? When was the last mass shooting? I don't know. I don't know. Now, that's where we are as a people right now. FYI. And we need a sent people to go out and be compassionate on their corner.

To care for those that hurt us, that harm us, for those that might, you know, whatever it is. You just put in whoever that person is. Stephen lived this way. And it says that he performed great signs among the people. And then what happened? Opposition arose. Let me know if you live powerfully for God. If you begin to make a kingdom impact in any way, opposition will arise.

And let me assure you of this. Suffering is not your enemy. Suffering was not Jesus' enemy. It was through suffering. And the Bible talks about it all over the place. And if you have a Twitter account, tweet that. Suffering is not your enemy. Through suffering, Christ redeemed us. Through suffering on the cross, we will live in eternity with Christ.

And through suffering, he causes perseverance in your life. And perseverance brings about hope. And hope does not what? Disappoint. Suffering is not your enemy. We live in a time where I think it's going to start costing us something to be believers. But can we be shrewd as what the scripture says? Serpents. But innocent as? When you share the gospel these days, you need to be shrewd.

You need to be shrewd. We have to do it differently than we did it in the 70s. Different than we did it in the 50s. When you're being the church on the corner. When you're being Stephen in your workplace. When you're being Stephen in your children's elementary school. When you're being Stephen wherever you live your life as a sent people. You better be shrewd in how you share the gospel these days.

Because there's all these labels that they're going to put on it. And you have to be incredibly keen and wise. And be full of God's wisdom. Which we will see Stephen was also full of God's wisdom. In order to share it in a way that has handholds. That it can break through. Like C.S. Lewis called. The dragons at their minds door. They said, why did you write the story of Narnia?

And this is a paraphrase. He said, because I wanted to have a way to share the gospel. Once again, a paraphrase. That could slip behind. He says they're watchful dragons is what he called them. To have a way that they would get so immersed into the story of what was happening. That it would slip by all these things that they have. Like, well that's not true.

I can't believe that. And 6,000 year creation. And I can't believe all that. And they have all these watchful dragons. You're not getting to my heart today. But he said, I wrote it in a children's story. So that they would be so entranced with the story. That it would slip by the watchful dragons. And hit in their heart. How are you slipping by people's watchful dragons?

I want to tell you this. A lot of dragons today. More dragons today that are watching the heart. They're watching the heart. How do we slip through and become absent people? Sharing a story. Being Stephen. On the corner in which you live. Opposition arose. I want to say the majority of opposition and persecution that happens in the world is a power struggle.

It's for who has power. It's not because you're a believer. Often. If you look through history. It's because people are losing power. The Jewish leaders were losing power when Jesus was around. They wanted power. People want power. Human beings want to be like God. It's always been from the beginning. That was the original temptation. You as a humanistic theology will tell you.

You should be able to decide when you die. When you live. Who should be born. Who shouldn't be born. Who you should marriage. What your gender is. You decide all those things. No longer it is God. It is human beings. And when God is no longer God. Then man becomes God. And I tell you what. When man becomes God. We're in trouble. One. We lose our ability to be God's children.

And Satan loves that. He does not want you to know who your father is. And I want to say. Every time we take control from God. We say. I got this God. We step out like Adam and Eve did. From God's children. To taking the place to. What Satan said. To become like who? To become like God. You will look at every. Not every. Many of the political arguments.

And things that are happening. They're being debated on the world stage right now. It is saying. Who has the final decision? And the answer is. Man. That's just. That is plain and simple. And where you harvest your authority from. Will show. Who you serve. Whether it be yourself. Or you believe there's something. Beyond yourself. And so we see that opposition arose.

However. From members of the synagogue. Of the freedmen. As it was called. Jews. Cyrene. Alexander. I won't do as well as you did. Alex. With the. The. The names. As well as the promises of. Cecilia. Cilicia. Yes. And Asia. Who began to argue with Stephen. I love this. But they could not stand up against what? The wisdom. Who gave it to him? Spirit. James says. When you're in need of wisdom.

Pray. And ask for wisdom. And the Lord will give it. How? Generously. If you need wisdom. Let me tell you. True wisdom doesn't come from you. True wisdom comes from the spirit. You look in Proverbs. The spirit of wisdom. Wisdom is a spirit. Spirit by the way. And there's a spirit of being a fool as well. True wisdom. If you need wisdom. You need to hear from the Lord.

Where are you harvesting your wisdom? I'll tell you. There's a lot of things that it says. That look right to a person. Or to a man. The scripture says. But I think it is. It is neutral. And gender. There is something that looks right to a person. But in the end. Where does it lead to? Death. There is a way. The scripture says. It seems right to a person.

Or to a man. But in the end. It leads to. Death. There's a lot of things right now. That just seem like. That's good reason. Yeah. That makes sense. Yeah. I kind of see how that is. In the. It seems right. But in the end. Where does it lead? To death. If you need wisdom for your marriage. For your relationship. I want to tell you what. Oftentimes. When it comes in.

It'll come in quiet. It's harvested. It's harvested often in silence. Or through the word of God. And it'll be. It'll come in like a T. Like the cross on a T. It'll just. It'll intersect. In a non sequitur way. But it'll just feel right. You see. When you get used to harvesting wisdom of the spirit. You know when it lands in your life. You just know when it lands.

This week. The Lord gave me a word of wisdom. Somebody had said. You know. You promised to be with me. And. And. You're not. You know. They have these issues in their life. You promised to be with me. And either you're a man of your word. Or you're not. I gotta say that the problems. That they have in their life. Are far beyond me. And they need professional help.

And I was like. God. How do I. I mean. That's true. I said. I was gonna be there. And do this. I just can't do it. I don't have the tools for it. Somebody was talking to me later in the day. And they said. About something else. Completely. Not even related. They said. You know. Sometimes if a person. You know. Just has a slight cut. You send them to a doctor.

But if they have an open gashing wound. You send them to the emergency room. I had prayed for wisdom. God said. Boom. I went back to the person. I said. Look. I told them that analogy. I said. I just. I'm not the surgeon for this job. And they said. You know. I think you're right. I agree. It was from the Lord. The Lord gave me the answer. He gave me an analogy that worked.

And that they even accepted. And said. You know what. I totally agree. You're right. Have you ever been put in a position. Where you feel like you've said something. Or you've said something in the flesh. Or whatever. And now you need out. You just need wisdom. He was a man full of wisdom. I want to say. You need. We need wisdom as a church. Today. Where you're harvesting your wisdom.

Stephen. Is a man who had a faith. That was progressive. Look in your notes. Progressive. It means. He moved forward in their faith. There might have been moments. Where he rested. Had seasons. Of maybe not as much activity. But there was a progressive quality. Let me ask you this. Are you further along. Than you were. Two years ago. Six months ago. Three weeks ago.

Yes. Is there a progressive quality. Do people come up to you on occasion. And actually it's starting to bug me. Because they kid me. Man. You're just so much better. Than you used to be. You know. And I'm just like. Oh. Was I that bad. Like. It's not a compliment. You know what I mean. Like. Find another way to say it. I'm so sick of people telling me. Yeah.

You were just a wreck. Dude. But now. They've just been saying it for years. And you're. You especially mom. Stop it. I was talking to Eileen. And we just can't get over. How much you've changed. We got. The other version wasn't that bad. Yeah. Yeah. There you go. Progressive nature. You're becoming more like Jesus. You're not falling back. Doesn't mean we don't fall down.

We just don't fall back. Difference between falling down and falling back. That's a good word. I just made that up. And that one's good. Write that one down. I'm going to keep that. There's a difference between falling down and falling back. It was progressive. I'm going to say this. Stephen's name. Man, a victor's crown. He had a name that spoke to his destination.

And God knows your destination. And you will be made perfect in glory. That's the destination. And God wants to get you as close to that destination that he knows is a finality, which is fait accompli, which is a complete, full stop, end to your life. It is the place you will end up in glory. He wants to get you as close to that in this life as possible.

He knows where you're going to get to. But he wants to have perfection be happening in you as much as you will allow through obedience, through allowing his will, through listening in this life. And so we see that Stephen's victor's crown spoke to the destination. Don't forget your destination. Don't forget your destination. When you fall down, don't forget.

And don't just rely on the destination. I'm going to get there. I'll get there one time anyways. You're going to get there. Again, C.S. Lewis said if we could see a person in their perfected form once they stand before God after they pass away or die, that you would be tempted to bow down and worship them. And that's true. They would look angelic to you.

And so we see this man. It was named a victor's crown. Stephen was an early Christ follower, the early church leader who went on to become the first Christian martyr. I love this little point here. You never know where a little faithfulness will lead you. Just a little faith. We need some bus boys. We just need some bus boys. We need some people for the roast and toast.

Talking to you, Chris. We got some people. Just can you do the roast and toast? I want to say Chris is gifted. She's far more gifted than just running the roast and toast. But there was a need. She stepped into the need. And you never know where a little faithfulness will take you. You give God an inch. You'll take an eternity. Are you willing to run towards that?

You're going to get there anyways. But are you willing to run towards it in this life? That's the question. It says in heaven, it says there will be a reward according to that. I don't know how that works. But how much of eternity do you want now? Because he offers the kingdom of God is eternal. And he offers it to you now. How much heaven do you want today?

I'm dancing. You see me dance right there? We got to get a lower pulpit for you because it's so funny. You're like shoulder high when you do the announcements, Carol. Started out as a follower. Brothers and sisters. Look in verse 3. This is where he started on his way to eternity. Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you. He's a pew sitter.

Among you. He sits beside you now in that great cloud of witnesses. He was the ultimate sent congregant. He's you. You're the hero of someone's story making Christ famous. Coming in and being more than a conqueror. To save the widow. To save the orphan. To save your cubicle mate next to you who doesn't know Christ. He started out as a follower. Then he became a leader.

And he says we will turn this responsibility over to them. And we'll give our attention to the prayer and ministry of God and the word. The congregation, being the congregation, allows the leaders to be leaders. It allows us to further the church. And you'll go down a little bit further. It says the result of the faithful everyday follower of Jesus serving the church was this.

In verse 7. So the word of God spread. And the number of disciples in Jerusalem increased how? Do you see the word there? Rapidly. And a what number? Number of priests became. That's priests. Those are Jewish hardened heart against Jesus. Who were against him when Jesus was crucified. Because they weren't on the other side of eternity at that point.

Converted, it says. Some of the hardest. And they became obedient. What's that word there? Obedience. Part of fullness is obedience to the faith. Why? Why? Because Stephen and a bunch of other people stepped up and said, I'm willing to wait tables. I'm willing to clean the windows. And because of that, the kingdom of God and people were saved. Even the priest followed.

Because they were willing to come and serve the church. Or serve outside of the church. Powerful. Powerful. We cannot let the stage be the star. We can't let our Christian authors be the star. They're not the star. They're just servants. They're just janitors. I'm just a, you know. I just, I've always called myself, I'm just a toilet cleaner for Jesus.

That's it. That's it. And I'll do that. But we need to be released so that you can be released. So we work in tandem. Why? That the kingdom of God might advance. Moving quickly through. Faithfulness, verse 8, leads to Stephen's increased kingdom authority. Each of you walks in a level of accessed kingdom authority. We all have an equal amount of kingdom authority and power available to us.

Because whether you turn the lights on in your house is oftentimes up to you. You see, the power is there. But oftentimes we live in a dark house. Or we're okay just to have one light on in the house. I want to say, you know, Jesus wants all the lights on. Now if my little 7, 8-year-old Lucy lived there, Jesus would be happy. Because she can't turn the light off.

And I'm so tired of it. Click, click, click. And energy is expensive down here. It's more expensive than in Carlsbad. I don't know what happened. But it's expensive. Maybe you get an energy bill around here. The power is there. The fullness of power is available to you. How much you want of that has to do with how many switches you want to turn on.

Switches of faithfulness to God. Switches of holiness. I'm going to be a little bit more holy. I'm going to watch my tongue. You just watch your tongue and see your kingdom authority, the lights switch on in your life, the power switch on in your life. Just watch your tongue. Just watch what you say. That's just one. Be faithful. Be generous. Try generosity for a while.

Go around and just give of yourself. Start with yes. It doesn't mean you always say yes, but start with yes. I'm available. Start being available. Start being willing and see a light turn on. How about God's word? Start reading God's word. Watch a light turn on in God's word. Start evangelizing and sharing the gospel. Watch a light come on. Look at wisdom.

Fill your life with worship. Watch another one come on. The more of these you turn on, there becomes a fullness. Equal amount available to all of us. It's up to you how much of what you want. And are you just willing to be a C student? I'll pass. I'm on scholarship anyways. You know? I'll pass. These athletes sometimes, they get these scholarships, these amazing universities, and they get D's just to pass.

I'm on scholarship. I'm going to the NFL. I'm going to the NBA. I'm going to Major League Baseball. Who cares? And they throw away the gift. That's one of the things I dislike about the whole modern sports system. The gift, education's a gift. I dropped my daughter off at Torrey Pines Elementary. I think it's number one or two in the county. And I'm like, wow.

There's people, those children in those videos, they're not getting, they're not getting education. Education is a gift. Education is what keeps us from poverty. Poverty is a lack of choices. It's not always money. It's a lack of choices and opportunity. And so we see that, and you have an opportunity as a people bringing it back to us. Let's not waste it.

Let's not be on a full ride scholarship and get D's just so we can pass. Let's go make a difference for the kingdom. Continuing on here, we see that Stephen has increased authority. Now, Stephen, a man full of God's grace and of power performed great signs and wonders, wonders and signs among the people. And so we see that he increased in his authority, having signs and wonders that came after starting as a busboy.

Looking at strength finding as our church, we want to equip you. Please, if you can, come to the thing on the third Tuesday nights so we can help equip you to know your spiritual personality and to know your intrinsic personality that you can do this better. And what I mean by better is share Christ in the corner in which you live. Strength finding Stephen, let's look at him and his spiritual gift mix.

He has a spiritual gift of martyrdom. You know that Billy Graham's wife, Ruth Graham, believed that she was going to be a martyr at a very young age. I think they were living in China at the time. And there's a story as a seven-year-old, she used to run around saying, I'm going to be beheaded for Jesus. It would freak her sister out. And her sister would say, stop saying that.

I'm going to be beheaded for Jesus. I'm going to be a martyr. This is a spiritual gift, not one that everyone wants. Martyrdom, you'll see it right there. The gift of martyrdom is a special ability that God gives to certain members of the body of Christ to undergo suffering for the faith, even to the point of death, while constantly displaying a joyous and victorious attitude which brings glory to God.

How's your attitude? How's your attitude in suffering? Stephen's being stoned to death. And it says his face was like what? An angel. You've been reading your Bible. That's right. In the midst, I'm talking the stones are coming. Big stones are coming. And there's a dude there we're going to meet in a minute called Paul who's watching people's jackets as they throw them at Stephen.

And he sees this look on his face, and the face was of glory. The face that looked like an angel. Let me tell you, what's your opposition? What's your headwinds? Maybe it's an illness. I don't know what you're going through. But oftentimes, we know that we can harvest a piece that goes beyond understanding, beyond the sickness. And I haven't been in sickness in my life, so I don't understand that.

And I don't expect to understand it, at least at the moment. But at some time, that will happen because we're human. Or you have a broken family, or you have a relationship, or whatever that headwind is. Are you harvesting what's available to you so that while in the midst of it, people look at you in the midst of your suffering and stand back, and they see the glory of God in your life.

They see the glory of God in your face. It's so hard to keep a positive attitude even when things are going well. Another shoe's going to fall. Anybody else live with that? The other shoe's going to fall? Things are going great. I don't know. Not for long. We'll see. What's it take? The final thing I want to say, we see that he was full of those. We see those characteristics, full of the spirit of wisdom.

What would your life look like? Once again, put Stephen next to you. Full of the Holy Spirit. Full of faith. Full of power. Full of grace. What does it mean to be full? Now, I'm just going to hit this last point, and we're done. That's a lot of sermon right now. You should be full. It's like going in and out, Burger, having like five double-doubles.

Animal style. Right? People in like New Jersey are like, what? Listening to it on the podcast. What? What does it mean to be full of the Holy Spirit? This is a debated thing. Let me just give you my thoughts on this. It says that they chose a man full of faith, full of the Holy Spirit. And then in Acts 7.55, it says, but Stephen, once again, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing to the right hand of God.

Now, I wrote this into a paragraph because I thought it would be easy. I didn't want to trust me making it up in the moment. And here's what I wrote. The concept of fullness as it relates. Is that the angels? The concept of fullness as it relates to the Holy Spirit is not measured by volume. Okay? When we think of fullness, we think of volume, right?

Like how much you have. Is the barrel full? Full, but rather access. Okay? Because we all have an equal amount. It's all there. There's a fullness available to all of us. You already have fullness. But are you accessing all the lights on? So it's not fullness, but access. The fullness of the Holy Spirit is equal in measure to all believers as there is no child-sized portion of God's eternal spirit within us.

Because you don't have, it's not like certain people have a child-sized portion of the Holy Spirit. Like you get a little child, and I got filled with the Spirit. And since I've been filled with the Spirit, I am at this level, and you are at that level. How does something eternal, when God says his Spirit is within us and indwells within us, and we have become the living tabernacle, how does an eternal Spirit of God become more full or less full?

There's an equal fullness. What they should say is, I have access to the fullness that is within me. I have access. And access comes through obedience. It comes through holiness. It comes through worship. It comes through the things that I mentioned. Watching your tongue, following God, being obedient to God. There is no child-sized portion of the Holy Spirit.

And when we become full of the Spirit, I believe that the meaning of that is that we begin to access the eternal potential that is in all of us. There is no levels, I believe, of Christian spirituality. Because God sees you as how? When he looks at you. As perfected. His power is equally available to us all. Will you turn the lights on? We become filled with the Spirit.

We remove the hindrances, and we see his opportunities. So how do we become filled with the Spirit? We just say this last thing. How do we become filled with the Spirit then? Filled by that I'm meaning accessing the Spirit that is available to you. We do it with two simple things. We remove hindrances. Do you have hindrances in your life? What are they?

It could be a sexual hindrance. It could be, you know, holiness is underrated, by the way, today. For me, the theology of me, you know, as long as I want to do it, it's holy. Because I said it is. Holiness will unleash, will turn a switch on in your life. It says removing hindrances. What hindrances are in your life? Is there a relationship that you know is just not godly?

It needs to go. You need to go. And there might be a window of opportunity that is closing before you are going to have to pay the recompense or have to pay for that relationship. Now, God still loves you. We're still completely forgiven. But our actions have a consequence. There's a window, and it might be closing before it's too late. And God sends a rescue plan.

And he says, ouch. Maybe there's something you haven't dealt with. Maybe there's an addiction you haven't dealt with. Whatever that thing is, remove the hindrances. You want to have access to the fullness of God's spirit, which is already within you, but you want to switch it on. Remove the hindrances and seize opportunities. That when an opportunity presents itself like waiting a table, you begin with yes, and you say, okay, God, I'm in.

Yes. Yes. Two things. Remove hindrances. Seize opportunities. Let's ask the worship team to come forward. We're going to go for some time for communion.