Finishing Well: Living For An Audience of One

The title this morning is finishing well, living for an audience of one, and I was just, man, worship really touched me this morning because we all want to finish well. I mean, that's my prayer. I don't want my family to look back in disgrace, and we don't want to get too arrogant because I still have a lot of years left, and it's not on statistics or not on the side of pastors for finishing well.

I don't know if you've realized that, and you have to stay so close to the flame, so close to Jesus, and he's actually the one who empowers you to finish well and finish strong, and we're going to talk about that because it's the life of Stephen, living for an audience of one. What I mean by an audience of one is whether it's for others, ourselves, or God, we are all performers. Think about that.

Is that not true? We're all performing for someone or something. Many people want the applause of others, and they're performing for others. Some perform for ourselves.

It's called self-preservation. We're worried about ourselves, selfishness, but others live. They perform to please the Father, and that's really where we need to find ourselves at, and before I get into Acts, there's a verse that ties this in perfect in 2 Timothy about finishing well, finishing strong.

This is Paul. He said he's already being poured out as a drink offering. He's getting ready to die, and the time of my departure is at hand.

I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.

This is what we want to say at the end of our lives, and the point of Stephen finished well, his life, what we're going to look at, Stephen finished well, and the couple things that stand out are we have to fight, we have to finish, and we have to keep the course, and it's a good reminder that the Christian walk, our life is a battle. We're on a battlefield putting on the whole armor of God, and then so we find ourselves in Acts 7. I actually skipped some of it because Stephen is giving a long discourse on Israel's history. Read Acts 7. He talks about Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and how that came about, and leaving Egypt, and his point was to really show them that God is not limited, and then he ends this discourse of talking to the people.

He's probably talking to them, explaining Israel's history, and then he drops this bomb. How would you like to hear this after somebody's talking to you for seven minutes? You stiff-necked, and uncircumcised in heart and ears. Guys, that has something to do with many who might be listening to this as well.

Maybe later, maybe here now, maybe on the radio. I don't know, but you're stiff, and you're always resisting the Holy Spirit. What does that mean? It means when God wants you to do something, you resist, but in this case, I think it has applicable to unbelievers, and resisting the Holy Spirit is that conviction, and that's what I love again about God.

He doesn't just leave people to their own way necessarily. He's convicting. The Holy Spirit is that convicting agent.

That's why people get upset. They're really getting upset at conviction. I don't know about you, but I don't like to be told what to do from time to time.

How about you? A couple people are honest. Okay. You get that text from your spouse.

I'm like, oh, they're right, but I'm not happy about it. Or someone you don't know, or Christians with iron sharpens iron. That's actually, we're not supposed to have a critical heart, but that's how people grow is iron sharpens iron.

We lovingly confront, and we grow through that hopefully, or do we become stiff and hard? I didn't really choose it. It chose me, but one of the sermon clips from last week went viral on why I'm leaving the charismatic community. Obviously, I'm not leaving the gifts of the Spirit.

I can't stand this garbage online and these people that are weird and doing things in the name of the Holy Spirit. No accountability. I said something, and then it kind of went viral.

People are upset at me about it. I'm like, what are we supposed to do? Just put our head in the sand and never say anything? Humility isn't always quiet, and this is how people grow. Hopefully, let them absorb it for a while.

Let them get convicted. Let them get angry. Let them challenge you.

Let that sink in. You planted the seed. I went back to people and said, you know what? You were right.

A lot of people over the years have come back to us and said, thank you for calling out my critical heart or my hard heart. I realized that later, but it doesn't feel good at first, and that's what really being stiff-necked is. I think it's more applicable to unbelievers.

They're resisting because obviously, these religious leaders were not believers, but there is an overarching principle for believers as well. He said, as your fathers did, so do you. In other words, the fathers of the religious leaders were also resisting the Holy Spirit.

They were resisting God's conviction, and Jesus calls them out on it even. He said, your fathers actually killed the prophets. They didn't like to hear that.

God would send warnings to his people through his messengers. Right before the fall of Jerusalem, you can read at the end of 2 Chronicles, I believe it is. God says, I sent my messengers.

I got them up early, and I sent them to rebuke you, but you were not willing. You mocked them. You were not willing to hear my messengers.

And anytime you're not sure, here's what we need to do. Anytime you're not sure, is this God? Is it Lord? I don't know. You say, you pray.

You go and you pray, and you say, Lord, is this really you? I want to be teachable. I want to be open. Lord, show me.

And he will show you. He will show you. Maybe I shouldn't say this or not, but at least you'll know some accountability.

But I'm going to try to just take the month of July and just really seek the Lord on this topic of saying things and confronting things, because there's a lot of things I still want to say in the charismatic community. But Lord, what's you? What's me? We don't want to walk around. But at some point, how do people change? I mean, one high profile figure on Easter said, send me a thousand dollars, and God will send his angel to protect you, and you'll receive the seven blessings of Nehemiah.

What? Where's the outcry? Well, it could hurt your ministry. You'll lose followers if you say too much. And so it's sad.

We're kind of pigeonholed. We're in this like, oh, I don't want to, you know, and so just really needing the Lord's direction, because you can develop into a critical spirit really easy. You know, it's, I don't know if we're supposed to go around calling out things and this, look at your own heart first.

But at what point does God ever give us the boldness to say something? Because it's much easier not to say anything. This one reason I might not ever be invited to the White House advisory councils. Because I say these things, but I don't want pictures with certain people if they're not walking closely with the Lord.

We want a genuine removal, a move of God's spirit, and we will not get it if we're cowardly and we lack humility, and we don't want to be bold. That's timidity. God calls certain people to lovingly confront.

Again, that's why it's so important to get our heart right. Your father did the same thing that you're doing. Which one of the prophets did not your father's persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the just one, of whom you now have become betrayers and murderers.

This guy's toast. He's already toast. But see, that's boldness.

That's Holy Spirit boldness. And let me tell you, that doesn't mean you're not fearful. What happens though is the boldness of the Spirit takes over and drowns out the fear.

There's still fear sometimes, and trepidation, and worry, and like, oh gosh, I don't know if I should say this. Many of you saw the clip that went out when I went to the school board meeting a couple years ago, and I said, you guys are basically guilty of child abuse, and I want to look you in the eye. You think I was looking forward to that? And can't wait.

Part of me was, no, no, no, no, because half the audience there hated me. I'm kind of concerned about going to my vehicle. And so we still feel that fear, but we deal with it because the empowerment of the Spirit takes over.

And that's what happened with Stephen. I don't want to read into it, but I know he's probably like, okay, here we go. Don't resist conviction.

Don't resist conviction. Israel, overall, the nation of Israel often rejected God's messengers. Therefore, the rejection of Jesus was not a surprise.

That's what he's saying. The rejection of Jesus was not a surprise. You rejected all the messengers.

Of course you're rejecting Jesus. So here's where I was going back on removing some of the slides and talking about this later because you really need time to fully exhaust it. But the current debate on Israel, there's a big debate going on right now, isn't there? If you follow Candace Owen or Tucker Carlson or Jack Hibbs, or I mean, there's a, what's going on here? Boy, why is that there? It's actually boils down to something called replacement theology and covenant replacement theology, covenant, covenant theology.

And I got a real good history lesson in this about 20 some years ago, 2008, a person by the name of Peter Lyle back, he endorsed my book, One Nation Above God. He was actually the president of Westminster Theological Seminary, and they believe in covenant theology. And so the reason I was going to take this out is I really like a whole sermon to properly explain it.

But in simple terms, it is this replacement theology, covenant theology. They kind of mean the same thing. Here's why.

God is done with Israel because the church has replaced Israel. Israel has broken its covenant with God, covenants with God. How many times has God said, if you do this, I will do this.

But if you don't do this, I will cast you away. And so they broke that covenant with God. So we should no longer be concerned about the nation of Israel.

That's why it's important. I wonder who's counseling our president because what view you hold is going to play a very big role in our current political debate in our system. And that's why people are upset about going after Iran's nuclear facilities.

Never mind the fact Iran said that we are the great Satan and they would love to wipe us off the face of the earth. So I mean, golly, guys, what more? They are still God rejecting. As a nation, they are secular.

They are still God rejecting. But are they still the apple of his eye? Spiritual Israel, which people say is the church, actually deals with a remnant of Jewish believers, not the church. And they say we should not get involved with conflicts in other nations.

Well, I don't know if we have these points up here because I added some later. Number one, let's say that we should not get involved with conflicts in other nations. What's the next slide? Oh, yeah.

OK, we don't have it. So let me just tell you. Have you heard that? That's what that's actually Tucker Carlson, Candace Owen and others are saying.

We should not get involved with the conflicts in other nations. Right. Well, number one, it's not that simple.

Again, this is a regime that wants to wipe America off the face of the map in addition to Israel. Have you ever thought about this? If Iran lays down their weapons, there's peace. If Israel does, they're gone.

A little bit different. This is a terrorist organization here that we are dealing with, and I truly believe that God wants the government to be a terror to those who do evil. Romans 13.

And I believe the only reason in our even because of our sin, our debauchery, that God rose up America and gave us one of the strongest military on the planet because of because he wants to accomplish certain things. Does that mean we do things perfectly? Absolutely not. But still, could God be using America to be the terror to those who do evil? If we did nothing, your world would look a lot different.

Trust me, it would be completely different. And so that was my point. Number two, God's concept of government is to be a terror to those who do evil.

But context is helpful because some promises are for us, but some are clearly for the nation of Israel. Here's why this is confusing. We are we're grafted in.

We're a priesthood of believers. We're often referred to as the elect. So there are some promises that obviously are for the church.

There's no surprise with that at all. But here's the key. Israel was chosen not because of their perfection, but out of God's relationship with them.

And according to Romans, his choices, his callings, it actually says the gifting and callings of God are irrevocable, which means they cannot change. And Romans 3 says that although Israel has rejected the Messiah, God is still faithful because of his promises. You'll see things like this.

You should be wiped out. You should be done with. But I'm going to spare a tribe.

I'm going to spare a remnant because of my servant David's sake. So it's not because Israel is so great. It's because God is so good that we still believe that there is something going on in the land of Israel.

I mean, you just look at 1948. You just look at them becoming a nation again. You just look at all the attention in the Middle East.

If I just had the Bible on an island and I would just read it without commentaries, I would probably come to the conclusion that, hey, he's not done yet with that land. And why do we discard that land when Jesus was born there? I mean, just that alone. The Bible was written in this place.

Again, in short, it's about God's faithfulness, not Israel's faithfulness. Even when they broke the covenant, God kept a remnant. A remnant that kept going.

Jeremiah, I did use the NLT on this one. It's more of a thought for thought. I'm as likely to reject my people Israel as I am to abolish the law.

So again, based on my opinion, I think all the elders are on board. Israel broke their covenants with God and it cost them his protection and his blessing. The if my people's.

But God's unconditional covenant means he's always has his hand upon the land. Again, this is important. It's not because Israel so spiritual, Israel so good.

It's like I have a covenant I've made with David. This is my land. This is where Jesus is coming back to rule and reign.

This this is the apple of my eye. I got this. OK, that's why we don't believe that the church has fulfilled all of the blessing, all of the promises of God.

The church is now not walking in the promises of God, all of them, because some of them are actually to the land of Israel. So it's kind of hard to put, you know, how does the church fit into some of that? But again, I know people, the church is divided, but that's our position. He God still guides his remnant.

I'm sorry, even when Israel fell, here's my point. Even when Israel fell into disobedience, rejected God, you'll see he still guided his remnant. Have you ever heard of Ezra, Daniel, Nehemiah? So they broke all of God's covenants.

They were they're done there. They've been judged by Babylon, Babylonians. And the I think the Babylonians were in the northern kingdom, the southern kingdom.

Judah was was judged by the Assyrians, or I might have that backwards. But even in that, God said, I'm bringing you back, Ezra, to rebuild the temple. And then later, I'm bringing you back, Nehemiah to rebuild the wall.

Daniel, I'm having you. So see, even in the midst of their disobedience and destruction, God was still working in that land. And so that's why I can't, I can't personally gravitate towards and embrace replacement theology.

I don't think God is just Israel should be viewed as one in the other nation. That's that's a hard one for me personally, to put together shouldn't divide the church. It shouldn't.

It's one of those non essential things. It's, it's really how people look through the lens of Scripture. Have you ever looked at the same verse and saw something different? We could get into the Calvinism debate.

We won't, but people look at things differently. Free will versus God's sovereignty. I don't see things like that.

Well, I don't see things like that. So on non essentials, I think the enemy loves to cause division. And I, you know, I caused a lot of division early on, on the non essentials.

Anybody relate? Oh, we love to argue. Oh, I got into some two hour discussions on head coverings. It's in the Bible, Shane.

Why are all your women? So if I tell Morgan, hey, starting next Sunday, you need to come and cover your head. I think we missed the point. Cause everybody's like, what's up with that? That doesn't necessarily represent submission.

It could represent pride. Oh goodness. I'm going to upset that whole crowd now too.

Non essentials, right? We can argue those non essentials. What that means is they're not contingent upon salvation. We're not arguing.

Jesus is the only way, the only truth, the only life, the deity of Christ, the inerrancy of Scripture, those things are foundational. So on this topic, there are, and it's going to have significant, uh, course, uh, it's going to change history in the future, depending on what the president is guided by the next president, whoever they're guided by replacement theology, or that God still has a plan for Israel. Because if God still has a plan for Israel, that means America will need to act in some way, in some scope.

Um, but I personally, well, I don't want to get, I guess that might be too political. If I tell you my view on bombing Iran, but I think you kind of know where I stand on that. Cause this is complete terror, complete terror.

I think our view of the nation of Israel and actually properly understanding it, this might, cause when I listened to say Tucker, Candice, those others, they don't have a good grasp on Scripture. They're new believers. They don't, they don't, they don't.

If you just, if you're pouring through the Bible day after day, you're going to see things a lot differently than those who are watching videos and, uh, uh, comparing Netanyahu to Hitler. I mean, that's just, that's just sad. That's just, that's just, that's like, I feel sad for those people.

It's so ignorant, absolutely ignorant. So, okay. Back on track.

Really? You stiff necked and uncircumcised in your heart and ears. You always resist the Holy Spirit as your fathers did. So do you as your fathers did.

So it's a good reminder. Who's influencing you? The people I just mentioned actually in our view on Israel, different things. It actually comes from who we're listening to who's influencing us.

I was on a bike ride in the aqueduct and I just had to interject. I saw two guys arguing over Trump or pro Trump, not, not Trump. Right.

And I, and then I, what side are you on? I said, you know what? It all depends on who you're listening to. That's where you're getting your influence. That's who's influencing you.

That's why you get into these, these positions on ice or deportation, or it's who are you listening to? Cause you don't know on your own. We, we, we, the new sources and, and, and what are we believing? What are we allowing into our hearts? So what, what is influencing you? Who is influencing you? Not only about God, but about biblical truth. But this word I cannot get away with all week.

Stiff necked. Clark's commentary said, it's a metaphor taken from an oxen who cannot be broken into the yoke and whose strong neck cannot be bent to the right or to the left. I'm like, that's a, that's actually a perfect analogy of what, what they were talking about.

For the younger crowd who've never worked a plow, praise God, I wasn't behind a horse in it, but I had one of those electric ones and every rock you would hit, it would throw me off. And, and, uh, but how they used to plow the land is they would take an ox and another ox. And in between them was this big wooden yoke and their necks would go in it.

What would it do? It's the stability. So they would pull the plow at the same time or the weight behind them. Double the strength.

Actually, that's where we get our word horsepower from. It's how many horses could be yoked together to generate a certain amount of horsepower. And this is an oxen who would not allow their neck to go into the, to this yoke, or even if they did, they were fighting the whole way.

Hmm. Boy, I could think of some analogies there for us Christians. Are we stiff necked? A person who is unteachable is stiff necked, arrogant, always thinking they're right.

Always causing conflict. Doesn't want to mold or change their stiff necked bend. Bend means to seek to listen and to understand that you compliment more than compliment more than you complain.

Wow. How are you doing in that area? I was a little convicted this week because you know, complaining can be contagious. Husbands and wives, you get going.

Hmm. You know, we can just get going. Can't we? Oh, I hate California.

Me too. The taxes. Here we go.

Here we go. I'm just saying that something's relatable. And this, this complaining and instead we need to compliment more and we need to be able to bend and not become stiff necked.

Seek to listen, to listen to people. That's how you become teachable. How many times have we heard that? You know, you're hearing something, you're already preparing your defense.

Hmm. Hello. Nobody does that.

A few of you. Okay. But listen, because when you really seek to listen, Abram, we've seen this in meetings, like five, 10 minutes in, you're like, you know what? Okay.

Not quite what we thought. Not quite what we heard. You're, you're listening versus always jumping to defend or jumping to challenge and listen and under do that with your teenagers.

Although you might not agree, seek to listen, to listen. You're stiff necked in your heart and in your ears. This is interesting.

The heart influences and the ears obey. So their, their, their, their, their influence and their obedience were off. Always.

You're always resisting, always resisting the Holy Spirit. Resist is a decisive standing against something. And what it is in this case, it's sinful opposition to God, His appointed servants or to His established authority.

They're always resisting the Holy Spirit. Christians can do that too. Resisting God's established authorities, resisting conviction, resisting.

It's always those people who never want to be lovingly challenged. They're always resisting that. Or on the positive end, it can be righteous resistance to Satan, falsehood and moral evil.

That's the kind of resistance we want. Don't allow your heart to become hard. Don't allow your heart to become hard is a good point.

A good takeaway from here. Keep the mixer going. I put that to remind myself.

How many of you ever follow those concrete trucks? Do you know why that 10 yards is turning? Like, why is that turning? I wonder why it's turning. Guys, you know, but any women out there, you know, you know, too. Well, okay.

Why? I don't normally do this, but I'll do this. Take your question. Yep.

It mixes it all up and it keeps the concrete from, and I've seen it where they forgot to turn on the mixer. Oh my goodness. You got a guy up there.

He's hooked up to a compressor all day and he's got a jack camera. Okay. Here's one piece.

10 yards. Keep that mixer going, guys. That's how your heart won't become hard.

Love keeps the heart tender. So pride can't harden it. How do you keep mixing? Think, think, think, think.

I know this is going to be tough, but it's okay for Christians to err on the side of grace. We don't always have to hear one side and go, Hmm. Yeah.

And not be teachable, not be humble, not wanting to listen. You keep that mixer going. The reason I brought it up too is now every time you'll see a concrete truck and the kids say, why is that turning? Keep your heart tender.

I have to do it. Don't you? And just keep, cause it will set in. Oh, turn that off.

You start to get stiff necked. Start to think this is a sure sign when you think you're right and everyone else is wrong. It's not mixing.

When you humbly say, you know what? Let me, all right, let me, let me hear what you're trying to say. Let me, let me, let me see, hear your side and you, you humble yourself. You become teachable.

You, you allow that mixer to keep turning because pride will set in the heart. If it's not, if humility is not stirred in there and what else is not stirred in their compassion, compassion. When you hear somebody falling, do you say, I knew it and get judgmental or does your heart truly break for them? As a Christian, your heart should break because if it wasn't for the grace of God, there go you and guys, my heart is just so much for this topic because any former Pharisees in here, I have the badge and it happens.

You start to, you start to read the truth. You start to obey the truth and you start to walk a little taller. You're doing pretty good.

And because of that, you can see people who are not, and that's just the natural flow. The flesh will go along with it. Yeah.

Yeah. And then God will turn the mixer on. Sometimes the mixer is called life and you'll hear things people, and when people say things, you shouldn't get a stiff neck, you should get a broken heart and learn from it.

If you're constantly defending yourself and blame shifting, the mixer's off. Here's a few warning signs that the Pharisees had that Stephen's addressing and their signs of a hardened heart that they want to resist and oppose the truth. They want to withstand that.

They don't like to be, did the Pharisees like to be challenged about anything? I mean, from giving to marriage, to straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel. They didn't, they don't, they weren't open to any type of constructive criticism. So number one, they resist.

This could be for unbelievers too, mainly. They resist the truth. It's a hard heart, especially as an unbeliever.

They resist the truth of God's word. But as a believer, we can resist the truth as well. That's being maybe told to us and about our attitude or our heart or why things aren't the way that we think.

And we can be resistant. Anybody already made up their mind and they don't want to be confused with the facts? I've made up my mind. I don't need to hear more.

I don't need to hear the facts. They resist conviction. Conviction is a gift of God that's convicting us.

They also resist correction. They resist correction. Those people that are unteachable, rarely grow.

Do you know people grow spiritually? They're teachable. And we have this idea. I've talked to people and they think we have, they think this way.

I used to as well. That you grow spiritually by reading and applying the word, which you do. But if all you do is grow by reading and applying the word, you become puffed up.

The way you really grow is you learn from others. You're open to constructive criticism. You get the chisel out and you chisel off that pride.

And you grow and hopefully a year or two from now, you might look a little bit different because you've been teachable. Because all of us, the smartest theologian on planet earth with a PhD in systematic theology. I don't know if they offer it, but it sounded good.

They can be, I mean, they are so knowledgeable, but if they're not teachable, maybe they're teaching their students and they're lashing out the students. They're not they themselves growing and becoming compassionate. Your heart will become hard.

And here's a thing why pride is so hard to deal with. It's because the person doesn't see it. Because of pride, they think they're the spiritual one.

I'm not going to have that little peasant telling me anything. You've been a Christian for how long? 18 months? Oh, good for you. I'm on 35 years.

And pride blinds. And just pray, Lord, if I've got blind spots, show me. Show me those blind spots.

Help me, Lord. I want to grow from them. And they resist humility.

They resist being humble. They don't want to be humble. And bitter branches grow bad fruit.

Those people usually have a root of bitterness growing in their heart. And it grows some rotten fruit. Hard-hearted believers, they hurt others.

The majority of people that get hurt, is this not true? Are because of hard-hearted believers. Over the years, the people I've hurt, it's probably because my heart was hard. People who have hurt me, I know it's hard to believe, but it happens from time to time, have a hard heart.

And they hurt others because their fruit is rotten, but they think it's nourishing. People with a hard heart, don't they have rotten fruit? Like, he's like, I don't even want to smell that banana. That banana is black and soft, and they think it's very nourishing because of pride again.

So again, mix this hardness with humility, transparency. Oh, how important is transparency? It goes like this, you know what? Yeah, I can struggle with pride. I can.

Thank you for pointing that out. And sin just loses its grip on your life. Or you tell someone, yeah, you know what, I can struggle with that.

And you're transparent. Sin loves to grow in darkness. And more importantly, in pride.

Isn't it funny how all these people that fall are so prideful? You often don't see a humble fall, because they're on their knees. They don't believe their own press. They realize without the grace of God, there go I. Honesty.

Honesty and obedience to God's Word, and a teachable spirit. These all play a role in finishing well. The whole topic is finishing well like Stephen.

But Stephen finished well, and Paul and others, because of the humility, the transparency, the honesty, the obedience to God's Word, and a teachable spirit. And it's interesting, we talk about boldness, but if you get someone, and I think Paul would have these characteristics, wouldn't he? Transparency. Oh, wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of sin and death.

I don't want to do the things I do. And I do the things I don't want to do. So transparent.

Thank God for that verse. Can you imagine if some of these verses were removed? Paul writing instead, that day I met the Lord on the road to Damascus, I have walked a perfect blameless life before you. All my struggles vanished.

But he's open, he's transparent. Stephen is as well, isn't he not? Here's the thing with humility, transparency, honesty, obedience, and a teachable spirit. They also produce a very healthy, God-given, Spirit-inspired boldness.

Who in here would not say Paul was bold? Stephen, that's pretty, you stiff-necked people. You killed Christ. Peter in his first sermon after being filled with the Holy Spirit said almost the same thing.

You stiff-necked people, you put Christ on the cross. They use that term a lot. I'm going to start using that term.

Tell them, you're stiff-necked. Wonder how that will go over. But it does produce some boldness.

So all these people who think Christians shouldn't be bold, they shouldn't call out things, they shouldn't say anything. Man, just be humble. But you don't have a lot of scriptural support for that.

There's a righteous, what it really is, it's righteous indignation. Zil for his house has consumed me. I hate seeing God being mocked.

I hate seeing the Holy Spirit being misrepresented. I hate people charging lots of money for supposedly experiencing a revival. It just makes you sick.

And because of that, sometimes you want to say something. Don't resist these things if God is convicting you. And just in case you're not teachable, it means listen and pondering.

Is the Lord trying to get my attention? It's very healthy to do that. To say, Lord, are you trying to get my attention? I want to be teachable. I want to be understanding.

I want to put myself in their shoes and have compassion. Can you imagine if we did that more? Well, now we get to the bad news. Stephen becomes a martyr.

Acts 6, I'm sorry, 754. And when they heard these things, they were what? Cut to the heart. Here's the thing.

Here's the thing. Right now they have a choice. Right now they have a choice.

Do they repent and believe or do they recur Stephen and kill him? And because of it, how many of these leaders are right now awaiting the great throne judgment and going to hell for the rest of eternity? Right here on this. Right here. How many times has it happened to people even hearing my message, Billy Graham's message, millions of messages? There's a choice right there.

They're cut to the heart. What do they do with that? Man, the light bulb went off in my heart this week because I'm like, that's the defining moment. What do we do with that piercing in our heart? Even as believers, do you get stiff necked and fight back? In Lancaster, I remember it was a hard season.

It was hard seasons. And I was just getting kind of hard in my heart. I know it's hard to believe.

But do you ever go through seasons like that? You're just about, okay, I've had enough. Hardness of heart. And this lady who never says anything, she called on the phone.

My wife was on it too. We're on a three-way. And she goes, Pastor Shane, please don't get upset.

You know, I feel God's really leading me. I said, but there's a hardness, there's a pride in your heart right now. It's just quiet, you know? My wife's like, I could not believe you didn't say anything back.

You're quiet. I mean, why didn't you say anything? Why didn't you defend yourself? Because I don't see that necessarily. Well, but she did.

And that's the time to listen and go, Lord, is this you? But more importantly, you look at the character of the messenger. I'm not going to listen to a critical heart hell bent on pulling me down. You listen to those who are truly concerned about you, the direction of the church and other things.

And there was a moment. Have I always done that? No, neither of you. But I'll never forget that moment because my wife even said, you didn't defend yourself.

You didn't. And just that was the defining moment in that, in that, in, in, in, in, in, even in the life of the church. And these are, these are cut to the heart moments.

Cut to the heart moments. Have you ever had those? Just how powerful the mind is. I still have the Bon Jovi song in my mind.

Cut to the heart you're to blame. Darling, you give love a bad name. You guys remember that? It's hard to push that stuff out.

Blast down my 12 inch subwoofers. Back to this though, cut to the heart. Maybe some of you are hearing something this morning and you have a choice to make.

Are you going to dig your heels in and allow that hard heart to grow and flourish in your home with your kids, with your spouse, with others? There's, there's a choice that needs to be, when we get cut to the heart. Often, did you know anger is usually a second emotion? It's a response. Is the Lord trying to teach you something this morning? Is he trying to teach me something this morning? They had a choice to make and here's their choice.

Next slide. And when they heard these things, what do they do? By the way, when you see red, that means negative. Good job, Louise.

You told me, I'm like, why is there red in here? I'm like, oh, that's a good, actually a good idea. So they Nash. What is that? That's that? Oh, you've seen it.

Maybe you've done it. Anybody ever blow up? Oh, just kill somebody. Jamie, that was not funny.

A little bit, wasn't it? But we can all relate. We can all relate. Did you know even Jesus got angry? Flipped over those.

I would have loved it. I mean, of all the things there's a, parting of the Red Sea. Okay.

Okay. Lazarus. Okay.

Okay. But seeing him just make, make a whip, like, man, you got to have some rope available. You've got to have some, some skills and, and just, and, and, and just when you like to saw Jesus, like we forget mild, meek, little lamb of God, just throwing over those money chain and do it because zeal for his house consumed him.

We should have that zeal for God. So that would stop all these silly sermon illustrations you see online with them kicking the Bible and pouring syrup on it. And just to make a point, the point they have to do that because they don't have the spirit of God in their heart.

They've quenched and grieve the spirit of God in their heart. And they were cut to the heart and they, they gnashed at him with their teeth. It's just, they can't stand him.

And it reminded me again of the fall of Jerusalem where God sent warnings to his people through his messengers. I mean, if you just think about this, doesn't it just kind of just blow your mind that God would like create, God actually created Jeremiah in his mother's womb. He goes, you're my prophet.

Isaiah, you're my prophet. Ezekiel, you're my prophet. John the Baptist, you're my prophet.

Amos, just, just tending sheep and trimming trees. Any tree trimmers in here? I know, I know. You still have to come to my house.

Just hint, hint. You know, I just like, so God's, I've called them to go to the people. God, God.

Yet they tried to kill them. I mean, if you look at some of the, we don't know for certain because the Bible doesn't say it. It says some of them were sown in two and they believe it would have to do with Manasseh and Isaiah.

You got that Braveheart picture in your mind probably, but that's what they would do. God's, God's messengers. I just, I just cannot comprehend that.

And then we, we look at Acts 7, but Stephen, but Stephen being, but Stephen being full of fear got out of Dodge. He ran away. He was so, he was cowardly.

No, what? Oh, did I miss something? Yellow means good. But he being full of the Holy Spirit. Oh my goodness.

Oh my goodness. Is that our prayer? Oh guys, that's my prayer. And I know I'll never get a hundred percent capacity because it's leaking.

That tank is leaking. But oh God, I want that. Do you know how much, do you know how better of a parent you would be? An employee, a spouse, a servant of God.

Guys, this is what we're missing. Full of the Spirit. But Shane, you just said we can't be completely full and not perfect.

Right. But you can, you can be sold out. You can be sold out.

You can run around and say, Lord, is this, is this a fountain? Cause I'm leaky. Is this a fountain? Cause I'm leaky. God, I need more of you.

I need to get to that morning worship. I need to get to prayer meetings. I need to put on worship.

I need to turn off YouTube. Lord, how about this fountain? I'm just seeking you. I'm hungry for more of you.

Oh God, where are those rivers of living water? God, I need to be full of the Spirit. God, see you're pursuing him. It's not about perfection.

It's about the pursuit. God honors the pursuit. Shouldn't that be our life goal? Oh, but that's tough.

Oh, that's tough. That means we might have to ask for forgiveness. We might have to humble ourselves.

We might have to put others first. Oh, isn't that hard? I mean, every time, like it'll take time. I'll make just an incredible breakfast or lunch for myself.

And then Morgan wants some. Here's, here's how I got out. I just, I I'll leave everything out.

I'll leave it all out for you. And you can make your own because I'm hungry. Come on.

You can't relate. Come on. And so you're tested like that throughout, throughout the week and day being full of the Holy Spirit.

Guys, this is our, this is actually our desire for this church. This is why we're a little unique. This is why we unapologetically don't follow molds of church growth movements or other churches.

Well, this church does this. Why don't you guys do that? I don't. Do we have to do what other churches do? As long as it's in the Bible, I mean, you're pretty good.

The Bible actually says only four things for really church singing, coming together, fellowship, communion. I mean, it's really, it's, it's, but it's about the pursuit of God, pursuing God and being full of the Holy Spirit. And what did he do? He, because he's full of the Holy Spirit.

Now this could turn into, what was he doing prior to that? Because I believe what he was doing prior to that prepared him for this moment. There's no way he's down in the brothels of Samaria, drinking some 40 proof and then he's just going to go stumbling into Jerusalem. Man, I had a late night last night.

Maybe you had a late night last night. God looks for repentance, but because of who he was all week, who you are all week is who you're going to be when you fall into adversity, guys. When that person pops off at Target or gives you a finger at Costco, parking lot, people, anybody have a hard time in traffic? Just, you like the cars right on you? Here's a tip, leave early.

Just leave early. That always helps. You can whistle while you're driving to church.

Look at the birds and your kids are in there. It can be great. No stress, just get here early.

That's why we're stressed. Aren't we just trying to barely make it, barely make it, barely make it, barely make it. And then we got a big mug of Christian crack and we're down in that Christian crack and now we're amped up.

Now we're ready. But he gazed into heaven. He saw the glory of God.

He saw the glory of God. Now this is an interesting term. You hear one church talk about it, it's weirdness.

You hear another church talk about it, it's glorious. You don't manipulate the glory of God. You don't fabricate things.

Moses, he went to the cleft of the rock, experienced the glory of God. Elijah was in a cave, experienced the glory of God. Joshua loved to linger in the tabernacle because of the presence of God.

I believe there is something dynamic in the Christian faith. It doesn't happen a lot, but to experience the glory of God. What it basically means, again, I don't want to paraphrase, this is grounded biblically what I'm about to tell you, but we know that God is everywhere, omnipresent.

But there are times when God will make Himself known in powerful and profound ways. And the glory is the representation of who He is. It's a magnificent realization of who God is.

And especially, we see that, especially like you're in the heavens, when you're pressing in, worshiping God for an hour or hour and a half, there's a weight, there's just this, oh my Lord, I was worried about this and this, but now you're just worshiping and now you're experiencing these incredible emotions, and emotions can be good if they're directed at God. Hello, thank God for emotions. These people drive me nuts today.

That's just emotionalism. Well, can't you feel something towards God from time to time? If it lines up with Scripture, I mean, I kind of like that. I don't know.

I don't have fun in a cemetery. And you start, man, when we were singing the great I am, it's like, oh Lord, the great I am. Who can stand before God Almighty? What problem? What regime? What issue? God's not worried.

If God's not worried, why are we? But I just left full of the Holy Spirit and saw the glory of God. And he saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Again, it's just a vision.

The right hand of God is a position of authority. And he said, I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. And I do believe, we've heard stories of you that when a person is just walking closely with the Lord, they are, I mean, Joel said, I will pour out my spirit in those days.

Young men will see visions. And old men dream dreams. And I know it can get weird when it's being done by weird people.

And when people look for these things. But man, can you imagine God just pouring into your heart and you see things? I mean, we don't know if it's God sometimes, different things. But it's, I mean, there's so many examples.

I remember one time, I won't tell you the street name and things like that, but I just saw a vision of cars backed up for church service. And it wasn't until after we had a special guest worship leader during COVID. And I think it's almost a thousand people came here on Sunday.

And it was like backed up to pass, pass the Mexican restaurant. You know, people just like, and just, and God sometimes will show you things just to confirm his will. I still remember I was, I didn't meet Morgan yet.

And I was just reading Billy Graham's autobiographies. I was sleeping and had this dream of just, and I walked out and there's just a sea of people. And I'm speaking to them.

Back then I was like, no way. No, I don't want to talk to people. I don't mind.

I'm not, I'm not a public speaker. I admit, I call in sick on the day I'd have to go read at school in front of people. I hated it, but God will show you things.

And so I believe, can you imagine you're getting ready to die instead of fear and trepidation and your flames of a fire? You see, you look up and you see the glory of God. You experience his power and presence. That's a piece that surpasses how many of you heard of saints of God before they go with, go, go away to the Lord.

And they, they, they, they're there with them on their bed. They're, you know, the bed by the bedside moments. And they just kind of sit up Lord Jesus, or they've just got a smile.

I'm ready. I'm ready. There's something I believe God can do at those moments.

And I just, I didn't want to put this down here because being full of the Holy Spirit is such an important topic. And if you want more information on that, go, go listen to the last of the sermons back in May and June. It's such an important topic.

I believe it's second only to salvation. It is second only to salvation. Many of the problems we encounter at this church could be dissolved with the fullness of the spirit.

Many marriage issues you're going through could be really helped through the fullness of the spirit. Because when you're full of the spirit, what comes out the fruit of the spirit, that's the only thing that can, that can counter balance the flesh. I mean, don't you, do you feel a big difference leaving here on Sundays compared to Monday afternoon? Or is it just me? I dread Monday afternoon or Tuesday.

Well, while we're at it, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, except, but don't you drive, I mean, you could be driving home and somebody cuts you off. Hey, brother, and pray for you. And I'm sure, I'm sure they're on, I'm sure they're in a hurry on the way to the hospital and you go, oh, that might be a flat tire.

Well, praise the Lord. You know, I'm just going to rejoice. And then you get, and then, oh, an IRS letter, we owe a thousand dollars.

Well, hey, we're just so thankful. We're so thankful. Right.

The air conditioning being to get home and air, no air conditioning. Hey, we'll call somebody, but God, thank you. They compare that to when the flesh is by Tuesday afternoon.

You're not, that's not how you're acting. You are cursing the air conditioning unit instead of being thankful. And so Stephen was full and he was filled in the fullness of the spirit.

It pushes out fear. It drowns anxiety and it extinguishes worry. And we pray for people a lot.

And I don't, I don't, um, if you ever went through anxiety attacks or panic attacks, you know, it's not fun. You know, that, that, that, that can be a very difficult thing. But I've also noticed that the more full you are of the spirit, the more these things are just pushed out, pushed out of you.

And then what happened after this moment is in act seven 57, then they cried out with one loud voice. They had the whole group on their side. Misery loves company.

Sin loves debauchery and more people, the better. They cried out and they, they, they stopped their ears and they ran at Stephen all at once. Boy, they were ticked off.

And what did they do? They took him, they cast him out of the city and they stoned him. This is a painful process. It's not like pick, pick up this little rock.

That's Stephen. No, it was what? Five, 10, 15, 20 pound. And they would stone actually more like this.

And those stones would hit the, break the skull, hit the bones in the legs or the knees or the face. And they were stone. It was terrible.

And there was somebody there though, with these people next to the people, killing Stephen was a young man named Saul. Does anybody not know who this is? It's okay. I didn't about 25 years ago when I was learning about God.

This is actually the apostle Paul, Saul, the sinner, Paul, the saint. So Paul was right there and he held their jackets. Can you believe that? It's easier to go like this, I guess, when you're not having a lot of clothes holding you down.

It could have been a cold time of year, maybe too. Anger and outcries, often the response to conviction. Also, it's a good reminder.

Be careful who you associate with Paul, Saul. Are the people you are associating with calling on the phone, texting, are they fueling pride or encouraging humility? We all know we have those people we can call. They're not going to shoot you straight.

They're going to take your side and they're going to fuel the pride. They're going to fuel the arrogance. They're going to fuel the disobedience to God's word.

And as they continued to stone Stephen, he called out to God. He said, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Then he knelt down and he cried out with a loud voice.

Lord, go get them. I hate these people. Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord.

Let that come true. No, he actually said what Jesus said. I mean, how was that possible? Because remember, he's full of the Holy Spirit.

If he was full of the flesh, I want God to go get some people. If I were to be honest, full of the Spirit. And he said, Lord, do not charge them.

And then he died. And again, back to 2 Timothy. What a great reminder.

I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I've kept the faith.

And guys, when it comes to finishing well, if you want to be like Stephen, want to be like Paul, you do have to fight. What is fought? It's a position. It's a position.

And even if you lose the battle, you keep going. Anybody lose a battle in this warfare every now and then? Balcony, anybody lose? Okay, what you keep going, you get back up, you repent, you learn from it, and you grow. That's how you grow.

And I mentioned D-Day as a wonderful example. Have you guys seen videos on that too? And when they dropped off the troops on the beach? Can you imagine when those doors open, all those people are killed? It's like, okay, close the doors. Let's get out of here.

But isn't that a great view? You open the doors and here you come. Boom, the enemy. Divorce, separation, adultery, addiction, cancer, whatever it is.

And you get back up and you keep fighting. That's how you finish well. Isn't that how you finish well? Sometimes, I mean, we try to be really careful.

We don't like to bring up things just to bring them up and upset people. But illustrations often help because we've all been there. But you don't know how many times we've seen marriages that could have been restored, could have been, but aren't because of the pain.

Well, if he did this, I'll go do this. Well, if she did that, I'll go do that. Or we get the sickness.

Well, if God loved me, how would He allow when they become very bitter and upset and angry? Guys, fighting the good fight of faith doesn't mean there's always victory. As a matter of fact, there are some defeats. And the defeats actually make you stronger.

That's why they say stumbling blocks should become stepping stones. It doesn't mean that you keep falling on purpose. I know some of you think, oh, he just said I could keep falling.

So no, you get back up and you finish strong. Finish is a mindset. It's not focused on flawlessness.

It's focused on faithfulness. That's what finishing is. It's finishing.

It's getting to the end. It's the mindset. I've talked about this before, but it's so important.

So many people are motivated. You're motivated today. But motivation doesn't take you across the line.

Well, what does? Something called discipline. Motivation takes you about this far. Discipline keeps you going, even when you don't feel like it, even when you don't see the results.

I try to encourage you on this too. Health and fitness and weight loss does not. It's not going to be accomplished through motivation.

That's day one. What happens on day six when you get on the scale and you're a pound more? Forget this Krispy Kreme. Here we come.

Here we come. Could just be a lot of sodium. You're holding a lot of water, half a pound of water, three pounds.

Discipline, discipline, discipline. Kep, he kept the course. What is Kep? I love this word.

It's a continual effort and focus on Christ and his commandments. That's what it is. He kept the course.

Like a sailor, they drift off, but they ultimately keep that course. I want to share something with you and I'm going to end here. We know I just mentioned Nehemiah.

Actually, Ezra. This is something that fascinates me. Ezra was called first to build the temple.

And then Nehemiah, years later, came to build the wall around the temple. But I've always wondered, maybe even until this week, I don't know. I would build that wall first.

But could it be that worship had to be done first? Worship had to begin. Worship had to start. You start with worship.

That's what the temple was, a place of worship. Everything flows from worship. God's presence must be your priority.

That's why the enemy always tries to discourage worship. The devil doesn't mind workers, but he's worried about worshippers. Oh, I wish I could camp out there.

We can easily go through the motions as workers, but not as worshippers. Over the years, we've had hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of staff and volunteers. So this is not at anybody in particular.

I actually don't have anybody in my mind right now, but I've seen so many workers avoid worship. Hey, take some time off. Just come in the service.

Come to the altar. Oh, no, no, man. I'm not comfortable with that.

I'm a worker. That's not healthy. True Christian service must flow from a heart of worship.

It has to. That's why we encourage all of the volunteers to come and be part of the service as a worshipper. And then from that can flow out the work.

It has to. If not, it's diluted and can be polluted. And there are people, they don't go here anymore, I know.

They would actually avoid worship with the work. If I can just work every service, every event, then I don't have to worship. It's sad, but true.

Because, you know, workers, that's not too hard. But worshiping, that's where the rubber meets the road. Spiritually speaking, we can easily go through the motions again.

That's why I love that song. Sometimes I put on worship. Lord, I want You to be my priority.

Find me grateful when I finish, when I finish this race. Find me grateful. Find me thankful.

Find me on my knees. Don't you want to end like that? Lord, find me. I've got another confession this morning.

I don't know about you, but I need Jesus more, not less. I need Him more. He chose the cross.

We must choose Him. Romans 10, we have that to close out. Maybe somebody needs to hear this this morning or later on who's listening.

If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, Savior, Lord, and you believe that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. The heart, the heart, the heart is central to salvation. Hard-hearted unbelievers will lose their eternal soul.

Hard-hearted unbelievers, they lose their soul. This is so important. In a moment, in a moment a person is out of here and that conviction is over.

In a moment. Are you tender to the things of God or are you a pretender? Are you cut to the heart? Man, a good test right now is if you're cut to the heart, do you want to kill the messenger or do you want to cave in and repent to God? Hope it doesn't apply to anybody here, but maybe on the radio later, right? They just hate this message. There can't be a God and they're cut to the heart.

You have a choice to make. You have a choice to make. Every single, is this, does this not blow your mind as well? Every single one of those religious leaders, they followed the Sabbath, they followed the rules, they followed the regulations, they memorized the books of Moses and they had it all down and they went through the motions, yet they are in eternity separated from God.

Well, then who can be saved? Well, with God, all things are possible. The man or woman who comes to God with a broken, tender heart, crying out to Him, confessing Him as Lord and Savior will be saved. They've got a choice to make.

You've got a choice right now, right now, cut to the heart. When the sun comes out, are you that clay that softens or are you that clay that hardens? It all falls on that. As a final word to some of you, there's power in returning to God.

There's power in returning to God. Return to Him. Maybe some of you need to know, do you know we all struggle with something? I could grab the, hey, you struggle with same-sex attraction? Let's go to the cross.

You struggle with alcoholism? Let's go together. Let's go to the cross. Let's go to the cross and return to God and let Him renew your life.

Maybe you might still struggle, but at least you know your Savior and He might completely wipe away those struggles. But sometimes, as I've talked about many times before, He allows certain things to continue in our life. It's part of the ongoing warfare.