What It Takes to Be a Follower
Tom Shrader expounds Acts 6:1-7, tracing how the early church addressed internal conflict between Hellenistic and Hebrew Jewish believers over the distribution of food to widows. The Apostles respond with decisive, Spirit-led wisdom by delegating the work to seven men of good reputation who are filled with the Holy Spirit, freeing themselves to focus on prayer and the Word. Shrader applies this to his congregation, urging believers to identify their spiritual gifts, embrace humility in small assignments, and pursue being filled with the Holy Spirit as the essential qualification for any service to God.
“Being filled with the Spirit detaches us from the desires, the standards, the objectives, the fears, the very system of this world and gives us a vision of God that comes in no other way.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: Acts
Recorded: 1999 at East Valley Bible Church
Duration: 1 hr
Themes: service, humility, spiritual gifts, conflict, leadership, the holy spirit, faithfulness, unity, navigating conflict, feeling unworthy, new to leadership, volunteer, deacon, new believer, struggling with pride, young adult
Scripture: Acts 6:1-7, Acts 5:41, Luke 9:23, Galatians 5:19-23, 1 Corinthians 9
Theological Themes: ecclesiology, church structure, pneumatology, filled with the spirit, spiritual gifts, servant leadership, pastoral care, biblical authority
Full Transcript
Context and Setting
We are going to look at the first seven verses of Acts chapter 6. There are a variety of applications possible for us, points that I think we can apply in our own individual lives, and I would almost guarantee that every one of you will focus on some different aspect of this. I want to try to direct us in one specific area as we continue our study.
Let me read these seven verses from the New Living Translation. "But as the believers rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent. Those who spoke Greek complained against those who spoke Hebrew, saying that their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food. So the twelve called a meeting of all the believers. 'We apostles should spend our time preaching and teaching the word of God, not administering a food program,' they said. 'Now look around among yourselves, brothers, and select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom. We will put them in charge of this business. Then we can spend our time in prayer and preaching and teaching the word.' This idea pleased the whole group and they chose the following: Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, Philip, Pocoris, Nicar, Taman, Parmenas, and Nicholas of Antioch, a Gentile converted to the Jewish faith who had now become a Christian. These seven were presented to the apostles who prayed for them as they laid hands on them. God's message was preached in ever-widening circles and the number of believers greatly increased in Jerusalem, and many of the Jewish priests were converted too."
Picking Up the Story
From the very beginning we need context. Luke simply begins verse 1 of chapter 6 with the phrase "now at this time." It is a vague reference to time, and we have no idea how much time has passed between the end of chapter 5 and the beginning of chapter 6. We do know that the last time we saw the apostles, they had been beaten and were bloody. The instruction given to them was that they were to go and not preach and not teach in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
As we saw when we stopped last week, that was not at all what the Sanhedrin had hoped. Verse 41 of Acts chapter 5 tells us: "So they went on their way from the presence of the council rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name. And every day in the temple and from house to house, they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ." Jesus is the Messiah. And as a result of that, when we pick the story back up in verse 1, we see that the church is growing.
The disciples were increasing in numbers, so much so perhaps that Luke does not even have an accurate count. He has on occasions prior to this given the exact number, but here most authorities disagree yet generally accept the idea that at this point the church was probably about 25,000 converts. So the church is growing. God is moving. God is blessing.
Growth and the Enemy's Response
As God blesses and God moves, correspondingly — almost you can guarantee — the enemy moves. Satan moves. As God blesses, Satan curses. In the midst of this growth, which was huge and coming rapidly, most commentators, and I think anyone involved in East Valley Bible Church could say the same thing, would agree that with this growth comes great challenges.
And something happens. Whenever you see this, you see deadly poison being spread. The complaining begins. The murmuring starts. The complaints are lodged and registered. The grumbling begins — but the complaining is not to the people who can do something about it. It spreads among these groups who begin to complain to themselves.
The Two Groups in Conflict
There are two groups of people involved in this. There are the Hellenistic Jews, and as the New King James says, the native Hebrews. The Hellenistic Jews, generally speaking, were born outside of Palestine. They spoke Greek, and they were Greek in their mindset and in their worldview. The native Hebrews spoke Aramaic or Hebrew and tended to want to preserve Jewish traditions and Jewish culture. So in the midst of all this growth, there is a clash between these two groups of people.
In a sense, the clash is not spiritual at all. It is not over a spiritual matter. It is not over some doctrinal truth. It is over a practical exercise within the body of Christ. As their forefathers had done, the early church was concerned and compassionate. They wanted to extend true charity to those who were needy, and especially to the widows. As monies and goods were collected, they were distributed, and part of that distribution process was to give to those who were truly needy — in this case, the widows.
There are two groups of widows: the native Hebrews and the Hellenistic Jews. The Hellenistic Jews are probably in the minority at this point, and perhaps a fairly significant minority. They begin to complain that their widows are not being taken care of as well as the native Hebrew widows are being taken care of. They begin to mumble and groan and complain.
Discontent Takes Root
The seeds of discontent are planted. As God is moving in this mighty way, all of a sudden it is threatened — not by an enemy attack from the outside, not even by hypocrisy as we saw a couple of weeks ago, but this time simply by complaining. As they begin to complain among one another, this discontent begins to grow and grow and grow.
Finally, the Twelve, the apostles, get word of this. They summon the congregation together. They bring the disciples together, and they move in a decisive way.
Decisive Leadership Over Committee Thinking
This is what the Twelve did not do. They did not form a committee. They did not get a group of people together and say, "Let's study a plan to examine a possibility of perhaps appointing somebody to consider how we might approach this project." Somebody has said that a camel is a horse designed by a committee, and there is probably an awful lot of truth in that. The Twelve said they did not want to shrink from their responsibility, and they were going to come with decisive action.
They did not throw the complainers out. They did not say, "You have complaints — just go away." By the same token, they did not ignore them. They said, "No, these are real concerns. If these people have legitimate concerns, we want to know what they are and how we should approach them."
They did not say, "Let's take a vote." If they had taken a vote, this group was almost certainly in the minority and would have lost. They did not say, "Let's leave and start a new one of these things." Instead, they got everybody together and said, "Let us speak. It is not desirable for us to neglect the Word of God in order to serve tables."
Gifted for Different Work
On the surface, it might look as though these men are saying they are too good for this work. That is not what they are saying. This is incredible wisdom, and there is so much application for your life and mine in the midst of it. What they are saying is not that they are too good for the work, but that God has gifted them in a different way and called them to a different work. Their responsibility is to teach the Word of God, not to administer a distribution program.
The disciples understood the concept of the body of Christ. They understood that God had given each believer a spiritual gift, and that for the body to perform and function in its most effective and efficient fashion, each person needed to be pursuing the gift God had given them. These men demonstrate something truly extraordinary, and it is a lesson worth learning. They had learned to say, "Yes, this is a good thing that needs to happen, but I am very busy with my gifted area and I am not about to move away from it. Yes, it needs to be handled, but it does not need to be done by me."
The Qualifications They Set
Here is what they said: "Go and find seven men, and here is what these men ought to look like." They should be from among the congregation — believers, part of the church. They should be men of good reputation, with honesty and integrity as the hallmark of their lives. Since they would be dealing with money and distribution, they would need to have the trust of the people.
They should also be filled with the Holy Spirit and with wisdom. It is important to understand that wisdom and knowledge are two different things. There are many people who have a great deal of knowledge and are very smart but have no wisdom — no common sense. A person might be able to build an incredible machine, put a chassis around it, fit a body and tires to it, and then reach the end and say, "I forgot where I put the keys." They built the machine but have no idea how to get it started. Common sense, it is worth remembering, is not very common.
Wisdom is taking biblical knowledge and transferring it into life's application. So the call was for men you can trust, men with a great reputation, men you can rely on, men who have wisdom — but most importantly, above everything else, men filled with the Holy Spirit.
What It Means to Be Filled with the Holy Spirit
Here is where this applies directly to you, right here and right now. Your presence today demonstrates some level of interest. You would not be here unless you had some interest in the things of God, and many of you — most of you — desire to be used by God in a significant way. So what does it take to be used by God? In its simplest form, the answer comes back: be filled with the Holy Spirit.
What does it mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit? First, here is what it is not. Being filled with the Holy Spirit is not the same as being indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Being indwelt by the Holy Spirit refers to something that happens when we become Christians. When we come to Christ, we are baptized in the Holy Spirit. So if someone asks whether you have been baptized with the Holy Spirit, the answer is yes — you are a Christian. When you came to Christ in repentance and faith, the Holy Spirit convicted you of your sin, the Holy Spirit regenerated you, you were born again, you were baptized with the Holy Spirit, and you were sealed — that is, you received the pledge of the Holy Spirit for the day of redemption.
That is why, if you are here today as a Christian, you are as certain of heaven as the saints who are already there. Not because you are so strong, but because of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the promise. The Holy Spirit is the pledge. Being filled with the Holy Spirit is not some advanced level you suddenly reach where you say, "Now I have arrived." That is what being filled with the Holy Spirit is not.
To be filled with the Spirit means, literally in the text, to be kept being filled. It is a command.
Being Filled with the Holy Spirit
It is not optional for us as Christians. We are told to be filled with the Holy Spirit. The concept of being filled is the picture of wind filling a sail. You see a ship, you see the sail, you see the wind fill that sail and it moves the ship through the water. That is what we are talking about. It is the idea of the Holy Spirit moving me, leading me, filling me — permeating me, saturating me. To be filled with the Holy Spirit means that my life is saturated with the Holy Spirit so that everything I do, everything I think, everything I say is saturated with the person of the Holy Spirit. To be filled with the Holy Spirit means to be completely controlled by the Spirit of God.
John MacArthur writes these words: "Being filled with the Spirit detaches us from the desires, the standards, the objectives, the fears, the very system of this world and gives us a vision of God that comes in no other way. Being filled with the Spirit makes everything else of secondary importance and often of no importance at all."
Confessing Sin as a Mark of the Spirit-Filled Life
When I talk about somebody who is filled with the Holy Spirit, I am talking about somebody who understands their sin and confesses it — meaning they agree with God about what their sin is. They see these things in their life and they do not try to deny it. I was talking to somebody after the second service about someone else here at the church who is about to engage in some very serious sin. They have been confronted on this sin and they do not want to talk about it. That is not somebody who is filled with the Holy Spirit.
Here is my own theory on how to get a great gauge of where you are spiritually. So often when asked how you are doing spiritually, people want to talk about the books they have read or the things they are engaged in. But here is the real measure: how do you handle sin in your life? What do you do when you are faced with your own sin? Are you broken over it? Are you repentant over it? To confess our sin means to agree with God that these things are deplorable, evil, and despicable.
Surrendering the Will and Dying to Self
I am filled with the Holy Spirit when I surrender my will to His, when I die to myself. There is that old hymn — "I surrender all, I surrender all, all to Thee, my blessed Savior, I surrender all." It is the idea that I have died to myself and taken up my cross. Jesus speaks words similar to that, and Luke records them in Luke chapter nine, verse 23.
Jesus says this: "If anyone of you wants to be my follower, you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross daily, and follow me. If you try to keep your life for yourself, you'll lose it, but if you give up your life for me, you will find true life."
That is what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit. To deny myself means that my number one desire in life is to please Him, not me. It is to expand His kingdom, not mine. It is to find out what is important to God — what is God's agenda, what is God's plan for your life, what does God want you to do, what is significant to Him rather than to you. In the words of Scripture, it is to lay aside your selfish ambition. There is a sense of the continual, conscious presence of God and who He is.
The Test: Spirit or Flesh?
Now, here is why I want you to see how practical this is. Let us say you are here today trying to figure out if you are filled with the Holy Spirit. How would you know? What would be the evidence? Keep your finger in the book of Acts, turn right through Romans and First and Second Corinthians, and get to the book of Galatians, chapter five. What we find there is that Paul says he is going to give us a test. He tells us what it looks like when your life is being driven by the flesh, and then what it looks like when your life is being driven by the Spirit, and then you figure out whether you are Spirit-filled or not.
Galatians chapter five, verse 19: "When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, your lives will produce these evil results." If this describes your life, you need to understand that you are being led by the flesh. Here it is: "Sexual immorality, impure thoughts, eagerness for lustful pleasure, idolatry, participation in demonic activities, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, division, feeling that everyone is wrong except those in your own group, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and all other kind of sin."
Now, is that your autobiography? I can hear someone say, "No, there are two or three of these I don't have." But we are not looking for just one or two — we are looking for patterns. Someone might say, "No sexual immorality, no impure thoughts, I am a little quarrelsome, I get angry but it is quick and it blows over." Quick like Hiroshima — quick, and then destructive. If these are the ongoing, regular marks of your life, then you are not filled with the Holy Spirit. In fact, Paul goes on to say that anyone living this sort of life has major problems.
The Fruit of the Spirit as a Measure of Fullness
I want to be used by God. If God is going to use me, then my life needs to be full of the Holy Spirit. If I have these things present in my life, then I have every reason to believe that I am not filled with the Holy Spirit — that I am following the flesh, not the Spirit. Conversely, here is the positive side. Verse 22: "When the Holy Spirit controls your life, He will produce this kind of fruit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control."
Are you filled with the Holy Spirit? Look at your life and do a little fruit inspection. Do you see love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control? If you do, you are filled with the Holy Spirit. To be filled with the Holy Spirit means that the Holy Spirit is everything to me — God is everything to me, Jesus is everything to me. My desire is to please my Father and to obey Him. I am filled with the Holy Spirit because the Spirit is continually in my life, and I am continually yielding to Him and continually obeying Him.
Godly Character Over Credentials
The Apostles said, "I understand the work — just take care of these tables and handle these things. But I want you to go and find men, and the men I want you to find must be filled with the Holy Spirit." In our lives and in this church, we need to understand that there is no division between the secular and the spiritual. For us as believers, all of our activities have a spiritual dimension to them. The person on this campus whose responsibility is simply to keep it clean has a great ministry to you — he is serving you. And even in those positions, we stop and ask where a person is spiritually.
Here is what the Apostles did not do. They did not say, "Why don't you find somebody who runs a restaurant? Why don't you go get a good business person? Get someone with a master's degree or a PhD in labor management and bring him in, build an org chart, and figure this all out." They said, "Those things are all significant, but here is the number one requirement: get someone who is filled with the Holy Spirit."
When the Whole Body Agrees
Something then happens that you do not see very often. Verse 5 tells us that everybody approved. This statement was approved and everybody bought into it — everyone signed off. Now here is what is interesting. Seven men are chosen, and as you look at their names, you will see that Stephen and Philip are really the only two we hear from again in the book of Acts. Stephen is a man filled with the Holy Spirit, and he becomes the object of our study for next week, perhaps even the week after. We are told that Philip is an evangelist. For the other men, there are some things we know from tradition and some things we can reasonably infer. We do know that Nicholas was from Antioch, and that is probably significant, because Antioch becomes the next real base where the Christian church forms — in fact, it becomes the headquarters and base of operations for many of the missionary journeys that take place.
All Seven Names Are Greek
Here is what is really significant. All seven of these names are Greek. Think about that. The Apostles said to the people, "You have this problem — it exists between the Greek-speaking and the Hebrew-speaking members of the body. There is a language barrier, there is a division, and you need to figure it out." Everything in our natural thinking would say, "Let's get four people from this group and three from that group, and maybe one person who represents neither, form a committee, and work it out."
Here is what is interesting. When the body heard this, and when they recognized the kind of men they had available, they did not say, "Let's get representatives from every group." Instead, they chose seven men entirely from the group that felt it was being overlooked, and they yielded to them, saying, "You make the decision." I see the objection all the time in decision-making processes: "How can we do that? What about this? What is going to happen? Don't we need checks and balances?" Here is the answer: they are filled with the Holy Spirit. That is the check and balance.
Structure Serves People, Not the Other Way Around
You can have governmental structures, regulatory structures, and checks and balances with layers and layers of bureaucracy. But here is the key to effective organization: do you need a structure? Absolutely. But the structure serves the people — the people do not serve the structure. And the key to making the structure work is this: get godly people. Put godly people in those positions and it takes care of itself.
How did everybody come to agreement on this? They recognized that they had seven men with good reputations, who had wisdom, who were part of the body, and who — more importantly — were filled with the Holy Spirit. So they approved of this. The seven men are brought before the Apostles, and this is the first occurrence of this we see in the New Testament: the Apostles lay hands on them. They identify with them, they affirm them in their ministry, and they pray for them.
The Word Spreads and the Church Grows
With all of this settled, the Apostles return to their calling. They begin to preach, they begin to teach, and they begin to minister the Word of God. As a result, the Word spreads. And when the Word spreads, conversion takes place — hearts are changed and the church continues to grow. We have now seen this pattern three or four times. Persecution comes, and the church grows. Persecution comes again, and the church grows. Hypocrisy within the church arises, and God deals with it. Now there is clamoring, complaining, and murmuring — and the Apostles step in and say, "Here is what we are going to do," and they resolve it swiftly, using godly people to do it.
Faithfulness in Small Things
It is not because this is too little a job for us, but because God has given us this area of responsibility. We need to be faithful to what He gave us to do. We said, "We're going to do this, release you, and give you the power and the authority to deal with this." And as a result, the church continues to grow. Isn't it amazing how that works?
It works because we're obedient. We do what God told us to do. We didn't have some great strategic plan. We just did what we instinctively knew was right because God put it in our hearts. Don't you want to be part of that? Don't you want a life that's marked with that? I do.
Stephen's Example
Here's what's interesting. Stephen is a man who is going to be persecuted. He's going to have an opportunity to give a testimony, and the testimony that's recorded is the longest testimony in the book of Acts. Standing there as he gives this testimony is going to be a man by the name of Saul of Tarsus — ultimately, the Apostle Paul.
God is going to use Stephen's life. It appears to touch Paul and many others. He's going to use them in such a powerful way that for thousands of years we'll still be talking about Stephen. But He says, "Stephen, here's what we're going to do first. We've got to fix these tables." It's the parable of the talents: "Well done, good and faithful servant. You were faithful in a few things; I will give you many."
The Coffee Test
A couple of years ago I wanted to get some guys together on a Saturday morning. I didn't know how to do it, so I started something called the Leadership Forum. It was not really about leadership, and it wasn't really a forum, but I knew guys would come out because everybody wants to be a leader and they all want to talk.
There was a particular man there, and you could tell right away what kind of person he was. Some of you think you're invisible out there, but we can see you. This man was prideful and arrogant. You could see it when he walked in, and his questions were just arrogant, in-your-face questions.
When it was all done, he came up and said, "I really think God is going to use me in a powerful way. I want to be part of a leadership team. I think God has some pretty big things for me." I said, "I agree. Can I use you? You bet I can. Next Saturday, we need somebody to make coffee. We don't have anybody here to make coffee. If you could be here around 5:45 — it's a real slow pot we've got — that's going to work for us."
The next Saturday I got there about five minutes to seven, and when I walked in I noticed the absence of that fragrant aroma of freshly brewed coffee. This man came in behind me, and I said, "Hey, we don't have any coffee." He said, "Yeah, I know. That got away from me." We went through the meeting, and it was the same as the week before — arrogant comments, in-your-face questions. Afterward he came up and said, "I really think God wants to use me in a leadership position."
I said to him — and I believe I was truly a messenger from God in that moment — "If God can't trust you with coffee, how can He trust you with His people?"
Faithful in Little Things
What I'm about to say is going to sound self-serving, and I don't know how to say it without sounding that way, so if you misunderstand it, so be it. There's hardly a week that goes by that somebody doesn't stop me and say, "I want to do what you do. How do you get started?" And after a while, if they're sincere, I'll have the conversation with them.
Right after I became a Christian, everywhere that Larry Wright went, Tom was sure to go. And I didn't go to sit and listen. I carried his briefcase, set up his tape recorder, got him coffee, got him water, got his music stand. I wasn't doing it for anything other than the fact that I thought he was a man of God and I knew I needed to be around one. Deep down inside, every once in a while, I would be bold enough to dream: "Someday, God, maybe You'll use me — not like Larry does it, but maybe just a little. Just give me a chance." One day somebody said, "We need somebody to teach," and Larry said, "Tom will do it." That's how it happened. If you are faithful in little things, your reward is more opportunities. Faithful in little things, He'll give you more.
Larry's Story
Larry never had a formal opportunity to be trained in ministry. He simply opened up the Word and studied it. Some of you were here in the late sixties when Larry was "Lucky Lawrence" on KXRX Radio. At that station he built a terrific team — he hired Bill Haywood, one of his disc jockeys was Al McCoy — and he put together something incredible. Then Larry was among the first morning personalities on KTAR. And in the midst of all of that, God saved him.
This is absolute truth: everywhere I go in this country, when I'm done speaking and I mention Larry, someone will come up to me afterward and say something about him. The last time it happened, we were in Branson, Missouri, and a lady came up and said, "When you see Larry and Sue, will you tell them that their teaching saved my marriage?" Larry never set out to save anybody's marriage. He set out to be faithful to the things God had given him to do.
Pride, Inadequacy, and Finding Your Place
Some of you are sitting here with the same complex that man had — you want to do the big things. If that is where you are, you are dead in the water. You are not going to be used here, and you are not going to be used anywhere in a significant way, because God needs to deal with your pride and your arrogance first.
Some of you are on the other side of the coin. You are saying, "I don't bring anything. I can't do anything. I don't know anything." That is actually a great starting point. You know more than the third graders — tenfold, most of you — and you know more than someone.
Let me add this: if you have been around church five or ten years and you don't know much, that is your fault. You ought to be growing. I read about this church in the Book of Acts and I think, I want to be part of something like that. And at the risk of sounding self-serving, we are part of something just like that, and I want to be used in it.
Someone once said it this way: you are never too small for God to use, only too big. He majors in dealing with people who are inadequate. That is what He does best — take broken-down people and make them men and women of God, because all they want to do is obey Him and follow Him.
Knowing Your Gift and Using It
Take Larry, for example. If you say, "Larry, what do you do?" he will say, "I teach Bible." Ask him to serve on a committee — "I teach Bible." Ask him to serve on a board — "I teach Bible." That is why God has used him. He understands who he is, what he is, and what his gifts are, and he spends his time, energy, and effort specializing and honing those gifts so they are now used in the body of Christ.
But we don't need three thousand Larry Wrights. We are not saying his is the most important gift. We are saying here is his gift, and he uses it. What about the people with gifts of administration, or hospitality, or service? What is your gift?
Here is how I would net it out for you. What do you like to do? What do you do that, when you are done, people say, "You are really good at that"? That is your gifted area. What do you do that, when you are finished, you are exhausted — but it is a good exhaustion, and you cannot wait to do it again? That is your gifted area. That is what we need, not just at the church, but in the body of Christ, and God is going to place that differently on everybody's heart.
A Picture of Passion
I met with a man this week who is involved in a ministry with kids. He is part of that ministry team full time, and I asked him, "What do you think you will be doing in ten years?" He said, "I don't know." I said, "What do you want to do?" He said, "I need enough money to keep the house running and the cars working, but all I want to do is work with kids." That is passion.
Now here is the important thing: don't run out and try to be like him. God didn't call you to be him. God called you to be you. And if you want to be who God called you to be, here is what you need: be a person of good reputation, with wisdom, who is a believer, who is filled with the Holy Spirit, and who is saying, "Coach, put me wherever you need a player right now." Is that you? Is that where you are?
If there are jobs that feel too small for you, then God needs to break you down a little more. You can give me the most eloquent speaker who understands all of this, but if he is prideful and arrogant, he will be of zero effectiveness. Give me the man whose heart is right and who has a passion for the Word, and God is going to use him over and over again in a powerful way.
The Strength Found in Weakness
That is exactly what Scripture says. First Corinthians 9: *"For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble."* We are not a gathering of PhDs and powerhouses. Not a lot of the politically influential, not a lot of the Phoenix 40, hanging around the church.
But God has chosen the foolish things of the world. God has chosen a criminal here, a drunk here, a high school dropout there. God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things that are strong. When you are weak, you are strong in Him. What a great lesson.
Stephen Steps Forward
Stephen steps right up. Stephen is a man filled with the Holy Spirit. Stephen is a man consumed with the things of God. And he will pay a price for it — we will look at that next week.
Father, please help us with this. Teach us this truth. In Jesus' name, amen.