A Life Well-Lived | Staying the Course

2:00 A new study shows that many Americans are suffering from what experts call digital distraction. Right? And it's all because of this device. I'm holding in my hand the phone. In fact, there was a Harvard study that was done. And it revealed that people are experiencing digital overload. It's a defining problem in today's workplace. All day and night on desktops, laptops, tablets, smartphones, and even watches, we have so many messages and alerts that even when we want to focus, it's nearly impossible. And people, you know, when they're driving, it's like people are driving drunk these days, but actually they're driving while using their phone. You know what it's like. Someone's up front of you in a light, and the light goes green and they don't go, and you honk and you go around them.

2:53 They're looking at their phone or they're doing something else and we're very distracted by these things. But this can happen among Christians as well. We can be distracted because here's what it comes down to. We're gonna follow our passion in life. You're gonna walk where you look. So if I'm looking this way, that's a direction I walk in. You walk where you look. So here's my question for you in this message. What are you really passionate about? I know the default answer is Jesus, but here's how I'm gonna find out what you're really passionate about. I'll just look at your social media. Because the Bible says, where your Instagram is, there will your heart be also.

3:39 Actually, the Bible doesn't say that. But it says, where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. But I can find out a lot by you. In fact, now employers will look at the social media of a potential hire. They go, oh, this is a red flag, or this is a problem, or this person is really obsessed with cats, or whatever it is that you post about the most. But that's where our passion is going to be revealed. And here's the problem. We can be distracted by secondary things. They're not bad things in and of themselves. They're just not the main thing. Because as I said before, the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. And people, the main thing is Jesus Christ. That's where our passion needs to be.

4:27 Well, the devil hates evangelism. The devil hates the church. The devil hates followers of Jesus. So the enemy attacks the church. He tried two strategies that backfired. Strategy number one was persecution. So Peter and John were arrested for preaching the gospel. They were told by the authorities to cease and desist. And instead of doing that, they got together with the other believers and prayed for even more boldness to preach the gospel to even more people. Then the room shook and they were filled with the Holy Spirit. Then the devil tried to infiltrate the church through corruption. Enter Ananias and Sapphira. the literal definitions of a hypocrite. Because as you recall, a hypocrite, biblically speaking, is an actor. It's a person who is playing a part.

5:22 But this was dealt with swiftly in its short order. So now the devil comes with his third wave of attack against the church, and I would describe it simply as distraction, distraction. So let's read Acts chapter six. I'm gonna read verses one to eight. And I'm reading from the New Living Translation. As the believers rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent. That's a fascinating verse right there. As the believers were multiplying rapidly, there were rumblings of discontent. The Greek-speaking believers complained about the Hebrew-speaking believers, saying their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food. So the 12 called a meeting together of all the believers and they said, we apostles need to spend our time teaching the word of God and praying, not running a food program.

6:19 And so brothers, select seven men who are well respected, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom and we'll give them this responsibility and then we apostles can spend our time in prayer and preaching the word. Everyone liked the idea. So they chose seven spirit-filled men and among those men was Stephen and also Philip. And then we read God's message continued to spread and the number of believers greatly increased in Jerusalem and many of the Jewish priests were converted too. But Stephen, a man full of God's grace and power, performed amazing miracles and signs among the people. We'll stop there. So you can see just by reading those passages what the focus of the first century believers was. It was about prayer, Bible study, and evangelism. Hey guys, we're getting distracted.

7:12 The apostles are saying we need to spend time studying the Word of God and praying so we can use the gifts that God has called us to use. And therefore we want to continue on in evangelism. So let's get this resolved. And so that's what they did. And man, they were having incredible success in reaching people. 3,000 people believed on the day of Pentecost. In Acts 4, another 4,000 believed in Jesus. So when God is working, the devil will always be attacking. And it's through division. Look at verse one. As the believers rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent. You know, it's not even really important what they were complaining about. In this instance, they thought one group was being favored over another group. But really what it was about was selfishness instead of selflessness. What about me?

8:09 When are we going to mature enough as a Christian where we realize it's not about me. It's about we. Right? Not just me. We. It's like us. Like it's not just how can everyone serve me. How can I be blessed. What can I get out of this. But when are we going to mature enough to come to church and say how can I serve others. How can I be used by God? How can I develop and use my gifts? This is the thing that sometimes we miss out on is if you want to know the secret of Christian living, it's sort of upside down. And that's why I've called this series Upside Down Living. It's upside down in this way. The way to up is down. Happiness is found in serving, not being served. Happiness is not found in self-fulfillment, but in self-denial.

9:02 Jesus said, hey, you wanna find your life, then lose your life. If any man will take up his cross and follow me and lose his life, then he will find it. What does that mean? It means if you put God's will first in your life and pursue that, you will find the happiness and joy that you really want. So the next time you feel like throwing in the towel, why don't you take up the towel instead and wash the feet of others, so to speak? Because Jesus said it's more happy to give than it is to receive. So the apostles say, look, let's find some spirit-filled men. And I find this really interesting. Is that they needed spirit-filled, godly, individuals of wisdom to do the things that needed to be done. And I bring this up because sometimes people think If you're called to be a teacher or a preacher, that's the highest calling.

9:59 But if you're called to serve behind the scenes or do different kinds of work, that's not as important, not at all. These men needed to be as spirit-filled as anybody else did. These musicians that lead us in worship, they need to be full of wisdom, the Word of God, and they need to be spirit-filled. But the people running the equipment, they really need to be spirit-filled. I'm kidding when I say that. Everybody needs this power. So we see some unique qualities in the life of Stephen that I want to identify.

10:38 Many listeners write or call us sharing their stories of pain and loss, but also of hope. Pastor Greg, I wanted to share that not long ago, my brother and 10-year-old nephew died in a tragic house fire. The months that followed were a nightmare for me and my family. Even though we received much love and support from friends and family, it was still a very difficult time. But a friend gave me a copy of your book, As It Is, in Heaven, and it helped me so much. I've been walking closer to Jesus than I ever have before. I've also found your podcasts and now listen every day while doing computer work and while driving. Your sermons on trials and suffering have brought me so much hope, more than I can really ever explain. And now I can't get enough of reading the Bible. And when you explain how God allows trials and suffering so that we can grow up spiritually, it really resonated with me.

11:34 I'm now clinging more tightly to Jesus than ever before and have thanked God many times for you. Blessings to you, Pastor Greg. It's wonderful to know that listeners are hearing these messages, and God is using His Word to touch hearts. Would you share your story with Pastor Greg? If so, send him an email, greg at harvest.org. That's greg at harvest.org. And for more information about Pastor Greg's book, As It Is in Heaven, go to harvest.org.

12:09 Well, we're taking a look at the life of Stephen during the days of the first century church. Pastor Greg titled today's message, A Life Well Lived. Here's another thing that will come out of this story. is Stephen died at a very young age. In fact, he was the first martyr of the early church. And when we look at someone who dies when they're young, we think of it as a tragedy, and in fact, in many ways, it is. But it's interesting because Stephen's name means crown. Crown. And an early death means an early crown. Let me illustrate it. Let's say you were standing in line to go to Disneyland. And let's say the line is like 45 minutes before you're going to get into the park. And you're hot. And you're sweating.

13:01 And you're miserable. And all of a sudden the CEO of Disneyland comes out with Donald Duck next to him. And he walks to you in the back of that line. And he says, you don't look like you're that comfortable. I'm going to take you to the front of the line and take you into the park. And Donald Duck says, And so you go. I just, three people woke up. What? What's happening? Yeah. So you walk in. Not a bad Donald Duck, right? Donald's hard to do. When I have time, sometime I'll have Donald Duck doing a worship song. I actually have a couple. But I almost pass out when I do it and I don't know why. Something with making that sound. But here's Donald Duck getting angry. You ready for it?

13:46 Like that. That's it, people. That's all you'll remember. What was this sermon about? I don't know, but he did this duck thing. So Stephen had certain qualities that God put in his life, but he was called home to heaven early. But he made a great impact. Here's some of the qualities of his life. I'm going to just sort of fly over these. Verse three tells us he was a well-respected man. Listen, if you want to be used by God, you need to be well-respected. And that phrase well-respected is translated in the King James Version as a man of good reputation. This means that even non-believers spoke well of him. In 1 Timothy 3.7 we read people outside the church should speak well of a person who is called in to leadership. Number two, he was full of faith and the Holy Spirit.

14:46 You know when we think of the Holy Spirit we think of power, we think of gifts. But let's not forget there's also the fruit of the Holy Spirit, right? Galatians 5.22 says, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Look, I don't care how gifted you are. Can you be a patient person? I mean, I appreciate the fact that you have an ability to speak perhaps, but can you be a loving person? Can you be a kind person? we don't just need the power of the Spirit. We need the fruit of the Spirit too. Stephen also was filled with wisdom, verse three. And as you see in the message that he gave here in Acts six and seven, it was just filled with Scripture. And he had this great wisdom. And though he was young, he was so wise.

15:40 I've met young people that I'm so impressed with their wisdom because they've studied the Word of God. They have this passion for Christ. And I've met older people who are just, they're old fools. They haven't learned anything in life. So Stephen was young, but he was full of wisdom. Also, I would point out, he was faithful in the little things. What was his job? Wait on tables. Distribute food. Do the menial work, if you will. But because he was faithful in the little things, God gave him an opportunity to do even greater things. So his enemies saw that God had gifted Stephen, so they wanted to stop him. And Acts 6.11 says, they persuaded men to lie about Stephen, saying we heard him blaspheme Moses and even God. Nothing could have been further from the truth.

16:35 Stephen honored God. He glorified God. But they made these lies up about him. Let people make up lies about you. Jesus said, blessed are you when men revile you. and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven. Have you ever had someone tell a lie about you? Have you ever been slandered before? Well, let them be lies. Because he lived such a godly life, they had to make stuff up. Here's another quality of Stephen. He looked for opportunities, and he sees them. So now he's brought before the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin was sort of like the Supreme Court of the day. But back in this culture, they had religious authority, but they also had secular authority.

17:29 So they ruled in all kinds of affairs and issues of the day. These guys were the most influential people in the land. So here stands Stephen before this very distinguished group of individuals. and he's thinking this is an opportunity for the gospel. Now, if Stephen had played his cards right, he could have gone home for dinner. But he thought, no, I want to reach these people with the gospel. And I wonder, and I can't guarantee this, of course, but I wonder if he even zeroed in on one of those men in the Sanhedrin. Clearly the leader, a young man named Saul. And he thought, what if God reached that guy? What if he became a follower of Jesus He says, can you imagine what the Lord could do through a man like that? We don't know if that was the case, but we know Saul was there. So now Stephen gives this amazing overview of the history of the Jewish people and there's so much interesting detail in it and then he brings it to Jesus and reminds him that they betrayed Christ, they crucified Christ.

18:37 Well, this didn't go over real well. We pick the story up in Acts chapter seven, verse 54. Why don't you look at that with me? The Jewish leaders were infuriated by Stephen's accusation and they shook their fists at him in rage. You know a message is not going over well when people do that. When they shake their fists at you. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily into heaven and saw the glory of God and he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God's right hand. And he told them, look, I see the heavens open and the Son of Man standing at the place of honor at God's right hand. And then they put their hands over their ears and began shouting. And they rushed at him and dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. And his accusers took off their coats and laid them at the feet of a young man named Saul.

19:33 And as they stoned him, Stephen prayed, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. He fell to his knees shouting, Lord, don't charge him with this sin. And with that, he fell asleep. Wow, what a story. Look at the blind bias of these people that should know better. They knew the word of God. But verse 57 says, they put their hands over their ears and began shouting and rushed at him and dragged him out of the city. Isn't it interesting how irrational people can be when you start talking about Jesus. You know you can talk about anything. They are like cool. Have a little debate. Maybe boy you bring up Jesus. And now they get all fired up. And now they are upset. And the veins pop out of their forehead. They get red. And their voice is louder. They are upset. They are angry. Don't even talk to me about that. It is not real. I don't believe any of it. Okay, okay, calm down. But why do they react that way? Jesus gave us the answer in John 3.20. He says, they hate the light because they want to sin in the darkness.

20:41 They stay away from the light for fear their sins will be exposed and they will be punished. The reason they don't like what you are saying is you are a bright light in a dark place. Think about when you are asleep. You have all the shades drawn. And maybe your mom and dad time to wake up. The sad thing is you're in your 40s. So your mom opens up the light and the light comes. Oh man, you put your pillow over your head. You're not ready for the light. That's how people are when we talk about Jesus. But I love how it says Stephen was full of the Holy Spirit. Listen, when you're obeying God, he'll fill you with the Holy Spirit. God doesn't pour his Spirit on us just for the fun of it. Listen, the gifts of the Spirit are not toys to play with. There are weapons to fight with. And there are tools to build with.

21:36 The power that God gives us is power with a purpose. Acts 1-8 says, You shall receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you. For what purpose? To be witnesses unto me. Think about a fire hose. You ever seen when the firefighters lose control of the hose? It's flailing about, water going everywhere. Then they get hold of that hose. And they aim it in the direction of a burning house. and think of the good they can do. So God gave this power to Stephen for a purpose, to proclaim the gospel. I bring this up because sometimes people say, you know, I'm so dry spiritually. Let me ask you this question. When was the last time you shared your faith with someone? See, the gospel is designed to be shared, not hoarded. You're blessed to be a blessing. Proverbs 11, 25 says, the generous soul will be made fat, and he that waters others will be watered himself.

22:33 Now don't you want a fat soul? Maybe not a fat body, but you want a fat soul, right? And so it says when you water others, when you give to others, when you serve others, you are watered, get it? See, we think, no, no, it's all about me. It's about you doing this for me. Actually, it isn't. It's about you doing something for someone else. and the Bible says give and it shall be given unto you. Press down, shaking together and running over. As you give, God will replenish you. I can tell you this from experience. There have been times I get up to preach and I'm not really in the mood. Can you believe that? And it's not because of you. It's because of me. It's maybe it's I heard some news that's troubling or there's some conflict of some kind or something's happening or whatever it is. I'm just not feeling up to it at that moment.

23:28 I can tell you so many times I've started my sermon on empty and I've ended it on full. I'm replenished. It's true. Now we say my life is so hard. You know, maybe you need to just get out a little bit. Maybe go see someone that's really suffering. I don't know, man. I've got like a cold and it's a really bad one. And then you go visit someone in a hospital with stage three cancer. And all of a sudden your problem isn't very big, is it? See, I think we need to get perspective. And when you are obeying God, God will bless you and God will use you. when Stephen was filled with the Holy Spirit. And these members of the Sanhedrin were coming under the conviction of the Spirit because according to verse 51, they were resisting the Spirit, which implies they knew it was true and they were saying, no.

24:24 I know what you're saying is true. That's why I'm putting my hands over my ears. That's why I'm screaming. That's why I want you to stop. That's why I'm shaking my fist. I know it's true and I don't want to hear it anymore. It says in verse 54, they were cut to the heart. That could literally be translated, they were sawn in half. Stephen was a true hero of the Christian faith and was so Christ-like in his actions. Even when he was on his knees, he stood tall. We're seeing Stephen gave us a godly example we can follow. And Pastor Greg Laurie has more from this message yet to come here on A New Beginning. So many of the early disciples risked their very lives to share the gospel.

25:23 Stephen was the first martyr for doing so. But that speaks to the importance of the message. It's a message we share every day here on A New Beginning. Have you ever responded to the Lord's offer of forgiveness? You can know your sins are forgiven, and you can know you're going to heaven when this life is over. Pastor Greg, someone can enter into that kind of relationship with God today, can't they? They can, and it's so simple. And I think because it's so simple, people think, oh, it can't be that easy. Well, look, Jesus did all the heavy lifting. He carried the cross for you. He died on that cross that he carried. This isn't about what you do. It's about what he's done. But here's what the Bible says. Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. So let's just say that you're caught in a riptide out in the ocean and you need help. And there's a lifeguard at the stand and they see you. You've got to call out to them and let them know you need saving. And the same is true when it comes to eternal life. Jesus is ready to save you. Will you call out to him? You say, well, okay, how do I do that? You do it through prayer. And prayer is just talking to God. So listen, I'd like to lead you in a simple prayer. And if you pray this prayer after me, I believe God will hear it and answer it and Christ will come to live inside of you.

26:46 Thousands of people have prayed a prayer like this over the years that we've been doing this radio broadcast and have seen their life change. There's no power or magic in a prayer. It's all about your commitment to Christ. But this is a way to call on the name of the Lord in this prayer. So if you want Jesus to come into your life and forgive you of your sin, if you want to know that you'll go to heaven when you die, if you want to fill that big hole in your heart, just pray this prayer after me. You could pray it out loud if you like. Pray it in the quietness of your heart, but pray these words if you would. Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner, but I know that you're the Savior who died on the cross for my sin. I am sorry for my sin, and I turn from it now, and I choose to follow you from this moment forward. Be my Savior and my Lord. Be my God and my friend. Thanks for hearing this prayer and answering this prayer. In Jesus' name I pray.

27:50 Amen. Listen, if you just prayed that prayer, I want you to know that God has heard you and has answered it. The Bible says, these things we write to you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, that you may know it's yours now. God has given it to you because it's the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Congratulations, and welcome to the family of God. Yeah, that's right.