What Are You Passionate About to Sacrifice Your All?

And I thought, Lord, I want that. I want that in your glory. It changes us. When we are in his presence, our lives are forever moved. Welcome to the iRefresh podcast, where every conversation points to the life-changing power of God's living word. Let's pursue God together one conversation at a time. Every one of us has something in our life that motivates us to get up every day, to be able to have a purpose in our life. Something ignites a passion, and what that does, it causes us that we'll be willing to do whatever it takes to fulfill a dream, to pursue a goal in our life. Thank God. You know, some of us, it might be something like with our family and our loved ones. I know as a mother, there is nothing I wouldn't want to do for my sons to be able to sacrifice my time and my resources so that I could set them up well. Maybe for you, too. There's loved ones in your, like, you'll work hard. Or, you know, other things that we can find that we might give a place that we will give everything in our lives towards, and that might be our values. you know as women of God is we've learned that the life of Christ and how he saved us has changed us and we're willing to go and do whatever God calls us to, right? To be obedient to him to fulfill that calling in our lives And so we will work hard towards how we can even give to others. Some of you have a heart to help those who have needs. We'll go and we'll serve and we'll sacrifice whatever it takes from us. They will give whatever time and our resources so that for the betterment to make someone happy, to provide for someone. We also have values even in our country that people will go sign up in order to protect our freedoms. That we, here in us gathering together today allows us to realize we have the freedom to be able to worship the Lord. What a great value. And that someone has made an incredible sacrifice so that you and I can be together. And so we find that in our purpose in life sometimes it will change over time as maybe our roles change. As we go into different places in our life and we serve as we grow and we meet new people in our lives, it will cause us to maybe shift our focus. But I want us to go into the book of Acts and I want us to discover a man who is very inspiring. His name was Stephen. And he was very motivated. And I'm going to share some glimpses of a passage in chapter 6 about the character of Stephen and what it took. Because for him to be motivated reminds me of what it takes for even someone, let's say who's an athlete, Like an athlete, whatever it takes for them to succeed and do well in their life, you know that they had to do a lot of preparation. They had to be consistent. They had to get up. They had to move. They had to constantly work to perfect their skills in order for them to achieve something. A musician, you know, the practicing and everything it took for them to compete or for the musician to play for us to enjoy. The sacrifices and what they would do, in order for them to perform for us to enjoy and those continual sacrifices will see that, now we look at Stephen there's something he had to have done way before we begin to see him show up in Acts 6 and we'll find it, it says in in verse 1, now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the spirit and of wisdom, and whom we will appoint to this duty. All right. So, we're looking at Acts as where we have the transition. Jesus is now, he is up in heaven, the Holy Spirit has come down, he's baptizing and lives are getting saved. The church is giving birth and now we have all these people that are getting saved And Stephen's a part of that. So now we have the 12 disciples that they're now overwhelmed because as the growing of the church, there is a structure that's beginning to take place. Now from the 12, there's like, okay, now amongst you, who are they that will come and help us to be able to distribute to help those that are in need, like the widows? And what is interesting in that is that they pick out... one particular man out of the seven that they distinguish him. And we'll see that if we skip into the next couple of verses, we go into verse five. It says, and what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man of full of faith and of the Holy Spirit. Now we're going to pause. We will see the listing of the rest of the six. But Stephen was separated as the first one, and what was he known as? What was his character? Full of faith. Full of the Holy Spirit. Full of the Holy Spirit. Okay, so think about it. Just like a musician or an athlete, they had to do a whole lot to when we get to see them something like the the WNBA is Caitlin Clark she is something that people would go and to watch and admire but it was because why she made a lot of sacrifices she was by herself she was doing the work so that her influence today and how people admire that It is because she did something before. She sacrificed. She gave and she used a God-given gift to position her to where now she has an influence and able to inspire young girls and many others, right? Well, Stephen, there's something that was different. Because it said the criteria actually of the Seven of Men, it said that they had to have what? A good reputation? Full of the Spirit and wisdom. It doesn't come on us instantly, does it? You had to do the work. You had to go to the places where no one's watching, no one's seeing anything, to be able to have that kind of an influence, to where he would be separated, not only as one of the seven, he would be the first, and it would distinguish him, not just that he has wisdom and had a reputation, that he was also a man of faith. So in my mind's eye, I consider that Stephen had to have done a lot of work and knew the Word of God. And to understand what's going on here, we have a whole group of different Jewish people. We also have Gentiles that are getting saved as well. And now the dynamics are so vast. We're going to begin to look at it as we begin to see down here in the passages that as people were getting saved, there was something happening that was changing. Because when Jesus came as the Messiah, The Jews realized that they were to protect the law of Moses. That was the one main thing. And also the temple. Why the temple? Where God dwelled, where they would come to worship Him, where they would make the sacrifices. Two main things. And then the prophecies. The prophecies about where their Messiah would come. So, all the different Jewish sects, they were always, that was their mission. Those three different, three main things was to protect and to make sure they protected the holy place, and then watch for how the prophecies would be fulfilled. Now, many had already gotten the revelation. Stephen was one of them, because he was full of the Holy Spirit. So they knew that he had experienced that encounter with God that changed his life. Now let's go on now into where we go into chapter 6, verse 8. It says, now what happens? So Stephen was now, what is he full of? Grace and power. He was doing great wonders and signs among the people. I don't think with that resume, I don't know about you, but if I had part of his resume, I would have been like, I'm feeling good. I am in the graces and the mercy and the goodness of God. I feel so blessed. But he had a lot on his plate. And I just want us to think about it. Even as great and how studious and whatever he had done to prepare for this moment, for him to have an influence to speak to many people. What happens when you are equipped and you have done all you know to do? The very next thing he finds out, with all that he's done, he has done miracles in the name of the Lord. It says in verse 9, then some, then there's some who belong to the synagogue of the freedmen. Now let me explain the freedmen, there's another word for it, it's libertum, and that is a Latin word that means freedom. And what that was is, here's those groups of people we were talking about, the Jewish people. At one point with the Roman Empire, when they were in charge, there was this great young ruler that had demolished and taken captivity over a lot of territory, and he captured a lot of Jews and put them in prison. All right, so they were enslaved. So at a different point in time, they were released and they became free. And the other thing was interesting, of this synagogue, which was a diverse group of people, they came from Libya today, which is North Africa, they came from Egypt, and they came from modern-day Turkey. So in this verse, when it begins to talk about the synagogue of the freedmen, of the Cyrenians, the Alexandrians, the Sicily, and Asia, all of them together began to rise up against Stephen. Now, isn't that amazing? Think about it. How many times do we feel like no matter what we do, you get opposition? Right? I mean, is it not just feel like no matter how hard we try to exceed and do our very best, there's always a critic in the crowd. It's like you can never perfect yourself. I have to always talk down myself of like, okay, perfection is not what God calls me to. He calls me to obedience. And sometimes we just have got to recognize if I just follow his voice. And this is what we're seeing in what Stephen's going to do. If we follow his voice, we receive his anointing, his direction, his wisdom, then we can counteract all the opposition. Crazy. And that's why you have to know and spend that time in the Word all the time so we know the heartbeat of God, we know His voice. So that when we have opposition coming at us, look what happens. We are prepared because it says for Stephen in verse 10, it says, but they could not withstand the wisdom and the spirit with which he was speaking. I marvel at that when I realized such a goodness of our God to give him everything he needed to counteract what they were trying to throw at him. That's who our God is. Yes. Whatever is a coming against you. recognize today who our God is, that He has equipped you with every tool that you need, that you can counter-attack the works of the enemy. The thing with society is, Stephen had received the revelation of who Jesus was, His Messiah. And the fact that the reason why they were opposing him is because they hadn't quite gotten it. So as he's speaking the wisdom of the Lord, they just can't get in their mind. Why? There is such a mindset within them. They're like tradition. We are used to this is what we've known for centuries. We can't change. We are to protect the law of Moses, protect the prophecies, protect the temple. That is our mission. And when we get so stubborn and so caught in a place where we're at, we get settled and comfortable in our comfort here of this is what I've always known. And I don't want to move outside of that. It's outside of my place of comfort and ease. But that's not what God calls us to. He really doesn't, does He? And so here's our challengers trying to come at Stephen. And the wild thing about it is we find out what else are they going to... So they try to give an honest debate and they can't win. So what do they do next in verse 11? Then they secretly instigated men who said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God. Alright, now we're stirring the pot. We're going to create a lie. We're going to literally lie because the truth was not setting them free. They couldn't win. And they stirred up the people and the elders. Okay, now we've got more people involved. And the scribes. And they came upon him and they seized him and brought him before the council. And that is the Sanhedrin council. Who are they? Okay. It's the highest ranking of the priests that they have the ability, when there would be something very serious, like in potential death penalty, that they were the ones that would hear it. Now I'm going to also put a little thing in here for you because we don't have time to go through Acts 7 and 8 and 9. But one of the people that was present with the Sanhedrin was a man by the name of Saul. Okay? So remark that. Okay. So now we have stirred everybody up. Everybody in the synagogue, Even the tensions among themselves, they were united for this point. We have got to take this guy out because he is blaspheming everything and trying to come against everything that we know. And so he's trying to change. And it says now, we have heard in verse 14, him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us. He is trying to literally destroy everything that we know. And yet, what is that? So the blasphemy of Moses, they perceived that they were saying Jesus is greater than Moses. Yeah, but he was. They're blaspheming God. They're trying to make him, it's like, wait a minute, God doesn't change. This is what God set in motion. These are the laws. These are the principles. We added a few laws as priests. We kind of added a few laws along the way. We just didn't have enough laws. We created more. And this one guy is telling us that that Jesus of Nazareth is going to try to destroy even the temple, the place where we dwell and worship with him. And what is it in our lives? It's the same thing that's happening here. They felt threatened. Have you ever said something and you didn't know, like, whoa, people get offended so easily. You're like, that was not the intent. Because they don't hear the heart, the love behind the message. Well, Stephen was misunderstood. And they began to twist his words and they started lying. They didn't understand when they were talking about the point where Jesus was going to... Remember when he said, I will destroy this temple and rebuild it? They didn't understand when the Holy Spirit was going to come. Now, God was opening up a place where now the Holy Spirit was allowing us to have access to worship Him, not just in the temple, but everywhere. Amen. And that was the great news. It was not only in one place. Right. And they just couldn't grasp. They didn't get the revelation. And so the issue for us now is Christ came with the new covenant. He was fulfilling the law of Moses, the prophecies, and now he's making a new covenant with us, one of grace, of forgiveness. No longer the sacrificial lamb, he became the lamb for them. But what happened for them is they were not willing to change. Let it be a reminder for us is, are we willing to change when God wants us to be conformed into his likeness? If he wants to cause us to surrender more things in our life. There's times where I say yes and they want to get in the middle of it. I'm like, oh my goodness, what did I just commit myself to? And I start to challenge it and I go back and I'm like, Lord, did you really tell me that? I've said that in the last 48 hours. Really. Is this really what you want me to do? Because I feel inept to do that. I still feel like I can never achieve what God calls me to. And it's a struggle. And that's what we do. We struggle with, Lord, I must doubt. Doubt and unbelief comes into play, and we have to go back and to know what our weapons are. We've got to go back to what the Lord says. We got to hear it clearly and be able to understand that sometimes that means we have to change. Sometimes we may have to sacrifice. And the fear of the unknown, the fear of how it will come off, even what I do right here of teaching is, I am not comfortable. And sometimes I'm like, the Lord just knows I have this struggle to do what I feel like He told me to do. I'm like, Lord, I'm not the one. There's so much better out there. Nobody really cares. They don't know me. They don't need to know me. And I get, but God, I'm just going to obey, but it sure is hard. And there's times when you're like, I'm not going to do that again because I don't want to fail. Voice of the Lord, right? But his heartbeat is for us just to flow with his Holy Spirit. And he gives us wisdom. And he leads us. And there's nothing better in being when you're in a place where he dwells and you flow with him. I mean, when we can pray together in our ministry, there's nothing better when we know that we are flowing with him. And we get to see his handiwork. It's incredible. And so it causes us, we have to be willing to change because the sacrifices can be so great. And so one of the things I want us to look at in here is so impactful to me is what happened with Stephen in verse 15. And gazing at him, all who sat in the council, they saw that his face was like that of the face of an angel. I'm like, wow. Yeah. He was a carrier of His glory. Now, when's another time that we saw that outward glowing in the Old Testament? Moses. Right, so we know in what Exodus 33 and 34, Moses said, I want to see your glory. Yeah. Right? And God said, I will honor you, but I'm going to have to place you. I'm going to position you in the crevice of the rock and so it won't destroy you. And so Moses on the outward began to reflect the glory of God. We also see another man, another prophet who also saw his glory. Who was that? Elijah in 1 Kings. In 1 Kings we see that Elijah in chapter 19, that the Lord passes by Elijah and he displays God's glory. Now let's go to the New Testament. Where do we see the manifestation of the glory of God? Jesus in the transfiguration. We can see it in Matthew 17 as one of the references. That here is the amazing thing. We knew that Jesus came incarnate. So we knew him in his human form. Alright? And so, when the Transfiguration happened, He brought His three amigos, James, right? Peter and John. And they go to the Great Mountain. And in that place, Jesus has been able to reveal His divine glory. So the human part they always knew, but now all of a sudden they get to see the glow of the Spirit. And here's the difference. Moses saw the outward reflecting. Elijah experienced it outwardly reflected. But Jesus came from the inside, began to reveal the divine glory out from him. That's the difference. And who was there to see it along with the disciples? Moses who had seen the glory and Elijah who saw the glory. I'm like, wow, full circle coming about. There's a passing on where we have Moses to Elijah to Jesus. What happens now? We just see in this passage in Acts 6, Stephen. has also encountered the glory of God. So much so that all these beating eyes, the Sanhedrin-Egypt council, they're all staring at him. Think about that. Like, okay, who wants to be stared at? I don't know about you, but even like, have you ever walked down, just walked somewhere, and you, depending on your personality, you might be able to walk and you're like, you kind of keep your eyes, and then at the last minute, you pop your eyes out and you look at the person to see if they'll smile back at you. Or maybe you're one of those people, you're going to be waving around and like, hey, how you doing? And then you're like, they're not smiling back at me. So you're getting a little bit louder about it. We used to do that. My boys and I, we would drive through a neighborhood to take them to school. And there was this pouty person when they were walking their dog. I'm like, they wouldn't even look up. They would just give us that mean look. And I'm like, boys, as we'd pray, I'm like, we're going to get that person to smile before the end of the school year. We're going to get them to smile. And so I would just like... Nothing. I'm like, okay, fine, but we were tenacious. We didn't give up, right? We were going to get a smile out of them and then one day lo and behold it was a long time it happened But it happened it was that gaze We just kept gazing at that person until they took hold of it and we got a wave and a smile back and the boys We're all like Come on You just never know. If you are tenacious to keep pressing through, look what happens. Well, he is now, Stephen is reflecting. He is protected. The glory of God is over him. He is defending who he knows who Jesus is as the Messiah. And here's the council that are ready to pass judgment on him. The ones who can call his death. and they're gazing at him but what does God do? right back at him, he gives him his glory it is something that is so significant that it's life changing now, for me The reason why iRefresh has come about is because I got to see a whole glimpse of God's glory as well. You see, for those of you who know that when I was working with my mother and her health issues, that she had Parkinson and rheumatoid arthritis and began to have a little bit of dementia. It was really challenging to keep upbeat and caring for her when I'd go and visit her. And one of the things I was so moved by was when she was a singer, played the piano, led worship over the years, and I was a part of the different choirs that my parents were involved in leading. But during that time, when she would again just sing worship to the Lord, where she would pray in the Spirit. And when she would pray, the shaking would quiet down. There would be a glow on her face. And she would be so moved and captivated by something she was seeing. I'm like, she was beholding Him. And it transformed her. I'm like, wow, His glory is there. because in these moments there was like this shelter that we see in Stephen that nothing was going to harm her in that moment because she was in his arms and hands. On this side of heaven she saw his glory. And then she would slip back into that place. I'm like for moments I had my mom and I thought Lord I want that. I want your glory. It changes us. When we are in his presence, our lives are forever moved. And when we have that, I know that I can face the oppositions and the challenges, just like Stephen. And the part here for us to recognize is in his glory that he fills us with everything that we would need. Because the very next chapter in 7, he is going to go into a place where he begins to give a testimony and tells everything about the whole history of Israel. And he's able to share that to an incredible audience of spectators. And lives are going to be changed as a result of it. Now, at the end, you're like, okay. But we all know the bad story is what we think. We call it a bad story because what? He ended up being stoned to death. Right? So, you know, sorry about that. Maybe I should have like... So you're like, what good is that story? You said he protected. He sure did. Because he was able to share the whole story in chapter seven in Acts. You've got to read it. We're not going to get to that part. But I want you to understand also who was also in the audience. The Sanhedrin. Okay, the council had Saul was in that audience. He was the one who actually approved the stoning. How do I know that? Because it says in Acts 8, it says, And Saul approved of his execution. And you're like, well, why did he die? Isn't he better alive? I said that about my mother. Mom, you're a prayer warrior. Grandma was a prayer warrior. You taught the word. You taught the word. My great-grandmother was a prayer warrior. What good are they dead in heaven when they are here praying and touching and reaching lives? But I have to believe when we look at that he gave a profound statement that touched many people's lives. He was also speaking to a man named Saul. And he planted a seed into his future. Because you will find out when he gives a speech, chapter 8, he has been approved of being condemned by Saul. But it would be the next chapter 9 that Saul would have his conversion and he would have an encounter of the glory of God. That would then reach all the Gentiles. Now that's the wow. Sometimes our sacrifices in our life, we don't understand. Sometimes the cost and what we do for the sake of our family or our loved ones, and sometimes the responses are that way. You're like, wow. You do good and you get opposition. Yes, you do. But that doesn't mean you stop. It doesn't, right? We don't stop just because someone's, you know, being ugly about something. We're faithful to what God's called you because you are women are full of faith, full of grace, full of the spirit of God, full of the wisdom of the Holy Spirit. And because when we will allow him to permeate through us, The Holy Spirit now flows through us and out. And that glory that he gives us is to be shared. Amen. And Stephen shared it. He had all those eyes looking at him and the glory was able to radiate out of him and gave him a place where he could testify of who our God is. To give them an opportunity of the hope that lies within him so that others would have that same hope of redemption. The sacrifice was great. You think it cost his life. It did. However, he was going to be in glory. Right. And He was being a setup for someone else to take the mantle and also to receive the glory and to testify. What is it that you may be sacrificing? just like Stephen, for you to be inspired, the opposition is always going to be there, no matter how great and perfect things might be, no matter how great you do something, even in the midst, knowing who God's called you to be, being faithful to that, and watch and trust God, that He waters, He blesses the seeds that you sow. He's the one that will encourage you to glow and to flow with Him, So that whatever your purpose is in life is, is so important. If you don't obey him, who's going to miss out on the seeds that you were to plant? our obedience to Him, our time in worship to Him, to experience His glory so that we can then in turn share it. It was not for us to hold it. It was to share it. And when we can do that and that obedience, how many lives we'll never know that we individually will touch for His glory? Amen. If this episode encouraged you, don't let it end here. Open your Bible, seek God's heart, and discover the life-changing power of His promises for yourself. Until next time, keep pursuing the God who changes everything.