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["Pomp and Circumstance"] Good evening. Tonight we're in Acts chapter 6, and the Bible reads, And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Cretans against the Hebrews because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. Then the Twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you, seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. We will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word. And the same pleased the whole multitude, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nachadnor, and Timon, and Pharmenas, and Nicholas, a proselyte of Antioch, whom they set before the apostles, and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them. And the word of God increased, and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly, and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith. And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people. Then there arose certain of the synagogue, and it is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia, and of Asia, disputing with Stephen. And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake. Then they suborned men, which said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God. And they stirred up the people, and the elders, and the scribes, and came upon him, and caught him, and brought him to the council, instead of false witnesses, which said, This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and the law. For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us. And all that sat in the council, looking steadfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel. Let's pray to the Lord God. Thank you for this church, Lord, and just thank you for your word, Lord. We just pray that you fill pastor right now with your Holy Spirit, Lord, as he preaches out of your word, Lord, and just that you give us in the congregation ears to hear, Lord, and just bless the service. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Okay, the title of my sermon this evening is Stephen, a man full of faith and power. Stephen, a man full of faith and power. If you look at verse number eight of chapter six, it says, And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people. This evening, I want to talk about the first deacon that's recorded here in the book of Acts, Stephen, along with the seven. But of course, Stephen is the one that stands out and essentially just kind of talk about the formation of the office of a deacon. A lot of people don't know much about what this particular office entails and why was it necessary? Why was it instituted? And so we're going to go through this particular chapter and hit some of the points on chapter seven as well through Stephen's sermon. Now, what we have here in chapter six is a problem that arose because of the fact that the Grecian widows were essentially being neglected in the daily ministration, meaning that the attitude towards widows in the New Testament hadn't changed. The attitude was still the same regarding taking care of the fatherless and the widows in their affliction. The difference was is how to practically meet the needs of the widows through the local New Testament church because of the fact that now in the New Testament, you have local congregations that are being started with one leader leading that particular assembly. And so the practicality on how to fulfill and meet the needs of the widows and the fatherless is evolving. It's changing. And so what's going on here is that you have these proselytes, you have these converts to Christianity known as the Grecians, which is essentially referring to Hellenistic Jews, OK, who they got saved, but there's a lot of widows. And so they're being neglected. And so they bring this issue to the apostles, the twelve disciples, and they're kind of confronting them, saying, hey, you know, we're Christians here. You know, the Jewish widows aren't necessarily being neglected. You guys have those customs from the Old Testament. Yet they are. So what's the deal here? Now, go to chapter five of First Timothy, if you would hold your place there in Acts chapter six. We're going to come back to that and go to First Timothy, chapter five, because one thing you're going to notice when you're reading the book of Acts is that there is an evolution, so to speak, of certain concepts and practical ways of dealing with things in the local New Testament church, because they're kind of figuring it out as they go along. Right. People are getting saved. Churches are being started. And so they're kind of just learning what is the best way to carry out particular commandments and particular deeds in order to help people. And what we see here is that in Acts chapter six, deacons, the office of a deaconess created in order to kind of serve and take care of the widows and do other administrative work. But then it evolves into something else. We're going to we're going to visit that in chapter three in just a bit. But even the concept of widowhood and how to deal with widows is also evolving as well, because look at first number three of First Timothy five. It says honor widows. But I want you to notice that are widows indeed. OK, now it's not saying that like if a woman's husband dies, you know, there's certain women who are not considered widows or whatever. It's just saying, according to church standards, there is a particular widow that qualifies for, you know, having her needs met through the local New Testament church. And so it's not saying that widows just in general aren't widows. It's just saying in order for the church to take care of particular widows, they have to meet certain stipulations and standards. And look what it says in verse four. So the first thing is, is that, you know, if a widow is old enough where she has children and they are of age, they're adults, they're working, you know, she should before even going to the church for help, should go to her children. OK, her kids should obviously take care of her. And this is a good reason why we should have a lot of kids. Amen. Because, you know, the more kids you have, the more likely they're going to take care of you when you're older. And that's actually the biblical model that we see in the Bible. Good insurance is kids. OK, and we don't need to go to no retirement home and where people forget about us and we just waste away. What should be done biblically is that your kids grow up and, you know, we just live off of them. I mean, like, hey, remember all those times I took you to McDonald's, you know, make sure you feed me steak from here on out. All right. You know, and obviously, you know, you want that's why you need to make sure that you raise your children in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord and teach them those things so that they feel the obligation, which is a proper obligation to take care of the parents when they're older. But here's the thing is that, by the way, let me just a little side note here. When it says nephews, it's not necessarily referring to what we would consider today to be nephews, such as, you know, my nephew would be the son of my sister or brother. Right. Nephews in the Bible is often referring to grandchildren. That's actually how it was commonly used even within recent decades. You know, that's basically what it's referring to. So it's saying, you know, if they have children or grandchildren, they should be held responsible for taking care of the widows, not the church. So what the Apostle Paul is trying to get across here in First Timothy chapter five is who to go to first for help before you even get to the church. Okay. He says, let them first show piety at home and requite their parents for that is good and acceptable before God. Meaning that if a widow is young enough and she's not getting married, she should go back home. Okay. To her mother and father so that they can take care of her. That's good and acceptable before God. Verse five says, now she that is a widow indeed and desolate, trusted in God and continuous in supplications and prayers night and day. But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth. So this is making a distinction between those who are widows and widows indeed. Because the widow, who's just a general widow, is someone who's potentially just living in pleasure and has a dead faith. Isn't necessarily serving God. They're not involved and active in their local New Testament church. But the widow indeed, according to the Bible, is someone who is not only desolate, meaning in need, but they trust in God. They're continuing supplications, prayers night and day. In other words, they're godly. Okay. They're active in their church. They merit being taken care of, is what it's referring to. Verse seven says, and these things give in charge that they may be blameless. But if any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith and is worse than an infidel. Let not a widow be taken in the number under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man. So then it goes into the fact that if there's a woman whose husband passes away and she is under threescore years old, score being 20, basically 60 years old is what it's referring to, what the commandment that the Apostle Paul gives through the inspiration of the Holy Ghost is that that woman should marry. Okay. If they're young, then they should remarry and, you know, start a family again and then have that person, that man, take care of her. That's the biblical model. But obviously if they surpass that age and they've shown themselves to be faithful to the Lord, they continue in supplications and prayers. Now they essentially qualify for the church taking care of their needs. It says, verse 10, well reported for good works if she had brought up children, if she had lodged strangers, if she had washed the saints' feet, if she has relieved the afflicted, if she has done, excuse me, if she have diligently followed every good work. But the younger widows refuse, for when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ, they will marry. So it's basically the Apostle Paul saying, you got to make sure you screen some of these widows, okay. And so then not just any widow comes in and is like, hey, my husband's dead, I need you to take care of me, you know. Can you, these are all my subscriptions to Netflix and here's all my bills and everything, I need you to take care of that. You know, they obviously have to be screened because there is certain qualifications that they need to meet. And the church should be the last resort, okay. If she doesn't have children or, you know, she doesn't have anybody to go home to and she is not under three score years old and she's shown herself faithful, then at that point the church would take responsibility to take care of that widow. Now we obviously see that that's different from what's taking place in Acts chapter 6. Because in Acts 6, it doesn't really say how old the widows are. It doesn't talk about any of these stipulations here. And it's probably because it was just a need that just came up. So they're trying to figure out what to do. And obviously the reason they even came up with these rules here, the apostle Paul, in 1 Timothy chapter 5 is probably because some of that stuff was going on after Acts chapter 6. You know, because then they begin to meet the needs and take care of people, but then people start taking advantage of the church. They view church as, they spell church A-T-M, right. And they see it as a free, you know, just get things for free all the time, take care of all my needs, and they're not necessarily people of good report. They're not living godly lives and so they don't qualify. Go back to Acts chapter 6. So one of the points that I'm trying to make here is the fact that when you read the book of Acts, you see that it's very, excuse me, the churches are in their primitive state. And it's not necessarily that they're doing things wrong, it's just that it's somewhat evolving during that time. And this is why we do things the way we do here in 2024 because essentially we have perfected the way you do a local New Testament church, how you hold services. And so you know when you have people like, that's not how you have church, you know, the New Testament church and the book of Acts, they did it different than that, they didn't have three services, and you know, they didn't do, they didn't have the chairs, or maybe they didn't sing hymns, or they didn't have an order of service. Yeah, because they were disorganized. Because it's very much in its primitive state, so they're just figuring it out. But here we are two thousand years later, and obviously we figured things out a little better. We're a lot more systematic, orderly, and we're able to essentially accomplish more because of it. So we've had thousands of years, Christians and churches have had thousands of years to kind of perfect the organization of a local New Testament church. And so it's bad for people to say, well you know, yeah you guys aren't really a New Testament church, a real New Testament church will put a box right in front and everyone brings their ties to the front right here, you know, the way they used to do it in a synagogue or something, you know. Or, you know, this whole dressing up thing, and wearing shirts and ties, that wasn't in the book of Acts. Obviously it wasn't, it didn't have ties back then. That's a stupid assessment, you know. But here's the thing, as the years go by, now we have technology, we've had eras upon eras that have passed where Christians are perfecting the way to do a service, to conduct a service, what time to start, when to finish, what to have in a service, a lot of trial and error, right? So now we know how to perform a service in its most effective way. You understand what I'm saying? And I think that's important because I'm telling you, there's people out there that will discredit local New Testament churches of 2024 and say, oh, it's so much different from the churches of the book of Acts, and the book of Acts was so much superior. No, they weren't. They're literally just figuring things out, and here's proof of that, you know, even the concept of widowhood and how to take care of widows had to evolve, had to be perfected, they had to change that and add rules to it because, you know, as you grow as a church, you know, here's the thing, our doctrine is never going to change, but obviously our administration is going to change over the years because as we grow we've got to put new rules, you know, and new rules have to be set forth, and, you know, new regulations have to be put forth as far as the practicality of the services are concerned because new problems arise, and so new policies need to be made, right? And, you know, right now a lot of the policies that we have in church are kind of centered around children, you know, because there's a lot of children here, and so we have to kind of make regulations and rules for the parents so they won't destroy things in the church, right? Like, you know, we don't want kids just running amok here, but you know what? As the years go by, that's not necessarily going to be an important rule because obviously even though we're going to have more kids, the kids that we have now are going to grow up, they're going to become adults, they can watch over. We have to do that now because it's just like, you know, there's just a lot of children, over 60 children in our church. And so look at verse number 1, it says, And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. Now the first point that I want to make is the fact that, you know, you have these Grecian widows who are being neglected, but it's a good problem to have. And why is that? Well, because of the fact that it says that the disciples were multiplied. And one thing you'll notice is that the more people that come to church, the more problems. You know, it's not hard to not have problems when you only have 10 people in your church. But the more your church grows, the more membership grows, the more people that come, people bring problems. More marriage problems, more child-rearing problems, more offenses, more sin, just having to deal with all those things. And so, you know, it's not necessarily a bad thing, it's just showing that the disciples are multiplying. So why were they multiplying in the book of Acts? Well, in Acts chapter 5, in verse 42, it says, The daily in the temple and in every house, they cease not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. So the multiplication is a result of the disciples preaching and teaching and soul winning. So the more we soul win, the more we preach, the more we proclaim the truth, the more people are going to keep coming. You know why a lot of churches just don't grow? It's because they're essentially only just kind of on maintenance mode, right? They're not necessarily, the pastor's not growing, the congregation is not growing spiritually, and they don't really care about doing outreach and soul winning and evangelizing others. And you say, well, I thought you said like soul winning doesn't really bring people in. Well, it may not bring the people that we won in, but God will make sure that it increases in here if we go out soul winning. And so what I've learned is that the more you preach the gospel and knock on doors and get people saved, you know that one person you're following up on may not come, but another person will. That's how it always works. And so you have this multiplication of disciples, and when you have a multiplication of the disciples, you have a multiplication of problems. That's just the way it works. That's just the way it works. And you need to prepare for that too, okay? Because in the coming years, there's going to be heretical problems, not from me, of course, from you, from someone who comes to the church or something, someone trying to bring in a damnable heresy or some weird heresy or whatever. There's going to be sinful problems that come. There might be schisms in the church, and you have to prepare for that because you never want to have this unrealistic expectation of church to say, well, because we're in a fundamental Baptist church, more specifically a new IFP church, there should never be any problems, right? Or this attitude is like, oh, we're in a new independent fundamental Baptist church. No one should be talking about divorce or wanting to get divorced. You're wrong. You know, that's the sin nature, man. And the more the church grows, the more stuff like that is going to happen. And so never have that unrealistic expectation about our church that just because we're King James only, we're sowing independent fundamental Baptists, that you will never hear of those types of things taking place in our church because churches are filled with sinners. And even if they're sanctified, they're still sinners and will resort to sinful things. The problem would be if just nothing is done about it. Don't be surprised if there's like some oneness modulus that infiltrates our church. You're like, I can't believe that would happen here. What do you mean? Like any kind of heresy can infiltrate here. The problem would be that nothing is done about it, right? If that person isn't called out, if it's not nipped in the bud, if it's not taken care of immediately, that would be an issue. You know, there's going to be fornicators that come to our church, drunkards that come to our church. There's going to be railers. There's going to be extortioners. Yes, there's even going to be idolaters. There's going to be people who commit offenses and you never want to be like, oh man, I can't believe this is happening in my church. Of course it's going to happen in your church. It's going to happen here throughout the years because that is the way of things. I mean, it happened in the church at Corinth who had the apostle Paul as the leader. I mean, this man is an apostle, yet he had all these issues. He had people, I mean, talk about this organization in a church. One had a psalm, one had a tongue, one had a revelation, one had a hymn, it was like a Pentecostal service. Think about that. And so don't have this unrealistic expectation of your church to think that that can never happen here. I'm not saying to expect it, but just don't be surprised when it does happen, because it's going to happen. As the disciples multiply, so will the needs as well, and problems will just arise. Look at verse 2. Then the twelve called the multitude of disciples unto them and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. So obviously the twelve recognize their position, they understand the importance of what they do. And what they're saying is that, you know what, they obviously view that there is an evident issue that the widows are being not mistreated, but they're being neglected. But they understand it's not a proper allocation of our time to go and help the widows, because we're supposed to be focusing on preaching and teaching the word of God. That is number one priority. Not to say that the widows are not a priority, they're just a lesser of a priority to the pastor, to the ones who's actually teaching the word of God. And that's why he says it's not reason that we should just stop preaching and stop studying the Bible just so we can serve tables, meaning just minister to those practical needs of the widows in the church. And you know, this is actually where the term deacon comes from. Because you kind of wonder like, why do they say Stephen is like the first deacon? Or these seven are the first deacons? It's not even in chapter six, the word is not there. We see it in 1 Timothy chapter three, but it's not in chapter six. But yet we commonly say that Stephen was like the first deacon. Where does it come from? Well it's not here, but it is in the Greek word, and the Greek word is used for serve. So when the disciples say it's not mean that we should leave the word of God and serve tables, that's the term that's being used there. So in other words, the word deacon simply means someone who serves. And he's simply explaining here that the priority of the preacher is to preach the word of God and teach the Bible. That is their number one priority. Whether it being as a pastor or a preacher, a sit-in pastor, a sit-in preacher, an evangelist of some sort who's overseeing a satellite church, that's their number one job. And I think that's something that is being neglected today in 2024. Where you have pastors who are the greatest organizers and administrators, but they don't preach the Bible. They preach very shallow sermons with very limited knowledge of the word of God. They don't talk about the deep things of God. They're not taking people through books of the Bible and teaching systematic doctrine, because they don't know it. They haven't prioritized doctrine. And you know, this happens in fundamental Baptist church, but it's definitely notorious in liberal churches. You know, these non-denom churches where they're extremely organized. They're very orderly. I mean, they to a T. They're very organized. The reason they're preaching is just like, this is a 20-minute TED Talk. And he said it a lot without saying anything. It's just very shallow messages that is not feeding the flock of God. Whereas, what did Jesus tell Peter? Feed my sheep! Give them food! Feed them the word of God! So our responsibility as pastors is to feed God's people what the Bible says, and give them an array of different meats and milk of the word, to go through topical sermons, but also systematically teach about a particular doctrine. And in other instances, just go verse by verse in a particular book. And that is our job. It's good to be organized. It's good to have that administration, but the top priority should be the preaching and teaching of God's Word. That's number one. And so, this is a great attitude by the Twelve Disciples. Because they're like, it's just not reasonable for us to just leave teaching the word of God to take care of the needs of these people. Let's look for someone to do so. Look at verse number three. It says here, Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you, seven men of honest report, full of the Holy... Actually, let me say one more thing about this last point. You know, these liberal pastors who have these mega churches, but they preach these lame sermons, they're not worthy of double honor, according to the Bible. Because the Bible tells us that, Let the elders that rule well be worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the word and in doctrine. Like, God expects for pastors to study the Bible, to know the Bible, and to teach the Bible, but they don't major on those things. I mean, I don't think I've ever heard of a liberal pastor teaching or preaching a very deep, doctrinally sound sermon. Has anybody in here ever heard something like that? I mean, there might be someone. I've just never heard anybody doing it. Most of the stuff that I've seen is just, you know, talking about very surface level topics of, you know, God loves you. Well, thank you for telling me something I already knew. You know, the unsafe person knows that. Thank you for telling me something that even an unsafe person has knowledge of. You know, and most of the stuff that they teach are just like five steps to overcome, whatever, you know, which we need those types of sermons, but the vast majority of what the pastor should be doing is actually going through and helping their people to become biblically literate, to understand the Bible. Okay, and not being fearful is like, Oh man, we're going through this one book, maybe I should stay away from these boring books of the Bible or something because we want our people to learn. Well, if you want your people to learn, you got to give them to me. You got to give them the deep things of God. And here's the thing is that obviously, you know, some of the stuff in the Bible may not be as interesting as other things, but let me just say this. You have to discipline yourself to grow an appetite for those topics as well. And even if it doesn't interest you, ask God to help you to be interested in it. Because it's God's word, so it's important. If it wasn't important, it wouldn't be in the Bible. You know, I think about, you know, this message that I received within the last couple days or something like that, and this guy, he messaged me, he's just like, you know, why are you talking about things that don't matter? And I'm like, what are you talking about? And he's talking about one of my videos where I'm talking about the Bible, and he's just like, you know, the gospel is what matters. And I said, yeah, but other things matter too. He's like, the gospel is the most important thing though. And I said, yeah, but after we're saved though, there's like a bunch of other stuff we have to learn. He's like, yeah, but that stuff doesn't matter. And I said, if it didn't matter, it wouldn't be in the Bible. So after we get saved, are we supposed to just throw the Bible out? And just be like, well, that was easy. Just throw it out and just, I don't gotta learn anything else. I mean, Jesus literally said, right, to teach them to observe all things, whatsoever I've commanded you. And in fact, he said, if you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed. But you know, this guy who just wants to put an emphasis on just preaching the gospel, because that's probably all he knows, and I don't even think the guy was saved. Let's just fantasize and say that he was, okay? Maybe he was saved, all right? Well, then the guy has a major issue because he's supposed to learn everything in the Bible. Because all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and all scripture is what? Profitable for doctrine, for proof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished into all good works. Now, if you don't want to be a man of God, then yeah, just get saved and just go, don't learn anything. But the Bible says if the man of God is gonna be perfect, thoroughly furnished, you know, then you need to read the Bible. And I like when it says thoroughly furnished, because it's basically saying like, you know, when you get a house, you want to furnish that house. You want to fill that house with furniture and things that you need. What if you just get it and it's just completely empty, and you just stay that way for the next 10 years? You live in like a, what are those people called? Squatter. That's exactly what I was thinking about. They just come in and just squat in some vacant house. You know, these Christian squatters. Living in an empty house, God expects for you to furnish your household spiritually by reading the word of God, okay? And you know what, don't worry, you'll never fill every room. So, and once you feel like you've filled one room, guess what, you just found a secret passageway to another room that you gotta fill up, you know? And so it's important for us to realize that the ministry of the word is very much, it's more important than anything else. Not to say that other things aren't important, it's just it's a matter of priority, okay? Prioritizing that which is most important. Verse three says, Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you, seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word. So now he gives the qualifications for this newly appointed office of a deacon. And just to prove that serving, deacon means serving, the same word is used in verse number four when it says the ministry of the word. So in a sense like the pastor is the deacon of the word. Okay, he's the one who's serving the word of God to others, teaching the word of God, that's what it's referring to. Now go to 1 Timothy chapter three, 1 Timothy chapter three. Who's cold? Anybody cold? All right, turn it just a little bit, just a little bit. Now he tells them in the beginning, right, through this evolution of this office, he starts off by saying, well, we need to get seven men who are of honest report, meaning that they have a good reputation before others, okay? It's not some novice, someone who just doesn't know what they're talking about and so forth. And so he says of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, meaning that these individuals have God's hand on them, they have the wisdom of God through the word of God, and that's all. He's like, just get some honest guys who love the Lord, they're of good report, they're full of the Holy Ghost, they have wisdom, and appoint them over this. So right off the bat, the primitive state of the deacon was just very easy, okay? Now, luckily, the men who were involved, you know, these men fit these qualifications and in fact, in my opinion, they surpassed those qualifications. Why? Because you have Stephen who became a deacon and then he's like preaching and then they just kill him. I mean, that man was, he fulfilled that office to a T. Now look at verse 73, verse 8, this is now the evolution of that office. It says, likewise must the deacons be grave, not double-tongued, not given too much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre. So we see here some similarities between the office of a deacon and the office of a bishop, which is a pastor. Basically he's saying, you know, he should fulfill the office, be able to fulfill the office of a bishop, but he's a deacon, and so what he's focusing his services on isn't necessarily the word, it's more so people, okay? He's doing the people work, whereas the pastor's doing the paperwork, so to speak, okay? Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience, and let these also first be proved. Let them use the office of a deacon, being found blameless. Even so, must the wives be grave, not slanderous, sober, faithful in all things. Now, I always found it interesting that when it goes through the qualifications of a pastor, it doesn't really mention the wife very much. But all of a sudden with the deacon, it does. And I don't think that's on accident, okay? Because you might have had some deacon wives out there who were not grave, they were slanderers, you know, they were not sober, and they were probably double-tongued too. So you're just assuming that. Well, come on. Is that really an assumption? You say, well, how do you know that for sure? Well, because of the fact that I've run into deacons' wives in 2024, and again, we're supposed to already be fully evolved into this office, but you know, there's churches today that still don't know how to fulfill the office of a deacon. They actually have what's called a deacon board, and often the deacon board usurps the authority of the pastor. So the pastor's hands are tied, he can't really make any decisions as the leader of the church, and all of the major decision-making is delegated to the deacon board of what the pastor can and can't do. And then there's other instances where you have a deacon board, but the deacons are only deacon in name because it's the wives who are running the show. And that's a true statement. And in fact, a couple years ago, we were this close to starting a church in a different state, and this church had lost its pastor, but they had a paid-off building, they had a small congregation, they had deacons, or excuse me, they had a deacon, and they were looking for a pastor, and one of the members there was a listener of the new IFP, so he contacted me and he said, hey, you know, they're looking for a pastor, and I said, all right, great, you know, are you recommending me to the church? And he's like, yeah, you know, come, and you can take over the church, and it could be a satellite church. I said, well, just let them know who I am first, though, because they had a church constitution, and I told him, I said, you know, he proposed that to the church, that I would take over the church, and they were actually for it, and he said, but Pastor Mia says that once he takes over, he's throwing out the church constitution, though. Like, once he's voted in, because I have to get voted in, because that's how they run things over there, once I come in, I'm just like, I am now the official dictator of this, no, I'm just kidding, you know, it's just like, we're not, we're under new management type of a thing, because we don't do church constitutions here, okay? So he told them that on a Sunday, and they were good with it, and I think he even showed them some of my preaching, and they're like, oh, great, we're excited to have them. So I told them, I said, I'll fly out there next week, and I'll preach for the church, I'll get to know the congregation, and then we'll begin the transition into me taking over. And they were like, really happy about it, the church members there were just like, you know, because I got a little bit of fire in me, and that church hasn't seen any fire in a while, so they're just really excited, because they're just like, oh man, this is a new thing, right? So everything was fine and dandy until Monday rolled around, and the deacon's wife went to everyone and said, do not let this man come to our church and take over, he's a new IFB guy, he believes all this crazy stuff, and you know, just started slandering me, being double-tongued, right? And you know, then there, apparently she's got some weight on her, she pushed her weight, and you know what happened, it's just like, hey, we changed our mind, we don't want you to become the pastor anymore. And I'm just like, you're lost then, you know? But it just kind of shows me time and time again that deacon's wives can be a problem, which is probably one of the reasons why the Apostle Paul even brought up the deacon's wife here, okay? That she should be grave, not slanderers, you can add to that, not gossipers, you know, just kind of running their mouths and creating problems in the church, she should be sober, faithful in all things, meaning that she has a good rapport, being consistent in church, not just like, oh, my husband is the deacon, he comes to church, once a month or something like that. Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife so that standard is still held for the deacon, ruling their children and their own house as well, for they that have used the office of a deacon will purchase to themselves a good degree and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus. So 1 Timothy chapter 3 seems to indicate that the office of a deacon is a very lofty position. It's almost likened unto a pastor. The difference is, is where they prioritize their service. It's not in the ministry of the word, it's more so for the people. Now I do believe that it's at the pastor's discretion whether he wants to ordain deacons or not, because really what a deacon is, is an assistant pastor, that's what it is, okay? And I think that's probably a more biblical term to use, to say an assistant pastor, you would say this is a deacon because they're basically on par with the pastor as far as the qualifications are concerned and if something were to ever happen to the pastor where some evil befalls him, he dies or gets sick or whatever, the natural transition would be that the deacon would end up taking over for the pastor since he meets the qualifications already, but now he's going to prioritize his time towards preaching and teaching the word of God. Does that make sense to everyone? And so maybe in the future we'll have deacons. I haven't really thought about it as of yet, I don't feel like there's a necessity for it yet, although maybe there is, I just don't know it yet. But what we have here is that evolution. Now go back to Acts chapter 6 if you would. So what we see in Acts 6 is just like, alright, look, just get any warm-blooded person who loves the Lord who's filled with the Holy Ghost and just help bring some food to those ladies, man. They're hungry or whatever. But then as that office begins to evolve, more problems arise, more rules must be set in place and then finally you have the qualifications of a deacon that's set forth based upon those rules. Based upon the trial and error of possibly what may have happened throughout the book of Acts. Now look at verse 4, you have the ordination of the first seven deacons, it says, But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word, and the same pleased the whole multitude, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicholas, a proselyte of Antioch, whom they set before the apostles, and when they had prayed, and laid their hands on them. So laying hands on them signifies that God's hand is on them. And I just want to be very clear that there is no supernatural transfer of power. That needs to be clarified. It's funny, but it needs to be clarified. It's not like, you know, I'm like here with you and I bump into him and now he's like ordained or something because the power of God in my life just transfers over to him. It's very much a symbolic representation. You understand? So we're not superstitious. It's not like, ah! You understand what I'm saying? It's signifying that God's hand is on him. And it signifies that the pastor has approved of this person. And obviously the pastor also represents the church, the congregation, and so it signifies that the church also approves of this person. They're well reported of. So when these seven men are being ordained, they're laying hands on them because they have a good rapport, people know who they are, they've been serving in church, they're mature men, and therefore they are ordained for this particular task. And obviously, ordained means you are essentially commending them unto the Lord. And ordination, whether it be of a pastor, of a deacon or evangelist, is not forever. We just let everyone know that. It could have an end. It's not like you have pastors out there who are ordained to be a pastor, but then they run off with their secretary and then they continue to be a pastor because they're ordained in times past or something like that. It doesn't work that way. Once you're disqualified, you're done. The hand is no longer on you. So it can be for a short season. I mean, obviously, Lord willing, most pastors will stay in it for the long haul for a lifetime, but that is how ordination works. This is not a sermon on ordination, but obviously we're hitting on the deacons here. So we have these seven deacons, but out of the seven, the one that really stands out is Stephen. Now Stephen actually means, does anybody know what Stephen means? It means crown. Anybody knew that? It actually means crown. Stephen means crown in Greek. I mean, when you learn modern Greek, that's what you learn. And you say, well, that's, you know, alright, pastor. Okay, you know, that's what you... Just keep that in mind for later, though. Stephen means crown. I'll remind you of that later. Look at verse 7. And the word of God increases. So what is the result of ordaining deacons and delegating other responsibilities to other people the word of God increases. And this is the result of any type of delegation. So it's important for us as Christians to continue to delegate. For me as a pastor to delegate responsibilities to the men of God in our church who are doing a fantastic job leading people, teaching people how to soul win. That's important in order for the word of God to increase. The word of God increased and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly. One man can only do so much. One man can only win so many souls to Christ can only disciple so many people can only train so many people we need to be a team, amen. And my vision for the men in our church would be that they would want and strive to be a leader one day to essentially have families and singles who they are essentially ruling over to train them to be full fledged soul winners and functioning members of their local New Testament church Why? So that the word of God can increase and the number of the disciples can multiply. You understand? Because one man can only do so much. It says in a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith and Stephen full of faith and power did great wonders and miracles among the people. So the result of this new office is that people are growing, people are getting saved, priests are being obedient to the faith, you have people learning the word of God because now the pastor is not being spread so thin where now he can delegate some of that other responsibilities to other people and more work can get done people are taken care of, etc. Now what happens when you have this type of success where disciples are being multiplied, people are learning the Bible, church is growing What is one of the natural results of that? Problems. And in fact, look at 1 Corinthians 16 if you will. We're just going to read one verse from 1 Corinthians 16 hold your place there. Because this is a great opportunity for these seven men to do a great work. Look at 1 Corinthians 16 we're just going to look at one verse look at verse number 9 it says for a great door an effectual is opened unto me and listen to this and there are many adversaries so anytime there's a great window of opportunity for you to go through just remember you're going to have some enemies on the other side Now go back to Acts 6 real quick so a great and effectual door is open meaning opportunity to get a lot of people saved, to train people to disciple people, but along with those opportunities comes adversaries Now who are the adversaries in the book of Acts? Well look at verse 9 Then there arose certain of the synagogue this is not referring to Christians by the way there's only one group of people that goes to synagogues I don't go to a synagogue I don't know any believer that does unless you're some butt-kissing Zionist or something There arose certain of the synagogue which is called the Synagogue of the Libertines and Cyrenians and Alexandrians and then of Cilicia and Asia disputing with Stephen. So you know a great work is being done the Grecian women are being taken the Jews are being taken care of they're being fed, not only that but the word of God is increasing disciples are being multiplied people are being obedient to the faith all is going well and then the Jews come and they're like they want to dispute and let me just say this is that the greatest adversary of the New Testament aside from Satan on a practical human level were the Jews no one can dispute that and if you try to dispute it you're just as bad as these people of the synagogue you're disputing with Stephen because it's conclusively proven that the greatest adversary who tried to stop the work of God more than anyone else were the Jews consistently why try to fight what's going on here if the word of God is increasing people are learning the Bible they're getting faithful to the faith positive things are happening here and all of a sudden they're just not happy but you know what the Bible says they do it because of envy that's why, because people are being converted from the synagogue to the local New Testament church okay and so they come and they're arguing with Stephen because obviously Stephen is preaching he's teaching the word of God they're not happy with that so they're going to come after his YouTube channel they're going to come after his social media they're going to call him an anti-Semite they say he's anti-Semitic he doesn't like the Jews, he denies the holocaust and blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah and you know he's not afraid of these Jews so he's just preaching away at them but the thing is is that you know the Jews don't really know the Bible they're biblically illiterate and they're blinded you know means like they don't really know the oracles of God that was committed unto them and so they can't really resist the wisdom and the sphere by which he spake because you can do nothing against the truth before the truth let me read to you from Titus chapter 1 and verse number 9 says holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers and then he goes on to say this for there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers especially they have the circumcision what does he say he's like man there's so many bad people out there who just like they're deceitful they're teaching false doctrine they're unruly and but especially those Jews this is Paul saying this when he says the circumcision he's talking about Jews I don't know if you know that and then he says this whose mouths must be stopped who subvert whole houses teaching things which they ought not because they just love the truth no for filthy lucre's sake so what is the motivating factor of a lot of these Jews in the New Testament money because if people stop going to the synagogue they stop putting money into the treasury box they're not going to get rich so they don't really care about the souls of men they don't really care about propagating the truth they care about filling their pockets with money according to the bible they're doing it for filthy lucre's sake they're in the business the lucrative business of making merchandise off the flock of God and the bible says you need to hold the faithful word because of the fact that you need by sound doctrine to exhort and to convince the gainsayers to stop the mouths of those who are teaching false doctrine you know there's a lot of people out there on social media land who are constantly saying a bunch of nonsense and defending Zionism and defending Judaism and defending synagogues and all that nonsense and then you just give them the bible and they're just like oh the Jews gave you the bible not these Jews gave me the bible agree with what I'm saying the Jews that gave me the bible said harder things than what I say didn't you know that Jesus was a Jew don't you know what John 844 says have you not read revelation 2 9 revelation 3 9 you're using some pretty bad examples here and it's always funny to me that when people want to defend Zionism they go to Abraham and you know they go to these Old Testament passages I just can't find anybody quoting Jesus about it because Jesus was the most aggressive and antagonistic against Jews in Judaism he was the most anti-semitic believe it or not I mean when he's calling them the synagogue of Satan twice I heard someone comment this they're like it was so nice he said it twice Jesus said that but you know they don't want to quote him because of the fact that they know that that's that's a nailing the coffin for Zionism because Jesus is the final authority and obviously everyone in the New Testament who's a believer agrees with Jesus but one of the most powerful authorities that we have is Jesus Christ and thank God that he preached so hard against Judaism like oh what do you mean you're against Judaism you know then you're against Jesus and Jesus was not pro-judaism Judaism became an apostate religion once they rejected Jesus Christ it might have started off on a good path when they're you know obeying the laws of Moses and observing him but once he came into his own and his own received him not you're done the kingdom of God is taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof and in fact he signifies you as a fig tree with no fruit and he cursed that tree and he said no fruit grow on thee from henceforth forever he's talking about Judaism you know because Judaism is twice dead plucked up by the roots it's a it's a reprobate religion it's an apostate religion and so you know Stephen knows this so he's just like letting them have it and they can't resist they don't know what to say about it you know and this is why it's important that when you get into discussion with someone who's against Christianity and they're pro-judaism or pro-Catholicism just stick to the Bible oh I want to talk about church history I don't want to talk about church history I want to talk about the Bible and if you really want to get into church history let's go further back than your church fathers and let's just go to the Bible the greatest historical document that we have as Christians why because it's through that that we'll be able to convince the gainsayers and stop the mouths of those who are greedy of filthy lucre okay now we shouldn't be surprised that the Jews are doing this because they've consistently persecuted the Christians of the New Testament look at verse number 11 what do they resort to well it says then they suborned men which said we have heard them speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God so they're hiring this baser sort of individuals these low lives and they're basically paying them off to say hey make this up that like you know they're saying blasphemous words against Moses and against God so they're just lying they're bearing false witnesses what they're doing now they can't get people to follow them so they have to hire people to bring up a false witness and they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes and came upon him and caught him and brought him to the council so he's preaching they can't resist the truth so then they hire these men to lie about him they end up rushing Stephen they arrest him and take him to the council says in verse 13 set up false witnesses which said this man sees not to speak blasphemous words against his holy place and the law what a lie but obviously they're doing to him what they did to Jesus bearing false witness even though the witnesses agree not together because all they can do is lie about the truth says in verse 14 for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us now this is only half truth because in 70 AD he did that destroy that place what happened in Jerusalem through the hand of the Romans was prophetic from Jesus Jesus the one who called that he specifically wanted to destroy Jerusalem and the temple because of their rejection of him and so that literally took place in 70 AD you can look up even though it's a beautiful painting just look that up it's it's a great painting but it's a depiction of God's wrath being executed his judgment being executed upon Jerusalem because they rejected and crucified the Lord okay verse 15 says and all that sat in the council looks steadfastly on him and saw his face as it had been the face of an angel now let me clarify what that means here Ulysses turn that AC up I'm getting warm man what does this mean okay what does it mean when they're like because you know they're accusing him they're saying all these false things about him and then they all looked at him and it says here that his face was like the face of an angel and you know sometimes people interpret this as like you know just like really fair-skinned he's just like you know just like I don't know looking like a Catholic cherry bim you know I mean like just kind of gay you know but I don't believe that's what's taking place here okay and you know society has a wrong depiction of what angels look like it's always like naked babies chunky naked babies you know I mean it's just because gay dudes were the ones who drew them and so automatically they think oh man the face of an angel that's probably what he looked like he's just like you know just like like the Catholic Jesus you know I mean protruding hard bleeding looking all effeminate but if we're to compare this with what angels actually look like in the Bible angels were a terrifying sight in the Bible I mean people were just absolutely horrified at angels in the Bible consistently throughout the Word of God people are just like whoa you know they even fall down before them to the point where they're just like get up you know and if you're even talk about if we're to talk about the actual biblical cherry bims they're even more terrifying they got four faces the face of a man the face of an ox the face of an eagle and what is it the face of a lion they got this anthropomorphic body you know you know they're just like they just look scary right they look very bold you understand what I'm saying so when it says that he had the face of an angel I think that means that he just looks scary because you know when you preach with conviction you probably look scary to people this is not some non to non preacher getting up and just like Judaism is wicked you know and you crucify the Lord no one's scared of that people are gonna be like get this guy out of here soy boy face of an angel is just like this guy's bold you know why because he's filled with the Holy Ghost and when you're filled with the Spirit you take upon you the virtue of boldness you're confident and you are scary to people who hate the Bible consistently that happens I've experienced that my friends have experienced that when you speak the Word of God with power and conviction those who hate the Bible are scared of that because they want to intimidate God's people but they can't intimidate someone who is actually filled with the Holy Ghost and with power because the guy's there by himself in front of the council and he's not intimidated by them and in fact you know chapter 7 he's just letting him have it we're not gonna go through the entire chapter but the guy's like spitting facts from the Old Testament he's preaching like he's waxing very eloquently in that sermon and you know what it's like a slap in the face to them because he's not a Hebrew Stephen's not a Hebrew yeah he knows more about the history of the Jews and the Hebrews than they do he's taking them to school he's schooling them on their own history and in fact God you know Stephen through the inspiration of the Holy Ghost he's given them more information that they probably didn't have in times past because when you read chapter 7 you know it kind of fills in some of the blanks that we don't see in previous times in the Old Testament you know because he talks about Moses how he was mighty in deed and in word and that's not something that's necessarily revealed in the Old Testament so God is obviously giving him that information okay but the point that I'm making is that you know Stephen is not just like very docile he's really soft he just speak he's very soft-spoken no he has the face of an angel he's like preaching to them you know preaching is not soft true biblical preaching is not soft at all and if you see soft preaching run screaming in the other direction cuz it's weak but you know what a lot of these non to non preachers they're like those baby cherry bins that is how they are they're like those naked little baby cherry bins those Catholic cherry bins sometimes when you see those paintings I like I like we went to John and Caitlin's wedding and there's this there's this portrait and I don't know it was like a whole story that was going on there but there's a guy like laying down and I was thinking to myself like if I was that guy and I was living there and I'll be so pissed at the painter and I'm like why'd you paint me like this cuz he was like laying down he's just like I would have been like erase it make me stiffer you know what I mean like make like hands on my hips or something but he's just like I'll be mad but you know all these people who are being painted in those and during like the Renaissance they're all like soft it's kind of like these non to non preachers so yeah they do have the face of a Catholic angel the soft limp wristed you know baby skin Pantene Pro V hair types what we want to do is when we preach we have the face of a lion and an ox and an eagle the face of a man the face of a cherry bin right the wicked flee with no man pursue it but the righteous are as bold as a lion so I don't think you know he's just being nice about it I think he his boldness the expression of his boldness is kind of coming out and they're seeing like this guy's not afraid of us okay so then he begins to give him a synopsis of the history of Israel which again is a slap in the face cuz he's basically saying like you don't know you not have you not read and if he's like a if he's like a Greek convert proselyte then that's even more of a slap in the face because he knows more about the Bible than they do but you know anybody who saved can have more knowledge in the Bible than any Jew whatsoever okay because they can't even understand you know what it is to be born again but so he goes to that whole synopsis from verses 1 through 50 in chapter 7 and it's just like oh okay he's giving a good history lesson here of Israel he's getting all the facts right you know it's just really good like he's just giving a lot of good information and I'm sure there's people in the crowd that are just like look at this Greek you know knows what he's talking about it's when the application comes though look at verse 51 of chapter 7 ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised and hardened years that's a good way to apply it you do always resist the Holy Ghost as your father's did so do ye so he ends the synopsis of the history of Israel with with how the fathers the forefathers of the Israelites behaved towards God and he's saying like you're just like your daddy's because you're resisting the Holy Ghost which of the prophets have not your father's persecuted and they have slain them which showed before of the coming of the just one of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers who have received the law by the disposition of angels and have not kept it woo now this is bold because there's no like freedom of speech during that time you know what I'm saying like you could die Stephen and in fact you did but the guy's not afraid the guy's just like giving it to them you know he's just talking about Israel and Abraham and Moses and then he's just like you stiff-necked uncircumcised you're always resisting the Holy Ghost he's like you know your father's persecuted the Lord and he's just giving it to them the facts of his message in verse 54 when they heard these things they were cut to the heart what does that mean they're just like they're they're they hurt them you know what I mean they're like wince they're like oh and in fact what it says they gnashed on him with their teeth now where else have you seen that term gnashed someone give me a verse I said the verse weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth now why does the Bible describe someone in hell as someone who's weeping and wailing and gnashing their teeth it's because they're in pain so what this is telling us here is that the preaching is causing them a lot of pain yeah like that she was like reflecting what I was doing right now you mad you mad miss Kelly you don't like when I'm preaching they're cut to the heart now here's the thing is that in previous chapters in chapter 2 it says that the Israelites listen this we're pricked in their heart and then they said men and brother what shall we do that should have been the proper response you know and that's when he told him like repenting be baptized every one of you right like they were they were they were pricked and the word of God touched their heart and they're just like we need to change what should we do whereas these guys were cut to the heart and they're gnashing at them with their teeth they're not how to resist it they're mad at what he's saying because they know it's true look at verse 55 and he being full of the Holy Ghost looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God now I truly believe and this is outside of the scope of the sermon but many of you have heard this already that I said this that anybody who wants to be delivered from death when you're persecuted you have the opportunity to do so there's always an open door for you to escape that persecution unto death I believe God gives everyone that opportunity and it is an honorable opportunity to take because he's he offers it to you there is no temptation taking you but such as is common to man you know but God is faithful who would with that temptation also make a way to escape so when you're suffering trial and persecution he gives you an open door to flee and to escape that and I believe that's what verse 55 was I believe it's like Stephen's opportunity if you wanted to to escape what was gonna happen you have one of two choices when you're being persecuted unto death you could say Lord deliver me and he'll deliver you and then your faith is increased in him like the Apostle Paul or you can not allow yourself to be delivered because you want a better resurrection as we saw on Thursday in Hebrews chapter 11 they refused to be rescued and delivered because they wanted a better resurrection and I believe that verse 59 is showing us that Stephen chose martyrdom because that's what he wanted because he says Lord received my spirit but he's saying like I'm willing to die right now and he kneeled down and cried with a lot of voices Lord lay not the sin to their charge and when he had said this he fell asleep now go to Revelation chapter 2 if you wouldn't Revelation chapter 2 and then we're gonna go to James chapter 1 and I'm done what an incredible man I mean if you're gonna go out with guns blazing that's the way to do it and he gets to heaven he's like what'd you do I preached against a bunch of Jews and they killed me I mean that's an awesome way to go look at verse 10 of Revelation 2 he says here fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer behold the devil shall cast some of you into prison that you may be tried and ye shall have tribulation ten days listen to this but be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life now this is often referred to as the what the martyr's crown right and it's saying here you know if you're faithful unto death I'll give you this crown of life wasn't it interesting that Stephen's name is means crown and he chose to be one of the first martyrs of the book of Acts why cause he was faithful unto death go to James chapter 1 if you would James chapter 1 this is often referred to as the martyr's crown and we often think this is only designated for people who are willing to die for their faith you know you think of Revelation chapter 6 you see under the altar the souls of them who were slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held you know and and these people were killed for their faith they all got martyr's crown and sometimes and I know that for example I've heard this many times in the old IP like to talk about the martyr's crown and the foxes book of martyrs all these people who got a martyr's crown cause they died for their faith and it always made me think like oh man like I guess if I'm not I'm not martyred then I'm just I'm not gonna get that crown you know what I mean how many of you know what I'm talking about and it's kind of you just kind of accept it like I guess it won't happen to me right but they've always pointed to Revelation chapter 2 as that proof text cause they say you have to be faithful unto death but notice that it doesn't say like be faithful until you're killed though it just says you have to be faithful unto death now that could either mean for you someone kills you or you just die of natural causes but you're serving the Lord till the very end and I submit to you this evening that the crown of life can be given to any Christian even if you're not killed for your faith because look what it says in James 1-12 blessed is the man that endured temptation for when he has tried he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord had promised to them that love him so look if you stay faithful unto the end you may not be killed for your faith but you may but if you're not if you're faithful to the very end if you live to be a hundred years old and you're a hundred still serving God preaching the Bible getting people saved and you're still as fiery as you were when you're in your twenties or whatever and you die in that state you're faithful unto death and you shall receive a crown of life because not everyone's given the privilege to you know to actually die for their faith and in fact you have the choice you could either be delivered or you can say I want a better resurrection in either case you can have a martyr's crown because by the way you know what martyr actually means? Martyr means witness that's all it is that's why it talks about in Revelation 6 for the testimony which they held is referring to the witness which they held well I'm looking at a crowd of witnesses right here who witness for the Lord every week so if you die giving witness to your very last breath you me we can receive the crown of life here's a great motivation to stick it out to the very end my friends no matter how hard life gets just stick it out to the very end if you choose not to die for your faith one day you know and let's say the tribulation is in our lifetime and you choose to just die for the Lord you'll get it then but if you choose not to and it doesn't happen in our lifetime you can still you're still eligible for that crown of life but here's the you know there's a lot of Christians they're dead and they missed out on that crown because they died they died outside of the will of God they were not able to endure they were tried they were not able to endure they died outside of the will of God I know people personally like that I have a friend who I went to Bible college with last year he died in January he had been out of church out of the will of God for 10 plus years he was an example and to me when we were in Bible college he loved the Lord got offended severely went out into the world made a bunch of money became successful in the world died in his sleep at the age of like he was like in his early 20s or late late 20s just died out of the will of God there's no crown of life for him folks it's better just to be faithful in today's death keep serving God every single day and you know what don't look at the long-term just serve God today and when tomorrow comes serve God tomorrow man Stevens awesome awesome man but you know what you can have exactly what he had you can have it whether you die for your faith or not as long as you die in the faith amen let's pray father we thank you so much for your word and thank you for Stevens example what a man full of faith and power help us all to have that same spirit of boldness and may you work in us Lord and I pray that you'd help us to stay in this thing for the long haul a lot of tribulation coming our way in the coming years and decades as we serve you may you help us to stay in the will of God despite the hardships of this life Lord and I pray father God that you help us all to be faithful in the death we love you we thank you pray these things in Jesus name and then