Daniel – A Man on a Mission 28 June 2009 Daniel 6 (v1-16)

CPAC sermon  Daniel – A Man on a Mission 28 June 2009 Daniel 6 (v1-16)

(Recount some of Dileeni's testimony about "victimisation" etc....= Daniel in the lion's den!)

You’ve heard me say on a number of occasions that I believe God has called CPAC to a great task - that of sharing His love in this community and beyond, in fact, all over the world!

You’ve heard me say that we aren’t a church that exists to build our own little empire but we exist to build and extend the glorious Kingdom of God.

You’ve heard me say that I believe there is an apostolic calling upon our church.

We are here, not to keep people to ourselves, but to send people out as apostles, yes, and also as either prophets, pastors, teachers or evangelists.

That’s an Ephesians chapter 4:11-13 calling upon our church. … read that bible passage….

Now, not everyone will go, thank goodness, because we still need people here to keep the home fires burning, and to keep bringing people in, in order to send them out.

We all have a role to play, in one way or another.

No one role is any more important than another role; all are vital to the cause of building the Kingdom of God.

Now there are a number of ways of understanding the Kingdom of God.

For the purposes of what I am sharing this morning, this is what I mean by the Kingdom of God.

Jesus said the Kingdom is within us.

So the true Kingdom of God is the rule of God in the hearts of human beings.

The Kingdom of God is shaped by the hand of God.

God is the Potter shaping and moulding our hearts.

The Kingdom (you and I) is powered by God.

When you are building the Kingdom of God you are sowing “God seeds” into the lives of those you affect.

Remember what you do for the Kingdom is always powered by God because the Kingdom is the rule of God in the hearts of humans.

So it helps to have some power tools when doing Kingdom work.

You’ll know the television comedy series “Home Improvement” featuring Tim the Tool Man Taylor…..

To accomplish our mission as a church to build God’s Kingdom

you and I will need the proper power tools.

Let’s consider the tools we need in order to share God's love.

Yes we'll need our Bibles.

But what do you think is one of the most important power tools for us to have as we serve God and extend His Kingdom?

Daniel had it and he used it very effectively for God’s purposes.

Let me give you a little background information first.

As prophesied by Isaiah, Nebucadnezzar, king of Babylon invaded Judah around 606B.C.

He sacked the Jewish Temple of all valuables and took them back to Babylon.

He also took a number of young Judean princes.

Among them were Daniel and his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

They were no more than pre-teens at this time, around 12-14 years old.

And they were indeed princes.

Josephus tells us that Daniel and his friends were of the family of Zedekiah.

This means their grandfather was good King Josiah...the king who attempted to return the people of Judah to obeying and worshiping and serving the one true God of Israel.

Daniel also heard the teaching of the prophets Jeremiah, Habbakkuk, and Zephaniah.

Reading the things that Daniel wrote in his book tell us that he had read the writings of Isaiah.

This suggests that, as he grew, Daniel was exposed to people who held a deep faith and trust in God.

He believed in God without compromise.

As a young man he was educated, honest, trustworthy and full of integrity.

He found favour with King Nebucadnezzar.

He served the King and within fifteen years of entering the king's service,

He had gained a reputation as a man of real wisdom.

Ezekiel refers to Daniel as being as wise as Noah and Job.

Daniel outlived Nebuchadneszzar and the next six kings of Babylon.

He lived on into the third year of the reign of King Cyrus of Persia.

Now, the text we are looking at this morning refers to something that happened toward the end of Daniel's life, which, by the way, shows that we are never too old for God to use us in a powerful way.

Daniel was in his early 90's by this time.

He was given a great deal of responsibility in the Persian kingdom, working for King Darius, who most scholars believe ruled for King Cyrus.

So what is the power tool that Daniel used so effectively?

The power tool is the tool of personal integrity.

A dictionary definition of integrity is consistency and sincerity, with no deception or pretense.

The word integrity and the maths term “integer” come from the same root word which means, whole.

In other words, there is no discrepancy between what a person of integrity appears to be on the outside and what he or she is on the inside.

He is whole, the same through and through.

People with integrity have nothing to hide and nothing to fear.

Their lives are open books.

The opposite of integrity for example, is hypocrisy.

Charles Swindoll recounts the true story of a man who went into a Kentucky Fried Chicken store to get some chicken for himself and the young lady who was with him.

She waited in the car while he went in to pick up the chicken.

Inadvertently, the manager of the store handed the guy the box in which he had placed the financial proceeds of the day instead of a box of chicken.

The manager had camouflaged the money by putting the money in a chicken box.

The man took the box, which he thought was filled with chicken, went back to the car, and drove away.

When they eventually opened the box, they discovered they had a box full of money.

Realizing the mistake, he immediately returned to the place and gave the money back to the manager.

The manager was of course elated!

He was so pleased that he told the young man to stick around…

”I want to call the newspaper and have them take your picture.

You have to be the most honest guy in town!”

“Oh no, don't do that!” said the man.

“Why not?” asked the manager.

“Well, you see I'm married and the woman I'm with is not my wife”.

As this story illustrates, on the surface individuals may look like people of honesty and great integrity, people so thoroughly honest that if they’d been given the wrong change at a supermarket check out they'd give the 50 cents back.

But underneath, it isn't unusual to find some corruption or deception.

For the follower of Jesus Christ it means there must be a congruence,

or a consistency,

between our character and our creed,

between our beliefs and our behaviour,

between our walk and our talk.

It means loving God with the totality of who we are and allowing that love and our faith to extend to the whole of our life, including our families, our community relationships, and our careers.

INTEGRITY was Daniel’s middle name.

1. Daniel’s whole life illustrates the fact that integrity shows.

Is your integrity showing?

Daniel got a high powered job because people noticed his integrity.

His walk matched his talk.

His word was his bond.

He could be trusted to be completely fair and just.

In verse 3 it said that Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the high officers by his exceptional qualities that the king placed him over the entire empire.

If we are to be effective for God in representing Him in our daily lives,

we too must strive for personal integrity.

Proverbs 20:7 says, “The righteous person leads a blameless life.”

Evangelism is living your life as a person of integrity.

Evangelism is being Christ-like in every thing you do.

When it comes to evangelism, BEING precedes doing.

In that sense, you can ALL be evangelists, and impact people’s lives for good in one way or another, just by being yourself showing integrity in all you do.

So ask yourself, what message is your life conveying to those around you?

Is your integrity showing?

2. Daniel’s life shows us that living a life of integrity does not prevent you from the unfairness of life.

Being fair with others does not mean they will be FAIR with you!

Daniel wasn't thrown into the lions' den because he had done something wrong, but because he had done something right!

He was punished for the crime of praying in the privacy of his home – very unfair!

    (Recall Dileeni's testimony..... victimisation...)

The truth is that in our fallen world things are so warped and twisted

that at times people are rewarded for doing wrong and punished for doing right!

This is hard to swallow.

Psalm 73 says,

“² But as for me, I almost lost my footing. My feet were slipping, and I was almost gone. ³ For I envied the proud when I saw them prosper despite their wickedness…. ¹³ Did I keep my heart pure for nothing? Did I keep myself innocent for no reason?  ¹⁴ I get nothing but trouble all day long; every morning brings me pain.” (Psalm 73:2-3, 13-14 )

YES, LIFE IS OFTEN UNFAIR!

No one, not even those with integrity, are exempt from tragedy and disappointment.

In fact, as the events of the first Easter remind us, even God Himself was not exempt.

Philip Yancey writes,

“Jesus offered no immunity, no way out of the unfairness of life but

rather a way through it to the other side.

Just as Good Friday demolished the instinctive belief that this life is

supposed to be fair, Easter Sunday followed with its startling clue to the

riddle of the universe. Out of the darkness, a bright light shone!” (unquote)

If you are facing unfairness, remember that Easter Sunday follows Good Friday.

Hang in there!

God will bring you through your own lions' den just as He did Daniel.

This is a very important Psalm so I am going to read a good chunk of it.

Grab hold of this…. King David in Psalm 37 said,

“ ¹ Don’t worry about the wicked
      or envy those who do wrong.
² For like grass, they soon fade away.
      Like spring flowers, they soon wither.

³ Trust in the Lord and do good.
      Then you will live safely in the land and prosper.
⁴ Take delight in the Lord,
      and he will give you your heart’s desires.

⁵ Commit everything you do to the Lord.
      Trust him, and he will help you.
⁶ He will make your innocence radiate like the dawn,
      and the justice of your cause will shine like the noonday sun.

⁷ Be still in the presence of the Lord,
      and wait patiently for him to act.
   Don’t worry about evil people who prosper
      or fret about their wicked schemes.

⁸ Stop being angry!
      Turn from your rage!
   Do not lose your temper—
      it only leads to harm.
⁹ For the wicked will be destroyed,
      but those who trust in the Lord will possess the land.

¹⁰ Soon the wicked will disappear.
      Though you look for them, they will be gone.
¹¹ The lowly will possess the land
      and will live in peace and prosperity.

¹² The wicked plot against the godly;
      they snarl at them in defiance.
¹³ But the Lord just laughs,
      for he sees their day of judgment coming.

¹⁴ The wicked draw their swords
      and string their bows
   to kill the poor and the oppressed,
      to slaughter those who do right.
¹⁵ But their swords will stab their own hearts,
      and their bows will be broken.

¹⁶ It is better to be godly and have little
      than to be evil and rich.
¹⁷ For the strength of the wicked will be shattered,
      but the Lord takes care of the godly.

¹⁸ Day by day the Lord takes care of the innocent,
      and they will receive an inheritance that lasts forever.
¹⁹ They will not be disgraced in hard times;
      even in famine they will have more than enough.

Life may be unfair.

God is always fair.

3. People of integrity know the importance of PRAYER.

Prayer was Daniel's daily habit every day, three times a day!

Perhaps he was following the example of David who wrote in Psalm 55:17,

^“17 Morning, noon, and night I cry out in my distress and the Lord

hears my voice.”

When we spend time with God we become more and more like Him.

In his book on the spiritual disciplines, Richard Foster writes,

“In real prayer we begin to think God's thoughts after Him: to desire the

things He desires, to love the things He loves. Progressively we are

taught to see things from His point of view.”

Daniel wasn't on his knees because of some tragedy or emergency.

It was his REGULAR habit.

This constant communication with God was the source of his great integrity.

How is your prayer time?

What does it take to get you on your knees?

We must learn to shut the world out and tune God in at least ONCE a day every day without fail, otherwise the things of the world will crowd God out.

Many of us claim we are too busy for daily prayer but remember that Daniel was the CEO of a huge empire.

The truth is, prayer must be a priority.

We must reorder our daily schedules around time with God.

The Devil is very good at sending emails like this:

“Dear Christian,

When you're faced with a busy day, save precious time by skipping

your devotions. Signed, Satan”

As people of integrity, we can't afford to miss regular time alone in conversation with God if we are to live lives of significance for Him.

4. ....by using the power tool of integrity you can have an amazing IMPACT on this world.

Daniel's reputation as a man of integrity gave him the opportunity to impact two great empires: the Babylonian and the Persian empires.

He also changed the course of the history of the people of God.

Remember the King's proclamation after finding Daniel unharmed the next morning? He said,

²⁵ Then King Darius sent this message to the people of every race and nation and language throughout the world:

   “Peace and prosperity to you!
²⁶ “I decree that everyone throughout my kingdom should tremble with fear before the God of Daniel.

   For he is the living God,
      and he will endure forever.
   His kingdom will never be destroyed,
      and his rule will never end.
²⁷ He rescues and saves his people;
      he performs miraculous signs and wonders
      in the heavens and on earth.
   He has rescued Daniel
     from the power of the lions.”

²⁸ So Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.^[a]

Most scholars doubt that King Darius ever became a worshiper of Yahweh but he did respect God's power so much that he later sent the Jews back to Jerusalem to rebuild their Temple.

This never would have happened if it were not for Daniel's integrity.

And note how God used even pagan kings to prosper His purposes.

Like Daniel, you too can change your world by using the power tool of integrity.

This morning is the Holy Spirit speaking to you,

urging you to be a follower of Jesus in your scope of influence?

If you haven't been living a life of integrity,

if you haven't been conducting yourself in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ... (Philippians 1:27 ) ...then it is never too late to begin to do so.

As I John 1:9 says,

“If we confess our sins God is faithful and just to forgive us

and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

The tool of INTEGRITY is a POWER tool.

It won't work without the POWER of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

It is the Kingdom of God within us, Jesus within us,

who gives us the day to day ability to live lives of integrity.

Some of us may need to rededicate ourselves to God this morning, committing to keep our relationship with Jesus strong.

And, if you don't have access to that power,

if you have never surrendered your life to Jesus Christ,

then today is a good day to do that.

Decide today to accept Christ as your Lord and Saviour.

God is speaking to you today and now is the time to respond….

“Jailhouse Rock and Roll” 17 May 2009 Acts 16:16-40

CPAC sermon “Jailhouse Rock and Roll”

17 May 2009 Acts 16:16-40

Movie called Paradise Road based on a true story from WW2 where a diverse group of women were held in a Japanese POW camp in Sumatra.

It shows the horror of war where the prisoners were treated with unbelievable brutality - beaten, starved, and forced to endure back-breaking manual labour from daylight until dusk in the hot tropical climate.

The food they were given was little more than garbage.

Their captors provided them with almost no medical supplies

and under this harsh treatment nearly half the camp eventually died.

Morale was understandably very low.

The women were sick, weak, and hungry, and had lost hope of ever being rescued.

A few months into their ordeal one of the prisoners, a Christian missionary to China, felt led to start a "vocal orchestra."

Instead of instruments, the women used their voices to "sing" the orchestral scores.

Another prisoner who had a deep love of music used any scrap of paper she could find to write the musical score.

Relying totally on memory they put the great classical works they had heard years earlier, into written form.

Then they put together a choir and arranged secret section rehearsals, since their guards forbade them to meet together for any purpose, even for religious services.

But sing they did. And very soon their singing had a powerful effect.

First, it stopped the cruel guards in their steps and from this point on most of them treated the women with greater respect.

Their singing also affected the women.

It gave them courage and purpose.

It gave them a reason to hang on.

Their music even helped those lying in the hospital - sick with dysentery or malaria.

The singing was a source of beauty and pleasure in the midst of the ugliness and pain of their existence.

They put together about 30 musical scores in the years they were there.

And in fact, all of their hand-written scores have been preserved.

This film underscores the truth that singing can indeed be a very powerful thing.

God can use it to touch us, to move us,

and to speak to us in ways that mere words don't.

The last part of chapter 16 in Acts records a time when,

much like these women,

Paul and Silas were arrested unfairly,

brutally beaten, and imprisoned.

This beating was no little thing.

The Scripture infers that they received the same kind of flogging, that Jesus did.

Their response to the pain and humiliation they were forced to endure, was to sing songs of praise to God.

And God used their singing in a very powerful way,

just as he used the singing of those brave women in the POW camp.

Philippi was where Paul and Silas ended up - it had evolved into a very "Roman" city populated with retired Roman soldiers and their families who brought with them many of the customs of Rome.

Because of this Romans back then thought of Philippi as sort of a "Rome away from Rome!"

Paul and his companions walked into this very Roman city as the first followers of Jesus Christ ever seen by anyone in that part of the world.

Paul's usual church-starting tactic was to go to the synagogue.

So, when they arrived in Philippi they inquired and discovered this city had no synagogue.

This indicates there were not many Jews living there because to have a synagogue you had to have at least ten men.

Well, Paul knew that any Jews who did live there would customarily gather near a river for prayer on the Sabbath.

So he went down to the river banks and found several women gathered for this purpose.

Their leader was named Lydia and she earned her living by selling purple cloth.

The passage of scripture tells us they encountered a slave girl who was afflicted by a demon…

Her healing (by Paul) was of course a wonderful thing!

But that was just the beginning.

Not everyone was happy about this miracle.

Angered by their sudden economic downfall, the slave girl's greedy masters roused the crowd to riot.

They wrongfully accused Paul and Silas of throwing the city into an uproar.

Paul and Silas were immediately seized, viciously beaten with rods and thrown deep into a Roman dungeon with their feet fastened in stocks.

After this beating Paul and Silas were then thrown into prison cell deep in the jail. Their legs were secured in stocks so they couldn't move-further adding to their extreme pain & discomfort.

Paul and Silas' response to their imprisonment can teach us things we need to know as we face the inevitable heartaches and tribulations of life.

In particular, what can we learn from this example of singing in prison?

Let’s call it jailhouse rock and roll, because the effect of their singing was to literally get things rocking and rolling when a massive EQ struck the prison!

1. I want to offer you two points: first, this text tells us that in order to “sing” in difficult times we must be able to SEE things other "prisoners" don't, ie. see the unseen.

Paul and Silas were wrongfully accused.

They were beaten and imprisoned within an inch of their lives.

I imagine the blood was still flowing freely down their backs since their wounds had not been treated.

They would have been very weak and growing weaker.

Then as the cold began to seep into their bones they must have listened to the scurrying rats that always plague places like that.

But instead of cursing their guards and groaning about their treatment these two began to pray and to sing out loud.

The Greek here is not translated as "prayers of petition" - you know, the type of prayer that says, "Get me out of here God!"

No, the Greek words in this scripture are translated as prayers of praise to God, like,

"God you are so good to us!

Thank you God for your great faithfulness!" and so on.

Can you imagine praying like that in a situation like that?

Prayer is only complete and meaningful when it includes praise to God, no matter what situation or issue we are praying for.

Remember when Jesus gave His followers a prayer "template" to follow?

It began and ended with praise.

Jesus said, pray something like this,

"Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name!

And end with, "For yours is the kingdom and the power

and the glory forever and forever. Amen."

Paul and Silas understood what Jesus was saying about prayer.

In spite of their situation their prayers were filled with praise.

And as they praised God, God did the same thing He did for King David:

He "...put a new song" in their mouths... "a hymn of praise to God." (Psalm 40:3)

And as they began to sing joyful songs of praise,

they turned their cold, dark cell into a heavenly sanctuary!

How were they able to sing songs of praise under those circumstances?

They understood that when a follower of Christ is in the centre of God's will, he or she is never UNDER the circumstances.

Rather, they knew that they had a loving Heavenly Father who is sovereign OVER every circumstance of life whether it’s good or bad.

Paul and Silas had enough confidence in God to know that He was still in control,

and that He could and would use even this painful, dark situation for their good and for His glory.

Charles Spurgeon once said,

"It is easy to sing when we can read the notes by daylight;

but the skilful singer is the one who can sing when there is not a ray of light to read by.

Songs in the night come only from God; they are not in the power of men."

Paul expressed this same confidence in God later in his life when he was imprisoned in Rome.

He wrote to young Timothy and said that even in the midst of suffering, (2 Timothy 1:12)

"I know whom I have believed and I am persuaded that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him for that day."

Two things were driving Paul and Silas to trust God that night:

1 they believed that God's sovereign power and knowledge were absolute. God was in control.

2 they understood that God's love for them was infinite and unconditional. God would give them the strength and fortitude to bear whatever came their way.

They had what we might call "seeing hearts".

In other words, they looked at their situation not with “physical eyes” but with the "eyes of their hearts”, or with “eyes of faith”.

These two missionaries didn't allow their circumstances to choose their attitude.

They made a conscious decision to trust God,

to praise God,

to have faith in God no matter how bad things appeared to be.

And if we are to "sing" in those times when we feel imprisoned by hardship, we must make the same attitudinal choice.

Victor Frankl was a prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II, and as such he was well-acquainted with suffering and deprivation.

He saw life at its worst.

Over the years, he observed that some of his fellow prisoners survived the horrors of prison camp while others did not and he became curious as to why this was so.

He shared his insights and conclusions in a book called

Man's Search for Meaning

He wrote,

"Everything can be taken from men except one thing: it is the last of human freedoms - the ability to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances."

Frankl was right.

Attitude is a choice.

It is a conscious decision.

We can choose to embrace an attitude of optimism or we can look at life from a pessimistic perspective.

…like the teenager who is preparing for a test.

He tells his dad, "I'm going to fail this test because I don't understand the material."

His father responds, "Son, you have to try harder. Be positive!"

"Okay," the boy replies, "I'm POSITIVE I'm going to fail this test!"

Attitude is a choice.

Like Paul and Silas always choose to look at any situation through the eyes of optimism.

This kind of optimism is not wishful thinking or naivete.

For maturing believers like Paul and Silas, this kind of optimism is based on faith, a faith that is sure and steadfast.

It's a commitment to put our trust, not in the ever-changing circumstances of life, but rather in God, who, as James 1:17 says,

"...does not change like shifting shadows."

And, one of the wonderful blessings of choosing this positive attitude is that it enables us to SEE things that other, more pessimistic people miss.

Paul referred to this in 2 Corinthians 10:7 when he said that people who don't put their confidence in Christ, "...are looking only on the surface of things."

In later years, Paul said, (Romans 8:28)

"In all things God works for the good of them who love Him,

who have been called according to His purpose."

If we are to sing in tough times and persist through those times, then we too must have that kind of confidence in God.

If you feel that you are being treated unfairly in your life right now; if your life seems like a prison, if you are going through heartache and pain, then, hear the Word of the Lord:

Trust God. He will never leave you nor forsake you.

He is truly LORD of all, even life and death itself.

So open the eyes of your heart and sing!

Secondly, when we sing in times like this the world will notice and will want to learn to SING along.

Verse 25 says that as Paul and Silas were singing, the other prisoners were listening.

They'd never heard this kind of response to their situation before.

The Greek here literally says, "They listened attentively."

Then when God miraculously responded by sending an earthquake that opened the doors and released the chains and locks from around every prisoner, well, they knew that they were part of an incredible experience.

More incredibly they didn't take advantage of the situation and run away.

The jailer thought they had all run away and was about to take his own life in desperation, but Paul was able to say, (v28)

"Don't harm yourself. We are all here."

That made the jailer ask life's most profitable question,

"What must I do to be saved?"

In other words, he said,

"Teach me to sing too!

Tell me what I need to do to sing like you?"

Ironically he was no longer the captor but captive to what his prisoners had to offer.

And he urged Paul and Silas to share the gospel with his family as well, because verse 34 says that his entire household was baptized.

Then he fed them.

Think of it as King David wrote in the 23^rd Psalm - God had truly prepared a table for Paul and Silas in the presence of their enemies!

The world needs to learn to sing our "song!"

They are listening to hear how we respond to the unfairness of life.

In the darkest times of our lives we need to be at our BEST as Christians.

There must be SINGING instead of SIGHING.

This morning let's all ask God to give us "seeing hearts."

Let us pray as the Psalmist prayed,

"God, open my eyes that I may SEE wonderful things in Your

ways." (Psalm 119:18)

"Open my eyes wide enough that I can see Your great faithfulness."

Amen….

Stephen – God’s Servant Acts 6:8-15

CPAC sermon 3 May 2009

Stephen – God’s Servant Acts 6:8-15

Last week I offered 3 key points about the importance of looking at the “original church” in the Book of Acts and using it as a model for ourselves while adapting it to suit the context in which we live today?

By looking at the original church:

Firstly, we'll have a biblical standard to follow.

That means we will operate as a church according to God's design. One of our key motivations will be to come to know God, to love God and to serve God and in so doing we will be motivated to tell others about God.

Secondly, Acts shows us that anything is possible when we are empowered by the HOLY SPIRIT.

Remember, God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supply. That supply comes from the Holy Spirit.

Thirdly, the book of Acts is unfinished!

That’s because God is not finished. He is still working in and through us, His people, His church. So WE, along with every other church, are in the process of writing the final chapter of the book of Acts.

Today I want to pick up on that second point about the importance of the Holy Spirit, using the brief life of Stephen in the book of Acts.

(Discuss “shower experience” … sometimes we get in/out of shower without thinking twice about it; other times we want to stay in hot, refreshing shower all day! Either way, the shower is the same shower and the end-result is typically exactly the same – you are well washed/refreshed ….. This is a bit like God – we can experience His presence in different ways, some ways “feeling” more powerful and significant than other ways but the reality is that one way is no less significant than the other way – God is still fully present, loving, and fully active in our lives no matter what. He is active and present by His Holy Spirit, all the time… it’s good to soak in the Holy Spirit!...)

In chapters 6 to 8 we read how Stephen was considered to be a man who was always full of God’s Spirit and therefore full of God’s grace, power, and wisdom.

This aroused the religious leaders against him and so they plotted his downfall by charging him with blaspheming Moses and even God.

In chapter 7, Stephen defends these charges by pointing to the hard-heartedness of the religious leaders and their blindness to the truth about God.

And his punch line to them is this, he says,

“Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit?” (Acts 7:51)

When we soak in the Holy Spirit…..

Spirit-filled person is someone who literally makes Jesus Saviour and LORD of their entire life – of their thoughts, their actions, their reactions.

The best way to receive more of the Holy Spirit (HS) is by lifting up Jesus!

Jesus was always quick to point to the importance of the HS.

Read John 14:16,17 - Jesus said, “Holy Spirit will never leave us,

HS lives with us, and in us…”

St. Athanasius referring to our Lord he said,

"He became what we are, that He might make us what He is."

In other words, Athanasius was saying God sent Jesus to earth as a human being to pay our sin debt so He could cleanse us of sin and then send His Holy Spirit to live in and through us-making us into truly Christlike people.

The word "Christian" literally means "little Christ."

Stephen was a “little Christ”, as we are called to be….

Acts tell us that Stephen let Jesus live in and through Him.

There are numerous parallels between Jesus and Stephen.

§ The Bible says Jesus was full of grace. It says the same thing about Stephen.

§ Jesus performed miracles. So did Stephen.

§ Jesus boldly confronted the religious establishment of the day. So did Stephen.

§ Jesus was convicted by lying witnesses. So was Stephen.

§ Jesus was executed though innocent of any crime. So was Stephen.

§ Both were accused of blasphemy.

§ Both died outside the city and were buried by sympathizers.

§ Both prayed for the salvation & forgiveness of their executioners.

How can we be ‘little Christs”?

Lee Strobel, the acclaimed author, was once an avowed atheist-but through the witness of his wife he became a Christian and he experienced the life-transforming power of God. His wife was a little Christ, he became one and his daughter became one…

He writes,

"My daughter Allison, was 5 years old when I became a follower of Jesus, and all she had known in those 5 years was a dad who was profane and angry. I remember I came home one night and kicked a hole in the living-room wall just out of anger with life.

I am ashamed to think of the times Allison hid in her room to get away from me. Five months after I gave my life to Jesus Christ, that little girl went to my wife and said,

'Mummy, I want God to do for me what he's done for Daddy!'

At age five! What was she saying? She'd never studied the archeological evidence supporting the Biblical accounts like I had.

All she knew was that her dad used to be this way - hard to live with. But now, more and more her dad was becoming different in a good way.And if that is what God does to people, then, she was saying, sign me up! At age 5 Allison gave her life to Jesus." (Unquote)

Strobel invited Jesus into his heart and his life by giving Jesus the "reigns" of his life and allowed Jesus to change him. And others noticed.

Hollywood's famous, and sometimes infamous, Baldwin brothers… > Stephen Baldwin – he became a Christian… His wife is from Central America - they hired a maid from that same region.

She didn't speak English and she sang the entire time she worked.

Baldwin didn't speak Spanish but he recognized one word that kept coming up in the songs that she sang: JESUS.

So, one day he asked his maid, with his wife translating, why she sang about Jesus all the time.

When he did this, the maid began to laugh and told Stephen and his wife that she was a Christian and that she had taken the job as his maid because she felt God had called her to do so.

She had prayed and felt God answer telling her that this job would give her an opportunity to lead Baldwin to Christ and that he would then begin his own Christian ministry.

And eventually this is what happened!

First his wife decided to follow Jesus and then a year later Baldwin became a Christian. And when that happened he took the Great Commission personally just like Stephen in Acts.

He felt, he had a realm of influence that no one else had and that this was his assignment from Jesus. That realm of influence is the film industry as we know. So one of the first things he did was use his skills to make a movie to be shown to teens who like to skateboard. The film shows them doing amazing things on skateboards but it's also filled with the testimonies of Christian teens who are themselves skateboarders.

Understand that all this is as a result of the work of the Holy Spirit.

The HS acts in exactly the same way in our lives. He will connect us with so many various life experiences and people; He will speak to us about certain situations and issues in our lives.

Have an open heart and mind when connecting with the HS.

Invite Him to speak to you and show you what you need to know.

Even this morning I awoke about 5am feeling really uncomfortable with a deep seated throbbing across the back of my shoulders. It felt like a “stress” related discomfort so I prayed about it as I lay there and do you know what the HS said to me in my thoughts, almost instantly? He said, “Water!” I immediately got up and drank a glass of water and the discomfort went within 10 minutes. I thought about that experience and I can recall past experiences where my body is affected like that when I don’t drink enough water! The HS reminded me! God knows about every aspect of our life, even the most practical things which affect us. Always be ready to ask for His help. He's a very practical, down-to-earth God!

Testimony about how Kathi Pelton heard the HS:

“My year started with a dream I had in the wee hours of New Year's day. In my dream, I was in a worship band that was playing Spirit-filled instrumental music. We were waiting for the Lord to speak to us regarding the new year. As we waited, I saw a picture of a large sunflower, pointed towards the brightness of the sunlight. As I saw this picture, I clearly heard the Lord begin to sing over His Church the song You Are My Sunshine:

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy, when skies are grey. You'll never know dear, how

much I love you. Please don't take my sunshine away..."

In this dream, I felt the Lord's delight for His children in a way I have never experienced before. As I awoke, the Lord's delight continued.

I was quite moved by this experience because when my husband and I adopted our oldest daughter, we would sing this song over her every night before putting her to bed. Just looking at her would fill us with such delight that it would often leave us in tears. We had never known such love for another human being.

This was the same delight that I felt the Lord showering over us His children. Then I heard Him speak to my spirit, saying,

"This will be a year that I express My delight for My children. I will sing over them as a Father who is filled with delight. This is how I see you, and I want you to receive like a child would receive and to believe like a child would believe. This is the year of My delight!"
Isaiah 62:3-5 says,

"You will also be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God….for the LORD delights in you….. your God will rejoice over you." (unquote)

Allow God’s light and sunshine to shine on you and His delight to be showered over you.

Expect to feel and experience His delight for you through God the Holy Spirit.

How has the HS impacted your life in recent times?

Invite people from the congregation to share their testimony….

Close….

Stephen was Spirit-filled

he took the Great Commission personally,

he was a skilled student of God's Word

he had great courage because he knew God was with him.

God favoured him highly.

Like Stephen, may the favour of Jesus be with you and may He be proud of the way YOU are serving Him now!

Amen.