This was Stephen’s dying pattern (his life end on earth) just like that of our Lord Jesus Christ and it is the divine pattern of dying on earth that all true Christians’ death is supposed to follow, committing our spirit into the Hands of our Lord at our point of death and this is only possible if the Scripture and the Gospel have tutored us enough not to fear death but to see and recognize it as a pathway that leads us to our Lord God Almighty to continue our life after death with our Lord Jesus. The whole teaching of Scripture, and particularly the Words of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospel, concerning life after death, deepens Christian confidence in God if we well understood the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are delighted in the words, ‘I go to prepare a place for you’, but Lord Jesus said something that surpasses even this as He also said: ‘In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you, I am going there to prepare a place for you’ as seen in John 14:2. Lord Jesus says, in effect: ‘If 80, 90 or even 100 years of life were all you could expect to live on earth, I would encourage you to make the most of the time you spend on this earth … but in my Father’s house….’ Take again the way both Lord Jesus and New Testament use the words ‘death’ and ‘sleep’ to describe the end of our existence here on earth. To the mourners standing around the lifeless body of a little girl, Lord Jesus said: ‘The child is not dead but asleep’ as seen in Mark 5:39. He used the same word when talking of the death of Lazarus: ‘…Lazarus has fallen asleep: but I am going there to wake him up’ as seen in John 11:11. In all of these explanations, it becomes very clear that Lord Jesus saw that man’s understanding of death is grossly wrong compared to what God actually means it to be and the role God uses it to play in the affairs of man, and also seeing that in addition to this misconception of the position and function of death in the recreative dispensation of God, man also fears death so much that if he man has his way, he will even try to avoid death which is why many people fears death and fights it whenever it comes instead of peacefully and joyfully welcoming it knowing that it is a pathway in God’s recreative processes that leads to either the place where Lord Jesus promised He goes to prepare for us (in His Father’s House) or to its opposite! Although I haven’t checked this, one commentator makes the daring assertion that in the New Testament, after Lord Jesus’ death and resurrection, it is believed that no True Christian was ever said to have died or will die; death-sleep according to our Lord Jesus Christ is safely keeping them until when He comes to resurrect them just as He came and resurrected dead Lazarus. He, this commentator claims that when man’s sin had done its utmost in nailing Christ to the tree (cross) and hiding His tortured body in a sepulcher (grave) sealed by a huge stone, man’s death-sin was still powerless to destroy the Life (God) which used His flesh. Remember the word ‘Sin unto death’, Lord Jesus proved that Death was dead –not He Lord Jesus! In other words, with His apparent death on the cross, our Lord Jesus Christ proved that He is actually LIFE that He claims while Death is the actual entity that has died, not He! Making it that Now Everything ‘in Christ’ is alive because of our Lord Jesus resurrection from death, and thus this vocabulary or Entity called Death has to be changed to fit the proven facts of our Lord Jesus’ Death and Resurrection on the Cross of Calvary. What we call ‘death’, and Lord Jesus called ‘falling asleep’, is simply the transition from one life to another –from earth’s muted colors to full glory of heaven; especially for true Christians, that is for all those who truly and sincerely believe in Him, trust in Him, rely on Him and adheres on Him and His Name! Remember that in His selection of disciples, He strongly used the word Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men for my Father’s House…to be filled with True Men instead of this counterfeit men that today fills the earth—My Father’s Garden—due to Adam and Eve’s disobedience in not following the clear true divine instructions given to them not to dabble into the forbidden fruit of the tree situated at the centre of the garden! When Adam and Eve Sinned, that is dabbled into the forbidden fruit by disobeying God’s command, it become inevitable that the earth will be peopled with a Mixture of Humans; those with the attributes of the True God and those with the attributes of the counterfeiter of God (Lucifer who is making himself God) this existence of the state of a mixture of people on earth makes it that man would no longer be able to differentiate between true man and the resembler of man which was Eve’s mistake then and even is still her mistake till date which is why you see broken homes everywhere today with the wrong people mixing with the right people on earth figured in our Lord’s parable of the Wheat and the Tares! And you remember that when His disciples asked if the tares are to be separated, He answered in the affirmative but added that the separation should not be done when both plants are still very young rather that they are better allowed to grow together until maturity when their fruits will clearly differentiate them for a better separation so that you will not mistakenly uproot a good plant thinking it is a tare or that by your process of uprooting the tare, the good plant will follow! So the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ kick-started that separation process and you saw what happened in His process of selecting disciples, when He said, have I not selected you twelve and one of you is a devil! What do you understand by that?

Now let us read Acts 7:54-60; 54 Now upon hearing these things, they [the Jews] were cut to the heart and infuriated, and they ground their teeth against [Stephen]. 55 But he, full of the Holy Spirit and controlled by Him, gazed into heaven and saw the glory (the splendor and majesty) of God, and Jesus standing at God’s right hand; 56 And he said, Look! I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at God’s right hand! 57 But they raised a great shout and put their hands over their ears and rushed together upon him. 58 Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him, and the witnesses placed their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And while they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, Lord Jesus, receive and accept and welcome my spirit! 60 And falling on his knees, he cried out loudly, Lord, fix not this sin upon them [lay it not to their charge]! And when he had said this, he fell asleep [g][in death].

In Preaching on Acts 7:54–60, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones explains that it is the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit; in other words, Acts 7 is made manifest by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit in Stephen and so it is meant to be with all of us if really we are obeying the command: go ye to the ends of the earth and spread the Gospel. It is He Lord Jesus Christ, our Risen Living Lord and Savior Who died and resurrected, Who empowers the lives and ministries of all true believers in Christ. So from here we can see that it is the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit that made the early Church in the time of the apostles so transformative and powerful. Today this same teaching of the Scripture and the Gospel as soundly given in Acts seven by Stephen is grossly diluted! When verse fifty four said, upon hearing these things, they [the Jews] were cut to the heart and infuriated,…what did the Jews hear, the sound teaching of the Scripture and the Gospel summarized for them by Stephen from verse one of Acts chapter seven to the end which is the whole Bible given to them in a glance! Do you notice that Stephen clearly understands death as a pathway leading to where Lord Jesus is, hear his dying words, ‘59 And while they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, Lord Jesus, receive and accept and welcome my spirit!’ This is exactly how Lord Jesus wants us to understand death so that we will always do the right thing by committing our spirit to be received and accepted and welcomed by our Lord Jesus before we give up our ghost, so that we will not be distracted by fear and not do the needful before we die which will be a big mistake! It seems everyone these days is comfortable with an Olaf-Jesus. Everyone likes a nice Lord Jesus who gives warm hugs and makes no demands on our lives. If you are emotionally weak and need a Lord Jesus to help you sleep at night, then so be it but keep your fairy-tale Lord Jesus to yourself. To the world, a nice Lord Jesus who makes us nice is quite nice and welcomed. But a glorious Lord Jesus who is worthy of every square inch of our lives is another matter altogether. A glorious Lord Jesus who tells you the truth, who makes you to really understand how things truly are and not fake it, and not dampen truth, and not make it sound sweet so that you will like it, and not present things to you the way you want but the way God Almighty want, you find very difficult to accept and follow! And so you create your own made lord jesus--an Olaf-Jesus so that you will be comfortable worshipping it! Which is why Joshua said, select or choose for yourself this day whom ye will worship; but for me Joshua and my household, we shall worship the Lord…! Lord Jesus is the One for whom all things exist; including you and I, the LIFE we LIVE is for Lord Jesus. All things are from Him, through Him, and to Him as seen in Colossians 1:16-17 saying ‘For it was in Him that all things were created, in heaven and on earth, things seen and things unseen, whether thrones, dominions, rulers, or authorities; all things were created and exist through Him [by His service, intervention] and in and for Him’ and He Himself existed before all things, and in Him all things consist (cohere, are held together).’ [Prov. 8:22-31]. The claim you must struggle with is this: you exist because of Lord Jesus and you exist for Lord Jesus. Your finances and your possessions exist because of Lord Jesus and for Lord Jesus. We spend and we save because of what we believe about the worth of Lord Jesus. Your sexuality exists because of Lord Jesus and for Lord Jesus. We do what we do with our bodies because of Lord Jesus and for Lord Jesus. To make the claim as clear as possible, Lord Jesus is the appropriate goal of everything you do. All things are from Him, through Him, and to Him. You do what you do because of what you believe about Lord Jesus. You see, following Lord Jesus is directly tied to worshipping Lord Jesus. You will follow Lord Jesus to the extent that you see and feel the worth of Lord Jesus. The greater His worth to you, the further and faster you will follow Him. The bigger His worth to you, the greater you allow His influence in your life. The lesser His worth to you, the more you will ignore, distain, or outright hate Him and everything about Him! This is the raw truth. The two paths of hating Lord Jesus or following Lord Jesus play out in Acts 7. Stephen is a man who saw the great worth of Lord Jesus and therefore lived a life of worshipping Him. Stephen did what he did and said what he said because he saw the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Knowing the worth of Lord Jesus and making the worth of Lord Jesus known were the driving factors in Stephen’s life and work; what about you. The council of Jewish leaders, the very men who had recently interrogated and executed Lord Jesus, were now ready to lynch Stephen for blasphemy. They heard Lord Jesus make Himself equal with God and they killed Him for it. They heard Stephen proclaim the resurrected Lord Jesus is equal God and they will kill him for it. And this exactly what is playing out to everybody who follows Lord Jesus! There are some important lessons for us to learn from Stephen’s love for Lord Jesus. Here is the first;

But why was Lord Jesus hated? Was He hated because He healed the sick and fed the poor? No. Early on John’s records this fact, “This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because not only was He breaking the Sabbath, but He was even calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God” as seen in John 5:18. Fundamentally, their hatred was religious. Lord Jesus was messing with their understanding of the Sabbath. And being more than a prophet, Lord Jesus was claiming equality with God. The fully divine Son of Man is the One Stephen preached. In the book of Psalm 82:6 it is written ‘’I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High…’’ [John 10:34-36; Rom. 13:1, 2.] Now we have been told here that the whole case for which they crucified our Lord Jesus Christ is purely religious, and if that is the case and the religious leaders know about Psalm 82:6 that God said ‘Ye are gods…’ and Lord Jesus claims that word, what is wrong with it? Did Lord Jesus then blasphemed by claiming He is God according Psalm 82:6? The answer is No! • Stephen preached Lord Jesus the Righteous One; Back up a few verses to Acts 7:52, “Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, who you have now betrayed and murdered.” The prophet Isaiah was persecuted by the Jews and Isaiah said this about Lord Jesus, ‘He shall see [the fruit] of the travail of His soul and be satisfied; by His knowledge of Himself [which He possesses and impacts on others] shall My [uncompromisingly] righteous One, My Servant, justify many and make many righteous (upright and in right standing with God), for He shall bear their iniquities and their guilt [with the consequences, says the Lord].’ as seen in Isaiah 53:11. Isaiah pointed from the past sacrifices of bulls and goats as practice in the Old Testament down to the death of the Righteous One for man’s sins as presented in the Gospel. Moses promised another prophet like himself would come and the people must listen to Him. Moses, Isaiah, and Stephen pointed men to Lord Jesus with their prophetic words and messages and even though many of these prophetic utterances have been fulfilled yet man has not changed from his iniquities and turned to Christ. Stephen points us to the Son of God who offers forgiveness of sins because He took our sins upon Himself and died our death so that we will live in Him. But we still have great difficulties with our believe and trust in Him! God help us. Here is the gospel in 1 Peter 3:18, ‘For Christ [the Messiah Himself] died for sins once for all, the Righteous for the unrighteous (the just for the unjust, the Innocent for the guilty), that He might bring us to God. In His Human body He was put to death, but He was made alive in the spirit,…’ 2 Corinthians 5:21, ‘For our sake He made Christ [virtually] to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in and through Him we might become [endued with, viewed as being in, and examples of] the righteousness of God [what we ought to be, approved and accepted and in right relationship with Him, by His goodness].’ God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. Stephen preached Lord Jesus the Righteous One who makes people righteous by taking away their sin. Lord Jesus brings divine change into the world and whosoever that believes and trust in Him will be changed to conform to His Christ. Easter 2024 has just come and gone, have you allowed Lord Jesus to effect a positive divine change in Christ in your life? If you have not please start allowing Him to change you divinely, because it takes some time to accomplish! Let us join Stephen to preach Lord Jesus to the people around us especially with our life style that has become Christly! • Preaching Lord Jesus is demanding change; These Jewish leaders, members of what is called the council, believed they were righteous. They sought to obey the Law of Moses, they tried to follow all their rigorous Sabbath rules, they offered the sacrifices of Moses that Isaiah 53 talked about, and they tithed according to their understanding of Moses’ commands of God’s Law. The problem is the law and the sacrifices pointed toward Lord Jesus and the perfect salvation He brings, but the Jewish leaders refused to listen to Moses who pointed to Lord Jesus. These Jewish leaders understood the law the way they want, they made an Olaf-Jesus out of Moses Law for themselves and we are doing the same thing today! Listening to the Gospels, we see Lord Jesus demanding that prostitutes, thieves, and hypocrites change their wrong ways and turn to Christ. Prostitutes and thieves heard Lord Jesus offer them forgiveness and they felt their need for forgiveness. They knew they needed to change and so they received Lord Jesus gladly different from the attitudes of the Jewish leaders towards Lord Jesus; in Lord Jesus is forgiveness and hope! When these religious leaders heard Lord Jesus call them white-washed tombs outwardly clean but inwardly full of dead man’s bones, they hated the idea that they needed to change and thus their hatred of Lord Jesus increased. But Lord Jesus offered to forgive them all and change them all by taking their sin and giving them His Holy Spirit. Stephen’s point is these men, the council, refused to correctly follow the law and Moses to Lord Jesus. They even refuse to follow Lord Jesus Himself when He was present with them. Here is the crossroads. If you see Lord Jesus as fully God with the authority and power to forgive sin and empower a new life of holiness that He offers-- is Great News. But if you see Lord Jesus as an imposter then His claim about your sin and His offer of a new life is at best a joke and at worst the grossest of blasphemies. Here lies the choice and the judgment and the side you choose defines who you are and how you value Lord Jesus! So it is indeed a dangerous crossroad! • Preaching Lord Jesus can produce rage; Both Lord Jesus and Stephen were calling these leaders out on their hypocrisy and lawlessness but they refuse to hear and we have a similar situation today and even a more severe situation. In verse 53 Stephen said, “You received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.” Lord Jesus offers you life with God and you reject it. It is the case that telling people the thing they love, their very way of life, is actually lawlessness produces rage. When you preach Christ who demands lawful change, do not be surprised when people rage. People will tell you, “how you dare say I am wrong, or I need to be forgiven, or I need to change, or that I am a condemned person that needs to be forgiven and to change.” But our idols of religion, wealth, sexuality, sensuality and power hungry cannot remain alongside Lord Jesus; the two does not live together. Expose some sin, preach Lord Jesus as the only righteous answer who demands change, and some people will rage. In Church, we follow a Lord Jesus who was hated because He offered to forgive and change sinners. We will be hated too when we preach Lord Jesus and call people to repent and follow Him. The reality of hatred means we need to be clear about Lord Jesus. Who are we following? Is Lord Jesus worth it? II. We follow Lord Jesus who is at the Father’s right hand: Lord Jesus is the Living Stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious as seen in 1 Pt 2:4 saying: ‘Come to Him [then, to that] Living Stone which men tried and threw away, but which is chosen [and] precious in God’s sight.’ [Ps. 118:22, Isa. 28:16.]. The natural normal thing to do by the generality of people is to reject Lord Jesus. Naturally we hate what Lord Jesus does but what Lord Jesus does is God’s perfect plan and purpose and design for man and the universe as a whole. Our greatest good is seeing Lord Jesus for Who He is. So wisdom demands that we begin to change so as to start seeing Lord Jesus for Who He is! Look with me at Acts 7:55, “But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.” • Heaven is a spiritual place and so requires the help of the Holy Spirit to see; This divine change that we require is no other thing than allowing Jesus Christ into our heart and life because it is the indwelling of Christ that brings about our divine change, our ability to see and perceive things in the spirit! One of our struggles is that we have grown up in an American culture that preaches the sufficiency and autonomy of the individual—self esteem and sufficiency—the pride thereof, that goeth before a fall! We can do anything we set our minds to, everything goes! We can build the tower of Babel and bring God down and begin to guide ourselves—we then become a mini-god to our self. We have the resources and ability to accomplish anything. But the reality is the spiritually dead cannot see the spiritual worth of Lord Jesus. Plus, physical eyes capable of only taking in physical realities, cannot see the spiritual realm. Unless spiritual beings choose to make themselves known, they will never be seen nor be recognized. Our physical eyes cannot see spiritual beings because light waves and optic nerves are not capable of taking in the spiritual. So, of course science cannot prove the existence of the spiritual. Asking science to prove the existence of the spiritual is like asking a cup measure to tell you the temperature of the sun. A cup measure can’t get to the sun and even if it did, a cup measure doesn’t have the capability to measure temperature. Acts 6:3-6 tells us that Stephen was a man full of the Holy Spirit worthy to be assigned to a business, can you be recommended in this manner on demand. It is this same fullness of the Holy Spirit in Acts 7 that enables Stephen to look into heaven and see the glory of God. Let us strive hard to live a life that will enable us to be filled with the fullness of the Holy Spirit! Now, the number of people in the Bible who God enables to see His Glory, or have a glimpse of heaven, is quite small, just a few because it takes so much divine qualification to be qualified. In the list there is Moses, Isaiah, and Ezekiel in the Old Testament. Paul talks about this vision in 2 Corinthians 12 and John gets this vision in Revelation 1. What we make of these events is this: the blessing of seeing heaven from this side of earth is extremely rare. On this rare occasion, the Holy Spirit enabled Stephen to gaze into heaven and see the glory of God and Lord Jesus standing at the right hand of God. So, Heaven is a place and Stephen is able to look into it. This point toward heaven being a place or a location that is now spiritual not physical. Our physical eyes cannot see it. So what should we do? 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 explains what we should all expect. “Though our outward self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” During these days we look to the things that are unseen. We don’t see the resurrected Lord Jesus with our eyes, but we comprehend the truth with our minds and seek the benefit by faith. We don’t see the Holy Spirit with our physical eyes; we believe He has been given to us and is empowering us. We don’t see heaven; we believe it is a spiritual place made ready for everyone who follows Lord Jesus. Today we think and understand; one day soon we will see. For a very few, a rare glimpse may be given. Today we ask for the Holy Spirit to give us the ability to look ahead at the reality to come. We ask the Spirit to help us believe and we ask the Spirit to help us when we doubt. We need the Spirit’s help to see Lord Jesus. Here’s our next fact about heaven: • Heaven is a spiritual place where the glory of God and Lord Jesus currently dwell; Stephen sees Lord Jesus who is equal with God. This is why the council rages and the people kill Stephen. Stephen claims to see a fully divine Son of Man that stands as an equal with the glorious God. The people want to kill Stephen for this claim. Connect what Stephen sees in verse 55 to what he says he sees in verse 56. He sees the glory of God and Lord Jesus at God’s right hand. He says he sees the Son of Man at God’s right hand. Stephen sees the fulfillment of the prophet Daniel’s promise. Daniel 7, Daniel saw one like a Son of man who is given an everlasting dominion, an indestructible kingdom, and the worship of the nations. This is the final straw. When Stephen claims Lord Jesus is the Daniel 7 Son of Man the people scream, plug their ears, and rush Stephen. Why is this such a big deal? I could stand on the street corner and proclaim that Kobe Bryant is the son of man and no one would care because the title son of man means nothing to our culture. In Stephen’s day, this title Son of Man was everything. The people were looking for the Messiah, the deliverer, the Son of man. For Stephen to say Lord Jesus is the Son of Man and these guys killed him is an unbearable offense. According to the council, Stephen is claiming too much of Lord Jesus and must be stopped. What Stephen sees is an infinitely worthy Lord Jesus. Stephen sees Lord Jesus who has received an indestructible kingdom, an everlasting dominion, and the worship of the nations. Stephen saw the sovereign Lord Jesus at the Father’s right hand. Stephen saw Lord Jesus worth dying for. Knowing the place and rule of Lord Jesus gave Stephen boldness and courage. • Stephen saw the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God; Now this is curious because every other reference to the Son of Man at God’s right hand has the Son of Man seated (Ps 110:1; Mt 26:24; Eph 1:20; Col 3:1; Rev 14:14). So, when Lord Jesus said, “from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the power of God and coming with the clouds of heaven” the council raged. (Mk 14:62; Lk 22:69). Why then does Stephen see the Son of Man standing? I believe Lord Jesus is standing looking on and caring for Stephen in his final hour. Our King is not cold and aloof eating grapes in a palace somewhere out there. Our King is a shepherd who cares for each sheep. The Shepherd is standing caring for and receiving His precious sheep. Will we receive the same vision as Stephen? Probably not. We likely won’t see the spiritual with our physical eyes. In the moment of dying we likely will not see Lord Jesus standing at the Father’s right hand. But immediately after our physical death, when the body goes cold and the soul goes to be with the Lord, we will see Lord Jesus at the right hand of glory. Think on these things today, believe them, grab onto them by faith. Soon your faith will become sight. Ok, let’s follow Stephen’s journey home.

Let’s do a quick recap • These Jews understood that Stephen was making Lord Jesus equal with God; It is not Stephen’s tone of voice that is hard to hear. The content of Stephen’s preaching is unbearable. The customs of the day demanded that the blasphemer should be stopped with stones and listening ears should be protected from hearing such awful words. Stephen’s vision of the resurrected Lord Jesus standing by the glory of God was unbearable to the people. So, verse 58, “they cast him out of the city and stoned him.” Death for blasphemy. I want to note at this point that this is another Trinitarian passage. We see the Holy Spirit on earth filling Stephen, and we see Lord Jesus and God as equals in heaven. The Jews understood what Stephen was saying. Do we? They understood Stephen was preaching Lord Jesus as the Son of Man. • Stephen was killed for preaching Lord Jesus the Son of Man; Remember what Daniel said about the Son of Man. The Son of Man has an everlasting dominion, a kingdom that will not be destroyed, and to Him belongs the worship or service of the nations. There is nothing better or stronger than Lord Jesus. There is no one bigger or stronger than Lord Jesus. The kingdom of the Son of Man is worth losing everything to gain. Stephen saw Lord Jesus clearly and so was willing to die to make Him known. The point is, it is not enough to love Lord Jesus in your home. We must get out in the world and proclaim the Lord Jesus of infinite worth. We must preach the good of Lord Jesus and call people to follow Him. We must commit ourselves to the care of our Shepherd. Stephen shows us how to do this in our deaths. • Stephen committed his spirit to God; In verse 58 we are introduced to a man named Saul. This is preparing us for the conversion of this hypocrite into a humble and bold follower of Christ. Stephen’s death points us to the fruit of Saul’s conversion. Verse 59, “And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’” Just as Lord Jesus died committing His spirit to His Father in Luke 23:46, so now Stephen commits his soul to Lord Jesus. This also proves Lord Jesus’ equality with God. We are to pray to Lord Jesus as we pray to God. We are to commit our souls to Lord Jesus as Lord Jesus committed His soul to God. The Father and the Son are different persons but possess the same deity. Think on this with me, everyday living is practice for the moment of dying. The person who commits her body and soul to Christ everyday will have little trouble committing body and soul to Lord Jesus at her death (Rom 6). Finding Lord Jesus trustworthy today will lead you to find Lord Jesus trustworthy at your death. Make it a practice when you wake in the morning to pray, “Lord Jesus today I commit myself to you, lead me and keep me.” When you come to die pray, “Lord Jesus I commit myself to you, lead me and keep me.” Lord Jesus is worthy. Lord Jesus has conquered death. Lord Jesus is fully God. He can be trusted. Like Stephen, we must commit ourselves to Christ and like Stephen, we must love our enemies. • Stephen loved his enemies; Lord Jesus died committing His soul to the Father. Stephen died committing his soul to the Son of Man. Lord Jesus died praying the Father would forgive His executioners (Lk 23:34). Look how Stephen died. Acts 7:60, “And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them.’” Stephen is the winsome radical. Yes, he cared for the widows and the poor. Yes, he healed the sick. Yes, he preached the everlasting dominion, eternal kingdom, and infinite worth of Lord Jesus. He called out sin and pulled no punches. And in all of this his desire is for his neighbors, even his enemies, to find forgiveness in Christ. Stephen preached boldly and loved deeply. Stephen died following Lord Jesus seeking to make Lord Jesus known. This must be our goal. • You must decide to follow Lord Jesus; Church listen to Lord Jesus, He is demanding change. The way we are using our bodies, our minds, and our souls must follow the ethics of Lord Jesus’ kingdom. Seeing Lord Jesus’ worth, we must leave all other claims behind and worship Him with our lives. And following Lord Jesus starts with repentance and faith. We have turned away from God and gone our own way. Lord Jesus knows us, He died knowing we run away! He also died because He wants us to return to His care. Lord Jesus is the way back to God, not our works. And praise God there is no bait and switch in the kingdom. Leaving our ways behind will be hard, giving up your identity and your ways is no easy decision. But leaving our ways behind for Lord Jesus’ kingdom is the best decision. Like Stephen, Jim Elliot died to make Lord Jesus known. Jim Elliot said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” Lord Jesus is better. His kingdom is infinite. Let’s go to Him and commit ourselves to Him. We can trust Him with our bodies and souls.