Truth Matters - Live Life to the Full: Be Spirit-Filled! - Peter Tanchi

though i walk through the valley of the dark shadow of death i will fear no evil for you are with me your rod and your staff they comfort me good afternoon i'm aggie sartu very blessed wife to a wonderful man pastor ricky sartou in may in may 2003 i had to go through a modified radical mastectomy i had a 10.5 cm mega-sized malignant tumor the cancer also had spread to my bones and i was diagnosed with stage four breast cancer this tragic diagnosis required a very aggressive medical intervention including 18 weekly chemo sessions and roughly 30 days of radiation i did not understand why i had cancer since i lived a happy and clean life i truly wish god had given me a lighter sentence but his greater plan for me was to experience him even through sickness and suffering he is indeed the god of all comfort and the god of how much more my christian oncologist told me aggie i'm a good doctor and i will care for you but i'm only a doctor you are stage four only god can heal you as i faced my mortality i found great comfort in jeremiah 29 11 to 12. for i know the plans i have for you says the lord plans to prosper you and not to harm you plans to give you a hope and a future then you will call on me and come and pray to me and i will listen to you at that time the lord had asked me aggie will you give me your hopes will you give me your plans will you give me your dreams will you give me your fears everything and so i told jesus lord yes lord have your way with me be glorified in my cancer but please make me pretty so i can also reflect your glory the lord reminded me that while he chooses my circumstances i get to choose my response so he led me to habakkuk 3 17. though the fig tree doesn't blossom though there are no fruits in the vine though the yield of the olives should fail and the feeds produce no food though the flock should be cut off from the fold and there will be no stop cattle in the stalls yet i will exalt you lord so i made a firm resolve to be joyful regardless regardless of my terminal condition i held on to the promise in philippians 4 6-7 which says do not be anxious for anything but in prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to god and the peace of god that transcends all understanding will guide you your heart and mind through our lord jesus christ i didn't go through any depression that hits every almost every cancer patient yes i experienced unexplainable peace and joy during those chemo treats and i sometimes call them my lethal injections my stormiest chemo days were my best times with jesus i had to be isolated from the rest of humanity because of my very poor immune system so for months the lord and i had very long walks and talks and i would play praise music the whole day and just simply rest in his arms but there were times of extreme nausea and i would earnestly pray to jesus lord do not allow me to vomit my husband has not had any sleep we only have one bed i can't mess it up please quiet my stomach and comfort me in your embrace it didn't really matter anymore at that time where i will wake up with my husband or with you lord miraculously i'm able to rest and sleep even at the height of pain and there was no vomiting indeed his mercies are new every morning i wake up refreshed and renewed thanking and praising jesus that i'm still alive thank you jesus for another day to serve you my weekly chemo track to the hospital had been very physically difficult and also emotionally challenging many times i would hear a fellow patient dying i found myself kneeling and asking god lord am i next as i open the bible jesus would give me his loving and assuring words of comfort in psalm 91 14 to 16 and he says because he loves me says the lord i will rescue him i will protect him for he acknowledges my name for he will call me and i will answer him and i will be with him in trouble i will deliver him and honor him with long life i will satisfy him and i will show him my salvation it has almost been 16 years since i was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer the lord healed me and even reversed my bone lesions but the best part about cancer is that it now gives me a wonderful platform to share god's good news of salvation and talk about his faithfulness in almost all training programs that i handle we now have a thriving ministry called life to the max weekly the mission of life to the max is to bring comfort and hope to those who are afflicted with cancer and other chronic degenerative diseases indeed there's hope in the big sea because the real big sea is not cancer it's christ in you and in me thank you lord jesus for allowing me to see beyond the temporal and stretching my faith to experience the eternal all glory hope honor and praise to jesus our lord and savior what a joy it is to be back and i want to share with you a continuation of the book of acts it is so important if you don't mind let's have a quick review okay what is the theme of the book of acts everybody together the continuing work of jesus through the holy spirit in the lives of the apostles and his people in other words as i told you from day one the book of acts has no ending if you read it because the end of the book of acts is not yet written it's being written by you being written by me because god is still working today in the lives of these people through the holy spirit what is the theme verse the key verse in the book of acts everybody is acts 1 8. let's read this together you'll receive power when the holy spirit has come upon you and you shall be my witnesses both in jerusalem judea samaria even to the remotest part of the earth so you are introduced to the most important power that's available the power of the holy spirit jesus right now comes into your heart through the holy spirit if you are not clear about the holy spirit get our video i give lessons on the holy spirit today we will continue our series on the book of acts but i have a special topic within the book of acts chapter 6. can you guess what it is it's about stephen the first martyr why do we call stephen the first martyr the word martyr simply means witness but how come he was the first martyr because in the new testament when you witness for jesus you eventually end up dying let me repeat when you witness for jesus you end up being killed that's how bad it was today when you witness for jesus what's the worst what's the worst people may laugh at you people may distance themselves from you that's the worst yes or no in the philippines now in other parts of the world i agree martin is still in effect in some parts of the world you may not die but you go to jail so today's topic is very important to me is live your life let's read this together live life to the full be spirit filled what does it mean when you say live life to the full does it mean you have a long life because stephen had a short life probably only at the age of 29 he died we don't exactly know what age but his scholars like to tell us he was young so he lived a short life but did he but was his life full was his life full yes or no i want to tell you how do you decide whether your life is full or not it depends on your understanding of what life is all about i love this quotation by lillian dixon she's a missionary everybody let's read this together life is like a coin you can spend it anyhow you wish but you can spend it only once in simple english you have only one life you can do whatever you want to do with your life today devote your life to anything you want but just remember you have only one life so how do we decide whether your life is full or not well let me share with you another amazing author i usually call him when i give a funeral service let's do this together the reality about death has an amazing power of altering what a man desires because death profoundly affects his outlook what do i mean i remember years ago when i visited the ccf member in medical city he had cancer and he knew he was dying the wife requested me to see him and when i talked to him he said peter i'll show you something he got out of his bed and he showed me through the window his house in valle verde i believe it was four or three i don't exactly remember but he said peter do you see these houses apparently he owns many houses he said i will trade them just for me to live longer i said why do you want to live longer and then i didn't realize he talked to my wife i was not there anymore when he talked to my wife because my wife was with his wife the wife was a very faithful member of ccf she loved the lord but the husband did not live in accordance with the ways of the lord and this is what he told my wife he said should god grant me more years i will devote my life to bringing all my friends to hear the gospel to impact lives he said i wish i can be like your husband impacting lives would you believe it god granted him i believe two more years in those two years he began to invite all of his drinking barkadas all of his friends nightclub friends drinking barcado's friends and they came many of them came to jesus how do i know because during the week service they showed up and they told us the impact of this man's life my friend death has an amazing power to help you realize what is important and what is not important but this is our problem can i tell you our problem as edna has shared let's read this together it says it's terrible to realize that you don't learn how to live until you're ready to die then it's too late you know what she's saying ladies and gentlemen i've been to so many funeral services many hospital visitation and i wanted to listen to this carefully if you know that you have one month to live are you not thinking if the doctor tells you i'm really sorry you have one month to live i can almost guarantee you you will not quarrel with your wife regarding the food regarding the color the curtains you will not focus on things that are not important yes or no you know why because when you're about to face eternity you're about to say goodbye to this life what is important becomes very clear so my advice to you is this what is important to you today i cannot dictate that it depends on your purpose because your purpose determines your values if the purpose of my life is to be pleasing to god my values will be different my priorities will be different but if the purpose of my life is such that it's about money it's about reputation and then my priorities will be different i want you to look at the life of stephen what can we learn from stephen because i believe god made sure this is written in the bible to speak to you and to me today stephen live an amazing life short but full let me introduce you to this man one more time the first encounter we have with stephen is when he was chosen select from among you seven men of good reputation everybody read full of the spirit so stephen has a qualification that enabled him to serve god let's read this together they chose stephen together a man full of faith and of the holy spirit once you begin to understand the importance of the holy spirit you will begin to appreciate god's love for you and for me god made sure that the holy spirit will be in your heart to guide you to decide what is important and to give you power to do what he wants you to do the last part of stephen's life the last part you will see how is described again full of the holy spirit so let's look at the last part of his life being full of the holy spirit stephen full of the holy spirit set up with me full of the holy spirit he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of god and jesus is standing at the right hand of god i want you to underline the word standing in your bible standing at the right hand of god and i'll tell you later on why and he said behold i see the heavens open and the son of man is standing at the right hand of god why is that so important before i tell you why it is so important let's read the next verse how he died the bible tells us they went on stoning stephen as he called on the lord by the way the word stephen means from the greek word stephanos crown the bible talks about two kinds of crowns in the greek language diadema diadem and stefanos this word picture of stephen is very appropriate because stefanos is a crown that you earn it's not given because of inheritance the other word for crown diadema is something you inherit your father is a king so you are now the prince that is not the word for crown use for the word stephen stephen means what a crown that he earned by the holy spirit let's continue reading he this is what he said lord receive my spirit then falling on his knees he cried out with a loud voice notice make sure everybody will hear lord do not hold this sin against them having said this he fell asleep how can a man who has been stoned to death by people who don't like him how can you pray for such people lord forgive them you can never do that apart from the holy spirit now why did jesus stand up when stephen was dying let me tell you in the bible you will see jesus always seated not standing when the lord jesus had spoken to them here is he was received into heaven and sat down at the right hand of god luke 22 example from now on the son of man will be seated at the right hand of the power of god colossians where christ is seated at the right hand of god hebrews but he having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time sat down at the right hand of god these are just example verses my point is this every time you read the bible jesus is seated how come when stephen died he was standing can i tell you i believe jesus was giving stephen a standing ovation jesus is saying stephen you are most welcome you stand up only if you ask me my experience when i have dinner with my friends when you see somebody important what do you do you stand up you stand up because the person coming is very important i believe when stephen was about to enter heaven jesus made sure stephen will see him and he said stephen good job come welcome home my friend that's my prayer that at the end of my life when i enter heaven jesus will welcome me and say well done good and faithful servant my question is this will jesus stand up when you see him someday friends live your life to the full there's only one way got to be controlled by the spirit when somebody says this man is full of anger what is he saying that man is controlled by temper when somebody says you see this guy he's full of himself in tagalog mahangian in english lots of air now people who is full of self he's always thinking of himself when he attends a wedding party he wants to be the bride or the groom when he attends a funeral service he wants to be the center of attention he wants to be in the casket i mean i mean there are some people like that you fools you know whatever you're full of what stephen was full of the holy spirit controlled by the spirit and my friend this is something so crucial you can never live your life to the full and live your life in such a way that's pleasing to god apart from being controlled by the spirit of god day by day so to be controlled by the spirit of god is a daily choice daily you come to jesus and you say lord jesus i surrender my life to you and that means to surrender your life to jesus implies the following number one you're admitting you cannot live the christian life in your own strength number two you are admitting that you are going to entrust everything to jesus that you surrender everything to jesus how many of you saw the movie captain marvel raise your hand you see i did not see the movie however i know the story and i plan to see it okay in that movie according to the movie this captain marvel this girl has amazing power but she cannot express and experience her full power until something is removed from her is that true you know i realize you guys have the power because the holy spirit is in you but something has to be removed for the holy spirit to take full control can i tell you what is nothing only you know for some of you it is sin for some of you it's an idol it's a relationship that god is telling you this relationship is causing you to sin surrender it for some of you maybe it's money for some of you maybe it's a career i don't know what it is but until you surrender everything you will not be controlled by the holy spirit are we communicating so let me share with you the life of stephen so you will learn what it means to be controlled by the holy spirit you'll notice number one by the way when i meet you next sunday when i see you next sunday i'm gonna speak here again one more sunday next sunday by the way you pray for us okay we are going to the holy land soon in the meantime what's the title today live life to the full be spiritual can you turn to your neighbor tell your neighbor live life to the full i don't know some of you are not obeying me turn to your neighbor tell your neighbor live life to the full be spirit filled okay only one life remember live life to the full don't waste your life be spirit filled what does it mean to be full ah depends on your theology let's find out stephen stephen in chapter 6 full of grace and power was performing great wonders and signs among the people the first thing you will notice when you are filled with the spirit of god you are like jesus full of grace then power power is manifested in many ways sometimes god allows you the amazing power to heal to pray for the sick in christian community today you have two extremes two extremes one group all you do is emphasize signs and wonders that's all they do they emphasize science and wonders missing the whole point for some people they totally don't believe in science and wonders they think it is a cis friend no i believe in signs and wonders i believe god is still at work but the emphasis of the spirit filled life is christ's likeness grace power to do what is right for example we just came from a gathering of christian leaders in texas this is a gathering of church leaders all over the world and they shared with us what god is doing among muslims i was surprised to hear the 70 of all muslims who are being baptized today in that part of the world are muslims who have seen signs and wonders let me give an example one of my friend who is the pastor of one of the biggest church in europe was always praying for muslims they don't know how to reach them but because of the isis phenomena because of what's happening to syria and other people muslims fled they ran away and went to europe remember and he said christianity in europe has changed because evangelical churches have welcomed the muslims but how are they evangelized science and wonders let me give example this muslim had dreams every night he dreamt of people raising their hands he saw a particular picture people raising their hands every night consecutively so he said i got to look for this place now this guy is not a christian so what did he do he took a train and when he get out of when he got out of the train somebody stopped him sir you stop too late you go back it's the next stop it is the stop before this one you're looking for a place you go back so you took another train to go back to the stop before the stop and when he went down he asked the people where is this place where people are raising their hands you see my friend is the pastor of one of the biggest churches in that area and the friend said oh there's only one place if you want to see raising your hands so they pointed him there when he went in my friend was preaching like jesus said i am the way now many times muslims will have dreams they will see a bright light the shape of a man and then the voice will come out i am the way that's all they hear anyway in this story he wondered and when he went inside he was shocked everything that he saw the decoration the shape of the building was exactly like his dream so when the invitation came he only went there for the last part those of you who would like to surrender your life to jesus he immediately surrendered his life to jesus my friend is god at work today yes god is at work all over the place and you guys have no idea what he's doing i have many many countless stories but one thing i can tell you god is alive the holy spirit is at work but in the case of stephen because god was using him you need to understand one principle just because you are obeying the holy spirit does not exempt you from problems let me repeat the holy spirit fit life does not mean you have no problems but you have power to face those problems this is so important when i teach young people today i was teaching a group of not so young people but young believers last thursday night i told them you are going to encounter problems and sometimes your prayers may not be answered and sometimes you may have sickness but don't ever give up because god is in the midst of your problems let me repeat everybody are you listening to me just because you have problems does not mean god does not love you but one thing you are sure if you walk in the holy spirit you obey him he gives you the power to face those problems and god's amazing reasons why you are having those problems i may not always know why but he wants to mold your character he wants to build your faith so what happened to stephen the bible tells us some men from what was called the synagogue of the freedmen including sirenians alexandrians cilicia and asia rose up and argued with stephen but they were not able to cope with the wisdom and the spirit with which he was speaking in other words he experienced opposition who are the people who are called freedmen the word freedmen that's where you are the word libertines they were given freedom by the roman government these are jews but for some reason they were given their freedom so they are called freedmen and these freedmen are all over these are from africa this is from africa alexandria is from egypt africa and this is from asia cilicia turkey asia in other words different people began to argue with stephen and you know what happened stephen full of the holy spirit was given wisdom and they could not argue with him and because they could not argue with him they secretly induced men to say we have heard him speak blasphemous words against moses and against god in other words they invented things in order to destroy stephen and they stirred up the people the elders the scribes and they came to him and drug ladies and gentlemen drugged him and brought him before he comes here now be honest with me if you are stephen and you are preaching the word of god and they start dragging you how would you feel be honest with me you feel good or feel bad i think you will feel bad and i think the first thing you will ask is lord why is this happening to me lord if you love me i'm serving you why is this happening to me you know what they did they put forward false witnesses who said this man incessantly speaks against this holy place and the law we heard him say that this nursery in jesus remember stephen was preaching about jesus will destroy this place and alter the customs which moses handed down to us there were two major accusations against stephen first is stephen you are speaking against the temple number two you are speaking against the law of moses now why are these serious charges let me tell you why these are serious charges because for the jewish people the holy place the temple is the most important place because for the jews god told moses and god told the old testament prophets this is the place where you need to worship me the temple so they worship the temple temple became so important to them it is the most important thing so they accuse jesus of saying destroy this temple in three days i will build it now let me ask you did jesus say that yes or no yes the answer is yes and no was there accusation about jesus correct did jesus speak against the law of moses answer yes and no he did not speak against but he spoke about something different about the law and the temple let me give you example according to jesus jesus said destroy this temple in three days i will raise it up the jews then said it took 46 years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three days she didn't get it but he was speaking of the temple of his body you see jesus was talking about his body but the only thing of the physical temple no wonder after this verse the bible tells us when jesus rose again from the dead his disciples remembered that he said this they believed the scripture and the word of jesus you see when jesus died and rose again the disciples realized okay that was what jesus was talking about three days and i raised up again and then they remembered remember what jesus said everybody read do nothing i came to abolish the law or the prophets i did not come abolish but fulfilled you see jesus never spoke against the law but he is saying i am the fulfillment of the law romans chapter 10 verse 4 christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes you must understand the old testament all the laws of moses including the temple all eventually points to jesus jesus is a fulfillment of the law example in the old testament how can your sins be forgiven you offer animal sacrifices you offer burnt offering you offer sin offering you offer guilt offering and the animal must be remembered without blemish you must put the blood in the doorpost in the passover and then in the temple you must spread the blood or over the altar remember jesus is saying i am the ultimate sacrifice you don't need to do that anymore see they misunderstood jesus and because of that it was a very serious crime against stephen and stephen something happened fixing their gaze on stephen all who were sitting in the council saw his face like the face of an angel now be honest with me if you were members of the sanhedrin the council the leaders and you see stephen talking about jesus and suddenly you see his face like an angel tell me what will you do honestly most of us will say perhaps he's telling the truth yes or no you say you know god is confirming his presence but you know this is what i've discovered only god can change the hearts of people no matter what miracle no matter what signs if the heart of men the hearts of men can be so stubborn that no matter what you cannot change them so may i suggest follow my advice when i teach the bible when i preach about jesus i cannot force anybody to believe my prayer is god through his spirit will speak to your heart like today when i give a message i know for a fact it is not me that's going to touch your heart it's going to be the holy spirit this will help you relax and talk about jesus with your friends you want your life to count yes or no well decide for yourself what is important what is not and only the holy spirit can make you decide what is important what is not important so be filled to live life to the full what must you do be filled with the holy spirit say that with me live your life with the fool what must you do be filled with the spirit so the high priest us are these things so are these things so and then this is what happened god jesus won the disciples jesus said someday when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities do not worry don't worry what you're going to say he said the holy spirit will teach you that very hour so when stephen was put in front of all of those scholars all of those leaders he was relaxed you know why god gave him wisdom and this is how he began everybody read his defense hear me brethren and fathers the god of glory appeared to our father abraham when he was in mesopotamia before he lived in harem acts chapter 7 from verse 2 up to the end is the longest sermon recorded in the bible given by stephen let me break this down because of time i you we have read the sermon a while ago did you understand the sermon is the history of the jewish people but he highlighted the following the following individuals stephen in defense of the accusation against the he's attacking the temple and attacking the law of moses he gave this amazing sermon highlighting the history with four particular individuals abraham joseph moses david what is so unique about this story let me tell you when it comes to when it comes to abraham the jewish people all know that abraham was the father of their faith so he began with abraham what was stephen trying to say stephen was trying to say when god called abraham in mesopotamia you don't have the temple yet when god called abraham you don't have the law of moses yet in other words stephen is saying god is so mighty that you don't put him in a box you don't put god in a temple and confine him in the temple because even before the temple god was active comprende then he talked about joseph where was joseph egypt again stephen was saying god was active in egypt there was no temple there was no jerusalem let me give example now now that you are getting the relief the drift of the message you need the holy spirit to have insights the insights of stephen you see stephen said example number one abraham god told abraham leave your country and your relatives and come into the land that i'll show you he left the land of the chaldeans and settled in heran from there after his father died god had him moved to this country in which you are now living listen to me what stephen wanted them to do is this you need to respond like abraham while god is so powerful god is omnipresent omnipotent but look at abraham abraham listened to god and he obeyed god comprende stephen wanted people to know your responsibility is don't put god in a box but when god speaks to you you better listen and obey and he said abraham obeyed the same thing with joseph he's saying joseph was in egypt god was with him god is not confined in the temple god rescued him god granted him favor and wisdom and god made him governor now they all knew i mean these are bible scholars they know the story of joseph but how did joseph respond by faith and obedience what's my proof because when joseph refused to commit pre-marital sex when joseph refused to commit adultery that was the time that they maligned him remember mrs potiphar lied about joseph put him in jail if you are joseph what will you be thinking you know joseph could have given up on god lord i decided to be holy i wanted to follow you and look at me i am now in jail where are you god but most but joseph didn't do that stephen wanted the people to know god is active in egypt not confined to the temple and joseph responded in faith next you have moses no he devoted the longest time in moses you know why let's find out about moses moses was educated in all the learning of the egyptians he was a man of power in words and deeds moses was educated in the most advanced school of his time wow the hard word of his days and then the bible tells us but when he was approaching the age of 40 it entered his mind to visit his brethren what stephen did was to divide the life of moses into three parts first 40 years in egypt he thought the people knew that god is going to use him to save them but the people didn't believe him the people turned around in fact they mocked him they said they said to moses who made you a ruler and a judge over us you do not mean to kill me as you killed the egyptians yesterday at this moment at this remark moses fled and became an alien in the land of media so moses for the next 40 years he was in the land of media do you understand moses life first 40 years in egypt he thought they knew he is going to deliver them but what did god do god got him out of egypt to go her to the wilderness what did moses do in the wilderness for 40 years he was a shepherd you know what he heard every morning moses was a man powerful in words and did he was a prince but the next 40 years he was a nobody after 40 years had passed an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of mount sinai and i'm going to bring some people to mount sinai next week that's where we will go and the bible tells us in the flame of a burning thorn bush when moses saw it he marveled at the sight and he approached closely now what happens you will now begin to see stephen is telling his people is telling the jewish people do not confine god in jerusalem do not confine god in the temple because god is sovereign he can walk any way he wants to and the bible tells us god spoke to moses everybody read i am the god of your fathers the god of abraham isaac and jacob moses with fear would not venture even the look but the lord said to moses take off the sandals from your feet for the place on which you are standing is holy ground you know what stephen is saying don't put god in the box don't confine god in the temple the temple does not contain god you need to understand every sunday when you come to ccf this is not the church this is the place where the church gathers you are the temple of god the holy spirit dwells in your heart so when we come together on sunday ccf center is a place where god's people gather but ccf center is not the church do you understand what i'm saying this is only a building this is a place where god's people gather so my friend you are the church wherever you are god is in you you represent the lord stephen wanted all of these religious leaders to realize the temple cannot contain god god cannot be confined to a place having said that now you begin to understand his logic the next four years this man led them performing wonders and signs in the land of egypt in the red sea in the wilderness for 40 years so the life of moses is very simple stephen is saying god called moses on his own initiative you see god is a program he called abraham he called joseph he called moses to accomplish one thing everything points to jesus you won't get it if i don't show this to you what is my point most amazing thing this is the moses who said the sons of israel everybody read god will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren this is the same quotation if you go back to acts chapter 3 where the apostle peter uses it is referring to jesus peter is saying moses is saying someday a prophet will come ex-black me he is referring to who jesus and the bible tells us stephen full of the holy spirit knew what to do then he highlighted david he said david found favor in god's side and asked that he might find a dwelling place david wanted to build a temple remember and god told david david you are not going to be the one it's going to be solomon however the most high does not dwell in houses made by human hands in short you see the message of stephen moses we begin with abraham god called abraham not in jerusalem not in the temple god called joseph not in jerusalem not in the temple in egypt god spoke to moses not in the temple not in jerusalem in the wilderness david built the temple but he knew the temple cannot contain god it's just a symbolic place and ladies and gentlemen if you study the temple and you study the law of moses everything points to who jesus and when they heard this stephen make sure they understand let's read this together you men who are stiff-necked what is stiff neck in tagalog stiff neck and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the holy spirit you are acting like your fathers and then he made a very serious accusation this time it was stephen speaking the truth with courage stephen said which one of the prophets did your father not persecute they killed those who had previously announced the coming of the righteous one referring to jesus whose betrayers and mothers you have now become you who received the law as ordained by angels and yet did not keep it you keep accusing me of attacking the law you are the one who violated the law thou shalt not commit murder you are the one who murdered jesus and my goodness when stephen gave his defense guess what happened when they heard this they were cut to the quick they began gnashing their teeth they became so angry and the bible tells us stephen full of the holy spirit gets intended into heaven and saw the glory of god did you know why god appeared to stephen i really believe at the moment of death especially for god's people your experience an amazing comfort an amazing peace that i cannot explain because god will take care of you god took care of stephen god told stephen i'm with you and the bible tells us they cried out with a loud voice they stoned him but notice the last sentence and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named so here you are introduced for the first time soul because later on you will learn how he became a christian but as of now saul persecuted stephen they went on stoning stephen he called on the lord and said lord jesus receive my spirit the certainty of salvation lord jesus received my spirit do you recall when jesus died on the cross what was his prayer exactly the same father into thy hand i commit my spirit stephen the same thing and then how did jesus pray father forgive them they know not what they do how did stephen pray he prayed exactly the same he said do not hold this sin against him and then he fell asleep you see for god's people they die very well the people of god and the people of the world do not die the same way let me give you examples as we close on how people who don't know god die this is a compilation i don't have all the time to share with you how people die those who do not know the lord example joseph stalin stalin did not believe in god even though he grew up from a christian background look at how he died my father died a difficult and terrible death at what seemed the very last moment he suddenly opened his eyes and cast a glance over everyone in the room it was a terrible glance insane or perhaps angry and full of fear of death people who don't know the lord don't die well they die in fear voltaire the famous guy who attacked christians in the bible notice how he died before he died look at his confession i am abandoned by god and man i shall go to hell what about men of god how do they die do i el mudi before he died this is what he said earth recedes heaven opens i've been through the gates don't call me back if this is death it's a sweet it's sweet dwight irene i see the children's faces you see dwight and irene are his grandchildren the grandmother of diana before she died stood up on her bed and she told her family members before she died i see jesus i see my daughter i see my son i'm coming home i have countless stories to tell you people of god when you're about to die you have amazing peace but my question to you is this today are you sure are you sure when you die you'll be with jesus until you surrender all i guarantee you you will never have peace let me repeat if there is sin in your life if there is unsurrendered areas in your life it can be money it can be relationship until you surrender all listen to me you will not have real peace you know why because the spirit of god can only take over when you surrender all either jesus is lord of all or he's not lord at all and i praise god that today you are learning how to live to the full how what must you do be spirit filled resolve never to do anything which i would be afraid to do even the last hour of my life ladies and gentlemen let us live life to the full be controlled by the spirit of god and a life to the full cannot be discovered many times while you're still alive let me repeat a life to the full is not always determined by people who are alive only god knows whether your life is full or not you do not see the impact of your life just be faithful to with god walk with him and many times people will say you know what saiyan he died too early what a waste perhaps that's what they think of stephen he died too soon because many times you don't see the impact of your life but can i tell you the impact of stephen's life the impact of stephen's was when he died the following really happened a great persecution happened and that was the starting point where missionaries were forced to live the believers became instant missionaries they traveled all over the place this is the moment in history where christianity spread the fastest in the means of persecution they all left jerusalem many of them left and the bible tells us there was a man by the name of what saul stephen probably had no idea that his life would impact soul you read the life of saul in acts 22 he never forgot this incident i believe saul must have been affected so much by stephen you know why he was thinking how can this man die praying for me you see stephen pray that god will forgive the sin of soul the lord forgive their sin soul must have been so impacted ladies and gentlemen what's my point one single point you want to live your life to the full what must you do be filled by the holy spirit you know why let god have your life let god have your life he can do more with it than you can i submit to you today i want you to surrender your entire life to the lord let's bow our heads and pray if you want your life to believe to the food let the holy spirit control you let god have full control of your life how many of you today listen to my question very well you don't have the assurance that when you die you'll see jesus smiling you don't have that assurance but you like to have that assurance will you raise your hands higher you don't have the assurance that you see jesus smiling at you you're afraid to die because something is holding you back from giving your life to jesus completely there is something that is preventing you from surrendering everything my friend you will never die in peace until you surrender all if you are such a person i want to pray for you raise your hand higher you know why this is very important in fact if god is speaking to you right now wherever you are raise your hand higher higher between you and the lord i want to pray for you follow me with this prayer with your hands raise up lord jesus i have not surrendered my all i've not given you the full control of my life i'm not ready to meet you but today i want to be ready i want to repent of what i'm doing i want to surrender the thing that i'm holding back i surrender it all to you lord jesus i pray for these men and women who are raising their hands lord some of them it can be a relationship it can be something that's holding them back lord i don't know what it is it can be a sin or it can be a relationship or it can be money or it can be practices that's not honoring your name lord help them to realize the best life can only happen when we give you our all because lord you are the designer of our lives you know what's best i now pray for everybody here whose hands are raised up pray this prayer with me ladies and gentlemen pray this prayer lord jesus i surrender my all i surrender my full control in jesus name we all pray amen amen god bless you

Channel: Christ’s Commission Fellowship

Views: 30,112

Rating: 4.7412934 out of 5

Keywords: CCF, Christ's, Commission, Fellowship, Sunday, Service, Sermon, Speaker, Message

Id: wIZfTjzkHec

Length: 64min 25sec (3865 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 31 2019