Sermon Tone Analysis

This Morning we are going to get into the topic of Stephen.

WE will be in .

Beth will be finishing up Stephen next week so I encourage you to come out and here what God has put on her heart.

This morning I want to look at

Acts 6:

Stephanos meaning Crown

If you read the 6th chapter of the book of Acts it mentions that Stephen is full 3 times.

We understand that

This crown is a different crown than a crown of rightousness which is diadema or a royal crown.

When we recieve Jesus as Lord and Savior of our lives we receive a Royal crown marking us Children of God or a child of the King.

Royalty is either inherited or passed down.

Full of Means Controlled by

I find it interesting that when the list of people were given, those who were to be set as deacons, those set over the service of the ministry, Stephen is the only one who is explained.

The others are just mentioned.

A Stephanos crown is a crown that is earned.

Paul speaks of this crown in

We are going to look at 3 fillings that Stephen had, the results of those fillings, and what it means for us today.

1 corinthians

First Stephen was full of: The Holy Spirit and wisdom () Faith () and Grace and Power ().

the term wreath is the same word Stephanos used for the term crown.

It’s an earned award or in military terms earned valor.

Fullness is being with God before serving others.

I believe that before one serves others we must be full of these 3 things because if we aren’t full of these we are full of ourselves.

Wisdom is as connected to The Spirit as google is to the internet.

Like love and marriage you can’t have one without the other.

There is a huge difference between what the world believes is wisdom and the wisdom God gives us.

In the bible the gifts are listed.

Two of those gifts are wisdom and knowledge to know the difference you must first understand their definition.

Knowledge is to know what has happened or will happen.

You get knowledge from history books.

You get knowledge from google.

You cannot get wisdom from either of these sources because

Wisdom tells us what to do with knowledge/information.

Knowledge is knowing there is problem Wisdom is knowing how to fix the problem.

I used to get annoyed with people who came to me with issues, not their issues that need counseling, but just issues.

This person did this…what do I do.

Until God said to me: Son wisdom, the fixing of problems, is a gift that not everyone has.

Be glad about having it and be a good steward to share it.

Like any gift one must diligently seek God for it.

Many times I have prayed the prayer of Solomon.

Lord give me the wisdom to lead your people because they out number me and are a great pain in the butt- Or in the King James-Great in Number.

Stephen was full of 1) the Holy Spirit And Wisdom (), Faith (), and Power and Grace (Acts 6:8)

What is faith?

Last week we talked about how every leader needs vision.

To create God sized vision one must have faith equal to that vision.

We see this in play in the story of David V Goliath.

David’s vision was that no one could stand and talk against the God of Israel.

His faith was picking up 3 rocks and killing goliath.

Faith IS Action

We know faith is

What is hope if not walked out?

Can you hope that something will happen and yet do nothing?

No. we have faith to believe AND Faith to act.

Stephen was full of 1) the Holy Spirit and Wisdom 2) Faith 3) Grace and Power

I understood why they put Holy Spirit and wisdom together, but I asked myself why they put Grace and Power together then God spoke to me.

Anytime you lose control of your emotions/ability to give grace you give away what Power you have

If someone causes you to act in Anger you have given them power to control how you act.

Unforgiveness is giving someone control of your thoughts and emotions.

The amount of Power you have is a direct result in the amount of grace you are willing to give.

So what are the results of this type of service?

The church was Unified () The Church was Multiplied () and God was Magnified ()

Despite the massive persecution the bible states

a Great many priests- one theologian sumizes that there were upward of 8,000 priests who served in the temple and a Great Many of them heard and believed.

Why?

Because the people saw Christians taking care of people who others would have written off.

Everyone caters to the rich and influential, but those who truly love Christ serves those who can do nothing for you in return.

That’s why the bible tells us to store up our treasures in Heaven because if someone returns your favor than you recieved your reward on earth, but if you serve people who can do nothing for you than God in Heaven sees you deeds and rewards you with Heavenly rewards.