Embracing God's Presence: Living Boldly in Faith
Devotional
Sermon Summary
Sermon Clips
I've selected 12 quotes from the transcript that align with the key takeaways provided. Here they are:
"I find it amazing that the same Holy Spirit that Stephen had on him then is, you're the same person that lives in us now. And so would you keep revealing yourself to us? And as we hear this or read this that you would come and just download something new, fresh revelation, fresh wisdom to us. Would you show me something new as I unpack this as well this morning? I want to hear from you and see you, Holy Spirit, in this. Come and inhabit these words right now." [01:09:06]
"Stephen challenges the Sanhedrin's belief that God's presence is confined to the temple and the law that they've kind of put their hope in they've put their faith in that. And I'm kind of going to say where I'm going to land in a minute. I wonder if we end up putting our own faith and our own hope in coming to a space like this on a Sunday in our own temples and in our own places. Oh we need to do this this and this to have a relationship with Jesus." [01:24:38]
"And how much do we live out of actual relationship with him because God is everywhere isn't just in this place and we love that we can gather to here we can gather here together we can worship him we can experience his presence we can pray for each other we can be family and that's really important. But this isn't the only places glory dwells. And Stephen points this out to the Sanhedrin who become so fixated on the law and the temple." [01:25:51]
"And Stephen even hammers this home at the end of what he says before he cuts himself off. And he quotes Isaiah, where God says, heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. So what kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord? Or where will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all these things? God, at this point, and even now, is doing a new thing, not involving the temple and the law." [01:28:06]
"And that's relevant for us today. As we give our yes to him, he comes on the inside of us and our body becomes his temple. His body, that same Holy Spirit that's on Stephen as he's speaking. The same Holy Spirit that's there hovering over the waters at the beginning of creation. That same Holy Spirit who reveals promises of God to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, to Moses." [01:28:44]
"As our body becomes his temple. And the God who is everywhere loves to show up somewhere in places where we are. And we carry that into spaces. So what does it look like for you to be obedient to that, to step into that, and to acknowledge that for yourself? What does it look like if your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit?" [01:29:33]
"There are promises that God speaks, have spoken over you, that I don't think, that have spoken over me, that I haven't seen to come to fruition yet. And what Stephen does here in his speech to the Sanhedrin is basically he starts listing those promises that God makes. And something I noticed in this is that even about Abraham early on, he says, Abraham was called to go to the land that he was promised, but he waits and he stops." [01:32:16]
"So Abraham left Mesopotamia and God said, leave your country and your people and go to the land I will show you. So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haram. So that's not where God was sending him to. God was sending him to the land that he was going to show him, but he stopped halfway and waited and rested." [01:32:56]
"And there are moments where God makes a promise to us that there's a moment that we stop and we go, oh, I need to rest here a minute. I'm not ready to move on yet. And what I love about that is that God has still, that promise still stands. Just because Abraham stopped in that moment, the promise still stands and there's still something to walk into and to go to." [01:33:36]
"And Joseph, as well, ends up in slavery despite the promises that God gives him through his dreams. And I think as I was preparing this today, there are people in this room who've had God promises. God has promised you something or there's something you're being invited into that you're holding on to. And it's, you haven't seen this come to fruition yet. You haven't seen this come to its fullness yet." [01:34:14]
"And there's a moment where you need to choose to step into obedience in order to see that promise come to fruition. There's a step to go. You've got stuck in Haran. You're kind of, God's called you over there, but you're stuck here. Or you feel like you're enslaved to something. There's something holding you back that you need God with you in that moment to step out of into the new thing." [01:34:54]
"Or you've made an idol of something that wasn't meant to be an idol. You've made a golden calf of something that is distracting you from the promise that God has for you. And I think God wants to release those in people and release you from those things this morning. And as we come into land, can I just ask you to stand, please?" [01:35:34]
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"I find it amazing that the same Holy Spirit that Stephen had on him then is, you're the same person that lives in us now. And so would you keep revealing yourself to us? And as we hear this or read this that you would come and just download something new, fresh revelation, fresh wisdom to us. Would you show me something new as I unpack this as well this morning? I want to hear from you and see you, Holy Spirit, in this. Come and inhabit these words right now." [01:09:06]
"Stephen challenges the Sanhedrin's belief that God's presence is confined to the temple and the law that they've kind of put their hope in they've put their faith in that. And I'm kind of going to say where I'm going to land in a minute. I wonder if we end up putting our own faith and our own hope in coming to a space like this on a Sunday in our own temples and in our own places. Oh we need to do this this and this to have a relationship with Jesus." [01:24:38]
"And how much do we live out of actual relationship with him because God is everywhere isn't just in this place and we love that we can gather to here we can gather here together we can worship him we can experience his presence we can pray for each other we can be family and that's really important. But this isn't the only places glory dwells. And Stephen points this out to the Sanhedrin who become so fixated on the law and the temple." [01:25:51]
"And Stephen even hammers this home at the end of what he says before he cuts himself off. And he quotes Isaiah, where God says, heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. So what kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord? Or where will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all these things? God, at this point, and even now, is doing a new thing, not involving the temple and the law." [01:28:06]
"And that's relevant for us today. As we give our yes to him, he comes on the inside of us and our body becomes his temple. His body, that same Holy Spirit that's on Stephen as he's speaking. The same Holy Spirit that's there hovering over the waters at the beginning of creation. That same Holy Spirit who reveals promises of God to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, to Moses." [01:28:44]
"As our body becomes his temple. And the God who is everywhere loves to show up somewhere in places where we are. And we carry that into spaces. So what does it look like for you to be obedient to that, to step into that, and to acknowledge that for yourself? What does it look like if your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit?" [01:29:33]
"There are promises that God speaks, have spoken over you, that I don't think, that have spoken over me, that I haven't seen to come to fruition yet. And what Stephen does here in his speech to the Sanhedrin is basically he starts listing those promises that God makes. And something I noticed in this is that even about Abraham early on, he says, Abraham was called to go to the land that he was promised, but he waits and he stops." [01:32:16]
"So Abraham left Mesopotamia and God said, leave your country and your people and go to the land I will show you. So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haram. So that's not where God was sending him to. God was sending him to the land that he was going to show him, but he stopped halfway and waited and rested." [01:32:56]
"And there are moments where God makes a promise to us that there's a moment that we stop and we go, oh, I need to rest here a minute. I'm not ready to move on yet. And what I love about that is that God has still, that promise still stands. Just because Abraham stopped in that moment, the promise still stands and there's still something to walk into and to go to." [01:33:36]
"And Joseph, as well, ends up in slavery despite the promises that God gives him through his dreams. And I think as I was preparing this today, there are people in this room who've had God promises. God has promised you something or there's something you're being invited into that you're holding on to. And it's, you haven't seen this come to fruition yet. You haven't seen this come to its fullness yet." [01:34:14]
"And there's a moment where you need to choose to step into obedience in order to see that promise come to fruition. There's a step to go. You've got stuck in Haran. You're kind of, God's called you over there, but you're stuck here. Or you feel like you're enslaved to something. There's something holding you back that you need God with you in that moment to step out of into the new thing." [01:34:54]
"Or you've made an idol of something that wasn't meant to be an idol. You've made a golden calf of something that is distracting you from the promise that God has for you. And I think God wants to release those in people and release you from those things this morning. And as we come into land, can I just ask you to stand, please?" [01:35:34]
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