Taking Up Stones" | Worship Service with Pastor Dan Miller

Devotional

Day 1: Simmering Faith in Neutral Spaces

The church is called to simmer in its identity before boiling into action. Like a pot on a campfire, disciples must let the heat of God’s presence soften their hearts before pouring out service. This slow transformation happens in ordinary, neutral spaces—not grand gestures but daily rhythms of discernment. When believers prioritize being over doing, their love becomes intentional, not performative. The Spirit shapes them through quiet faithfulness, not just visible results. [36:33]

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”
(Galatians 5:22-23, ESV)

Reflection: Where do you rush to “do” instead of resting in who God says you are? How might a neutral, everyday space become your classroom for patient faithfulness?

Day 2: The Exhaustion of Being Right

Al’s story reveals how the need to be right suffocates relationships and drains the soul. For thirty years, he weaponized correctness, alienating his wife and coworkers until his body collapsed under the weight. Rightness without humility becomes a prison, isolating us from grace. Stephen’s accusers clung to religious certainty too, gnashing teeth at truth. Yet Jesus models strength through surrender, not domination. [41:43]

“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”
(Philippians 2:3-4, ESV)

Reflection: What relationship or belief have you defended with rigidity rather than love? Where might “being right” actually be costing you connection?

Day 3: Anger’s Double-Edged Torch

Anger can rally mobs to kill Stephen or motivate leaders to protect the vulnerable. Like a torch, it illuminates injustice but risks burning what it touches. The Ephesian rioters feared economic loss; Al’s coworkers mocked his marriage. Yet Jesus’ anger cleansed the temple. Disciples must ask: Does this fire refine or destroy? Is it rooted in fear or love? [51:05]

“Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil.”
(Ephesians 4:26-27, ESV)

Reflection: When has anger moved you toward healing? When has it blinded you to someone’s humanity?

Day 4: Repentance in the Construction Zone

Al’s breakdown in the housing addition mirrored Stephen’s kneeling forgiveness. Both found grace in rubble—Al recalling young love, Stephen releasing his killers. Repentance isn’t shame but rebuilding: letting God’s presence renovate our defenses into bridges. Like half-built homes, we’re works in progress, our cracks letting in light. [01:04:16]

“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.”
(Psalm 34:18-19, ESV)

Reflection: What broken place in your story is God asking to rebuild, not condemn? How might surrender become your scaffolding?

Day 5: Forgiveness as a Loved Body

Stephen’s final words mirrored Jesus’ because both knew their belovedness. Forgiveness flows from being soaked in God’s presence, not willpower. Like Al learning to pause mid-argument, we must let Love interrupt our reflexes. The early church’s radical grace confused outsiders—a community so secure in being forgiven, they disarmed vengeance. [01:01:11]

“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.”
(Colossians 3:12-13, ESV)

Reflection: How would living as “God’s beloved” shift your capacity to forgive? What resentment might you release if you felt truly safe in Love’s arms?

Sermon Summary

Luke sets Stephen’s story beside Israel’s long habit of resisting God and shows how a crowd, stoked by wounded certainty, moves from debate to “gnashing their teeth” and to blood. The image of gnashing marks those outside the life of God, raging at the righteous. Under Roman rule the council lacks authority to execute, yet the mob rushes past lawful limits and stones Stephen anyway. In the roar, Stephen prays like Jesus, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit,” then kneels and shouts, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them,” and then sleeps. The text pulls the church to ask whether strength can stay supple, and whether being right can still be wrong.

The call from last Sunday’s thesis stays on a low simmer: doing church comes from being the church. Small, steady practices carry that being into motion: love and bless others, meet in neutral places, discern needs, be intentional. The question of anger rises next. Anger often rides shotgun to fear, sadness, or disappointment. It can guard the vulnerable and draw good boundaries, yet anger does not certify truth. Crowds can mistake fury for wisdom, as in Ephesus when economics and piety fused into a chant. Church memory bears both kinds of anger too. There is unruly anger that fractures congregational life, and there is redemptive anger that halts abuse and protects the wounded.

Repentance sits at the heart of the text. Forgiveness is for sinners, so only those who admit wrong can receive it. Stephen’s forthright words give Israel’s leaders a real chance to do something different than they did with Jesus. Flexibility listens. Rigidity digs in. The soul’s first response may be defensiveness, but spiritual maturity shortens the time to the second response, the honest “I’m sorry,” and opens a path to change.

The story of Al exposes the hidden cost of needing to be right. Thirty years of educating everyone else left his marriage thin, his kids distant, and his own body buckling under the I-must-be-right disease. Change comes hard and slow, with tears, help, and concrete new habits. Stephen’s last words point to the deeper well that makes such change and forgiveness possible. Jesus and Stephen forgive because they live known and loved. The early church walks with a thick sense of God’s presence around and within them, in mockery, in fear, even in dying. That awareness lets injury go and turns a community into a people whose quiet, intentional life of love stirs holy curiosity at the edges.

Key Takeaways

1. Being births doing in mission Being in Christ supplies the fuel that activity alone cannot manufacture. Identity steadies a church when plans shift and timelines stretch. Small practices become durable when they flow from a settled center rather than pressure to perform. Let formation set the pace, then let action follow. [35:11]
2. Rightness can wreck relationships Certainty without love starves intimacy and blinds self-perception. A lifelong habit of educating others can become a shield against repentance and a slow violence against trust. The body finally protests what the soul has carried too long. Wisdom asks, what is right for love, not just what proves me right. [42:06]
3. Anger needs wise stewardship Anger can guard the vulnerable or poison the well, depending on who holds it and why. When anger serves fear or pride, crowds form and mercy thins; when anger serves justice, boundaries are drawn and harm is stopped. Discernment names the upstream emotion so anger can be harnessed instead of obeyed. [52:23]
4. Repentance keeps hearts flexible Only those who admit wrong can change course, because grace meets truth, not denial. The first impulse may be defensiveness, but maturity shortens the distance to confession. A listening spirit can do today what pride refused to do yesterday. Flexibility is strength that has learned to kneel. [59:51]
5. Forgiveness flows from known belovedness Stephen’s prayer echoes Jesus because both live held in the Father’s love. Awareness of God’s nearness, around and within, creates spaciousness in the very moment of injury. From that center, release becomes possible and retaliation loses its grip. Belovedness makes forgiveness more than a rule; it makes it a reflex. [62:21]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[34:24] - Remembering last Sunday’s thesis
[35:50] - Micro steps for being the church
[38:01] - Strong and flexible; right yet wrong?
[38:25] - Al’s thirty-year rightness
[43:19] - Stephen confronts rigid religion
[45:57] - Gnashing of teeth image
[47:53] - Crowd’s extrajudicial execution
[48:26] - Stephen’s prayer of forgiveness
[51:05] - Anger as secondary emotion
[53:34] - Artemis riot and misplaced rage
[55:09] - Learning from congregational history
[58:33] - Repentance or digging in
[61:53] - Surrounded by God’s presence
[65:02] - Hope for a love-shaped community

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading
Acts 7:54-60 (ESV)
54 Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. 55 But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” 57 But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. 58 Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

Observation Questions

What specific actions did the crowd take against Stephen, and how did he respond in his final moments?
The sermon mentions that anger is often a “secondary emotion” tied to fear, sadness, or disappointment. What examples of this dynamic were given in the story of Al or the Ephesian riot? [51:05]
How does Stephen’s prayer for his persecutors mirror Jesus’ words in Luke 23:34?

Interpretation Questions

Why do you think the religious leaders reacted so violently to Stephen’s message, even though they claimed to serve God?
The sermon contrasts “unruly anger” (which fractures relationships) and “redemptive anger” (which protects the vulnerable). How does Stephen’s story illustrate the difference between these two types of anger?
The story of Al shows how “needing to be right” damaged his relationships. What might it look like for someone to prioritize love over proving themselves right in everyday conflicts? [42:06]

Application Questions

Reflect on a recent disagreement where you felt strongly about being right. How might that desire have overshadowed love or understanding? What would it look like to repent of that pattern? [38:25]
Anger often masks deeper emotions like fear or hurt. Think of a situation where you felt angry: what underlying emotion might have fueled it? How could naming that emotion change your response? [52:23]
Stephen’s forgiveness flowed from his awareness of being “known and loved” by God. What daily habits could help you cultivate a deeper sense of God’s presence and belovedness, especially in moments of hurt?
The sermon warns that crowds can mistake fury for wisdom. When have you seen group dynamics (in church, work, or society) escalate conflict? How can you practice discernment in such moments? [53:34]
Al’s story involved “concrete new habits” to break his cycle of defensiveness. What small, practical step could you take this week to listen more openly or admit fault more quickly? [59:51]

Sermon Clips

57s

#ForgivenAndLoved

“``And then one last piece is this whole thing of forgiveness. Now we all we lift these people up who like Jesus and Stephen, who who who make this choice to forgive. But I'd like to take a step back behind that and ask what is it that helps them be able to do that? How can they wholeheartedly, fullheartedly forgive. And I wanna suggest that part of it at least is that they know themselves forgiven. They know themselves loved regardless. No matter how imperfect they are, they know they're forgiven.”

50s

#AngerAsResponse

“``Anger can be an a response, a response to fear, a response to sadness, a response to disappointment. And it's really useful because anger, when it motivates us to do good things, can help us to protect people who are being taken advantage of. They can help us to set boundaries for people who don't know how to be respectful to others. Anger can be really, really useful in that way. But being angry doesn't necessarily guarantee that we're right. And so sometimes when we're angry, we might get motivated to do things that aren't helpful.”

53s

#QuickToRepent

“``Like, I mentioned a couple weeks ago for myself, defensiveness rises up just like that for me, and I need to have my second thought or afterthought, I need to repent. You might have the same thing or you might have a different one, but we all we often have this first response, right, that we need to kind of find our our way around. It's hard to admit we're wrong. I'm not sure it ever gets easier, again, I think a sign of spiritual maturity is that we are more quickly able to say, I'm sorry, as we mature.”

57s

#MarkedByRepentance

“``Another place that we can maybe connect with this story is repentance. Remember I said a couple of weeks ago that forgiveness is for sinners. Right? So anyone who can't acknowledge their sin, their weakness, their failure, they're missing the mark, we don't get forgiveness. We can't accept forgiveness. Right? Because unless we know that we've made we've done something wrong, we can't be forgiven. Stephen, as a leader in the early church, was part of this group of people who were marked by repentance. They were marked by repentance.”

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