Sent By the Spirit | Hit Me With Your Best Shot

Church on The Rock Homer

When we are full of Holy Spirit, love, faith and power there is no room for fear, because the perfect love of God casts out fear. When we know our assignment from God, and know who are, we become unstoppable…even in the face of flying stones.
In Acts 6-7, Stephen and six other apostles are chosen, blessed and sent to meet the needs of a church that is growing daily. Stephen, doing the common work of meeting the needs of widows and orphans, finds himself doing the uncommon. God’s power begins moving through him in signs and wonders. Seeing this, self-righteous religious leaders grow jealous and conspire against Stephen. Stephen doesn’t shrink back. Full of the Holy Spirit and without fear He begins to share the indisputable truth in God’s word that is usually only known by years of study. The self-righteous religious leaders are infuriated. Stones begin to fly even though they see Stephen with the face as an angel. Stephen fearlessly and lovingly continues to share God’s word until his last.

When we truly know God, we are full of the Holy Spirit. When we are sent by God, the reality of our mission is greater than any challenge we might face.
Paul writes in Philippians 1:21, maybe even inspired by Stephen, “For me to live is Christ, for me to die is gain.”
If we are true believers, full of Holy Spirit, faith and power, we know we overcome by the Blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. When we are totally full, we won’t even shrink from death.
Stephen’s fearless act of faith becomes contagious. The church continues to grow by leaps and bounds. Today, the promised Holy Spirit gives us the power to become His witnesses in the face of the world’s current wickedness. Get filled with Holy Spirit so that you, like Stephen, can with peace and power confidently say, “Hit me with your best shot."
Guest Speaker, Bill Pagaran