Acts 6 Stephen was laying his life down

Acts 6
Stephen was laying his life down before he became a martyr. Are you?
Your calling is to serve people. V8
You are called by God for people. Its others before you. It is putting people ahead of you. Serving others, reaching others, others all the time. It is never about us. Never entertain the thought ‘ well what about me? What about what I want? How I feel?’ for they are destructive thoughts.
When the apostles laid their hands on Stephen he was set apart, he was anointed for works of service to people.
You are anointed. You have left the self-serving, self-glorying lifestyle.
You are anointed to serve, thinking of others, lifting up others.
Today you will probably mix with the same people who do not know Jesus.
Your purpose is to:
• Create enthusiasm for the things of God.
John 2:17 (at the moment of Jesus cleansing the Temple) His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”
Your calling is to get these people interested and enthusiastic for a God that they may never have believed in.
• Serve unselfishly and sacrificially.
Mark 10:45. “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Your calling is to help these people, to give to these people your time and energy. To lay your life down for these people.
• We are anointed as Stephen was anointed and as Jesus was anointed.
To Preach good news of hope to the hopeless. To Heal those with crushed hearts and shattered emotions. To Release captives from satanic prisons. To Set at liberty the bitter-hearted. Luke 4:18.
We must stay connected to our friends, it is here where the great commission begins, it is here where we are called to disciple-make. And then we must go to people who have no friends. To the unlovely and unlovable. This is where God lives. If we are following Jesus then this is where He is going.
This is mission.