Stephen’s Defense: An Invitation to Follow the Spirit’s Lead | Acts 7:1-53

Good morning, Watermark. How are we doing? My name is Jermaine Harrison, and I'm the students director here at Watermark, overseeing our ministry to middle schoolers and high schoolers and 18- to 22-year-olds, and it's amazing. I'd love to invite you to turn in your Bible to Acts, chapter 7. Acts, chapter 7, is where we're going to be this morning as we continue our journey through the book of Acts this year. As you're turning there and finding your place, let's do what we do every single week, which is to pray and invite God to meet with us here.

I want to invite you for just a moment, in the stillness of your heart, to pray for yourself and ask God, "God, will you reveal yourself more to me today in this moment through this fellowship and worship and the teaching of your Word?" Would you pray the same for those seated around you, that the Holy Spirit would open the eyes of their hearts, that they would behold the wonder and beauty and glory of Christ? Then, would you pray for me that the Spirit would speak through me, that I'll be faithful to the text and helpful to everyone?

God, we love you, and we are so excited to get to open your Word and to learn from you. So, speak to us now. In Jesus' name, amen.

All right. Do we have any people in the room who love writing online reviews? Do we have some of those people in the room? Okay. You're afraid to raise your hand. You're the kind of person who goes out to dinner… You go out to a nice meal, or maybe it's not so nice, and at the end of it you decide, "You know what I want to do? I want to give myself some homework. I'm going to go home and…"

I kind of understand it, maybe, if you're giving the restaurant a five-star review that you want to rave about it, but it's interesting, the person who's like, "This was horrible, and the Internet must know." So, you go online and write your review. You explain your experience, and you tell others, "Don't go to this place."

Even just last week, I did the exact same thing when my wife and I and our kids went down to Austin during spring break to spend time with some of our in-laws. My sister-in-law sent us four restaurants to pick from when we were going to go out to dinner one of the nights. Do you know what my wife did? The first order of importance was to read the reviews. "What are people saying? What do people think these restaurants are like?" Then, ultimately, we made our final decision after that.

You do that too. Show of hands. How many of you, in the last few weeks or so, have tried a restaurant or decided not to try a restaurant because of someone's review online or in person? There you go. Yes. The reviews are a common part of our culture in this day and age. It's because a review leads to a response. You read a review or listen to a review, and it makes you more excited to go experience or enjoy that thing or it makes you take a pause and decide, "I'm not going to try it because of that person's experience." A review leads to a response.

In our text today, Stephen, who is one of the seven men we meet in Acts, chapter 6, chosen to serve the church and lead the church while the apostles devote themselves to prayer and to the preaching of God's Word… Stephen finds himself before the council of the religious leaders of the day. He's falsely accused, and he is standing before them making a defense. But I want to start with his review of the religious leaders of the day.

If you have your Bible and you've already turned there, it's in Acts 7:51. Here's his review: "You stiff-necked people…" Both services have laughed at that, and I didn't know that was going to happen. "…uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit." That is a crazy indictment. Right? "…you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you."

So, what's his review? He's giving them a one-star review. Or maybe it's like one of those reviews where the person goes on and says, "If I could give this place zero stars, I would." That's the kind of review Stephen is giving to the religious leaders of the nation of Israel, which in and of itself is crazy to think about.

The people on this council that we know as the Sanhedrin, which is just a word that means council, is made up of the chief priests and all of the scribes and the other priests who were leading the nation of Israel. They were to be the people who knew God the best. They were to lead the people to God, to worship of God, yet the review that is presented of them is that they always resist the Holy Spirit.

That's crazy that the people who were supposed to know God best were resisting God the most, in that they were intentionally refusing and ignoring the direction of the Holy Spirit, whether that be through his promptings or through his Word or through his people. The religious leaders of the nation of Israel were characterized by a consistent and repeated rejection and resisting of the Holy Spirit.

Now, it's quite possible for that review of those religious leaders to be true of you and me and of our church. It's quite possible that we would lead lives where we repeatedly refuse to follow the Spirit's leading. It's not just quite possible; it's, honestly, highly likely that in this room or watching online there are people who have played the part, who do the things that make them look like a follower of Jesus, but upon further inspection, you would see that their life is marked by resisting the Spirit.

But here's what I believe to be true about you. You don't like that review. You don't want that review to be true of you, that someone would look at our church and our lives and conclude that we always resist the Spirit. We don't want that to be true of us. I know that. Because we know such a review would hinder our experience even of our church's vision, which is "Abiding in Jesus, we are making disciples and enjoying life together." There's no greater threat to that hope, to that vision, than repeatedly and consistently resisting the Spirit's leading in our lives.

That's what the religious leaders in Acts, chapter 7, were guilty of, and unfortunately, it can be true of us. You see, if you resist the Spirit… You go through the motions. You check the box. You do the Christian thing. You come to church on Sunday. You read your Bible when you can, but if you're resistant to the Spirit, you don't experience the fruit of the Spirit, the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, and so on.

If you resist the Spirit, you grow numb to sin, and you become more and more comfortable with the ways of this world. If you resist the Spirit, your calendar might be full of spiritual activity and devoid of spiritual intimacy. So, because I know you don't want that to be true of you… Stephen doesn't either, so he shares with the religious leaders then and, by extension, us today how to live yielded to the Holy Spirit. So, that's where we're going to spend our time: answering that question. How do we live yielded to the Holy Spirit?

For the notetakers in the room, I'm going to give you a framework of where we're going. We're going to look, first of all, at the context for Stephen's defense before this religious council. Then we'll look at the content of Stephen's defense, and we'll see three separate points under his content where he reminds us to remember that God's promise knows no boundaries, that God's promise cannot be stopped, and that God's promise is available to you. Then, finally, we'll look at some conclusions from Stephen's defense. So, that's where we're going.

1. The context for Stephen's defense. Like I said, Stephen was one of the seven men who were chosen by the apostles to serve and lead the church as they focused on prayer and preaching of God's Word. In Acts, chapter 6, we meet Stephen, and we're told that he's full of the Holy Spirit, and he is performing signs and wonders and miracles. He's preaching the gospel, and people are coming to faith and joining the church, and he's helping the vulnerable and the weak amongst the church and helping the church to grow in its young stage.

As he's doing this, the religious leaders of the day are growing frustrated that he continues to preach in the name of Jesus. They're frustrated that they can't stand up to his arguments or to his debates as he's led by the Spirit, so they formulate a plan. "Let's put together these false witnesses to accuse Stephen of saying slanderous things against God, against the temple, against the law, against all of the customs of the nation of Israel."

As these false witnesses make these false claims, all of the people go crazy and are like, "We've got to get this guy." So, Stephen ends up in front of the Sanhedrin, the religious council, the religious and spiritual leaders of the day. The history books tell us or assume that the events written or recorded in Acts 7 happen about one to three years after the trial and crucifixion of Jesus.

So, it's quite possible that a lot of the people who were on the Sanhedrin that Stephen was standing before on this trial were the same ones who put Jesus on trial, the same ones who crucified Jesus. So, he stands before these religious leaders who had made an idol out of God's gifts of the land and the temple and the law, and he's about to confront them that the most important thing is they're missing the God of the universe for all of these details.

The high priest stands up and says this to Stephen in Acts 7:1. "And the high priest said, 'Are these things so?'" "Are these accusations against you true?" It's interesting that Stephen doesn't go, "No, it's not true. Let me defend myself. Let me clarify. Here's what I mean." That's not what he does. Instead, he goes on what seems on the surface to be just a recollection of history.

Do you know who doesn't need a recollection of the history of Israel? The religious leaders who are professionals at Israel's history. So, why does Stephen employ this tactic? We are reminded of why he does it, again, if you look at Acts 7:51. In his review, he said, "You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit." Then, watch the last few words. "As your fathers did, so do you."

What Stephen is hoping to do to the religious leaders of Israel is to say there's a repeated pattern all throughout this nation's history where they have rejected and resisted God's Spirit, and maybe, just maybe, in this moment, this group of religious leaders would be different, would respond differently, would respond in submission and yieldedness to the Spirit.

Just put yourself in his shoes for a moment. He's Spirit-filled. He's performing miracles. He's preaching the gospel. People are coming to faith, and he's arrested for it and put on trial for it. My first response would be to try to defend myself, as I imagine you would too, but his first response is to present the history of God's faithfulness and the history of the nation of Israel's rebellion and offer a new and fresh opportunity for these leaders to repent. He takes advantage of the moment to share the gospel.

2. The content of Stephen's defense. Remember, the religious leaders of the day are putting way too much value and importance on the land, the temple, and the law that was given to them in such an idolatrous way that Stephen wants to address all of these idols they've placed before God. He does that by going through the history of the nation of Israel.

A. Remember that God's promise knows no boundaries. We're going to do a little bit of a geography lesson, and as we're doing it, going through a few verses in Acts, chapter 7, I'll have a map up on the screen to highlight some of the things we're going to be talking through, just to make sure we're all on the same page. One of the reasons I'm putting the map up there is because I know you guys are horrible at geography.

A couple of years ago, the students team did a competition. We printed out a map of the United States where it's just blank, and everyone had a blank sheet of paper, and you had to write in what all of the states were. Let me tell you, they struggled. I was like, "Guys, I'm from the Caribbean, and I know where more states in the US are than you. This is a problem." So, because I know that's true, I'm going to have the map up on-screen just to help you visualize the point he's trying to make here, specifically, that God's promise knows no boundaries.

Look at his response in Acts 7:2-3. After the high priest said, "Are these things so?" Stephen said, "Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, and said to him, 'Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.'"

So, Stephen first highlights, "Hey, the promise of God knows no boundaries because, first of all, the God of the universe, the God of glory, met Abraham, our father, to whom he gave the promise that all nations of the earth would be blessed through him through the Promised One to come, who is Jesus." He met him…where? Not in the Promised Land but in Mesopotamia, which is modern-day Iraq, Iran, Turkey, and Syria. God provides his promise to Abraham before there was land, law, or temple.

Do you see it? The God of glory meets Abraham and promises him generations of people that outnumber the stars of the sky and that one day the Promised One, Jesus the Messiah, would come through his lineage, and he does this before land, law, or temple. So, God's promise knows no boundaries, because the promise wasn't even made within the boundaries that these religious leaders existed. Secondly, let's look down at verses 9-12. He makes another illustration of God's promise knowing no boundaries through the life and story of Joseph.

"And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him and rescued him out of all his afflictions and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him ruler over Egypt and over all his household. Now there came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction, and our fathers could find no food. But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers on their first visit."

So, what do we see here? We see that Joseph is sold into slavery in Egypt by his jealous brothers, which on the surface is very difficult, but behind the scenes, God was working and orchestrating to preserve his promised people. So, God preserves his promise through Joseph because the nation of Israel at the time goes down to Egypt where they are preserved in the midst of this incredible famine.

So, God appears to Abraham in Mesopotamia. God preserves his promise in Egypt. Then later on, we'll see through the life of Moses that God's promises continue to know no boundaries. In verse 29, it says, "At this retort Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian…" When you think of Midian, think of Saudi Arabia. "…where he became the father of two sons.

Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord: 'I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.'

And Moses trembled and did not dare to look. Then the Lord said to him, 'Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.'

This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, 'Who made you a ruler and a judge?'-this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years."

So, where does God meet Moses? God meets Moses in Midian in the land of Saudi Arabia. Then God meets Moses at Mount Sinai, which is in Egypt, and he gives him the charge of going back to the people who had rejected him because he had a task of redeeming the nation of Israel. So, God redeems his promised people through Moses before land, law, or temple. Do you see it? God's promise knows no boundaries.

God made his promise, he preserved his promise, and he redeemed his promised people all before there was ever a land, before there was law, or before there was a temple. This ultimately finds its culmination in Jesus, where Jesus, the Savior of the world, came to the land of Israel. He was born, and he lived perfectly. He fulfilled all of the righteous requirements of the law. He was sinless. He never broke one commandment one time. He was perfect and holy and righteous.

As such, he was the appropriate sacrifice to hang on a cross, bearing the weight of every sin that was ever committed and would ever be committed. He died, and he rose again, victorious over sin, death, hell, and the grave. Jesus came to the land, he fulfilled the law by completely following it, and he made us his temple. Every single one of us who is a follower of Jesus now has God the Holy Spirit indwelling us.

So, the temple is no longer a place in the land of Israel; the temple is here. The temple is everywhere there is a follower of Jesus present. God's promise knows no boundaries. Because it's true that God's promise knows no boundaries, do you know what God can do today? He can reach into an unreached people group and save someone from that group of people right now.

Because God's promise knows no boundaries, he can reach into your family to that person you've been praying for, to that person who you've been begging to be reconciled to God. He could save them today. Because God's promise knows no boundaries, he could reach into your workplace and save your coworker.

Because God's promise knows no boundaries, he could reach into this moment right now into your heart, if you're not a follower of Jesus, and he could save you as well. God's promise knows no boundaries. If you are to live yielded to the Spirit, that reality must resonate through your heart and your life. So, Stephen makes a point to them to remember that God's promise knows no boundaries.

B. Remember that God's promise cannot be stopped. We're going to look briefly again at Joseph and Moses, like we just did, but highlighting a pattern that is repeated throughout this text and throughout the nation of Israel. Remember, in Acts 7:9, we read, "And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him…"

We see some of the beginning of a pattern. This rescuer comes to his brothers because, remember, Joseph sees these dreams that forecast that he would redeem his family. His brothers don't like this, so they sell him away. So, he's rejected initially by his brothers, but ultimately, what his brothers meant for evil, God meant for good. The one who was rejected by his brothers later delivers his brothers. So, that's what happens with Joseph.

We see the same pattern with Moses. Right after Moses is brought up in Pharaoh's kingdom, he goes to see his brothers, and he sees an argument happening between them. He tries to resolve the dispute, and they say to him, "Who made you a ruler over us? Are you going to hurt us like you did the Egyptian yesterday?" And Moses runs for his life. He's initially rejected by his brothers, but God sees him, finds him in Midian, and calls him back to redeem his brothers. So the pattern continues. Moses was rejected by his brothers, but he later delivers his brothers.

We see this pattern continue in the person and work of Jesus. Jesus came to his brothers, his biological brothers, and to his family, the nation of Israel. He comes to them and is rejected by them. He's put on trial, he's crucified, and he's buried, but he doesn't stay dead. Jesus rises from the dead, delivering his brothers through his death and resurrection.

Guys, this is the gospel, that he was rejected at first but ultimately redeemed. That's the story of every single one of us, that Jesus comes to us, that God invites us to him, but we reject him, or we've rejected him many times. Still, if you're a follower of Jesus today, you have been redeemed in spite of your previous rejections of the gospel. That is amazing news.

So, to live yielded to the Spirit, remember that God's promise cannot be stopped. No amount of rejection can stop God's redemption. No matter how many times your family member might reject you or the gospel or in your presentation of the gospel to them, no matter how many times you may be ridiculed at work or overlooked for a promotion because of the faith you profess and possess, God is always working. God is always moving, even in ways we may never see or understand. That is a hope to rest in, and it should strengthen our resilience. The promise of God cannot be stopped.

For others of you, maybe you've gotten weary in praying for that person or sharing the gospel with them because you think, "Man, if it hasn't happened yet, is it ever actually going to happen?" Maybe you've given up a little bit. This might be a moment where the Spirit is encouraging you to not give up, to keep praying, to keep going, to keep sharing, because you never know, because God's promise cannot be stopped.

C. Remember that God's promise is available to you. Let's read his review of the religious leaders again in Acts 7:51-53. Again, he says, "You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it."

That's the fullness of the indictment against the religious leaders of the day. They repeatedly resisted and refused the direction of the Holy Spirit, just as their fathers did. They killed all of the forerunners of the gospel to Jesus, and then they ultimately killed Jesus. In fact, these people who were claiming to keep the law and preserve the law were the ones who were breaking it, because they misunderstood the God of the promise.

So, why did the Sanhedrin, this religious group, not repent? Because we know how the story goes if you read on or listen to the sermon next week. We know how the story goes. They don't repent. The question is…Why not? One would think they have all the information they need to make an informed decision. "Actually, the history of our nation tells us we've been resistant to the Holy Spirit over and over, repeatedly, consistently. May it stop with us."

What an opportunity for them. But still, they resist. The question is…Why? I think they resist because they would rather choose their pride. They'd rather choose their self-righteousness. They'd rather choose the comforts of their life, because here's what they understand and that you should understand as well: entrusting your life to Jesus has implications on your life.

Think about these religious leaders. If they believe that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God, who came and lived perfectly and died and rose again from the dead for the forgiveness of sins, then guess what? There's no more need for a sacrificial system. There's no more need for chief priests, because now we can just go straight to God.

So, in some senses, if they truly embraced Jesus, their entire life, their entire structure, would be completely different. You can imagine why they wouldn't want that, not wanting to lose the power, the authority, the influence, the prestige, the money, or whatever it might be. So, they resisted the Spirit even though they had all the information they needed.

Again, I want to highlight the point that these were the religious leaders of Israel. They were the ones giving the messages. They were the ones performing the sacrifices and leading the people spiritually, and they were the ones who were most resistant to God. So, the reminder for us is that religious activity can sometimes hide spiritual resistance. In other words, you can do good things. You can do things that externally look right to others and still have a heart that is resistant to the Holy Spirit, to his leading, to God's Word.

In a moment when repentance was possible, the religious leaders remained stiff-necked, hard-hearted, refusing to listen, and resisted the Holy Spirit. The question for every single one of us is "Is that going to be the story of my life? Am I going to be someone who is stiff-necked, hard-hearted, refusing to listen, and resistant to the Holy Spirit?"

When presented with the gospel, the religious leaders declined to embrace the gospel. I want to present to you an opportunity right now to respond rightly to the gospel, to embrace the gospel. So, I invite everyone to close your eyes for just a moment. I really want to give anyone in the room or listening or watching an opportunity. If you have lived a life of rebellion against God, if you've resisted his Spirit's call to repent of your sins and turn to God, this is a moment for you to believe the gospel, for you to trust in Jesus.

Let me pray, and you can follow along as I pray. Repeat after me or just affirm it in your heart if you want to begin a relationship with Jesus today. You can pray this prayer. Everyone else who's a follower of Jesus, pray that God would save someone in this moment or pray for a loved one who's not in this room that they would experience salvation. If you don't have a relationship with Jesus, may this prayer be something you genuinely say.

God, I am broken and helpless without you. Apart from your divine grace, I am destined for hell. I'm destined to be separated from you for all eternity because of my sin in the eyes of a good and holy God. But thank you that you sent your Son Jesus to be my substitute, to hang on the cross and to take the punishment I deserved so he could exchange his righteousness and give it to me. God, I repent of my sins, and I surrender my life to you. In Jesus' name, amen.

Now, if you genuinely prayed that prayer or repeated after me, welcome to God's family. And if you did, we want to know. If you have your Watermark News, you can just write down your information on there and say, "Just became a Christian. Now what?" Turn it in to the welcome center out in the Town Center or come down front afterward. There will be a team of people down here who would love to hear your story of grace and pray for you and give you whatever next step you may need to take. Okay? So, for those who are followers of Jesus or who just became one…

3. A few conclusions from Stephen's defense.

A. Opposition is an opportunity for faithfulness. See, Stephen didn't see opposition as an obstacle to avoid or something to get away from. He took advantage of the moment. In a moment where he could have defended himself or tried to get free from being arrested, he took the opportunity to bring the gospel close and to share the gospel clearly with these religious leaders. Opposition is an opportunity for faithfulness. So, as you experience different forms of opposition in your life because of your faith, be encouraged by Stephen's example of faithfulness and using it as an opportunity.

B. People often reject Jesus not for lack of evidence but because of what surrender to him would mean. We just looked at that with the religious leaders in Israel. The implications of surrendering their lives to Jesus were too great for them to let go of the pleasures, the comforts, and the structures they had in their lives. The same can be true of us. The same might be true of someone in this room.

The pleasures of sin you're enjoying or the structures in your life that are against God's best but that you hold dear to you… You know, if you truly surrendered your life to Jesus, things would need to change, so you reject Jesus. Maybe you give an excuse, like you don't understand something about the Scripture or about Christianity, but if you're really honest, it's because you don't want to, that you're comfortable where you are. People often reject Jesus not for lack of evidence but because of what surrender to him would mean.

C. Opposition to Christianity is a present reality. It's easy to read the story of Stephen, where we know how the story ends (if you don't, you can just read a couple more verses where he's stoned for his faith), or we can look back on the history of the world and think this kind of opposition and persecution is a thing of the past.

The reality is there are millions upon millions of Christians right now who are gathering together as a body of believers and are hiding. They're underground. They're making sure no one knows, because if the authorities were to find out, their church services would get broken up. They'd be imprisoned. They'd be beaten. Some of them would even be killed for their faith. Opposition to Christianity isn't a thing of the past; it is a very real and very present reality.

So, for those of us where that may not be our real lived experience, one of the best things you can do is regularly pray for the persecuted church. Pray for Christians all over the world who are faithfully following Jesus in a place where it's extremely difficult to do so because it literally might cost them their lives. Pray for them.

You know, as a church, we get the unreached people group of the day on the Watermark Prayer, or you can look at it on the app. I often think about, "What if there is one person who's a Christian amongst all of these hundreds of thousands or millions of people?" How difficult would it be to be that one person who has placed their faith in Jesus when everyone else is like, "We don't want anything to do with this"? Imagine the opposition and the potential persecution they would experience.

So, as we pray for the unreached of the day on a regular basis, maybe pray for the person who is a Christian in that unreached people group that they would be faithful, resilient, persevering, and trusting in the Lord. Opposition to Christianity is a present reality.

D. God is patient with us even when we resist the Spirit. What a comforting and humbling fact to realize. We see this all through the history of the nation of Israel that Stephen just went through. God promises that they would be blessed. God promises that there would be a blessing. God promises that the Promised One would come who would save the people from their sins, that all nations of the world would be blessed through the person of Jesus.

Still, over and over, repeatedly, the nation of Israel rejects God's message. They reject God's messengers. Still, God is patient and merciful, and he continues to send people to call his people back to repentance. Even in the story we just read, even after the religious leaders ultimately stone Stephen for his faith, do you know what God does? He doesn't wipe them out. God is patient even with those who are adamantly resistant to his Spirit, because he wants them to repent. He wants to give them another opportunity to experience the joys of salvation.

The same can be said of us, that we resist the Spirit. Every so often, we're resistant to the Spirit, refusing to listen to his direction in our lives. Still, God is so patient with us. He's so gracious toward us. It's such a good reminder to embrace the gospel, to remind yourself of it daily, because you experience God's mercy and patience in way more ways than you can describe.

In summary, God's promise knows no boundaries, God's promise cannot be stopped, and God's promise is available to you. The only way you can live yielded to the Spirit is by asking the Spirit to do it. We can't do it on our own. So, the best application of this message might be for you to pray, "Holy Spirit, will you help me today to be yielded to you?"

Maybe it's in the middle of a conversation or the middle of a difficult moment with your kids or a challenging conversation or experience at work that you briefly and quickly pray that prayer. "Holy Spirit, help me to be yielded to you in this moment." May we pray that prayer thousands of times over the course of this coming week and over the course of our lives. Let me pray that we would.

God, we love you, and we're so grateful for the example of Stephen taking advantage of the opportunity to present the gospel to give those who are resistant to the Spirit another chance to yield. Thank you for how he shows us how we can daily be yielded to your Spirit by remembering that your promise knows no boundaries, your promise cannot be stopped, and your promise is available to us. May we embrace the gospel, not just on the day of salvation but every other day for transformation. God, we love you. In Jesus' name, amen.