Stephen was a deacon and a preacher. He was a man filled with the Holy Spirit. The power of God was on his life. Because he preached the truth without compromise, he was stoned to death. He died a winner in the midst of losers!
Today, a morally and spiritually bankrupt world considers Christians to be losers. Ted Turner called Christians "losers" and "bozos." He said in a speech to the American Humanist Association, "Christianity is a religion for losers..." But the real loser is Ted Turner. He has been married and divorced three times. He was diagnosed as a manic-depressive. He drinks too much and is a bitter, depressed man even though he has about 5 billion dollars! A few years ago he made 12.5 million dollars in sixty minutes. As a young boy, Ted Turner had intended to become a missionary - instead he is a bitter anti-Christian loser. He even says at times he feels like committing suicide.
Elvis Presley was one of the most popular entertainers in history. He had fame and all that money could buy, but he died a loser of an overdose of drugs. His days were days of great depression and misery. When actress Joan Crawford was near death, her housekeeper began to pray for her. Joan Crawford used a curse word and said, "Don’t dare ask God to help me." Frank Sinatra won the hearts of millions - but said when he died he wanted a bottle of whiskey buried with him. His last words were, "I’m losing," and he died a loser.
But you don’t have to be a loser - you can be a winner like Stephen; like Paul.
1. A Winner Is Committed. Stephen was committed - Paul was committed. Paul said, "For me to live is Christ..." Daniel refused to defile himself with the heathen ways because he was committed to his God.
No one ever wins in any area of life unless they are committed. Losers are people who are not committed. Take two baseball players with equal ability, one becomes a great player, the other just an average or below average player. The difference - commitment!
In America we have more people going to church than ever before, but we don’t seem to be having very much impact on the moral decay of our society. Could the reason by that most Christians are simply not truly committed to Christ and His Church? To make a commitment means to turn something over to someone. For a Christian, it means turning our life over to Christ. In I Corinthians 6:19, "What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own."
When we are committed we no longer belong to ourselves. It means we will do whatever He wants us to do. Commitment will cost us - time, talent, treasure, tears, and trouble. But with commitment comes the blessings of God on our lives in a wonderful way.If our church is ever to be what it can be we must have people who are committed. Are you committed? Are you a casual Christian or a committed Christian?
Jim Denison served as summer missionary in east Malaysia. During one of their worship services, a teenage girl shared her faith in a small warehouse that was used for a church. She was baptized that day in their baptistry, which was a bathtub, and glowed with the love of Christ. While all of this was going on, Denison noticed some worn-out luggage leaning against the wall. He asked a church member for an explanation of the suitcase. He pointed to the girl who had been baptized and said, "Her father said that if she was baptized as a Christian she could never go home again. So she brought her luggage." What a challenge for greater commitment!
You will never rise above the crowd unless you are committed. Romans 12:1-2, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." When we are committed to Christ, we will give Him our very best. You can make a difference for Christ, but only if you are committed. Miss Bertha Smith was a great Christian and Missionary to China. She ministered into her 99th year. She was once asked about her success. She said, "I pray three hours a day, I walk three miles a day and I never eat anything that tastes good." She was committed!
To be a winner in a world of losers, you must be committed!
2. A Winner Concentrates. A winner in a world of losers is one who concentrates on the main thing. Paul said in Philippians 3:13, "...this one thing I do..." Someone said that we have so many irons in the fire that the fire goes out.
I was reading about a young woman of concentration. She is 18 and a high school graduate. She plans to be a pediatrician. She is a gymnast and an excellent diver. She managed a 4.0 grade average in high school. She also plays classical piano. But as a gymnast, she trains before and after school at a pace of about 40 hours a week!!
But in order to achieve excellence in these areas, she has determined not to date. She has chosen not to get a driver’s license. She has suspended her social life in order to focus on those things, which she deems to be priorities in her life.
Sometimes, I watch golf on TV. A great golfer knows how to concentrate. When they are ready to make a putt, they do not allow anything to interfere with their concentration.
The world and the devil will do all they can to distract us and get us sidetracked from the main things - living for and serving the Lord. Winners are those who concentrate, who keep their eyes on the goal and let nothing distract them.
James, in his epistle, says, "A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways." Concentration, therefore, is the secret of power. If a river is allowed to overflow its banks, the area around it becomes a swamp. But if that river is dammed and controlled, it becomes a source of power. And so life becomes a matter of values and priorities; living for that which matters most.
Anything that gets your focus off the main thing is a dangerous thing.
3. A Winner Has Convictions and Courage. Winners have convictions and the courage to stand by their convictions. Very few politicians have the courage to stand by their convictions. Losers don’t stand for anything and as a result fall for everything. Daniel was a man with convictions and the courage to stand by his convictions. Daniel 1:8, "But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat or with the wine which he drank." The three Hebrew children were willing to die in a fiery furnace rather than compromise their convictions. Even many pastors do not have the courage to stand by their convictions. Church music is a good example. Standards are another area where many pastors have compromised. Take social drinking - years ago all Baptist preachers and even Methodist preachers preached against drinking alcohol - but today they do not have the courage to do it. But the Bible says in Proverbs 20:1, "Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived is not wise."
Winners are willing to be criticized and despised by the world in order to stand by their convictions and their belief in God’s Word. You can never live a consistent, obedient life for Christ without courage.
Adrian Rogers tells about the man who bragged that he had cut off the tail of a man-eating lion with his pocketknife. Asked why he hadn’t cut off the lion’s head, the man replied: "Someone had already done that."
To be a winner you must stand up and do the right thing regardless of the consequences.
4. A Winner Is Compassionate. Stephen was a man of compassion. He had a desire to see these Jews saved so he preached the truth even though he knew it would anger them and perhaps put him in danger. Acts 7:54, 57-60.
A winner cares about others. A winner has a compassionate heart. The Apostle Paul was a winner, Acts 20:31, "Therefore watch and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears." The Number One reason you are a loser as a soul winner is that you don’t have a deep compassion for the lost. Nothing will take the place of compassion in soul winning.
One of Evangelist Billy Graham’s team members was in the hospital. He couldn’t understand why he was there when a crusade was going on and he was needed there. Even worse, he was placed in the same room with a very bitter man, who ridiculed his Christian faith. Yet, each day, he treated his obnoxious hospital roommate with encouraging words. On the day the member of Billy Graham Crusade was to be discharged from the hospital, his roommate slipped him a note that read, "If only for me, God brought you here, to show me His love." In Jude 22, we read, "And of some have compassion, making a difference."
Philip Yancey tells the story of Dr. Paul Brand who has devoted his life to treating leprosy patients in India. In the course of one examination Brand laid his hand on the patient’s shoulder and informed him through a translator of the treatment that lay ahead. To his surprise the man began to shake with muffled sobs. "Have I said something wrong?" Brand asked the translator. She quizzed the patient and reported, "No, doctor. He says he is crying because you put your hand around his shoulder. Until he came here no one had touched him for many years."
Compassion makes a difference between a winner and a loser. The Bible says that Jesus "Was moved with compassion." You will only touch the lives of people for Christ if you have compassion.
5. A Winner Has Confidence. Acts 7:59, "And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus receive my spirit." Stephen had confidence that he was ready to meet the Lord. You don’t detect any fear in his words. A winner is one who has been saved and is confident about the future - no fear of death.
Shoholya Yokowai spent 28 years of his life in prison. It was not a prison of bars and locks and wardens, but a self-imposed prison of fear. He was a Japanese soldier on the island of Guam during World War II. And when the American forces landed, he fled into the jungle and found a cave in which he hid for 28 years because he was afraid of being captured by the Americans.
He learned that the war was over by reading one of the thousands of pamphlets dropped into the jungle. But he was afraid. So for 28 years he lived in the cave, coming out only at night to look for roaches and rats and frogs and mangoes on which he survived.
Finally some natives found him and convinced him that it would be all right for him to come out of his jungle prison.
You know it is great to have confidence about the future - to know that even though this life in Christ is great - the life to come is even greater - in fact it’s just out of this world. So, you can see why we have confidence. Listen to Paul in I Corinthians 2:9, "But as it is written, eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him." Daniel was willing to face a den of lions because he had confidence in God. Winners have confidence - confidence in God - confidence that through Christ they can do whatever God wants them to do, and confidence that they are winners in life and death because of their faith in Christ.
Losers are those who have rejected Christ for the pleasures and possessions of this world and the future in the dark with no real hope.
Years ago, a young boy came to church on the bus with his mother and several brothers and sisters. He had grown up without a dad. He came to church almost every Sunday, but one day he robbed and stabbed to death an elderly woman in her eighties. He was locked up for several years. He eventually married and had children. Then, one day I received a phone call that he had been hit by a truck and killed. He had been drinking, was perhaps drunk, and stepped out in front of a truck.
He left this life a loser. He had gone to church. He had heard the Word of God preached, but he made some really bad choices and as a result, he died a real loser!
Several years ago there was another young man with a similar background. His parents were divorced. His home life was chaotic. He received no encouragement from home. But he kept coming to church faithfully. As a teenager, he became a bus captain and brought in boys and girls from homes just like his. Today, that young man is in Bible College studying for the ministry. Will had a choice to make and he made the right choice and became a winner in a world of losers.
You can be a winner or a loser - the choice is yours.