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robes at the feet of a young man named Saul.” When Stephen
was dying, I don’t think he was saying, “I hope the Lord uses
this redemptively.” He was too busy seeing Jesus. It was all
automatic. It was fruit. Fruit is intuitive. We don’t have to
think about it. He didn’t think about forgiving. He didn’t think
about surrender. He was like Jesus. It came naturally. He had
a forgiving heart. He had a surrendered heart.
I don’t think Stephen saw who was holding the
garments. I don’t think he knew that the number one enemy of
Christ was holding some of the garments. The number one
enemy of Christ was the apostle Paul and he became the number
one friend of Christ.

If God has ever blessed you through the writings of Paul
and his thirteen epistles, bow your head and thank God for
Stephen. God used Stephen to lead Paul to Christ. That’s fruit.
He wasn’t trying to have fruit. He was just looking at Jesus.
He was enjoying the Lord but God was reaching out through
Him.

It wasn’t just Paul that got saved that day. Stephen’s
death, the Bible says, ignited a persecution. It was because of
Stephen. Christians were scattered like seeds and a great
revival in Samaria took place. And in Ethiopia God saved
people and the gospel went to Africa. Thousands were saved
in Antioch. Through Cornelius the gospel went to Caesarea.

Stephen just enjoyed the Lord. The Lord was his life.
Fruit is not only works that come from you but it transforms
you and you become like the Lord Jesus. This is what is on my
heart to share with you. The origin must be the Lord. There
can be no other explanation for your life than that God did it.
How can I accept that trial? God did it. How can I have
joy in this situation? God did it. How can I be thankful? The
Lord does it. How can I let my loved one go and go to heaven?
The Lord must do it. While you are looking to the Lord and
you are enjoying the Lord, God is producing fruit. Fruit does
not belong to the tree. What is an apple tree going to do with