You’re Here On Purpose | Jentezen Franklin

When God Spends a Life to Save a Generation

Maybe this is the most important truth you need to hear today: when God chooses to save someone, He will spend someone. In the Book of Acts, we see this displayed in the life of Stephen—the very first martyr of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The first to bleed. The first to fall. The first to lay down his life for the One who gave His life for us.

The story unfolds in Acts 6 and 7. Stephen wasn’t a preacher, prophet, or apostle. He wasn’t the spiritual face of the early church. He was a Christian leader, chosen among seven men who were “full of faith and full of the Holy Spirit” to serve, to help, and to free the apostles to pray and preach. The first martyr wasn’t a superstar of the faith—he was simply faithful.

The Bible says he was dragged into a public gathering where a heated dispute erupted. They debated him, argued with him, tried to outtalk him. But Scripture says something profound: they could not resist the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke. He wasn’t just smart—he was surrendered. His words carried weight because his life carried the presence of God.

And that made him dangerous to darkness.

The more Stephen exposed deception, the more violently his enemies reacted. Eventually, they dragged him outside and began to stone him. But even as death closed in, Stephen’s last message was Christ. His last breath was forgiveness. He echoed the Savior’s own words: “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.”

What no one realized in that moment was that Stephen’s life was purchasing someone. Acts says that as the stones rained down, the people laid their coats at the feet of a man named Saul. Saul of Tarsus. The persecutor of the church. The one who mocked, hunted, and terrorized believers. And yet hidden inside him was a calling he did not know, a future he had not seen, and fourteen books of the New Testament waiting to be born.

God was spending Stephen…
to buy Paul.

God was giving the life of a righteous man…
to redeem a violent man.

God was sowing one generation…
so He could reap another.

And this is the mystery we often forget: when a Christian leader is spent, God is always purchasing something greater. When a voice of truth is silenced on earth, heaven is already raising up another voice—stronger, wiser, bolder.

Stephen never saw the result of his sacrifice. But his obedience unlocked the ministry of the man who would take the gospel to the world.

And today, God is still doing the same.
When He spends one life, He is saving countless others.
When darkness tries to silence a witness, God is preparing a generation.

You may not always understand God’s math—
but nothing surrendered is ever wasted in His hands.