I. Stephen
A. In Acts Chapter 6
1. Appointed as one of seven men by the disciples
"...They chose Stephen,a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit;also,Philip, Procorus, Nicanor,Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. "-verse 5
"They presented them to the apostles, who prayed and laid laid their hands on them."-verse 6
2. "Now, Stephen, a man full of God's grace and power,did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people."-verse 8
This is something God allowed him to do to bring about his glory.
B. Opposition to Stephen , & Trial Begins
1. "Opposition arose,however,from the members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen,(as it was called)-Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia. These men begin to argue with Stephen,"-verse 9
2. "but they could not stand up against his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke."-verse 10
a. "Then they secretly persuaded some men to say,We have heard Stephen speak words of blasphemy against Moses and against God."-verse 11
*They convinced some people to tell lies about Stephen-to falsely accuse him of wrong doing
b. "So they stirred up the people and elders and the teachers of the law.."-verse 12a
3. "...They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin."-verse 12b
*They arrested him for no reason.
4. " They produced false witnesses ,who testified, This fellow never stops speaking against the holy place and against the law. "-verse 13
a. false accusing continues
"For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us."-verse 14
b. "All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen,and they saw his face was like the face of an angel."-verse 15
* His face was shiny/glowing.
II.Stephen's trial continues -Acts Chapter 7:1-60
A. Questioned by the high priest
1. "Then the high priest asked him,Are these charges true?"-verse 1
2. Stephen responses with a sermon
"To this he replied,Brothers and fathers,listen to me! The glory of God appeared to our Father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia,before he lived in Haran. Leave your country and your people, God said,and go the land I will show you. So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living. He gave them no inheritance there not even a foot of ground. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would posess the land,even though at the time Abraham had no child."-verses 2-5
3. Stephen's sermon continues
a. "God spoke to him in this way:Your descendants will be stangers in a country not thier own,and they will enslaved and mistreated for four hundred years. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, God said,and afterward they will come out of that country and worship me at this place. Then he gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. And Abraham became the father of Issac and circumcised him eight days after his birth. Later Issac became the father of Jacob and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs. Because these patriarchs were jealous of Joseph ,they sold him as a slave into Egypt. But God was with him and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharoah king of Egypt;so he made him ruler over Egypt and all his palace. Then a famine struck all Egypt and Canan, bringing great suffering,and our fathers could not find food. When Jacob heard there was grain in Egypt ,he sent our fathers on thier first visit."-verses 6-12
b. "On their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was,and Pharaoh learned about Joseph's family. After this Joseph,sent for his father Jacob and his whole family,seventy-five in all. The Jacob went down to Egypt,where he and our fathers died. Their bodies were brought back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor at Shechem for a ceratin amount of money. As this time drew near for God to fulfill his promise to Abraham,the number in Egypt greatly increased. Then another king, who knew nothing about Jospeh,became ruler of Egypt. He dealt treacherously with our people and oppressed our forefathers by forcing them to throw out thier newborn babies so that they would die. "-verse 13-19
c. "At that time Moses was born, and he was no ordinary child. For three months he was cared for in his father's house. When he was placed outside,Pharaoh's daughter took him and brought him up as her own son. Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action. When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his fellow Israelities. He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian,so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them,but they did not. The next day Moses came upon two Israelities that were fighting. He tried to reconcile them by saying, Men you are brothers;why do you want to hurt each other? But the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside and said, Who made you ruler and judge over us? Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday? When Moses heard this,he fled to Midian,where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons. After forty years had passed,and angel appeared to Moses in the flames of the burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai. When he saw this,he was amazed at the sight. As he went over to look more closely, he heard the Lord's voice: I am the God of your fathers,the God of Issac and Jacob. Moses trembled with fear and did not dare to look. Then, the Lord said to him. Take off your sandals for the place where you are standing is holy ground. I have indeed seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free. Now come, I will send you back to Egypt. This same Moses whom they had rejected with thier words,who made you ruler and judge? He was sent to be thier ruler and delieverer by God himself, led through the ange; who appeared to him in the bush. He led them out of Egypt and did wonders and miraculous signs in Egypt, at the the Red Sea and for forty years in the desert."-verse 20-36
d. "This is that Moses who told the Isarelities,God will send you a prophet like me frorm your own people. He was in the assembly in the desert,with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Siani,and with our fathers;and he received living words to pass on to us. But our fathers refused to obey him and in their hearts to back in Egypt. They told Aaron, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt-we don't know what happened to him! That was the time they made an idol in the form of a calf. They brought sacrifices to it and held a celebration in honor of what thier hands had made. But God turned away and gave them over to the worship of heavenly bodies. This agrees with what was written in the book of the prophets: Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the desert, O house of Isarel? You have lifted up the shrine of Molech and the star of your god Rephan,the idols you made to worship. Therefore I willsend you into exil beyond Babylon. Our forefathers had the tabernacle
of the testimony with them in the desert. It had been made as God directed Moses,according to the pattern he had seen. Having received the tabernacle, our fathers under Joshua brought it with them when they took the land from the nations God drove out before them. It remained in the land until the time of David, who enjoyed God's favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who built the house for him. However the Most High does not live in houses made by men. As the prophet says: Heaven is my throne, and earth is the footstool, What kind of house will you build for me? says the Lord,or where will my resting place be? Has not my hand maded all these things? You stiff- necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers:You always resist the Holy Spirit! Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him-you who have recieved the law that was put into effect thorugh angels but have not obeyed it."-verses 21-53
B. Their Response to Stephen's Sermon
1. "When they heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him."-verse 54
a. Stephen's response - "But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit,looked up at heaven and saw the glory of God,and Jesus standing at the right hand of God." -verse 55
b. "Look, he said, I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God."-verse 56
2. Their reponse-worldy,ungodly,and wrong
a. "At this they covered thier ears and yelling at the top of thier voices, they all rushed at him,"-verse 57
b. "dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile the witnesses laid thier clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul."-verse 58
3. Stephen's last reponse and death/martyred for cause of Christ
a. "When they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, Lord Jesus,recieve my spirit. "-verse 59
b. "Then he fell on his knees and cried out, Lord,do not hold this sin against them..."-verse 60a
c. "When he had said this,he fell asleep."-verse 60b -He died.
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