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The 500 Witnesses and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on…

When should we obey God rather than men?

[NOTE TO TEACHER] The focus of this lesson is on the human tendency to build cultural, religious, social, and even political systems around God. These systems are really intended to help us feel safe and in control, and make an infinite God feel more understandable. This lesson explores how Stephen rebukes human systems by attacking the priority his people placed on the Temple in Jerusalem, and the Holy Land as a whole. The goal of the lesson is to encourage people to question the systems they have built and see how they may by trying to squeeze God into those systems - thereby resisting God’s Spirit and His work in their lives.

Stephen follows in the footsteps of Jesus and suffers for it.

Nicodemus coming to speak to Jesus

We continue the study on the trial of St. Stephen. We will look today at his treatment of the Patriarch Joseph

Acts 7:1-8 Then the high priest said, “Are these things so?” And he said, “Brethren and fathers, listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran, and said to him, ‘Get out of your country and from your relatives, and come to a land that I will…

Introduction How many of you have ever watched a court show on TV? From Judge Judy to Divorce Court and everything else in between, these shows are humorous at times but they also provide a tiny picture into the courtroom for those of us who have never been in one. Usually in these types of shows, there…

Introduction With the Olympics coming up in a few short weeks, there have been many current and former athletes celebrated in recent days. One such athlete was a dominant force in ancient Greece, as in thousands of years ago. He was such a good athlete that he was celebrated by his town for winning the…

PRAY INTRO: Truth is not pliable. Truth is not simply relative to your perspective. Truth is truth. Truth is not something to be twisted for your own purposes. Similarly, justice is not merely a tool to be wielded in the hands of those in political power. Justice is a righteous judgment based on what…

Intro: Illustration: Here is a name that you probably won’t know, and likely won’t remember. Balthasar Hubmaier. He was an evangelical Anabaptist in the sixteenth century. That is a fancy way of saying, he was a Christian a few hundred years ago who stood up for baptism being something that was supposed…

BRING/READ/THINK/PRAY Last week we took up the story of Stephen. Stephen was a deacon and a preacher. Those two tasks do not normally go together, but in Stephen’s case they did. And like many prophets before him, and like many preachers after him, Stephen’s faithful, clear, accurate, God-centered and…

Peter and John, who had failed to stand up for Jesus when He was arrested and at His trial before the Sanhedrin now face the same Sanhedrin who had condemned Jesus. What a difference the Holy Spirit makes in the believer.

We’re studying the final week of Jesus life and ministry that would deliver the greatest gift for the souls of humanity. Last week we looked at a part of the 2nd day of this last week, and we saw Jesus’ power and authority to judge Israel shown by the cursing of the fig tree. This preceded Jesus going…

Court Trials One of the most fascinating stories is a story that involves a court trial. We are drawn to these stories. To Kill A Mockinbird is one of the most read court drama stories there is. John Grisham has built an empire on court drama. Our culture at times has been swept up in court drama. In…

lu22 63-23: 63 And the men that held Jesus mocked him, and smote him . 64 And when they had blindfolded him, they struck him on the face, and asked him, saying, Prophesy, who is it that smote thee? 65 And many other things blasphemously spake they against him. 66 And as soon as it was day, the elders…

Wrongful Convictions Anthony Mazza: In April 1973, Anthony Mazza was sentenced to life in prison without parole for a murder in Boston. In June 2020, at the age of 73, he was released after his conviction was vacated because his trial lawyer was denied key evidence that points to his innocence. He spent…

What defines you? Paul was defined by not who he was, but who he became in Christ. He positioned his past to advance the kingdom, he used boldness to confront the high priest, and we will see that he used hope to divide and conquer. Paul's main focus was on the world to come and so his defense was centered around that.

Introduction In our world today, we here lots of crazy things day in and day out. What is kind of concerning is that it can be hard to tell what is real and what is fake with some of the outlandish things going on around us! Think if someone told you in 2019 that in a couple of months there would be…

God's grand plan uses even the ungodly to accomplish it

Introduction Few things reveal one’s character like stressful situations where there’s a lot on the line. We’ve all been in these types of moments where we are faced with a choice and there are ramifications based on what we decide to do. Every Saturday night/Sunday morning I am faced with a pretty stressless…

Jesus is doing great signs and miracles. People are seeing it first hand and refusing to believe. Matter of fact we get a glimpse into the hearts of men and the power of sin over mankind. We get to see the blindness in all of men’s hearts. The Apostle John gives a window in the mind of the world and its desires to stop truth.