Acts: The Gospel Unleashed Part 11

When you see Stephen you see Jesus.

Acts 6:8–14 ESV

8 And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. 9 Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen. 10 But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. 11 Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” 12 And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council, 13 and they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law, 14 for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.”

He was a man of faith.

Acts 6:5 ESV

5 And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch.

He was a man of Grace.

Acts 6:8 ESV

8 And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people.

Full of Power

Acts 6:8 ESV

8 And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people.

Full of Wisdom

Acts 6:10 ESV

10 But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking.

Full of the Holy Spirit

Acts 6:5 ESV

5 And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch.

Acts 7:55 ESV

55 But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

The Religious People had a deadly case of Deja Vu.

The first thing that was said of Stephen and the last thing that was said of him.

Put that on my tombstone

Couples Look Like Each Other Over Time

University of Michigan psychologist Robert Zajonc conducted an experiment which analyzed photographs of couples taken when they were newlyweds and photographs of the same couples taken 25 years later.

The results showed that the couples had grown to look more like each other over time.

Verse 15 is my favorite, and it sums up this point is what it says, “and gazing at him, all who set in the Council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.” Stephen had a countenance about him, a holy countenance. Everything that is said by Luke in chapter 6 characterizing Stephen and describes Stephen in with the same characteristics and descriptions given of Jesus.

Acts 6:15 ESV

15 And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

When People see you do they see Jesus?

When you hear Stephen you hear Jesus.

Stephen Like Jesus attacked thee sacred cows of religion.

The Land & The Law & The Temple!

The Sacred Cow of the Land - There is something greater than the land!

Acts 7:30–34 ESV

30 “Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. 31 When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord: 32 ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.’ And Moses trembled and did not dare to look. 33 Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34 I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.’

What makes our assembly a holy assembly tonight – It’s the presence of God! Where my people gather I’ll be there in the middle of gnats the holy place!

The Sacred Cow of the Law - Something more sacred than the law.

Acts 7:37 ESV

37 This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.’

Another Moses in fact the author of Hebrews picks up on Stephen’s theme here and shows us that Jesus was greater than Moses.

The Sacred Cow of the Temple - Something that transcends the temple

Acts 7:48–50 ESV

48 Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says, 49 “ ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? 50 Did not my hand make all these things?’

Jesus said that not one stone would be left upon another! Yet he stands in the temple and says something greater than the temple is here. And moving forward acts chapter 2 we see the spirit of God coming in indwelling the people of God so that the Old Testament shadow gives way to the New Testament reality the temple was the shadow of Christ.

The Sacred Cow of Self-Righteousness

Acts 7:51–53 ESV

51 “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, 53 you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”

When you hear Stephen you Hear Jesus

Question:

When people hear you do they hear Jesus?

When others hear you do they hear the gospel?

Stephen Lived Like Jesus & Died Like Jesus!

Acts 7:54–60 ESV

54 Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. 55 But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” 57 But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. 58 Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

He responds to their hate with Love.

Are you living for the applause of men or the approval of Christ?