Stephen Seized

HOOK

DO NOT FORGET TO UNMUTE

It’s the 13th day of October— It’s another warm and sunny Tuesday here in San Diego

Yesterday right here at “The Message”, we saw another history of the early church that grew rapidly— it grew to a point when some ministry are overlooked by the apostles— ministry such as the distribution of food to the widows— the Hellenistic Jews complained against the Hebraic Jews

Learning about this— the 12 apostles called everyone and said, “it would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the Word in order to wait on tables”— in other words, here are two things we learned from the apostles that caused the church to grow rapidly:

THE PRIMARY MINISTRY OF PASTORS IS TO PRAY AND PREACH

THE CHURCH MUST CHOOSE QUALIFIED PEOPLE TO DO THE MINISTRIES

So, the early church chose 7 and laid their hands over them as they prayed— one of these chosen seven was Stephen— he was filled with God’s grace and power— Let’s see what happened to Stephen

Open your Bible to ACTS 6:8-15— once you get there, I’d like you type, “let’s see what happened to Stephen!”

When reading in advance, whenever you’re studying God’s Word— look for words that defines that CHARACTER of God, COMMANDS to obey, PROMISES to claim, good EXAMPLES to follow and bad examples to avoid, ENCOURAGEMENTS & CHALLENGES to keep you going, reasons to be THANK GOD for, PRAYERS to pray

READ ACTS 6:8-15

BOOK

Acts 6:8–15 NIV

8 Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people. 9 Opposition arose, however, from 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—who began to argue with Stephen. 10 But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke. 11 Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.” 12 So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. 13 They produced false witnesses, who testified, “This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. 14 For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us.” 15 All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

WHAT: After Stephen received power and authority from the Holy Spirit through the apostles— he performed great wonders and signs among the people

WHERE: At this early stage of the early church— they have not yet expanded to different places. The Sanhedrin was mentioned and the Sanhedrin is located in Jerusalem

WHEN: After the apostles chose the seven to do ministry— and Stephen was of them

WHO: Stephen [Important figure— the first martyr of the church], Members of the Greek-speaking synagogue [perhaps founded by or attended by freed slaves— Cyrene- City in Northern Africa— Alexandria- a city in Egypt— Cilicia and Asia- modern Turkey], members of the Sanhedrin]

SHOW— Image of Synagogue [Greek transliteration— “a gathering together”] and Sanhedrin

LOOK

PERFORMED GREAT WONDERS AND SIGNS AMONG THE PEOPLE

Stephen’s gift and empowerment by the Spirit are similar to that of the apostles

OPPOSITION AROSE FROM MEMBERS OF THE SYNAGOGUE

When you do the work of Christ— expect that there will be opposition from those who hold on to their customs and buildings and idols

They argued with Stephen, but…

THEY COULD NOT STAND UP AGAINST THE WISDOM THE SPIRIT GAVE HIM

He spoke eloquently because of the enabling power of the Holy Spirit in him— in the next chapter 7 which we will cover beginning tomorrow, you will see how eloquent [fluent & persuasive] Stephen was— LUKE 21:15

Because they could not stand up against the wisdom that the Holy Spirit gave Stephen, they resorted to other things...

THEY SECRETLY PERSUADED SOME MEN

They made up words against Stephen saying, “we have heard Stephen speak blasphemous [irreverent] words against Moses and against God.”— take note of this, later on when we cover the speech of Stephen before the Sanhedrin, you will see for yourself that this is a lie!— Moses actually prophesied that God will raise another prophet among them [DEUTERONOMY 18:15]

THEY STIRRED UP THE PEOPLE AND THE ELDERS AND THE TEACHERS OF THE LAW

They stirred [incite] up— secretly instigated

THEY SEIZED STEPHEN AND BROUGHT HIM BEFORE THE SANHEDRIN

The Sanhedrin as you know is the Jewish ruling council— it decides for the people on matters and disputes

THEY PRODUCED FALSE WITNESSES

Witnesses who testified falsely saying, “this fellow never stops speaking against this holy place [Sanhedrin] and against the law”

Reminiscent of those false witnesses brought forward in Jesus trial [MARK 14:56-58]

They misunderstood the words of Jesus, perhaps cited by Stephen that Jesus will destroy their temple and rebuild it in 3 days— a prophecy of his own death and resurrection

THEY SAW THAT HIS FACE WAS LIKE THE FACE OF AN ANGEL

Just like Moses when when he came down from mount Sinai— [EXODUS 34:29-30]

Two things we can learn from this...

TOOK

I MUST BE READY FOR OPPOSITION AS I DO THE WORK OF THE LORD

THE HOLY SPIRIT WILL GIVE ME WISDOM THAT NO ONE CAN STAND AGAINST

SING

Anton Aquino— Still