Acts 6:8-15

To recap last week we discussed the 7 who were chose to serve

If you remember one of the ones who was chosen to serve was named Stephen

We are familiar with Stephen, now lets take the story of his ministry to another level and take a glance at the impact he had.

Acts 6:8–15 KJV 1900

And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people. Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen. And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake. Then they suborned men, which said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God. And they stirred up the people, and the elders, and the scribes, and came upon him, and caught him, and brought him to the council, And set up false witnesses, which said, This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place, and the law: For we have heard him say, that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us. And all that sat in the council, looking stedfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel.

starting by opening in verse 8 we learn a lot about what kind of a man of God Stephen was

Acts 6:8 KJV 1900

And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people.

So this man keep in mind originally had been asked to come in and serve food to the widows

A few verses later the Bible describes him as a man that was “full of faith and power, who did great wonders and miracles among the people”

Keep in mind to this point in the narrative of acts no one has been described in such a manner besides Peter

Our author Luke has no spoke of anyone in no human person in such a spiritual way

This speaks immensely well of Stephen both in his ability to reflect Christ and his desire to be close to christ

(v.9-10)

So of course as we followed along in this narrative of acts when someone is living for Christ and living the great commission there arises tensions among leaders

So Stephen had friction with the members of the synagogue

and these people had reasoned in their mind that Stephen was bad and needed to be eliminated

I love what the scripture says in verse 10 though where it says

Acts 6:10 KJV 1900

And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake.

So no manner how they were against Stephen his maturity in Christ enabled him to a believer in which could not be argued

In other words the leaders could speak any words they would want to speak but it would do them little good do th Stephen being so enabled by Christ

How special it would be church to be a christian who had the kind of maturity in Christ that we could not be argued against in words

That is my encouragement for you today let us be men and women who seek to draw so close to christ that we are so enabled by our Lord that no situation such as this can phase us

I want us to not stop here though

Lets take a look at how evil forces come against the people of God

Acts 6:11–12 KJV 1900

Then they suborned men, which said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God. And they stirred up the people, and the elders, and the scribes, and came upon him, and caught him, and brought him to the council,

The religious leaders bring corrupt methods into the equation by telling others to say that Stephen had spoke in a way in which he had not

Since the religious leaders found they couldn’t contradict what Stephen had been saying they decided to make up their own stories

as the story here continues on the leaders bring Stephen up on what is essentially lies

Yet we are going to see something special in the last verse that just affirms what we have already learned about Stephen

verse 15

Acts 6:15 KJV 1900

And all that sat in the council, looking stedfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel.

So they bring Stephen before council on false accusations and all that sat their looked at Stephen and saw as the face if an angel.

As we ahev worked through our scriptures here lets take a moment to see what this means for us

The man who eventually becomes one of the early Christian martyrs was first described as someone who done many miracles and wonders and was full of the spirit of God

to the point that they couldn’t condemn him with words

He was a messenger of Christ to the point that all that looked at him in the council felt as though they were looking at an angel

Church I ask you today, do you feel your life is on a path in which you are drawing closer to Christ?

Part of us being a Christian is continued growth in our faith

we are seeking grow to such security in our faith as Stephen was

Men and women who are growing in their faith with aspirations to one day have this kind of relationship with their Lord

My conviction to you this morning church is to live your life in such a way that your prayer life, study life, and life in your ministries would model that of someone such as Stephen’s life

If your not growing into your relationship with the Lord you are wasting precious time in this life

So church I ask today that we model our life after this word

I ask that we grow into it

I ask that we pray more faithfully and share the word more boldly

so that one day if one comes against they have no choice but to pull all the stops to bring us to judgement because they cannot confront our words due to our spiritual maturity

I beg of you church if you are here today and don’t see yourself growing in your own personal life

if you do not see yourself drawing closer to our Lord each day

Please try to address these problems

it will not only strengthen you but it will strengthen the kingdom of our lord