Stephen's Last Stand

Stephen’s Last Stand
Acts 7.1-60

~ The soil of the church is wet with the blood of the martyrs. How true. The more Satan tries to stomp out the church, the more she grows. Satan always overplays his hand. In attempts to strike fear upon the church, persecution actually works to spread the gospel.

Stephen is the first of a long line of Christian martyrs.


His Defense (1-50)
~ The accusers of Stephen are unable to cope with the arguments that he is dishing out. They cannot discredit his teaching, despite their best efforts. As is the case so often, if you can’t win, cheat. They come up with false witnesses to make up charges against him. They assert 3 false charges and Stephen addresses each one of them in his speech, referencing THEIR God, with THEIR Scripture – infuriating. Stephen attacks all the false grounds of legalism which they held to for their security in God. Knowing the likely outcome of his speech, Stephen pulls no punches and takes advantage of the opportunity for Christ.


His Defiance (51-53)
~ After a masterful speech, the finger turns, points directly at his accusers and he begins his own accusations. They are accused of being unspiritual in their resistance of the Holy Spirit, they are unrighteous in their heritage – acting just like their fathers who killed the prophets and they are hypocritical – acknowledging the divine origin of the word of God but refusing to submit to its authority. These comments are inflammatory to the supposed spiritual leaders of Israel.

His Death (54-60)
~ The result of this speech is unsurprising at best. In the midst of the mob scene, Stephen is allowed a special grace – he sees a vision of the Lord Jesus at the right hand of God. It seems as though God gave him a special grace and encouragement in time of extreme and special need. Stephen conveys his vision to the mob which only inflames the situation worse. He is driven out of town and brutally killed by the mob throwing stones at him.

It’s hard to know what to do with this type of persecution. Here in the states we are not experiencing this same type of persecution. It is important to note that this is happening in other parts of the planet. Here are a few helpful websites that will keep you up to date on what our brothers and sisters are enduring:
www.persecution.com
www.christianpersecution.info
www.compassdirect.org
I gave the students a list of actions steps to help process this message.
1. Thank God for this time of blessing.
2. Put your hardships in perspective
3. Take time to be serious
4. Realize the high accountability you have
5. Pray for those who are persecuting and those being persecuted
6. Don’t go looking for persecution
7. Don’t be surprised when it comes
8. Repent and Believe in Christ