Acts 7: Stephen The First Christian Martyr!

Click Here to Read All of Acts 7

Stephen’s Speech to the Sanhedrin

7 Then the high priest asked Stephen, “Are these charges true?”
2 To this he replied: “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of gloryappeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Harran. 3 ‘Leave your country and your people,’ God said, ‘and go to the land I will show you.’
Acts 7 details the speech Stephen gave to High Priest and the Sanhedrin (70 ruling members of the Jewish council).  You can read the whole speech as it is a really good summary of the history of the Jewish people starting with the covenant God made with Abraham and then on to Moses reception of the Law and finally Joshua's taking of the Promised Land. The bottom line is Stephen is reviewing the story of salvation to the people that should know this story the most.  He is using it to prove to them Jesus the Messiah they just killed was a fulfillment of all the promises God had made to the Jewish people.  
Unfortunately they were not open to the history lesson and shortly thereafter stoned Stephen.  Interestingly when they took him outside the city gates for stoning, they laid their coats at the feet of a man named "Saul".  This was the Saul that would become Paul who we will hear a lot more about soon!  
Here are the beautiful words Stephen uttered as he approched his own death by stoning, "59 While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep."
Stephen did his best to show the Jewish leaders why Jesus was the Messiah they had been waiting for, but they were "stiff-necked" and resisted the Holy Spirit.
This passage shows why it is so important to know the history of our faith.  Obviously those in charge of being shepherds to the flock of God completely forgot God's plan and promises.  They completely missed Jesus in their midst because they had so badly forgotten what their own scriptures taught.
We see today that many leaders in the church have veered from the clear and plain teaching of the bible. They have oftentimes forgotten the history and clear promises and commands of God.  This is why we need to be people of the Word and guided by the Holy Spirit not the world's values!

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