Have you experienced a church fight? They are quite nasty and a favorite weapon in the Devil’s arsenal. The message this week begins with a church fight and ends with an unfortunate death.

Satan does not have power to directly challenge the Holy Spirit and so he will turn to humans to do his dirty work. In this case, Lucifer sent demons to stir up Jews from Greece. The early church in Jerusalem lived in a commune and the Greek widows felt they did not get as much as the Jewish widows from Judea/Jerusalem when it came to the distribution of food and clothing. They were angry and the harmony was gone.

The apostles realized this problem was not going away, but felt their time should not be spent doling out food, clothing, and money. They instructed the congregation to select seven men of good reputation to be ordained for this role. Everyone felt this was a good solution and seven honest men were chosen. One of the men was named Stephen.

Stephen did more than hand out food, clothing and money. He was full of faith and power, doing great wonders and miracles prior his selection. His personal ministry was so successful through the power of the Holy Ghost that it garnered the attention of a synagogue of Jews from outside Judea.

They began to challenge Stephen, but discovered they could not defeat him in debate, so they did what any evil person would do. They hired a number of people to falsely accuse him of blasphemy and filed bogus charges with the Sanhedrin.

The high priest allowed the witnesses to tell their lies and then Stephen was given a chance at rebuttal. Annas did not expect Stephen to preach a sermon outlining the story of what God had done for the Hebrews beginning with Abraham to the crucifixion of Jesus.

With no regard for his own safety, Stephen asked which of the prophets were not persecuted by their forefathers? Stephen called out the Sanhedrin for their obstinance. They had heard the message of the Messiah; it had been repeated by the apostles, now by Stephen, and yet they steadfastly refused to yield to the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

They were truly no different than their forefathers in resisting the message and miracles of God, persecuting the apostles who spoke about the risen Messiah and carried out miracles in Jesus’ name. By their actions, they were showing that they – not Stephen – were the true renegades. He concluded by reminding the Sanhedrin of their crime in crucifying Jesus and how they were vile men of the worst character.

These proud men were filled with rage at this insolent disciple of Jesus that would dare to speak to them in such a manner. With a sudden rush and a lynch mob mentality, they dragged him outside the city walls and quickly stoned him to death. There was no pretense at legality as they killed another innocent man. The killing of Christians had begun.

There is one surprise twist which would go on to change the course of the early church and still affects us today. But you’ll have to join the livestream on Sunday.

Print out the sermon outline and let's examine the Scriptures together Sunday morning at 9:00 AM PST.

Yours in Christ,

Pastor John S. Torell