A New Enemy - The Book of Acts

In this Bible Story, we witness the brutal murder of Stephen. As stones crushed his bones, he looked up to heaven and saw the living God looking down at him. Stephen became the first martyr, and a new enemy emerges from the shadows. A pharisee named Saul. He would prove to be a deadly force for evil.This story is inspired by Acts 6:8-7:60. Go to BibleinaYear.com and learn the Bible in a Year.

Today's Bible verse is Acts 7:59 from the King James Version.

Episode 221: As the story of Jesus was spreading throughout Jerusalem, the number of believers was growing as well. The family of believers became so big that the twelve enlisted men to help them care for the needs of the people. One of these men, Stephen, preached daily in the synagogues. His teaching angered the Pharisees so they brought him to the Sanhedrin to be tried. As Stephen was giving his address to the men, he was beaten and stoned. But just like his Lord, while they were killing him, he prayed for their forgiveness.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let us pray and they stone Stephen calling upon God
and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit Bacts seven fifty
nine my God. In the same way, Stephen displayed an
unwavering commitment to his convictions. Unlock this level of conviction

(00:23):
in my life. In the face of authorities with the
power to execute. Stephen remained strong as he stood and
expressed what he knew to be the truth, both about
Jesus and the religious leader's stubborn hearts. In the same way,

(00:43):
allow my life to resemble the same spirit and strength
that Stephen possessed. May my life prove that I have
the presence of God in it. May my life prove
that I base my commitment on a biblical foundation. Allow
me to spot out and see the error of past

(01:04):
thinking and old ways of being. Allow my life to
stay steadfast as I keep my eyes on You, Jesus,
for I declare that commitment moves past the mind and
emotions and go straight to the will. Thank You for

(01:25):
my commitment that brings my mind and emotions into alignment
to achieve my purpose at all costs. Like Stephen, I
will look up to the heavens to gain my strength
and encouragement in Jesus name. Amen. Listening to these daily

(01:51):
prayers strengthens your relationship with God. Continue hearing from the
Lord by listening to to day's Bible in a Year,
brought to you by Bible in a Year dot com.

Speaker 2 (02:12):
A new enemy. In our last story, the Apostles were
beaten and imprisoned for preaching the name of Jesus, healing
the sick and feeding the poor, just as their Lord
before them. The Apostles found themselves suffering for the sake
of restoration. Now we see a new character arise. A
man named Stephen comes onto the scene to boldly proclaim

(02:35):
the good news of Christ. However, there is an evil
lurking near A man by the name of Saul watches
and waits for his opportunity to strike Stephan and any
Christian who dare mention the name of Jesus. Inspired by
the Book of Acts.

Speaker 3 (02:55):
Hello, I'm Jack Graham with today's episode of the Bible
in a Year podcast. But before we begin, I want
to let you know about a unique ebook that's yours
to download absolutely free today. Is called Breaking Free from Stress,
and my prayer is that it will help you conquer
the daily task and pressures and burdens that bring stress

(03:16):
in your life. Download your free copy of Breaking Free
from Stress today by visiting Jack Graham dot org slash stress.
That's Jack Graham dot org slash stress. In our Last
time together, we heard about the religious leaders as they
threatened the apostles teaching and put them in jail. God

(03:37):
then sent an angel to open the prison gates and
send them to the temple again preaching the Gospel of Jesus.
Their opponents could find no real reason to keep them
in prison, and at the council of one of their
own Gamaliel, they release the apostles, but only after beating
them and warning them to never speak about the name

(03:58):
of Jesus again. Of course, the apostles would never stop.
You might as well tell the sun to stop shining,
and they continued preaching the Gospel of Christ and winning
more and more people to a relationship with Christ, more
souls for Jesus. Today we'll hear about Stephen, the first
Christian martyr, who spoke boldly of Christ and paid the

(04:19):
ultimate sacrifice. And Christ will also meet a new enemy
to the Gospel, a zealous young rabbi named Saul, who
will lead the hunt for any who would proclaim the
name of Jesus, persecuting Christians. So let's listen now to
this reading from the Book of Acts.

Speaker 2 (04:38):
Jews, Greeks, Romans, and many others were catching on to
the story of Jesus. One by one they joined the
apostles of Jesus. Together they served their communities and one another.
They were committed to the feeding of orphans and widows,
and daily they met with one another to pray and
seek the truth of God. The church was becoming so

(04:59):
large that the the disciples could no longer meet the
needs of everyone on their own. So they appointed men
of good reputation and strong faith to meet the needs
of the poor and destitute. Among these men was a
man named Stephan, a man filled with God's spirit and boldness.
Daily Stephan would enter into the temple gates and preach

(05:19):
the Gospel. His words were like sweet honey to weary hearts.
He spoke of forgiveness, empowerment, and repentance. However, the enemy
was at work among the religious leaders. They conspired against
Stephan and spread false rumors about his character. Yet Stephan
seemed immune to such dissension. He continued to serve, preach,

(05:41):
and love. No argument could come against the truth, he proclaimed,
and no rumor could undermine his good reputation as an
honest man. They brought him before a court of leaders
and judged him for his words. Do you speak out
against Moses and Abraham? They asked, isn't your devotion to
this Jesus and front against our ancestors. Stephan looked around

(06:04):
the room and saw scowls like wolves. Jesus was brought
before this very court before he was crucified. He boldly
stood before them and spoke only the truth. So Stephan
would do the same, no matter the cost. Stephan closed
his eyes and prayed to the Lord for a moment.
Then he lifted his eyes to all the men, You

(06:24):
stiff necked people, You are unclean in your hearts and ears.
How long will you resist the spirit of God speaking
to you. It was your fathers who killed the prophets
of old, and it is you who follow in their
footsteps by slaying the Messiah himself. You hold to the
words of Moses so tightly, but you have missed their
true meaning. The entire room erupted in anger. Stephan could

(06:49):
not even take a second breath before he was stormed
by temple guards. A club flew straight to his jaw
as he fell to the floor, and he was bound
in ropes. Stephan was tacked to the floor as he
took kicks to his face and ribs. He peered towards
the door. A man was standing at the entrance, smiling
at him with a crooked grin. The man who had

(07:10):
conspired against him and many others, the terror of all Christians,
Saul of Tarsus. Stephan was drugged by his feet out
beyond the gates of Jerusalem. An angry mob of temple
goers and pharisees followed. As the guards tied Stephan to
a pole. Facing the crowd, Stephan scanned his surroundings. They

(07:31):
were outside the city gates, which could only mean one thing.
Stoning Stephan's bruised eyes watched as men picked up rocks
the size of their fists. Evil grins and angry scowls
surrounded him. Stephan breathed in deeply and looked up to Heaven.
He fixed his gaze firmly to the skies, directing his
heart towards his lord. I see the King of Glory,

(07:55):
Stephan said. His tears streamed down his face. I see
the heavens open in the Son of God standing at
the right hand of the Father. As Stephan yelled this,
the crowd erupted in battle cries and threw their stones.
One stone was hurled directly at his chest, cracking his
ribs in sternum. Another cracked his knee in shin. Stephan

(08:17):
gave out a blood curdling scream. Stephan had his gaze
firmly fixed towards heaven. As the barrage of stones flew
through the air. Stephan whispered, Lord, do not hold this
against them, until another stone hid his temple, knocking him out.
Stones continued to fly towards Stephan's lifeless body until he

(08:39):
was reduced to a pile of flesh and broken bones.
There behind the crowd, holding people's coats and garments, was
Soul of Tarsus. As people took back their clothes and
walked away, Paul stepped forward to observe Stephan's mangled corps.

Speaker 3 (08:56):
Paul spat at.

Speaker 2 (08:57):
It blasphemous Christian. Then he turned away, hell bent on
destroying and murdering every last man, woman, and child who
dared proclaim the name of Jesus.

Speaker 3 (09:16):
As we begin today's reading, we find a growing number
of Christian believers. The Holy Spirit is working through the
disciples to bring more and more people to faith in
Christ and into the fellowship of the Church. This church,
the community of Faith, loved one another and served with
the heart of Christ, caring for those in need, including

(09:36):
the widows among them. As the church grew, this task
became too much for the apostles to take on alone,
so seven godly men were selected and appointed as deacons.
These deacons would handle the care of the community and
the church. But just as the size and influence of
the church was growing, even winning many religious leaders and

(09:58):
priests to Christ, also was the hatred of those who
opposed the Gospel, who wanted to destroy this movement, the
movement of Jesus Christ. We learned that one of the
seven men chosen to serve the church was a man
named Stephen. What a man. He was filled with the
Holy Spirit and had a desire to spread the good

(10:18):
news of the Gospel. Soon Stephen began facing stiff opposition,
and those trying to discredit him brought false charges of
blasphemy against him. Because they could not tear down his arguments,
they accused Stephen of speaking against Moses and the Law
and saying Jesus would destroy their customs and places of worship.

(10:39):
It is a reminder to us that the enemy does
not fight fair. The devil knows he is no match
for God's truth, and so he often attacks with lies,
just as he did with Adam and even the Garden.
These lies and half truth are an attempt to stop
God's plan in God's purposes. Stephen was taken before the

(10:59):
High Priest and ask if he was in fact saying
such things. He could have simply denied Jesus and tried
to walk away by explaining himself, but Stephen saw this
as an opportunity, an opportunity to boldly preach Jesus before
a crowd of people, and that's exactly what he did.
He went all the way back in the scriptures to
Abraham and trace the line of God's promise to the

(11:22):
father of the Jewish faith, all the way to the
Jewish Messiah. It is quite a Bible study when you
hear it, when you read it. He was showing them
that everything written in the scriptures, both the Law and
the prophets, was leading up and pointing to Christ who
is the fulfillment of it all. And yet the people listening,

(11:42):
so many of them were still blind to the truth,
rejecting Jesus, rejecting God's word. And just as they killed
the prophets who spoke God's word and announced the Messiah's coming,
they will now kill one of God's preachers. The words
of Stephen enraged the council, and those gathered and were
told that they were grinding their teeth. They were just

(12:03):
filled with rage. This is how much they hated hearing
the truth. Then, in Acts seven fifty five, here's what
we read. But he that is Stephen, full of the
Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of
God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.
What encouragement just to see a little bit of heaven,

(12:24):
a glimpse of God's glory. But rather than keep the
vision to himself and hold on to the comfort of
knowing that he was right, Stephen again spoke to the crowd,
telling them what he was seeing. It was too much
for them, so they rushed him, took him outside the
city to be stoned, and there he was martyred. Stephen

(12:44):
became the first of many Christian martyrs that day, just
as Jesus had told the disciples before he ascended that
soon they would be taken where they did not want
to go, they would face persecution. Stephen was then led
to his death, and yet even in that moment he
echoed the very words of Jesus from the Cross Father,

(13:05):
forgive them receive my spirit. When we face opposition and resistance,
or cancelation, even persecution and suffering for preaching the truth
of the Gospel, how are we going to react? How
will we respond? Will we be courageous and confident or

(13:25):
will we be cowardly? Will we keep sharing Christ no
matter the consequences. Will we bodally stand for Christ and
our generation. Will we see the glory of God and
experience the grace of God and share that with others
without compromise? And what is our attitude to those who
hate the Gospel or the gospel that we preach? Do

(13:46):
we fight back? No? In Christ, we submit our lives
to God's hand and seek forgiveness, even for those who
may oppose us and could even hurt us. Stephen, in
the midst of these tragic circumstances, did not waver. He
gave his life to follow Jesus all the way to Heaven. Finally,

(14:08):
as we closed out today's reading, we met a man
who would soon break onto the scene as the most
fierce enemy of Christ and the Church. A young man,
a rabbit rabbi by the name of Saul, who stood
and watched as Stephen was stoned, even held the garments
of those who stone them. He watched Stephen die. Saul
hated the followers of Jesus, and he was about to

(14:31):
unleash a level of persecution that early believers had not
yet experienced. But nothing could stop the movement of God's spirit.
Nothing could stop the Church of Jesus Christ. And the
next time we'll hear how God worked through Philip to
take the good news to Samaria and even to the
ends of the earth. Let's pray together, Dear God, how

(14:52):
we thank you for the example of Stephen's courage. May
our faith be fearless. May we boldly proclaim the good
News of Jesus. May we live and stand for our
faith no matter what we may face. Give us your strength,
O God, and in the power of the Holy Spirit,
may we live and die for you and for your glory.

(15:13):
In Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you for listening to today's
Bible into Year podcast. Before we go, I want to
let you know about a unique ebook that's yours to
download absolutely free today. It's called Breaking Free from Stress,
and my prayer is that it will help you conquer
the daily task and pressures and burdens that bring stress

(15:35):
into your life. Download your free copy of Breaking Free
from Stress today by visiting Jack Graham dot org slash stress.
That's Jagraham dot org slash stress