When God Transforms Tragedy into Mission: The Martyrdom That Spread Christianity

What happens when faith collides with jealousy? Stephen's remarkable story from Acts 6-8 shows us exactly that—and the results are both heartbreaking and hopeful.

Stephen emerges as a standout figure among early believers, described as "full of faith and the Holy Spirit" and performing "great wonders and signs." His effectiveness quickly breeds resentment. When falsely accused of blasphemy and dragged before the religious council, something extraordinary happens—his face transforms "like the face of an angel." Even as his accusers prepare to condemn him, Stephen radiates divine presence.

The account takes an even more astonishing turn during Stephen's stoning. Rather than cowering in fear, he gazes into heaven and sees Jesus standing at God's right hand. With rocks raining down upon him, Stephen echoes Jesus's own words of forgiveness: "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." This moment of supreme sacrifice becomes a catalyst for Christianity's expansion, scattering believers throughout Judea and Samaria, spreading the gospel beyond Jerusalem's walls. And what about that young man named Saul who held the coats of Stephen's killers? His path to becoming the Apostle Paul begins here, forever shaped by what he witnessed as a willing participant.

Stephen's story speaks powerfully to our present reality. When we face opposition, false accusations, or even threats, we're reminded that God remains with us through every trial. We aren't promised an easy life, but we are promised divine presence in our darkest hours. As Auntie LaLa reminds us, take heart—Jesus stands ready to exchange our burdens for his peace, our fear for his courage, our tragedy for his redemptive purpose. So don't be afraid to get a little sassy like Stephen and stand firm in your faith. God sees you, and heaven is closer than you think.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 0 (00:05):
Welcome back to Preach it Girl Podcast, a place
where we aren't just sittingaround waiting for Jesus' second
coming and Skinny Pop to makeus skinny.
I mean, those things are boundto happen.
But while we wait, join me,auntie Lala, for a jaunt through
the scriptures so lively you'llthink that they were written
just yesterday, not thousands ofyears ago.

(00:26):
Now put on your listening earsfor a somewhat sassy retelling
of stories from the Bible.
Y'all, there are some seriouslysassy characters in the Bible
and I can't wait for you to heartheir stories.
You might be wondering who I am.
Well, shucks, I'm a sassy woman, just like you, who loves Jesus
and has finally come to theconclusion that Jesus loves

(00:47):
women and, dare I say,especially the sassy ones.
We are in Acts, chapters sixthrough eight, and we're going
to be talking about Stephen, aman full of God's spirit and
just as sassy as Jesus was.
Let's take a look at his story.
But before we do, isn'tjealousy the worst?

(01:08):
We've all been there, the onefeeling it and on the receiving
end of someone else's.
It's a very human thing to feel.
Some are more prone than othersto it.
I mean, I'm more prone togluttony than anything.
Enneagram 7 here.
Sometimes jealousy may comefrom a friend who can't be happy
for your success, or othertimes it can be an outright

(01:30):
murderous rage, a fire so hotfrom the pit of hell as this
story and many before it, evenway back to Cain and Abel.
This story is an incrediblereminder that bad things happen
to good people, not just a goodperson who believes in God, but
a person serving the Lord withall their heart, a diligent life

(01:51):
.
I just want to say this podcastis recorded the week of the
tragic floods that took morethan 20 young girls from a camp.
I think we're all just reelingat such a horrific moment and I
hope that this podcast willbring a little bit of grace and
hope in our lives as we imaginewhat those families are going

(02:13):
through, but also what God cando even in the worst tragedy.
Let's turn into the story.
So Stephen came on the scenebecause, as the disciples, as
their community was growing fullof believers, people were
getting saved every day, alittle jealousy broke out.
Some of the converts toChristianity thought that they

(02:38):
were not being treated fairly bythe apostles or the people
distributing the food, that theJewish widows were getting a
little bit better portion thanthe Hellenistic widows.
In addressing that, theapostles decided let's appoint
seven extra deacons to helpdistribute food that we know are

(02:58):
trustworthy and will do God'swill.
So Stephen is first describedin Acts, chapter 6, as a man
full of faith.
And the Holy Spirit Isn't thatcool.
As the word of God prospered,the number of disciples in
Jerusalem increased dramatically.
Not least, a great many priestssubmitted themselves to the
faith.
That's interesting.

(03:19):
A lot of Jewish priestsconverted to Christianity at
this time Okay.
Jewish priests converted toChristianity at this time?
Okay.
Stephen, brimming with God'sgrace and energy, was doing
wonderful things among thepeople, unmistakable signs that
God was among them.
Then some men from the meetingplace, whose membership was made
up of freed slaves, went upagainst him, trying to argue him

(03:43):
down.
But they were no match forStephen's wisdom and spirit when
he spoke.
If you are full of the HolySpirit, god gives you those
words.
So in secret, secret jealousy,they bribed men to lie, saying
that we heard him cursing Godand Moses.
That stirred up the people.

(04:03):
Lord have mercy.
Yes, it did.
And the religious leaders andreligious scholars?
They grabbed Stephen and tookhim before the high council.
They put forward their bribedwitnesses to testify.
This man talks nonstop againstthe holy place and God's law.
We even heard him say thatJesus of Nazareth would tear the
place down and throw out allthe customs Moses gave us.

(04:26):
And all those who sat in thehigh council looked at Stephen.
They found they couldn't taketheir eyes off him.
His face was like the face ofan angel.
Wow, you guys, imagine beingaccused of something that you
didn't do.
Meanwhile, you are so full ofGod's grace and Holy Spirit that

(04:48):
you are dwelling within Jesus.
You are dwelling in the Spiritand not in the flesh.
And that is obvious, becausethere's many a times that I've
been accused and my face did nottransform into that of an angel
.
Y'all, I wish it had, but manytimes I did not handle it well.
But Stephen did so well in fact, that the Lord poured out his

(05:10):
glory on him and it wasunmistakable.
Even those accusing him couldsee it.
Wow, that's intense.
So they asked Stephen to replyto these accusations and Stephen
, because they were Jewishbelievers, he went all the way
back to Abraham, to Egypt andthen Moses and pointed out, just
like Jesus, moses was firstrejected.

(05:32):
But Moses came to save theIsraelites from the Egyptians,
from slavery, and deliver theminto the promised land, which is
exactly what Jesus is doing,right, he is delivering us from
sin so that we can spendeternity with him.
And eternity doesn't start whenwe die, y'all, it starts as
soon as you accept Christ.

(05:53):
I think this is a good pictureof that, because Stephen even
though the story does end badlyspoiler even though we know that
Jesus is with him right there,and Jesus is with us right when
we accept him and is with usthrough every trial, every
hardship, every tragedy.
He is there with us and we seethat with Stephen.

(06:16):
That's why his face just lit uplike an angel.
Oh, but jealousy is justthreaded through this.
It's so bad.
Okay, moses came to deliver him.
So we get to the part whereStephen brings him all the way
to the temple that Solomon built.
But then he says you know, goddoes not live on this earth.
The earth is his footstool.
The Lord has made everythingthe earth and all that is in it

(06:38):
and everyone that's in it.
But this is where Stephen getsreal sassy y'all.
And you continue so bullheadedcalluses on your hearts, flaps
on your ears, deliberatelyignoring the Holy Spirit.
You're just like your hearts,flaps on your ears, deliberately
ignoring the Holy Spirit.
You're just like your ancestors.
Was there ever a prophet thatdidn't get the same treatment as
Jesus got?

(06:58):
Your ancestors killed anyonewho dared talk about the coming
of the just one, and you've keptup the family tradition
Traitors and murderers, all ofyou.
You had God's law handed to youby angels, gift-wrapped, and
you squandered it.
At that point the council wentwild.
Rioting, mob began and catcallsand whistles.

(07:20):
But Stephen, full of the HolySpirit, hardly noticed.
He had eyes for God, whom hesaw in all his glory, with Jesus
standing at his side.
And in the NIV version it saysLook.
Stephen said I see heaven openand the Son of man standing at
the right hand of God.

(07:41):
At this they covered their earsand, yelling at the top of their
voices, they rushed Stephen.
The ringleaders took off theircoats and asked a young man
named Saul to watch them.
They dragged him out and peltedhim with rocks.
As the rocks rained down onStephen, he prayed Master, jesus
, take my life.
Then he knelt down, prayingloud enough for everyone to hear

(08:02):
Master, don't blame them forthis sin, don't hold it against
them.
His last words.
When he said this, he fellasleep.
Or some versions say he died.
I mean he did die, but I kindof wonder, like, did the rocks
kill him or did Jesus just takehim?
Was that just his moment?
Like he just closed his eyes atthat moment and he was with

(08:23):
Jesus?
I do believe 100%.
The minute you close your eyeson that last day of yours,
whenever that is you are inJesus's arms.
He's there to greet you on theother side.
But, wow, you really have to befull of the Holy Spirit.
You have to have a relationshipwith Jesus to be able to look

(08:43):
at people who are murdering you,who are threatening you, naming
accusations against you thataren't true, and remain faithful
, remain grounded in the love ofGod, so much so that you love
your enemies.
I need work.
I need work y'all.
This is such a great reminder ofwhat jealousy can look like,

(09:08):
and so any of us that strugglewith it, let's cast that off.
Give that to Jesus.
Jesus is the great exchanger.
We can give him our terrible,yucky stuff, whether it's
jealousy, gluttony, your isms,alcoholism, whatever it is and
Jesus will give you back newlife.
He'll give you true life, andhe will gladly take anything

(09:31):
that we give him and transformit into something beautiful.
He'll make your life intosomething transformed and
beautiful kind of like.
Stephen's face got transformed.
Your life gets transformed whenyou accept Jesus.
It's something and it'smiraculous.
Like we kind of forget in ouraverage everyday Christian life
that we are being transformedand that, right there, is

(09:55):
miraculous.
So let's look at some of thethings that happened because of
Stephen's death, because of hismartyrdom, the sacrifice of his
life that was made for Jesus.
What did God do with that?
Let's look at that, because Ithink that can give us a little
hope.
People were witnesses toStephen's transformation.
How many people who wereaccused and stoned to death

(10:17):
acted the way that Stephen did?
I only know of one, jesus.
Jesus said from the crossforgive them, father, don't hold
this against them.
Right, stephen got to see Godand Jesus stand up part heaven
and he saw them looking down athim as the sacrifice of his life
was made.
I don't know what he wasthinking, but you could tell he

(10:40):
was in awe of it and he waspaying more attention to God
than he was.
The stones that were beingthrown at him you don't hear
fear.
There's no fear in Stephen'svoice and the things that he
said in those moments that mostof us would be terrified and
basically as soon as thathappened, persecution broke out
against the Christians at thattime and the believers were

(11:03):
dispersed all over Samaria andJudea.
The sacrifice that Stephen madeof his life actually made a way
for believers in Christianity tospread all over Judea and
Samaria.
Wow, god, he's going to useanything that you offer him.
That's what God said to me thismorning in my quiet time.
Whatever I give him, he willuse for his glory and my good.

(11:28):
I want to give God more of me,more of my time, more of my
sacrifice, more of my life tohim and see what he does with it
Y'all.
And it's miraculous every time,everything that he does.
And then not only were believersdispersed all over spreading
the good news about Jesus, butthen there was that one guy that

(11:48):
held those people that stonedStephen, that held their coats,
who was agreeing and encouragingthis act of barbarity, and that
was Saul, who later becomes thegreat Apostle Paul.
Wow, god set him up.
I mean, could that vision ofStephen ever leave Paul?

(12:09):
I mean he knows he was forgivenwhen he accepted Jesus.
But I mean Jesus's first wordsto Saul on the road were when he
was blinded by the light.
As Saul, why are youpersecuting me?
I mean, he might not have beensurprised if the man said I'm
Stephen, but it was Jesus.

(12:29):
But God says when we do thingsfor the least of these, we are
doing them unto him, we aredoing them for Jesus.
When you serve somebody in jailor the homeless, take care of
an orphan or a widow, jesus sayswe're taking care of him.
And when we don't do thesethings, we we're taking care of
him.
And when we don't do thesethings, we're not taking care of
him.
And then Saul becomes Paul.

(12:50):
But I can tell you he knowshe's forgiven for what happened
with Stephen.
But he ain't forgetting that.
God forgets it.
He separates our sin as far asthe East is from the West and
chooses to forget.
But we don't forget.
And it keeps you humble,knowing how bad you can be, how
jealous you can get, how tore upfrom the floor up you may have

(13:13):
gotten.
God forgives it.
He washes you clean and you getto start fresh.
Oh, his mercies are new everymorning, y'all.
I hope that this word brings yousome hope today and this week.
Stephen wasn't afraid and youdon't have to be afraid.
And even though there's rumorsof war and war and tragedy and

(13:33):
suffering all around us.
God is in it.
God is with you.
God can walk you through it.
We're not promised an easy life, but he does promise to be with
us and to share the load if wegive it to him.
His burden is easy.
Wait, his burden is easy.
His yoke is easy and his burdenis light.

(13:54):
That's it All right, y'all havea great week and don't be
afraid to get a little sassy,just like Stephen did, and
remember God loves you and Ilove you too, and I can't wait
to see you next time on Preachit Girl.