Title: The First Martyr
Series: Upon This Rock
Author: Randy Tomko
Date:
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 48:04 — 44.0MB)
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The question is…what are you willing to die for?
The longer you are growing in the faith, your courage develops and you get to a point where it’s no longer even a question of choosing to stand for truth at great cost.
You simply can’t choose otherwise…
8 Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed amazing miracles and signs among the people. 9 But one day some men from the Synagogue of Freed Slaves, as it was called, started to debate with him. They were Jews from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia, and the province of Asia.10 None of them could stand against the wisdom and the Spirit with which Stephen spoke.
11 So they persuaded some men to lie about Stephen, saying, “We heard him blaspheme Moses, and even God.” 12 This roused the people, the elders, and the teachers of religious law. So they arrested Stephen and brought him before the high council.[a]
13 The lying witnesses said, “This man is always speaking against the holy Temple and against the law of Moses. 14 We have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth[b] will destroy the Temple and change the customs Moses handed down to us.”
15 At this point everyone in the high council stared at Stephen, because his face became as bright as an angel’s.
Stephen Addresses the Council
7 Then the high priest asked Stephen, “Are these accusations true?”
2 This was Stephen’s reply: “Brothers and fathers, listen to me. Our glorious God appeared to our ancestor Abraham in Mesopotamia before he settled in Haran.[c]
Acts 6:8-7:2 (NLT)
