Eig Blog

Stephen presents the story of the redemption of God’s people beginning from Abraham to the time of Solomon. The relevance of this is that retelling the story will show that what he teaches is in accordance with God’s plan and that they are in error in rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ.

Stephen takes this rhetorical style to defend himself and in every part of the account shows the need for obedience to God, something they were not doing.

For us it is relevant because it shows us in the same way, that obedience to God is fundamental in our lives. In addition, we need yo be aware of what He is doing in and around us. It also teaches us the need to learn to communicate the truth in a clear and direct way to those who need to hear it with the intent to show Jesus as Savior and not to win an argument.

What distinguishes a disciple, a true follower of Christ? What characteristics does he or she have? Stephen was a disciple of Christ. We don’t know when he believed (he hadn’t known Him more than two years ago), but we know from the above passage that He was chosen to wait tables. His life is an example of a true disciple of Christ. This is how all of us who call ourselves followers of Him should be.

Today we find that many Christians don’t have time to have a daily encounter with God. We all have excuses from saying we are too busy to just plainly living our lives in our own effort. In the Bible we have an example of someone who had an encounter with God. His name is Moses. From him we will learn how to have communion with God.

What would Jesus say to us now right here? What would He want us to know? We don’t have to wonder. The Lord Jesus told John the Apostle in the book of Revelation words that He wants us to know about Him, about the future and what we should do. John saw a vision of Him and also heard words directly from Him that were meant for us as well.

During the dispersion, many Jews had inhabited places far from Jerusalem, learning and speaking the Greek language and culture. Many of them believed in the gospel and became part of the Church. The church was one. She was united in Christ. But growth brought a problem. In this passage we look at how this problem is solved.

In this passage, we look at how the Apostles, Peter, and John are persecuted once again for preaching the gospel (culminating in Saul’s persecution of the church), how God rescues them, commands them to preach, and how they obey Him. We also see how the gospel bears fruit because the gospel is invincible. Nothing can stop it.

In this passage, we see that Satan attacks through infiltration. He uses people who claim to be Christians and even confess his name to infiltrate the church. Since the beginning of creation, the enemy, Satan, The Old Serpent has opposed God’s plan. He knows he can’t stop God’s sovereign purpose, yet he continues to try. His purpose is to destroy the beauty of God’s plan. He tried at the beginning, but he failed. This is what happened in the beginning of the church. The Lord continues to do so even today. The sad thing is that God has to use outsiders to bring to light the sin of the church because His church refuses to do it internally.

The heart of the church is generosity. The generous Church is God’s plan. This is part of our mission. We are the means, through our generosity, by which we show God’s character. It’s part of discipleship. A generous church will have an impact in our community and will open doors for us to share the message of the Good News. This is the purpose, to show the goodness, grace, and love of Christ in a tangible way. This morning, we will look at the characteristics of a generous church through a positive example.

The church is not a passive institution, but one that is active. It is not an institution that is on the defensive but on the offensive. It is not a weak institution but a powerful one. What makes it powerful? This passage shows us where the true power of the church lies

We see two things that we see in this passage that make the church powerful, in the sense that it has the power of God (through the Holy Spirit).

In today’s passage we find the beginning of persecution against Christians. There is a cycle that we can look at that usually takes place when the chase begins. It is important to learn not only how persecution begins but also to learn how to respond. We also learn an important truths related to our faith.

One thing we can be sure of, the church will never be stopped by persecution. The church grows even more when there is persecution.