The Arrest of Stephen - Acts 6:8-15 - Comments by Mike Kines

The transcription discusses the arrest of Stephen, a deacon who was known for his great faith and the signs and wonders performed through him by God. Despite being a common man, Stephen boldly preached the gospel, drawing attention from religious leaders. They were unable to dispute with him due to his wisdom and the power of the Holy Spirit. Unable to win an argument, the leaders hired people to make false accusations against Stephen, leading to his arrest. This pattern of persecution against those preaching the gospel is seen throughout the Bible. Stephen's boldness and faith in Jesus led to his martyrdom, making him the first martyr of the early church. Despite the persecution, Stephen remained steadfast until the end, receiving a special crown from the Lord. His face was described as angelic, indicating the presence and hand of God upon him. The religious leaders were infuriated by Stephen's difference and determined to kill him. So we're in Acts chapter 6 verses 8 through 15, and this is the section of scripture where the deacon, Stephen, is arrested. Now Stephen is given a description here as being a man of great faith and full of the Holy Ghost, and God was doing signs and wonders through this man. And just remember, keep in mind, this is a common man. He's not an apostle, he's not a prophet, he's not anybody special, he's just a deacon serving tables, and yet God uses this man to preach the gospel. There are many wonders and signs that this man is doing among the people. So he begins to get attention drawn to himself from the religious leaders, and so the religious leaders are trying to dispute with him, but they cannot, they really can't win an argument with him because he speaks with such wisdom and the power of the Holy Spirit that everything that they try to dispute with him, he shuts it down, you know, the Holy Spirit shuts down every argument that these people try to bring against him. And so when they can't win an argument, they decide, well, what are we going to do with this guy? So they hire some people to make some false accusations against Stephen, and they go ahead and get him arrested and brought in before the religious court system. And so we see this pattern repeated over and over and over again. This is what they did with Jesus, this is what they did with Peter and John, this is what they did with the apostles. Every time you read about how the gospel is being preached, and every time you read about how there's been signs and wonders happening, these religious leaders get stirred up, and they come after the church, they come after the apostles. And now, here they're not coming after the apostles, they're coming after just a common man that's in the church. But this is a man who's being very bold and outspoken in his faith in the Lord Jesus. And so they're coming after this man. It kind of makes me wonder, because you see here that, you know, in the case of the apostles, they got off with being beaten and everything, but here something is different about this town. Something is taking a different turn. And I wonder if it might be because this man was just an unknown man, and he wasn't well known like the apostles. The apostles had a name. By this time, they were well known in Jerusalem, and so it was a little bit more difficult for the religious leaders to do anything against the apostles. But here's a man that nobody knows too much about. He's just a really outspoken young person, and he's bold for the Lord, and God's using him. And they tried to shut him up, but they couldn't shut him up. And so they got him in here, they bring him in here in the court, so now he's arrested. And we'll see in our next video, we're going to cover, as we get into the next chapter, next chapter seven, the testimony of this man Stephen. If you want to read more about Stephen too, you can read the Fox's Book of Martyrs, which is a historical record of the Christians that were martyred. So I may be mistaken, but I think Stephen was the first martyr in the early church. It was beginning at Stephen that the persecution was going to the point where Christians were beginning to die for their faith. But you see here that Stephen did not love his life until the death. He was an overcomer in Christ Jesus, and he persevered until the end. And rest assured, he got a special crown as a reward from the Lord for his persevering until the end. The arrest of Stephen, one of the seven deacons chose the weight on tables, and he went from there all the way to being a martyr for the Lord. One other thought here, or thing that I noticed when I was reading this, was that he was described as his face looking like an angel, and I don't know exactly what that means, what it means that his face is like an angel, but it's apparent that the heaven was upon this man, the hand of God was upon this man, and it was so obvious that people could tell there was something different about Stephen. For many people, they were drawn to it, but it was something that infuriated the religious leaders, and they wanted to kill him, and they were going to do that, and they were determined to do that. The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make His face shine upon you, the Lord give you peace.