And, now we are at. Works fine.
And the same, please the whole multitude and they chose Stephen, a man. Full of faith and holy spirit.
There is a special mention about Stephen and Philip Procurus, Nikanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicolas, a prostrate.
From Antioch whom they were set before the apostles. And when they prayed laid their hands on them.
So. The apostles proposed a solution. And it was agreed upon and put to action by the disciples.
And we would call if it was today we would call great team work. You know, there was no contention.
They went and chose some 7 worthy men. It was proposed not imposed. Even though the apostles had the spiritual authority, they handle the situation in a very graceful manner.
And the disciples. Brought out the 7 capable men. One commentator says that these 7 names.
Are actually not Jewish names. I mean the names kind of gives them an idea that these are Greek Jews.
So basically, gracious acknowledgement to the same group that had complained because it was a Hellenistic Jews that had complained.
So, you know, it is kind of acknowledging the problem and selecting people from their own group to do the do the work.
So we see a love of God really working in this difficult situation. Beginning of verse 5. The saying please the whole multitude.
So. You know, people were happy. And it placed the whole multitude to know that apples are their persons were willing to delegate.
Some of the work to other qualified men and themselves are giving themselves to award and prayer.
And now. This chapter is very small and We will now focus on Stephen. Who is accused of blasphemy and And then the seventh chapter is very big.
Brother Philip is going to take it. It's about the great speech. That he gives kind of shows his wisdom.
Not only his wise, full of fully spirit. Reputable, he has wisdom too.
A good knowledge of the scriptures too. So he was able to give a good background and talk to the Jewish people about it.
So, we will see some more things about Stephen.
Before that,
Yes, so we are at Wars. 6, whom they set. Before the apostles And when they had trade, they laid their hands on them.
So. Speech, Stephen especially mentioned it doesn't mean that the rest of them are any less qualified.
They are all qualified. And we see that after praying the apostles laid their hand on them.
And kind of showing their fellowship with the choice of the church. So there was a commissioning the apostles laying their hands on.
The 7 men. To serve in this official capacity. And we saw a picture of that when our elders were praying, you know, when a new deacon was selected.
So verse 7, then the word of God spread. And the number of disciples multiplied.
Greatly in Jerusalem. And many of the priests. Were obedient of the faith. So, for me, I mean, I think This problem was actually a blessing in disguise.
Because after they appointed the deacon to take care of church business, now the posts were freed up.
To do, you know, go forward in full speed to, spread the gospel more.
And many were saved. It kind of kind of, you know, it means that it's spread even more and disciples were greatly multiplied and many priests, Jewish priests were also getting saved.
And which is why we will see. You know, the Jewish leaders were not happy because the priests were like now getting converted.
And we'll see, you know, things that happen. With steepen because of that.
So the next verse is verse 8. Will focus on Stephen. And Stephen full of faith and power did great wonders and sign among the people.
Then there arose from. What is called the synagogue of freedmen, Syrians, Alexandrians, and those from Silesia and Asia.
Disputing with Stephen they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spoke. Then they secretly induce men to say we have heard him speak.
Blasphemous words against Moses and God. They stood up the people, the elders and the scribes.
They came upon him, seized him and brought him to the council. And they set up false witnesses who said this man does not seek to speak blasphemous words.
Against the holy place and the law. For we have heard him say that Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place.
And change the customs Moses delivered to us and all who sat in the council Looking steadfastly at him saw his face shine like an angel.
So. Stephen the What's a man of great character? If he if you saw the previous slide his name actually means crown or a garland You know in India we not in Christian marriages but other marriages is very common to put a garland on during the wedding day.
Or to honor someone it's like you know, honoring someone with a, Garland and I think here also they Maybe doing something similar.
So the life, his life reflected that. Outward display of honor. So some of the few first of Stephen.
First person outside the 12 disciples to perform miracles. So we see, you know, in verse 8.
That he did great wonders in science, wonders in science. This world is kind of used together in many places.
And he's the only person who was able to do it publicly. And he was the first Christian, martyr who gave up his life.
So Stephen was mightily used by God and the grace of God, God shined through him. He was a deacon.
So we know he was a man of wisdom, full of Holy Spirit and reputable. We don't know that this higher calling, of doing miracles and preaching was due to his faithfulness, as a deacon or an additional ministry.
So he, did lot of things publicly and he naturally faced lot of opposition just like Paul. His main opposers were, we are in.
Verse 9, Friedman. Syrians, Alexandrians and people from Silesia in Asia.
So Friedman are Jews. Who are basically were slaves and they were set free by the Romans.
Siberian men from Syrian city which is in the in North Africa and Simon who was assigned to carry Jesus's cross was from Siren.
Alexandrians, we know Apollo was from there and Silesia in Asia. Tarsus is, it's more than D. Turkey.
So Tarsus is from, is a part of that area. And we know Paul was from there.
So. These are the people who were. Disputing with Stephen and disputing actually means a formal debate.
Maybe. It said that, you know, the apostles, they were afraid of apostle.
So they kind of. Big someone lesser than him to kind of debate. And we know that Stephen was.
You know well worse so that could be another reason why they wanted to discuss and debate about Jesus so the topics would be you know the death and resurrection of Christ could be the Old Testament references where all the books and all the prophets are pointing to Christ that he's a Messiah.
So these are the topics that they were debating. And they were not able to resist the wisdom and spirit by which he spoke.
So he was a The word the Holy Spirit was really working through him. And he was a very powerful speaker.
They were not able to. Resist the wisdom. and the spirit that he had. And not able to withstand Stephen's.
In the debate they now switch the tactics they kind of induced. False witnesses to accuse Stephen of blasphemy against Moses and God.
And, we see, Worse 12. They stirred up the people, the elders and the scribes and they came upon him, seized him and brought him to the council.
So, They forcefully took him and presented him to the, you know, Jewish elders.
They falsely quoted him saying that seeing that no Jesus would destroy a tempo. And change the whole system that Moses had delivered, to Israel.
So, we can read that was it's in is Jesus actually referring to himself his body.
Is in John chapter 2 was 19 through 21.
So, 19 says Jesus answered and said to them, destroy this temple and in these 3 days I will raise it up.
And the Jews said it has taken 40 years to build this temple and will you raise it up in 3 days?
So Jesus was basically talking about himself, his death. And his resurrection. And they were misquoting him and they were.
Really, upset. With him and wanted to really take, you know, some serious action against him and He was brought out to the religious leaders and what they saw was his face.
Just shining like an angel. So we don't see the st. This kind of occurrence with any other disciples only Steve and, kind of showed that.
And we know from the Old Testament most is when you went to the temple. in God's presence his face shown like was shining when he came down and the glory of God was shining.
Stephen at this point knew that his life was at stake. And, but he was ready to die.
He did not want to betray God. So he delivers this beautiful speech. Which our brother will do next week.
It is a big chapter. Thankfully, I got the small chapter. So. Stephen was a great martyr.
And you know, he got used in myily. And he has been given this, special mention in this book of Acts chapter 6.
Any questions?
It's very short, sorry. Yes. So it's interesting that, Yes. He was.
And you know, he was not afraid. He, he was bold. You know, you see, you see that even in India in North India, there's a lot of persecution and People are not afraid.
They are like, you know, it's better to die for a Christ than betray him or hide or Ronaviso.
Anybody else?
Thank you. Thank you.