Sermon Notes from October 8

Sermon Notes: Acts 6:1-7:60

We all have, or are, or will experience crisis, and in those moments, how do you respond?  More importantly, if you’re a Christian, what does your response to crisis communicate to those around you about God? 

Today we’re going to look at the life of Stephen in Acts 6:1-7:60, and in looking at how Stephen responded to crisis, we learn how as Christians we’re supposed to respond to crisis. 

In these vs. we see Stephen go from serving the church and sharing the gospel, to being arrested, verbally attacked, and then murdered, and in all of this (specifically focusing on Stephen’s crisis) notice how Stephen responds. 

1. He looks up to God (v. 55). He doesn’t focus on the injustice of the moment or the reality of immanent death. No, he looks up and sees that God is in control.

2. He talks to God. He prays instead of panicking.

How do you become a person who in the middle of crisis looks like this?  These vs. do not directly answer that question, but as a general principle, I think it’s true that one never responds like Stephen by looking up to God and talking to God in crisis unless one looks up to God and talks to God when not in crisis.   

Discuss what God did through Stephen’s death: God ordained the death of Stephen to be a catalyst for getting the message of the gospel from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. 

We’re not all called to be martyrs, but we are all called to be living sacrifices.  So, like Stephen, let’s keep our eyes on God and walk with our God (even in times of crisis), and let’s pray that the hope we have in Him will point others to the hope that's found in Him.