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The Advance of The Gospel: Acts 7:1-60 — 10/28/2024 10:00 AM
Today's speaker is Dr. Randy McKinion, Professor of Old Testament at Cedarville University. Dr. McKinion looks at the example of Stephen in Acts 7, and shares that the church spreads throughout the world in the Spirit, and by the Word.
Notes
Dr. Randy Mckinion led the chapel through Acts 7. He began by going through verses 54–60, which end in Stephen being persecuted and killed. Why was Stephen being persecuted? What did he do to deserve such a fate?
To better understand these questions, Mckinion went through the beginning of chapter 7 that led to this point. Stephen was filled with the Spirit and very wise in biblical truth. He was one of seven men who was called by God to serve widows and orphans. Sadly, enemies of the Church got jealous of Stephen’s wisdom and wanted to get rid of him. He was taken to the high priest under chargers of blaspheming against Moses, God, the temple, and the law. Although these allegations were false, Stephen still had to defend himself.
He could’ve become angry and lash out, yet he did the exact opposite. He stayed calm and walked through what the Torah had to say about God, Moses, and the temple. He even quoted the Torah word for word. Even though he used biblical truth to defend himself, the people rejected Stephen just like they rejected Jesus.
Even though this situation was horrible, God still used it for good and for His glory. The story spread, and the Church began to grow as Christians boldly proclaimed the Gospel for many to hear. We see this in chapter 8.
McKinion named a few things that we can take away from this passage. The first thing we can take away is that we need to know and boldly proclaim the Gospel of Christ according to the Scriptures. The second thing we can take away is the best way for us to grow in our lifelong service in the Church is by growing in our knowledge of the scriptures. We are to be bold in proclaiming the Gospel and to stay steadfast in His Word.