THE STONING OF STEPHEN
by Jerry Vines
Scripture: ACTS 6:8-15, ACTS 7:51, EPHESIANS 2:4, EPHESIANS 5:18, JAMES 1:5, PROVERBS 10:7, PROVERBS 10:21, PROVERBS 10:23-26, PROVERBS 10:29-32
THE STONING OF STEPHEN
Acts 6:8-15
Dr. Vines - 7/13/86
Sometimes when God decides to use a man, He brings that man suddenly to
the scene, the man does his work, then he quickly passes off the scene. That
was very true of this man, Stephen, who was one of the original seven deacons
God has selected. A man who comes across the pages of the Bible, his career is
a very brief career and yet what he did is a great testimony and remains to
this very night as a monument of God's work in and through tre life o-f a man.
The career of Stephen was something like a meteor in the sky. It was brief,
but it was very, very brilliant. We do not know a great deal about the
background of this man, Stephen. We do know that his name, Stephen, is the
Greek word, stephanos, which means a victor's crown. It could well have been
that the parents of Stephen, when he was born, gave their little boy that name
hoping that one day he would experience some kind of crowning in his life. We
know that Stephen was faithful to the ministry that God had assigned to him.
From the record of how those seven men were selected to be deacons, we gather
the information that Stephen was a dependable, faithful man. He had fulfilled
his responsibilities in his local place of service. If you want God to use you
in a bigger way, then you be faithful to what God has given you to do right
now. If you want God to give you a larger place of service, then you serve him
faithfully in the place where he has assigned you. I have the opportunity to
talk to young preachers. I love young preachers. I enjoy having the
opportunity to be, hopefully, of some help to them. Many times I talk to them
and young preachers get ichy feet. They are ready to move. After about six
months in a church, they feel like God is leading them to some other church.
So, they write, call me and I talk to them about it. What I say to them is
this, "You just be failthfiul to God right where you are . If you do what God
2
w ...
Acts 6:8-15
Dr. Vines - 7/13/86
Sometimes when God decides to use a man, He brings that man suddenly to
the scene, the man does his work, then he quickly passes off the scene. That
was very true of this man, Stephen, who was one of the original seven deacons
God has selected. A man who comes across the pages of the Bible, his career is
a very brief career and yet what he did is a great testimony and remains to
this very night as a monument of God's work in and through tre life o-f a man.
The career of Stephen was something like a meteor in the sky. It was brief,
but it was very, very brilliant. We do not know a great deal about the
background of this man, Stephen. We do know that his name, Stephen, is the
Greek word, stephanos, which means a victor's crown. It could well have been
that the parents of Stephen, when he was born, gave their little boy that name
hoping that one day he would experience some kind of crowning in his life. We
know that Stephen was faithful to the ministry that God had assigned to him.
From the record of how those seven men were selected to be deacons, we gather
the information that Stephen was a dependable, faithful man. He had fulfilled
his responsibilities in his local place of service. If you want God to use you
in a bigger way, then you be faithful to what God has given you to do right
now. If you want God to give you a larger place of service, then you serve him
faithfully in the place where he has assigned you. I have the opportunity to
talk to young preachers. I love young preachers. I enjoy having the
opportunity to be, hopefully, of some help to them. Many times I talk to them
and young preachers get ichy feet. They are ready to move. After about six
months in a church, they feel like God is leading them to some other church.
So, they write, call me and I talk to them about it. What I say to them is
this, "You just be failthfiul to God right where you are . If you do what God
2
w ...
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