Stephen gives a speech before the Sanhedrin in which he recounts Jewish history and defends himself against accusations of blasphemy. He describes how God spoke to Moses and how the Israelites rejected prophets like Moses and Jesus. Stephen's accusers are enraged by his message, and they drag him out of the city and stone him to death while he prays for forgiveness.

1. Russ Fochler
July 13, 2019
STEPHEN’S GOD ADVENTURE
ACTS 6:8-7:60
Welcoming Holy Spirit To
Fully Access Our Heart
Part 1

2. THIS IS A STORY OF:
Hesed - Loving Kindness, Secure Attachment, Enduring
Love.
Opposition and Slander after Blessing, Favor, and
Increase
Leaning Upon Holy Spirit for How To Respond
Holy Spirit’s Brilliant Speech Through Stephen with a
“Healthy Shame Message”.
Holy Spirit Helping Stephen To Love Those Hating/
Killing Him

3. SETTINGTHE STAGE
Thank you Stephen Carey for reading the
Scriptures for us today!

4. MOTIVATION OF STEPHEN’S ACCUSERS?
“If you take loving kindness out of the human brain,
there’s not much left except the desire to win.”
Stout, Martha. The Sociopath Next Door:The RuthlessVersus the Rest of Us. 2005.
Martha was on the clinical faculty of Harvard Medical School for 25 years

5. FOUR ACCUSATIONS
AGAINST STEPHEN
1. Blasphemous Words Against Moses
2. Blasphemous Words Against God
3. Words Against the Temple - And That Jesus Will Destroy
the Temple
4. Words Against the Law (nomos - “instructions”) and
Change Customs That Moses Delivered to Israel.

6. A FACE LIKE AN ANGEL (A MESSENGER)
“And gazing at him (Stephen), all who sat in the council saw his
face was like the face of an angel.” Acts 6:15 ESV
29 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two
tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the
mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone
because he had been talking with God. 30 Aaron and all the
people of Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face shone,
and they were afraid to come near him. Exodus 34:29-30 ESV

7. JESUS SPOKE ABOUT
LEANING UPON HOLY SPIRIT
11 And remember this: When people
accuse you before everyone and
forcefully drag you before the religious
leaders and authorities, do not be
troubled. Don’t worry about defending
yourself or be concerned about how to
answer their accusations. 12 Simply be
confident and allow the Spirit of
Wisdom access to your heart, and he
will reveal in that very moment what you
are to say to them.” Luke 12 TPT

8. ASYOU LISTENTO HOLY SPIRIT’S SPEECH
(THROUGH STEPHEN)…
What is Holy Spirit doing? What is this about?
How are the accusations against Stephen being addressed?
Is Holy Spirit seeking to bring conviction and repentance?
Jesus said: “When he comes, he’ll expose the error of the godless
world’s view of sin, righteousness, and judgment: He’ll show them that
their refusal to believe in me is their basic sin; that righteousness
comes from above, where I am with the Father, out of their sight and
control; that judgment takes place as the ruler of this godless world is
brought to trial and convicted. John 16:8-11 (MSG)

9. JESUS EXPERIENCED SIMILARTHINGS
TO JOSEPH
He was full of God’s favor and wisdom.
His brethren (leaders of the family) were jealous and
rejected Him.
God’s plan was to save the children of Israel through
Him

10. THE GREAT SANHEDRIN
“The Sanhedrin, the great council at Jerusalem, consisting of the seventy one
members, viz. scribes, elders, prominent members of the high priestly families
and the high priest, the president of the assembly.The most important causes
were brought before this tribunal, inasmuch as the Roman rulers of Judaea
had left to it the power of trying such cases, and also of pronouncing sentence
of death, with the limitation that a capital sentence pronounced by the
Sanhedrin was not valid unless it was confirmed by the Roman procurator.”
FromThe Outline of Biblical Usage was created by Larry Pierce
The Great Sanhedrin met in the Hall of Hewn Stones in the Temple complex.
Other cities and towns had their own sanhedrin.

11. “GOD WILL RAISE UP A PROPHET LIKE ME”
15 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from
among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— 16 just
as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the
assembly, when you said,‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord
my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ 17 And the Lord said
to me,‘They are right in what they have spoken. 18 I will raise up for
them a prophet like you from among their brothers.And I will put my
words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.
19 And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my
name, I myself will require it of him.“ Moses Deut 18:15-19 ESV

12. THETEMPLE
While the Temple was a continuation of the “Tent of Witness” or
“Tent of Meeting” which the True God gave the design to Moses
to build.
The Temple did not contain the fullness of God. The coming of
God’s Son Jesus revealed God in a living way.
But the leaders had made the Temple an idol, their source of
pride and legitimacy.

13. STIFF-NECKED PEOPLE
Relates to term in the Old Testament:
Strong's H7186 - qa-sheh (adjective)
hard, cruel, severe, obstinate
1. Hard, difficult
2. Severe
3. Fierce, intense, vehement
4. Stubborn, stiff of neck, stiff-necked
5. Rigorous (of battle)

14. STIFF NECKED
12 “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you,
but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love
Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all
your soul, 13 and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His
statutes which I command you today for your good? 14 Indeed
heaven and the highest heavens belong to the Lord your God, also
the earth with all that is in it. 15 The Lord delighted only in your
fathers, to love them; and He chose their descendants after them,
you above all peoples, as it is this day.

15. STIFF NECKED
16 Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and
be stiff-necked no longer. 17 For the Lord your God is God
of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and
awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe. 18 He
administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves
the stranger, giving him food and clothing. 19 Therefore love
the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
Deut 10:12-19 NKJV

16. STIFF-NECKED - RESISTANTTO SHAME
A sensitivity to Holy Spirit means we are sensitive to the
life-giving corrections, the healthy shame messages, the
conviction of God’s Holy Spirit.
Healthy shame message - a message from someone who
carries loving kindness (hesed) for us and is calling us to
recognize we’re doing things that are causing relational
disconnection - and to repent from those things.

17. EXERCISES
Thank Father God for His hesed - His loving kindness
towards you
Ask Holy Spirit for Grace for your heart to soften in
areas where you’ve resisted being open-hearted to Him.
Ask Jesus the One who rescues and heals — to
highlight an issue or area He wants to help you with
being able to love someone who feels like an enemy.