The Jewish people refused to accept a new age had dawned.
1. The Charge against Stephen (6:10, 13). Sharing our faith is not about winning arguments. Unbelief is not about intellect, rather the heart and will.
2. Stephen's defence - (Acts 7). (a) Temple. (7:2,3). God appears to Abraham before there is a Temple. (v9) God was with Jospeh before the temple. (v33) Moses and the burning bush - God appeared in other places. (v48) The Most High does not live in houses made by men. The way to meet God is not in the temple, but His Son. (b) The Law. God had a relationship with Abraham before the law was given. V37, 38 -The law is God's living word - v39,40 but the people rejected Moses. They turned a relationship with God into a religion of rules.
3. Stephen is stoned (54) (a) God's sovereignty - why does God allow it? Revelation 11:7 - when they had finished their testimony. God is sovereign and no martyr died before they had done what God had for them to do. (b) God is with His people. v55 - Stephen sees Jesus standing. (see Matthew 10:32)
