God Keeps Making a Way

In one paragraph

On the first Sunday of 2025, Pastor Ray walked First Baptist Jackson through Stephen's defense before the Sanhedrin in Acts 6:8 through 8:1, the longest speech in the book of Acts. He showed how Stephen's sermon builds to a pointed accusation before the sermon is cut short by a mob that stones him to death. The service closed with communion. Stephen was one of seven men chosen to handle the...

Read together

1. Acts 6:8-8:1 the primary text of the sermon, Stephen's speech and martyrdom
2. Genesis 15 God telling Abraham his descendants would be slaves for four hundred years
3. Exodus 1:8-11 the new king who did not know Joseph oppressing the Israelites
4. Deuteronomy 18:15 Moses foretelling God would raise up a prophet like him, applied to Jesus
5. Acts 3 Peter quoting the same Deuteronomy prophecy about the prophet to the same council
6. Isaiah 66:1-2 God saying heaven is his throne and earth his footstool, the Most High does not live in temples made by human hands
7. 1 Kings 8 Solomon at the consecration of the temple acknowledging even the highest heavens cannot contain God
8. Psalm 31 Stephen's dying prayer, I entrust my spirit into your hand, linked to a bedtime prayer
9. Jeremiah mentioned as forecasting the new covenant
10. Joel mentioned as forecasting the new covenant
11. Isaiah 57 closing benediction, God dwelling with the contrite and lowly spirit

Talk about it

1. Stephen is described multiple times as being full of the Holy Spirit, full of wisdom, and full of God's grace. What do you think it looks like practically for someone today to be described that way, and how do you think those qualities shaped the way he handled being on trial for his life?
2. Pastor Ray pointed out that in Stephen's historical survey, God kept making a way and the people kept rejecting it, with Joseph rejected by his brothers, Moses rejected by his own people, and the Israelites turning to idols while Moses was receiving the law. Where do you see that same pattern playing out in your own life or in your experience of the church?
3. Stephen's application took a hard turn when he went from telling a history everyone in the room agreed with to telling them they were the ones doing the rejecting. Pastor Ray said the facts were not the problem, but the unwillingness to see themselves in the story was. What makes it difficult for us to see ourselves honestly in a story we already believe is true?
4. Pastor Ray noted that Jesus is described everywhere else in the New Testament as seated at God's right hand because his work is finished, but here Jesus is standing when Stephen confesses him before the council. What does that detail mean to you, and what does it say about how God responds when we bear witness to Jesus under pressure?
5. Stephen's dying words echoed Jesus on the cross, asking the Lord not to charge his killers with the sin they were committing, and one of the men whose feet held the accusers' coats was Saul. Knowing what Saul later became, how does Stephen's prayer and death change the way you think about praying for people who are actively opposed to the gospel?