Sermon Title: THE GOSPEL MOVES ON
Sermon Text: ACTS 7:54-8:3
Sermon Series: UNSTOPPABLE: A Sermon Series Through the Book of Acts. Part 2: The Church Under Fire
By: PTR NESTOR SY
Acts 7:54-60 ESV
⁵⁴ Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. ⁵⁵ But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. ⁵⁶ And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” ⁵⁷ But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. ⁵⁸ Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. ⁵⁹ And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” ⁶⁰ And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
Acts 8:1-3 ESV
¹ And Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. ² Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. ³ But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.
SERMON NOTES
I. AN OPEN HEAVEN
“enraged” | diaprió (διαπρίω) | literally means “sawn through.”
The same truth that brings one person to repentance may provoke another person to resistance.
“gaze” | atenizó (ἀτενίζω) | “to gaze intently, to look steadfastly.”
The pressure around Stephen did not empty him. It only showed what was already in him.
Human verdict is never the final verdict.
Reflect: Whose verdict are you living under right now?
II. OPEN HANDS
The fullness of the Holy Spirit is not merely about what God enables us to accomplish. It is also about the kind of people God is making us.
Reflect: Whose name is still in your clenched fist?
III. AN OPEN FIELD
Religious zeal is not always the same thing as faithfulness to God.
“scattered” | diaspeiró (διασπείρω) | dia (through, across, in all directions) + speiró (to sow)
Reflect: What if the place you never chose is the field God chose for you?
They scattered the church, but they couldn’t silence the gospel.