“A Sad Day”

​B I B L E  B I T S  &  B I T E S
Devotions for Families

Season: Book of Acts
Episode 8: “A Sad Day”
Today’s Bible Bite: Acts 6:8-8:2

Video Story:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_u9eN72iFjo (God’s Story – The Life of Stephen)
“As they stoned him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” He fell to his knees, shouting, “Lord, don’t charge them with this sin!” And with that, he died.” (Acts 7:59, NLT)

Remember the seven men that the believers chose to help run the food program in the early church? Well, these men didn’t just deal with food. They also knew a lot about Jesus and could tell others about him. One of these men, Stephen, was very convincing and many people believed in Jesus through his teaching. But that made some of the other Jewish leaders, who didn’t believe that Jesus was the Messiah, angry. They spread lies about Stephen, accusing him of talking badly about Moses and God’s laws.

The Sanhedrin held court and told Stephen to explain himself. He didn’t back down from the truth. He explained clearly about how everything that had happened in history had been leading up to the Messiah, which was Jesus. When he accused the leaders of killing the long-promised Messiah, because they refused to believe that it was Jesus, they became furious. They dragged Stephen out of the city and stoned him to death. It was a horrible way to die. But Stephen showed incredible courage. Even if the leaders didn’t want to hear what Stephen had to say, he asked Jesus to forgive them—he followed Jesus’ example, even in death!

After that, things got very dangerous for Jesus’ followers for a while. A man named Saul decided that he wanted to get rid of this idea that Jesus had been the Messiah once and for all…but that story will have to wait!

Think about it...
• Stephen was one of the men chosen to run the food program in the early church. What other things did he do?
• Stephen was very smart and could explain things very convincingly. As the church continued to grow, how did the Jewish leaders respond?
• Because of their jealousy, Stephen was accused of telling lies about Moses and God’s laws. Who got involved?
• The Sanhedrin, the Jewish leaders, told Stephen to explain himself. When he did, however, they got really angry even though he only told them the truth. What did they do?
• Stephen was really brave. Could we be as brave as Stephen?
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Prayer: Thank you, God, for being with Stephen. Even though he died for telling others the truth, you helped him be brave and remain forgiving. Help us to be brave for you, too!