Stephen Made Simple

Stephen the first martyr, full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, is chosen to serve tables and ends up preaching one of the great sermons of Scripture before the council. His face shines like an angel's. He walks Israel's history from Abraham to Moses to the temple, sees heaven opened with Jesus standing at the right hand of God, forgives his killers with his dying breath, and falls asleep in Jesus. At his feet a young man named Saul holds the coats, carrying a seed that will one day become the apostle Paul (Acts 6-7).

Stephen Made Simple is a Bible-first walk through Acts 6 and 7: humble service before public witness, wisdom no enemy can resist, the shining face that comes from God's presence, the long sermon from Abraham to Moses, the rebuke of stiff-necked hearts, heaven opened, the stones, the forgiveness, and the crown of life promised to those who are faithful unto death.

Explicitly Trinitarian: God the Father who sent His Son and raised Him from the dead; Jesus Christ - Son of God and Son of Man, Lord and Savior - whom Stephen saw standing at the right hand of God; and the Holy Spirit, who filled Stephen, gave him unresistable wisdom, and carried him through death into glory. Every prayer is to the Father, through Jesus Christ, by the Holy Spirit. Deliverance and freedom come by the Holy Spirit alone, never by willpower or man's ideas.

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