Acts 7:54-60

Acts 7:54-60 When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. This is the first martyr for the Lord. A martyr is someone who dies for their faith. Stephen, one of the original deacons, was a wonderful testimony for the Lord. But the Jewish religious leaders couldn’t stand him! They couldn’t answer his words and that made them angry. They heard all that they could stand and went out of control. They stopped their ears and gnashed their teeth on Stephen like wild animals! Were they ever out of control! In the Old Testament sinful people were stoned. That meant that the authorities threw huge rocks at them until they killed them. Stephen was executed by stoning. But Stephen was faithful to Jesus right up until the end of his life. And he saw Jesus, his Lord, standing beside God the Father in heaven. And they were welcoming Stephen into heaven! I hope that I can be faithful to God until the end, no matter when or how it is. God has been so good to us. The least that we can do is to serve Him.