As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison” (verses 2-3). “And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him. True Christians were driven from their homes to towns all over Judah and Samaria. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles.” The persecution against the fledgling Church was so severe that all the brethren-except the apostles-were scattered from Jerusalem. Acts 8:1 shows that he consented to Stephen’s murder: “And Saul was consenting unto his death. Notice that Luke mentioned Saul in that account (Acts 7:58). His only “crime” was preaching God’s truth! Remember, these men represented a religion that talked much about love! May God protect us from such “loving” religions! Paul These religious leaders stoned Stephen to death. And when he had said this, he fell asleep” (verses 57-60). And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. “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. At his trial, in his own defense, Stephen preached a convicting and condemning sermon (Acts 7). Stephen was arrested and brought before the Jewish council. God was able to work many miracles through him-and his work was noticed. Stephen, one of the original seven deacons, was a man of faith and zeal. Men, women and even whole families were slaughtered. Their persecution became far more intense-and deadly. Jewish leaders wanted to stop this new, overzealous faction. When they obeyed, the Work grew even more. An angel released them and told them to return to the temple and preach. The apostles were thrown into prison (Acts 5:18). Jewish leaders became incensed and fearful. This growth provoked serious persecution. The Church experienced rapid growth from 120 to about 5,000 members by the time of Acts 4:4. The preaching of Christ’s gospel gained momentum. They were threatened-yet they were undaunted! Peter and John were immediately summoned before the Jewish high council. When this man begged for money, they healed him instead. Not many days after Pentecost, Peter and John were entering the temple. Many had given him alms before entering the temple grounds. This man was well known as having been lame from birth. Then came a dramatic healing of a man just outside the temple gate called Beautiful (Acts 3).

31 began to create a stir within the Jewish community and among Jewish leaders (Acts 2). The fantastic events of Pentecost in a.d. Three thousand members were added during the Pentecost season (Acts 2:1, 41). The newly Spirit-begotten Church had a significant impact on the people and society, beginning at Jerusalem. On the day of Pentecost after Christ’s death, the original disciples and new converts were given the Holy Spirit and inflamed with a passion to proclaim Christ’s gospel. If Christ physically headed a little group today, this world would kill Him again! The chief culprit would be false religion.

Most of the persecution against God’s people came from false religion. Verse 15 reveals that even after all of Christ’s preaching and miracles, there were only 120 disciples! Jesus Christ led His disciples for 3½ years, and then the world killed Him. His exclusion of certain events shows that God canonized only those events that were vital for God’s Church of the future to know. In this book, Luke records only those events that affected the early Church in a major way. Does that mean these apostles did not do an important work? Absolutely not! They did many mighty works. However, the book is silent on the acts of at least 10 of the original apostles. Luke’s account is best known as the Acts of the Apostles. But a close study of this book reveals that its history is quite selective. It was written to a man named Theophilus as a companion book to Luke’s gospel account (Acts 1:1).īible scholars agree that the book of Acts contains important early Church history. 62, thirty-one years after the true Church began. Luke is the unquestioned author of the book of Acts. Jesus Christ personally laid its foundation.

This era could not have had a better beginning. Revelation 2 calls this first era of the Church the Ephesus era. God’s New Testament Church officially began on the day of Pentecost, June 17, a.d.

Bible commentary on simon the sorcerer