Please forgive this rough draft format, as these are my raw study notes on the book of Acts. I felt a great sense of urgency to publish them rather than waiting until I had the time to pretty them up. Thank you and I pray that God blesses and encourages you through this material. Stay strong. Live in the Spirit. Encourage each other. Pray. Jesus is coming…
Stacey
Take a few minutes to pray and savor chapter 6 of the book of Acts. Read it with the thought in mind that this is the first display of the power of the Holy Spirit working through man – aside from Christ, that is. Imagine what the Spirit can do through you if you let Him! Then return here and ponder the thoughts, answer the questions, and be sure to leave comments about your own revelations…
6:1 – The Grecian Jews complained, so the first deacons were chosen from that group to see that their widows were given a fair share of the food.
6:3 – the first deacons. They were chosen to distribute food to widows, freeing the apostles for prayer and ministry of the Word.
6:5 – all of these men were Grecian Jews. See 6:1. Notice their names are Greek.
6:8 – Stephen is the first new testament character besides Jesus and the apostles to perform great wonders and signs before the people.
6:9 – Freedmen are former slaves (or their children) who have been freed from their bondage by Rome. They are Hellenistic Jews. Saul was probably one who came forward to argue with Stephen.
6:10 – How can you develop wisdom and the Spirit as Stephen did?
6:11 – The Freedmen arranged for false witnesses against Stephen.
6:15 – Stephen maintained the appearance of an angel in the face of opposition and false accusation. The Sanhedrin didn’t get the reaction they had hoped for. It’s funny that they accused him of blasphemy against Moses when his face shone like Moses’ did after his meetings with God.
• The book of Acts teaches us much about what the Holy Spirit is capable of doing through a mortal life. What have you learned about how He wants to work through you today? What will you do to give up a bit of control to Him?
• What attributes of God do you see in this book?
• What verse of scripture seemed to be God speaking directly to you? What is He teaching you in these verses? How does He want you to respond?
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