The Holt County sentinel. (Oregon, Mo.) 1883-1980, 1916-03-03
LESSON FOR MARCH 5
THE DEATH OF STEPHEN.

last Sunday. There are sone battles
OF life that are not fought with fists
or weapons. The Roy who holds his
temper is more manly than the one
who goes into a fight simply TO win.
Paul tells us how and what to fight
tEph. eli, i2l. We must show the
scholars clearly the two great bat.
ties stephen fought aud the victory
he won as described In todays les.
son The charges made against
stephen were made BY false wit.
nesses' This does not mean men
who invented false words. but men
who took Isolated statements. distort.
ed them and by innuendo used them
for their own ends. stephen was
charged with three things: taI Bias.
phomy against God t6:ii.l3b. tbi
That he had said Jesus would return
and destroy the temple tG:lb, tcb
That he claimed that Jesus would dc.
stroy or abroRatc the law t6:lu. This
great passage of Srrinturc ~ SO pro.
found and so closely conscctcd that
We hesitate IN trying to separate II
into divisions ot sections. We much
prefer Ia note the logical argument
and presentation stephen the Spirit.
anolntod deacon made to the Sanhc.
drin.
!. Stephens Defense. stephen was
Grecianized jew, whose name
means "a crown lie answered the
charges of these foreign accusers.
made before the Slnhejrin. scriatim.
His point OF contact was to respect
fully remind the council that he
was an orthodox Jewish believer and
worshipcr ". ~. He called the coun-
1 Gil Men. brethren and fathers" They
were common believers and all were
standing before the God.appointcd
/ leaders OF Israel. Stephen In his re-
ply showed that he reverenced God
and Gods prophet Moses. thereby an
swering the first charge ". ~. and
while he revercnced the temple he
showed that II was not essential to
worship t7:t7:4s). This last was in
answer to their second charge t6ip.
In answer to their third charge Ste
phen then turned upon his enemies
/ and by direct and indirect charges he
convicted them OF certain facts. In
directly. by skillful repetition OF Jew
ish history. and review OF the
| prophets. he discloses the vacillation
and sinfulness OF Gods chosen people
1913. 2gl, Directly he accuses these
leaders Of having been subseryient to
certain customs as being superior to
the law they proicssed 10 obey. Ste
phens accusers were. as we have
seen. from without Jerusalem 1919.
l0b. and his first battle was concern
Ing the truth about Jesus. His second
great battle. and one OF his ultimate
victory, was with these avowed enc
mics OF Jesus C6ll.s:D.
u. Stephens Death. The real con.
test OF this occasion was Satan vs..
the Holy Spirit. stephen put to rout
these men from the foreign synagogue.
hence the Jewish authorities deter.
mined to take hold OF the problem
themselves and put a stop TO this
4 Christian teaching. Stephens sud
den application OF the Scripture to his
judges caused intense anger. lie
preached the word OF God In the dem.
onstration OF the Holy Spirit. and such
preaching always either produces con.
viction OF SIN. or else arouses anger
at the preacher. These men could not
deny the truth Of his accusation: they
therefore turned upon him In anger.
Being full OF tho Holy Spirit" Is an
abiding condition and inevitably In.
wolves conflict with Satan. II led
stephen to look up and not about
him. and In hts hour OF testing he saw
wonderful vision OF hcaven-"The
glory OF God and OF Jesus standing
Let us accept tho testimony OF this
dyiag man as q literal fact. This
sight strengthened him for his sui
fering and for his witnessing. Death
had no more terror for Stephen and
no was faithful and steadfast to the
end.
~. Stephens Burial. These men
overreached themselves. for persecu
ton simply scattered those who gave
the Christian testimony a wider and
q more effective hearing nl:I9.2D.
This force OF circumstances thrust the
early church forth from Jerusalem.
now after q period OF perhaps five
or seven years. we see the beginning
OF the literal fuliillment of the Pente.
costai program tActs 1881. During
this storm OF persecution the apostles
remained at their posts In Jerusa
lem.
sauis rage knew no bounds, and
not content with disputations in tho