Acts 7:45-8:3

Years later, when Joshua led our ancestors in battle against the nations that God drove out of this land, the Tabernacle was taken with them into their new territory. And it stayed there until the time of King David.
46 "David found favor with God and asked for the privilege of building a permanent Temple for the God of Jacob. 47 But it was Solomon who actually built it. 48 However, the Most High doesn’t live in temples made by human hands. As the prophet says, 49 ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Could you build me a temple as good as that?’ asks the Lord. ‘Could you build me such a resting place? 50 Didn’t my hands make both heaven and earth?’ 51 "You stubborn people! You are heathen at heart and deaf to the truth. Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit? That’s what your ancestors did, and so do you! 52 Name one prophet your ancestors didn’t persecute! They even killed the ones who predicted the coming of the Righteous One—the Messiah whom you betrayed and murdered. 53 You deliberately disobeyed God’s law, even though you received it from the hands of angels." 54 The Jewish leaders were infuriated by Stephen’s accusation, and they shook their fists at him in rage. 55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily into heaven and saw the glory of God, and he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand.56 And he told them, "Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand!" 57 Then they put their hands over their ears and began shouting. They rushed at him 58 and dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. His accusers took off their coats and laid them at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 As they stoned him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." 60 He fell to his knees, shouting, "Lord, don’t charge them with this sin!" And with that, he died.Acts 8 1 Saul was one of the witnesses, and he agreed completely with the killing of Stephen.
Persecution Scatters the Believers A great wave of persecution began that day, sweeping over the church in Jerusalem; and all the believers except the apostles were scattered through the regions of Judea and Samaria. 2 (Some devout men came and buried Stephen with great mourning.) 3 But Saul was going everywhere to destroy the church. He went from house to house, dragging out both men and women to throw them into prison.

Devotion (by Mikey Skoglund): This passage gives us a good look at the history of the Jewish people and how they’d turned their backs on God several times. Here we find Stephen speaking to the crowd and trying to get them to see the mistakes they’ve made in the past. I’ve always said that I like to learn from other people’s mistakes so that I don’t have to make them myself. Now the people didn’t listen to Stephen and they actually took him and had him killed, but look at his attitude as he died. "Stephen prayed, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit’ He fell to his knees shouting, ‘Lord, don’t charge them with this sin!’ This man was having stones thrown at him and yet he calls out to God and asks Him to not charge these people with the sin they’re committing. Now that is perseverance and faith in action.
I don’t think that’s the end of this story though; if we look towards the end of this passage, we can see there’s another man there named Saul. Now Saul was a very big part of trying to dismantle the church, and he condoned the stoning of Stephen, but I wonder if what he witnessed that day, with Stephen there, forgiving Saul as he was dying, stuck with him. As we will read later, Saul becomes Paul, who wrote most of the New Testament. So I don’t think Stephen’s stand against this crowd and his forgiving and gracious spirit in the midst of his killers was in vain.

Prayer: God, please give me the boldness and strength to stand up for Your name. Lord I’m so thankful that I live in a country where I can praise Your name without being arrested or killed, but I realize that there are some days that I’m still afraid of what people will think of me if they hear me talking about Your name. Help me to break down that fear and to share Your name with people. Help me to love them like You love them. Thank You for Your love and Your forgiveness Lord. Amen.