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??"Forget about church, You're not going!" Li's mother insisted angrily."You need to concentrate on your education and forget all this talk about religion." Li hung her head sadly and fought back the tears. She knew there was no way she could make her mother understand that Jesus Christ was real, He wasn't just another religion.
??Every day, all over the world, people are suffering and being ridiculed for their faith in the Lord Jesus. Suffering for what you believe in is called ？persecution." In our Bible time today, we're going to learn about how to handle persecution. Aunt Dee is going to tell you the story, but Stephen will be your teacher.
??Forty days after the Lord Jesus had died on the cross for our sins, was buried, and rose again, He went back to Heaven. Jesus promised before He left that He would send the Holy Spirit to help believers. Ten days after the Lord Jesus went to Heaven, on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came down and filled the apostle Peter and the other believers with great power. In that power, Peter preached to thousands of Jews who had gathered in the streets of Jerusalem. The same Holy Spirit that empowered Peter to preach with such boldness also convicted the unbelievers of their sin and their need of Jesus. That day 3, 000 people turned from their sin, believing on the Lord Jesus. Stephen was most likely one of the 3, 000 saved that day.
??Every day the church kept growing, but there was also a growing problem in the church. The Grecian believers were complaining that their widows were not getting as much attention and food as the Hebrew widows. A widow is a woman whose husband has died. The twelve apostles advised the church to find seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, who could take care of this problem. Stephen was one of the seven men chosen. Acts 6：8 describes Stephen as a man ？full of faith and power？, who ？did great wonders and miracles among the people." Stephen not only faithfully served in the church, but he was also out preaching about the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit was doing miracles through him. The Holy Spirit is the invisible part of Jesus that comes to live in us when we believe in Jesus. Even though the Spirit cannot be seen or touched, He is real and He gives believers power to live for Him and do what's right.
??Although Stephen was a godly example of the Lord Jesus and helped many people, there were many who hated Stephen."If the world hate you, you know that it hated me before it hated you, " Jesus said in John 15：18. The reason some people hated Stephen was only because he preached about Jesus. They especially hated to hear Stephen preach that Jesus was risen from the dead, and that He was the Son of God. As Stephen went out in public places to preach about Jesus, these enemies began to argue with him. But Acts 6：10 says, "They were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spoke."
??This caused them to hate Stephen even more, and to make plans to persecute HIM. Do you remember what the word persecution means？It means suffering for what you believe in. If you have believed in the Lord Jesus as your Savior from sin, you may have already been persecuted. Paul wrote to young Timothy in II Timothy 3：12, ？" all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." You may be the only one in the family who has believed on the Lord Jesus, and your family makes fun of you. Maybe other kids laugh at you because you refuse to take part in their dirty jokes, or to look at the sinful pictures on the Internet. Your teacher at school may have even embarrassed you when you said you believed that God created the world.
??No believer enjoys being persecuted. At times you may feel like giving in and doing the wrong thing so people won't bother you any more. You may have thought, "it's just too hard to be a Christian, I give up." God's enemy, Satan, wants you to feel sorry for yourself and give up, so you will be a bad example to others. If You're a bad example, then you surely won't lead anyone else to believe in Jesus, which is what Satan wants.
??But don't give up! don't give in! don't let the devil make you sin!" I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me!" Philippians 4：13. Will you memorize that little poem to help you when you are persecuted？??Stephen was about to be persecuted for preaching about the Lord Jesus. His enemies got some false witnesses together to lie about Stephen, then they stirred up the religious leaders so that Stephen was arrested and brought to the Jewish religious court. There in the courtroom, the false witnesses began again to lie about Stephen."This man will not stop speaking against the temple and the laws of God. We even heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth is going to destroy the temple and will change all the laws and customs that Moses taught us."
??How would you react if people were lying about you？Acts 6：15 says, "And all that sat in the council, looking stedfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an
??angel." The high priest then asked Stephen, "Are these things true？" The Holy Spirit gave Stephen the words God wanted those men to hear. Stephen began far back in the history of the Jewish people and reminded them about how God had called Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation. Then Stephen told about Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and even Moses. Stephen reminded the people how Israel had turned away from God to worship idols; and that when God had sent His prophets to warn the people, instead of turning from the idols, they killed God's prophets."You are so stubborn in your heart, and you refuse to listen to the Holy Spirit! You are just like your fathers! They persecuted and killed the prophets who told about the coming of the Just One, " Stephen said, "And now when the Just One came, you yourselves have betrayed and murdered Him!"
??Who was this ？Just One？that Stephen was talking about？You may have guessed Stephen was talking about the Lord Jesus Christ, the One the Jewish leaders had hated so much that they had him betrayed and then crucified."Just？means righteous and pure. God is perfectly pure and righteous and so is His Son the Lord Jesus, the Just One.
??How foolish for these sinful people to hate Jesus and want to get rid of Him when they needed Him so much! What they did was more foolish than a person with a dreadful disease throwing away the only medicine that could cure him! The Bible teaches us that we are all born with something more dreadful than a disease and that is sin. Sin is breaking God's laws. When you destroy someone's else's property, when you tease and hurt others, when you think hateful thoughts toward your parents, you are sinning. Ecclesiastes 7：20 says, "There is not a just man upon earth, that does good and does not sin." Sin causes us not only to have die in our body, but also to suffer an everlasting death in hell. God our Creator loves us so much and He does not want even one of us to be lost from Him forever. His great desire is that we be brought back to Him so we can enjoy all the riches of Heaven with God forever. I Peter 3：18 says, "For Christ also has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God." That is why Jesus, the Just One, allowed foolish, sinful people to nail Him to a cross. He had the power to stop it, but Jesus knew He must give His life and His blood to pay for our sin. He died, was buried and came alive the 3rd day. Jesus is alive today in Heaven, and when we believe on Him, He brings us back to God. It would be so foolish to turn away from the Lord Jesus, when He is the only One Who can make us right with God.
??Stephen was trying to show the Jewish leaders how foolish they were to have betrayed and murdered the Lord Jesus, the only One Who could make them right with God! But when the leaders heard Stephen's bold words, the Bible says they were ？cut to the heart."
??Instead of being sorry for their sin, they hated Stephen even more. They began to gnash on him with their teeth. Have you ever seen a dog growling and about to fight？They turn back their lips, and grit their teeth together as they growl. The Jewish leaders were like wild animals as they turned back their lips and gritted their teeth at Stephen.
??How do you think Stephen reacted？Let's read Acts 7：55："But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, 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." Stephen was not concerned with foolish, sinful men. God was showing him his heavenly reward!
??Matthew 5：11 and 12 says, "Blessed are you, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad：for great is your reward in heaven." If you are a child of God, you can rejoice and be glad, even as people are persecuting you. God says there is special blessing for you, and a great reward for you in Heaven. In many places in the world at this very moment believers are suffering because they believe in Jesus. God can give His children power to rejoice and praise Him even in persecution. Do you remember our little poem？" don't give up, don't give in; don't let the devil make you sin."I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.？" Philippians 4：13. Ask God to give you strength to be a good example that will help and encourage other believers.
??What a great example Stephen was! He was not giving up! God was giving him power to do the right thing when he was persecuted. The angry crowd cried out loudly to drown out Stephen's voice, they stopped their ears so they couldn't hear him. Then they grabbed Stephen and dragged him out of the city to stone him. Picking up huge stones, they began to hurl them at Stephen to kill him. As they did, still Stephen did not complain or give in. Instead he called upon the Lord saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Acts chapter 7 ends with, "And he kneeled down, and cried out with loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep." The body of Stephen lay beaten and bruised and dead there on the ground, but his spirit, the real Stephen, quickly went to be with the Lord Jesus there in Heaven! Other believers took his body and buried it. They were deeply saddened by the death of their beloved friend Stephen. What a wonderful example Stephen had been to them of how a believer should face persecution. Hasn't Stephen's life taught us how to face persecution!
??You may never have to face death because you are a believer in Jesus, but if you live for the Lord Jesus, there will be times when you face persecution. Can you remember our poem, "don't give up, don't give in, don't let the devil make you sin."I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me." Philippians 4：13. Ask God for His strength to help you live boldly for Jesus and to do what's right when you are persecuted.
??If you have never believed on Jesus, you are like those who were persecuting Stephen. But remember, the Just One died for the unjust. That means Jesus died for your sin. You can be clean from your sin, and made ？just？or right in God's eyes by believing in Jesus today. Go to ？How To Be a Child of God？.
