JOIN THE JOURNEY JR.
Families Abiding in Jesus together
With shorter reading assignments and kid-specific focus areas, Join The Journey Jr. is designed to help parents disciple their kids and engage with Scripture in the best ways for their age.
This month's memory verse
All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.
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Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.”
Stephen Is Arrested
8Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed amazing miracles and signs among the people. 9But one day some men from the Synagogue of Freed Slaves, as it was called, started to debate with him. They were Jews from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia, and the province of Asia. 10None of them could stand against the wisdom and the Spirit with which Stephen spoke.
11So they persuaded some men to lie about Stephen, saying, “We heard him blaspheme Moses, and even God.” 12This roused the people, the elders, and the teachers of religious law. So they arrested Stephen and brought him before the high council.*
13The lying witnesses said, “This man is always speaking against the holy Temple and against the law of Moses. 14We have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth* will destroy the Temple and change the customs Moses handed down to us.”
15At this point everyone in the high council stared at Stephen, because his face became as bright as an angel’s.
In Acts 6:8-15, Stephen was talking about Jesus boldly. But there were people in the city who did not like that Stephen was talking about Jesus. They wanted to stop Stephen from sharing the good news about Jesus, so they made up lies about him that got him in trouble. So, what were the lies they spread? Look back in our passage:
Read Acts 6:11
Read Acts 6:14
Both lies would have gotten Stephen into a lot of trouble with the religious leaders in the city. The people who didn’t like Stephen were trying to get him in trouble on purpose. When someone treats another person badly because of what they believe about God, that is called persecution. Stephen was facing persecution for believing and sharing that Jesus was the Son of God and had come to save people from their sin. The people who did not like Stephen talking about Jesus arrested him and brough him before powerful people who could punish Stephen.
When you live for Jesus, not everyone will agree with his teachings and what you believe, and it can cause them to be mean. Their treatment of you may not always be fair or kind, but how we respond to their treatment is what sets us apart.
What was Stephen’s response? Read Acts 6:15. It says that his face was like the face of an angel. What do you think that means? Some people believe that it meant Stephen was at peace. Stephen trusted God so much, that he wasn’t worried about what the other people thought or how they treated him. He knew that God would be with him no matter what.
Spend some time discussing the story and answering the questions below in response to Acts 6:8-15.