Hearing this, the officers felt that this statement made sense, beat them and let them go.
Due to the rapid increase of believers and collective life, many affairs could not be handled, and the twelve disciples presided over the disciples' meeting. It was announced at the meeting that in order to make disciples concentrate on preaching, we should select seven people who are fair, honest, intelligent and full of the Holy Spirit to take charge of educational affairs. Everyone unanimously elected seven good believers supported by the audience, including Stephen, Philip, Pelogoro, Nikanow, Timon, Bamina and Nikolai, with Stephen as the leader. After praying, the disciples put their hands on the heads of the seven men to confirm their positions.
Stephen is not only a shrewd, witty, fair and capable person, but also has always performed well in preaching and teaching. He often argues with unbelievers and opponents. In the debate, he is quick-witted and articulate. He "speaks with wisdom and the Holy Spirit" and strives for victory with words. Those who are defeated by him (the opposition) naturally hate him. They falsely accused him of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, incited the people against him, and encouraged the Jewish authorities to bring him to the guild for trial.
Facing the presiding judge and all the people, Stephen talked with Kan Kan unhurriedly and told the history of the Israelites in an easy-to-understand way: how God saved their ancestors from Egypt and how Moses led them across the wilderness to the promised land. Remind everyone that this is not because of their skills, but because of God's love. He also said with alacrity: God sent Joshua, David, Solomon and all the prophets to earth in order to guide the Israelites to live a life that God was satisfied with, but the rulers did not listen to the prophets, violated the law, abandoned the good and the evil, and persecuted every prophet! Finally, he rebuked them and said, "You killed the prophet who announced that the righteous man was coming, and then you sold the righteous man and killed him. You will be punished by God. "
The dignitaries of the guild were furious and gnashed their teeth, but Stephen calmly looked up at the sky: "Look, I see the sky is open and the Son of Man is standing on the left side of God!" " "These words more angered the jews. They shouted angrily and swarmed, ignoring Stephen's protests, caught him, dragged him outside the city and stoned him to death.
Stephen turned his back and prayed to heaven and said, "My Lord Jesus, please accept my soul!" " Then, looking up to heaven, he knelt down and prayed loudly and said, "Lord, please forgive and forgive the people and don't blame them!" " "Say that finish, he died. In this way, Stephen became the first martyr in Christian history.
While the Jewish thugs were fighting and throwing coats and stones around Stephen violently, a young man stood by to look after their clothes and cheer for them. His name is Saul (later renamed Paul).
The young man was born in the Roman Empire and has Roman nationality, but his ancestral home is still Jewish. As a rich boy, he was sent to Jerusalem for education since he was a child. He is familiar with Jewish classics and laws and studies ancient Greek philosophy and religion. Because his ancestors were Jews, he showed extraordinary enthusiasm and loyalty in the actions of the high priest and the Jewish authorities to suppress and persecute Jesus' disciples. He often took people everywhere to search the disciples' homes, arrested believers in prisons, and volunteered to take people to Damascus to search for Jesus disciples who fled to the local area.
When Saul's youth became more arrogant and triumphant, he came to Damascus. Suddenly there was a dazzling light in the sky. Saul fell to the ground and heard a reproachful voice saying, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" It's hard for you to kick me and stab me! "
Saul was terrified out of his wits and said, "Lord! Who are you? "
The voice replied, "I am the Jesus you persecuted."
Saul said trembling, "Lord, what do you want me to do?"
"Go into town, where someone will tell you what to do." The voice replied.
The people with Saul only heard voices, but they could not see anyone and could not speak. After Jesus left, they woke up, lifted Saul up and found that he could see nothing. They took him by the hand and led him into Damascus.
The frightened Saul went blind after entering Damascus. He didn't eat or drink for three days in a row and prayed to God anxiously. When Jesus saw this, he appeared to the believer Narnia in a vision and said to him, "Go out into the street and look for Saul of Tarsus in the house of the house of Judah. He is praying. Put your hand on his head and restore his sight. "
Narnia prayed, "Lord, I heard that this man persecuted your disciples in Jerusalem." This time he brought people to Damascus to arrest your disciples. Are you still good to him? "
"Yes, you go, don't be afraid, he is my choice to promote my name abroad. I also want to tell you that he will suffer more in order to spread my reputation. " Jesus answered.
Narnia was sent by Jesus to find Saul's residence. He put his hand on his head and said, "Brother Saul, I am the one sent by Jesus to treat your eyes. He asked me to pass on the Holy Spirit to you."
Saul suddenly felt that he was filled with the Holy Spirit, and scales fell off his eyes. He immediately saw the light and recovered. He was baptized and became a disciple of Jesus. He changed his original intention of going to Damascus and preached in the synagogue that Jesus was the Christ.
Jews were very surprised at Saul's sudden change. A few days ago, they strongly opposed Jesus and took the initiative to ask synagogues to help him catch the special envoy of Jesus' disciples. A few days later, how did they suddenly change themselves and try their best to prove that Jesus is Christ and completely on Jesus' side? As a result, the Jews turned their friend into an enemy and hated him. Once he was set to kill him at the city gate. Fortunately, with the help of his disciples, he was hung from the wall in a basket and he was able to escape.
Under the white terror, the followers of Jesus were forced to leave Jerusalem and spread the gospel of the Lord throughout Judah and Samaria. Philip made great progress in his missionary work in Samaria, and Peter and John rushed to baptize the people in time. There is a local wizard named Simon, who is willing to pay for the disciples to have the magical power of "laying their hands on the Holy Spirit". Peter sternly refused and scolded him: "you are an evil thought, you can buy God's gift with money!" " "
After living in seclusion in the Arabian desert for a period of time, Saul came to Jerusalem and found his disciple Barabbas. Barabbas took Saul to see Peter and other church leaders and explained the process of his conversion. The disciples were very happy to hear this. They praised Jesus Christ, who has the ability and virtue to turn enemies into friends and give them a loyal partner. Saul preached with them in Jerusalem, which greatly surprised the Jewish dignitaries, and he felt great panic and had the intention of killing Saul. In order to avoid the persecution of the enemy, the church in Jerusalem decided to send him back to his hometown of Tarsus, where Saul prayed devoutly, studied Confucian classics and made various preparations for his future missionary work.
Later, because Jesus' scattered disciples gathered in Antioch to preach the gospel, they achieved results. The church in Jerusalem sent Barabbas to take charge of this work. Barabbas found Saul in Tarsus. They preached in Antioch for a year and won the trust and high prestige of all. Antioch began to officially call Jesus' disciples Christians, hence the name, which has been passed down to this day.
Guided by the Holy Spirit, Saul decided to spread the gospel to foreign countries with Barabbas. Before leaving, Saul changed his name to Paul, and in the name of Saul, as a Roman citizen, he provoked the heavy responsibility of preaching to foreigners, and was called a "believer of foreigners", just like the twelve disciples.
Paul and Barabbas set out from Antioch and preached for the first time, passing through Salamis, Paphos, Piga, Pisidia and other places. Paul told people about the history of Israel. The miracles and miracles performed by Jesus during his lifetime attracted many audiences, won everyone's praise and support, and the number of believers surged. But the Jews colluded with local dignitaries, embarrassed them and even deported them. None of these setbacks weakened their fighting spirit. They went to Pitisi, Pamphylia, Italy and other places, preaching all the way, preaching the gospel and establishing churches.
When there were differences and arguments within the church about whether foreign believers must be circumcised, they returned to Jerusalem for a meeting. At the meeting, Peter reiterated God's teaching of tolerance and grace to foreigners, and Paul and Barabbas introduced what they saw, heard and experienced when they preached abroad. Finally, Paul's point of view was recognized by everyone. He decided not to force foreigners to obey the law, but converts were not allowed to worship idols, eat bloody meat or commit fornication. These decisions were sent to the church by letters from Paul and other disciples.
Paul preached for the second time, traveling with Silas, and successively went to Derby, Lystra, Mercia and Troas, then crossed the Aegean Sea and entered the European continent.
When they were treating diseases and doing good deeds in Philippi, Macedonia, they were forcibly taken away by the local government and put into prison. Paul and Silas sang hymns, prayed and praised God in the middle of the night, which was very new among prisoners and everyone listened attentively. Suddenly, an electric shock came, all the prison doors were "Hua" wide open, and all the prisoners' chains were "hissed" loose. The awakened prison guard thought all the prisoners had escaped, so he drew his sword and hanged himself. Paul stopped them in time and told them not to be afraid. When the guards saw that Paul and Silas were there, they fell on their knees, thanked them and invited them to go home to show them the way. That night, the whole guard family was baptized and became believers. After dawn, the soldiers reported what happened in the middle of the night to the officer, who released them. Because they were Roman citizens, the chief quickly apologized and escorted them out of the city. They passed Ephesus, Samaria and Jerusalem, and then returned to Antioch in Syria.
Paul's third missionary trip, besides spreading the gospel, mainly visited the church in Galatia and the new church he founded during his second missionary, and accepted their donations to the church in Jerusalem.
In these three long-distance sermons, Paul experienced risks and hardships, developed believers, established churches and wrote many letters. He first spread the gospel of God to Macedonia and continental Europe and became one of the main founders of the early Christian church.
Paul returned to Jerusalem after completing three travel sermons. He took people to clean the temple, was accused of blasphemy by the Jewish church, and was arrested and imprisoned. When he found out that the Jews were determined to kill him, he immediately declared that he was a Roman citizen and had the right to appeal to the Roman authorities. At this time, the Roman commander-in-chief heard the news, led troops to come, took him away and secretly escorted him to the provincial capital. Two years later, the new governor promised him to go to Rome to appeal and arranged a ship to escort him to Rome. Something unexpected happened. On Paul's way to Rome by boat, he was caught in a big storm and the ship sank. They drifted at sea 14 days before landing on the island to escape.
Paul was warmly welcomed by local Christians when he arrived in Rome. Since he did not violate Roman law, the local authorities allowed him to live in a rented house in chains, and he took every opportunity to preach the gospel of the Lord. Two years later, he was released.
Paul spent most of his later years in prison. Around 63 AD, Paul returned to Asia Minor to visit the church he founded. In about 66, Paul was arrested again and sent to Rome. In 67 AD, the Roman emperor Nero persecuted the church, and Paul was martyred in Rome.