INTRO / SEGMENT 1: Acts 7 – Stephen’s Witness and Heaven’s Response (15 minutes)

1. Stephen is full before he stands

• Full of faith

• Full of grace

• Full of power

• Full of the Spirit

• Crisis reveals what you store

2. Stephen uses Israel’s story to expose Israel’s heart

• Joseph rejected, then needed

• Moses rejected, then needed

• Prophets rejected, then honored after death

• Jesus rejected in the same pattern

3. The danger of knowing the story but missing the Savior

• Religious activity without spiritual surrender

• Loving the symbols but refusing the substance

• Guarding tradition while resisting truth

4. Stephen sees glory before he feels stones

• Jesus standing (not sitting) at the Father’s right hand

• Vision determines endurance

• Heaven honors the faithful

5. Stephen dies like Jesus because he lived like Jesus

• “Receive my spirit”

• “Do not hold this sin against them”

• His life becomes his final sermon

Practical Steps

1. Fill your heart before the fire comes

2. Learn Scripture so you can recognize your own patterns

3. Reject religious performance and choose surrender

4. Aim your eyes at Jesus, not the crowd

5. Let your life preach louder than your words

SEGMENT 2: The Pattern of Resistance, Then and Now (15 minutes)

1. Israel’s repeated cycle of resisting God

• Rejecting Joseph

• Rejecting Moses

• Rejecting prophets

• Now rejecting Jesus

2. Resistance as a spiritual pattern

• Truth exposes the heart

• Resistance disguised as spirituality

• Conviction misinterpreted as condemnation

3. Modern expressions of the same pattern

• Dismissing correction

• Rewriting Scripture to fit lifestyle

• Prioritizing religious identity over obedience

• Building controllable “golden calf” versions of God

4. Signs you are resisting God

• Truth irritates you more than sin

• Only convicted about things you already agree with

• Defending positions more than pursuing God

• Afraid of change more than missing God

5. God exposes resistance to heal, not shame

• Conviction is mercy

• Patterns break only with surrender

Key Reflective Question

• “Where am I resisting God right now?”

SEGMENT 3: Heavenly Vision in a Hostile World (15 minutes)

1. Stephen looks up before looking out

• Seeing glory in chaos

• Jesus standing: heaven honoring the faithful

• Revelation requires surrender

2. Vision determines endurance

• What you magnify becomes your reality

• Earthly sight produces fear

• Heavenly sight produces courage

3. The problem of modern spiritual distraction

• Eyes aimed at chaos instead of Christ

• Attention becomes worship

• Misplaced focus shapes emotions and faith

4. How spiritual vision forms courage

• Worship produces vision

• Vision produces courage

• Courage produces endurance

5. Heavenly sight transforms earthly pressure

• Face like an angel

• The humble see what the proud cannot

• Shaken vision equals shaken life

• Heavenly vision equals unshakeable life

Practical Questions

• What has captured your gaze?

• What is shaping your emotions?

• What is louder than heaven?

SEGMENT 4: When Your Faithfulness Becomes Someone Else’s Awakening (15 minutes)

1. Stephen’s “defeat” becomes God’s ignition point

• No rescue, yet total victory

• Faithfulness misreads in the moment

2. Saul is standing in the shadows

• Approving of the execution

• Witnessing Stephen’s courage and grace

• Seeds planted in Saul’s heart

3. Faithfulness creates ripple effects

• You never know who is watching

• You never know what God will multiply

• Obedience may bear fruit long after your lifetime

4. Persecution becomes propulsion

• Church scatters

• Gospel spreads

• Pain becomes movement

5. Legacy over visibility

• Stephen never saw Paul

• Stephen never saw global missions

• Stephen never saw the ripple effect

• God sees what faithfulness produces

Core Truth

• Your obedience today may become someone else’s awakening tomorrow.

FINAL TAKEAWAYS (Whole Episode)

1. Obedience prepares you

Faith before fire.

2. Scripture exposes you

Patterns reveal heart posture.

3. Vision strengthens you

Look up to endure.

4. Faithfulness outlives you

Legacy begins with surrender.