Stephen is a stellar example of faith, courage, and willingness to speak up for Truth, even to hard-hearted hearers. His boldness in Christ still empowers Christians today. Reading Stephen's story so soon after the establishment of the church makes us consider: how big is our faith, and how far will it take us through trial? May we all achieve a faith as persistent as Stephen's!

“Stephen’s Sermon” is a visual retelling of Acts 6 & 7, guiding readers through Stephen's powerful, Spirit-driven preaching and martyrdom.

Stephen didn’t let his new task as servant to Jerusalem’s needy saints keep him from Spirit-filled challenging of Jewish leaders! His love for Truth, no matter the cost, is inspirational to readers of all ages. A visual version of Stephen's sermon (consistent with all our other materials) will give readers a connection with Stephen as a man, as well as connecting (as Stephen's preaching did) the thread of God's message and hard-hearted hearers throughout history.

Scripture reminds us repeatedly that there is value in honestly reviewing the past! History proves both God’s faithfulness and man’s failure, and convicts those who are willing to listen of their sin. These truths are proved in Stephen's Spirit-led retelling of Israel’s past, and again now as we look back on Acts 6 and 7 as our own spiritual history book.

Since Stephen recounts history, we include existing art in this product. If you’re familiar with CTR, you or your kids will recognize illustrations from our History and Review packs of Old Testament stories. These images have been reformatted and reimagined for Stephen's Sermon, with vision bubbles and Stephen’s animated figure preaching on each page. (Lower pricing on this product reflects this reusing of existing art!)

On the final page of Stephen's Sermon, rather than ending with his stoning, his death is contextualized with the “happy ending” results of Acts 8 and following! Stephen's faith in the risen Savior means his short life is NOT the end, and fits powerfully into a much greater story of redemption and resurrection. The gospel spread far and wide, and the accomplice, Saul, himself became like Stephen--a zealous servant of Jesus and His church.

Features of "Stephen's Sermon:"

• 28 pages, including cover, including both re-contextualized and new illustrations

• Title (summary) & reworded story on each*

• Rewording based directly on Scripture*

• Scripture references for further study

• Additional OT references for historical stories

*Due to copyright and publishing issues, we’ve chosen to create a reworded (but not paraphrased) version of this story. We encourage you to read directly from Scripture for deeper study!