Stephen

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(A lot of these autobiographical poems are inspired by artists like Don Francisco, Michael Card, and others)

---Stephen (Acts 6, 7)---


I was one of seven, called by the apostles of Christ

I was chosen to serve tables, but God had something else in sight

Prayed for with the laying on of hands, I was commissioned to go

Never once did I think my life would add to the written Word


The Lord's Spirit was upon me full and free as you can read

The hand of God moved and performed many miracles as the people had need

Then arose a number of people who came to disrupt the work

But they were unable to resist the wisdom from which God through me spoke


My name is Stephen. I was called to do a job.

The work for which I laboured was not what I first thought.


Now up to this point my life was very blessed

God was doing wonders that everyone would confess

Until the people stirred up the elders and the people all around

A heretic, a blasphemer, they cried..to the council, there I found myself bound


So as the false witnesses lined up on all sides

They prosecuted my case with vitriol and pride

We heard him speak of Jesus, they began to accuse

That He would destroy this place and change the customs of Moses we often use

Despite the vail that covered their own wicked hearts

They looked on me steadfastly from out of their dark

My face like an angel, God's glory did shine

To reveal God's purpose in the Lord's due time


My name is Stephen. I was persecuted for Christ

Not for my sake I suffered. But for to only carry my cross


"Are these things so?", they continued to ask

God's time to speak finally came at last

I expounded the scriptures from the first to the last

Beginning at Abraham to the precious blood of the Lamb


As I spake, their anger and hatred grew more intense with every question:

Why do you resist the Holy Spirit as your fathers once did?

Which of the prophets did your fathers not slay?

That showed you the coming of the One who was crucified in the past several days?


When they heard these things they were cut to the heart

Then they jumped on me to tear me apart

Glory in the highest, the next thing I did see

Was Jesus Christ standing on the right hand of God


This vision I testified right out loud

Then they stopped their ears and drew me out of town

They stoned me until I called on the Lord for my spirit to receive

Kneeling down, I died, praying for the lost..that they would believe


My name is Stephen

I loved not my life unto death

Whatever was gain that I counted loss

To press toward the mark, the prize of the high calling of God in Christ