Devout Men

 Pastor preached on the devout men who buried the martyr, Stephen in Acts 8. The word devout is the Greek word eulabes. It literally means taking hold well. It was used as cautious, careful. And it has come to be used as pious, godly, God-fearing. The men who buried Stephen were devout, godly men, not just hired hands.

One other thing in this story. Persecution resulted in growth and expansion and the spread of the Gospel. No church will grow beyond the ability of the pastor to minister. And there is a grace that produces enlargement that only comes through opposition and trouble and attacks from outside and overcoming trouble from within.

The lessons learned from Acts are not always copied literally word for word. Sometimes there is a lesson that is only seen once we take a bigger view of the text.