Feb. 15, 2026

Last week the Apostles were thrown in prison again and set free by an angel, but set free for a reason - to continue teaching the gospel. This week we see the number of disciples is growing and the Apostles begin to delegate duties by choosing seven to minister to the widows.

Acts Lesson 10 Study Questions

1.    Against the Hebrews by the Hellenists: The Hebrews were those Jews more inclined to embrace _______ culture and were mostly from Judea. The Hellenists were those Jews more inclined to embrace _______ culture and mostly were from the Diaspora (from all over the Roman Empire).

2.    It’s important to remember that though the titles Hebrews and Hellenists are used, these were ___________, followers of Jesus. They were all from a Jewish background, but they had all embraced _______ as their Messiah.

3.    We will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word: The fact that the apostles busied themselves with prayer and the ministry of the word shows how energetically they did those things and how consuming it is to _______ and _____ rightly.

4.    We will give ourselves continually to prayer: They gave themselves to more than the ministry of the ______. “Therefore, pastors must not think that they have so done their duty that they need to do no more when they have daily spent some time in _________.”

5.    And the saying pleased the whole multitude: We can’t say this was a good decision only because the people liked it. Yet, God _________ the wisdom of the apostles through __________ among the people. The apostles were led of the Lord, not popular opinion. 

6.    Stephen…Philip, Prochorus: The seven men all had Greek names, indicating that they were probably ___________ themselves. The people (and the apostles) showed great sensitivity to the offended Hellenists by appointing ___________ to take care of the widows’ distribution.

7.    Nowhere in this chapter of Acts are these men called ________, but most consider they were the first to fulfill the office of deacon as described in 1 Timothy 3:8-13. The word deacon simply means “________,” and these men were certainly servants. 

8.    And the word of God spread: Because this situation was handled with ________ and sensitivity to those who were offended, a potentially _________ issue was defused, and the gospel continued to go forth. Even a great many of the priests came to faith in Jesus.

9.    Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people: God did great wonders and signs through the _________; but also through others like Stephen, one of the _________ chosen to help the widows. God used Stephen because he was full of faith and power.

10.    There is no indication that Stephen – in himself – was smarter, better educated, or a better ________ than these Jews. We should attribute his upper hand in the debate to the ______ by which he spoke.

11.    They secretly induced men to say: The opponents of Stephen could not win a fair fight, so they used ______ and _______ strategies to shape popular opinion against Stephen.

12.    These were the accusations against Stephen. Significantly, many of the same false accusations were leveled against _______ (“This fellow said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days.’ ”Matthew 26:59-61). It is a good thing to be accused of the same things _______ was accused of.