Wearing Stephens Crown

                                  
Mar 15:15 ASV - And Pilate, wishing to content the multitude, released unto them Barabbas, and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged him, to be crucified.      Barabbas = "son of a father or master"    He was the criminal chosen by the Jerusalem mob, at the instigation of the priests, in preference to Jesus Christ, for Pilate to release on the feast of Passover .  Barabbas was a spiritual type of mankind and being born into sin , and they set Barabbas free and Jesus was crucified and on the Passover the Lamb was slain for the people .


Jesus told the scribes and Pharisees ,    Jhn 8:44 ASV - Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father it is your will to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and standeth not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father thereof.  This spirit is alive and well today in the religious self willed apostate church today   And in Matt 24 Jesus says that they will come for you also to kill you for your total faith in Christ Jesus .
 Mat 24:9 ASV - Then shall they deliver you up unto tribulation, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all the nations for my name’s sake.   All but one of the Apostles and many of the disciples in the history of the church have given up their life's for the sake of the gospel. 
Rev 2:10 ASV - Fear not the things which thou art about to suffer: behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days. Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee the crown of life.  Rev 3:10 ASV - Because thou didst keep the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of trial, that hour which is to come upon the whole world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
Rev 3:11 ASV - I come quickly: hold fast that which thou hast, that no one take thy crown.    Crown  ste'-fä-nos         metaph. the eternal blessedness which will be given as a prize to the genuine servants of God and Christ: the crown (wreath) which is the reward of the righteousness                   Are you seeing the Greek word for crown is referring to Stephen a disciple who lost his life for the sake of the cross .   And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony; and they loved not their life even unto death.
This is the story of Stephen and his words of truth to those that refused Jesus and his word. He goes from Moses to the very moment when they killed him because of his testimony .
Act 7:54 ASV - Now when they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.
Act 7:55 ASV - But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,
Act 7:56 ASV - and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.
Act 7:57 ASV - But they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and rushed upon him with one accord;
 Act 7:58 ASV - and they cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.
Act 7:59 ASV - And they stoned Stephen, calling upon the Lord, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
Act 7:60 ASV - And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.  Stephens ministry was very short but he was a true disciple of Jesus and he laid down his life willingly .  
Friends we have a cross to bear also and that cross is to crucify our carnal man and let go of the world and all its lust of the eyes and unrighteousness . Read all of Acts 6 and7  Remembering Matt 24 is prophecy to come .  You must believe the words of God and not man , the people that Stephen witnessed to were convicted of their sin and every word he spoke of the history of the Jewish people there that day ,   it said it cut them to the heart  even knowing the truth they killed him just as the prophets of old .

Rev 3:12 ASV - He that overcometh, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go out thence no more: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God, and mine own new name.
Rev 3:13 ASV - He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.                        This word is to every one that believes , Hear the words of Jesus believe his words not the words of a man that preaches another gospel .  Jesus said if you will not pick up YOUR cross and follow me you are not worthy of me.   How is it we have a cross to bear and it brings death  the same as what Christ bore at his crucifixion .  A spiritual cross but the cross in Greek is stauros , it is an instrument of suffering a well known instrument of most cruel and ignominious punishment,

Mar 15:16 ASV - And the soldiers led him away within the court, which is the Praetorium; and they call together the whole band.
Mar 15:17 ASV - And they clothe him with purple, and platting a crown of thorns, they put it on him;   Thorn symbolizes      Denoting sin, sorrow and hardship, the thorn is one of the most ancient symbols in the world; together with the ROSE, it represents pain and pleasure, and the thorn is an emblem of Christ's passion, as with the crown of thorns.   Looking here at the death of Stephen and his determination to show forth his love for Jesus and his great faith.  I am seeing that we to have a crown to wear in our life's journey even to the end of all things . Stephen's was the crown of life that Jesus speaks of in revelations.
Rev 3:11 ASV - I come quickly: hold fast that which thou hast, that no one take thy crown.
Jas 1:12 ASV - Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he hath been approved, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord promised to them that love him.

Rev 2:10 ASV - Fear not the things which thou art about to suffer: behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days. Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee the crown of life.    Stephens crown was his trial unto death he was faithful and he has his true crown now,  ever lasting life .   Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee the crown of life.                                                                                               
  Phl 3:9 ASV - and be found in him, not having a righteousness of mine own, even that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith:
Phl 3:10 ASV - that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed unto his death;
Phl 3:11 ASV - if by any means I may attain unto the resurrection from the dead