[Linux4christians] Wednesday - Acts 7:51 – 8:3

[dcolburn at bibleseven.com]

    Wednesday


      Acts 7:51 – 8:3



7:51 “You stubborn people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are 
always resisting the Holy Spirit, like your ancestors did! 7:52 Which of 
the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? They killed those who 
foretold long ago the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and 
murderers you have now become! 7:53 You received the law by decrees 
given by angels, but you did not obey it.”

Stephen is Killed

7:54 When they heard these things, they became furious and ground their 
teeth at him. 7:55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked intently 
toward heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right 
hand of God. 7:56 “Look!” he said. “I see the heavens opened, and the 
Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” 7:57 But they covered 
their ears, shouting out with a loud voice, and rushed at him with one 
intent. 7:58 When they had driven him out of the city, they began to 
stone him, and the witnesses laid their cloaks at the feet of a young 
man named Saul. 7:59 They continued to stone Stephen while he prayed, 
“Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” 7:60 Then he fell to his knees and 
cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” 
When he had said this, he died.


8:1 And Saul agreed completely with killing him.

Saul Begins to Persecute the Church

Now on that day a great persecution began against the church in 
Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were forced to scatter throughout 
the regions of Judea and Samaria. 8:2 Some devout men buried Stephen and 
made loud lamentation over him. 8:3 But Saul was trying to destroy the 
church; entering one house after another, he dragged off both men and 
women and put them in prison.



      Prayer


Lord, You blessed Stephen with clarity and purpose, and You also gave 
him courage and certainty of salvation. May I also find clarity and 
purpose and courage in the certainty of my salvation and in the perfect 
righteousness of the Lord God Whom I serve.



      Summary & Commentary


Stephen concludes his defense with a powerful challenge to the religious 
leaders, much the same as those previously given by Jesus and Peter and 
John and is murdered for it - Stephen becomes the first Christian martyr.

Immediately prior to his death Stephen is given a vision of Jesus 
standing next to God the Father, then as he dies Stephen reprises the 
words of Jesus on the Cross for His killers "Lord, do not hold this sin 
against them." [Note: Those who murdered Stephen carried enough sin to 
condemn them endlessly, Stephen perhaps did not want his martyrdom to 
add to that but instead still longed for them to accept and submit to 
the saving truth of Jesus.]

Saul, who oversaw and approved the stoning of Stephen, initiated a 
"great persecution" which drove all but the Apostles into hiding. He 
hunted and imprisoned many in the Church (believers), doing great harm 
to their fellowship.



      Interaction



        Consider

The Bible says that all believers will face persecution and that the 
forces in power and at work in the world today are overwhelmingly 
aligned against God.



        Discuss

Begin with the context of the historic persecutions of the Church in 
China, most Muslim nations, and elsewhere - in both the past and in the 
present. Imagine for the moment that you lived there, how do you think 
your faith would serve you then?



        Reflect

Stephen demonstrated courage, knowing that the truth would likely cost 
him his freedom and as-likely his life, he remained undeterred.


        Share

When have you known men and women of truth, not noisy self-important or 
immaturely noisy people, but humble and mature and thoughtful people who 
valued truth above all else and spoke it boldly when asked without 
regard to personal consequence?



      Faith in Action



        Prayer:

Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you someone who fearlessly shares God's 
truth whom He wants you encourage with a note or a call or a visit. It 
may be a missionary, a community or political leader, a religious 
leader, a student, a co-worker, or someone else who steps out in faith.


        Action:

Today I will pray that political and religious leaders will listen to 
God and turn away from paths that lead to the repression and persecution 
of Christians and devastation to everything that they value in this 
temporary world.


        Be Specific ______________________________________________________




    Thursday's text will be:


      Acts 8:4-40



-- 

Draw nearer to the Lord and He will bless you,
Have an http://Ultrafidian.com Day!
David M. Colburn, DMin. MaCo
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Personal Site: http://bibleseven.com
Bible Resources: http://bible.org
Teacher's Verse: John 7:16
Defend free speech or lose your freedom.
I don't google I SEARCH! Yippy.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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