DAILY REMINDER – Today, November 15’s Bible reading is Acts 7-8.
NEXT DAY REMINDER – Tomorrow, November 16’s Bible reading is Acts 9-10.
May God bless you with the reading of His WORD.
ACTS MOMENT – (15NOV19) “Now Stephen, a man full of
God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people. Opposition
arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was
called)—Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and
Asia—who began to argue with Stephen. But they could not stand up against the
wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke. Then they secretly persuaded some men
to say, ‘We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and
against God’ ” (Acts 6:8-11).
Stephen was one of
seven men chosen to take on the role of deacon and assist the apostles in
handling the demands of the church. The apostles were unable to micromanage the
church’s needs, so they delegated duties to these men of God after praying and
laying hands on them. Nicolas was another man who was chosen as well, but we
will address his story in upcoming chapters. Stephen, being filled with the
Holy Spirit, did great signs among the people, but he encountered opposition
from some of the Jews. They plotted against him and produced false witnesses to
make unsubstantiated claims. Nevertheless, while in front of the Sanhedrin, he
began to convey their history of how God made a covenant with their ancestor
Abraham and had brought them out of the land of Egypt.
Stephen reminded
them of God’s supernatural provision while they were in the wilderness, but due
to their idolatry, He rejected them and allowed them to be sent into exile. Stephen
made mention of how Solomon had been chosen by God to build Him a house and
yet, He does not live in houses built by man. Their ancestors killed the very
prophets who prophesied about the coming Messiah and once He arrived, their hearts
of stone allowed for them to repeat the sins of their ancestors and kill Him
too. This truth angered the religious leaders and they stoned him to death
after he told them that he saw the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.
Many Christians
around the world are facing persecution from enemies of the cross. There is just
as much of a hatred for Jesus now as there was when He was on the earth in the
flesh. Just the mere mention of the name of Jesus sends many unrighteous people
spiraling out of control. Recently, I was talking to a man, who professes to be
a Christian, about an incident that took place on his job. He is a taxi driver
and one day, while he was transporting a client, he almost had an accident. He
immediately called out the name of Jesus and kept on his merry way. The client,
whom he was transporting, called the taxi’s complaint line and filed a
grievance against him for saying the name Jesus. His manager told him that he
was not allowed to speak Jesus’ name when transporting customers. The man told
me that he was careful to speak on Christian matters because he did not want to
lose his job. This, however, caused me to do some thinking.
What if calling on
Jesus prevented him from having the accident and kept his client safe? What if
he had to make a choice between his job and Jesus, which in all actuality, didn’t
he do just that? What if he would miss a future opportunity to be a witness to
a lost soul due to his decision to be silent? What would you do if you were
faced with such a choice? Would you comply with denying Jesus through your
silence, or would you stand boldly and allow the chips to fall where they may?
We may all have to face this decision one day Just as Stephen and so many
others have in the past and present. Only, it may not just be about a job, but
it may be our very life. Jesus said: “Whoever acknowledges me
before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever
disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven” (Matthew
10:32-33). Peter once denied Him, but later, he died
for Him. May God help us to make the right choice should that day come for us
in the west. If we can’t stand for Him now, how will we stand for Him later?
Something to ponder….
Wow! This was really thought provoking! It got me to thinking about what I would do if I was in the taxis driver shoes. I don’t think I have ever been told that I could not say the name of Jesus at any work place that I have ever worked at. I was reprimanded and scolded for talking about the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues to my young students at a Luthern Day Care. I was a worker and preschool teacher at a Lutheran Church a long time ago when my children were young. I later opened my own day care so I could witness and teach them about the Bible freely, but I was never threatened or fired for doing so. I think all of your points are valid. If we stop speaking the name of Jesus or witnessing or praying in public how will sinners get saved? How will lives be changed or people ministered to but then one must think about how hard it would be to loose one’s job as well. I can certainly sympathize with the taxi driver but sometimes you have to take a stand for the Lord and suffer the consequences! I hope I would be brave enough to take a tough stand for the Lord if I ever had to. This was really good commentary on a tough story but you always manage to make me think and encourage me at the same time!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your post. Yes, it is sometimes hard to make those type of decisions. We tend to think about the material loss over the spiritual one. Some decisions are harder than others, but I believe that God will give those who are His the courage to stand boldly. When I think about those Christians who were marched to their deaths by ISIS, they did not plead for their lives nor retreat. They died boldly for Christ. I don't know if you were able to see the video when it was all across social media in 2015, but it was something that I will never forget.
DeleteThank you for your post. Yes, it is sometimes hard to make those type of decisions. We tend to think about the material loss over the spiritual one. Some decisions are harder than others, but I believe that God will give those who are His the courage to stand boldly. When I think about those Christians who were marched to their deaths by ISIS, they did not plead for their lives nor retreat. They died boldly for Christ. I don't know if you were able to see the video when it was all across social media in 2015, but it was something that I will never forget.
ReplyDelete