Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Acts 7:55-58 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. "Look," he said, "I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, dragged him out of the city and began to stone him.
ACTS OF GOD IN ACTS -- CONFESSION
In the last 30 years I think I can only remember hearing about a handful of times a Christian was put to death for his/her faith. It probably happened much more than that, but didn't make national news. Unlike many other parts of the world, we still have freedoms that we may often take for granted when it comes to confessing what we believe -- though harder days certainly seem to be coming.
The writer to the Hebrews encouraged and warned, "For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin" (Hebrews 12:3-4). The days are coming where my confession of faith in Christ or my intolerance of sin may get me into big trouble with mankind.
Stephen and the early disciples are good examples as they freely confessed their faith in the Son of Man, Jesus Christ, even if it meant dying for what they believed and saw. Stephen was stoned to death for his confession of Christ and the vision of Jesus in heaven. Stephen, being "full of the Holy Spirit," displays again the ACTION of God in giving him not only the confession of what he believed, but the strength to speak it even if it meant death.
The world will continue to speak loudly against God's Word. The world will stop their ears and run to silence us from sharing what we have come to know and believe through the Spirit of God. But we must obey God rather than man. We look to share the blessed love, forgiveness, and heavenly vision we have been freely given in Christ Jesus our Savior! May the Spirit take action to help us confess!
