Acts 7:1-53 NIV
Fifty-three verses might seem like a lot of reading this morning. It may be even difficult to stay with it because the reading is familiar to most of us. It is a brief history of God's covenant with His people beginning with Abraham. For Stephen to be able to summarize it so well in such a short narrative, I find pretty amazing; as there are many weeks when I spend more time cutting my sermons down to a more manageable size than I do actually writing them.
After reading the history, we hear and realize that Stephen wants us to grasp the fact that God is in charge. He always has been and always will be. He is larger than any sanctuary contain. He is God of all the earth (and more!). His Spirit has led the people since the beginning and His Spirit continues to guide and empower His servants to do His will. The Holy Spirit is very active in all the world. However, there have always been and still are those who reject the Holy Spirit and the message the Spirit speaks through God's servants. The prophet's message of a coming Savior were rejected. The preacher's message of a Savior who has come, is with us now, and will come again is rejected. The servant who brings this message, by the guiding power of the Holy Spirit, is often persecuted even as the Savior himself was rejected, betrayed and murdered.
Let us not deny the Holy Spirit. May God protect us from ourselves so that we do not deny the power of the Holy Spirit. According to the Gospel of St. Matthew 12:32 "And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven." May God open our ears and eyes and hearts and minds so that we might be led, by the Holy Spirit, to glorify our Father in heaven; regardless of what the world might think of us.
God's Peace - Pr. J
Fifty-three verses might seem like a lot of reading this morning. It may be even difficult to stay with it because the reading is familiar to most of us. It is a brief history of God's covenant with His people beginning with Abraham. For Stephen to be able to summarize it so well in such a short narrative, I find pretty amazing; as there are many weeks when I spend more time cutting my sermons down to a more manageable size than I do actually writing them.
After reading the history, we hear and realize that Stephen wants us to grasp the fact that God is in charge. He always has been and always will be. He is larger than any sanctuary contain. He is God of all the earth (and more!). His Spirit has led the people since the beginning and His Spirit continues to guide and empower His servants to do His will. The Holy Spirit is very active in all the world. However, there have always been and still are those who reject the Holy Spirit and the message the Spirit speaks through God's servants. The prophet's message of a coming Savior were rejected. The preacher's message of a Savior who has come, is with us now, and will come again is rejected. The servant who brings this message, by the guiding power of the Holy Spirit, is often persecuted even as the Savior himself was rejected, betrayed and murdered.
Let us not deny the Holy Spirit. May God protect us from ourselves so that we do not deny the power of the Holy Spirit. According to the Gospel of St. Matthew 12:32 "And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven." May God open our ears and eyes and hearts and minds so that we might be led, by the Holy Spirit, to glorify our Father in heaven; regardless of what the world might think of us.
God's Peace - Pr. J
