Upon Stephen's arrest in Acts 6, he is given the opportunity to testify for himself. When he could have made right the witnesses that were false, he chose instead to tell the crowd which had gathered about Jesus. His presentation of God's Transforming Story began in the beginning of the Old Testament with Abraham and he built upon the Old Testament teachings to the present day when the people before him persecuted and put Jesus on the cross. When Stephen made mention of Jesus being in heaven sitting at God's right hand, the Jews became outraged and led in a revolt to stone Stephen. As he was being stoned, the witnessing Temple Official was Saul.
Chapter 8 begins the second part of Acts. Chapters 1-7 was the account of The Church began in JERUSALEM. Chapter 8 begins the section of the Church spread into JUDEA and SAMARIA. As persecution grew with intensity against the Christians, many of them left Jerusalem and moved throughout the Roman world. As they went, they shared the message that Jesus was the Messiah! One of the guys chosen to serve the tables in chapter 6 was Philip. Philip left Jerusalem and set out north into Samaria where he spoke of Jesus to everyone he could. Crowds gathered as he performed miracles which caused the people to believe what he was saying (Acts 8:6). Philip preached the good news always and it caused many people to believe and be baptized.
Meanwhile, while Christians began to scatted out of Jerusalem, Saul left to go north to the town called Damascus which was about 150 miles north of Jerusalem. He wanted to head off the growth of Christianity and stop its growth. Upon the road while traveling, Jesus appeared in spirit form before Saul and demanded that Saul believe and stop persecuting Christians who believe in Jesus. He was blinded, given instructions to go into Damascus, and there a Christian helped to restore his sight. After regaining his sight, Saul was baptized and he too began to preach the good news to people in Damascus and then in Jerusalem when he returned there. God is going to use Saul to take the Gospel to non-Jewish people (Gentiles) so the church will grow world-wide!
Proverbs 10:17-32
The proverb continues the contrast between the wise and the fool. One of the keys to being wise is knowing when to talk and when to shut up (10:19-20). One of the verses I have taken to heart is Proverbs 10:20 which speaks of blessings from God do not include sorrow. Many times we consider something a blessing (especially large purchases we make with credit) and it soon becomes a curse. If this is the case it was never a blessing from God, but it was something you yourself brought on calling it a blessing.
No comments:
Post a Comment