Acts 7:51 – “You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit! 52 Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him — 53 you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.”
54 When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. 55 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. 56 “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” 57 At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, 58 dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.
59 While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep. And Saul approved of their killing him.
Today’s reading is the martyrdom of Stephen. Stephen is stoned to death after preaching the Gospel. Throughout history, many people have not only rejected God’s truth, but they also reject the messenger who brings God’s truth. Even today, Christians are martyred for preaching the truth. We don’t think about this often, but the fact is that it is believed that worldwide as many as 90,000 Christians per year die for their belief in Jesus. This is a staggering statistic!
In our country, many Christians are hesitant to just invite someone to church for fear of being rejected. How sad it is to think that across the globe thousands are dying for their faith, and many Christians in our country won’t even live for their faith.
Some may not know this about me, but I am where I am today because somebody invited me to church. When I was a young man, my wife and I (and our two children) were not attending church. I was a Park Ranger, and one high school senior, who liked to hunt and fish, would always ask me if I wanted to go to church with him. He never pressured me, and we struck up a friendship. Eventually we attended his church, and the rest, as they say, is history.
I urge you to live out your faith this day. You will encounter many people today who don’t have a relationship with Jesus. If you nurture a relationship with them, you just might become the influence that they need to move towards Jesus. Let’s live out our faith!
Posted by Ramón Torres
The silence of Christians is deafening. Some don’t hesitate to raise their voice for or against a politician or a political agenda…abortion, gay marriage. But to publicly stand up and witness about Jesus and His love for us and our love for others through faith in Him outside of church🤷🏼♂️ I discovered these posts a few weeks ago and look forward to the next. I’m working my way backwards to catch up. Thank you
Thanks for reading, Dan!