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Acts 6:8

And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people.

Personal Challenge

Do those of us today who proclaim that Jesus is our Lord and Savior truly believe that He is Lord of all? Do we really have the faith that He promises to bestow on us when we follow Him in baptism and holy anointing? I regret that I must admit that I do not. All of the Christian faith practices claim the God (the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit) is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. If this is the truth, then why are we not seeing, or better yet doing, great wonders and signs like Stephen was doing? Stephen was no different than each and every one of is, except that he was full of faith and power. He believed in Jesus so much that the power of Jesus flowed through him and he performed great wonders and signs. We can do the same but we must be willing to let go of all that we hold dear in this world and pursue Jesus with our all. We must grow in our faith so that He can grow within us. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the Sinner!

Sirach 1:10-11

The fear of the Lord will cheer the heart
And will give gladness, joy, and long life.
For those who fear the Lord, it shall be well to the utmost,

Acts 5:40-42

And they agreed with him, and when they had called for the apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name. And daily in the temple, and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.

Personal Challenge

That which is going on in this passage does not make a lot of sense to most people now­adays, even people active in their church. Peter and some other apostles had just been arrested by the leaders of the synagogue for preaching about Christ and performing miracles in His name. Their very lives were at risk now for being willing to stand firm on their commitment to their Lord, our Lord. These leaders were ready to put these apostles to death for their belief. However, Gamaliel, a Pharisee and a member of the council came to their defense. He believed that if their message was from God, then there was nothing that they could do to stop it. And if it was not of God, then it would die like so many other movements of their day. The council agreed, yet still, beat the apostles and told them to never speak of this Jesus again. Not only did the apostles continue to speak about Jesus, but they regarded themselves as blessed to have had the honor to have been beaten for Jesus. Would we do this for our Lord today? Or would we choose to harden our churches and our hearts to the outside world under the guise of it being our American right to defend ourselves? Would we choose to love those who would try to harm us because that is what Jesus did and wants us to do, or would we fight back? Would we cherish persecution for living the Christ-like way because we know our rewards are in heaven or choose to protect our earthly possessions and lives because we deem then more precious than our God? These are hard questions to answer. They are hard stands to take because they generate persecution from both our enemies and sometimes our fellow Christians who disagree with these beliefs. But we must still make a choice and for every choice, there are consequences, both temporal and eternal. I have made my choice! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Wisdom of Solomon 19:22

For in everything, O Lord, You have exalted and glorified Your people,
And have not neglected to be present with them in every time and place.

Encouraging Words

Throughout the history of mankind, all the way back to the creation of Adam and Eve, our Lord has never been far from us. He has never abandoned us. Even when Adam and Eve disobeyed God grievously and introduced Sin into His perfect creation, He came looking for them in the garden to fellowship with them. He loves us! He loves us so passionately that even before Adam and Eve introduced sin into the World He had already set the incarnation, death, and resurrection of His precious Son into the fabric of eternity so that mankind would be freed from the stranglehold that death would have on us from that first sin. God has glorified and exalted His people since the beginning of creation and will continue to throughout eternity. This is the God that I worship. Lord Jesus Chariot, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Acts 5:29

But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: “We ought to obey God rather than men.”

Personal Challenge

We are faced today with so many concepts of the world that people are trying to bring into the church. The church should never become aligned with the ways of the world. The church is like the ark of Noah, a place where people can come inside away from the storms of the world and seek safe and Godly passage into eternity. We have over 2,000 years of teachings and traditions that inform us of what we should and should not be doing in the church and these voices should always speak louder than the voices of the world that tell us to be like it and everyone else. It is not easy to stay true to these tried and true teachings and traditions, but we have no choice. The church is not ours, but God’s. The choice that we do have as individuals is to either abide by the teachings of the church and submit to its authority or leave and not become a divider within the church. We always have a choice. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Wisdom of Solomon 15:1-3

But You, our God, are kind, true, patient,
And govern all things in mercy.
For even if we sin, we belong to You and know Your might;
But we will not sin,
Because we know that we are counted as belonging to You.
For to know You is complete righteousness,
And to know Your might is the root of immortality.

Encouraging Words

Our God is merciful. He is kind. He is all truth. He is patient, and believe me, I need His patience. Even though we are a stiff-necked and rebellious people, He still pours His mercy upon us. We belong to Him and He treats us as one of His own beloved children. Through Him, and Him alone, we can know righteousness and become righteous. He is our source of immortality. Glory be to God!

Acts 4:19-20

But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.”

Personal Challenge

So! What do we do in our modern world when the things that we believe, and what our 2,000-year church tradition teaches us to believe, conflicts with what the world teaches us to believe? If we desire to be disciples of Christ then we stand firm on the teachings of Christ and the church even if it means persecution and abuse. Sometimes this persecution and abuse come from those whom we love and care for. God’s expectations for us should always be held higher than the expectations of those around us. Peter and John were told to stop preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ by their local leaders. Even though Jesus had taught them to submit to the earthly leaders that they were subject to, He also taught them that the laws of God always take precedence over the laws of man. This is not an easy thing to do, especially when the conflict is in the midst of our own community, however, we must always align our allegiance with the teachings and expectations of our God over those of the world. In the end, our God will always win the battles and the wars. As Joshua said, “Choose this day who you will serve. As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Wisdom of Solomon 12:1-2

For Your immortal Spirit is in all things.
For this reason You correct little by little those who fall away,
And You remind and warn them of the sins they commit
So they may be freed from evil and believe in You, O Lord.

Encouraging Words

God loves us so much that He will do whatever it takes to keep from losing one of His created children. Jesus is the ultimate expression of this love. But God does not stop at just loving us. He works in our lives gently loving us and correcting our sinful ways so that we come more in alignment with His ways. He never forces us to follow in His footsteps, so if we choose to continue in our evil and self-centered ways, He will continue to correct us to get us back on His path to righteousness. How much better for us, our loved ones, and the acquaintances in our lives, if we will stop being stiff-necked, rebellious, and prideful and yield to Him. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Acts 4:13

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.

Personal Challenge

Because of the boldness of Peter and John in the midst of oppression and attacks on the early church, the Sanhedrin, the political leaders of the day, recognized that these men had been with Jesus. Peter and John knew that their lives were at risk. They knew that their body of believers was being targeted for extinction, and yet they did not take up arms to protect themselves. They chose to follow in the footsteps of their Lord, their Leader, Jesus Christ and fight this war being waged against them with the best weapon in their arsenal, love. This is a hard message for us to accept in today’s age of freedom of rights and individuality. We believe that we should be able to do what we want, how we want when we want. However, Peter and John demonstrated that in order for people to recognize, and even marvel, that we have been with Jesus, is to live how Jesus lived. It is never about me and my rights or my desires. It is always to be about Jesus! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!