Daily devotion – Stephen
Act 6:8 And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people.
Act 6:10
And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke.
Act 7:59 And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
When I get to Heaven which is growing closer and closer with each new day, one of the people I am anxious to meet with and spend eternity talking with him – more like listening to him, is the man Stephen.
He comes into the Book of Acts to help meet a problem in the distribution of bread to the widows the Church was supporting. Then we see that this young man is given the ‘floor so to say’, to preach one of the greatest sermons contained in the Bible. One that many commentators say is in the top echelon of the summary of the whole message of the Bible.
He is attacked in this, his one and only sermon, and dies by stoning from the hands of an angry religious mob, whose outer garments are being minded by a young pharisee by the name of Saul. The very Saul who would become later, the Apostle Paul.
Stephen was a young man sold out for Jesus Christ. I again encourage you young men and women of C.C.S.H. to seize the moment now in time, to serve the Lord with gusto. You have the time now, the financial freedom now, to impact the Church powerfully by giving yourself to serving.
Stephen is a role model, an example for all of us however, in how to live the life, the days God has provided to us, to their fullest extent. Stephen wasted nothing of his life in serving His Lord. Even in his death we see the majesty and glory of God revealed. This man was a fearless loving believer in Christ. My prayer is to see the young men and women of CCSH desire to be like Stephen, for all of us no matter our age, follow his example and live each day to the glory of God.
This week examine your ‘busy-ness’ and see what you could easily discard and replace that time with serving the Lord. It comes down to choices. I would hope that when we make it to Heaven, that Stephen would be interested in how we spent our years serving the Lord too!
The last thing I want to say about Stephen is that he was constant and persistent. Over the years of ministry that Helen and I have now been involved in, it is the plodder, the persistent steward and servant that has impacted others for the glory of God, rather than the ‘hit and miss’ followers.
A crisis arises in a man or woman’s life and all of a sudden, they are at the prayer meeting, keen on discussion about God’s Word, at all services. But then, the crisis fades and so too does the ‘new zeal’. Back to the old ways and then people wonder why the same problems rise again later in time!