Archive for month: July, 2019

You may know that Stephen was the first Christian martyr.
What led to his murder?
Let’s take a look at how it started:

“Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power,
performed amazing miracles and signs among the people”
(Acts 6:8 NLT).

So far, so good.

But one day a group of men started arguing with him.

“None of them could stand against the wisdom and the Spirit
with which Stephen spoke” (Acts. 6:10 NLT).

No one likes to lose—especially these guys.
They became angry,
jealous
and frustrated.

So they convinced some men to lie about Stephen and accused him
of blaspheming God. Here’s the lie:

“This man is always speaking against the holy Temple and
against the law of Moses. We have heard him saying that this
Jesus of Nazareth will destroy the Temple and change the
customs Moses handed down to us” (Acts 6:13-14 NLT).

Of course, Stephen would NEVER blaspheme Christ!
But the high priest asked him if the accusations were true.

Check this out: “This was Stephen’s reply . . .” (Acts 7:2 NLT).
Then Stephen gave a sermon!
He responded to the question with a sermon!
And it was a really loooong sermon.
It begins in Acts 7:2 and doesn’t end until Acts 7:56!

In that sermon . . . Stephen’s response to the question . . .
he goes back in history and beginning with Abraham in Genesis
(the very first book of the Bible)—and on with the Israelites being
slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, Joseph, Moses, the 40-year hike through
the wilderness with the Israelites, Joshua, David, Solomon and on
through the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus, to Jesus now
being at God’s right hand—Stephen recounts this rich spiritual
heritage to his accusers.

WOW.

• He knew his spiritual history.
• He was able to articulate his spiritual history.

I’m amazed at how many of us in the church don’t really know our
spiritual history.

I remember a time we had something called Sunday school in which
boys and girls were taught the incredible, exciting and true stories of
the Bible.

My heroes were Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.
I fell in love with the courage of David,
the prayer life of Daniel
and the integrity of Joseph.
I admired Mary and Esther and Ruth.
I applauded Noah and Paul and Peter.
But along the way . . .
through the years . . .
something happened.

Bible stories gave way to hot topics.
And Sunday school died to something more hip.
As a result many in the church no longer know the Bible stories.

Conversations:
Me: Do you know which person in the Bible was swallowed by a big
fish?
Student: Uh . . . was it Pinocchio?
Me: How did David kill Goliath?
Student: With a gun.
Me: Who was Joseph in the Old Testament?
Student: The dad of Jesus?
Me: Can you name any of the 12 disciples?
Student: Jesus
Student: David
Student: Goliath?
Me: What are the New Testament epistles?
Student: Wives of the apostles.

How well do you know your spiritual history?
You can’t pass it on if you don’t know it.

Please read the Bible.
Learn your spiritual history.
Then pass it on!
Articulate it to those around you.
Otherwise, we’ll simply be adding to spiritual illiteracy.

Thoughts?

If you’d like to participate in the 2020 Susie Shellenberger Ministries missions trip to Costa Rica June 29-July 12, please email me at: susieshell@comcast.net for more information.