DAY 311 Read Acts 6 and 7.
Today's reading: A powerful sermon in defense of the gospel arouses such bitter animosity that the speaker becomes the first Christian martyr.
Memory gem: "He kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this he fell asleep" (Acts 7:60).
Thought for today:
Just before Stephen was put to death as a martyr, he gave a ringing testimony in which he mentioned two men especially--Joseph and Moses--both of whom are types of Christ. Both were used by God to save the people of Israel in times of trouble, but in each case the people had to accept them as lord as well as deliverer.
Those who heard Stephen that day recognized the lesson that he was trying to teach them. The very Christ who had died on the cross and had been rejected by them was to be their Saviour and Lord. Stephen told them plainly, as the apostle Peter had said on the Day of Pentecost, that this same Jesus whom they had crucified, God had made both Lord and Christ.
And this is the need of the Christian church today. Christ must be enthroned in the hearts of all believers, that they may be true disciples and witnesses, that they may be the real servants of God in this troubled world. Jesus as Master must have personal, direct, and absolute control of the one who accepts Him as Saviour.
If you have accepted Christ's death for you, then you no longer live for yourself, but unto Him. It is only when you make this full surrender daily that you begin to "grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour" (2 Peter 3:18). This is the work of sanctification, into which we must all enter.
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Difficult or obscure words:
Acts 6:1. "Grecians"--literally: Hellenists; that is, Greek-speaking Jews.
We have no indication that large numbers of Gentiles had become Christians at this early time.
Acts 6:3. "Seven men"--popularly called deacons, but this title is not applied to them in the Scriptures. Later, in Paul's epistles, men appointed to this kind of work were called deacons. Some commentators think that these seven men may be the "elders" of Acts 11:30 and onward.
Today's reading: A powerful sermon in defense of the gospel arouses such bitter animosity that the speaker becomes the first Christian martyr.
Memory gem: "He kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this he fell asleep" (Acts 7:60).
Thought for today:
Just before Stephen was put to death as a martyr, he gave a ringing testimony in which he mentioned two men especially--Joseph and Moses--both of whom are types of Christ. Both were used by God to save the people of Israel in times of trouble, but in each case the people had to accept them as lord as well as deliverer.
Those who heard Stephen that day recognized the lesson that he was trying to teach them. The very Christ who had died on the cross and had been rejected by them was to be their Saviour and Lord. Stephen told them plainly, as the apostle Peter had said on the Day of Pentecost, that this same Jesus whom they had crucified, God had made both Lord and Christ.
And this is the need of the Christian church today. Christ must be enthroned in the hearts of all believers, that they may be true disciples and witnesses, that they may be the real servants of God in this troubled world. Jesus as Master must have personal, direct, and absolute control of the one who accepts Him as Saviour.
If you have accepted Christ's death for you, then you no longer live for yourself, but unto Him. It is only when you make this full surrender daily that you begin to "grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour" (2 Peter 3:18). This is the work of sanctification, into which we must all enter.
----------------
Difficult or obscure words:
Acts 6:1. "Grecians"--literally: Hellenists; that is, Greek-speaking Jews.
We have no indication that large numbers of Gentiles had become Christians at this early time.
Acts 6:3. "Seven men"--popularly called deacons, but this title is not applied to them in the Scriptures. Later, in Paul's epistles, men appointed to this kind of work were called deacons. Some commentators think that these seven men may be the "elders" of Acts 11:30 and onward.
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