Day
Three: Acts 7:52-56 “Which
of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They even killed those who
announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and
murderers you have now become. You received the law under the direction of
angels and yet have not kept it.” When they heard these things, they were
enraged in their hearts and gnashed their teeth at him. But Stephen, filled by
the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven. He saw God’s glory, with Jesus standing at
the right hand of God, and he said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son
of Man standing at the right hand of God!”
Finish
the story by reading 57-60 in your Bible.
IMAGINE YOU’VE BEEN ASKED to serve as the campaign manager
for an upcoming election. Think for a moment about what that would entail.
First, you would have to know the person and some info about
them.
It may be common sense, but it would be impossible to be the campaign manager
for a person that you don’t know.
Second, you would have to trust the person. As campaign manager, if you are going
to devote your time and energy into getting this person elected, you have to be
able to trust the candidate. You have to trust that they are genuinely going to try to
solve the issues that they are campaigning on. By agreeing to be the campaign manager, you are putting
your name on the line as well, trusting that the candidate will not ruin your
name.
Finally, you have to proclaim the worthiness of the candidate. This is, after all, your real job. The entire purpose of the campaign
manager is to tell the world about why your candidate would be best. You ultimate goal is to figure out the
best way possible to proclaim the worthiness of your candidate.
Did you notice that in order to do the ultimate job of
campaigning for the candidate, you first had to know the person and trust the
person? We find this exact same process when dealing with God’s word. We cannot proclaim the Word of God
without knowing and trusting it.Stephen demonstrated this perfectly. His ultimate goal was to boldly
proclaim the gospel of Christ. He was able to make this proclamation because he knew and
trusted the Bible. God desires each and every one of us to boldly proclaim the
gospel.
If we are to be obedient in this endeavor, we must be committed to this mantra:
Know - Trust - Proclaim.
PAUSE AND REFLECT
▷▷Why is it important to proclaim God’s word?
▷▷Why do we have to know and trust God’s word before we proclaim
it?
▷▷What
are you doing to proclaim God’s word on a regular basis? What keeps you from
speaking about God?
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