July 8
Bible Reading: Acts 7:1-16
Acts 7:1, “And the high priest said, ‘Are these things so?’ And Stephen said…”
I wonder what was on Stephen’s mind that morning when he woke up? Did he have any inclination that he would die that day? He couldn’t have possibly imagined the strategic role he was soon to play in the church’s expansion. Jesus had commissioned a witness to “Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8), but thus far (in Acts) the witness hadn’t traveled outside the city. Stephen was full of the Spirit, and the Spirit was working through Stephen to change all that. His acts that fateful day would work to jettison the church into new regions.
We’ve got no information regarding Stephen outside of what we read in these two chapters in Acts. Stephen was a Greek name, so it’s safe to assume that he was a Hellenistic Jew. The name “Stephen,” means literally “wreath, crown,” and by extension “reward, renown.” Stephen is first on the list of the seven chosen to oversee the ministry to widows (Acts 6:5). He was full of the Holy Spirit and faith and wisdom and grace and power (Acts 6:3, 5, 8). By the Spirit, he was “doing great wonders and signs among the people” (Acts 6:8). That’s what caught the attention of his adversaries, and then ultimately landed him before the Sanhedrin.
The Sanhedrin dragged him before them to give an account, and later they dragged him out of the city to stone him. But it was the Spirit who led him and graced him to boldly proclaim the truth about Jesus. As the first martyr of the church, he gained a lasting legacy befitting his name. Like a seed planted, his death worked to bear much fruit in the growth and expansion of the church. Stephen, wholly attentive to the Spirit’s leading, was ready and willing to be wonderfully used by God in that way. To the extent we are Spirit-led, He works to guide and empower us to fulfill whatever role God calls us to. It may not be to die as a martyr, but according to the power that works within us, God can do in and through us more than we think (Ephesians 3:20-21).
“Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”—John 12:24
HE LEADETH ME
He leadeth me: O blessed thought!
O words with heavenly comfort fraught!
Whate’er I do, where’er I be,
still ‘tis God’s hand that leadeth me.
Refrain:
He leadeth me, he leadeth me;
by his own hand he leadeth me:
his faithful follower I would be,
for by his hand he leadeth me.
Sometimes mid scenes of deepest gloom,
sometimes where Eden’s flowers bloom,
by waters calm, o’er troubled sea,
still ‘tis God’s hand that leadeth me. Refrain
Lord, I would clasp thy hand in mine,
nor ever murmur nor repine;
content, whatever lot I see,
since ‘tis my God that leadeth me. Refrain
And when my task on earth is done,
when, by thy grace, the victory’s won,
e’en death’s cold wave I will not flee,
since God through Jordan leadeth me. Refrain
LookingtoJesus 