November 18 – Acts 7 & 8

Below are my thoughts from the daily Bible reading of the West Side Church of Christ. Today’s reading comes from Acts 7 & 8. Before reading I invite you to pray and asked God to speak to you as you read his word. Also above in the tabs is a link to the Bible reading plan.

The life of Jesus is now behind us. He has went to the cross and resurrected. He has even left His disciples on earth until His final return at the end of days. While He has left earth, He has not left His disciples alone. On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured out upon mankind bringing salvation along with it. Now the church has begun. People are being brought to a life changing relationship with Jesus. Those who are opposed to Jesus, pulling the old power strings, are fighting back against the church. They have now arrested Stephen.

Stephen stands before the Sanhedrin and he is telling them the story of their ancestral history, concluding with their deliverer from Egyptian slavery, Moses. In this retelling Stephen gave this line after God called Moses, “So God sent back the same man his people had previously rejected when they demanded, ‘Who made you a ruler and judge over us?’” (Acts 7:35 NLT). I absolutely love when something new stands out to me no matter how many times I have read a passage … this was one of those times.

In many ways Jesus was compared to Moses. Moses delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. Jesus delivered all of mankind from the slavery of sin. Moses was considered a prophet. Jesus was considered a prophet. Moses gave God’s original Law. Jesus fulfilled the Law and provided a new Law … Grace. And in another similarity Moses was rejected by the people he came to rescue. Jesus was rejected by the people He came to rescue.

What is wonderful is both times God won. When God is in charge, when God is leading the way, when God is the one we trust, we will come out victorious.