{"id":1475,"date":"2019-03-07T04:53:46","date_gmt":"2019-03-07T12:53:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=1475"},"modified":"2019-03-07T04:53:46","modified_gmt":"2019-03-07T12:53:46","slug":"devotion-acts-6-8-15-same-spirit-same-spirits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=1475","title":{"rendered":"Devotion Acts 6.8-15 Same Spirit, Same Spirits"},"content":{"rendered":"

Acts 6:8-15\u00a0<\/b>–\u00a0Now Stephen, a man full of God\u2019s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs\u00a0among the people.<\/i><\/span>\u00a09\u00a0Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)\u2014Jews of Cyrene\u00a0and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia\u00a0and Asia\u2014who began to argue with Stephen.<\/span>\u00a010\u00a0But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke. 11\u00a0Then they secretly\u00a0persuaded some men to say, \u201cWe have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/i>12\u00a0So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin.<\/i><\/span>\u00a013\u00a0They produced false witnesses,\u00a0who testified, \u201cThis fellow never stops speaking against this holy place\u00a0and against the law.<\/span>\u00a014\u00a0For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place\u00a0and change the customs Moses handed down to us.\u201d\u00a0 15\u00a0All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin\u00a0looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cNow Stephen, a man full of God\u2019s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs\u00a0among the people.<\/i><\/span>\u201d\u00a0 As previously discussed, this statement is not referring to the indwelling of the Spirit that is given to all Believers.\u00a0 If that were so there would be no need to state that the believing Stephen had the Holy Spirit upon Him because they all knew that they all had the Holy Spirit within.\u00a0 Stephen had something that the others did not experience and the proof of it was that he was full of \u201cGod\u2019s grace and power\u201d\u00a0<\/i>and that he\u201cperformed great wonder and signs among the people.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0 This statement is testifying of Stephen\u2019s commitment to living in the Spirit and the Word and daily seeking the fresh blessing of the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 All the Believers had the Holy Spirit within, not all had walked daily with God\u2019s grace and power and the proof that Stephen did was proved by the great wonders and signs.\u00a0 So it also is today.<\/p>\n

\u201cOpposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)\u2014Jews of Cyrene\u00a0and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia\u00a0and Asia\u2014who began to argue with Stephen.<\/i><\/span>\u201d\u00a0 The Freedman were Jews who had been previously imprisoned by the Romans and then released.\u00a0\u00a0 They had their own Synagogue so that they could fellowship with those who shared their common background.\u00a0 They are thought to have been a part of and allied with the Sadducees of the Sanhedrin, who strongly opposed Jesus and now opposed the disciples for the protection of their political and financial gain.\u00a0 They came to argue against Stephen because he was preaching of how Jesus was murdered by the religious leaders and had risen from the dead and now His throne is beside the Father\u2019s throne.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0 The Freedmen spoke with the motivation of greed and power for self that was hidden under the veil of being religious leaders.\u00a0 The spoke from the pride of their intellectual understanding.\u00a0 As is always the case, human intelligence does not stand up against the Truth of the Holy Spirit.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThen they secretly\u00a0persuaded some men to say, \u201cWe have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.\u201d\u00a0 12\u00a0So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin.<\/i><\/span>\u00a013\u00a0They produced false witnesses,\u00a0who testified, \u201cThis fellow never stops speaking against this holy place\u00a0and against the law.<\/i><\/span>\u00a014\u00a0For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place\u00a0and change the customs Moses handed down to us.\u201d<\/i>\u00a0 These people who stirred up false accusers were the same who had stirred up false accusations against Jesus.\u00a0 We recognize that in the same way they created and propagated lies against Jesus they did so against Stephen.\u00a0 Same lies and same evil methods against a new target.\u00a0 But the resurrected Jesus was fully alive within Stephen.\u00a0 He was teaching Stephen and empowering Him to prove that he was from God as the knowledge and wisdom of the Holy Spirit spoke through him, and did miracles and healings through him.\u00a0 They thought they had gotten rid of Jesus, but now they were encountering the very alive Jesus in all His Believers.\u00a0 They could not overcome Stephen with truth, so they made up lies.\u00a0 This tactic proved successful against Jesus and Stephen and it is still a tactic of the enemy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAll who were sitting in the Sanhedrin\u00a0looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0 With eyes full of the hatred from hell they stared at Stephen whom, like Moses before Him, glowed with glory of God.\u00a0 How ironic that they accused Stephen of attacking the law and person of Moses while they were full of the same hate that opposed Moses and conversely Stephen shone with the glory of God.\u00a0 How very blind the Sanhedrin was, and how very hard their hearts that they could not see that were opposing God.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t recognize their Savior Jesus Christ and they did not recognize God the Holy Spirit within Stephen.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Family, those of the world who are filled with anger, hate and greed still don\u2019t recognize the hand of God reaching out to them.\u00a0 The same evil spirit that came against Jesus lives in like hearts today.\u00a0 But those whose hearts are soft are drawn by the Spirit of God and recognize the face of Jesus in scripture and in His saints.\u00a0 Those who love God, love the children of God and long for the repentance of the lost show the world the love of God.\u00a0 We need not be discouraged.\u00a0 Jesus is within us all.\u00a0 He empowers those who seek Him.\u00a0\u00a0 He proves to us and to all who would see that we belong to Him and that He is alive in the world through His disciples living today.\u00a0 Praise God that we are allowed the honor.\u00a0 Praise God who quickens our minds and hearts and who lives within us.\u00a0 Praise our good and loving God!\u00a0 Praise God!<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Psalm 150:6<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/i><\/p>\n

Micah 7:7<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear\u00a0me.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

Micah 6:8<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0He has shown You, O man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; And what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Acts 6:8-15\u00a0–\u00a0Now Stephen, a man full of God\u2019s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs\u00a0among the people.\u00a09\u00a0Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)\u2014Jews of Cyrene\u00a0and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia\u00a0and Asia\u2014who began to argue with Stephen.\u00a010\u00a0But they could not stand up against the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[82,94,17],"class_list":["post-1475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-acts","tag-micah","tag-psalm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1475"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1475\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1476,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1475\/revisions\/1476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}