Stephen

Something I've been thinking about today which I never have really thought about before is the importance of Stephens speech in Acts Ch7.
I've been wondering what importance the emphasis Stephen places on God working outside of Israel may have had on Paul.
Stephens speech is quiet amazing in that it summarises Jewish history in terms of God working outside of Israel. It notes that God dwelt in the desert, he appeared to Moses in a burning bush (on the outskirts of Egypt) and that Abraham had no inheritance in the promised land. His speech remembers how Gods chosen people rejected his messengers time and time again. At the end of his history lesson Stephen throws fire into a wound by telling his accusers that he sees Jesus sitting at the right hand of God. At this point the infuriated (think covering ears and shouting wildly) temple leaders then stone him to death.
Acts has a habit of making connections. One connection made here is the similarities between Jesus' death and Stephens who cries out 'Father forgive them, they know not what they do'. But the other is that after every record of a trouble or trial we find a link to something wonderful. A connection between the suffering of the church and God growing his church. In this case the
'beauty from ashes' connection is Saul (who becomes Paul). At the end of the chapter we are told that Saul was there I wonder if perhaps the seeds of Paul's radical mission to the gentiles began with Stephens account of God working outside the land of Israel?

I've also been challenged by the account of Ananias and Sapphira (Ch5) . I wonder if I seek a reputation of being Godly rather than to be actually be Godly. God is no fool and can't be tricked by shallow attempts to look right in the sight of others.
In this account Ananias and Sapphira sell their house and give the money to the church. It sounds great! What a selfless act and huge sacrifice they have made. However instead of giving all the money to the church they give only part. If this is where the story ends it would be a happy tale, how good it is to give to God. However instead this sad story ends in death. Taking their money to the apostles they pretend to have given it all. "Wasn't this money yours to begin with" Peter asks. "What made you think of such a thing?". Ananias wanted to be known for his commitment to God but was not willing to actually be fully committed. It would have been much better for him to be honest.
Its seems the only thing worse than being half hearted is to pretend to be whole hearted.

Looking over my life I realise its much easier to be thought of as Godly than it is to really be Godly. Or perhaps I should say easier to be thought of as honest and genuine than it is to be honest and genuine. Sometimes our reputation with God and our reputation with people conflict with each other. To do whats right in the sight of God we may have to 'lose face' with people we know. This is the price of honesty, but is I feel, the cost of carrying the cross.

Thanks for reading, please remember to prayer for me if you can, I really appreciate it (heaps).

Please thank God for

• The wonderful lectures here. Its really is a great privilege to be studying. I'm blown away every day.
• His wonderful provision. Its great to not have to worry about anything while I'm here, God has provided amazingly.
  

Please pray

• That I would stay on track. Like everywhere there are plenty of distractions (facebook!) some of which are not very helpful.
• For my health (not been feeling so good. I think my body's not really copping 100%
• To stay in love with God, I might have mentioned this before but its really easy to loose sight of my first love here. Deeds, hard work, and perseverance are no help in this regard (rev 2:2-5)
• To find a good church. This will help heaps.
  

Thanks once again for reading
-Matthew.

Oh.. why the map. Because I've stuck a copy of this map in my diary and have started putting a dot in each country as it comes up in coverstation. I'm amazing how much I'm learning about places I never new existed. Who knew the silk road went through Tajikistan.