You will be hard-pressed to find a professing Christian who doesn’t point to the cross and the work of Christ. We should credit God’s love and admit all we contributed was our sin. You’ll also be hard-pressed to find a professing Christian these days who talks as directly as some of the early apostles when sharing this gospel message of hope. Reading through Acts is a great reminder of what it means to speak boldly for Christ, even in the face of persecution. It always amazes me when they go with some version of ‘Look what you’ve done!’ Let’s look at a couple examples and then pray about how God would have us share the gospel today…
Peter
Act 2:22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know—
Act 2:23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.
Act 2:24 God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.
—Acts 2:22-24
Stephen
After about 50 verses of Israel’s history…
Act 7:51 “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.
Act 7:52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered,
Act 7:53 you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”
—Acts 7:51-53
Whoa boy! How many churches do you think would invite Stephen in to deliver a sermon these days? I’m going to go with ‘Not many’. He doesn’t meet the ‘nice’ standard. Anyway, following the model of the earliest Christians and walking in obedience to Christ, I hope you take the time to read your Word and devote yourself to prayer today. I hope you’ll find the boldness, in Christ, to share the good news as well…