tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355052.post8761867429475238976..comments2024-03-28T09:52:15.415-04:00Comments on Common Denominator: The Core of the Gospel 1Ken Schenckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09745548537303356655noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8355052.post-88358277496145375092013-07-11T12:39:49.194-04:002013-07-11T12:39:49.194-04:00Whoa! (Sorry, that was a slip from my race horse d...Whoa! (Sorry, that was a slip from my race horse days. Will you forgive me?). Although his 'official' sermon was interrupted for a moment due to his being moved to a new location and attacked, it seems Stephen goes one better at the end of his sermon. He covers the resurrection when he, full of the Holy Spirit, looks up at heaven and says, "Look, I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." And then he goes one better by asking Jesus to receive his spirit. But a new worship style may have started when he, while being stoned, fell on his knees, and then cried out: "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." With those words Stephen completed his mission on earth, and God brought him home. <br />It seems to me that the good news of the gospel is in the message and act of forgiveness. It seems, in my mind, that "You love because I first loved you" could also be said, "You forgive because I first forgave you." Jesus' death on the cross and resurrection would mean nothing if it had not been from a God who had emptied Himself of His glory and then spoke, while he hung naked on a cross, and forgave mankind for his rebellion. Stephen's words and death are seen evidence of the spiritual truth that God's words and works always go together. Jesus was fully sinless human and fully God. Christians are fully redeemed human and fully God-filled. Stephen, in his combined words and death, gave glorious evidence for the incarnate Christ. Thus he was hated.<br />Everyone knows the truth about God by seeing what He has made (Romans 1:20 paraphrased). Therefore, as Romans 1:18-19 explains, if we deny knowing the truth, it is only because we have purposefully suppressed the truth in a choice to be wicked. It is understandable, then, that the howling mob covered their ears as they rushed at Stephen. Because faith comes from hearing and hearing the Word of God. They did not have faith because they did not want it.<br />Susan<br />Sorry, some of that is off the subject. I got excited. I don't have anyone to talk to like this about the Bible. It's difficult to find Christians who are provoked into worshiping and serving the Word. Many, instead, are offended or frightened by Biblical thoughts that seem at all different than what they have been taught by rote by other people. It makes me sad. Anonymoushttp://thecommonlanguage.com/wordpress2noreply@blogger.com