God's word is alive, just ask Stephen.

Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost - A brief study in the seventh chapter of Acts.

False accusations have been brought against Stephen and now we find him before the high council of the Jews.

While most would react in anger, especially after being falsely accused, Stephen is just standing there placidly. So much so, that the scene is described as if they all saw the face of an angel as they glared at him.
Interesting, though the men with Daniel did not see the angel they fled in fear. Perhaps we are talking about a size issue. After all the men of Sodom went chasing after the angels that showed themselves there.

When the council finally asked Stephen to respond he gives them a very precise history of God’s hand in the salvation, sins, birth, and bondage of the nation Israel.

2 things have caught my attention as I read the seventh chapter. (I will pursue the second aspect in the near future, as exhaustion is rapidly gaining upon me.)

Acts 7:38 KJV This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us:

As I read through the various translations, one might say “living words”, and there should be no doubt that they are, while the other translates it as “life giving words.” Life giving has a completely different meaning.

The phrase lively oracles in Greek is: logia zonta – meaning living doctrines that give life upon obedience to them. Here, in this passage, the term applies to Moses’ law. “In Romans 3:2 it refers to the O.T., in general. In Hebrews 3:12 and 1Peter 4:11 it encompasses all of scripture.”(Vines expository dictionary of Bible words)

Romans 3:2 NIrV There is great value in every way! First of all, the Jews have been given the very words of God.

Hebrews 3:12 KJV Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.

1 Peter 4:11 NIV If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

Considering that I never thought of the law as anything other than a form of bondage, I have to now re-think my understanding.

One of the things that crossed my mind a couple of years ago, as my bible study group stumbled through Romans, was that Paul taught these concepts that we read in Romans based upon the old testament law and prophets, of which he was very familiar, and a personal/spiritual meeting with the living God.

Conceptually, the idea of living doctrines conveys: teaching or instructions that are alive.

We perceive alive as something that breathes, moves, and has some variable, visible aspect like tree growth.

A tree might be a great example in that it, from a simple, miniscule start, develops into a foundational plant with developing characteristics of what it’s potential can be.

Does the tree change? Not in it’s designed characteristics. Initially it could look no different from any other tree until it leafs out. The changes in the tree are growth enlargements as it gets taller, wider, stronger, and with maturity, produces fruit.

Most trees go through seasons where they leaf out, drop their leaves, go dormant for a time, and then produce leaves again. An irony in our comparison could be the Sasanqua Camellia. For it’s dormant season, a time of presumed bleakness and inactivity, is when it produces it’s spectacular floral displays. Consider that when it comes to our lives in Christ.

If we have grown, allowing God and time to mature us, then when a time of dormancy occurs, all the work involved in that growth may now be producing some fruit or foliage in the life of someone completely out of our field of view.

As a side note: I really enjoy listening to Dr. Chuck Misler, and I heard him teach a bit on Stephen’s discourse a few years ago. I think Chuck makes a statement like this about every aspect and book of the bible, and he was just as excited about Stephen’s exposition before the Jewish council, saying, this is one of the most significant and revealing looks into the history of the Nation Israel. 
 
I opted to read through the books of Acts, as I had not been here for a little while, and I knew that it would be refreshing. Much like the fact that Jesus did more things than the bible could hold, each trip through a book I have not visited for some time, reveals things like I have never seen them before. I had started a paper on an aspect of chapter six, which I will post in the future, but this one verse in chapter seven speaks volumes to me. 
 
If you take the time to meditate upon it. Meditate: to chew upon it as a cow chews cud. (Now there is a visual for you.) It is stunning the things you find. I can now tell you with confidence that God's word or law will bring life, but then why wouldn’t it, isn’t Jesus the Word, and life himself? 
 
Enjoy the journey while we can. Next stop, heaven.
Hope to see you there.
Oz

then we should be moving heaven and earth

I cannot seem to help it. I get so involved in passages of scripture or an intended study that I lose contact with the outside world. That is not necessarily a bad thing as most of world offers me nothing. Don't get me wrong, I love art, music, a good play, and of nature. But the soap opera of life just drags me down, and I really do not care who won the lousy ball game. That being said I decided to read the book of Acts, again.

There is a background motivation for that. I get information from Chuck Misler's organization, and he, in describing an aspect found in the book of Acts got me interested once again.

(Acts 1:1-3 KJV)

The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen: To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:

Allow me to shorten this, in an effort to get to the point.

....all that Jesus began both to do and teach, Until the day in which he was taken up,

...To whom also he shewed himself alive

....by many infallible proofs,

….being seen of them forty days,

….and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:

I want so badly to know what he said to them.

Proofs:

• The correctness of operations in mathematics are ascertained by proof.
• Any effort, process or operation that ascertains truth or fact.
• That degree of evidence which convinces the mind of the certainty of truth of fact, and produces belief.
• Proof is derived from personal knowledge, or from the testimony of others, or from conclusive reasoning.

To be infallible is to be beyond dispute. The quality of being incapable of error or mistake. There is no room for argument, at least of a logical nature.

HE IS ALIVE; he is truth; he is coming, just as he said he would; there is a heaven, just as he said, and he is taking us there with him.

See it, feel it, and you can almost taste it, it is so real.

While he was still with them, he said: Don't leave Jerusalem yet. Wait here for the Father to give you the Holy Spirit, just as I told you he has promised to do.

(Acts 1:4 CEV)

And so they did.

Acts chapter 2:16 finds them being filled with the Holy Spirit of God and speaking with other tongues, tongues that seem to cover the gamut of foreign languages that had come to Jerusalem. Many thought they were drunk. Yeah right!

Peter, is back with a vengeance, and jumps up to speak. Here is a portion of what he said:

But this is what God had the prophet Joel say, "When the last days come, I will give my Spirit to everyone. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions, and your old men will have dreams. In those days I will give my Spirit to my servants, both men and women, and they will prophesy. I will work miracles in the sky above and wonders on the earth below. There will be blood and fire and clouds of smoke. The sun will turn dark, and the moon will be as red as blood before the great and wonderful day of the Lord appears. Then the Lord will save everyone who asks for his help." (Acts 2:16-21 CEV)

“it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh...”

Dake's notes state that the Jews understood this term “in the last days” to mean in “the days of the Messiah.”

Some thoughts about this. This could apply to the time that he was, and will be physically here. - Ok, that gets blown out of water quickly, because only a short time before this he ascended. That means he left the earth.

Perhaps “ the days of the Messiah” is “the day of the Lord”. One could logically make that assumption because Peter associates Joel's prophecy with that time frame, therefore “the day of Lord” began at that point. There are things that happen around us that might make you believe that.

Allow me to explore some aspects of Joel's prophecy.

Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy hill. Let all who live in the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming. It is close at hand-- a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness. Like dawn spreading across the mountains a large and mighty army comes, such as never was in ancient times nor ever will be in ages to come. (Joel 2:1-2 NIV)

As you can see from this he is talking about the time of judgment.

The LORD thunders at the head of his army; his forces are beyond number, and mighty is the army that obeys his command. The day of the LORD is great; it is dreadful. Who can endure it? (Joel 2:11 NIV)

Now it appears that he speaking of the time at the end of the Great Tribulation, if the army of the Lord is coming. Still we are speaking in terms of judgment.

"And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days. I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. (Joel 2:28-31 NIV)

While this sounds like a glorious time when God will speak through his people, there is still a reference to the dreadful day of the Lord.

As I read through Joel's prophecy recently, I was taken by the statement “in the last days”. Throughout scripture this has been associated with the times of judgment and the Lord's return.

Here is a problem I have with the timing of Joel's prophecy.

If that time began, then it opened the door to the day of the prophet. If that is the case, then we should be moving heaven and earth at the mention of Jesus name.

A short story.

For a time I rented a room from a friend. As we sat and watched the evening news many years ago, they gave a minute by minute news update about a hurricane about to slam into the Galveston Texas coastline. I turned to him and said, “you know, scripture tells us that the oceans are bound by the coastline and not allowed to cross them.” Puzzled he just looked at me. I said, “ watch this”, and I prayed, out loud there in front of him. “In the name of Jesus I command this hurricane to honor those boundaries and turn back out to sea.” In a matter of minutes the newscaster came back on and said, “we are all puzzled and pleased, as the hurricane has just turned back out to sea.” Several minutes passed and it was reduced to merely a wet wind storm. My friend was visibly shaken by the power of God.

Don't you realize that God intended for this to be our lifestyle. It has been religion and fear of failure that has prevented you from living like this.

I cannot begin to describe what I feel right now. It is like standing out in the most beautiful place ever seen, experiencing a one of kind sunrise, and you are standing there taking it all in as the colors of a new day explode upon the pallet of the sky.

How would your world change if you knew your words were dynamic and alive, charged by the Spirit of the Living God?

They Are! Those days are upon us. God is drawing muslims from around the world to him through dreams and visions.

What is God saying to you? I know that he has spoken to many of you, and he has called you to come to him. He was standing there with arms open wide, motioning for you to come. Run to him, and Jesus Christ the risen one will come into your life if you will ask him. Allow him to have the control in your life and you will gain a freedom that you never thought possible.