You Need to Know It

Below if the daily Bible reading I am doing for the West Side Church. Feel free to follow along. If you would like a copy of the reading calendar please leave me your email in the comment section below.

I think one of the faults of the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ is that too many times we do not spend enough time teaching and studying the Old Testament. We call ourselves a New Testament church, and because of that we tend to spend much of our preaching and teaching time there. It was not until about two years into college that I began to truly grasp and understand the importance of the Old Testament. As I did, so many things about the New Testament and what it says concerning the law became very clear to me. Without an understanding of the Old Testament, passages like today’s reading (Acts 7) do not make much sense.

Do you know the Old Testament well enough to stand and give a speech similar to the one Stephen gave to the Sanhedrin? Did you know who all the characters in Stephens’s story were? I am a firm believer that to truly get the message of gospel, to truly understand God’s love for you and his plans for your life, there must come a time when you begin to understand what we call the Old Testament.

Another thought … is not it amazing what people filled with the Holy Spirit are willing to do? As Stephen faces an angry mob he finds peace and solace in God; full of the Holy Spirit Stephen calls out the Sanhedrin for the murder of Christ … full of the Holy Spirit Stephen welcomes his death as privilege because it is for Christ. It is amazing what Stephen welcomed into his life for God’s Kingdom.