STEPHEN SEES THE MASTER (Acts 7:38-60)

STEPHEN SEES THE MASTER (Acts 7:38 to 60)

As we go through this lesson today, I want you to think about what your faith is in.  Is it in God, or in the religious traditions, buildings, and ceremonies that we have created and become accustomed to.  

Do you know how you can tell what your faith is in?  Let me ask you a series of questions.  First, why did you choose the church that you are attending?  Was it because of a particular pastor or staff member?  You like their style of preaching, or they moved to another church, and you followed them.  Was it because of the denomination, or lack of denomination, of the church?  You wanted to be in a Methodist church, a Baptist church, or an Assembly of God church.  Maybe you didn’t want to be part of any denomination?

Was it the building that you worship in?  Is it a beautiful building, or simply functional?  Was it because of the type of music that is sung, hymns or more contemporary music?  Do you claim that you can’t worship God unless you get to sing the type of songs that you like?  Was it because you read the statement of faith of that church and agreed with it? How many of you read the statement of faith of your church before you joined?  Was it because of how the church is organized and structured?  Is it a pastor led church, or an elder/deacon board led church?  Did you read the By-Laws of the church to learn about the organization?

Understand that I am not saying these things are not important, because they are.  They can certainly be a guide to what God’s will is not.  I mean, why would you join church that did not follow God’s Word.   But, they should never be the reason for choosing a church to worship God in, and they are not what your faith should be in.  You should always choose a church because God led you to it.  You should always join a church because He called you to serve in that church.  Your faith is in God, it is in the Son of the Living God, Jesus Christ, whose blood purchased your salvation and is now sitting on the right hand of God.  If you follow God’s leading, then all of those other things will fall in line because God would never lead you to a church that was not following, teaching, and preaching, God’s Word.

That was the very problem of the Jews that Stephen is preaching to.  They chose the traditions of their childhood over the God that had chosen them.  They chose to worship man-made things, like the Temple and it’s rituals, rather than God.

Click on the link below to hear a message on who your faith should be in.

This is a live recording of The Master’s Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS.

Amen.