February 7, 2020
Acts 6:15
All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
New International Version (NIV)
When we are bumped, we always spill whatever fills us.  The Apostles, filled with the Spirit were committed to prayer and the ministry of the word.  After facing external threats, the early church in Jerusalem faced an internal challenge.  The Greek-speaking widows felt neglected in the daily food distribution.  What to do?  Find someone who is full. 

No one was apparently more full of God than Stephen.  Again and again Luke describes him as full of the Spirit and wisdom, full of faith and the Holy Spirit and full of grace and power.  Obviously this set him apart.  So many around him were full of themselves, but empty of love and grace.  When he preached with wisdom by the Spirit they couldn’t contend with him.  So they lied about him. 

Like Master, like disciple.  The religious leaders lied about Stephen so that they could kill him.  What does a person full of God look like under pressure.  “His face was like the face of an angel.”  What does an angel’s face look like.  One of my favorite faces belongs to our cherubic granddaughter Josie.  I could watch her all day.  I suppose Stephen’s face was bright.  Shining with the glory of God.  They bumped him and he spilled the grace of the God who filled him to overflowing. 

Someday every believer will look like Jesus.  Paul who saw Stephen’s face that day would never forget it.  Later, after God arrested him on the road to Damascus and turned him around right, he wrote to the Corinthians and described Christians as those who are being transformed into the glory of the Lord from glory to glory.  Full of the Spirit we will remind others of the glory of God.  May we progress in glorious brightness all day long today and all our lives long.  Then when we are bumped, the light of God’s love which fills us and covers us will spill out.
Pray with me:       
Father, empty us of self so that you may fill us with yourself. Then we shall not always be wanting.  May others see you in us – shining out from us with the glory of your grace.  Especially when we are bumped let the fullness of your Spirit, wisdom, faith, grace and power overflow, so that like Stephen we forgive those who would harm us.  Show yourself to the world through our faces today.  We pray in the splendid name of Jesus.  Amen. 
Join us in memorizing the Word.  Scripture for this week:    
Matthew 5:11-12
Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.  Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Our 2020 Every Day with Jesus readings will follow the Foundations New Testament reading plan.  Copies of the reading plan are available at Tallowood Baptist Church, or download your copy at REPLICATE.ORG 
We would love for you to join us as we read the New Testament through this year, five chapters a week.  In addition I will continue my long-standing practice of reading one Psalm a day through the year.  Use Robby Gallaty’s H. E. A. R. plan to study each chapter (also found at REPLICATE.ORG). Highlight verses which speak to you, explain what they mean in your own words in a journal, apply them to your own life, then respond by doing what God tells you to do.  
Joyfully, 
Duane 
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