“…he received living words to pass on to us. Our fathers refused to obey him…”
‭‭Acts‬ ‭7‬:‭38‬-39 ‭NIV‬‬

Today is Acts 7.

Stephen stood before the council of religious leaders. A group of men had “secretly instigated men” to speak lies about him. Then Stephen spoke. He recounted the history of the Jewish people. He spoke of how time and time again God had come to them and rescued them, yet they had chosen to go their own way and worship the false gods of the nations around them. God gave them “living words.” Yet they “refused to obey.”

This is true of us today. Jesus came as the living Word to us. He has provided us with His Holy Scriptures so that we can listen to His Word and have it transform our hearts from being dark and sin filled to hearts in His image. Yet, we often refuse to obey.

Stephen used the term, “stiff- necked people” to describe the men who would not listen to the “living words” of God. He said they resisted the Holy Spirit just as their fathers (ancestors) did time and time again. Simply put, they would not obey what God said. These men had hard hearts that wanted to do what they wanted to do when and how they wanted to do it. They didn’t want to walk in the ways of God. They wanted their way…

Hearing the truth, they did not repent. Instead they chose to kill Stephen for speaking the “living Words” to them. They resisted and rejected God…

May that never be said of us. We must listen to the Word of God. We must receive it so that we can obey it and be transformed by it. The Word is the truth that brings freedom into our lives.

Listen, receive, believe, and obey the Word!