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Day 307, or November the 3rd. I'm glad you asked

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that. Our thoughts today are rooted in Acts chapter

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7, verse 2. To this question, Stephen replied,

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Brothers and fathers, listen to me. The God of

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glory appeared to our father Abraham while he

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was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in

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Haran. And now the big picture surrounding this

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verse. Luke takes the trouble to give us a full

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précis of the Old Testament in one chapter,

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then continues the story of the early church

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spreading to the Samaritans, and then to a passing

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Ethiopian who was converted and baptized before

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resuming his journey back home to Africa. And

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now today's action step. Our text for today seems

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a strange way for Stephen to respond to the false

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charges of blasphemy brought against him before

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the Sanhedrin, shortly after the death and resurrection

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of Jesus. Remember, he was addressing learned

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religious Jews, and he was a recent convert to

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Christianity who was probably a Gentile, or at

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least he had a Greek name, as did all his fellow

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deacons. There is an important basic concept

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here for all of us to learn. Stephen didn't assume

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his hearers knew the whole story, and he didn't

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simply want to proclaim the remedy to the world's

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ills before making sure that the world's ills

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were clearly understood. So often Christians

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recommend Jesus as the answer before their hearers

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have even thought of the question. When John

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Wesley preached he would wait until he saw heads

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being bowed in recognition of their sin, and

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then he would declare Jesus as the answer. Stephen's

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hearers thought they were right, and he was an

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extremist who was wrong, or even worse, mad.

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I have found responding to questions or obvious

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interest is far more productive than simply witnessing

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blind. Of course there is no formula for success

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but choosing to use the method of responding

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to interest seems the best option to me your

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job now is to raise levels of interest by your

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lifestyle so that people will ask you questions