Title: Stephen, martyred for the faith
Aim: To evaluate the importance of being both courageous and gracious in letting others know about Jesus.
Scripture:Acts 7:51–8:1
 
The religious leaders’ formal accusations against Stephen, Acts 7:51–53
 

As the days grow shorter and golden leaves fall from trees, we pack up Halloween decorations in preparation for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Although a few costumes may linger in photos on the fridge, everything else is set aside for another year. However, there’s one thing that few of us ever put away: the everyday masks we live behind.

We all have masks of one sort or another.

The truths from the Word I learned a few years ago continue to challenge me to trust God:

"Remember what I accomplished in antiquity!
Truly I am God, I have no peer;
I am God, and there is none like Me,
who announces the end from the beginning
and reveals beforehand what has not yet occurred,
who says, ‘My plan will be realized,
I will accomplish what I desire."
Isaiah 46:9-10 (NET Bible)

I chuckle at the mattress commercials that say “Replace in eight.” How about “Just broken in, in ten” or “A taste of heaven at eleven.” However we decided to go with “Worn plenty in twenty” and replace our two-decades-old mattress.

Things did not go as planned. The salesperson ordered the wrong mattress. Before we realized it was the wrong one, we had thrown out the old one. Now we had a new mattress we could not sleep on, both because it was uncomfortable and because we were returning it. Plus our old mattress lay somewhere in the city dump.

In the last several months, both of my severely arthritic hips were replaced. In addition to the wonderful blessing that I am out of pain, the surgeries and recoveries were full of lessons pointing me to spiritual truths I am so very thankful for:

At the height of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln formally scheduled Thanksgiving for the final Thursday in November. He implored all U.S. Americans to ask God to “commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife” and to “heal the wounds of the nation” (History of Thanksgiving).

With Thanksgiving just 10 days away, families and friends are making preparations for food, festivities, and football. We excel at making external preparations. But are we preparing internally for Thanksgiving? Are our hearts ready to give thanks?

I just finished teaching a study of the book of Acts to a group of women at my church. I am so grateful to God for inspiring Luke to write that book, using his giftedness to write it so carefully and full of wonderful details. We approached our study of Acts not as a book of history but as the work of Jesus Christ by His Spirit through His Church. That is still continuing through today. And, we likened the work of the Holy Spirit to the firepower of a volcano. His work in the lives of individual believers is like “hot spots,” those places on earth where lava erupts to build new land. Our hope for every woman in the group was that the study of Acts would spark in them a real appreciation, longing, and expectation for the Holy Spirit’s work in their own lives—to see their own Holy Spirit Hot Spots and give God the credit for His work in their lives. The poster above is the evidence for the semester of God at work in their lives. I love it!

Title: The Son’s Transfiguration
Aim: To assess how our devotion to the Savior can strengthen our understanding of His teachings.
Scripture: Mark 9:2–13
 
The mountaintop experience, Mark 9:2–4
 

In an unfamiliar city, my family and I were searching for a quick meal before heading off to the airport. We spotted a restaurant that looked like it would work so we entered and asked for a table. We were promptly seated….and then our waitress arrived. In a rough and hoarse voice, she barked, “Do you want me to harass you and give you a hard time?” I was shocked and horrified. In an uncharacteristic manner of my introverted self, I quickly replied, “No, we don’t want that!!!” She said OK, and proceeded to take our orders.