Take off your sandals and put on the Gospel of Peace

How can we hear God? How can we be still in His presence? You might be thinking, what does the Gospel of peace have to do with taking off your sandals?

Take off your sandals: Exodus 3:5, Joshua 5:9,15, Matthew 3:11, Acts 7:2,33
 - Peace and rest are the states of being without disturbance.
 - When God speaks to our heart their is peace, the Gospel means "good news"
 - The Holy Spirit guides us, counsels us and many other things in our hearts. It's our heart connection that allows us to hear God and the sacrifice of Jesus has taken away the barrier of sin that prevented us from hearing God in the first place.
 - Works the Holy Spirit does in the believers life

But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily into heaven and saw the glory of God, and he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Acts 7:55
 - Christian Code of Conduct for the Church Militant

Parenthetical background:

Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God...So Jesus washed their feet saying, “You don’t understand now what I am doing, but someday you will...Unless I wash you, you won’t belong to me.” John 13:3-8

Stephen was recounting God's word given to Abraham - Moses - Joshua - David - Solomon, about Jesus. Warning people:
You stubborn people! You are heathen at heart and deaf to the truth. Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit? That’s what your ancestors did, and so do you! Acts 7:51
 - Love is rejoicing in truth not wrongdoing
 - Best response when someone confesses sin and what to avoid
 - Peter's letters explain how faith, grace, and hope work in our lives