Latest / A Chapter a Day Bible Reading / August 25 - Acts 7

Transcript

August 25 - Acts 7 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

• 0:11
  Hello friends, it's Sean here. It's Monday.
• 0:15
  It's the 25th of August, and I'm delighted that you have tapped
• 0:19
  on place so that you and I can read a chapter of God's Word
• 0:23
  together today. And yes, this week we are
• 0:26
  continuing to work our way through the book of Acts.
• 0:29
  And today we've come to this pretty epic chapter.
• 0:33
  This is the chapter where Stephen, this remarkable model
• 0:37
  of a follower of Jesus, has been dragged in front of the High
• 0:40
  Council and is challenged about his faith.
• 0:44
  And he will tell this epic story arcing from Abraham all the way
• 0:48
  to King David and beyond. And then he will point the
• 0:51
  finger squarely at those religious leaders in front of
• 0:55
  him, and they do not respond well.
• 0:57
  So let us hear this remarkable chapter, this summary of the
• 1:01
  story of the Old Testament in many ways as delivered by
• 1:05
  Stephen to us in Acts Chapter 7. Then the high priest asks
• 1:20
  Stephen, are these accusations true?
• 1:24
  This was Stephen's reply. Brothers and fathers listened to
• 1:28
  me. Our glorious God appeared to our
• 1:30
  ancestor Abraham in Mesopotamia before he settled in Haran.
• 1:35
  God told him, leave your native land and your relatives and come
• 1:39
  into the land that I will show you.
• 1:42
  Sir. Abraham left the land of the
• 1:43
  Chaldeans and lived in Haran until his father died.
• 1:47
  Then God brought him here to the land where you now live.
• 1:51
  But God gave him no inheritance here, not even one square foot
• 1:55
  of land. God did promise, however, that
• 1:58
  eventually the whole land would belong to Abraham and his
• 2:01
  descendants, even though he had no children yet.
• 2:04
  God also told him that his descendants would live in a
• 2:07
  foreign land where they would be oppressed as slaves for 400
• 2:10
  years. But I will punish the nation
• 2:13
  that enslaves them, God said. And in the end they will come
• 2:16
  out and worship me here in this place.
• 2:20
  God also gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision at that
• 2:23
  time. So when Abraham became the
• 2:26
  father of Isaac, he circumcised him on the 8th day.
• 2:30
  And the practise was continued when Isaac became the father of
• 2:33
  Jacob, and when Jacob became the father of the 12 patriarchs of
• 2:37
  the Israelite nation. These patriarchs were jealous of
• 2:41
  their brother Joseph, and they sold him to be a slave in Egypt.
• 2:44
  But God was with him and rescued him from all his troubles, and
• 2:49
  God gave him favour before Pharaoh, king of Egypt.
• 2:52
  God also gave Joseph unusual wisdom, so that Pharaoh
• 2:56
  appointed him governor over all of Egypt and put him in charge
• 3:00
  of the palace. But a famine came upon Egypt and
• 3:04
  Canaan. There was great misery, and our
• 3:06
  ancestors ran out of food. Jacob heard that there was still
• 3:09
  grain in Egypt, so he sent his son, our ancestors to buy some.
• 3:15
  The second time they went, Joseph revealed his identity to
• 3:19
  his brothers, and they were introduced to Pharaoh.
• 3:22
  Then Joseph sent for his father Jacob and all his relatives to
• 3:26
  come to Egypt, 75 persons in all.
• 3:29
  So Jacob went to Egypt. He died there, as did our
• 3:34
  ancestors. Their bodies were taken to
• 3:36
  Shechem and buried in the tomb Abraham had bought for a certain
• 3:40
  price from Hamor's sons in Shechem.
• 3:43
  As the time drew near when God would fulfil his promise to
• 3:46
  Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt greatly
• 3:49
  increased. But then a new king came to the
• 3:52
  throne of Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph.
• 3:55
  This king exploited our people and oppressed them, forcing
• 3:59
  parents to abandon their newborn babies so they would die.
• 4:03
  At that time, Moses was born a beautiful child in God's eyes.
• 4:08
  His parents cared for him at home for three months.
• 4:11
  When they had to abandon him, Pharaoh's daughter adopted him
• 4:15
  and raised him as her own son. Moses was taught all the wisdom
• 4:20
  of the Egyptians, and he was powerful in both speech and
• 4:23
  action. One day, when Moses was 40 years
• 4:27
  old, he decided to visit his relatives, the people of Israel.
• 4:31
  He saw an Egyptian mistreating an Israelite, so Moses came to
• 4:35
  the man's defence and avenged him, killing the Egyptian.
• 4:39
  Moses assumed his fellow Israelites would realise that
• 4:42
  God had sent him to rescue them, but they didn't.
• 4:46
  The next day he visited them again and saw two men of Israel
• 4:50
  fighting. He tried to be a peacemaker.
• 4:52
  Men, he said, You are brothers, why are you fighting each other?
• 4:57
  But the man in the wrong pushed Moses aside.
• 5:00
  Who made you a ruler and judge over us?
• 5:03
  He asked. Are you going to kill me as you
• 5:05
  killed that Egyptian yesterday? When Moses heard that, he fled
• 5:10
  the country and lived as a foreigner in the land of Midian.
• 5:13
  There his two sons were born. 40 years later, in the desert near
• 5:18
  Mount Sinai, an Angel appeared to Moses in the flame of a
• 5:22
  burning Bush. When Moses saw it, he was amazed
• 5:26
  at the sight. As he went to take a closer
• 5:29
  look, the voice of the Lord called out to him.
• 5:31
  I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and
• 5:36
  Jacob. Moses shook with terror and did
• 5:39
  not dare to look. Then the Lord said to him, Take
• 5:43
  off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground.
• 5:48
  I've certainly seen the oppression of my people in
• 5:50
  Egypt. I've heard their groans and have
• 5:53
  come down to rescue them. Now go, for I am sending you
• 5:57
  back to Egypt. So God sent back the same man
• 6:01
  his people have previously rejected when they demanded.
• 6:04
  Who made you ruler and judge over us?
• 6:07
  Through the Angel who appeared to him in the burning Bush, God
• 6:11
  sent Moses to be their ruler and Saviour, and by means of many
• 6:16
  wonders and miraculous signs, he led them out of Egypt, through
• 6:20
  the Red Sea and through the wilderness for 40 years.
• 6:24
  Moses himself told the people of Israel.
• 6:26
  God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your
• 6:30
  own people. Moses was with our ancestors,
• 6:34
  the assembly of God's people in the wilderness, when the Angel
• 6:37
  spoke to him at Mount Sinai. And there Moses received life
• 6:41
  giving words to pass on to us. But our ancestors refused to
• 6:46
  listen to Moses. They rejected him and wanted to
• 6:49
  return to Egypt. They told Aaron, make us some
• 6:53
  gods who can lead us, For we don't know what has become of
• 6:56
  this Moses who brought us out of Egypt.
• 6:59
  So they made an idol shaped like a calf, and they sacrificed to
• 7:02
  it and celebrated over this thing they had made.
• 7:06
  Then God turned away from them and abandoned them to serve the
• 7:10
  stars of heaven as their gods. In the book of the Prophets it
• 7:14
  is written. Was it to me you were bringing
• 7:16
  sacrifices and offerings during those 40 years in the
• 7:19
  wilderness, Israel. No, you carried your Pagan gods,
• 7:24
  the shrine of Molech, the star of your God Raphan, and the
• 7:29
  images you made to worship them. So I will send you into exile as
• 7:33
  far away as Babylon. Our ancestors carried the
• 7:38
  Tabernacle with them through the wilderness.
• 7:40
  It was constructed according to the plan God had shown Moses.
• 7:44
  Years later, when Joshua LED our ancestors in battle against the
• 7:48
  nations that God drove out of this land, the Tabernacle was
• 7:52
  taken with them into their new territory, and it stayed there
• 7:56
  until the time of King David. David found favour with God and
• 8:01
  asked for the privilege of building a permanent temple for
• 8:03
  the God of Jacob, but it was Solomon who actually built it.
• 8:08
  However, the Most High doesn't live in temples made by human
• 8:12
  hands. As the prophet says, Heaven is
• 8:15
  my throne and the earth is my footstool.
• 8:19
  Could you build me a temple as good as that?
• 8:21
  Asked the Lord. Could you build me such a
• 8:24
  resting place? Didn't my hands make both heaven
• 8:28
  and earth? You stubborn people, you are
• 8:32
  heathen at heart and deaf to the truth.
• 8:35
  Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit?
• 8:38
  That's what our ancestors did, and so do you.
• 8:42
  Name one prophet your ancestors didn't persecute.
• 8:45
  They even killed the ones who predicted the coming of the
• 8:48
  righteous. 1 The Messiah whom you betrayed and murdered, you
• 8:53
  deliberately disobeyed God's law, even though you received it
• 8:57
  from the hands of angels. The Jewish leaders were
• 9:01
  infuriated by Stephen's accusation, and they shook their
• 9:04
  fists at him in rage. But Stephen, full of the Holy
• 9:09
  Spirit, gazed steadily into heaven and saw the glory of God.
• 9:14
  And he saw Jesus standing in the place of honour at God's right
• 9:17
  hand. And he told them, Look, I see
• 9:21
  the heavens open, and the Son of Man standing in the place of
• 9:25
  honour at God's right hand. Then they put their hands over
• 9:29
  their ears and began shouting. They rushed at him and dragged
• 9:33
  him out of the city and began to stone him.
• 9:36
  His accusers took off their coats and laid them at the feet
• 9:40
  of a young man named Saul. As they stoned him, Stephen
• 9:45
  prayed, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
• 9:50
  He fell to his knees shouting, Lord, don't charge them with
• 9:53
  this sin. And with that he died.
• 10:08
  Ah, Lord, what a powerful story we have here.
• 10:12
  The story of you journeying with your people through generations
• 10:17
  and generations. The story of this incredible
• 10:22
  follower of yours standing so firmly in what he knows to be
• 10:26
  true in you. And the story of the ferocious
• 10:32
  response of those that couldn't bear to hear your truth.
• 10:39
  Lord, I just pray that you fill us with your spirit.
• 10:42
  Continue to change us away from the world's ways toward your
• 10:49
  ways, so that as we step through this world in our life, we can
• 10:53
  do so boldly and full of your Kingdom priorities, Your love
• 11:00
  and your forgiveness, always pointing to You and your spirit.
• 11:05
  Thank you for the love that you give us, for the role models
• 11:09
  that you provide us, and for the kindness that you show us.
• 11:14
  You are a wonderful, wonderful God, and we love you.
• 11:18
  And we pray all of this in your name, Jesus, Amen.