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May 28 - Acts 7 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, it's Sean here. It's Thursday, it's the 28th of
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  May and it's good to have your company.
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  Today is a wonderful day. This reading that we get to
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  enjoy today is just an absolute Cracker Jack.
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  Long before ChatGPT was the thing and somebody said I don't
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  have time to read the whole Old Testament ChatGPT.
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  Can you just summarise it for me in one chapter?
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  That is what this is. As Stephen is dragged before the
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  council and the high priests, they ask him to account for his
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  faith and he tells them their own story.
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  To say that my faith is your faith, you're numpties.
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  Except he's good enough not to say you're numpties.
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  I would have got myself in a lot of trouble way before I got to
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  the end of this paragraph. That's why Stephen is there, and
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  the Holy Spirit is inspiring him with these words captured by
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  Luke for you and I to help us see the pedigree of our faith.
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  And our story started long ago as God journeyed with his people
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  through the Old Testament. You're ready, friends.
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  Let us settle back for this wonderful synopsis as we hear
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  his words captured in Acts 17. Then the high priest asked
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  Stephen, are these accusations true?
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  This was Stephen's reply. Brothers and fathers, listen to
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  me. Our glorious God appeared to our
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  ancestor Abraham in Mesopotamia before he settled in Haram.
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  God told him, leave your native land and your relatives and come
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  into the land. That I will show you.
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  Sir, Abraham left the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haram
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  until his father died. Then God brought him here, to
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  the land where you now live. But God gave him no inheritance
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  there, not even one square foot of land.
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  God did promise, however, that eventually the whole land would
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  belong to Abraham and his descendants, even though he had
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  no children yet. God also told him that his
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  descendants would live in a foreign land where they would be
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  oppressed as slaves for 400 years.
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  But I will punish the nation that enslaves them, God said,
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  And in the end they will come out and worship me here in this
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  place. God also gave Abraham the
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  covenant of circumcision at that time.
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  So when Abraham became the father of Isaac, he circumcised
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  him on the 8th day. And the practise was continued
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  when Isaac became the father of Jacob, and when Jacob became the
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  father of the 12 patriarchs of the Israelite nation.
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  These patriarchs were jealous of their brother Joseph, and they
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  sold him to be a slave in Egypt. But God was with him and rescued
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  him from all his troubles, and God gave him favour before
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  Pharaoh, king of Egypt. God also gave Joseph unusual
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  wisdom, so that Pharaoh appointed him governor over all
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  of Egypt and put him in charge of the palace.
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  But a famine came upon Egypt and Canaan.
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  There was great misery, and our ancestors ran out of food.
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  Jacob heard that there was still grain in Egypt, so he sent his
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  sons, our ancestors, to buy some.
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  The second time they went, Joseph revealed his identity to
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  his brothers and they were introduced to Pharaoh.
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  Then Joseph sent for his father Jacob and all his relatives to
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  come to Egypt, 75 persons in all.
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  Sir Jacob went to Egypt. He died there, as did our
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  ancestors. Their bodies were taken to
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  Shechem and buried in the tomb of Abraham and bought for a
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  certain price from Hamor's sons in Shechem.
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  As the time grew near when God would fulfil his promise to
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  Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt greatly
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  increased. But then a new king came to the
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  throne of Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph.
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  This king exploited our people and oppressed them, forcing
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  parents to abandon their newborn babies so they would die.
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  At that time, Moses was born a beautiful child in God's eyes.
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  His parents cared for him at home for three months.
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  When they had to abandon him, Pharaoh's daughter adopted him
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  and raised him as her own son. Moses was taught all the wisdom
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  of the Egyptians, and he was powerful in both speech and
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  action. One day, when Moses was 40 years
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  old, he decided to visit his relatives, the people of Israel.
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  He saw an Egyptian mistreating an Israelite.
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  So Moses came to the man's defence and avenged him, killing
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  the Egyptian. Moses assumed his fellow
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  Israelites would realise that God had sent him to rescue them,
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  but they didn't. The next day he visited them
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  again and saw two men of Israel fighting.
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  He tried to be a peacemaker. Men, he said, you are brothers,
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  why are you fighting each other? But the man in the wrong pushed
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  Moses aside. Who made you a ruler and judge
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  over us? He asked.
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  Are you going to kill me as you killed that Egyptian yesterday?
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  When Moses heard that, he fled the country and lived as a
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  foreigner in the land of Midian, where his two sons were born. 40
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  years later, in the desert near Mount Sinai, an Angel appeared
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  to Moses in the flame of a burning Bush.
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  When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight.
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  As he went to take a closer look, the voice of the Lord
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  called out to him. I am the God of your ancestors,
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  the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
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  Moses shook with terror and did not dare to look.
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  Then the Lord said to him, Take off your sandals, for you are
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  standing on holy ground. I have certainly seen the
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  oppression of my people in Egypt.
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  I've heard their groans and have come down to rescue them.
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  Now go, for I am sending you back to Egypt.
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  So God sent back the same man his people had previously
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  rejected when they demanded. Who made you a ruler and judge
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  over us? Through the Angel who appeared
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  to him in the burning Bush, God sent Moses to be their ruler and
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  Saviour, and by means of many wonders and miraculous signs he
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  led them out of Egypt, through the Red Sea and through the
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  wilderness for 40 years. Moses himself told the people of
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  Israel, God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among
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  your own people. Moses was with our ancestors,
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  the assembly of God's people in the wilderness when the Angel
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  spoke to him at Mount Sinai. And there Moses received life
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  giving words to pass on to us. But our ancestors refused to
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  listen to Moses. They rejected him and wanted to
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  return to Egypt. They told Aaron, make us some
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  gods who can lead us, for we don't know what has become of
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  this Moses who brought us out of Egypt.
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  So they made an idol shaped like a calf, and they sacrificed to
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  it and celebrated over this thing they had made.
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  Then God turned away from them and abandoned them to serve the
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  stars of heaven as their gods. In the book of the Prophet it is
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  written. Was it to me you were bringing
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  sacrifices and offerings during those 40 years in the
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  wilderness? Israel.
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  No, you carried your Pagan gods, the shrine of Molech, the star
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  of your God Rafan, and the images you made to worship them.
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  So I will send you into exile as far away as Babylon.
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  Our ancestors carried the Tabernacle with them through the
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  wilderness. It was constructed according to
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  the plan God had shown to Moses. Years later, when Joshua LED our
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  ancestors in battle against the nations that God drove out of
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  this land, the Tabernacle was taken with them into their new
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  territory, and it stayed there until the time of King David.
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  David found favour with God and asked for the privilege of
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  building a permanent temple for the God of Jacob, but it was
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  Solomon who actually built it. However, the Most High doesn't
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  live in temples made by human hands.
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  As the prophet says, Heaven is my throne and earth is my
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  footstool. Could you build me a temple as
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  good as that? Asked the Lord.
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  Could you build me such a resting place?
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  Didn't my hands make both heaven and earth?
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  You stubborn people, you are heathen at heart and deaf to the
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  truth. Must you forever resist the Holy
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  Spirit? That's what your ancestors did,
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  and so do you. Name one prophet your ancestors
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  didn't persecute. They even killed the ones who
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  predicted the coming of the righteous. 1 The Messiah whom
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  you betrayed and murdered. You deliberately disobeyed God's
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  law, even though you received it from the hands of angels.
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  The Jewish leaders were infuriated by Stephen's
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  accusation, and they shook their fists at him in rage.
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  But Stephen Fall of the Holy Spirit gazed steadily into
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  heaven and saw the glory of God. And he saw Jesus standing at the
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  place of honour at God's right hand.
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  And he told them, Look, I see the heavens open, and the Son of
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  Man standing in the place of honour at God's right hand.
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  Then they put their hands over their ears and began shouting.
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  They rushed at him and dragged him out of the city and began to
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  stone him. His accusers took off their
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  coats and laid them at the feet of a young man named Saul.
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  As they stoned him, Stephen prayed, Lord Jesus, receive my
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  spirit. He fell to his knees, shouting,
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  Lord, don't charge them with this sin.
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  And with that, he died. Lord, I wonder if there in our
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  lives are any parts of Your truth and Your story that we're
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  not willing to hear. Just like the Pharisees and the
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  teachers of the law covered their ears and shouted at
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  Stephen to stop. It is so possible, in fact
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  probable, that there are parts of our lives that You wish to
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  highlight to us that we are not ready to hear, that we cover our
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  ears from You and won't listen. Our Holy Spirit, I pray that you
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  flow through US and convict us of Your truth, Convict us of
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  your ways so that we can truly have our whole lives inside and
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  out in service to You. And that if there are some dodgy
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  corners of our lives and our hearts, that your Spirit would
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  flood them, washing them clean, so that we can come to your
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  renewed willing to be a living sacrifice in our totality for
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  you and your Kingdom. And thank you that you receive
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  us, broken and incomplete as we are, and you love us
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  nonetheless. So we just praise you Jesus, and
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  pray all of this in your name, Amen.