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September 26 - Acts 7 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends. It is Sean.
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  Here it is Tuesday. It is the 26th of September.
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  And welcome along to another day when you and I get to punctuate
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  our day with God's word as written by Luke in the book of
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  Acts. And today, the entire chapter is
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  dedicated to one part of one story.
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  This is our mate Steven, who has just been dragged in front of
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  the Council, lied about by these witnesses.
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  And now the council is going to quiz him on whether all of this
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  is true, and he will speak incredibly boldly and end up
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  paying the ultimate price for that.
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  But today, as we read this, this is probably not a verbatim word
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  for word what he said. But this is Luke summarizing the
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  beliefs that Stephen would have held true, so that in the
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  retelling of the story, Stephen is given the speech that
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  summarizes everything that is involved in the faith of this
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  growing group of people who are calling themselves Christians.
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  So this is a wonderful synopsis of summary of faith statement
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  that we get to read in front of these very hostile witnesses.
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  So having said all that, join me.
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  Let us read together Acts Chapter 7.
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  Then the high priest asked Steven, are these accusations
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  true? This was Steven's reply.
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  Brothers and fathers, listen to me.
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  Our glorious God appeared to our ancestor Abraham and Mesopotamia
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  before he settled in Haran. God told him, Leave your native
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  land and your relatives, and come into the land that I will
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  show you. So Abraham left the land of the
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  Chaldeans and lived in Haran until his father died.
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  Then God brought him here to the land where you now live.
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  That God gave him no inheritance here, not even one square foot
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  of land. God did promise, however, that
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  eventually the whole land would belong to Abraham and his
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  descendants, even though he had no children.
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  Yet God also told him that his descendants would live in a
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  foreign land where they would be oppressed as slaves for 400
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  years. But I will punish the nation
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  that enslaves them, God said, and in the end they will come
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  out and worship me here. In this place.
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  God also gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision at that
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  time. So when Abraham became the
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  father of Isaac, he circumcised him on the eighth day.
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  And the practice has continued when Isaac became the father of
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  Jacob and when Jacob became the father of the 12 patriarchs of
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  the Israelite nation. These patriarchs were jealous of
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  their brother Joseph, and they sold him to be a slave in Egypt.
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  That God was with him and rescued him from all his
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  troubles. And God gave him favor 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 if famine came upon Egypt and Canaan, there was great
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  misery, and our ancestors ran out of food.
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  Jacob heard that there was still grain in Egypt, so we 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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  So Jacob went to Egypt. He died there, as did our
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  ancestors. Their bodies were taken to
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  Shekham and buried in the tomb Abraham had bought, for a
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  certain price from Haymore's sons in Shekham.
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  As the time grew near when God would fulfill his promise to
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  Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt increased
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  greatly. 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, so Moses came to
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  the man's defense and avenged him, killing the Egyptian.
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  Moses assumed his fellow Israelites would realize that
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  God had sent him to rescue them, but they didn't.
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  The next day he visited them again and saw two men of Israel
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  fighting. He tried to be a peacemaker.
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  Men, he said. You are brothers, why are you
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  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?
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  Yesterday, when Moses heard that, he fled the country and
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  lived as a foreigner in the land of Midian.
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  There his two sons were born. 40 years later, in the desert near
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  Mount Sinai, an Angel appeared to Moses in the flame of a
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  burning Bush. When Moses saw it, he was amazed
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  at the sight, and he went to take a closer look.
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  The voice of the Lord called out to him, I am the God of your
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  ancestors, 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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  And 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 have 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 over
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  us Through the Angel who appeared to him in the burning
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  Bush. God sent Moses to be their ruler
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  and savior, 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.
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  Moses himself told the people of Israel, God will raise up for
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  you a prophet like me, from among your own people.
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  Moses was with our ancestors the assembly of God's people in the
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  wilderness when the angels spoke to him at Mount Sinai.
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  And there Moses received life giving words to pass on to us.
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  But our ancestors refused to listen to Moses.
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  They rejected him and wanted to return to Egypt.
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  They told Aaron, make us some gods who can lead us, for we
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  don't know what has become of this Moses who brought us out of
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  Egypt. So they made an idol shaped like
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  a calf, and they sacrificed to it and celebrated over this
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  thing they had made. Then God turned away from them
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  and abandoned them to serve the stars of heaven as their gods.
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  In the Book of the Prophets, it is written, Was it to me you
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  were bringing sacrifices and offerings during those 40 years
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  in the wilderness. Israel.
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  No. You carried your Pagan gods, the
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  shrine of Molech, and the star of your God Refan, and the
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  images you made to worship them. So I will send you into exile as
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  far away as Babylon. Our ancestors carried the
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  Tabernacle with them through the wilderness.
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  It was constructed according to the plan God had shown Moses
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  years later, when Joshua led our ancestors in battle against the
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  nations that God drove out of this land, the Tabernacle was
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  taken with them into their new territory, and it stayed there
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  until the time of King David. David found favor with God and
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  asked for the privilege of building a permanent temple for
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  the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who actually
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  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 the earth is my
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  footstool. Could you build me a temple as
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  good as that? Ask the Lord, Could you build me
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  such a resting place? Didn't my hands make both heaven
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  and earth You stubborn people? You are heathen at heart and
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  death to the 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 Steven's
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  accusation, and they shook their fists at him in rage.
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  But Steven, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily into
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  heaven and saw the glory of God. And he saw Jesus standing in the
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  place of honor 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 honor 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.
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  Lord Jesus received my spirit. He fell to his knees shouting,
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  Lord, don't charge them with this sin, and with that he died.
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  Jesus, faith in you is not a new religion.
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  It's not a new deal. It is not something that has
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  sprung up out of nothing. But you are the promise
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  long-awaited of the God of the universe, who in the beginning
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  created everything. You are indeed that one and same
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  God, Jesus. And we just praise you, our
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  triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
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  We thank You, Father, for creating the world.
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  We thank You, Jesus, for coming and for saving us.
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  And we thank you, Holy Spirit, for living here in our hearts to
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  be with us every day. God, you are incredible and we
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  love you and we recognize you as sovereign.
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  And it's in your mighty name that we pray.
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  Amen.