Latest / Bible Chat Devotional / February 7 - Faithfulness Beyond Human Approval

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February 7 - Faithfulness Beyond Human Approval · Bible Chat Devotional

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  Welcome to Bible Chat, where we have devotional conversations
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  rooted in Scripture and relevant for today, February 7th.
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  Walk straight, stand strong. Have you ever felt that quiet
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  pull to just blend in, To not make waves, to do what everyone
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  else is doing, even though something inside you says this
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  isn't right? That tension shows up more often
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  than we like to admit. It's in the small moments, the
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  shortcuts, the half truths, the compromises we tell ourselves
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  don't really matter. But those moments are shaping us
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  more than we realize. Proverbs chapter 10, verse 9
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  speaks directly into that space. It says whoever walks in
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  integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will
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  be found out. Integrity isn't about being
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  perfect. It's about choosing a straight
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  path, even when a crooked 1 looks easier.
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  God's Word reminds us that integrity brings security.
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  There's a quiet confidence that comes when you don't have to
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  look over your shoulder, when you don't have to keep track of
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  lies or excuses, when your life lines up with what you say you
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  believe. Acts Chapter 7 gives us one of
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  the most powerful pictures of what it means to stand strong.
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  Stephen is facing intense opposition.
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  He's misunderstood, falsely accused, and surrounded by
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  people who want to silence him. Yet Acts Chapter 7 verse 55
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  tells us that Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into
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  heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right
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  hand of God. In his hardest moment, Stephen
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  wasn't focused on fear, anger, or self preservation.
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  His eyes were fixed on Jesus. That detail matters.
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  Scripture often describes Jesus seated at the right hand of God,
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  but here he is standing. It's as if heaven is leaning in.
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  Jesus is not distant, He is present, He is watching.
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  He is honoring Stephen's courage.
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  Stephen's strength didn't come from his personality or his
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  words. It came from where he was
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  looking. We face different pressures, but
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  the same choice. Will we walk straight or will we
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  bend when it gets uncomfortable? Will we protect our integrity or
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  trade it for temporary approval? Keeping your eyes on Jesus
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  doesn't remove the difficulty, but it gives you strength to
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  stand when it comes. When you walk in integrity, you
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  may not always be applauded, but you will be secure.
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  When you fix your eyes on Jesus, you may still face resistance,
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  but you will never stand alone. Courage grows when compromise
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  stops. Peace follows when your path is
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  straight. Let's pray.
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  Heavenly Father, thank you for reminding me that integrity
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  matters. Help me to walk straight, even
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  when it would be easier to take shortcuts or blend in.
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  Fill me with your Holy Spirit just as you filled Stephen, so I
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  can keep my eyes fixed on Jesus when pressure comes.
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  Give me courage to stand strong, confidence to live honestly, and
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  peace that comes from knowing you are with me in Jesus name,
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  Amen. What if the way you pray changed
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  because you truly knew who God is?
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  The Supreme God Part 1 is an 8 book devotional and prayer
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  journey that unveils the power, presence and glory of God
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  through his biblical names. In Elohim you encounter God, the
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  mighty Creator who forms and sustains all things.
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  Yahweh draws you into relationship with the eternal I
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  AM who is present and faithful. Adonai calls you to surrender to
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  the Lord and Master who leads and directs your steps.
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  El Elian reveals the God Most High, exalted above every power
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  and authority. El Shaddai introduces the all
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  sufficient God who nourishes and strengthens you.
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  El Olam It anchors your faith in the everlasting God whose
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  purposes never fail. Elroy assures you that you are
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  seen, known, and cared for by a compassionate father, and El
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  Gibor awakens confidence in the mighty God who defends,
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  delivers, and prevails. Through Scripture, devotional
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  insight, and prophetic prayer scripts, this series teaches you
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  to pray from revelation, worship with understanding, and walk
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  boldly in God's character. If you're ready to elevate your
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  prayer life and rediscover the God you serve or to the Supreme
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  God Part One on Amazon today or visit prayerscripts.org to begin
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  your journey. Now I invite you to spend time
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  with God in today's three-year Bible reading plan Proverbs
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  chapter 10 verses 9 to 10 World English Bible.
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  He who walks blamelessly walks surely, but he who perverts his
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  ways will be found out. One who winks with the eye
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  causes sorrow, but a chattering fool will fall.
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  Acts Chapter 7, World English Bible.
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  The high priest said, Are these things So?
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  He said, Brothers and fathers, listen.
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  The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in
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  Mesopotamia, before he lived in Heron, and said to him, Get out
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  of your land and away from your relatives, and come into a land
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  which I will show you. Then he came out of the land of
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  the Chaldeans and lived in Heron from there.
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  When his father was dead, God moved him into this land where
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  you are now living. He gave him no inheritance in
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  it, no, not so much as to set his foot on.
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  He promised that he would give it to him for a possession and
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  to his offspring after him. When he still had no child.
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  God spoke in this way that his offspring would live as aliens
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  in a strange land and that they would be enslaved and mistreated
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  for 400 years. I will judge the nation to which
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  they will be in bondage, said God.
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  And after that they will come out and serve me in this place.
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  He gave him the covenant of circumcision.
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  So Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him the
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  8th day. Isaac became the father of
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  Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the 12 patriarchs.
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  The patriarchs moved with jealousy against Joseph, sold
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  him into Egypt. God was with him, and delivered
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  him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom
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  before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He made him governor over Egypt
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  and all his house. Now a famine came over all the
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  land of Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction.
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  Our fathers found no food. But when Jacob heard that there
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  was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers the first time.
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  On the second time, Joseph was made known to his brothers, and
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  Joseph's family was revealed to Pharaoh.
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  Joseph sent and summoned Jacob, his father, and all his
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  relatives, 75 souls. Jacob went down into Egypt and
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  he died himself and our fathers, and they were brought back to
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  Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a price
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  in silver from the children of Hammer of Shechem.
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  But as the time of the promise came close, which God had sworn
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  to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt until there
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  arose a different king who didn't know Joseph.
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  The same took advantage of our race and mistreated our fathers
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  and forced them to abandon their babies so that they wouldn't
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  stay alive. At that time Moses was born and
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  was exceedingly handsome to God. He was nourished 3 months in his
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  father's house. When he was abandoned, Pharaoh's
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  daughter took him up and reared him as her own son.
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  Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians.
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  He was mighty in his words and works.
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  But when he was 40 years old, it came into his heart to visit his
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  brothers, the children of Israel.
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  Seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him and avenged him
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  who was oppressed, striking the Egyptian.
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  He supposed that his brothers understood that God by his hand
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  was giving them deliverance, but they didn't understand.
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  The day following he appeared to them as they fought and urged
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  them to be at peace again, saying, Sirs, you are brothers,
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  why do you wrong one another? But he who did his neighbor
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  wrong pushed him away, saying, Who made you a ruler and a judge
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  over us? Do you want to kill me as you
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  killed the Egyptian yesterday? Moses fled at this saying and
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  became a stranger in the land of Midian, where he became the
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  father of two sons. When 40 years were fulfilled, an
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  Angel of the Lord appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount
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  Sinai in a flame of fire in a Bush.
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  When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight.
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  As he came close to see, the voice of the Lord came to him.
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  I am the God of your father's, the God of Abraham, the God of
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  Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Moses trembled and dared not
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  look. The Lord said to him, Take off
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  your sandals, for the place where you stand is holy ground.
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  I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are
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  in Egypt and have heard their groaning.
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  I have come down to deliver them.
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  Now Come, I will send you into Egypt.
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  This Moses, whom they refused, saying, Who made you a ruler and
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  a judge? God has sent him as both a ruler
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  and a deliverer. By the hand of the Angel who
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  appeared to him in the Bush. This man LED them out, having
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  worked wonders and signs in Egypt, in the Red Sea, and in
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  the wilderness for 40 years. This is that Moses, who said to
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  the children of Israel, the Lord our God will raise up a profit
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  for you from among your brothers like me.
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  This is he who was in the assembly in the wilderness, with
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  the Angel that spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our
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  fathers who received living revelations to give to us, to
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  whom our fathers wouldn't be obedient, but rejected him and
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  turned back in their hearts to Egypt, saying to Aaron, Make us
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  gods that will go before us. For As for this Moses who led us
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  out of the land of Egypt, we don't know what has become of
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  him. They made a calf in those days
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  and brought a sacrifice to the idol and rejoiced in the works
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  of their hands. But God turned away and gave
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  them up to serve the army of the sky, as it is written in the
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  book of the prophets. Did you offer to me slain
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  animals and sacrifices 40 years in the wilderness?
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  O House of Israel, you took up the Tabernacle of Molech, the
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  star of your God, Riffan, the figures which you made to
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  worship, so I will carry you away beyond Babylon.
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  Our fathers had the Tabernacle of the testimony in the
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  wilderness, even as he who spoke to Moses commanded him to make
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  it according to the pattern that he had seen.
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  Which also our fathers in their turn brought in with Joshua,
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  when they entered into the possession of the nations, whom
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  God drove out before the face of our fathers to the days of
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  David, who found favor in the sight of God, and asked to find
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  a habitation for the God of Jacob.
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  But Solomon built him a house. However, the Most High doesn't
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  dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says.
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  Heaven is my throne, and the earth a footstool for my feet.
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  What kind of house will you build me, says the Lord, Or what
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  is the place of my rest? Didn't my hand make all these
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  things? You stiff necked and
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  uncircumcised in heart and ears, You always resist the Holy
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  Spirit as your Father's did, so you do.
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  Which of the prophets didn't your Father's persecute?
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  They killed those who foretold the coming of the righteous, one
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  of whom you have now become betrayers and murderers.
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  You received the law as it was ordained by angels and didn't
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  keep it. Now when they heard these
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  things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him
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  with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy
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  Spirit, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory
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  of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and said,
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  Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man
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  standing at the right hand of God.
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  But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears,
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  then rushed at him. With 1 accord they threw him out
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  of the city and stoned him. The witnesses placed their
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  garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.
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  They stoned Stephen as he called out saying, Lord Jesus, receive
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  my Spirit. He kneeled down and cried with a
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  loud voice. Lord, don't hold the sin against
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  them. When he had said this, he fell
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  asleep. Thanks for joining us on Bible
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  Chat, where Scripture meets everyday life.
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  If today's devotional encouraged you, share it with a friend and
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  be sure to follow the podcast so you won't miss the next
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  conversation. Until next time, stay rooted in
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  truth, anchored in hope, and walking daily with Jesus.