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Day 2 | Dream Big Devotional | Jodi Miller · Life Community Church

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Good morning, church family.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to our spiritual journey daily devo.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: I am so excited to be on this journey with you.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: I pray that you will check in, tune in so that we can be united all month long as we seek to draw close and hear the Lord's voice during these 21 days.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: This morning I'm going to be talking to us about coming from Acts chapter 7.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: And let me just lay a little groundwork for you.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Acts chapter 6 is when there's problems erupting in this new church gathered around Christ and his leaving.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: And so they've been deputized to expand the kingdom.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: And in Acts chapter 6, seven men were selected, prayed about, chosen to do the ministry of the work, which at that time was taking care of widows, distributing food.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: So chapter six, Stephen is one of those seven men who was chosen to help care for the widows and distribute food.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: So the church is growing at this time.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: Oppositions to the Christians are rising, and Stephen was seized.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: He was, and here was the allegation against him.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: They said that he was speaking against this holy place, that Jesus of Nazareth was going to destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: The temple was the center of their world.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: He was talking about the temple, the place where God dwells.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: How dare he?
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: They seized him.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: So this is where we are in chapter seven.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: And they're asking Stephen, are these accusations true?
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: Did you say this about the temple?
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: And let me just paint the picture of what this crowd around him was like.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: Here's some of the verbs that lead up to the last, what would be the last sermon of Stephen's life.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: They argued against him.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: They persuaded men to blaspheme him.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: They stirred people up against him.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: They seized him.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: They produced false witnesses.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: And it is in the face of this crowd, this angry mob, that Stephen speaks.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: And he will go on for 52 verses, starting with Abraham all the way through Solomon's temple, painting the retelling the story to them, the story that they know very well about God and his people and how Jesus is God.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: Towards the end of his sermon, just like the last few verses, this is what he says before they stone him to death.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: And he's quoting Isaiah and he says, Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: What kind of house will you build for me?
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: says the Lord.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: And so when he says that, they get so angry because he is blaspheming the most holy place in their world.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: This is our text, our scripture that we're memorizing together, and I hope you'll memorize it.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's from 2 Chronicles 2, 5, and 6.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: And it's when Solomon is talking about the temple, and he says, this must be the most magnificent temple, because our God is greater than all other gods.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: Not even the highest heavens can contain him.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so Stephen is saying that very thing: heaven is my throne.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: This is the magnificent place where I live.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: What kind of place will you make for me to dwell in?
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: And here's the thing: that magnificent temple, those magnificent heavens, those magnificent earth in all its grandeur, none of those places is where God wants to dwell.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: Not in Stephen's day and not today.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: He wants to dwell in these human suits.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: What kind of place will you make for him to dwell?
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: He wants to dwell in 52-year-old women.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: He wants to dwell in 10-year-old children.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: He wants to dwell in 70-year-old men and women.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: That is the magnificent places he chooses to dwell.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so the question that angered those who are around Stephen, what kind of place can you make for him?
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: What kind of place will you make?
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: Heaven is where he lives, the earth is his footstool.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: And so I am wondering, you think of this place?
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: This is the temple that the Lord God wants to dwell in.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: Not in a building.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: We bring his presence together in us.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: But my question for us this morning is: is he allowed full access to this temple?
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: I'm thinking of a home when you greet someone, you let them come into your home and you're like, welcome, this is my home.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: Make yourself comfortable here.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: Here is the restroom.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: Here is some refreshments.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: Here is whatever.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: But do you say, but don't go in this room?
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you have a junk room or the utility room.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: Don't go in this room.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: Or maybe you have a room that hasn't been cleaned.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: Don't go in this room.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord wants to dwell comfortably, fully in these temples.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: So will you give him access to every place, every part of you?
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: This is my challenge for me, for you.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: What kind of place will you build for him?
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: What kind of house will you build for me?
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: When the accusers stood against Stephen, they were like, No, we are not building a house like that.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: And they killed him.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm wondering if you're asking if you're allowing the Lord to have full access as we take these 21 days to work and look at our interior so that the Lord can work in us, so that He can work through us.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: Let me pray for us.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, when I think about Stephen that day in the face of that angry mob, it said that his face shone that he could see Jesus standing up in the face of that angry mob.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: And that he was brave enough to say what to challenge their infrastructures, to challenge what they knew, not because he didn't like them, because he loved them.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: He was like, the Lord wants to dwell within you, not in this temple.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: So Lord, I pray for your people today that the place they would make for you, the dwelling places that you choose to habitate, humans, humanity, Lord, that we would give you free access to every room in these temples.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name I pray.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.