Latest / Scripture Unscripted / Acts chapter 7

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Acts chapter 7 · Scripture Unscripted

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  Acts Chapter 7, let us pray our Lord God who reigns on high,
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  thank you Father, for another day to come and worship you in
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  spirit and truth. Lord, we cry out, come, Lord
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  come. We look up and we see our
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  redemption is drawing near. We know that we are closer today
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  than we were yesterday. God, help us to be found with
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  our lamps full. God, I pray you will help us to
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  be bathed in the blood of Jesus Christ.
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  God, I pray that we can stand in your holy presence and be holy
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  just as you are holy. God, I thank you that we are
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  justified and at one with you. God, I pray that we will sink
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  into the reality that our prayers are a pleasing aroma
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  unto you and that we can come to you into the holiest of holy
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  places. God, and make our prayers and
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  supplications known unto you and you answer them.
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  Lord, I pray that we can walk in the Spirit today.
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  God, I pray against discontentment.
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  God, I pray against the schemes of the enemy.
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  God, I pray against the spirit of Mammon and the spirit of
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  delusion. God, I pray that we can have
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  clarity of mind, the mind of Christ.
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  Let us be your hands and feet. Father, we only want you and you
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  alone. Teach us your eternal paths,
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  Holy Spirit. Teach us.
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  Fill us today Holy Spirit, I decrease as you increase.
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  Father, hide me and hide my words and hide my thoughts.
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  God and you have the last say. Let us obey the revealed will of
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  this word. Let us put on the full armor to
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  day and go to war against the enemy and against the Spirit
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  behind all of the evil in this world.
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  God, we wore on our knees. God, we war against all of the
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  darkness in the world. Lord, in the name of Jesus
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  Christ, and by that name only do we come boldly.
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  We stand on truth today. We tell the truth today, we put
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  on righteousness today, the righteousness of Christ, and
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  live the right way that you have mandated for us.
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  God, we remember our salvation story.
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  God, we remember our testimony. Help us to share it with others.
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  We run the race. God telling people of the
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  gospel. I pray for peace today.
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  Lord. Lord, increase our faith and
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  give us the gift of faith today and help us to rightly divide
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  the Word. God, help us to understand these
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  words today. I pray that you are well pleased
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  with the reading of the Scripture today.
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  Lord, I pray that you will give us your doctrine in theology,
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  Father, not man's. Let us receive divine counsel
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  from you today. Father, we love you, Jesus
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  Christ, and it's in your holy and precious name that we pray.
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  Amen. Let's start in verse one then
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  said the high priest are these things.
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  So what things is he talking about?
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  Well, you have to go to the last chapter to understand that
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  Stephen is full of the Holy Ghost and he's arrested on false
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  charges. And the men could not overpower
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  the wisdom that was given to him.
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  And now they've stirred up false witnesses.
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  And here he's brought before the high priest, and the high priest
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  is up to the same garbage again. Verse 2.
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  And he said, men, brothers, fathers, listen, the God of
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  glory appeared unto our father Abraham when he was in
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  Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran.
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  So here Stephen is showing them that their temple means nothing.
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  He's saying, look, you, you're banking on God being here in
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  this only literal geographical place, but you forget that God
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  is over the whole world. The whole earth is the Lord's
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  and everything in it. The people that the beast and
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  all of creation proclaim his name.
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  And Stephen is going to paint a masterpiece to show them that
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  they cannot believe the lie that God is only for the Jews, and
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  that God is only dwelling in the temple, and they go to the
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  temple alone, and that's where God is.
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  He's going to show them that God was in Haran, that God was in
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  Mesopotamia when he called Abraham.
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  He's about to show them the air of their ways. 3 And said unto
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  him, Get you out of your country, and from your kindred,
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  and coming to the land which I shall show you, do you have the
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  wherewithal and the fortitude to first of all hear the voice of
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  God, and second of all, to obey like Abraham did.
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  I pray that as you get into the Word of God and God speaks to
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  you, that you have the wherewithal and fortitude to
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  obey these words and not to discredit and discount and try
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  to water them down for your own selfishness.
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  We need to be found obeying these words just like our father
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  Abraham, the father of faith did.
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  For then came he out of the land of the Chaldeans, and dwelt in
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  Haran, and from there, when his father was dead, he removed him
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  into this land where you now dwell.
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  So Stephen is showing them that God was with Abraham then, and
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  he will be with us no matter where we go.
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  Church is not a building. Church is the people.
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  We are the church friends. Five.
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  And he gave him no inheritance in it.
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  No, not so much as to set his foot on.
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  And yet he promised that he would give it to him for a
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  possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no
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  child, so he was. Abraham was childless and of old
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  age, and his wife Sarah was barren.
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  And God promised that he would not only inherit the promised
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  land, but he would also have descendants more numerous than
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  the stars and the sand on the seashore.
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  And that is you, and that is me. And he can raise up children to
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  Abraham from the Stone's friends.
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  And he's about to Stevens showing them he's taking them
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  through the history that they are already well acquainted
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  with. But he is spinning it in a way
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  that is going to cut them to the heart because they're going to
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  realize that they have done exactly what the Israelites did
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  before they were pushed out in the days of Babylon, when they
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  came against them right before they were sent into captivity.
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  They're going to realize that, and it was a very short amount
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  of time after Jesus died and the early church was birthed, that
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  Rome came in and destroyed the very temple that they're trying
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  to hold on to. And God knows how to get our
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  attention off of this world and onto Him.
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  And it is His business to lead the elect home.
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  And He will use every single measure available and every
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  single thing that is in this world to get our eyes and our
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  minds and our hearts off of the world and onto Him.
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  That is His business and He will make sure that we are sanctified
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  in this little 100 years time. And if you will not make a
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  decision for him in 100 years, you wouldn't do it in 10
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  lifetimes. 6 And God spoke in this way, that his seed should
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  dwell in a strange land, and that they should bring them into
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  bondage and entreat them evil 400 years.
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  So he's talking about the Israelites having to go down
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  into Egypt. 7 In the nation to whom they shall be in bondage, I
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  will judge, said God. And after that they shall come
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  forth and serve me in this place.
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  So he led them, he led Abraham to the Promised Land, but he did
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  not give him any of it. But he told him that in the
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  future they would come back to that place and to the land
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  flowing with milk and honey. And as we get into Genesis later
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  on, we're going to see all these stories play out.
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  But just know that the Jews of this time, the Sanhedrin of this
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  time, the high priest of this time, they were well acquainted
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  with all these stories of how God works and Abraham and Moses.
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  But here Stephen is showing them that they were not looking
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  through the lens of God's heart. And we can do the same.
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  It is not enough to just know Him, we must be known by him.
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  It is not enough to just know the Scriptures.
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  We must know the author of the Scriptures, in the heart of the
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  author of the Scriptures. And he will be well pleased to
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  show us his heart and his mind and his thoughts of all
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  Scripture congruent, working together, Scripture,
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  interpreting Scripture, friends, is what we need.
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  We've got to get out of these little sound bites that are
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  leading us astray. A.
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  And he gave him the covenant of circumcision.
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  And so Abraham had Isaac and circumcised him on the 8th day,
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  And Isaac had Jacob, and Jacob had the 12 patriarchs.
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  So he's showing him that we serve the God of Abraham, Isaac,
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  and Jacob. And if you go back and check the
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  track record, friends, what you're going to find is God is
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  not just hyper fixated upon Israel, they are his peculiar
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  chosen people. Praise God, Hallelujah.
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  Jesus is going to rule and reign from Jerusalem during his
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  thousand year reign. Praise God, Hallelujah.
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  That nation will be preserved until the coming of the Lord
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  Jesus Christ, praise God, Hallelujah.
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  But we need to know that God is for the whole world, and He has
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  a representative from every tribe, language and people
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  group. Praise God, Hallelujah, we love
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  you Lord. 9 And the patriarchs moved with envy.
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  They sold Joseph into Egypt, but God was with him.
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  So God was with him in Haran, and God was with him when he led
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  him into Egypt. God was with him.
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  So imagine what he's trying to tell the high priest and the
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  council there, that God is not just in the temple. 10 and
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  delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor
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  and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt, And he
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  made him governor over Egypt and all his house. 11 Now there came
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  a dearth over the land of Egypt and Canaan, and a great
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  affliction, and our fathers found no sustenance. 12:00 But
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  when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt, he sent out our
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  fathers first. 13 And at the second time Joseph was made
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  known to his brothers, and Joseph's kindred was made known
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  unto Pharaoh. 14 Then sent Joseph, and called his father
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  Jacob to him, and all his kindred three score and 15
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  souls. So Jacob went down into Egypt
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  and died, he and our fathers. 16 and were carried over into
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  Psychum, and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a sum of
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  money of the sons of Emor the father of Sikkim. 17 And when
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  the time of the promise drew near, which God had sworn to
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  Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt, 18 till
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  another king arose which knew not Joseph. 19 The same dealt
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  subtly with our kindred, and evil entreated our fathers, so
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  that they cast out their young children to the end they might
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  not live. So this was whenever the Pharaoh
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  of the time demanded that all the Hebrew boys be cast into the
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  Nile. And we can see here that it was
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  a satanic attack. And we know that in the garden
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  when God was pronouncing all of the judgment, he told the
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  serpent, he told the devil that he would bruise his heel, that
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  he would bruise the Savior's heel, but he would crush his
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  head. So ever since that time, Satan
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  has been running scared, trying to figure out ways for his head
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  not to be crushed. We need to know, friends, that
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  it is a promise is not a suggestion.
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  God promised Satan that his head would be crushed.
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  He's already bruised the heel, but Jesus rose back from the
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  dead. Go and read Revelation, the end
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  of Revelation where it says that Satan will be cast into the lake
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  of fire forever, never to return.
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  Friends, that is his end. He's done finito, finished,
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  cooked, and we look forward to that day.
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  We don't give him lip service. We don't fear him.
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  In the name of Jesus Christ we overcome the enemy by the blood
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  of the Lamb and the words of our testimony. 20 In which time
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  Moses was born, and was exceeding fair and nourished up
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  in his father's house three months.
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  So they hid him, but when they could not hide him anymore, they
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  made a basket for him. 21 And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's
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  daughter took him up and nourished him for his own, for
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  her own son. So here we can see that Moses
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  grew up, even though he was a Hebrew, he grew up in royalty in
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  Pharaoh's court, learning all of the Egyptian ways. 22 In Moses
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  was learning in the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in
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  words and deeds. 23 And when he was 40 years old, it came into
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  his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel.
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  So he found out that he was an Israelite that was saved during
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  that wicked time when they were trying to annihilate the Jews.
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  And it's no different when you can see so many different
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  attacks on the Jewish nation. They are the most persecuted
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  people group on planet earth. And it is satanic every single
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  time that we have anti-Semitism and try to raise and rise up
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  against the Jews. And far be it from the church to
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  turn their backs on the Jewish nation and on the Jewish people.
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  24 And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him and
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  avenged him. That was oppressed and struck
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  the Egyptian. 25 For he supposed his brothers would have
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  understood how that God by his hand would deliver them, but
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  they understood not. So they didn't understand that
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  Moses was going to try and deliver them at this time.
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  So you can see that it was not yet time for Moses to deliver
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  them, but this was a precursor to him being the deliverer of
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  that nation out of Egypt. 26th And the next day he showed
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  himself unto them as they strove, and would have them, and
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  would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, your
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  brothers, why are you doing 1 to another?
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  Why do you do wrong one to another?
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  27 But he that did his neighbor wrong thrust him away, saying,
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  Who made you a ruler and a judge over US?
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  28 Will you kill me, as you did the Egyptian yesterday?
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  So here we can see another little indicator of how the
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  Jewish nation treated Moses with contempt when Moses was their
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  Liberator. And you're going to see that for
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  40 years in the wilderness. 29 Then Moses fled at this saying,
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  and was a stranger in the land of Median, where he had two
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  sons. 30 and when 40 years were expired.
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  There appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai an
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  Angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a Bush.
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  This is a Christophany, the Lord Jesus speaking to him out of the
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  Bush. 31 And Moses saw it, and wondered at the sight, and he
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  drew near to behold it, and the voice of the Lord came unto him,
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  32 saying, I am the God of your father's, the God of Abraham,
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  Isaac, and Jacob. Then Moses trembled, and durst
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  not behold. 33 Then said the Lord to him, Take off your shoes
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  from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.
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  So here Stephen is taking this high council to task.
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  He is showing them just how evil they are and how God is
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  everywhere all at once. He's omnipresent friends.
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  He is not just dwelling in the holiest of holy places.
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  We cannot make him a home on this earth.
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  He was well pleased to dwell with them as long as their
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  hearts were right. He was well pleased for them to
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  be the priests of the world, but they squandered that liberty.
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  They squandered that position in high office by making it all
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  about sin and self and money and greed and power. 34 I have seen,
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  I have seen the affliction of my people, which is in Egypt, and I
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  have heard they're groaning and come down to deliver them.
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  And now come, I will send you into Egypt. 35 Then Moses, whom
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  they refused, saying, Who made you a ruler and a judge?
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  The same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the
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  hand of the Angel which appeared to him in the Bush. 36.
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  He brought them out. After that he showed wonders and
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  signs in the land of Egypt and in the Red Sea and in the
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  wilderness for 40 years. 37 This is that Moses, which said unto
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  the children of Israel, a prophet, shall the Lord your God
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  raise up unto you of your brothers, like unto me him you
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  shall hear. We know that he's talking about
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  the Lord Jesus Christ, and that Jesus was coming into the land
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  to be the deliverer to deliver them out of bondage of sin. 38
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  This is he that was in the church in the wilderness with
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  the Angel which spoke to him, in the Mount Sinai with our fathers
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  who received the lively oracles to give unto us.
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  So we know that the 10 commandments came by Moses, and
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  we know that Jesus was the fulfillment of the law. 39 to
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  whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in
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  their hearts turned back again into Egypt.
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  This is what the High Council, this is what the Sanhedrin is
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  doing. They're doing exactly what the
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  children in the wilderness did. Whenever God LED them out of
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  Egypt and was leading them into the Promised Land, they wanted
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  to go back into sin. This is what happened when you
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  see right before the Babylonian captivity that God sent Isaiah
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  and He sent Ezekiel and He sent Jeremiah, and He was telling
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  them over and over and over to turn and to repent and to come
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  back. Quit listening to the false
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  prophets. But they would not because they
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  were steeped in idolatry. And here the Jews of Jesus's
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  time, in the early church's time, they're steeped in
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  idolatry as well. And it is idol worship when we
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  refuse God and serve self. 40 saying unto Aaron, make us gods
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  to go before us. As for this Moses, who brought
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  us out of the land of Egypt, we want not what has become of him.
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  So this is when Moses went up on the mountain, and his face was
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  shining, and he stayed there with the Lord God.
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  And I'm sure this Shekinah glory, he was undone.
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  And he came down, and they asked him to cover his face. 41 And
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  they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the
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  idol, and rejoice in the works of their own hands.
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  And we do the same today. Far be it from us to be idol
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  worshippers and to worship the things that are made to worship
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  creation more than the Creator. 42 Then God turned and gave them
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  up to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the
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  book of the prophets. O you, House of Israel, have you
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  offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of 40
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  years in the wildernesses? So here we can see that God gave
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  them over to a reprobate mind. God gave them over to their
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  sinful desires, and he'll do the same to us when we turn away
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  from him. 43 Yeah, He took up the Tabernacle of Molech and the
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  star of your God R.E.M. fam figures which you made to
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  worship them. And I will carry you away beyond
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  Babylon. So yeah, he's he is mentioning
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  the idol worship of the Israelites before the Babylonian
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  captivity. And he's saying I'm going to
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  take you further than that in the judgment.
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  You're going to go to hell and you are going to go into eternal
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  damnation and destruction if you will not obey me and if you will
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  not turn to me. And he's saying that you are no
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  different, with you serving child sacrifices and serving
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  astrology. 44 Our fathers had the Tabernacle of witness in the
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  wilderness, as he had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he
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  should make it according to the fashion that he had seen. 45
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  Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Jesus into
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  the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drove out before the
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  face of our fathers unto the days of David.
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  So you can see here that this Christophany that appeared in
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  the burning Bush, in the Christophany that has happened
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  throughout all of the Old Testament is referenced.
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  And we see here that Moses obeyed the words of Jesus,
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  obeyed the words of him when he walked bodily on this earth
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  before the days of his incarnation, but whenever he
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  came in bodily form. And you can see here that Moses
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  understood, and the people grieved God by always turning
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  back to their selfish idol worship. 46 Who found favor
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  before God and desire to find a Tabernacle for the God of Jacob.
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  So he's talking about how David desired to build him a house,
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  but 47 but Solomon built him the house. 48 How be it?
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  The Most High dwells not in temples made with hands, as said
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  the prophet. 49 Heaven is my throne, earth is my footstool.
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  What house will you build me, Says the Lord, Or what is the
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  place of my rest? Stephen here is showing the high
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  Council how much they have erred, and thinking that God
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  only dwells in the temple. Heaven is his throne, earth is
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  his footstool. He does not dwell in houses, He
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  does not dwell in temples. We are the Church friends. 50
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  Has not my hand made all these things?
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  51 You stiff necked, uncircumcised in heart and ears?
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  You do always resist the Holy Ghost, as your Father's did, and
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  so do you. So Stephen is showing them that
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  they are in the same position that the Israelites found
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  themselves in before the Babylonian captivity.
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  And here in a short space they are going to find Rome coming in
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  and destroying their temple and driving them into distant lands,
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  and they will not be regathered again until 1948.
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  Do not grieve and resist the Holy Spirit. 52 Which of the
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  prophets have not your Father's persecuted, and they have slain
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  them, which showed before of the coming of the just, one of whom
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  you have now the betrayers and murderers, 53 who have received
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  the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.
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  Stephen here is not holding any punches.
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  He is making sure that they understand that God does not
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  just dwell in the holiest of holy places.
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  God is over all, He is sovereign, He is the King of the
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  universe. And they had erred thinking that
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  he only was their God and they could just manipulate him.
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  And they feared man more than they feared God.
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  And Steven saw right through it. And God was using Steven as a
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  mouthpiece and a megaphone to show them that in a short time
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  their little Playhouse would be taken away from them. 54 When
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  they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they
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  gnashed on him with their teeth. So here, this is the grinding of
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  the teeth. They couldn't wait for him to
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  shut up, so that they could kill him and murder him and stone him
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  and throw him off a Cliff. 55 But he, being full of the Holy
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  Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and he saw the
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  glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God.
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  So Jesus stood up. At this we know that Jesus is
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  seated at the right hand of God. But here the Bible tells us that
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  Jesus stood up, perhaps with a round of applause for Stephen,
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  and how he showed them how desperately they needed to turn
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  their hearts and their minds over to the Lamb that was slain.
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  Here you can see that these religious folk are allocated
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  with hell, with this gnashing of teeth. 56 and said, Behold, I
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  see the heavens open, and the Son of Man standing on the right
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  hand of God. And this is what Jesus told
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  Caiaphas whenever he had him in the mock trial.
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  There he told him that he would see him seated at the right hand
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  of God and coming with all the angels.
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  And that is what got Caiaphis to tear his robe and accuse him of
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  blasphemy and give him over to Pilate. 57 Then they cried out
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  with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him
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  with 1 accord. So they mob rushed him 58 and
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  cast him out of the city and stoned him.
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  And the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's
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  feet, whose name was Saul. Lots of interesting points here.
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  We need to understand that Stephen gave them a powerful
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  point by point lecture on how they were turning against God
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  Almighty. And here they refused to repent.
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  They refused to confess that the blood of Jesus Christ was on
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  their hands and they wanted to just to silence Him.
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  They wanted to just shut Him up. They wanted to just get rid of
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  them. And it's no different in our day
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  and our hour when men and women of faith rise up and speak the
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  truth. We should not be surprised
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  whenever we are marginalized, ridiculed, cancelled, subtly
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  persecuted, and then eventually outright persecuted.
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  And we can see here the Saul of Tarsus is mentioned and he's
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  witnessing all of it. He heard Stevens lecture.
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  He heard Stevens whole dialogue. And it is going to change him as
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  he goes on. We're going to see this Saul
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  write 1/3 of our New Testament. We're going to see this Saul
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  become an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, a super apostle.
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  59 And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God and saying,
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  Lord, Jesus received my spirit. 60 And he kneeled down and cried
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  with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.
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  And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
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  This is the way of the Lord, and this calls for understanding.
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  Do not kill. Do not fear the one that can
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  kill the body, but fear the one that can kill the body and cast
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  your soul into hell. Steven got it right, and I pray
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  that we will too. Let's not count this life as
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  anything. Let's be found doing whatever it
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  is that the Lord lays on our heart.
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  Let's be found studying the scriptures and giving ourselves
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  over to prayer. Let's be found taking the whole
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  word to the whole world. Let's be found going into the
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  hardest places. Let's be found taking back enemy
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  territory. Let's be found friends, laying
• 36:52
  down our lives for our brothers, taking up our cross daily and
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  following Jesus Christ. He is the road map, He is the
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  treasure, He is the guide, He is the voice, He is our everything.
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  We need to make sure that we stay close, stay close to Him so
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  you can hear his still small voice.
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  Let go of this world, let go of the things of this world, let go
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  of sin and self and follow Jesus closely.
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  I hope you've been blessed by this chapter.
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  I know I sure have. I'm praying for you, I love you,
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  love you so much. I'm thankful you're on this
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  journey. These are the words of life.
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  Let them wash over you today and cleanse you of all iniquity.
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  The word became flesh. We know that He is the Word.
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  We'll see you back here tomorrow.
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  God bless you.