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Acts 7. New Life Version. Stephen Speaks about the God of Abraham. 7 The head religious leader asked Stephen, “Are these things true?” 2 Stephen said, “My brothers and fathers, listen to me. The great God showed Himself to our early father Abraham while he lived in the country of Mesopotamia.
- The Explanation of Stephen’s Message
- The Application of Stephen’s Message
- Conclusion
- Discussion Questions
Rather than working through the message in detail, which would take far more time than I have, I want to show you three dominant themes that are woven throughout it. Also, there are several difficult historical problems that I do not have time to comment on. If you are interested in these, you can consult the best commentaries. But I will mention o...
1. We should rejoice in and proclaim God’s abundant mercy toward hardened sinners.
This is at least the third time that the Sanhedrin, which was responsible for crucifying Jesus, had heard the gospel and had an opportunity to repent. They heard Peter preach after they arrested him and John in connection with the healing of the lame man in the temple (4:1-12). They again heard Peter and the apostles offer them repentance and forgiveness of sins after they had been arrested, miraculously freed, and re-arrested (5:29-32). Now, again, they hear Stephen powerfully set forth God’...
2. We should guard against presuming on God’s grace by falling into a pattern of sin.
Paul tells us that Israel’s history should be a warning to us not to crave evil things as they craved, nor to be idolaters, as they were, nor to act immorally, nor to try the Lord, nor to grumble as they did (1 Cor. 10:6-10). It is a gross misunderstanding and misapplication of God’s grace to presume that we can go on sinning and just keep on claiming His grace. As Paul puts it in Romans 6:1-2, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase? May it never be!” Jud...
3. We should guard against going through the outward motions of worship, when our hearts are far from God.
Israel was God’s chosen nation. They had His covenant promises, His pattern of worship given to Moses on Mount Sinai, the tabernacle where His glory was shown, and then the temple in all its splendor. God had dispossessed the pagan nations and given Israel their land. They had received the law as ordained by angels. Yet in spite of all these privileges, their hearts were far from God! They had a history of killing the prophets that God sent them, culminating in their eventually killing the Lo...
We are going to conclude our service today by partaking of the Lord’s Supper. It is very easy for something we do so often to become an outward ritual that we go through without getting our hearts right before God. Paul warned us that we must first judge ourselves rightly before God, and then partake. If not, we may incur His severe discipline, eve...
Do God’s grace and patience have limits? Is there ever a time when we cannot offer His grace to rebellious sinners?Since we all sin repeatedly in many ways, how can we know if we are presuming on God’s grace?How can we guard against outward Christianity? How can we keep our hearts genuinely close to God?Was Stephen too confrontational in his indictment of his audience? How can we know how confrontational to be when we present the gospel to someone?Genesis 1:1-31 ESV / 22 helpful votesHelpfulNot Helpful. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
6 And God spoke in these terms, that his descendants would be resident aliens in a country belonging to others, who would enslave them and mistreat them during four hundred years. 7 ‘But I will judge the people whom they serve,’ said God, ‘and after that they shall come out and worship me in this place.’
People also ask
What did Stephen say when he saw the Holy Spirit?
What did the head religious leader ask Stephen?
Did Stephen see God on his throne?
What is the theme of Stephen's sermon?
Stephen gazed intently into heaven, his eyes were fixed only on what he saw; heaven is filled with God’s glory. He apparently saw God on His throne, because as he exclaims, Stephen sees Jesus , the Son of Man , standing at the right hand of God.
Jan 2, 2022 · Yes, clearly, for as Psalm 62:1 says ”In God alone my soul finds rest”, and unless Stephen did not hold a slightest doubt in considering the Lord Jesus Christ as having the same divine dignity as God the Father, then he would have been either stupid or enemy of his own salvation to commend his soul not to Father but to Jesus Christ at the ...
Dec 6, 2018 · How did Stephen describe the religious leaders of the council? He described them as stiff-necked with uncircumcised hearts and ears. Almost twenty times in the Old Testament God calls Israel stiff-necked, a figure of speech for being self-willed. What sins did Stephen say the Jews were guilty of?
