 We ask that you would just fill us with so many things, we put our hearts into some help. Fresh outpouring of your spirit, God. So with your spirit, Lord, do equip us, God, the truth. Fill us with your love, your grace, your mercy. For it is in your mighty name that we pray this morning for all these things, in the mighty name of Jesus. We all said, amen. Let's give the Lord the glory, church. That is so good. Family, welcome to Sunday morning. You may have a seat. Welcome online, family, wherever you're watching from, God bless you. We're so glad that you're tuned in. You're worshiping the Lord with us. Let's check out today's announcement video. Let's see what's coming up. Welcome to Calvary Chapel Chino Valley. We have some exciting events coming soon. So let's take a look at this week's announcements. Our athletics ministry has two nights of softball planned for the month of August. Men's and Co-Ed teams will play on Saturday nights, starting this Saturday, August 5th, and again on August 19th at West Wind Park in Ontario. Games will start at 5.30 p.m. and the last game will end around 9 p.m. The cost is just $7 per player per game and is open to anyone ages 15 and up. If you're dating, engaged, or married, you won't wanna miss our upcoming couples conference. We'll kick things off on Friday, August 11th, with a fun-filled evening featuring Christian performer and author, Danny Ray. Danny is one of the few individuals to stump the world-renowned team of Penn and Teller and will bring a show that has captivated thousands of audiences around the world. The night will end with dessert, coffee, and a great time of fellowship. Then, the conference will begin on Saturday, August 12th, with pastor Sandy Adams from Calvary Chapel Stone Mountain. We are also welcoming guest speakers, Jason and Christy Duff, from the Garden Fellowship in Indio. Discounted pricing ends tomorrow, July 31st, so visit us online or in the gazebo after service to purchase your tickets. Our women's ministry is offering a Bible study and healing support group called Pathway, which is designed for women who are sexually broken. This class provides a safe haven for you to share your deepest hurts as you learn to allow God to love you and mend your heart. Classes are held on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. beginning August 15th, and the cost is just $15 to join. Chino Valley Release Time Christian Education is a program available to students in 3rd through 6th grade in the Chino Valley Unified School District. R-T-C-E is a free, Biblically-based curriculum that includes worship, prayer, object lessons, scripture memorization, and more. Representatives will have an information table after services on Sunday, August 13th in the courtyard. Ladies, registration is now open for our fall Bible study. Our small groups will be going through the first 11 chapters of Genesis in a study called God of Creation. You can register for Thursday evening classes, Tuesday morning classes, or Tuesday morning cross trainer mom group, which includes childcare. The cost is $24 for material and signups are available online. Whether you're visiting for the first time or have made Chino Valley your home, we're thankful you're here today. Everything you've heard is just a snapshot of our upcoming events and opportunities to get involved. To find out what else is happening and to sign up or register, visit our website at CalvaryCCV.org. You can also download our free church app and check out the events tab. Thank you for joining us today. As we prepare our hearts and minds for the Bible study, don't forget to place your cell phone on silent and please help us limit distractions by staying seated until service is over. Thank you for being with us and have a blessed week. Well, good morning church family. Welcome to Calvary Chapel Chino Valley. If this is your first time here, wanna say welcome and God bless you. Wanna welcome those who are joining us online and those who are in the patio and overflow. God bless you. This is a time of our service where we take the time to worship the Lord through our giving. But before we do so, just a couple of announcements and reiterate just a couple of things that were mentioned in the video announcements. Today's are all church baptism and that's gonna take place after second service in the courtyard. If you're not familiar where our courtyard is at, if you go out these doors and you'll see a swimming pool right there, that's where our courtyard will be and we'll have ushers there for those who are gonna get baptized to let you in and walk you up the stairs and help you down. For those that are gonna get baptized, we have a meeting immediately after second service here in the sanctuary where Pastor David's gonna talk about the significance of baptism and what baptism's all about and kinda see who needs to be held under just a little bit longer during the baptisms. But I wanna welcome those families that are here to see your loved one being baptized. God bless you. What a special day this is. Again, for those that are gonna be baptized, Pastor David would like to meet you here in the sanctuary right after second service. During the baptisms or before and after the baptisms, our cafe which is, we have a mobile cafe right now, we're gonna be serving pizza and root beer floats, two slices of pizza for $5, root beer floats for $3, along with iced coffee, cold beverages called sodas, chips, cookies, muffins, et cetera. And where your son's screen, I understand it's pretty hot out there. As mentioned in our video announcements that our men were having our men's barbecue on Friday, August 18th at 6.30 p.m. in the courtyard and men, the tickets are on sale now, you can purchase them at the gazebo after service. If you don't know where our gazebo is at, just walk through these doors. You'll see that round little built straight ahead. That's the gazebo. We'll have tickets there for sale for $6 a hamburger, chips and a soft drink. Can't beat that anywhere. Men, invite your friends to come out and join us. We're gonna spend time in God's word. We're gonna fellowship and then we'll be able to eat dinner as well. Today is the last day for those that are here, for their early registration for our couples conference, for those that are engaged, married or dating that wanna attend the couples conference, tickets are on sale at the gazebo. But tomorrow night, their early discount ends at midnight. You can actually register online for that. That's at 11.59 p.m. But for those that are there and wanna get their early pricing registration discount, you can actually go to the gazebo afterwards after service and pick up your tickets there. And then for those that wanna blow out your knee, your hamstring and hurt your back, we are taking softball signets for softballs this Saturday. And you can actually go to the gazebo and purchase, actually register to play softball. And that's gonna be this Saturday and all the information is there at the gazebo for those that are interested in playing softball. And then what we'd like to always keep in front of you is that we have our Israel registration link is at our website. For those that are wanting to go to Israel, we're still taking signups. And that date is gonna be May 7th to the 18th. This last Sunday we had our informational meeting and so it was pretty informative. Those that were signed up or were looking to sign up had questions about the trip. If you are wanting to go and encourage you to go to our website and register for those dates that Pastor David and Marie would welcome you to come join our church family for a once in a lifetime opportunity to visit the Holy Land. As we transition now into our ties and offerings of worshiping the Lord, we know that generosity is an expression of love. And God is the ultimate picture of generosity as he gave us his Son, Jesus Christ, for our salvation that we find in John 3.16. But giving doesn't earn eternal life but is a powerful response to for the love of God that we can express to him. So why do we give back to God? Well in 1 John 3.1 it tells us, behold what manner of love has the Father bestowed on us that we should be called children of God. And in a moment we're able to worship the Lord and give back to him what he's given to us to express our generosity and love for our King as he's demonstrated this for us first. And in a moment the ushers will come by and pass around to what we call in agape bucket for those that worship here with us normally we have the opportunity to give. We're not here for the first time people that hey, you have to give. If it passes by you, it passes by you. We're glad that you're here. But for those who call this church your home, we have the opportunity to worship the Lord through our giving. And for those that are watching online on Facebook and YouTube, there's a link in the chat box that you can click on that opens up a page to give. But in a moment again, the ushers will pass around in a agape bucket. Jared will lead us in a worship song and he will cue you when to stand up during the worship song so we can continue to worship the Lord. But we have this amazing opportunity and this privilege of worshiping the Lord through our giving. So what I'd like to do is pray for the offering and then we'll have another worship song. Let's pray. Father we thank you so much Lord that we're able to take this time out of our service to worship you through song, through the word of God that will be coming up here shortly and through our giving. And Lord we ask that it brings glory to your name, that it furthers your kingdom. And Lord that is an example of your generosity to us. So Lord we take this time to give from our hearts Lord to you. And Lord as we worship you through our giving may you be glorified. And Lord we lift up our pastor as he will teach us out of Acts chapter seven. Lord that our hearts and our minds will be transformed by your spirit and by your word Lord. And that your name would be glorified. And that when we leave here today we're closer to you our King. We love you and we praise you in Jesus name. Amen. We ask that you would speak to us by your word. Lord we thank you for drawing us here. Now we ask that you would instruct us and teach us those things that would make us servants more pleasing to you. We lift up those who are watching online for those who are outside those of us who are here. Those who will see this later. I ask that you would speak to us equally in Jesus name. Amen. Turn to your neighbor and say God bless you. I'm glad you're here. Let's open our Bibles together to the book of Acts. We're gonna be looking at chapter seven. As you do so I'd remind you that on Monday we do have a young adults study starts around 7.30. I'd love to have you if you're a young adult 18 to 28 or so Tuesday morning we do have the men's Bible said breakfast starts at 6.30. Fellows love to have you part of that. Wednesday we continue our study of the book of Romans. We're in chapter 10 and the last time we were together studying that book I took you to right around verse 13 or so we're gonna be picking up and continuing and concluding Romans chapter 10 this upcoming Wednesday night. This last Wednesday we celebrated our 42nd church anniversary it's like a birthday for us and I wanted to do two things. One I wanted to we do have a video that we'll show you and but I wanted to begin my first doing something that I for some reason failed to really do on Wednesday and so I wanted to do it now. I wanted to before all of you but especially to one person to my wife I wanted to say thank you honey for all you've done over these years for this ministry. Yeah love you baby doll and I thank you sweetheart. You know on Wednesday John and I were doing an interview kind of thing and I like to give honor where honor is due and behind every man who does something in his life there's somebody who was there that encouraged, believed and helped and that's my wife and so I failed to really give her the honor that she really deserves and scripture says that we honor those where honor is due and so I honor you sweetheart and I do thank you for all you've done for me and this minister love you baby. Okay now that's how you wrote it did I read it right? We have a little video just to show you how it went if you weren't here. Amen and so here we are in chapter seven let me share with you how we're gonna begin the study. I'm gonna actually take you into verses that are in the previous chapter delay the foundation as I normally do I'll remind you of several of the things that we've already seen as we've traveled through the book of Acts I will be looking at chapter seven in its entirety and I was a little bit nervous if you will I don't know if that's a proper way to put it because chapter seven has 60 verses and I usually will take just a handful of verses and so I'm gonna be doing something in chapter seven that I've been doing up to this point which is summarizing and just pointing to some of the main points and thoughts and so be prepared for that you see because I on Sunday mornings over all these years have only taught through a few Old Testament books I normally teach Old Testament on Wednesday night and so and also when we were having Sunday night services I would teach through an Old Testament book on Sunday night as well as Wednesday but very seldom have I taught through an Old Testament book on a Sunday morning. Well what we're gonna be doing is we're gonna be reading through in a few minutes we're gonna be reading through chapter seven and I'm gonna read the verses to you because it's good that we get those verses and what I'll do is summarize and just basically look at some of the main thoughts of those verses and I'll take us to the end of the chapter and so we were able to do it first service and I'm certain we'll be able to do it at least I pray this service too so let's begin by looking at chapter six I'll read verses eight through 15 and then get into our study doing some introductory comments and all of that and then we'll move into chapter seven. So in chapter six beginning at verse eight Stephen full of faith and power did great wonders and signs among the people and there arose some from what is called the synagogue of the freedmen, Syrenians, Alexandrians those from Silesia and Asia disputing with Stephen and they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spoke. Then they secretly induced men to say we have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God and they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes and they came upon him seized him and brought him to the council. They also set up false witnesses who said this man does not cease to speak blasphemous words against this holy place in the law for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs which Moses delivered to us. And all who sat in the council looking steadfastly at him saw his face as the face of an angel. So as we've been going through the book of Acts we've seen that the church has been growing and is having great impact on Pentecost. Peter had preached and about 3000 people had been saved. So the church had been birthed by the Holy Spirit. God was moving amongst the people. God was so evident among them that they even had found favor with unbelievers. So teaching and fellowship breaking of bread and prayers became the norm. Community and generosity towards those in need became the earmarks of the church. In Acts 2.46 and 47 it says continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart praising God and having favor with all the people and the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. So miracles and spirit filled preaching filled the early days of the church. There had been a man who had been born crippled and he had been healed to the amazement of the people. The result was according to Acts 5.15 and 16 that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches. That at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them. Also a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits and they were all healed. So the presence of the Holy Spirit was so evident that the people could not deny it and they were strickened by the way that God was moving. They dared not join the church in a casual way. Ananias and Sapphira had been judged. Great fear was the result. So the evidence of the movement of the Holy Spirit in the early church was undeniable. There's a writer that I enjoy reading. His name is A.W. Tozer and Tozer once said this. He said if the Holy Spirit was withdrawn from the church today, 95% of what we do would go on and no one would know the difference. If the Holy Spirit had been withdrawn from the New Testament church, 95% of what they did would stop and everybody would know the difference. And so God was moving in a powerful way. Even unbelievers were seeing that something was taking place and they dared not join themselves. They didn't wanna casually get involved with these Christians because something of God was taking place. Well, as God was moving, the enemy tried to block his work. We've seen how the religious leaders began to oppose the apostles. They had commanded them to stop preaching it and to stop ministering in the name of Jesus Christ and twice they took him into custody trying to stop them. But instead of stopping, they were provoked to preach even more powerfully when before the high priest Peter said they would not cease preaching. In Acts 529, it reads Peter and the other apostles answered and said, we ought to obey God rather than men. Well, that infuriated the council. They wanted to kill the apostles. So this had led to them being severely beaten and then they had been released. Well, they had, they had obeyed God rather than men and the church continued to grow. They continued preaching, they continued teaching and people continued being saved. Now that had brought us to chapter six and when we looked at chapter six last time, we saw the first major problem within the church. There was a complaint that certain people were getting preferential treatment and so to deal with the problem, the apostles pointed the people to the solution and they said, select qualified men and we will appoint them to handle this business. You see, they knew the responsibility was prayer in the Word of God and they wouldn't deviate from that. So the people handled that problem. The apostles maintained their priority. So the leaders were chosen, they were set before the apostles for prayer and the result according to verse seven was the Word of God spread and once again people were being saved. If they would have ceased preaching, people would not have been saved and even a great many of the priests who were enemies had been saved. And so as this is taking place in verse eight, Stephen full of faith and power did great wonders and signs among the people. There arose some from what is called the synagogue of the freed men. Sirenians, Alexandrians, those from Salishia and Asia and Ontario, Pomona and Chino disputing with Stephen and they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spoke. And so notice how it speaks of Stephen. He was filled with faith and power. He was the one who did great wonders and signs. Verse five speaks of him being filled with the Holy Spirit. Verse 10 speaks of his wisdom. So this man here is debating with representatives of what is called the synagogue of the freed men. The freed men were Roman Jews who had been emancipated. There were some from Siren and which is Northern Africa from Alexandria which is Egypt from Salishia which is just north of Israel as well as what is called Asia which is Asia Minor. It speaks of Turkey by and large. And notice verse 10. They were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spoke. Now Jesus had given his people a promise. It's found in Luke 21.15. I will give you words in wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. And this particular promise is being fulfilled in the life of Stephen. Now Stephen was not an elder in the church. He was one of the first deacons. He didn't hold a high office but he was highly qualified to preach. His opponents are unable to resist his wisdom as well as the spirit. And so as he's speaking, they're getting frustrated. They can't defeat his argument. And so as often occurs when the argument can't be defeated, well other means are used. So what they do is they trump up a false charge against him and they bring in false witnesses. Verses 11 through 14 says they secretly induced men to say we've heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God. They stirred up the people, the elders and scribes. They came upon him, seized him, brought him to the council. They set up false witness who said this man does not cease to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and the law. We've heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place, change the customs which Moses delivered to us. So those are the false witnesses. Now he was accused of blasphemy against God, Moses and the temple. You need to note that because these were the three most holy relationships that Jews possessed. The relationship with God, the relationship with Moses and the relationship in worship of God in that temple. And so they're saying that they're speaking, he is speaking against these things. Well Jesus didn't come to destroy but rather to fulfill God's promises to Israel and in Matthew 5.17 he said do not think that I've come to abolish the law or the prophets. I haven't come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you until heaven and earth disappear not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen will by any means disappear from the law until everything is accomplished. In Romans chapter 10 we saw this recently in verse four. Paul said Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. When he says Christ is the end of the law, the law is summed up in him, it points to him. And in Galatians 3.24 it says the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. He didn't come to destroy but to fulfill. Now as this is taking place, notice verse 15. All who sat in the council looking steadfastly at him saw his face as the face of an angel. As they're looking at him his face seems to be burning with an inner light. It's a picture of someone who is in the presence of God. That's what this is referring to. And so God is beginning to reveal his approval of what Jesus has done but he's also approving of Stephen as his messenger. So as this is taking place, verse one, the high priest said in chapter seven, are these things so. Stephen begins his defense and in doing so, he preaches his final message. He's giving a defense of the faith to the Jewish Supreme Council. And his defense is basic Jewish history and this defense is gonna have incredible results. What he's doing is he's revealing his thorough knowledge of Scripture as well as Jewish history. So when you look at this and like I said, I'm gonna read through most of it and just touch on a little bit. But it's divided into three basic sections and those sections, each section briefly outlines their history as a nation. Verses two through 16 is going to be sharing on what is called the patriarchal period. That was 2000 BC with Abraham and all. Then you get to verse 17 to verse 43, that's called the Mosaic period which deals with Moses and the law. That's 1400 BC. And then you close with verses 44 through 50 which is speaking of what is called the period of the Tabernacle and then it comes to a conclusion. We'll be looking at that and again I'm gonna be reading a lot of it. I'm not gonna be taking each verse as I normally do one verse at a time but I'm gonna be putting them all together so that we can actually get through this passage today. Now, he was culturally a Greek, more than likely what was called earlier a Hellenist but he reveals a deep understanding of the Jewish Scriptures and in his message and you need to see this, he is actually signing his death warrant, his own death warrant because after rehearsing their history, he cannot plead ignorance. See, they could have looked at him as being just one of those Hellenists, those outsiders and may have had a tendency towards or could have had a tendency towards giving him a little bit of mercy but no. He's gonna sign his own death warrant by showing them that he is thoroughly aware of the history of Israel. He's gonna be speaking of God's work with Abraham, Moses and the temple and in doing so, he's signing his own death warrant. You see, this is a man who's filled with faith in the Holy Spirit and as man like that, he gives a clear biblical presentation and it's because he has a desire to remain faithful to the Word of God and to preach that message he's been commanded to give. That reminds me of 1 Corinthians 2 verses one and two where the apostle Paul said this, he said, I, brethren, when I came to you, didn't come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. In 1 Thessalonians 1.5, our gospel didn't come to you in word only but also in power in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance. You see, the gospel preacher is mandated by God to not add to his word things that are gonna detract from it. We don't add the things that take away. I came to you determined to know one thing, Jesus Christ and him crucified and that's the heart of preaching the Word of God. And so he begins to do that and he begins with the patriarchs, the patriarchs you know by the name of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and even Jacob's sons. And so he begins in this way, verse two. He said, brethren and fathers, listen, the God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia before he dwelt in Heron and said to him, get out of your country and from your relatives and come to a land that I will show you. So notice how he begins. God appeared to our father Abraham. So he's speaking as a Jewish voice to the Jewish people though they considered him in Hellenist. He's saying, no, I am Jewish. So God appeared to Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia. It says in verse, I'll start again in verse three, he said, get out of your country and from your relatives, come to the land that I will show you. And he came, he came out of the land of the Chaldeans, dwelt in Heron and from there when his father was dead, he moved him to this land in which you now dwell. And God gave him no inheritance in it, not even enough to set his foot on, but even when Abraham had no child, he promised to give it to him for a possession and to his descendants after him. But God spoke in this way that his descendants would dwell in a foreign land and that they would bring them into bondage and oppress them 400 years. And the nation to whom they will be in bondage, I will judge, said God, and after that they shall come out and serve me in this place. He gave him the covenant of circumcision. So Abraham begot Isaac, it circumcised him on the eighth day. Isaac begot Jacob, Jacob begot the 12 patriarchs. And the patriarchs becoming envious sold Joseph into Egypt, but God was with him and delivered him out of all of his troubles and gave him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And he made him governor over Egypt and all his house. Now a famine and great trouble came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan. And our fathers found no sustenance, but when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first. Now the second time, Joseph was made known to his brothers and Joseph's family became known to the Pharaoh. Then Joseph sent and called his father Jacob and all his relatives to him, 75 people. So Jacob went down to Egypt and he died. He and our fathers. And they were carried back to Shechem and laid in a tomb that Abraham bought for us some of money from the sons of Hamar, the father of Shechem. And so he begins by speaking of Abraham and his original condition. And his original condition was one of paganism. Abraham was in the favor of God and served him before he ever saw the land of Canaan is what he's saying, before the law had been given to Moses and before the temple was built. Therefore, it could not be blasphemy to believe that God might be served without those ceremonies. And it worshiped elsewhere than the temple in Jerusalem. So he's already defending himself against the charges. Notice that he emphasizes Abraham's call to separation from idolatry and faith to God. That is the heart of all biblical preaching. Biblical preaching rests on calling people to come out of sin, to stop serving sin with all of our hearts and to turn from that, to repent from that, to be converted, to follow after God. That's the heart of all biblical preaching and that's what Stephen is doing here. He's laying the foundation for that to encourage people. You see, Abraham was called to separation. He was called to come out of the land that he was living in, a land that was given over to idolatry. Now, how do we know that? Joshua 24, verse two. Joshua said to all the people, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel says, long ago your forefathers, including Tara, the father of Abraham and Nachor, lived beyond the river and worshiped other gods. Come out from amongst them and I will receive you. And so this is what he's doing. He's calling people to be aware and actually to repent from the things that they're doing. And he's using Abraham as his model. Abraham was given a call to separation. Again, that's the heart of biblical preaching. Abraham had been called to come out from paganism that he might have a relationship with God. That's how we were before we came to faith in Christ, is we had our own pagan system. I've heard people, you've spoken to them who have said, well, that's not the God I worship. So when you share with them and you say, well, this is what scripture says, and they'll say, well, that's not the God I worship. You worship the God you worship, I'll worship the God I worship. Well, a sad thing is, is the gospel preaches that there's one God. And there's one way to God, that's Jesus Christ. And there's one way to enter into the kingdom and that's to be born again. That's what the Bible teaches. So when somebody says, well, you have your God and I have mine, it's another way for them to say, I worship idols. I have created a God after my own image. I'm willing to follow him and pursue him to my own destruction. And that's why we preach the gospel. And that's why Abraham was called out to be separated. Because he came from a family of idolaters. In 2 Corinthians 6 verse 17, it reads, Come out from among them and be separate, sayeth the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. So according to verses 4 through 8, he came out. He came out of the land of the Chaldeans. He dwelt in a place called Heran. Now Heran was 500 miles northwest of what is called Ur of the Chaldees. It's in Iraq and some say it could very well be the city of Mosul. It says in verse 5 that God gave him no inheritance, not even enough to set his foot on. So what he did, and this is another thing to look at, is he obeyed God's call, though there was no immediate reward from God. Again, in the preaching of the gospel, we encourage people to come to faith in Christ, but we don't guarantee that they're gonna have a perpetual happy day, that everything's gonna be great. I don't know about you, but for me when I got saved, I had all the joy that I could possibly contain, and I had it for at least five days. And then after that, the Lord begins to work in your life. And he begins to prune, and he begins to work, and so Abram didn't have anything, no immediate gratification. He didn't receive his inheritance is what he's saying. He by faith stepped out, and he stepped into a land, and he trusted God. In Hebrews 11, eight through 10, it says by faith Abram went called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country. He lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who are heirs with him of the same promise, for he was looking forward to the city without foundations whose architect and builder is God. The only land that he ever really owned was his burial plot, it's recorded in Genesis 23. While God had spoken to him in verse six, that his descendants would dwell in a foreign land and that they would bring them into bondage and oppress them 400 years, and the nation to whom they will be in bondage, I will judge said God, and after that they shall come out and serve me in this place. And so he rounds off the time to 400 years, though Exodus 1240 tells us they were in Egypt for 430. He's speaking concerning the plagues and how that Israel left and eventually had come and worshiped God in the land. In verse eight, he says he gave him the covenant of circumcision. So Abraham begot Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac begot Jacob and Jacob begot the 12 patriarchs. So he continues by referring to obedience to the covenant God had given to him, and from Jacob came what are called the 12 tribes of Israel. So in verse nine, the patriarchs becoming envious sold Joseph into Egypt, but God was with him and delivered him out of all of his troubles, gave him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house. Now, a famine and great trouble came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and our fathers found no sustenance. But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first. And the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers, Joseph's family became known to the Pharaoh. Joseph sent and called his father, Jacob, and all his relatives to him, 75 people. So Jacob went down to Egypt and he died, he and our fathers, and they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a sum of money from the sons of Hamar the father of Shechem. So he reminds them of how the brothers of Joseph had grown to hate Joseph. In Genesis 37, Joseph, it's recorded, he had two dreams. There were sheaves that were bowing before his sheaf and then there were the 11 stars, the moon and the sun, all bowing down to him. Now, Jacob, his father understood the dream. The dream meant that Joseph would rule over the family. In Genesis 37, 10, Jacob said, shall your mother and I and your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you? Well, his brothers hated him for that. They envied him. They wanted to kill him. But the first Mexican in the Bible, Ruben, said no. Instead, I don't know, I just felt like saying that, I'm sorry. Instead, they sold him to Ishmaelites and the Ishmaelites took him to Egypt. What's the point he's making? The patriarchs were guilty of opposing God and his purposes. So he defended himself against the accusation of blasphemy by affirming God's covenants with Abraham and the patriarchs. He now moves to what is called the Mosaic period, which is around 1400 BC. Again, I'm gonna read and summarize. So beginning at verse 17, but when the time of the promised junior, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt till another king arose who did not know Joseph. This man dealt treacherously with our people and oppressed our forefathers, making them expose their babies so that they might not live. At this time, Moses was born and was well pleasing to God. He was brought up in his father's house for three months. But when he was set out, Pharaoh's daughter took him away and brought him up as her own son. And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, was mighty in words and deeds. Now, when he was 40 years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel. Seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended and avenged him who was oppressed and struck down the Egyptian. For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they didn't understand. The next day he appeared to two of them as they were fighting and tried to reconcile them, saying, man, your brothers, why do you wrong one another? Notice in verse 27, he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying who made you a ruler and judge over us? Do you wanna kill me as you did the Egyptian yesterday? Then at the same, Moses fled and became a dweller in the land of Midian where he had two sons. When 40 years old, when 40 years had passed, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire and a bush in the wilderness of Mount Sinai. Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight, he drew near to observe the voice of the Lord, came to him saying, I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. Moses trembled and dared not look. The Lord said to him, take your sandals off your feet for the place where you stand is holy ground. I have surely seen the oppression of my people who are in Egypt. I have heard they're groaning and I've come down to deliver them and now come, I will send you to Egypt and Moses, this Moses whom they rejected, saying who made you a ruler and a judge is the one God sent to be a ruler and deliverer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. He brought them out after he had shown wonders and signs in the land of Egypt and in the Red Sea and in the wilderness, 40 years. So this speaks of the promise of the land that they were to receive as a possession. What he's doing now is he's defending himself against the charge of blaspheming Moses. You see, Moses was unique. He was qualified to lead. There were a number of advantages that he had. Notice verse 22, it says Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in words and deeds. He was well pleasing to God. He was a man who was handsome. He was educated. He was strong and he was eloquent. Now, I find it interesting to note that because he was mighty in words and deeds. When you read the call of Moses, how God says to him, take off your sandals, take off your shoes, you stand in on holy ground and God begins to outline his plan on using him to deliver the children of Israel. Do you remember how Moses said, I cannot speak. I find that interesting to note because there are many who say, well, Moses had a stutter. Whether he did or didn't, I don't know. There's an assumption and perhaps there is some scholarship that points that out. But when you read what Stephen has to say, it makes it kind of clear that he was mighty in words and deeds. He was, now I want to show you something briefly here. It says that he was learned, verse 22 again. He was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. Do you know what that includes? Let me share something with you about this. He was in line to become the Pharaoh. If you're in line to become the Pharaoh, you're gonna go through all the training that a Pharaoh should go through. Now that includes all the philosophy and all the religion and all the things that pertain to the Egyptian worship system. So he had to be aware of everything pertaining to all the false gods that were worshiped by the Egyptians. Pharaoh himself was regarded as a god. And so he was to be trained and was trained by the priests and the scholars in all of the wisdom of the Egyptians. But it wasn't simply wisdom in terms of knowledge and the ability to apply it properly. All the training that a Pharaoh would go through is what Moses went through. Now why am I pointing that out? It's because when Moses encountered, he made a decision, I'll go and visit my brother in accordance with the flesh. He was aware that he was a Jewish man. When he came and saw a wrong being done by the Egyptian task master, remember with me the story for just a moment because he sees this wrong being done, he looks to the left and he looks to the right, the scripture says, and he promptly disposes of this man, he kills him and buries him in the sand. Why is that something to rest on for a moment? Let me tell you why. The task masters, these ones who are overseers of the Egyptian rather of the Jewish slaves were the baddest men in the military. These were men who could strike fear into you, that's how they controlled you. And they weren't afraid of any of these Jewish slaves. That tells you something about Moses. Moses looked to the left and he looked to the right, thinking nobody could see him and then he promptly just kills him. What's that tell me about Moses? He's a bad man. He was a bad man. He was dealt to force bad. He didn't even think to look up. There was someone watching him. The second thing, how did this guy say this to him? Verse 26, next day he appeared to two of them as they were fighting and tried to reconcile them, saying, man, you're brethren, why do you wrong one another? Notice verse 27, he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away saying, who made you a ruler and a judge over us, do you wanna kill me as you did the Egyptian yesterday? Who do you think's talking? The guy that he had rescued. The guy that he had rescued turned on him. Gives you some insight into the life of Moses. Nobody was there except the ones who were fighting and the task master. That gives you some insight into human nature. Who made you a judge over me? Are you gonna kill me? Word went out and when you read the scripture you know that Moses fled into the wilderness because of this. So Moses is somebody that was highly trained. So when it says he was not eloquent, when he says I cannot speak, that's not exactly right because God said, who made your mouth? You're telling me you don't have the ability to speak the words that I put in your mouth? No, you're hesitating and resistant is what it is. So I have to break you and that's where the 40 years in the wilderness in this man's life came in because for the first 40 years and it says it right here, he said in verse 25, he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand. So he's thinking at the age of 40, still a powerful warrior that in my flesh I'm gonna deliver you and God said, no, it's not by the strength of your hand, it's by the strength of my might. You have to come to know who I am so you don't improperly present me to the people that I will deliver through you. So for the first 40 years of his life, he thought he was something and then the next 40 years in that wilderness, he discovered he's nothing. So the last 40 years of his life, he could find out what God could do with the nothing who is willing to be used by him. And so he's pointing this out here as he's speaking, he was a mighty person, he excelled but God had to break him. Again, in verse 33, God has told him, take the sandals off your feet, the place where you stand is holy ground. One brief thing, just a little touch on that, I want you to notice that God's presence called for reverence on the part of Moses. There's no flippancy involved in your walk with God. You're not kind of like, yeah, God, that's why I have a real, I personally just, it's my problem, I know it, but I have a real problem when people speak in a flippant way to God, I just don't like that. I don't like hearing them talking to God, yeah, God, yeah, I just do not like it. My father wouldn't allow me to call him, say, yeah to him, my father, just a human being. It was yes or no, sir. It was yes, but it was never, yeah, I never said, yeah, except one time. And I never said, yeah, again, because he said, what did you say to me? That was my father. What did you say to me? I'm sorry, dad, yes, sir. That's how I was raised, to have a politeness and a respect. And when we don't respect God, he shows you something, shows me something about our walks with God, because you're not flippant with God, this is almighty God. And that's why he said, take off your sandals, you're standing on holy ground. And so this is what we're seeing. You see, God is gonna be the one who delivers, but he's gonna use Moses to do the work. Now, in verse 37, I wanna point this out. This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel, the Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet, like me, from your brethren, him you shall hear. Now, that's from the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy, 1815. It's called a messianic prophecy. It's speaking of the Messiah to come, and it was fulfilled in Jesus, and that's what Stephen is pointing out. You see, in John 6, 14, it reads, those men, when they had seen the miracle Jesus did, said, this is of truth, that prophet, that should come into the world. So he's pointing Jesus as Messiah. So he goes on into verses 38 and 40. This is he who was in the congregation and the wilderness with the angel. Now, what happened? Well, the nation of Israel wouldn't obey in their hearts. The nation of Israel went back to Egypt. Verse 41 tells us, they made a calf in those days, offered sacrifices to the idol, rejoiced in the works of their own hands. God turned and gave them up to worship the hosts of heaven as it is written in the book of the prophets. Did you offer me slaughtered animals and sacrifices during 40 years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? You also took up the tabernacle of Mola and the star of your Godrim fund. Images which you made to worship, and I will carry you away beyond Babylon. They made a calf, a worship Moloch. The word Moloch speaks of ruling. Moloch is the name of the idol, God of the Ammonites, to which human victims, particularly young children were offered in sacrifice. Its image was a hollow brazen figure with a head of a nox and outstretched human arms. It was heated red hot by a fire from within and the babies were placed in its arms to be slowly burned. While to prevent the parents from hearing the dying cries of their children, the sacrificing priests would beat drums. So it was very loud. I've seen the illustrations of this particular God and his arms stretched out and they would take the babies and they would place it on the arms and the arms were in an angle and so the baby would actually roll down and then there was an opening where the baby would fall in and be incinerated. Well, the parents worshiped killing children isn't new and this is something that this nation has to repent from also the killing of our children. They were killing babies then and there's still some doing it to this day. This is no condemnation of those who have gone through the procedure of abortion. I'm not condemning anybody. I've known too many who have and the sorrow and brokenness of their hearts after they discover what they've done was wrong. So perhaps there may be someone listening right now who could be feeling pain in your heart over it. You know, God does forgive every sin. This is not to lighten that. It's simply to acknowledge that he does forgive every sin. That is not the unpardonable sin but you understand in a way others don't and that's what they did at that time. Remfan was literally, it's an Egyptian God called the shrunken. It was proved that it was lifeless. So what's he do? He defended himself against the charge of disregarding Moses in the law. Now in verse 44, our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness as he appointed instructing Moses to make it according to the pattern that he had seen. Which our fathers having received it in turn also brought with Joshua into the land possessed by the Gentiles whom God drove out before the face of our fathers until the days of David who found favor before God and asked to find a dwelling for the God of Jacob. Solomon billed him a house. However, the most high does not dwell in temples made with hands as the prophet says. Heaven is my throne, earth is my footstool. What house will you build for me, sayeth the Lord? Or what is the place of my rest as my hand not made these things? So he closes by answering the charge of blaspheming the temple. Notice how he says our fathers had the tabernacle. He points out that Solomon built God a house. Why is that? David wanted to and David didn't. Why is it that Solomon did? It's because David was a warrior. He had blood on his hands according to 1 Chronicles 22, 7 through 9. And so God would not allow King David though he wanted to. So he allowed his son who was a man of peace. David supplied the plans, a large portion of finances but Solomon built the temple. The temple was never intended to be a permanent dwelling place. Nothing on earth can contain his glory. That's why God took upon himself human flesh and came himself to this earth. So he didn't blaspheme the temple. They did by rejecting Jesus Christ and that's why he goes to the heart of the matter. And in verse 51, he says, you stiff-necked and uncircumcised and hardy-nears, you always resist the Holy Spirit your fathers did so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the just one of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it. When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart. They gnashed at him with their teeth. But he being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven, saw the glory of God, Jesus standing at the right hand of God and said, look, I see the heavens open. The Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. They cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, ran to him with one accord and they cast him out of the city, stoned him and the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. They stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, Lord, Jesus, receive my spirit. He now down and cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not charge them with this sin. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. You killed the prophets. You are uncircumcised in heart and ears. It's like what Jesus said in Matthew 23, 29 through 31. What do you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites? Because you build the tombs of the prophets, adorn the monuments of the righteous and say, if we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Therefore, you are witnesses against yourselves. You are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Well, when they hear that and the conviction strikes and they pointed out for what they've done, they're very upset over that. They got very upset and they closed their ears to what was being said. You see, what we've seen up to this point is how people filled with the Spirit, how they preach and what we've seen is how they perform works. And now we have a chance to see how those who were filled with the Spirit die. What they did is they took them out of the city. There usually was a pit. They put them in the pit, tossed them in it. Those who witnessed against him, which were the false witnesses, were the first to hurl the stone at them. So these false witnesses picked up stones. They're not small stones. They're large and they were the first to cast. And as they're casting stones at him, he's praying, Lord Jesus, he says, receive my spirit. Lord, don't charge them with this sin. Jesus is told to us in Mark 16 is seated at the right hand of the Father. But here we see him standing up to welcome the first martyr, Stephen, into his presence. What a beautiful picture. He stood up to welcome him, my good, my faithful servant. And how did he die by asking God to be merciful to those who put him to death? Stephen became the first martyr. He wasn't the last in early church history. Peter was crucified according to church tradition upside down in Rome under Nero. James, the brother of John, was beheaded by Herod Agrippa in Acts 12. John was not martyred. He was exiled to Patmos. Andrew was crucified on an X-shaped cross. Philip crucified in Upper Asia. Thomas was thrust through a spear in India and Bartholomew was beaten to death in India. It is believed that Matthew was killed with an axe in Ethiopia. That James, the son of Alphaeus, was beaten to death. Simon the zealot crucified in Britain. Judas, the son of James, was crucified. Matathias was stoned and beheaded in Jerusalem. Mark was dragged to death in Alexandria. Luke was hanged on an olive tree in Greece and Paul was beheaded under Nero in Rome. Many of these were tradition, but some of them are scriptural, but every one of them died a martyr's death. Jesus said, you shall be hated by all men for my name's sake, but he who endures to the end shall be saved. When we got saved, we entered into a road that leads to our own death. We are already dead and yet we're alive. We should live as those who understand that we're just passing through, that the world is not our home and that one of these days, and it won't be long, that we'll be welcomed into the presence of God. So may the Lord help us to remain faithful to the end because it demonstrates that we truly do understand what it means to pick up our cross daily and follow Him. Amen. And our Father, we ask that you would work within us even as we have spent some time looking at these powerful verses. And prayerfully we have learned a few things and been reminded of a few things as we've done so. I ask the Lord that we who belong to you would live for you, that we would yield our lives to you and serve you with all that's within us. And Lord, for those of us who have taken your name casually and Christian casually, I pray that even now that we would repent of that and Lord renew our commitment to you. And even as our eyes are closed, our heads are bowed, perhaps there are some right now in this room, know you need to get right with the Lord. Before we close, I'd like to have the opportunity to pray for you. And if you desire to get right with God right now, whether a first time or renewing a relationship with Him, would you raise your hand and let me pray for you right where you're at, just raise your hand that I might see you, Father, you see these hands. You know the reason they're being raised to you, I'm asking now in Jesus' name, that you would reach down and touch each one whose hand is raised. And as they open up to you, that you would show them mercy, Lord, work in them and eventually and ultimately use them for your glory. Begin now I pray as our hearts are open and have your way in them and we bless you Lord and thank you, you can put your hands down. Perhaps there are some who have a need to be touched, maybe you've got an illness and you need a touch of the spirit, would you raise your hand and let me pray for you. Father, you're the healing God, we simply ask in obedience, that you would touch those whose hands are raised, that you would touch them and bring healing to their bodies. I ask that because it brings glory to you and we read your Bible, your word tells us you do that, so we're asking that you would. And Lord, in advance we thank you. So thank you Lord for hearing our prayer and we ask that you would move and we give you praise for that. You can put your hands down. And Jesus as we're about to leave, I ask that you keep moving in all of us to your glory in your name. Amen, amen. Let's all stand. Amen. Well, we're gonna have our water baptism. I'm gonna go, I'm gonna put on my speedos and come back out. Sorry. I'm gonna go and get my, what do you call it? Bathing trunks on. And so I'll be out in about five or 10 minutes and so those of you who are being baptized, would you please either come back in within a few minutes or just wait because I'm gonna share a few things with you. Then we're gonna pray it out there and drown you. So our Father bless you and thank you. We ask that we might live for you. And in just a moment Lord, many will be demonstrating their love for you. In baptism. So Lord Jesus, continue to move upon us. In your name we pray, amen. God bless you.