Stephen has been arrested and taken before the Sanhedrin, accused of blasphemy against Moses and against God. If you remember from chapter 6, witnesses came forward saying that Stephen spoke against "this holy place" (meaning the Temple) and he was changing the customs handed down from Moses. In the bulk of chapter 7, Stephen will explain himself before the High Priest, and this powerful sermon will culminate in his execution. I tried to break up Stephen’s sermon several different ways and preach through it over several Sundays, but Stephen’s sermon culminates in a specific point to which his entire speech leads. Unless we deal with his sermon as a whole, we might easily get lost in the weeds and miss the overall point Stephen is making. So, we will look at Acts 7:1-53 this Sunday.

Stephen’s sermon surveys the history of God’s presence, blessing, and work among the people of Israel. He starts with Abraham, moves through Joseph, Moses, The Tabernacle, David and Solomon. The Sanhedrin and the crowd already know this history. They know the stories Stephen relates by heart. The Jews were extremely proud of their history. So as we look at his sermon, we won’t get bogged down in the details of the Old Testament narrative Stephen relates. Instead, we will focus on WHY Stephen is relating these stories to the Jews who already knew them so well. Stephen will show that God’s presence has never been constrained to one place or one building, And in Jesus, He is Emmanuel - God with us. He also shows them that Israel has a long history of rejecting the deliverance of God and disobeying His law - which the Sanhedrin are now doing in rejecting Jesus. Read Acts 7:1-53 before Sunday and be ready to trace Stephen’s argument as we examine a very important exposition of God’s purposes throughout the whole of redemptive history.

Subscribe to the Sermon podcast on itunes or search for "jason velotta" in your podcasting app

Visit http://www.jasonvelotta.com/for more audio, video, books, and teaching materials https://www.fbcmulvane.com

https://www.facebook.com/jason.velotta.1

https://twitter.com/jrv773

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonvelotta/