Bible

In the Bible room today, we continue reading the book of Acts with Session 3, the summaries of chapters 6 and 7.

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Acts

Session 3

Chapter 6. Accused

Later, as the group of believers expands rapidly, trouble arises:

• It’s in the pooling and sharing of resources:
• The Greek-speaking Jews are complaining about the Hebrews,
• Who are not distributing the daily share to their widows;
• The twelve disciples decide to call a meeting with everyone;
• They say too much of their time is spent dividing food,
• While they need to be serving the group’s spiritual needs;
• They direct that seven good men be selected to hear disputes;
• While the twelve will use their time in prayer and the word;
• They choose Stephen, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon,
• Parmenas, and Nicolas to be approved by the disciples;
• With prayer, the disciples approve these seven to serve;
• The Word of God spreads, believers increase in Jerusalem;
• Even many priests become obedient to the faith;
• Stephen is full of faith and power, sees many miracles done;
• There is a group called the Synagogue of the Freedmen;
• These men create arguments with Stephen;
• But they cannot defeat Stephen’s wisdom and the Spirit;
• So, they persuade some men to spread rumors about Stephen;
• They say he has been lying about God and Moses;
• These men stir up the people with lies against Stephen;
• They take hold of Stephen, bring him before the council;
• He is accused by false witnesses of speaking blasphemies;
• Members of the council watch as Stephen’s face changes;
• It looks to them as the face of an angel.

Chapter 7. Receive

The high priest asks Stephen if these charges are true:

• Stephen answers, telling them to listen to what he says:
• God called Abraham from Mesopotamia, told him to leave;
• To go where God tells him, so, he moves to Haran;
• He stays there until his father dies;
• Then, with his father’s body, moves to where they now live;
• Abraham owns no land there, but God promises it to him;
• And God promises it to his descendants after him;
• But his people would go into a foreign land,
• And be kept in bondage for four hundred years;
• God told them He would judge their oppressors;
• And then they came out of bondage to settle this land;
• So, Abraham bore Isaac, who bore Jacob,
• And Jacob bore the twelve patriarchs;
• These patriarchs, out of jealousy, sold Joseph into Egypt;
• God was with Joseph and gave him favor before Pharaoh;
• The Pharaoh, King of Egypt, made Joseph the governor;
• Famine strikes the lands of Egypt and Canaan;
• Those in Canaan began suffering from lack of food;
• Jacob hears that there is grain in Egypt,
• So, he sends his family members there to get grain;
• On their second visit, they learn Joseph is in charge,
• And then Pharaoh learns these people are Joseph’s family;
• Joseph sends word for his father, Jacob, to come to Egypt;
• Which he does, along with seventy-five relatives;
• Jacob dies in Egypt, is taken back for burial in Shechem;
• In Egypt, the years pass, and Abraham’s people multiply;
• Eventually, a king comes to power who does not know Joseph;
• And his people suffer great oppression and affliction;
• Then Moses is born and is raised at home for three months;
• Blessed by God, he is discovered by the Pharaoh’s daughter,
• Who raises him as her own son at the Pharaoh’s palace;
• Moses grows up with the wisdom of Egypt,
• And becomes great in words and deeds;
• At forty years of age, he decides to visit with his people;
• There, he witnesses an Egyptian attacking an Israelite;
• He kills the Egyptian, saving the Israelite;
• He thinks his people will welcome his effort to save them;
• But they do not understand;
• And the next day when he separates two men who are fighting,
• They reject him, asking who made him a judge over them?
• Was he going to kill them as he did the Egyptian?
• Then Moses leaves the area, goes over into Midian;
• He has two sons there, stays for forty years;
• Then, in the desert near Mount Sinai, an Angel of the Lord
• Appears to him in a burning bush, with the voice of the Lord,
• Saying: I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob;
• He tells Moses to take off his sandals, as this is holy ground;
• God says He has heard the groanings of His people,
• And He is sending Moses to deliver them out of Egypt;
• They leave Egypt with many miracles there,
• At the Red Sea, and for forty years in the wilderness;
• This is the Moses who told the children of Israel:
• God will send them a prophet to whom they should listen;
• But One who was rejected as Moses was rejected,
• When his own people asked Aaron to take them back to Egypt;
• And they fashioned a calf as an idol and offered sacrifices;
• Then God turned away from them, as they worshipped images;
• And allowed them to be taken away to Babylon;
• God gave to Moses the plans for a true tabernacle;
• Which Joshua brought into the land of the Gentiles,
• Whom God drove out until the days of David,
• And Solomon built a house for God;
• But God does not live in houses built by hands;
• He says His throne is in heaven, the earth His footstool;
• You resist the Holy Spirit just as your fathers did;
• They killed all the prophets who told of the coming Just One,
• Whom you have betrayed and murdered;
• Hearing all this, they are furious at Stephen, threatening him;
• But Stephen, looking up, tells them to ‘look’ and see Jesus,
• Standing at God’s right hand, but they will not listen;
• Then, they all attack Stephen, chasing him out of the city;
• There, they throw stones at him;
• A young man named Saul is watching with other witnesses;
• They all bring their clothes and lay them at Saul’s feet;
• Dying, Stephen prays: ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit,
• ‘And do not charge them with this sin;’
• Stephen dies.

End of Session 3 of the book of Acts.