STEPHEN'S MINISTRY (2)
Notes
Transcript
GOD’S GLORY REVEALED
GOD’S GLORY REVEALED
Israel’s rebellion against GOD
Moses told them of a prophet
they rejected him and was unwilling to obey him.
They told Aaron to make them a god to worship.
They even made a calf in those days, offered sacrifice to the idol, and were celebrating what their hands had made. God turned away and gave them up to worship the stars of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:
House of Israel, did you bring me offerings and sacrifices
for forty years in the wilderness?
You took up the tent of Moloch
and the star of your god Rephan,
the images that you made to worship.
So I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.
GOD turned away!
The house of Israel turned to false gods when it got tough.
GOD’S REAL TABERNACLE
They had a tent for a tabernacle
Solomon built GOD a house
but the Most High does not dwell in sanctuaries made with hands, as the prophet says:
Heaven is my throne,
and the earth my footstool.
What sort of house will you build for me?
says the Lord,
or what will be my resting place?
Did not my hand make all these things?
Abraham, The patriarchs in Egypt (Joseph’s bothers), the people who rejected Moses, Israel rebellion against God, and GOD’S real Tabernacle.
the first four our people fallen and came back to GOD.
DO NOT WORSHIP THE TABERNACLE BUT THE ONE IT WAS BUILT FOR!
“You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are always resisting the Holy Spirit. As your ancestors did, you do also. Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? They even killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become. You received the law under the direction of angels and yet have not kept it.”
This rebuke given by Stephen is not in anger but in Love, You will see that in our last passage.
stiff-necked : unwilling to turn from their ways.
uncircumcised hearts: their hearts has not been change by the LORD.
Resisting the Holy Spirit
You are following in the footsteps of you ancestors not GOD’S path.
“You received the law under the direction of angels and yet have not kept it.”
When they heard these things, they were enraged and gnashed their teeth at him. Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven. He saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. He said, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”
They yelled at the top of their voices, covered their ears, and together rushed against him. They dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. And the witnesses laid their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. While they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” He knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” And after saying this, he fell asleep.
They were enraged. why?
Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit,
Stephen wasn’t speaking on his behalf but on the behalf of the Holy Spirit.
gazed into heaven. He saw the glory of GOD.
WOW, the comfort that must of brought him in that moment.
After telling them that the Son of Man is standing at the right hand of GOD. What was their reposes? v.57
They where the ones who had the Son of Man killed.
How do we know that Stephen was not speaking to them out of anger?
While they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” He knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” And after saying this, he fell asleep.
Do not hold this sin against them, who does that sound like?
GOD revealed His Glory to Stephen and through Stephen He revealed HIS Glory to these men, but they wouldn’t listen to Stephen.
Action for today
Do not cover your ears and shout when the Holy Spirt is speaking.
INVITATION