Receiving God’s Time of Promise That is Drawing Near – Acts 7:1-53
Introduction –
Have you gone looking for something and missed it right in front of you?
Or worse
Have you received something you wanted and then forsaken it?
Main Idea
God has appointed a time of promise that he is progressively leading his people toward. The fathers and the prophets are supposed to lead us to receiving the ultimate time of promise fulfilled in Jesus.
Why?
So So that we would not resist and reject God, but that we would receive Jesus and his salvation and promise as heirs in Christ
The Purposes of God:
Answering the Accusation
Acts 7:2-16
Stephen’s message is rooted in the eternal purposes and plan of God.
Stephen’s argument draws out the unity of God’s work in the world over all of history
The Prophet and Savior of God
What is Moses bringing us to?
Acts 7:17-35
The accusers miss the history of rejection of the man they revere.
Moses is a type of Christ in God’s progressing story of redemption.
The Place and Worship of God
Rejecting the One who is worthy for what he has given
Acts 7:37-50
The people of Israel have a history of rejecting the worship of God for the worship of idols.
There hearts love creation more than the creator
These people take pride in the place they worship
The Punchline
Rejecting the One who is worthy of worship
Acts 7:51-53
The pride in their history is misplaced, their fathers committed the same sin they do now.
Stephens accusers are guilty of the things of the things they accuse of him.
Application
Receive Jesus as Lord and Savior
– The Gospel is good news for you today!
We don’t worship God in our box.
– We worship God with the whole of our life
Hold fast to our covenant in Christ and loose with our customs
– Use wisdom and scripture in how we discern what is covenant and what is custom; for example, marriage and sexuality are covenant, not cultural customs (Matt 19:4, Eph 5:22-33)
Community Group | Follow Up Questions
- Is there anything that stood out to you from the sermon?
- Is there anything that stood out to you from the text?
- When did you have a time, you missed something that was right in front of you? Why did you miss it?
- What are the accusations against Stephen from chapter 6?
- How is his response tailored to address these specific accusations?
- What are some examples of customs that these Jews would have been holding onto that aren’t necessarily required under the covenant?
- Do we have any customs today that we are elevating too high as if they were requirements of our new covenant?
- How do we see Moses pointing us to Jesus? What parallels can we draw between them?
- What lessons can we learn from seeing God’s people reject ones he has sent to work in his name, and ultimately God himself, in the Bible?
- Why is it important for us to see this happening in times past?
- What kind of opposition do we see to God and his word today and how do we deal with those situations?
- V 48 tells us “the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands”…..
- How does this inform where and how we worship? (i.e. worship with the whole of our lives….)
- How can this bring us strength and comfort? How can we be changed by knowing that God is not confined to a temple but is making us his temple to dwell in?
- What is a stiff-necked person?
- How do we guard our hearts, so we don’t become people that “resist the Holy Spirit”, like these religious Jews from Acts 7 who are missing God’s big picture.
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