1 Kings 7:1-51
Acts 7:30-50
Psalm 128:1-6
Proverbs 16:31-33
Acts 7:37 “This is the Moses who told the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your own people.’ 38 He was in the assembly in the wilderness, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors; and he received living words to pass on to us.
Stephen delivers a Spirit inspired summary of the history of the Israelites and he is connecting it all to Jesus. In Deuteronomy when Moses said "God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your own people" he was talking about Jesus. God had a plan for Moses before he was born that he would be the one to lead His people out of bondage and into the promised land. That was His will and He wanted Moses to be part of it. God gave Moses the gift of joining Him in His plan. After they are set free and are wondering in the wilderness Moses gets to join God in revealing the plan for all people for all time. "God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your own people." To this day God's will continues to be that His people would be led out of bondage and into the promised land and Jesus is the way that happens. God Himself the Great I Am makes the way and He gives each of us an opportunity to join Him in that work. Stephen states that "he received living words to pass on to us." And through the bible His Living Word we have all that we need to join Him. Just as the words of the Old Testament were alive and relevant to the New Testament church, the bible is still alive and relevant to us today. We can boldly speak about all that God has done just as the Apostles did and when we do God will accomplish His will through us and we can rejoice because He allows us to be part of it. What is God calling you to do? What is it that He is inviting you to join Him in that you have been holding back from doing because you are not trusting the Great I AM? Have you put Him into a box of human understanding that makes you doubt His ability to work in and through you? Remember all that He did through ordinary people. He can do extraordinary thing through you as well. Just remember that He is in control and He will accomplish His plan. You just have to say I will and trust Him. Who are the people in your life that are still in bondage? Speak the truth of God's living word to them and let Him do His thing and lead them out of bondage into the promised land. Just pass it on and watch in awe at what God will do!
Thank you to Amy Calander Pastor of Park Hill Church for a sermon that brought all these ideas together for me today.
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