Stephen’s Speech

Acts 7:1) And the high priest said, "Are these things so?" 2) And Stephen said: "Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, 3) and said to him, ‘Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.’ 4) Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living. 5) Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot’s length, but promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, though he had no child. 6) And God spoke to this effect—that his offspring would be sojourners in a land belonging to others, who would enslave them and afflict them four hundred years. 7) ‘But I will judge the nation that they serve,’ said God, ‘and after that they shall come out and worship me in this place.’ 8) And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.
9) "And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him 10) and rescued him out of all his afflictions and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him ruler over Egypt and over all his household. 11) Now there came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction, and our fathers could find no food. 12) But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers on their first visit. 13) And on the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to Pharaoh. 14) And Joseph sent and summoned Jacob his father and all his kindred, seventy-five persons in all. 15) And Jacob went down into Egypt, and he died, he and our fathers, 16) and they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.
17) "But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt 18) until there arose over Egypt another king who did not know Joseph. 19) He dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants, so that they would not be kept alive. 20) At this time Moses was born; and he was beautiful in God’s sight. And he was brought up for three months in his father’s house, 21) and when he was exposed, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. 22) And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds.
23) "When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. 24) And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. 25) He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand. 26) And on the following day he appeared to them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong each other?’ 27) But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? 28) Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ 29) At this retort Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.
30) "Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. 31) When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord: 32) ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.’ And Moses trembled and did not dare to look. 33) Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34) I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.’
35) "This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36) This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years. 37) This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.’ 38) This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us. 39) Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt, 40) saying to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 41) And they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. 42) But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:

" ‘Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices,

during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

43) You took up the tent of Moloch

and the star of your god Rephan,

the images that you made to worship;

and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.’

44) "Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it, according to the pattern that he had seen. 45) Our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our fathers. So it was until the days of David, 46) who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. 47) But it was Solomon who built a house for him. 48) Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says,

49) " ‘Heaven is my throne,

and the earth is my footstool.

What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord,

or what is the place of my rest?

50) Did not my hand make all these things?’

51) "You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. 52) Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, 53) you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it."

The Stoning of Stephen

Acts 7:54) Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. 55) But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56) And he said, "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." 57) But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. 58) Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59) And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." 60) And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

Hide Me from the Wicked

Psalm 64) To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

1) Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint;

preserve my life from dread of the enemy.

2) Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked,

from the throng of evildoers,

3) who whet their tongues like swords,

who aim bitter words like arrows,

4) shooting from ambush at the blameless,

shooting at him suddenly and without fear.

5) They hold fast to their evil purpose;

they talk of laying snares secretly,

thinking, "Who can see them?"

6) They search out injustice,

saying, "We have accomplished a diligent search."

For the inward mind and heart of a man are deep.

7) But God shoots his arrow at them;

they are wounded suddenly.

8) They are brought to ruin, with their own tongues turned against them;

all who see them will wag their heads.

9) Then all mankind fears;

they tell what God has brought about

and ponder what he has done.

10) Let the righteous one rejoice in the Lord

and take refuge in him!

Let all the upright in heart exult!

Birth of John the Baptist Foretold

Luke 1:5) In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. 6) And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. 7) But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.
8) Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, 9) according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10) And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. 11)And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. 12)And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. 13)But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. 14)And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, 15)for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. 16)And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, 17)and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared."
18) And Zechariah said to the angel, "How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years." 19) And the angel answered him, "I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. 20) And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time." 21) And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering at his delay in the temple. 22) And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he kept making signs to them and remained mute. 23) And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home.
24) After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden, saying, 25) "Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among people."

Food Offered to Idols

1 Corinthians 8:1) Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that "all of us possess knowledge." This "knowledge" puffs up, but love builds up. 2) If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. 3) But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.
4) Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that "an idol has no real existence," and that "there is no God but one." 5) For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many "gods" and many "lords"— 6) yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.
7) However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. 8) Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. 9) But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. 10) For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols? 11) And so by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died. 12) Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. 13) Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.

Tell the Coming Generation

Psalm 78 A Maskil of Asaph.

1) Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;

incline your ears to the words of my mouth!

2) I will open my mouth in a parable;

I will utter dark sayings from of old,

3) things that we have heard and known,

that our fathers have told us.

4) We will not hide them from their children,

but tell to the coming generation

the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,

and the wonders that he has done.

5) He established a testimony in Jacob

and appointed a law in Israel,

which he commanded our fathers

to teach to their children,

6) that the next generation might know them,

the children yet unborn,

and arise and tell them to their children,

7) so that they should set their hope in God

and not forget the works of God,

but keep his commandments;

8) and that they should not be like their fathers,

a stubborn and rebellious generation,

a generation whose heart was not steadfast,

whose spirit was not faithful to God.

9) The Ephraimites, armed with the bow,

turned back on the day of battle.

10) They did not keep God’s covenant,

but refused to walk according to his law.

11) They forgot his works

and the wonders that he had shown them.

12) In the sight of their fathers he performed wonders

in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan.

13) He divided the sea and let them pass through it,

and made the waters stand like a heap.

14) In the daytime he led them with a cloud,

and all the night with a fiery light.

15) He split rocks in the wilderness

and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.

16) He made streams come out of the rock

and caused waters to flow down like rivers.

17) Yet they sinned still more against him,

rebelling against the Most High in the desert.

18) They tested God in their heart

by demanding the food they craved.

19) They spoke against God, saying,

"Can God spread a table in the wilderness?

20) He struck the rock so that water gushed out

and streams overflowed.

Can he also give bread

or provide meat for his people?"

21) Therefore, when the Lord heard, he was full of wrath;

a fire was kindled against Jacob;

his anger rose against Israel,

22) because they did not believe in God

and did not trust his saving power.

23) Yet he commanded the skies above

and opened the doors of heaven,

24) and he rained down on them manna to eat

and gave them the grain of heaven.

25) Man ate of the bread of the angels;

he sent them food in abundance.

26) He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens,

and by his power he led out the south wind;

27) he rained meat on them like dust,

winged birds like the sand of the seas;

28) he let them fall in the midst of their camp,

all around their dwellings.

29) And they ate and were well filled,

for he gave them what they craved.

30) But before they had satisfied their craving,

while the food was still in their mouths,

31) the anger of God rose against them,

and he killed the strongest of them

and laid low the young men of Israel.

32) In spite of all this, they still sinned;

despite his wonders, they did not believe.

33) So he made their days vanish like a breath,

and their years in terror.

34) When he killed them, they sought him;

they repented and sought God earnestly.

35) They remembered that God was their rock,

the Most High God their redeemer.

36) But they flattered him with their mouths;

they lied to him with their tongues.

37) Their heart was not steadfast toward him;

they were not faithful to his covenant.

38) Yet he, being compassionate,

atoned for their iniquity

and did not destroy them;

he restrained his anger often

and did not stir up all his wrath.

39) He remembered that they were but flesh,

a wind that passes and comes not again.

40) How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness

and grieved him in the desert!

41) They tested God again and again

and provoked the Holy One of Israel.

42) They did not remember his power

or the day when he redeemed them from the foe,

43) when he performed his signs in Egypt

and his marvels in the fields of Zoan.

44) He turned their rivers to blood,

so that they could not drink of their streams.

45) He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them,

and frogs, which destroyed them.

46) He gave their crops to the destroying locust

and the fruit of their labor to the locust.

47) He destroyed their vines with hail

and their sycamores with frost.

48) He gave over their cattle to the hail

and their flocks to thunderbolts.

49) He let loose on them his burning anger,

wrath, indignation, and distress,

a company of destroying angels.

50) He made a path for his anger;

he did not spare them from death,

but gave their lives over to the plague.

51) He struck down every firstborn in Egypt,

the firstfruits of their strength in the tents of Ham.

52) Then he led out his people like sheep

and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.

53) He led them in safety, so that they were not afraid,

but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.

54) And he brought them to his holy land,

to the mountain which his right hand had won.

55) He drove out nations before them;

he apportioned them for a possession

and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.

56) Yet they tested and rebelled against the Most High God

and did not keep his testimonies,

57) but turned away and acted treacherously like their fathers;

they twisted like a deceitful bow.

58) For they provoked him to anger with their high places;

they moved him to jealousy with their idols.

59) When God heard, he was full of wrath,

and he utterly rejected Israel.

60) He forsook his dwelling at Shiloh,

the tent where he dwelt among mankind,

61) and delivered his power to captivity,

his glory to the hand of the foe.

62) He gave his people over to the sword

and vented his wrath on his heritage.

63) Fire devoured their young men,

and their young women had no marriage song.

64) Their priests fell by the sword,

and their widows made no lamentation.

65) Then the Lord awoke as from sleep,

like a strong man shouting because of wine.

66) And he put his adversaries to rout;

he put them to everlasting shame.

67) He rejected the tent of Joseph;

he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,

68) but he chose the tribe of Judah,

Mount Zion, which he loves.

69) He built his sanctuary like the high heavens,

like the earth, which he has founded forever.

70) He chose David his servant

and took him from the sheepfolds;

71) from following the nursing ewes he brought him

to shepherd Jacob his people,

Israel his inheritance.

72) With upright heart he shepherded them

and guided them with his skillful hand.

The Mystery of Godliness

1 Timothy 3:14) I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, 15) if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth. 16) Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness:

He was manifested in the flesh,

vindicated by the Spirit,

seen by angels,

proclaimed among the nations,

believed on in the world,

taken up in glory.