Study Desk

But Peter and the apostles answered, "We must obey God rather than men.Acts 4:19;">[xr]

The God of our ancestors raised Jesus to life after you hung him on a tree and killed him.Acts 3:13,15; 10:39; 13:29; 22:14; Galatians 3:13; 1 Peter 2:24;">[xr]

God has exalted to his right hand this very man as our Leader and Savior in order to give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel.Matthew 1:21; Luke 24:47; Acts 2:33,36; 13:38; Ephesians 1:7; Philippians 2:9; Colossians 1:14; Hebrews 2:10; 12:2;">[xr]

We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who keep on obeying him."John 15:26-27; Acts 2:4; 10:44;">[xr]

However, if it is from God, you won't be able to stop them, and you may even discover that you are fighting against God!" So they were convinced by him.Luke 21:15; Acts 7:51; 9:5; 23:9; 1 Corinthians 1:25;">[xr]

So the twelve called the whole group of disciples together and said, "It is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to wait on tables.Exodus 18:17;">[xr]

So they secretly got some men to say, "We have heard him speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God."1 Kings 21:10,13; Matthew 26:59-60;">[xr]

Stephen replied, "Listen, brothers and fathers! The glorious God appeared to our ancestor Abraham while he was in Mesopotamia before he settled in Haran.Acts 22:1;">[xr]

So he left the country of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. Then after the death of his father, God had him move to this country where you now live.Genesis 11:31; 12:4-5;">[xr]

This is what God promised: His descendants would be strangers in a foreign country, and its peoplethey">[fn] would enslave them and oppress them for 400 years.Genesis 15:13,16; Exodus 12:40; Galatians 3:17;">[xr]

'But I will punish the nation they serve,' said God, 'and afterwards they will leave and worship me in this place.'Genesis 15:13-14; Exodus 3:12">[fn]Exodus 3:12;">[xr]

"The patriarchs became jealous of Joseph and sold him as a slaveas a slave">[fn] into Egypt. However, God was with himGenesis 37:4,11, 28; Psalm 105:17;">[xr]

"Now as the time approached for the fulfillment of the promise that God had made to Abraham, the people multiplied and grew more numerous in Egypt,Genesis 15:13; Exodus 1:7-9; Psalm 105:24-25; Acts 15:6;">[xr]

"At this time Moses was born. He was beautiful in the sight of God, and for three months he was cared for in his father's house.Exodus 2:2; Hebrews 11:23;">[xr]

He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was using him to rescue them, but they didn't understand.

'I am the God of your ancestors - the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.'Exodus 3:6">[fn] Moses became terrified and didn't dare to look.Matthew 22:32; Hebrews 11:16;">[xr]

"This same Moses, whom they rejected by saying 'Who made you ruler and judge?', was the man whom God sent to be both their ruler and deliverer with the help of the angel who had appeared to him in the bush.Exodus 14:19; Numbers 20:16;">[xr]

It was this Moses who told the Israelites, 'God will raise up a prophet for you from among your own brothers, just as he didhe did">[fn] me.'Deuteronomy 18:15,18; Matthew 15:5; Acts 3:22;">[xr]

"So God turned away from them and gave them over to worship the heavenly bodies. As it is written in the book of the Prophets:Deuteronomy 4:19; 17:3; 2 Kings 17:16; 21:3; Psalm 81:12; Jeremiah 19:13; Ezekiel 20:25,39; Amos 5:25-26; Romans 1:24; 2 Thessalonians 2:11;">[xr] 'O house of Israel, you didn't offer me slaughtered animals and sacrifices those forty years in the wilderness, did you?

You even took along the tent of Moloch, the star of your god Rephan, and the images you made in order to worship them. So I will remove you beyond Babylon.'Amos 5:25-27">[fn]