Study Desk

But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop them. You might even be fighting against God himself!" The leaders agreed with what Gamaliel said.

Then we can continue to pray and to teach the word of God."

The word of God was continuing to spread. The group of followers in Jerusalem increased, and a great number of the Jewish priests believed and obeyed.

Stephen was richly blessed by God who gave him the power to do great miracles and signs among the people.

So they secretly urged some men to say, "We heard Stephen speak against Moses and against God."

Stephen answered, "Brothers and fathers, listen to me. Our glorious God appeared to Abraham, our ancestor, in Mesopotamia before he lived in Haran.

God said to Abraham, ‘Leave your country and your relatives, and go to the land I will show you.'

So Abraham left the country of Chaldea and went to live in Haran. After Abraham's father died, God sent him to this place where you now live.

God did not give Abraham any of this land, not even a foot of it. But God promised that he would give this land to him and his descendants, even before Abraham had a child.

This is what God said to him: ‘Your descendants will be strangers in a land they don't own. The people there will make them slaves and will mistreat them for four hundred years.

God made an agreement with Abraham, the sign of which was circumcision. And so when Abraham had his son Isaac, Abraham circumcised him when he was eight days old. Isaac also circumcised his son Jacob, and Jacob did the same for his sons, the twelve ancestors of our people.

"Jacob's sons became jealous of Joseph and sold him to be a slave in Egypt. But God was with him

and saved him from all his troubles. The king of Egypt liked Joseph and respected him because of the wisdom God gave him. The king made him governor of Egypt and put him in charge of all the people in his palace.

"The promise God made to Abraham was soon to come true, and the number of people in Egypt grew large.

Moses thought his own people would understand that God was using him to save them, but they did not.

‘I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.' Moses began to shake with fear and was afraid to look.

"This Moses was the same man the two men of Israel rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and judge?' Moses is the same man God sent to be a ruler and savior, with the help of the angel that Moses saw in the burning bush.

This is the same Moses that said to the people of Israel, ‘God will give you a prophet like me, who is one of your own people.'

This is the Moses who was with the gathering of the Israelites in the desert. He was with the angel that spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and he was with our ancestors. He received commands from God that give life, and he gave those commands to us.

But God turned against them and did not try to stop them from worshiping the sun, moon, and stars. This is what is written in the book of the prophets: God says, ‘People of Israel, you did not bring me sacrifices and offerings while you traveled in the desert for forty years.