The Acts of the ApostlesActs 6:8-7:8

• 8 And Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people.

• Ephesians 1:19-20 and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might 20 which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,

• 9 But some men from what was called the Synagogue of the Freedmen, including both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and some from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and argued with Stephen.

• 9 But some men from what was called the Synagogue of the Freedmen, including both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and some from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and argued with Stephen.

• 10 But they were unable to cope with the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking.

• 10 But they were unable to cope with the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking.

• 11 Then they secretly induced men to say, "We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God."

• Leviticus 24:16 'Moreover, the one who blasphemes the name of the LORD shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall certainly stone him. The alien as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death.

• 12 And they stirred up the people, the elders and the scribes, and they came up to him and dragged him away and brought him before the Council.

• 12 And they stirred up the people, the elders and the scribes, and they came up to him and dragged him away and brought him before the Council.

• 13 They put forward false witnesses who said, "This man incessantly speaks against this holy place and the Law; 14 for we have heard him say that this Nazarene, Jesus, will destroy this place and alter the customs which Moses handed down to us."

• “They are called “false witnesses,” as those who brought similar testimony against Jesus are called (Matt. 26:59–61; Mark 14:55–59). But in both cases the falseness of their testimony consisted not in wholesale fabrication but in subtle and deadly misrepresentation of words actually spoken.” FF Bruce

• John 2:19 Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."

• John 2:19 Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."

• John 2:20-21 The Jews then said, "It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?" 21 But He was speaking of the temple of His body.

• 15 And fixing their gaze on him, all who were sitting in the Council saw his face like the face of an angel.

• 15 And fixing their gaze on him, all who were sitting in the Council saw his face like the face of an angel.

• 7:1 The high priest said, "Are these things so?"

• “A major theme of the speech is its insistence that the presence of God is not restricted to any one land or to any material building. God revealed himself to Abraham long before Abraham settled in the holy land; he was with Joseph in Egypt; he gave his law to the people of Israel through Moses when they were wanderers in a wilderness.

• The people of God similarly should not be restricted to any one locality; a movable tent such as they had in the wilderness and in the earlier years of their settlement in Canaan was a more fitting shrine for the divine presence in their midst than the fixed structure of stone that King Solomon built.

• Another theme of the speech is the insistence that the Jewish people’s refusal to acknowledge Jesus as Messiah was all of a piece with their attitude to God’s messengers from the beginning of their national history. Joseph’s brothers hated him, although he was God’s predestined deliverer for them; Moses, another divinely ordained deliverer, was repudiated by his people more than once.

• The prophets too were persecuted and killed by those to whom they brought the word of God, and at last the one to whom the prophets bore witness in advance had been handed over to death by those to whom his saving message was first proclaimed.” FF Bruce

• 2 And he said, "Hear me, brethren and fathers! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, 3 and said to him, 'LEAVE YOUR COUNTRY AND YOUR RELATIVES, AND COME INTO THE LAND THAT I WILL SHOW YOU.'

• 4 "Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. From there, after his father died, God had him move to this country in which you are now living. 5 "But He gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot of ground, and yet, even when he had no child, He promised that HE WOULD GIVE IT TO HIM AS A POSSESSION, AND TO HIS DESCENDANTS AFTER HIM.

• 6 "But God spoke to this effect, that his DESCENDANTS WOULD BE ALIENS IN A FOREIGN LAND, AND THAT THEY WOULD BE ENSLAVED AND MISTREATED FOR FOUR HUNDRED YEARS. 7 " 'AND WHATEVER NATION TO WHICH THEY WILL BE IN BONDAGE I MYSELF WILL JUDGE,' said God, 'AND AFTER THAT THEY WILL COME OUT AND SERVE 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.