Circumcision Event Remembered - Acts 7:1-8

Then the Chief Priest said, what do you have to say for yourself?

Stephen replied, friends, fathers, and brothers, the God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was still in Mesopotamia, before the move to Haran, and told him, leave your country and family and go to the land I'll show you.

So he left the country of the Chaldees and moved to Haran. After the death of his father, he immigrated to his country where you now live, but God gave him nothing, not so much as a foothold. He did promise to give the country to him and his son later on, even though Abraham had no son at the time. God let him know that his offspring would move to an alien country where they would be enslaved and brutalized for four hundred years. 'But,' God said, I will step in and take care of those slaveholders and bring my people out so they can worship me in this place.

Then he made a covenant with him and signed it in Abraham's flesh by circumcision. When Abraham had his son Issac, within eight days he reproduced the sign of circumcision in him. Issac became father of Jacob, and Jacob father of twelve 'Father,' each faithfully passing on the covenant sign.

This High Priest was Caiphas, the same High Priest who had earlier questioned and condemned Jesus.

Stephen launched into along speech about Israel's relationship with God. From Old Testament history he showed that the Jews had constantly rejected God's message and his Prophets, and that this council had rejected the Messiah, God's Son. He made three main points (1) Israel's history is the history of God's acts in the world; (2) People worshiped God long before there was a temple; (3) Jesus death was just one more example of Israel's rebellion and rejection of God.

Stephen wasn't really defending himself. Instead, he took the offensive, seizing the opportunity to summarize his teaching about Jesus. Stephen was accusing these religious leaders failing to obey God's laws - the laws they prided themselves in following so meticulously. This was the same accusation Jesus had leveled against them. When we witness for Christ, we don't need to be on the defensive. Instead we can simply share our faith.

Reference summary used from The Message Bible and The Life Application Bible, KJV, Tyndale Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL

Sunday - Amos Call - Amos 7:10-17 -7/30/17

Amos was an herdman/shepherd and farmer before the Lord called him to be a prophet.

Amaziah was a chief priest that led the children of Israel into idolatry.

Amos was called by the Lord to do something that he was not trained to do. Once God calls you he qualifies you. Training is helpful, but the calling on your life from God is what keeps you going when others and everything is against you.

God protects his servants who will obey and work faithfully. The servant of God, must trust and obey, expecting God's next direction.

Amos' response to Amaziah was full of doom.

Amaziah thought Amos was a prophet for the money. Amaziah told Amos that he could earn a comfortable income in Judah. Amaziah told Amos to flee to Judah for his own safety.

Amaziah was not concerned about hearing God's message; he was only worried about his own position. Don't let anything come between you and obeying God.

Are you obeying God's word? Without any special preparation, education, or upbringing, Amos obeyed God's call to "go prophesy unto his people Israel."

Amaziah was the official priest of the royal sanctuary at Bethel.

Not only would the Israelities be taken into exile, but Amaziah's own wife would be a harlot and his sons and daughters would be destroyed.

Reference summary used from The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha Expanded Edition RSV and The Life Application Bible KJV, Tyndale Publishers INC., Wheaton, IL