Feb. 27, 2025
#257 - Acts 7.17-43 - Stephen's Sermon
This podcast description was generated by ChatGPT based on the transcript.
In this episode of AL Pastor, Pastor Brian and special guest Noah dive deep into Acts 7:17–43, continuing their verse-by-verse journey through Stephen’s powerful sermon before the Sanhedrin. Pastor Brian walks listeners through how Stephen masterfully connects the stories of Abraham, Joseph, and Moses to reveal Christ as the true Deliverer. Together, Brian and Noah explore biblical parallels between the Old and New Testaments—like Moses and Jesus, Egypt and exile, the burning bush and Pentecost fire—all while unpacking themes of God's providence, justice, and deliverance.
The episode reflects on the spiritual blindness of Stephen's audience and invites listeners to consider how God's redemptive plan weaves through every story of Scripture. Brian reminds us that obedience often means walking by faith, not by feeling, and that God's promises may unfold over generations—but they always come to pass. With a passionate, pastoral tone, this episode is both theological and devotional, ending with a reminder that we too are sent—like Moses, like Jesus—to declare good news and deliver hope.
And yes, they’re still craving tacos by the end.
🎧 Listen in and be encouraged to see the Bible as one unified story that points to Jesus.
These notes are was generated by ChatGPT based on the transcript.
📖 Scripture Focus: Acts 7:17–43
Stephen continues his defense before the Sanhedrin by tracing Israel’s history—specifically highlighting the lives of Abraham, Joseph, and Moses—as types and shadows pointing to Jesus Christ.
🧵 Main Themes & Structure
1. The Time of Promise (v.17–19)
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“The time of promise drew near” – A significant phrase that signals fulfillment. Stephen is pointing to both the past (Moses) and present (Jesus).
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God's people multiplied in Egypt, and a new Pharaoh arose who “did not know Joseph”—a sign of spiritual blindness and forgetfulness of God's past providence.
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Parallel: Just as Egypt forgot Joseph, the Jewish leaders had forgotten (or rejected) God's Messiah.
2. Moses as a Type of Christ (v.20–29)
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Moses’ birth during oppression mirrors Jesus’ birth under Herod.
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God’s providence: Moses was rescued and raised in Pharaoh’s house—God's hand guiding even through enemy territory.
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Acts 7:22 – Moses was “mighty in words and deeds,” like Jesus (Luke 24:19).
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Moses identifies with the oppressed and avenges a fellow Hebrew (Exodus 2).
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He had the heart of God even before he was commissioned.
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Like Jesus, he was misunderstood and rejected by his own people.
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Stephen highlights the ad hominem attack Moses faced—parallel to how Jesus was rejected without cause.
3. God’s Call & Holy Ground (v.30–34)
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40 years later, God appears to Moses in the burning bush on holy ground.
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Moses trembles in awe—demonstrating true reverence.
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God declares: “I have surely seen… I have heard… I have come down… I will send you.”
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Connection to Jesus: God came down again in the person of Jesus to deliver His people from the greatest oppression—sin.
4. Sent to Deliver (v.35–36)
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The same Moses who was rejected was the one God used to deliver His people.
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Parallel to Christ: The rejected One becomes the Ruler and Deliverer.
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Both Moses and Jesus performed wonders and signs.
5. Jesus as the Greater Prophet (v.37)
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Stephen quotes Moses: “The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me…”
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This capital-P Prophet is Jesus.
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Stephen’s message: Jesus is the fulfillment of Moses’ prophecy.
6. The Living Oracles & Rejection (v.38–41)
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Moses received the law (“living oracles”) to give to the people.
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Yet they rejected it and turned back to Egypt in their hearts.
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They asked for idols, made a golden calf, and rejoiced in the work of their hands.
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This is a key phrase: their boasting was not in God, but in their own effort—works-based righteousness.
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7. Stephen’s Indictment (v.42–43)
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God gave them over to worship the host of heaven (false gods).
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Stephen references the prophets, showing the same rebellion was present in the wilderness and in Jerusalem at that moment.
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Just as Israel misused what God gave them (gold for idolatry), the Sanhedrin misused the Temple—turning a gift of God into an idol.
🔄 Key Parallels Between Moses and Jesus
| Moses | Jesus |
|---|---|
| Born under threat (Pharaoh) | Born under threat (Herod) |
| Raised in Egypt | Fled to Egypt |
| Mighty in words and deeds | Mighty in words and deeds |
| Rejected by his own | Rejected by His own |
| Called to deliver | Sent to deliver |
| Spoke with God on a mountain | Gave the Sermon on the Mount |
| Gave the law | Fulfilled the law |
💡 Reflections & Applications
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God sees and hears—even if deliverance seems delayed (v.34).
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Faithfulness isn’t always glamorous—Stephen's story shows us that obedience sometimes leads to sacrifice, not applause.
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Don’t trust in the works of your own hands; trust in the finished work of Christ.
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We are also sent—as ambassadors of Christ, to proclaim good news and help the oppressed.
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Be aware of how we might turn blessings into idols (e.g., religious traditions, positions, buildings).
🗣️ Discussion Questions
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How does Stephen’s use of Israel’s history speak to the hearts of his accusers?
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In what ways do we still “rejoice in the works of our hands” today?
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How can we follow Moses' example in identifying with and defending the oppressed?
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What does it look like to walk by faith, even when we don’t feel the “rainbows and sunshine”?
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You're listening to Al Pastor, the show that helps you love God, love your neighbor, and eat more
tacos.
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I'm your host, Pastor Brian, welcome to the show.
Hey, friends, I want to welcome you to today's podcast.
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We are walking through the book of Acts, and specifically we're in Chapter 7 today.
We'll pick up at verse 17, the previous episode.
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We begin to look intently at Steven Sermon.
I have Noah in studio with me today.
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Noah, how are you doing?
Good.
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Let me ask you a question, have you been kind of overwhelmed with this chapter?
A little bit.
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OK, what's overwhelming about it?
I don't like.
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For me the commentary was a the main 1 wasn't really doing a good job and then it seems like it's
just like a recap of old stuff.
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Sure, sure.
So that's actually, I'm, I'm glad that you're kind of being open and honest about it.
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So what I want to say to you is this is the time that you actually have to nail down even more
because most of the time, it's not like there's rainbows and sun shines and sprinkles, you know,
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when our Christian walk, but you need to know that what you're doing is you're sewing.
You're sewing into your heart, your soul and into your life.
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So I, I believe you.
This is a beautiful chapter, but it, it, when I say overwhelming, it could be overwhelming because
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of the length and everything else.
So what I want to instill or ingrain in you is that we keep going.
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We keep going even even if we don't have those, you know, sparks.
And so maybe maybe we can add a little bit in there, but we go by, we go by faith.
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We don't go by feeling.
So let's go ahead and we're going to start in verse 17.
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So Steven has transitioned, just without getting too much into it.
In the 1st 16 verses, what Steven has done is highlighted the story of Abraham and then he
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highlighted the story of Joseph.
Do you remember the two purposes why he did that first with Abraham?
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Was well with Joseph was because Joseph is like a type of Jesus or.
Yeah, yeah.
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And his life is kind of overlaid.
We would call this in the Bible types and shadows.
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So Joseph is a type of Jesus.
And so you can see the similarities.
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They're pretty.
They're they're they're overt.
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Is that it would be the word.
Now, what about Abraham?
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Do you remember?
What the point?
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Why would he bring up Abraham?
Because it was.
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That was my e-mail because I did not put it on Do not disturb.
But it doesn't matter.
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We'll keep rolling on it.
I just put it on Do not disturb.
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So, Abraham, let's get back to him.
Oh my, forgot.
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OK, so Abraham, remember he's the father of faith.
Remember we talked about he had to walk, he had to obey God's voice.
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He didn't, he didn't know, he didn't see it.
He didn't obtain the promise.
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It wasn't about what he could see.
It was about obeying God's Word.
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So that was that was part of the point of that.
Now we go into Moses.
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OK, and let's start in verse 17, he says, but when the time of promise drew near which God had sworn
to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in in Egypt.
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Now I want you know it to highlight.
If you, if you haven't highlighted, I want to suggest this to you, the phrase the time of promise,
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that that small phrase right there is highly, highly significant.
The time of promise.
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So what Steven is doing here is he's drawing a parallel from then to when to now.
Yeah, in the moment that he's preaching, right, He's saying there was a time of promise back then
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and the time of promise has come now.
And what is what?
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How would you describe the time of promise?
Do you have any idea?
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Not really.
Well, for them what Stephen is referencing is would be the birth of Moses.
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And the promise that God had is that he would hear his people and that he would deliver them.
And so that whole story about Moses is really, really beautiful.
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But what it does is it points us to a bigger picture of the promise of Jesus.
The Old Testament points to Jesus at every point.
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So these are, you know, you've heard the expression double phrases before, like you're saying one
thing, but it can mean multiple things on multiple levels in conversation.
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That's what Stevens doing.
He says, but wink, wink with the time of promise drew near which God had sworn and then now he ties
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it back.
This is beautiful to who Abraham and that promise was that God was going to bless him and multiply
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him, make him a great nation and that threw his seed all the all of the world would be blessed.
He says that the people grew and multiplied in Egypt and then verse 18 until another king arose who
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did not know Joseph.
Do you have any thoughts on that?
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Well, the Pharaoh there was when Pharaoh rose to power, Joseph was right there.
It was all because of God's grace and favor and anointing upon Joseph's life.
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But when, when that Pharaoh died, there arose another, another Pharaoh.
And when it says he didn't know Joseph, that means he didn't know.
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It wasn't as if he didn't know who Joseph was.
It meant he didn't care.
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He was blind to the, to the fact that Joseph was the reason that that Egypt had prospered.
That's the that's the sense.
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Now think about the audience as Stevens talking to they did not know God's Messiah.
They were blind to who Jesus was.
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And so again, even though Steven, this is what I want to make sure you get cuz see, this is more
than a history lesson.
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He's not just recounting what we could some people on the outside would be like ask some old boring
stories.
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He's not he's, he's doing his best in this moment to try to open blind eyes.
That's what he's doing.
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And so he says, there was another king that arose that didn't know Joseph.
And then he said, verse 19, this man dealt treacherously with our people and oppressed our
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forefathers, making them expose their babies so that they might not live.
Now, this is this is the ultimate reality.
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Know it where blindness and hardness of heart can lead you.
It can lead you to a place where you try to kill off everything that is of God.
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That means you don't want anything to do with those things.
Why?
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Because it's a reflection of what we're not what we're called to be.
And so do you remember what happened at the birth of Jesus?
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Tons of baby boys to her.
Exactly the peril we see another parallel.
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Moses was a great deliverer of his people and so is Jesus.
And so here's the enemy enemy comes in and tries to kill off God's promise.
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And then verse 20 it says at this time Moses was born and was well pleasing to God and he was
brought up in his father's house for three months.
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Now according to this no where where was I'm just going to give you drop this to you.
Where was Moses born?
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Egypt.
In Egypt, do you remember where, when when Herod tried to kill all the babies, do you remember where
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his parents took Jesus?
Egypt.
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Exactly.
Pretty cool, huh?
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Yeah.
I mean, there's, there's a lot of parallelisms in here, which is awesome.
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And, and when I, when I talk about these parallelisms, they're more than just something cool.
Do you know what it means?
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It means that the Bible is 1 unified story from Genesis to Revelation.
It's the most incredible thing that God has ever given us besides salvation, of course, in the
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person of Jesus Christ.
But because the Bible is 66 books written by 40 different authors over a time period of 1500 years,
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it is one cohesive unit.
That's what we need, one unified story.
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It's amazing, absolutely amazing.
And then verse 21.
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But when he was set out, Pharaoh's daughter took him away and brought him up as her own son.
Beautiful statement there.
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But it's God's Providence.
You know what that means?
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Oh no.
It means that everything is in God's.
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God provides everything that we need when we need it.
And when they had to send baby Moses down that river, they put him in a little ark.
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That's simple.
That's a different story.
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I, I, my brain, the way it's wired.
But Moses was in the same word that's used for Noah's ark.
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God's safety, God's protection, God's hand was upon him as he floated down that river.
And guess who picked him up?
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Pharaoh's daughter brought him up.
See, this time is different.
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Joseph was brought up from the pit into the palace.
But here's Moses being brought up in a different way.
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God always, even though there's a lot of similarities.
Here's the thing.
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Even though there are similarities in the story, each one is unique, but the theme remains the same.
God is in control.
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God is sovereign, and he does things differently at different times.
There's a awesome Hebrews 11 tells us how God works and he speaks in various ways at different
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times.
Verse 22 look at, look at, look at again.
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I want you to go ahead and read it, Noah.
And Moses was learned in all the wisdoms of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds.
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Wow, that's pretty incredible.
God's.
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So again, we take God's provision, how he provides his Providence, and he was able to educate Moses.
There's a lot we could unpack there, but we're not going to verse 23.
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When he was 40 years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel.
Now, to make a Long story short, it's hard to know.
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You know, Moses went through a process where, you know, he either discovered when he was young or
maybe as a teenager what his real identity was.
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He was brought up for the 1st 40 years of his life as if he was Egyptian.
He learned the language, the culture, the customs.
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Moses was highly skilled because that's what the Bible says, that he was mighty.
He was he was mighty in words and deeds that means what it just like Joseph whatever Moses put his
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hands to God, God made flourish, which is incredible.
So all of the sudden it said it came into his heart in verse 13.
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What a beautiful thing to do, what, visit his own people and verse 24 and seeing one of them suffer
wrong, he defended.
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And what's that next word?
Avenged.
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So here's the question, Is Moses an avenger?
It says he avenged, right?
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Moses is.
I mean, Sir, I'm not trying to be funny about it, but think it's kind of cool.
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Moses is an avenger.
He defended and avenged.
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Who?
Him who was oppressed and struck down?
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The Egyptian Now, I don't know if you remember this story, but do you remember when it what happened
when he struck down the Egyptian?
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He he ran away.
He ran away because he, the guy died, right?
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Yeah.
He was like, scared.
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But here's the thing.
We can debate all day long.
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Should Moses have done that?
Was it wrong?
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You know, there's all that, but I to be honest with you, I don't care.
Here's the point.
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Moses, at this moment there is a revelation to us.
You know what it reveals?
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He had the heart of God.
Why?
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Because it he avenged him who was oppressed.
That's God's heart.
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That is God's heart.
That is also why Jesus came.
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You and I, we have been oppressed.
How you're not a victim of your social circumstances, your economics circumstances, you're not
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oppressed through your racial somebody could look at you know, and say, well, you're you're a white
kid, even though you're half Brazilian, half American, right, You will never be oppressed.
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You could be but not at this sense your greatest oppression is sin.
That is the greatest oppression and Jesus came to deliver us to liberate us from that sin.
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Jesus it we could say like this is our ultimate avenger really.
And then verse 25 note notice notice how quickly he goes.
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He says, for he supposed that his brother and would have understood that God would deliver them by
his hand, but they did not understand.
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So think about this man.
This is a good thing.
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I just defended and you don't get it.
This is this is the life of Jesus.
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They didn't get it.
He came, he lived, he died, he rose again, He wept over his own brethren.
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You know, when we celebrate Palm Sunday, Jesus had come and he wept over the people.
He says Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how I would have gathered you.
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But you know what, just like them, they did not understand.
They went from from praising Jesus to saying give us Barabbas.
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Same thing.
Stephen is like this is this is incredible what he's doing here.
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Verse 26 and the next day he appeared to two of them as they were fighting and he tried to reconcile
them.
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I got to pause there for a second.
Didn't Jesus said blessed are the peacemakers.
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This is what Moses is exemplifying this this is what Stevens bringing up.
This is God's will.
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Two people are fighting.
Let's reconcile, let's make peace.
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And he's saying, men and brethren, why do you wrong one another?
Verse 27 But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, who made you a ruler and a judge
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over us?
This is, do you know this what they said?
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This is their posture, their heart towards Jesus.
Who do you think you are?
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By what authority do you do these things right?
Yeah, everybody would go and say here's my authority, here's my credentials.
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You want to see my Idi studied at under Rabbi so and so Rabbi this.
That's my authority.
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In the name of this Rabbi, Jesus came in his own authority.
He says you've heard it said, he says, but I say to you, the authority that he had came direct from
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God.
This is beautiful.
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So they said, who made you a ruler and a judge over us?
Verse 28, Do you want to kill me as you did the Egyptian yesterday?
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What is this?
This is they're now attacking him with their words.
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That's what they're doing.
They're attacking him.
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The word here is ad hominem.
Now, no, I know you like debates.
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You like you're interested in those things.
You know what this means?
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When somebody is losing an argument or when somebody's trying to do something, they go to it's an
old Latin word called ad hominem, and it means that you start attacking the person because you can't
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win the debate through intellect or logic or anything else.
Here's Moses saying, guys, let's, let's, let's make peace.
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What do they do?
Who made you a ruler?
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Who do you think you are?
Oh, do you want to kill us just like that Egyptian yesterday they're attacking him.
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Verse 29 Then at this scene Moses fled and became a dweller in the land of Midian where he had two
sons and when 40 years had passed.
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Let's pause here.
Do you notice what Stephen has done now in just a few short verses he's he's taught in, he's
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summarized the first 40 years of Moses's life from birth to the time that he made this defense.
And now he's jumped another 40 years because in verse 39, after 40 years had passed, an Angel of the
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Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire.
Do you remember how Jesus is going to come back?
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With a like up fire.
Yeah, yeah.
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He's going to come back right with, like, flaming fire and vengeance.
This, this, this is, this is the that's a signal of God.
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So notice, notice now how the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire.
What was that?
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Pentecost?
What came over there?
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What appeared over their heads?
Fire.
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Fire.
Yeah.
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And it says in a Bush, in the wilderness of Mount Sinai.
You know me, know, I can talk all day about this.
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I love the book of Exodus.
You know, we did.
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I'm just telling you.
But I'm thinking back.
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I need to go back and look at my notes.
But we were in Bible study and we went through the Book of Exodus.
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Probably a good solid year and a half.
Two years.
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Some of the best I'd I'd loved.
It because we're in Exodus.
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First, yes, yes.
And it was only, excuse me, it was only a small handful of us.
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What I mean by that, like just a few.
And I used to be so heartbroken every Wednesday because I'm like, nobody wants this is stuff is so
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good.
Like it was beautiful.
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I mean, I love.
Exodus So I can't picture doing like one book for like a year or two.
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Well, we were doing it a little differently.
You know how we're doing now a chapter a week back then we did whatever on Sunday mornings.
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It wasn't like we are following, you know, schedule.
So we just said, hey, on Wednesdays we're just going to go verse by verse in the book of Exodus.
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And we used I would type out notes and do all that.
But we had a good time.
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So that's why right now I'm like it for me.
This is precious what we're reading because I'm reflecting back on on Exodus.
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And then of course, we went through Exodus when we did the Torah as well.
So let's let's go on.
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So the Angel of the Lord in verse 30 appears to him in a flame of fire in a Bush in the wilderness
in Mount Sinai.
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Now I want you to know Noah, that for a Jewish person listening to this, this is one of the besides
God giving the law at Mount Sinai, the 10 commandments and the rest of the law.
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This is one of the big events of their history because it was it was in this moment that God
revealed his name, his character to Moses.
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The the name right and then verse 31 when Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight and as he drew near
to observe the voice.
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Notice this.
Now the voice of the Lord came to him.
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Oh, that's, that's beautiful.
I'm tempted, but I won't the voice.
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I just want to highlight that the voice of the Lord came to him saying, I am the God of your
father's, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.
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Notice the next phrase.
And Moses trembled and dared not to look.
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What do you think that was Noah I?
Mean like because he knew it was God and then he, he was just, I don't know.
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I don't know how I would feel if like all of a sudden all that's happening.
Yeah, it's a holy, holy moment.
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And the closer you get to God, the more reverence, the more reverence of things that are holy.
This was a holy moment.
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Moses trembled and dared not to look.
Sometimes people will say, well, that's not the God I serve.
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Well, here's my thing.
Even when you get into the New Testament, this is entirely consistent all throughout John.
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I mean, when he had the revelation, he fell down as though he was dead.
You know, the apostle Paul the great, really your proximity, how close you are to God shows just how
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unholy you are.
But yet we have our hope because Jesus makes us holy.
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Here's here's verse 33.
Then the Lord said to him, Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy
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ground.
I've surely seen the oppression.
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Now let me read it and I'll point this out.
I've surely seen the oppression of my people who are in Egypt.
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I have heard their groaning and have come down to deliver them.
And now come, I will send you to Egypt.
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What was Moses doing when he avenged the person?
He was avenging the oppressed, See, because he took on the heart of God, even though he struck that
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guy down and killed him.
Remember I said we could debate about that.
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This was the heart of God.
And this was actually the reason that God said I could use him because he had a heart for the
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oppressed.
And now God is saying he's affirming, OK, he says take your sandals off.
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That's a different discussion as to why.
But he says, notice what he says.
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I have surely seen, which tells us Noah that God, God sees.
God sees.
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It's not every day and it's not every week that you're going to feel these, you know, overwhelming
sense of God.
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There will be times in your life when you won't.
But this verse and the verse in Exodus is God's assurance that he has seen, He knows, He sees.
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And for 400 years, you know, I'm using nice round numbers here.
They had been oppressed.
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I'm sure they said, where's God?
They would cry out to God.
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God saying I've, I've heard, I've seen in his time, He says, I've heard their groaning.
And now what has he done?
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He says, I notices I heard their groaning and have come down to do what?
Deliver them.
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Guess what it is, It is God who's going to deliver them, but he's going to use Moses his servant.
And in the New Testament, God came down again and he was made flesh through again his servant Jesus.
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Isaiah calls Jesus the suffering servant.
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That's what that's that's, that's the way that Jesus the Messiah is depicted.
And then he says, I will, I will send you to Egypt.
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Now I want you to think about this.
Do you remember what Jesus did with the disciples?
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He sent them out.
Exactly.
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This is an idea of what we would call as a representative of God.
I am sending you out to do the exact same thing that I've done.
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To preach, to declare that there is good news, to set the captives free, to deliver the oppressed to
in essence, help the little guy.
26:43
And I want to bring this into a big picture here.
Remember when we talked about the lame man in Acts?
26:53
Where was he positioned?
At the like outside the front of the.
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Temple, he's from the outside looking in.
The depiction there is.
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That's an idea like a picture of the oppressed.
It's like helping the little guy.
27:11
OK, you're a big, you're a big, strong guy.
You play football, you got a little guy.
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Are you going to just sit there and pounce on him?
Yeah.
27:21
No.
Right.
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Or if you see somebody getting picked on, guess what?
You you help the underdog, you help the little guy.
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You don't contribute to the oppression.
And what has happened here is the system in Israel during this time was designed to do just that,
27:44
oppress and weigh down through crazy.
Well, I shouldn't say crazy.
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They were man made rules.
I talked a little bit about this.
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I think it was with Miguel after the Bible study.
You know, the average person in Israel had been weighed down with the weight of the law because you
28:04
had to follow the law to the exact letter, like, oh, you couldn't move an inch on the Sabbath.
You couldn't do this, You couldn't do that.
28:11
But you know what the, the, the higher ups would do?
They would turn a blind eye to people that had status, to people that had money.
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And they would be like this little guy up.
Nope, you can't cross the street on the Sabbath.
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But guess what?
Your buddy over there that's a billionaire, maybe he attends the synagogue of the Freedman.
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Guess what?
Wink, wink, nod, nod.
28:34
Yeah, you could.
We're not going to say anything.
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To you.
They do the same thing between them then.
28:38
They would they would they would they, would they would give an appearance as if they were strict
observers of the law.
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Some of them very well could have been OK.
But this idea of oppression is not that it's, it's, it's more, it is, it is having what Jesus also
28:56
called a scale that was rigged.
So let's say you were to, you were to go sell something at the market and you were a fisherman and
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they say, I'm going to pay you $5 a pound of fish.
That's a lot of money, actually not a good example, but just go with it, $5 a pound.
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And you get there and you're like, man, I've got this big old basket of fish.
It's probably 50 lbs.
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And you go there and you put it on the scale and it's like, that's only 30 lbs.
Why?
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What would happen?
They would rig the scale to where it wouldn't read as high.
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Do you see?
They would use a counterbalance.
29:35
So God, God says the scales of justice must be equal, which means it's the same for the man who's
rich or the man who is poor.
29:47
You were to have equitable treatment equity based on judicial justice.
When it comes to to those things, you cannot turn a blind eye or show partiality.
30:02
So part of what is going on here is this system was designed the exact opposite.
And so Steven is actually he in so many brilliant ways bringing all of this out.
30:19
So let's go back now and read it.
God says I've seen the oppression of my people that was back then and it's certainly happening at
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that moment with Stephen.
He says I've heard their groaning, yes, and I've come down to do what?
30:32
To deliver them.
And now come, I will send you to Egypt.
30:38
Verse 35 this Moses whom they rejected saying who made you a ruler and a judge is the one God sent
to be ruler and deliverer by the hand of the Angel to appeared to him in the Bush.
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So this is Steven.
Now Steven is Steven is now inserting his what we would call homily his homiletic, his his
31:02
preaching.
He's saying time out just like I do most of these verses.
31:08
Here's the point I just told you about Moses, but guess what?
They rejected him, they persecuted him, they attacked him and this it, this guy was the one that God
31:20
used to deliver them.
And what's it?
31:24
What's his going to be his point?
You did the same to Jesus, right?
31:28
And then he said in verse 36, he brought them out after, after he had shown wonders and signs in the
land of Egypt and in the Red Sea and in the wilderness 40 years, Jesus went about preaching and
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teaching and performing miracles.
That's all that Jesus did.
31:52
His hands healed the sick, and yet they pierced him.
His feet brought the good news and they drove a stake through it.
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Verse 37.
I before you move on, I was going to ask a question.
32:11
Sure.
Let me look for the verse verse 21.
32:16
Let's look at it verse 21.
But when he was set out, Pharaoh's daughter took him away and brought him up as her own son.
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Would that represent like Joseph raising Jesus as like his own or no?
You know, I'm not sure I like the way you're thinking, though.
32:36
I I'd like the way your mind went with that.
It could be, but you, what you would do is you would kind of make a mental note and then you would
32:44
say, I don't, I don't want to say absolutely yes or no, but I want to affirm I like the way you're
thinking.
32:57
It could.
It could Pharaoh's daughter took him away and brought her up as her own son.
33:03
But when you think, let's think through this for a moment, was Mary Jesus's mother?
She was.
33:13
Was Pharaoh's daughter Moses's mother?
No, no, no.
33:18
So it might be hard to to make that correlation in that sense, because Mary is Jesus's mom.
She's the mother.
33:30
We would say this, although sometimes Christians get a little uncomfortable.
She's the Mother of God.
33:40
And I know you don't understand what that phrase means, but it's a, there's a whole historical
context to that, but it's part of what we would call Orthodox Christian history.
33:51
Anyway, my brain goes there 'cause I was, I was doing that core, I was refreshing on, on church
history.
33:59
And there was actually a council that affirmed Mary as, as we call her, Theotokos, the Mother of
God.
34:07
All right, let's go on.
Any other questions?
34:10
OK, Verse 37, it says, this is Steven.
Now this is that Moses who said to the children of Israel, the Lord your God will raise up for you a
34:26
prophet like me from your brother and him.
Shall you hear?
34:30
Now, how can I get through this quickly?
There's a famous passage where there is Moses spoke of a prophet who was to come.
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When I say a prophet, we're talking capital P in the greatest sense, like singular a prophet.
There were many prophets like Ezekiel and Jeremiah and Isaiah and all those guys, right?
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Which one's your favorite?
I don't have one.
35:00
I'm teasing.
I was, I was going to say, is it like Obadiah or Zephaniah or Zechariah, all these prophets, right?
35:07
That isn't what Moses was talking about.
He was talking that there would one day rise up, rise up a prophet and that prophet, he was actually
35:16
Speaking of Jesus and was So what Stephen is doing, this is because This is why he's going to
they're going to kill him.
35:23
It's blasphemy.
So let's read it again, verse 37.
35:28
This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel, the Lord your God will raise up for you a
prophet like me.
35:36
Here's the here's the key phrase.
Like me, like Moses, he'll be a deliverer.
35:43
He'll go through the same trials, He'll go through the same rejections.
And he says him, you shall hear this now, verse 38.
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This is he who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the Angel who spoke to him on Mount
Sinai with our fathers, the one who received the living oracles to give us here's here's the
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totality of verse 38.
Moses gave all of the law the Torah 613 commands.
36:20
The 10 commandments are included in that.
How many do you know?
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I know 2-3 something like that maybe, but he's he's showing the what we would call in this moment.
The amount of revelation that was given is the equivalent.
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OK, when a Jew thinks of of something that's being revealed, they think of Moses.
Like that's crazy.
36:51
Think of the teaching Jesus did.
Now very similar.
36:55
Did you know that even in the Gospels, like like in the book of Matthew, Matthew sets up Jesus as a
greater Moses?
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Oh no.
Yeah, he does.
37:07
You can go through and look at his life like he was.
You go from his birth case.
37:14
You know how we vote.
We've overlaid like Jesus was born, Herod tried to kill them, they fled to Egypt.
37:19
He comes back, he goes, he gets baptized, it says it, and he's in the Do you remember when Jesus was
tempted?
37:27
Oh, yeah.
How long was he tempted for?
37:30
40 days.
Exactly.
37:33
And where was where did he go to be tempted?
A mountain.
37:38
Yeah, kind of.
He was out in the wilderness right for for how many days again?
37:43
40.
How long do you know?
37:45
Do you remember what it said in here?
How long?
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How long he was in the wilderness according to verse 36. 40 years. 40 years right there is an actual
there's of the parallels between Jesus and Moses are awesome.
38:02
So Matthew crafts his gospel in a beautiful way to set that up.
And just as Moses went up Noah on to Mount Sinai to do what this verse just said in verse 38 to give
38:18
him the oracles.
Do you know where Jesus went and gave his oracles?
38:24
Oh no.
It was on a mountain, but it wasn't Mount Sinai.
38:29
It was called the Mount of Olives Beatitudes.
Yeah, Matthew, 5-6 and seven.
38:36
And it's also amazing because there's so many.
I we could talk all day about this, but there was even a time.
38:44
Do you remember when Jesus borrowed a little boy's lunch and he fed how many?
5000.
38:50
Yeah.
And after that there's an interesting fact because the people divided themselves into ranks 50s and
38:59
hundreds, just like they did in the wilderness.
And then they they said, we're going to make him our our deliverer.
39:07
All right, let's, let's keep going or we won't, we won't finish.
OK.
39:13
So he said the the end of verse 38.
He's the one who received the living oracles to give us whom our fathers would not obey, but
39:23
rejected.
And in their hearts they turned back to Egypt, saying to Aaron, Make us gods to go before us.
39:31
And for this Moses, who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we don't know what has become of him.
And they made a calf in those days, offered sacrifices to the idol, and rejoiced in the works.
39:44
Notice this now in the works of their own hands.
Then God turned and gave them up to worship the host of heaven as it is written in the book of the
39:55
prophets.
Did you not offer me slaughtered animals or did you offer me slaughtered animals and sacrifices
40:02
during the 40 years in the wilderness, O House of Israel, You also took up the Tabernacle of Molech
and the star of your God, Rapham images which you made, made to worship.
40:14
And I will carry you away beyond Babylon.
Here's the point.
40:20
We're going to get into it in the next episode because I think we probably should finish up.
Are you good with that?
40:26
Yeah, OK, here's the point.
They the they're the Sanhedrin that he's speaking to.
40:33
They've done the exact same thing that they've done in the wilderness.
They have created an idol out of something that God has given them and blessed them with.
40:45
Now, let me explain.
God gave them all that gold out of Egypt.
40:49
God even said you're going to leave Egypt and you're going to leave better than you came out.
He blessed them.
40:56
They they took all the gold from Egypt.
So it was something God gave them.
41:01
God ordained, God blessed them with and what did they do?
Converted it into an idol.
41:11
The Sanhedrin are doing the same thing with the Temple of God.
They have turned it.
41:20
God ordained it, God bless them.
God told them it's not that the temple is evil, but it became evil because God's presence wasn't
41:30
there.
He, he, he was there as Jesus walked through, but God was not in that place.
41:38
Why?
Because ultimately it would point to us being the temple.
41:43
And so they have.
I want you to notice the phrase here in verse 41.
41:49
It says and they rejoiced in what?
The works of their own hands.
41:54
Exactly.
That's what they were doing.
41:57
They're rejoicing not in God, but in what they were doing.
This is why the Bible says that we're saved by grace through faith, not of ourselves, lest anyone
42:14
should boast.
Now think about this.
42:17
They were boasting in the works of their hands in the wilderness.
So too were the Sanhedrin, and as a result they worshipped the creation rather than the Creator.
42:35
And we cannot do that.
Any thoughts?
42:38
Any questions?
I had a one like like it talking about like Joseph and Abraham and Moses and like all of them being
42:50
like a type of it reminded me of a song.
You mean it was like Matt Papa and Matt Boswell or something?
42:59
I'm going to.
Oh, I know what you're talking about.
43:02
We won't be able to play it on here.
I don't want to get a caught.
43:04
Well, I don't know if I do on Spotify, but I think I know what's it called?
It's called.
43:08
I haven't listened like, that's why I would have to.
That's a good song.
43:12
I know which one you're talking about.
Pull up the lyrics I want to hear.
43:16
The I'm trying I don't know like the name of the song, that's why.
OK, let me think.
43:20
Let me think it's.
Like I only know one.
43:24
It's like God of Abraham and then it's like other.
You know what I'm talking.
43:28
About Son of God, Son of Man.
And then it goes into like Joshua and all that, I think awesome.
43:33
Yeah, yeah, no, that's a, that's a really good song.
In fact, I can probably pull it up now.
43:38
I think we have it in our library.
I just.
43:40
I just don't know like.
Well, yeah, our our music library is really dirty, but I mean by that it's unorganized.
43:47
Yes, let's see.
It's going to bug me if we don't find it.
43:59
Well, I won't be able to find it, but that's OK we can put it in the comments or post it.
Almighty, what is it called?
44:08
Noah?
I'm just OK.
44:25
I'm Googling for those of you that are still with us and still listening.
I think it's called God of.
44:32
Anyway.
No, I'm going to.
44:45
See.
That's all right, I.
44:50
If we find, I'll post it.
On you know This is why I said it, a Bible study.
44:53
When you want to find something, you never can't find it.
When you're in the moment later, we will.
44:58
And I've seen it at the I've seen it on a playlist at church before.
Yeah, no, it's a, it's a That's a super good song.
45:06
I'm actually glad you brought.
That if I find it, I'll post it almighty.
45:10
Cool.
Do you have any any other thoughts or questions?
45:13
No.
All right, give me your thoughts.
45:15
Now I know that this is you've been kind of, I call it sludging or dredging through this chapter,
but is it starting to make much more sense for you?
45:25
I mean, it's cool seeing seeing connections from like the Old Testament to New Testament and like
him be being able to defend his case even though it doesn't go through the go through their heads.
45:40
Yeah, yeah.
And you know, most of the time when we, when we look at it from our perspective, we're looking at
45:50
even though Steven is doing that, what we would call an apologetic, right, He's defending the faith.
Even though he's being offense off on offense.
46:01
The outcome of it is not the important thing.
Do you understand what I'm saying a little bit?
46:10
He lost his life, but what happened as a result?
He Jesus died.
46:17
No, it's Stephen in this model.
Well, both Steven and Jesus.
46:22
But you know, Steve, even though Steven, Steven is similar to Jesus, he's not Jesus.
But what I'm saying is, is Steven is defending his faith and he's giving these connections.
46:32
He's won the argument, but he gave his life for it.
And on this side of heaven and on this, on this earth, he didn't see the results.
46:43
We would say he wasn't successful.
However, he was very, very successful.
46:50
Yeah.
Do you remember what I said about the apostle Paul, what Stephen did, Apostle Paul, we talked about
46:56
it, the apostles.
Well, Saul was there and it was because this was Bible study last night.
47:02
And by the way, I'm trying my best not to.
I, I don't think I've been repetitive in any ways because we had a great Bible study and that's
47:09
totally separate than what we're doing here on this podcast.
But remember, Stephen said, Father, forgive them.
47:17
And who is standing right there?
So, yeah.
47:21
And he paved the way for that salvation.
And guess what the apostle Paul did?
47:27
He wrote the majority of our New Testament, Right?
Yeah.
47:32
So pretty cool.
Pretty cool.
47:34
Any other closing thoughts?
No.
47:37
All right, so do we get to go eat tacos now?
You know, you know what both of us want.
47:42
Oh.
Boy, I want tacos.
47:45
That's what I want, man.
No.
47:47
All right.
Well, no.
47:48
I appreciate you being on if and those of you that are listening at home, thank you.
We are going to if Noah, if Noah's on board, we're going to try to finish this out from 44 down to
48:02
60 in the next episode.
And we'll do our best to to do that.
48:07
So thank you for sticking around.
God bless you.
48:17
Thank you for listening to Al Pastor with Brian Overturf.
If you found value in this, please subscribe and get updates.
48:25
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48:36
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48:40
Until then, we'll see you later.