Acts 7:1-53 \/ 51-53\u00a0<\/b>\u2013\u00a0\u201cYou stiff-necked people!\u00a0Your hearts\u00a0and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit! 52\u00a0Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute?\u00a0They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him\u2014\u00a053\u00a0you who have received the law that was given through angels\u00a0but have not obeyed it.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cYou stiff-necked people!\u00a0Your hearts\u00a0and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit!<\/i>\u201d\u00a0 Stephen had just reminded them that God did not ask for a house to be built for Him.\u00a0 It was man\u2019s idea to do so.\u00a0 The idea to put God in a house is similar to what men, even Christian men, do today.\u00a0 They, in pride or even rebellion and fear, try to build a box of their theology to contain God in.\u00a0 They say things like God cannot or will not do today the mighty works He has done in the past.\u00a0 Run from those who say that God no longer does the miraculous healings and no longer gives signs.\u00a0 As if they have all the knowledge and wisdom of God.\u00a0 Run from those who place limitations on God.\u00a0 It is blasphemous to even think that mere man can contain and limit God in any way.\u00a0 No, we are to know that God has not changed (James 1:17<\/b>) and that there never were and never will be limits on God.\u00a0 Only God, in His infinite knowledge and wisdom, can place limits on Himself.\u00a0 The rainbow reminds us that He said He would never flood the entire earth as He did in the days of Noah (Genesis 9:8-17<\/b>).\u00a0 This is a promise from God to mankind that He decided.\u00a0 It is a limit He made.\u00a0 No-one places any limits on God.\u00a0 God sets all limits (Job 14:5<\/b>).\u00a0 No-one can confine God.\u00a0 How horrible is that proud thought!\u00a0 Run from the one who places limits on God. Only God, in His perfection, limits Himself.\u00a0 Praise God!<\/p>\n
Stephen continues that his audience is a stubborn people.\u00a0 He states that their hearts and ears are uncircumcised (Leviticus 26:40-41, Deuteronomy 10:16, Jeremiah 4:4<\/b>).\u00a0 He is saying that the sin, the desire for it, has not been cut away from their hearts or ears.\u00a0 The pattern of resistance and rebellion against God, that had plagued their ancestors, was still residing in them.\u00a0 We, like those Jews, can do outward works that seem to show love and obedience to God while inwardly our hearts are hard and resistant to God\u2019s will.\u00a0 Circumcision was a reminder that what God really wants is people with circumcised hearts and minds to love, learn, and obey Him.\u00a0 Today we can attend church, go to seminars or seminaries, be involved in ministries or be ministers and still have hearts and ears that are hard and resist God.\u00a0 God wants us to have a heart that is not calloused over, but soft, healthy and fully vulnerable to His touch.\u00a0 He wants our minds to be open to every concept He wants to give to us.\u00a0 God wants us to allow the pain of having every speck of the world cut away from our hearts and minds so that they become fully able to love and receive Him, and all the wonders of Him, both in our hearts and in our minds.<\/p>\n
What they and their ancestors had done and were doing, is resisting the sweet and loving Holy Spirit.\u00a0 The same Holy Spirit who lives within all who loves Jesus, is the One who was calling to them to submit to God.\u00a0 They rejected Him.\u00a0 That is they followed the spirit of the evil one who wanted to raise his own will above the will of God.\u00a0 Family, we must be diligent to always, every day, search the motives of our actions and words.\u00a0 Are we wanting to please self or God?\u00a0\u00a0 Let\u2019s not cast stones at the Jews while being guilty ourselves.\u00a0 The history of the rebellious of the past is written so that we might not make the same mistakes.\u00a0 The truly wise do not need to learn the folly of sin through experience, but can know the folly of sin from the Word of God, from the Holy Spirit within, and even from the folly of others.<\/p>\n
\u201cWas there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute?<\/i>\u201d\u00a0 Even their self-proclaimed hero Moses they wanted to stone.\u00a0 The evil spirit within them was manifest to all who see when they sawed the great prophet Isaiah in half.\u00a0 Family, there is no end to the evil a person can do when God is resisted and evil is submitted to.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0 The prophets who predicted the coming of Jesus were rejected, and some killed, such as Isaiah. \u00a0The Righteous One is the One who was innocent and just.\u00a0 Those who foretold of Messiah Jesus were killed by the people whom He came to save.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd now you have betrayed and murdered him\u2026<\/i>\u201d Stephen comes to the point.\u00a0 The Savior whom the prophets spoke of, they had ultimately been responsible for the murder of Him also.\u00a0 God sent people to tell of Jesus and to let them know that He was coming to save them.\u00a0 They killed the prophets.\u00a0 Then the one the prophets had said was coming to love and save them, they also killed Him.\u00a0 The same spirit that was in their ancestor was in too many of them also.<\/p>\n
\u201cyou who have received the law that was given through angels\u00a0but have not obeyed it.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0 Their ancestors were the ones chosen by God to receive the Law and to share it with those who would receive it.\u00a0 They were to treasure what God had given them and live by these Words from God.\u00a0 But they did not obey God.\u00a0 Very sad.\u00a0 How honored are the Jews!\u00a0 What a prized position God has given them.\u00a0 Yet, they, like us, too often rebelled.\u00a0 Sad on them!\u00a0 Sad on us!<\/p>\n
Family, we have received the Word of God in the flesh.\u00a0 We have inherited the Word of God from the Jews.\u00a0 Do we learn from what God has given us, or do we desire to control our own destiny?\u00a0 If God marches us into the desert, do we complain and want to turn back the world?\u00a0 How are we different then the Jews? \u00a0When we openly demand our own will, aren\u2019t we also crucifying Christ again, just as they did? (Hebrews 6:6<\/b>)\u00a0 Family, let\u2019s be thankful that through Jesus we have the forgiveness of sin.\u00a0 That Jesus died once for all our sins (Romans 6:10<\/b>).\u00a0 We ought not to be proud that we are children of God.\u00a0 The Jews were not the Chosen people of God because of something they did.\u00a0 It was by the will of God.\u00a0 Family, we are not the Chosen people of God because of anything we have done, but by the will of God.\u00a0 We are children of God not by merit, but by the loving grace of God given to us through Jesus our Savior and Lord.\u00a0 Let our praises not be only our words but more importantly, our loving obedience and following of Him.\u00a0 Let us all be humble.\u00a0 We who love Jesus are blessed beyond all others.\u00a0 Let\u2019s appreciate what Jesus did for us.\u00a0 Let\u2019s yield so that He changes our hearts and minds to how they are meant to be so that we may truly understand the love and greatness of our God.\u00a0 Praise God!<\/p>\n
Psalm 150:6<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/i><\/p>\n Micah 7:7<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear\u00a0me.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n Micah 6:8<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0He has shown You, O man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; And what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Acts 7:1-53 \/ 51-53\u00a0\u2013\u00a0\u201cYou stiff-necked people!\u00a0Your hearts\u00a0and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit! 52\u00a0Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute?\u00a0They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him\u2014\u00a053\u00a0you who have received…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[82,1872,1865,104,1700,99,1849,2454,94,17,10],"class_list":["post-1555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-acts","tag-deuteronomy","tag-genesis","tag-hebrews","tag-james","tag-jeremiah","tag-job","tag-leviticus","tag-micah","tag-psalm","tag-romans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1555"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1555\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1556,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1555\/revisions\/1556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}