But our ancestors refused to obey him, Moses

 Acts 7:1-45

Stephen’s Speech to the Sanhedrin:

Then he gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. And Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him eight days after his birth. Later Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.

“As the time drew near for God to fulfill his promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt had greatly increased. Then ‘a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. He dealt treacherously with our people and oppressed our ancestors by forcing them to throw out their newborn babies so that they would die.

Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not. The next day Moses came upon two Israelites who were fighting. He tried to reconcile them by saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why do you want to hurt each other?’

Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. I have indeed seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free. Now come, I will send you back to Egypt.

“This is the Moses who told the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your own people.’ He was in the assembly in the wilderness, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors; and he received living words to pass on to us.

But our ancestors refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt.

“Our ancestors had the tabernacle of the covenant law with them in the wilderness. It had been made as God directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen. After receiving the Tabernacle, our ancestors under Joshua brought it with them when they took the land from the nations God drove out before them. It remained in the land until the time of David, who enjoyed God’s favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who built a house for him.

Why?

It is the Jews who oppressed Jesus, and the apostles, they did even worse than the foreigners. From the generation of Moses until the times of Jesus.

This is the sin of human beings. Even though I refused Jesus when I was young, the love of the Lord never left me but gave me the chance to know this real God. How blessed I am, I am not smart, poor, and less talented. It is the Lord blessed my way, my every step, so I can have my family and my everything. I am not rich,  and fool, because God guided me, so I can do many wonders.

Stephen knew the history of the Israelites and the sins of their ancestors, so he spoke this and the truth, under the blessing of the Holy Spirit, he spoke this truth to let more people know it. How rebellent they were.

How?

Under comfortable situations or troubled situations, God may let us speak the right word to tell others the Gospel everywhere, at the right times.