Exile to Exile

Welcome to Verse by Verse. Thank you so much for joining us as we take a look at the book of Acts. We take things nice and slowly as we look and see what God is doing in the big picture of expanding the gospel from Jerusalem to Judea and to Samaria and to the ends of the earth. My name is David Humphrey and I'm the pastoral care and missions pastor here at United City Church in Humboldt, Texas. We're excited to be your church family while you're incarcerated, but we're going to be even more excited when you get out and you can come and be a part of our church in person. We love you very much. Please grab your Bible and a journal, perhaps a pen, and be ready to take some notes and let's learn together through the book of Acts. In Jesus' name, we're just so grateful for your love, for your grace, your mercy. Thank you, God, for those who are going out from us to go and to spread your word. I pray, God, that you would just continue to embolden us, God, to get even more involved in the Great Commission and sharing your word here and there and everywhere. God, bless your word as we open it up tonight, God, that the words would go forth clearly and that we would be not just tickle our fancy and make us feel good, but, God, that we would be convicted so that we would move and act in accordance with your will. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. All right. Hey. Yes, sir. Along with our story tonight, I had something happen a couple days ago on the online ministry. Okay. A gentleman who'd been a young boy, I don't know, somewhere in Africa, and he asked two questions, which is kind of unusual in this online environment, but he said, I have a question for you. Actually, he asked three questions. The second question is, what do I need to do to understand who Jesus is? And then, before I can answer it, he sends a third question, is what would be my next step to follow Jesus? Wow. So, just to be able to pour out to him what it meant to walk with Jesus and why he needed to trust Jesus. That's right. This was just, I guess, yesterday now. Yeah. So, I haven't heard back from him yet, but somewhere in Africa. That's right. People all over the world, we all need the same Savior. There's no doubt about it. We're going to jump right in tonight. We've been in Acts chapter 7 for several weeks, and we're getting to the close of it, but we're still not there, guys. There's just a lot to unpack.

As you know, for those of you that have been here for the last several weeks, we've been walking through Stephen's speech, which is Acts chapter 7. We noticed that it's been divided into several sections. Basically, what he's doing is he is telling God's story as one big narrative and how the stories weave together. That's an important thing I want you to get from everything that we're doing here. He had the section that talks starting with the Abraham section, then he went to the Joseph section, then he went to the Moses section, which is where we are. I think we should probably finish that tonight. Then the last section is the Tabernacle Temple section of that speech. Basically, what we noticed last week, one of the other things we noticed that I never noticed before, maybe some of you guys have, is that Moses' life is actually divided into three 40-year segments, which was just so interesting and orderly of the Lord. You've basically got his birth, really kind of three months old to age 40, where he is being raised in Pharaoh's house, which we'll talk a little bit more about that in a minute. Then at age 40 is when he left Pharaoh's home and went out and kind of went into his own personal exile time. That's in the land of, somebody remember? Midian, that's right. That's 40 to 80. Then at age 80 is when he had his burning bush experience. Some of you guys are thinking, well, I'm age 80. Can God still use me? Well, here's the thing. Yes, absolutely, he can. Yeah, maybe you're in the prime. This is not the season for you to just sit back and watch everybody. It's the season for you to be even more engaged. Moses had his biggest moments around age 80, and then from 80 to 120, he was leading the Israelites and all those things. Then that was the end. Three 40-year segments, which I just thought was at least interesting, but at best just seeing God in how he puts everything together in such an orderly way. You have to remember that Moses was, as we said last week, a genocide survivor. Okay, that's how it was, guys. You know what genocide is, right? Yeah, it's exactly what he survived. So God brought him through that. Then he was adopted by the enemy's daughter, if that's not crazy enough. Then he was nursed by his own birth mother, and then he was raised in the enemy's palace. Guys, it was really a wild story. I mean, sometimes we're so familiar with the Moses story that we just sort of overlook it like, well, yeah. Guys, it's just crazy how God was raising up this deliverer.

And so we found in verse 23 last week, when he was 40 years old, came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. So we talked about the fact that he must have known he was an Israelite. We thought, well, maybe, maybe he remembered his mom telling him some things, his birth mom, you know, when she was nursing him. We don't really know some of the details of exactly how that happened. We do remember verses 24 and 25, how he saw one of his Israelite brothers being wronged and defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. That meant killing him, okay? So he was passionate for his fellow Israelites. He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand. This is verse 25, but they did not understand. So we could see that Moses was passionate for his people and he fully expected them to see that he was God's deliverer. And they did not see that at all. They did not pick up what God was doing here. So that was new. I remember as I was opening this up, studying this for myself, preparing for this, I had not really put together the fact that Moses, even at that time, knew and felt like he had a call

from God to be a deliverer to God's people. So that's, but that's what the scripture tells us there. So verse 26, on the following day, he appeared to them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them saying, men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong each other? Do you see this? This is Moses trying to be a minister of reconciliation within his people. That didn't go well either. Verse 27, the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside and said, who made you a ruler and a judge over us? Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday? And so what did Moses do? He fled. So then Moses fled into his own exile. That was a, how long was his exile? 40 years. You see the order in Moses' life. It's just amazing. And I don't think Moses was the one that said, okay, at 40, I'm going to do this. And at 80, I'm going to do this. And then at 120, I'm gone. I think God was the one who was overseeing all of this. So Moses fled and he went to the land of Midian. And of course, in this verse, it just says, and boy, he became the father of two sons.

Well, there's actually a few details that got missed in this quick, that's what happens when you're telling the story, trying to get a big story in, you miss a lot of details. So he's kind of hitting the high points, but I want to just kind of fill in some of those from the book of Exodus, in case some of you don't remember, when Moses flees for his life, who is he fleeing from at the age of 40? He is fleeing from Pharaoh at this moment, okay? So at this point, Pharaoh, who had allowed him to be raised in his palace, has turned on him, okay, because of what's going on. And so if you remember the story, Moses gets out into that land and rescues a man named Jethro's daughters. You remember that? There were some cruel shepherds who would not give them water for them and for their flocks. And Moses sweeps in, right? And so they, when they went back and told their dad about it, their dad Jethro, anybody remember what they called him? They called him a deliverer. Isn't that something? They didn't really know how it was all gonna play out. I didn't write down all the specifics as far as the verses, but I promise it's in there. So then he marries someone. Anybody remember?

Her name was Zipporah, okay? So she was a Midianite, and a Midianite, do you know anything about Zipporah and maybe her race? Yeah, she was very dark skinned, okay? So this was a biracial marriage, right there with one of our great fathers in the faith. So anybody that wants to throw out this whole card about, well, biracial marriage, that's all against the Bible. No, it's not against the Bible, okay? What the Bible is against is an unequally yoked marriage, right, it doesn't matter what race the two of you are. If you both love the Lord Jesus, then that's a great marriage that you can build on. But that's what the Bible's not worried about, how much melanin you've got in your skin, okay? So anyway, Moses marries Zipporah, a black African, okay? And frankly, in Numbers 12, one, this is kind of sad, but his brother and sister criticized him. Who were his brother and sister? Aaron and- and Miriam. Okay, now it doesn't say explicitly that they criticized him because of her race. So we don't know that for sure, but they were not a fan of this marriage to this foreigner. Okay, for whatever reason that was, but with Zipporah, he now fathers two sons. So I just tried to fill in a few gaps

that verse 29 did not really give you, because we're really gonna focus more on verses 30 and following tonight, but I just want you to understand, God blessed Moses in exile. Okay, what were some of the blessings that we just recounted right there that we can say that God blessed Moses with in exile? A wife and two sons. A wife and two sons. That's an amazing blessing, guys. That was a detail that needed to be added in there that God gave him two sons. I think it's a detail as a reminder that God was blessing him. He let him. Yes, and he let him live. Exactly, so you can see, God is blessing him during his exile and spoke to him during his exile. We talked about this last week. I believe he was preparing Moses for what he was going to be doing with the children of Israel, right? Because after this 40-year exile, he's coming back to get them and let my people go and the whole thing. And then where do they go? Yeah, exile. So it's kind of a big theme.

Okay, we'll bring that around in a little bit. So I want us to read starting in verse 30, and we're gonna read a little bit of the rest of what happened here as he summarizes what was going on with Moses. So let's read Acts chapter seven, starting in verse 30. Now, when 40 years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai in a flame of fire in a bush. And when Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight. And as he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord. I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob. And Moses trembled and did not dare to look. Then the Lord said to him, take off the sandals from your feet for the place where you are standing is holy ground. I have surely seen the affliction of my people who were in Egypt and I've heard their groaning and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt. This Moses, whom they rejected saying, who made you a ruler and a judge? This man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. This man led them out performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for 40 years. This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, God will raise up for you a prophet like me

from your brothers. This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us. Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside and in their hearts, they turned to Egypt saying to Aaron, make for us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we don't know what has become of him. And they made a calf in those days and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven as it is written in the book of the prophets. Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices during the 40 years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? You took up the tent of Moloch and the star of your God Rephan, the images that you made to worship and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon. Well, guys, there's a lot there. I don't know if we're gonna get to all of it, but we're gonna give it a go. Again, I truly believe whatever season we are in right now, God is preparing you for the next season. You don't know what the next season is, but God knows what the next season is.

Moses didn't know what the next season was, but God knew it. And so God was preparing it. Any of you, can you see God in your, and when you look back on your life, is there anybody that can see a season in your life that now looking back, you can say, oh, God was preparing me for the next thing during the first thing. Anybody got an example of that? Denise? One thing that's the ability to do divorce care, we understand divorce anyway right now. Amen, sir. That's perfect, Denise. I love that. Denise has been facilitating the divorce care ministry for a long time. Divorce is not usually something that people want to go through, okay? However, when God allows us to go through things that are difficult, he wants to turn around and use it to be a blessing to others. And so God is, and that's a great example. God preparing her for something that she didn't know God was preparing her for so anybody else got an example of that in your life? Yes. When I went to Kuwait to Osaka, Texas, I got a job for me to go. Then I went to Kuwait, went to the church and they were just starting the Awana program there. They didn't have anybody

that knew like I had worked in Awana so I became the commander there. How about that? You were ready. God had prepared you in a season here in the United States to go lead Awana in Kuwait. Who would have thought, right? Yeah, yeah. God is always building the next thing from the current thing, okay? So you usually don't know what the next thing is but God is preparing you for it so just just know that, okay? Until you breathe your last, God is willing to use you and to use you powerfully. So that's what was happening here and I really like how this whole story that we know really well, we've grown up, if we've grown up in the church, we know Moses and the burning bush. That's got to be in the top five of the Bible stories, right? But look at how he describes it in these verses here. I want you to see. He says, when 40 years have passed, of course you can see this 40-40-40 thing, the angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai in a flame of fire in a bush. Look at verse 31. When he saw it, he was amazed at the sight as he drew near to look. There came the voice of the Lord. So God gets his attention with the bush and the angel. Did you, did you guys remember that there was an angel involved in this story? Maybe you didn't. Maybe all you thought of was just kind of a burning bush but there was an angel that was part of this, part of this thing. I wonder, this is just me wondering, you know I like to do a lot of wondering and asking questions. I wonder if that angel or if God would have said anything if Moses had not noticed that burning bush over there. Ever had God give you a neon sign? It's like, hey Carol, flash, flash, flash. Yeah, like, like, like I need you to see something. Guys, sometimes God gives us a neon sign and we can be grateful for that. That's what God was doing for Moses but have you ever thought about that? What if he hadn't noticed? It reminds me of James chapter 4 verse 8. Would somebody read James 4 8? Somebody's got it memorized I bet but, but look that one up. It is such a great verse to just have at hand. James chapter 4 verse 8. Somebody read it nice and loud when you get there. Okay, yeah. There you go. That first half of that verse

is a very important principle about God. I remember Pat Weichel used to always say, our God is motion activated and I thought that was a really good way of putting it. God, when we lean in, God just rushes in. And we see that even in the story with Moses, right? Just, just the tiniest little lean. God, God just rushes to meet us far more than halfway, okay? And we can see this. It says that God got his attention and Moses kind of leaned in and that's when God spoke. So, hey guys, if you feel like God's trying to get your attention, lean in. Say, Lord, what are you trying to say here? He really wants to speak to you and to get your attention. Yes, you should read Acts 6 verse, oh let's do it. Acts 6 verse 15. It's where it says, gazing at him all, this is of course, gazing at Stephen, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel. Why does Luke mention that? Why does Luke mention that his face looked like an angel? He's talking about Moses. Reminds him of Moses, doesn't it? But what is, what did Moses do that Stephen is doing now too? He spoke. He spoke for God. It's the, it's the divine presence that you're seeing there and just as God ends up laying his hands on the spirit and he does it to all the prophets when they speak. They're not speaking on behalf of themselves. They're speaking on behalf of God, revealing God's word. And that's really what this whole chapter, chapter seven is doing is Stephen. This is not Stephen was young. He wasn't it, but he had divine wisdom. Yes, he did. That's right through the Holy Spirit. Absolutely. Well, thank you. That's great. Yes. Great. Well, I told the third God. Yes, they are. Well, there's we are here's the goal. We're going to go. Yeah. And in the ultimate irony is he's speaking on behalf of God and they're going to kill.

Just. Oh, exactly. Yes. And Steven is standing there. We called him Angel Face, right? I mean, he's just standing there looking like an angel. And then God's I mean, and knowing what is coming, right? The rage that is coming. So absolutely super powerful. So we can see when you get to verse 32 in Acts chapter seven, when he speaks to Moses from the bush, what name does he call himself? Yeah, I read. Uh-huh. I'm the God of Abraham, right? What does it say? Look at it, guys. Right there. God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. We know that if you know the story, it he also says, tell them I am sent you and we know all of that, right? That's an important part of the story. But Steven mentions him saying, I'm the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Remember how we've been saying all along? Steven has been trying to make sure that these people hear the tieback. How does Moses relate to Abraham? Right. Because these people revered Abraham. They thought, oh, he's one of the fathers. He's father of the faith. We want to look to him. So he's tying all of this together. Our father. Remember, he uses that word our a lot. He's trying to relate to them in some really strong ways. And so basically what you see here is he's reminding them of the promises. Look at look at Moses. His response says he trembled. Do you see that? He trembled.

At the and was afraid to look at the fire of God. So Moses didn't just walk up there, you know, with his chest popped out like, OK, God, what do you have to say? No, he was humble in the presence of almighty God. What what are you saying to me? What do you need me to do? And so a question that the Bible doesn't specify. So I'll go and give you the answer that I hadn't really thought about much about this is we really don't have a lot of the story of Moses's relationship with God during this 40 year period. OK, we see God providing for him, you know, providing him a wife and we see him rescuing those little, you know, little sisters and all that sort of stuff. But we don't see a lot about what was God saying to him. Like we don't have like I wish Moses would have written. So there's a song that Moses wrote on. If you know that, I forget what number it is. Might be 90. I can't remember. But there's a song of Moses. Don't you wish he would have written a bunch of songs during that 40 year period and we could have had all of that in there? You have to wait for heaven to know what all was God speaking to Moses about during that 40 year period. But look at what he says here when he speaks to him. Look at it. He says, I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob. That's when Moses trembled. Then the Lord said, take off the sandals from your feet

for the place where you are standing is holy ground. I've surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their groaning. I've come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt. Now, that is a packed speech. I'm just going to tell you right there. We might not get any further. I don't know. Holy ground. You know, Moses was just walking along. You know, he wasn't in some particularly holy place. But suddenly now the fire of the presence of God is showing up to him now. Had Moses already seen the fire come down in the tabernacle and walk with the children of Israel through the wilderness? Let's think about it. Think about the timeline. Trick question. At this moment, he had not seen that. That's going to come after this moment because all of that happens after Moses goes and the deliverance and, you know, the Red Sea and all of that. That's when we start experiencing that, guys, up to this point. Moses had not seen the fire of God come down like he is going to see the fire of God come down. But I think this is kind of a little taste that God gives Moses of it. He says, he says, take off your shoes. There's something about this place. Get close to me. And then he says, I see. Whose people does he say?

Did he say, I see your people, the Israelites? He said, my people. Guys, every word, remember, is important. Well, God doesn't say, Moses, I know your people, Israel. No. They're first and foremost, his people. And Moses is coming into the story, but they've been his. been God's people for a lot longer than Moses has been around and he says look I see what's going on it may look like I don't see what's going on some of us in here have had a time in our lives have been going through a trial and we kind of didn't we couldn't really tell whether God saw what was going on and I feel like do you think maybe the Israelites when they were in bondage might have thought they don't they didn't they didn't know that God could see he says I've heard your people you see I kind of think maybe they thought they'd been forgotten and then what did God say he's going to do yeah I'm going to deliver them and then what was the next move so I'm sending you do you think Moses might have scratched his head wait well if you're going to deliver them what have I got to do with this whole project right because you're God and there's a lot of them and that's a big pharaoh who's already chased me out of town and and what have I got to do with this if you're gonna do something I don't know if any of you guys I know I know probably some of you have have either read or done the study experiencing God with Henry Blackaby that was a life-changing study for me several times if you've never done it there's a book about it there's devotions I mean there's just all sorts of stuff about it it's a wonderful bible study to understand how does God interact with his people and one of the things that you can see in there is God is always working and he invites us to join him in what he is doing he doesn't need us to join him he just wants us to so that we can have the experience of of seeing God do something that is miraculous okay God doesn't need us to save you know in order for 100 and whatever 20 people to get saved on a weekend God doesn't need us for that God could just go speak to everyone in their little hearts and and give them a vision and a dream of Jesus right there in their bedroom he could do all that without any of us we don't have to put on a big loud music and we don't have to go knocking on doors or any of that but God chooses he wants to use us as part of it that we're partnering with God so that's that's what God's doing right here he's saying Moses I've got something that I'm going to do and that's why I'm sending you and

he ever we kind of talked a little bit about this the beginning of acts this whole theme of the people of God being sent well Moses was sent on a mission so now when you look at verses 35 to 43 I believe what Stephen is doing here is building the points of how Moses foreshadowed Jesus okay because if you look at the specific things he said about Moses every one of them is reflective of Jesus and remember when is Stephen giving this speech because I know we're talking about the Old Testament but let's get back to the specific timeline when is Stephen giving this speech in in the timeline not long after he was crucified that's right yeah this is like it as the church is just just beginning to to get going right remember Jesus has just been crucified just been resurrected just ascended back to the Father just sent the Holy Spirit now the church is up and going yes Denise the teachings of Jesus in the power uh-huh it says April 59 18 after he prayed in the garden and then Jesus comes after now and soldiers come back yep and uh who's this whom do you see and uh they actually know Jesus the Nazarene and he this I am so it's when he said that to us and I am he that you're back and fell to the ground we're talking over 300 people this is so good and I'm falling into the glass that's right at just some little Nazarene you know what I mean from from the name I exactly because he spoke it with authority I just kind of think he said it with some some level of authority and they all just I mean they couldn't even stand at the fact that this was God in the flesh and of course God allowed them to carry out the crucifixion and all the things just post that but but throughout it all that's just one of those pictures of God's authority so what Stephen is doing here is remember he is standing up as a witness for Christ at this season and he knows witnesses for Christ are kind of starting to starting to go down and of course he's about to he's about to go straight to heaven is what Stephen's about to go to at the end of his speech but look at some of the things that he built into this I'm not going to read all those verses but these are some of the things that I saw did you notice he talks about Moses being rejected by men but chosen by God who made you a ruler and a judge over us does that sound familiar doesn't that sound like the way that they treated Jesus rejected by his own people but chosen by God. Moses led the people to freedom. Did Jesus lead his people and lead us to freedom? Yes. What about signs and wonders? He's remember these. He's telling this story of the kind of ministry that Moses had. OK, so now we're in the in the season of Moses and doing the ministry. You know,

Moses had a 40 year season of leading the Israelites. And let's talk about signs and wonders. OK, let's just let's just talk for just a minute about the signs and wonders that God did through Moses. I mean, how about the Red Sea? Right. I mean, there's only one staff that went up and that was Moses's staff. I mean, how about the manna in the desert and all of the things? I mean, it's just over and over the miracles. Let's back it up a little bit even before that. How about the plagues? I'm not saying Moses didn't didn't do the plagues, but God used Moses as the human instrument to be the one that sort of gave God the trigger to, OK, I'm going to do this. Remember, what would Moses go to Pharaoh and say? Let my people go. And he's like, I'm not going to do that. And God says, well, OK, try this on. How about some locusts? How about some frogs? How about some blood in the water? You know, I mean, how about boils? How about, you know, let's try all these things on for size. So Moses did it. Those were not signs and wonders that he did. But guess what? When Peter and John were healing somebody at the temple, they didn't do it either. Right. There were just instruments through which God was was doing this. How about this? Moses communed with God on the mountain. And then delivered God's word to them. You ever heard of anybody that communed with God on the mountain and then would come down and talk to people and share God's word with them? Oh, sounds like Jesus to me. How about y'all? Yeah. I mean, just what a coincidence. God, do you see it? Moses is a picture. And see, Stephen is looking back at through it because Stephen has the power of the Holy Spirit. And he can look back on the stories of Moses that maybe he learned as a little boy. And he's like, oh, oh, look, Moses was foreshadowing this Jesus. I can see it now rejected by the spiritual fathers. Their hearts returned to Egypt. Remember when Jesus said their hearts are far from me? They they they speak with their lips. Yes, but their hearts are far from me. They asked for other gods under Moses's leadership. The people were asking for other gods. Remember the golden calf and all this sorts of stuff under Jesus's leadership when Jesus was trying to speak the truth. What were some of the other gods that the people wanted instead of him? It's kind of a big question. What was another God that the people wanted when Jesus was speaking the truth? Would anybody say that they wanted the law as their God? Guys, they rejected Jesus because they wanted the law and the rules and all of these things. It's got to go this, this, this, this and this. And Jesus said, I am the fulfillment of the law. It is me that you need. But they rejected him. Guys, you remember they gave up waiting on Moses. That was one of the points that Stephen says here. They just kind of gave up. They thought, well, that most women know what's

ever happened. Happened with him. No. Yeah. Yeah. And then there came the golden calf. What about Jesus? Were there ever times when people just kind of gave up waiting on Jesus to rescue them? What about when Jesus was coming into the city, palm branches and all that kinds of stuff? Do you think they thought he was headed to a cross? Yeah. No. What did they think he was going to do? Oh, get rid of the Romans, the leaders. But see, the people gave up waiting on Jesus to rescue them. So similar to Moses's story. And then we see God gave them up to exile in Babylon. How long was the Babylonian exile? Remember it was 70 years. Okay. Here's another piece of Bible trivia. Which Old Testament prophet did God tell it was going to be a 70 year Jeremiah? Thank you. God spoke through the prophet Jeremiah many years before and said, my people will go into captivity in Babylon for 70 years. Who's the most famous in the Bible of the Babylonian captives? Daniel. Some of you guys were with us when we went through the book of Daniel. How many? I'm just curious. Just a raise of hands. How many of you in the room went through Daniel with us? Yeah. Some of you got maybe we've been sticking with it and we got we're rolling through it. Yeah. We had a great study of Daniel several years ago and just just to seeing how God was using him. Well, that's during the time of the Babylonian exile. That's when the book of Daniel. takes place and so that's that's all of the history there so there's a lot of things that I want to spend some time in next week when we come back together around the exile and this theme of exile from the beginning to the end really we only get like kind of just maybe one or two words in Stephen speech about exile but I want us to just hit a little bit of that topic yes David we're at 37 speaking to the Jewish leader when Stephen said this is the same Moses who told the Israelites God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers you know that had to hit them in the face yes they had rejected this prophet exactly Moses had predicted yeah thank you for bringing that up that's that's that was a very very important verse who is that by the way just so I want everybody to understand who we're talking about here when Moses says God is going to raise up from from among you a prophet like me who is he speaking of he's speaking of Jesus and the religious leaders here would have known exactly who he was talking about it and so he makes that point because he

is trying to help them experience the gift of conviction of sin oh oh he wants them to see how Jesus is the fulfillment of all of this that he is he is that Moses was just a shadow and Jesus is the substance guys so there's so much here and we will we will begin our time next week with this whole idea of this this theme of exile because there's just there's so much so much here we talked about it a few years ago when we went through Daniel but I want us to want us to get some of that because this is as you can see we've already talked about several exiles just tonight this is a theme that goes from cover to cover in the Bible and it's an important thing for you to see and it actually is related to you as well so as you know what we've been doing is we've been ending just about five minutes early this part of the discussion so that you can have just a few minutes to chat at your tables so if you're watching this online I encourage you to have a conversation with somebody around you get somebody else to watch this and then you guys talk about it but if you are in the room and you're at a table I want you to take just the next few minutes to answer this question to to somebody else at your table this honestly I've been hearing from people sometimes this is some of the best part of the whole night so the best question the one I want you to answer tonight is very simply what did God point out to you tonight maybe there was something new that you've never seen before maybe you could could see something that you've never seen before and then what are you how does that thing that God showed you tonight point you to something that needs to change in your life okay so that's the question what did God point out to you tonight in the scripture and and how does that play out in your life all right that's what I want to do for the next five minutes and then I'm gonna wrap up in a word of prayer all right make a friend thanks again for joining us verse by verse through the book of Acts I hope that you have learned a lot more importantly I hope that you'll apply these things to your life this week share it with a friend great thing for you to just have some discussion with the other people around you share the things that God is doing in your life

again remember the Bible is a book about God far more than it is a book about us so let's learn about him let's grow to love him more and more here at United City this is not the only thing that we have on the Pando app we would love for you to follow some of our other content watch some of our worship services along with the music and the messages as well as podcasts we've got a lot of great content we would love for you to to follow that also if you would like to be in touch with us here at United City the best way to do that is by writing us a letter you can address that to prison ministry at United City Church one nine nine zero one Townsend Boulevard humble Texas seven seven three three eight we'll read that we'll pray for you and somebody will write you back God bless you and we'll see you in the word