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[00:00:00] David:  
 

[00:00:48] Well, John, we are back for more thoughts on the sermon Stephen's sermon of of quite some content , isn't it? 

[00:01:00] John: Magnificent sermon. Yep. And I hope our, hope our listeners were okay with us doing this sort of big overview feel of that sermon. We read it and Fool in the last podcast and did a bit of a, a panoramic. View and feel, but I, I, I think that's useful. This, this sermon and the way Stephen does, the sermons not random. 

[00:01:22] It isn't just Stephen plucking ideas out of the air. I think, I think by the time we're getting to Stephen, these are well worn ideas in the context of the church and the churches becoming, or this should we say, people of the way, they're not known as the church as such at this stage, but, but the people of the way are becoming really skilled. 

[00:01:44] Drawing Jesus from the TaNaK and and presenting Jesus in a, in a way that's becoming increasingly difficult to argue with. So, so yeah, it, it was worth doing that. I think before we jump into some of the detail, 

[00:01:56] David: And so what we're gonna try and do today is actually jump into some of the content, because how Stephen tells the story is really interesting. If you've grown up in church, you perhaps. Huge chunks of this story seem very familiar, and it's easy then to sort of skip over and be, oh, that's Abraham. 

[00:02:14] Yep, that's the mosies bit. But actually it's worth paying a little bit of attention to this sermon, isn't it, in terms of how he tells the story. 

[00:02:22] John: Indeed and, and I think the things he emphasizes, I think one of the things that really starts to jump out at you is the fact that Steven seems to be positioning a lot of the work of the Lord geographically. Outside of the normal areas of work and activity. So, in the ancient near East world, you would've had perhaps a worldview that spoke of gods who were very territorial, almost ed by borders had had regions or areas of influence. 

[00:02:58] Of course, what is dramatically different the God of the Hebrews is that he's at work outside of boundaries, outside of geography. He's working wherever he wants to work, and Steven picks this up just absolutely beautiful. I dunno if our, if our listeners remember in the sermon, he, I mean, he brings out the heavy headers, doesn't he? 

[00:03:22] He references. 

[00:03:23] David: indeed. 

[00:03:25] John: He doesn't, he doesn't miss anybody. I say, Abraham, you've got Joseph mentioned. Jacob is referenced. And of course we, we get to, we get to Mok, we get to Moses, and that's, that, that's a big, big moment within that and what's really striking, dear, but I don't know if you, you, you saw this, but you've got. 

[00:03:44] God appearing and speaking to Abraham in Mesopotamia, and then later harran, the nudge moment in Harran. We've got Joseph and God was with him in Egypt. 

[00:03:57] You've got Jacob Louise spends most of his life in the Land of Promise. Jacob of course goes down and dies in Egypt. And then you've got sort of the story of Moses and what's really striking about the story of Moses. 

[00:04:10] Steven tells it in three sections, doesn't he? Like the almost three 40 year hits, which is really quite, quite brilliant and clever. For, for preachers and teachers, it's, it's a wonderful thing. And it's like he, he's given us the. The birth years to, to working and, and living with Pharaoh at that first 40 years section. 

[00:04:29] Again, that's Egypt. Then we've got the second section. He goes from Egypt to Midian, and again, that's outside the Land of Promise. And then in the third section, you've got the journey from Egypt. All the way to sign the eye, all the way through the wilderness. And Moses, of course, ironically, tragically, never gets into the land of promise. 

[00:04:47] So the whole of the life of Moses, all the work that God does in him and through 'em, all the things that God says to him, all the miracles, the signs and wonders are all performed outside. Of a sacred place outside of, of in, in this context right now for Stephen Israel and Jerusalem, and maybe specifically the temple. 

[00:05:11] So it seems that Stephen is. Brilliantly waving together, not just the, the, the easy narrative of the history of Israel, but he's highlighting the moments that God is working specifically outside of the sacred spaces and places. Is is, is, is, do you think that's, that's something that's going on there? 

[00:05:34] David: This notion of how you're reading. What's going on there is actually one that I've encountered in other readings and writers . So Thomas Cahill's book, the Gift of the Jews. I don't know if you've, Heard of that book or read that book, John? 

[00:05:50] So the subtitle so it's called The Gift of the Jews. The subtitles is called How a Tribe of Desert Nomads Changed the Way Everyone Thinks And Feels And he makes this point. He said that, that prior to Abraham entering the story of the world, he said that that all of. The world, thought of the world that we know. 

[00:06:08] Everything that we see from stuff we discover and archeologically that, that there's this idea that the world is cyclical. It just goes running and round in circles. You get what you get and you don't get upset sort of thing. That's just the way things are. He said an into that world where things just are the way they are, and there's nothing you can really do about it. 

[00:06:28] God comes to Abraham and says, get yourself out of your country, away from your father's house and go to the land that I will show you. And, and then the scriptures say, and Abraham went right, and Cahe says, and it's a beautiful quote, he just says that he says, these are two of the boldest words in all literature. 

[00:06:52] They mark a final departure from everything that has come before in the long development of culture and tradition. 

[00:06:59] John: Mm 
 

[00:07:00] David: And so, He's arguing that the way that Jewish people read this text is this is the breaking out moment. This is why you begin with Abraham, because everybody just did what their fathers did. 

[00:07:13] And then the Lord comes to a man and says, do something different. and Abraham went, right, and and so, so Abraham actually goes out and does this. So if, if you like that reading, which I, I, I'm suspicious you will do, because of how you've read the Stephens story, Stephen is leaning into that notion of this revolutionary idea of a God who can go with you, but then perhaps even more real revolutionary in, in that time period is a people who went, people who, who journeyed on this. 

[00:07:46] So actually it is a level where Stephen's saying in this sermon, our relationship to place here and what we are arguing about the Holy Spirit or what, if we look, if we remember, the 40,000 foot overview is actually perfectly in line and keeping with what God has always been doing, that God has been beyond space and yet we've been trying to lock him down into space. 

[00:08:09] I mean, I, I mean, I feel that critique in the sermon around the issue of space. So I  

[00:08:14] John: and of course in, in that, that reference she made, uh, Genesis 12. Verse four, their vik is, is that idea of he went out, he departed. It's very powerful. So you get this gorgeous blessing narrative in the first three verses. I'll bless you, I'll. I'll bless the nations that bless you, you will be a blessing to the nations. 

[00:08:37] But this gorgeous idea of he went out, he departed is absolutely, and, and, and of course it is at the heart of the Jewish story. It's it's also I think at the heart of the. Biblical story of a God who comes to someone in the context of their world and then calls that person to journey to something beyond themselves in God. 

[00:09:01] I, I think Abraham is the, one of the greatest pictures of that idea of leaving what is familiar, leaving what is new one and. Leaving toward God, he's leaving from, he's leaving to, he's leaving four. It's just a gorgeous, gorgeous idea. And that sort of idea of of, of Abraham. Going out is, is this sort of sense of pilgrimage narrative that, that this isn't just about journeying to a specific place. 

[00:09:35] Louis Abraham will eventually make it to a place. It's also about journeying to God. It's about journeying to something beyond yourself, and I think that that is captured within that. David, I think Steven is absolutely picking this up, this idea that. Please forgive me. I hope, I hope people don't misunderstand what I'm about to say, but once a place becomes sacred in itself, the danger is we stop, pilgrim mean towards God. 

[00:10:03] We stop journeying towards God. I in a way that I think I is the original call. is a call, not just to place though, place is important, but this is a call to a person, wherever that person may lead and wherever that person's going. And of course, remember Steven's audience. If Steven's audience have become stuck at place, then they've arrived. 

[00:10:28] But actually what Steven is saying, no, no, we haven't. There, there, there's now another part of the journey. We, we now follow Jesus. It's ironic that the, the early church are called people of the way that, that, that actually we, we, we we're now journeying with Jesus. Beyond even this place from Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, ends of the earth. 

[00:10:51] We're, we're, we're journeying beyond this place and we're journeying into something greater than we've ever seen before in terms of our impact globally across the earth. So, so the fact that Abraham is held up as the first example, God's speaking to him. And this journey begins, and all of the heroes within the story, Joseph, Jacob, Moses, all Journey, they're all journeying somewhere. 

[00:11:15] And some of them never arrive back in the Land of Promise, but they still fulfill the purpose to which they're called. And it's quite striking that that actually the majority of them never fully experience. 

[00:11:30] David: Mm. 
 

[00:11:31] John: Satisfaction of place, but they all engage with the person and his purpose. 

[00:11:39] David: Mm-hmm. 

[00:11:39] John: And, and, and I think that's, that's dovetailed into the Stephen Sermon. 

[00:11:44] David: and I think that is, that's really, Cahill makes this point where he hangs so much of the kind of history of the world on this idea of Valic. 

[00:11:57] John: Hmm. 
 

[00:11:57] David: Right. Because, because the moment somebody comes along and you get this sentence, Vikram is beautiful, isn't it? This Abraham went, he, he, he talk, he uses to talk about how, what God brings to the world through the Jewish people, then, Is that things can change, things can be different. 

[00:12:18] The world is no longer a circle of hopelessness and despair. It actually has a beginning and an end, and it's going somewhere. And God is part of that journey. Essentially the statement Abraham went, brings hope to. A place that was p previously just satisfied with your lot. It's a fascinating sort of piece, but you, as you notice, I love this repetitive language in Acts chapter seven of this language of resident aliens. 

[00:12:48] You, you pick up on, on that, that the Abraham becomes a resident alien, belonging to others, and then Moses becomes a resident alien. That's the how the Nu Revised standard version sort of renders this phrase, but I, I really like this idea of a resident alien that, that, that I'm not tied to this place. 

[00:13:10] And, and I think what's interesting about that is how Stephen inserts that language. into the conversation, right. Making the point that how, how, how do I say this, John? This is, but, but I, I mean, I think the NIV calls them strangers in a country, not their own right, but, but making the point that the place that these humans are even in isn't their place. 

[00:13:36] So there's this complete disconnection. Profundity of place while also recognizing that God is working in those particular places. It's, it's a really fascinating subtlety to the sermon that he's setting up, which will help him when he gets to talk about the temple, isn't it? 

[00:13:56] John: It is, it, it's, it's beautiful. And, and of course we, we, we hear that sort of echo from, from different writers in the new Testa. But I, I, I couldn't help As you were, as you were using that language, reflecting on, on these sort of alien residence in, in many ways. I, I, I just immediately went to Peter and flipped over. 

[00:14:17] First Peter, Peter says, Peter an apostle of Jesus Christ to those who are elect exiles. Of the dispersion in Ponta Scalia, KA Asia, and Bethia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. This beautiful idea of chosen out but strangers in the, the NIV V sort of translates it really beautifully for me. 

[00:14:45] I, I really do like this. A N I V translates to God's elect exiled scatter. Now I can, I can in the book, in, in, in Stephen sermon, I'm hearing all of that you're, you're saying that in Abraham, that Chosenness, you're seeing in the story of Moses and Joseph, the exilic idea, and then of course towards the end of Stephen Sermon, when it all kicks off, you do get a literal scatteredness. 

[00:15:11] David: Yes. 
 

[00:15:12] John: you've got all of the elements of this message of Chosenness we're chosen in Abraham, this incredible moment of faith of Abraham. Were, were, were those who believe, Paul says, as it were, e, E enter into the blessing that his seed brings. It's just this amazing idea, but we're also. Exiles. We're, we're, we're in the world. 

[00:15:34] We're not of it. But this idea that we are scattered, that we're not meant to be rooted to one place, but actually we're meant to be a people carrying something 

[00:15:46] David: Mm 
 

[00:15:46] John: of the world, which, which of course I, I think Peter Echoes great to knock ideas. Kingdom of Priest, holy Nation. , all of those ideas are within Peter's thinking as well. 

[00:15:57] So again, Stephen in embryonic form, I think is picking up all these things that the New Testament writers will later develop profoundly and powerfully when it, when it comes to thinking about who we are, who, who's we are, and what our rule is on the earth in terms of touching the earth. 

[00:16:18] David: And even the fascinating, like as you read this sermon, Stephen, is. At some level up until the last few verses it's a, it, it's a overview of Torah really, isn't it? And I was thinking about Cahill's comment about Abraham went and its significance and how the sort of primary talked about texts of The Jewish people is, is Torah, which of course is part of TaNaK, the Old Testaments we would call it, but fascinating that throughout all of the Torah, they're never really in the land that God promises them to. 

[00:16:54] So, so there is a sort of, and then once you get into the rest of. There's this, there's this period where they're in the land and it's all good, and then there's this threat of not being in the land. And, and these, and you see this within the history of of, of the people of Israel, the, the Jewish people that they, they are remarkably good at navigating. 

[00:17:17] Their relationship with space. So it's fascinating how there's depth to what Stephen's saying that that, again, and I know we say this a lot during Acts, but in these early chapters, it's worth Dr. Drawing attention to constantly. Stephen is actually being a highly complimentary to their ability to navigate this space attitude differently because pretty much every nation in the world I can think of space and connection to space has been fundamental to the identity, hasn't it? 

[00:17:49] John: Indeed, indeed. A and of course you could argue, David, that two of the biggest ideas given to, to God's people in the context of the Tana and Hebrew scriptures are outside the land. You've got Torah. 

[00:18:04] David: Hmm 
 

[00:18:04] John: they receive law before they receive land. 

[00:18:07] In, in, in the strictest sense. Now, I know Abraham has been in the land and left the land. 

[00:18:12] Jacob has been in the land and left it. But in terms of how we understand the boundary land, the conquested land, the possessed land of Israel, that'll come a bit later. So there's a sense in which then Torah is given. It's it's law before. It's, it's covenant before possession of something. And of course the, the other big idea, which, which ironically I think Steven at a couple of levels, nuances very, very powerfully is tabernacle. 

[00:18:42] He, he makes reference literally to the tabernacle. This, this tinted idea of God. God tenting himself among the people. And, and the sort of reference to the, sort of the tabernacle of Rafa and, and, and, and how he contrasts that idea within our, the, the, the, the, the tabernacle of the other gods within that. 

[00:19:04] But the idea again that the tabernacle was. Was a pilgrim idea was it could be built, it could be taken down, it could be moved. It was a representation of the presence of God, but always with the view to movement, never with the view to staticness, never with the view to this. This land ins itself is sacred. 

[00:19:25] This land becomes sacred, becomes God's there. And of course, isn't it striking that, that when God speaks to Moses and, and Stephen refers to this, He says, and Steven makes reference to this actual moment, take off your sandals, the place who you are as holy ground and, and of course that holy ground was. 

[00:19:45] In Midn that holy ground is, is only holy because God is there. 

[00:19:50] David: Yes, 
 

[00:19:51] John: And, and so something is invested into place because of the person. So you, so you get these lovely, lovely ideas that are, many of them are, are growing strong and rooted. Prepossession, pre land, pre place. And Stephen is, is, is. Strongly referencing those ideas. 

[00:20:15] Be because he wants, I think his audience to see God was at work doing something before we were here. And God wants to do something beyond this place and we're not to become rooted in the question, okay, are you going to destroy the temple or not? It's a much bigger question than that. This is about what God is doing across the earth, not whether a temple's going to be destroyed or not. 

[00:20:38] David: an isn't that Then why? You see that this thread that he has woven through this sermon, Becomes clear as to why when you get to verse 48 and 49, the most high does not dwell in house. He's made with human hands. As the prophet says, heaven is my throne. The earth is my foot still. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord. 

[00:21:01] Or what is this place of my rest? Did not my hand make all these things. This is at some level, I think why Steven's framed it in this particular way because he's going to drop out the the prophetic text and make the point. God made the whole world and the earth is entirely his. So this, he, he's breaking down exactly to your point. 

[00:21:25] If you can have holy ground in Midian, well, how can you have holy ground in Midian? Well, number one, it requires, an attitude of, of going, so Abraham went. But number two, it requires an attitude of God who will come with you the. Is not bounded by the, the dirt of a particular geographic location. 

[00:21:46] And, and once and once you've established that, it does start to allow you to critique the sort of way that the temple is being perceived, that Stephen wants to critique, doesn't it? 

[00:21:59] John: Indeed. Indeed. And, and you, you alluded to the Isaiah reference there, all these things my hands has made and so all these things came to be declares the Lord. That's a quote from Isaiah 66, and it's really interesting that. Stevens quote, he sort of quotes halfway through what we call verse two. 

[00:22:20] But if you look at the rest of verse two and Isaiah 66, it goes on to say this. So all, all these things my hand have made and all these things came to be declares the Lord. And then it says this, but this is the one to whom I will look, he who is humble and contr in spirit and travels up my word. So you, so you've got, you've got this incredible contrast that actually. 

[00:22:42] He's the creator of the world, Steven. 

[00:22:46] David: Mm. 
 

[00:22:46] John: A temple is being made for him. But even Solomon, when Solomon made the temple back in first, Cain said, but will God indeed dwell on, on the earth, behold the heaven and and the, the, the earth and the heavens cannot contain you How much less this house that I have built. 

[00:23:02] So even when Solomon builds the house, he realizes it cannot contain God. This is what Steven's making the illusion to. So, so where then is God? 

[00:23:12] David: Mm. 
 

[00:23:12] John: does God want to live it? Isaiah seems to suggest God is living among a people, a community who are humble and contr in spirit and tremble at his word. 

[00:23:25] David: Yes. 
 

[00:23:26] John: and, and and I think you've got this beautiful other place. 

[00:23:31] Is that the place that God's living in with? 

[00:23:34] that the place where God is living in with Joseph? Is that the place where God is living in with Moses? Is, is that that place that God is living in? And, and, and here Stephen is saying that the temple's magnificent. We, we believe it has been a representation of the presence of God, but does God live somewhere? 

[00:23:53] Else? Or is he wanting to live in the hearts of people in a community that is humble and contrary and the trembles at his word. 

[00:24:04] David: And, that is implicitly stated in the story of Abraham and Mosies and all and, and all this, but then there's perhaps that opens the door, John, to a, a sort of second thread that we might detect in this text. Here it is one of rejection is that, that there's. There's a God who wants to go with us, but then there's also this human tendency to not quite want to do things a a and in each of the sort of parts of the story, you, you have Abraham who at some level rejects a way of life and chooses to go with with God. 

[00:24:46] but then you have Joseph's rejection by his brothers, and you have Moses's rejection by by the, by the people who are in slavery. And then you get the mo not Moses's. Then you essentially get, I mean, God's rejection by the people of Israel for the golden calf. Which leads us to this line in verse 51. 

[00:25:11] You are, forget forever opposing the Holy Spirit. So you, you see that Steven's adding another dynamic thread to his sermon, isn't he? 

[00:25:21] John: for sure. And, and, and I think that rejection theme. is, is there, I, I think David, that's a profoundly within a sermon, a profoundly subtle warning to his audience 

[00:25:33] that, that actually he's saying and, and it, it's, we, we should remember, he begins his sermon by saying, brothers and fathers. He, he identifies himself as a Jewish person. 

[00:25:43] He's, he's identifying himself with the message of TaNaK. So he's not, he's not rejecting that idea. But, but he, he's saying, listen, my reading of the story. We aren't always good at having this humble heart. We aren't always good at welcoming the Holy Spirit. We're not always good at seeing what God is up to, and even even Joseph has to contend with rejection. 

[00:26:09] Even Moses contends with rejection. We've got the most infamous, golden calf moment. 

[00:26:16] David: mm. 
 

[00:26:17] John: An incredible incredible moment within that. And you get this sense of, of rejection that that is actually there. I, and so this, this ability of God's people to reject what God is doing is definitely part of the journey. 

[00:26:34] And, and wh like when Steven, when Steven. Calls and the language is really strong, but when Steven calls his audience stiff necked, so we get to verse 51, you're stiff necked. I mean, that's not random. That's straight out of Torah. So there are references at at least three or four references to the people of God being referred to as stiff neck in the Torah, in Exodus, in Deuteronomy. 

[00:26:59] Then he refers to him as uncircumcised in the heart. Well, we've got. References to the uncircumcised heart in both Torah and prophets as far as the language is concerned, and then like a pretty edgy one. You're just like your father's. You resist. , the Holy Spirit and, and Isaiah literally, and Isaiah 63 talks about the people resisting, I mean, see if I can just pull up the quote here. 

[00:27:28] And Isaiah 63. It's quite, it's quite profound. I, Isaiah says these incredible words says hold on, let me, sorry, forgive me. Says yet they rebelled. Speaking of the people of. Isaiah 63, verse 10, yet they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. So he turned and became their enemy, and he himself fought against them. 

[00:27:53] My goodness. What, what, what an incredible idea. So, so Steven isn't just, even when he, he gets really strong at the end. Verse 51, stiff necked, uncircumcised in hearts and ears resistant Holy Spirit, these aren't random quote. 

[00:28:07] David: No. 
 

[00:28:08] John: These are to not quotes. These are quotes from the prophets. These are quotes from the Torah. 

[00:28:13] These are actually ideas that he is pulling out of the text to try and show that actually we have a history of rejection. Don't be part of that history. Don't add yourself to that history. Don't be now rejectors of the righteous one. Don't be rejectors. Of this Jesus who is both Messiah and son of God. 

[00:28:39] And you are in danger of doing that. And it's really interesting. We, we, we probably won't get to it in this podcast, but the reaction then to Steven's comments of stiff neck, uncircumcised resistant Holy Spirit, that's the sort of final straw that breaks the camel's. Back proverbially and the audience go bananas. 

[00:28:58] I mean, that's the moment. So they, they're ien essentially. He says You have received a law but have not obeyed it. Verse 53. So this rejection idea motif builds to this incredible climactic crescendo where he. have a history of rejection and you are in danger of doing exactly the same thing, rejecting the plan of God before your very eyes. 

[00:29:25] David: the three exodus stiff necked references are all to do with the golden calf as well. So, so, so the, I mean, which is such a huge story in the, in the history of Israel, so everybody knows it. So the connection, having talked about the golden calf as the moment when God turns away and now to then use the same. 

[00:29:46] Of the moment you're currently in is, is, is very poignant and, and very pointed. It'd be very hard very hard not to miss the significance of that. It, it's, it's very cleverly chosen language to, to create a, a, a reaction and, and of course it's position with acts I. Has a second level to it as well. I, I, I've often, I've, I've long been convinced that there's at least two dramas working in every story of the Bible. 

[00:30:19] Where this is what's going on for Stephen, but it's also a warning for us, the reader. And, and this is where I think the story gets lost so often that, that we're like, well, this is kind of complex. Understanding Steven's relationship to Judaism. 

[00:30:33] How does this work? This text seems pretty strong. Is this uncomfortable for Jewish people? Well, at one level, Steven is a Jewish person, as you said. He's having this conversation, but we come to this text today and all of the same things are true for the church. That we are constantly under threat of opposing what God is trying to do of, of, of rejecting what God is working at. 

[00:30:57] So looking at insight into a text from the past of some, some Jewish people confessing Jesus, arguing with some people who are not sure about where they stand on that. Is one text, but this is the perennial problem that Acts is trying to teach us in that that, that we can all get caught up in this, can't we? 

[00:31:19] John: Mm, for sure. Absolutely. And I think that's why, I think that's why Steven, in his context, work so hard to appeal to the big names in Judaism. He's appealing to Abraham, he's appealing through Joseph. He's appealing through Jacob. He's appealing through, I mean, profoundly appeals through Moses and I and, and I think, his, his almost compare and contrast to Moses is just profound. 

[00:31:47] His language versus 35, 36, this CM Moses, whom they had rejected with the words. Who made you ruler and judge? He was sent both to be the ruler and deliverer. 

[00:32:04] David: Mm-hmm. 

[00:32:05] John: mean, wow. By God himself, he led them out of Egypt and did wonders and miraculous signs. We've, we've come across that before in the book of X. 

[00:32:15] So Jesus both deliverer Jesus as, as it were, the ruler over the Sanhedrin. We've alluded to that Jesus is the one performing signs and wonders are tested by God. These are all just absolutely. Beautiful, beautiful ideas. And of course he, the i i if you're, if you're watching the people of the way and you've been tracking Jesus, then Stephen is pulling this parallel of Jesus and Moses together. 

[00:32:49] But then he, I think he pulls out his Trump card and he goes, Is that Moses who told the Israelites, God will send you a prophet like me from your own people. And again, this is a well worn quote. Peter's already quoted this in x, in X three. This idea that Moses speaks of a prophet who will come and, and that I, I tracked back David to that lovely quote, the original quote within Notator Deuteronomy, and it says that, that, the quote says this, I will raise up from them, a prophet like you from among their brothers, but it says this. 

[00:33:27] I will put my words in his mouth. And he shall speak to them, all that I command him, so, so you've got Stephen leaning hard into Moses and saying, not only are there similarities between Moses and Jesus inferred here, but Moses ultimately is deferring to Jesus. He's. Suggesting that the prophet now before us in Jesus is the one that Moses in fact book of, and that the words of the Lord are in his mouth and, and he'll speak all that he's commanded. 

[00:34:06] So, so he, he is, he's desperately working hard to use all the examples to help them not reject this message. There's enough in the, in the Torah, there's enough in the prophets, there's enough in the ratings to convince you that Jesus is the righteous one. He is the one, and he's working hard, that they would not reject Jesus as, in fact, the people rejected Moses in that moment. 

[00:34:33] But of course, a a, you as the story concludes, we, we know it didn't quite work out like that, at least not for that immediate group. 

[00:34:40] David: And it's, and I, and I, just to circle back for a second, it's it, even as you were saying there, I was thinking it's fascinating how. how resistant we as humans are to what Stephen's doing in this sermon here. We do reject God very commonly. We also do reject Stephen's message about space and place as well. 

[00:35:04] I was thinking about how quickly within Christian history, for example, I think by, by Constantine, just a few hundred years later, Constantine's mother is leading pilgrimages to the holy land. We've got, we've got these. These holy wars, the Crusades were all about trying to keep and protect this particular space, which is seen as significant for Christianity despite the Book of Acts, talking about how spaces is not the thing that we should be so worried about. 

[00:35:40] And even to this day in the modern church. Like I quite regularly hear church halls called sanctuaries. I don't know if you encounter that language in the UK as well. 

[00:35:53] John: Yeah, absolutely. 

[00:35:54] David: But it makes me laugh. What we, people call our church over here in Calgary, they talk about sometimes about the sanctuary. Right. Which it makes me laugh because, because I mean, sanctuary just means the holy space, doesn't it? 

[00:36:06] It's the, but our church is actually, our, our, the church founders bought the building which was actually custom built as a curling rink. Right. . And and then it stopped being a curling rink and became a A community center of sorts for a while. And it makes me laugh when we call it the sanctuary , because I'm like, this, this is, in terms of the history of this building, it's quite funny. But also it's, it's actually theologically dangerous because we start drawing God down into a particular space. 

[00:36:35] And then we have conversations about, appropriate behavior within the sanctuary. And, and I've commonly had a conversation with people where it's like, if this behavior isn't good to do in the quote unquote sanctuary, it's not good behavior to do anywhere. But we start to create this two-tiered notion of holiness. 

[00:36:54] And, and what I love that Steven's doing here is he's trying to introduce us to the God who has sent the holy. And therefore all of these boundaries are being broken down and, and and taken away. And I just think there's huge power in that sermon for us even today who seems so susceptible to want to box God in to a particular place. 

[00:37:18] John: For sure, for sure. And, and I think he does ultimately answer the question, 

[00:37:22] The question about the temple, the, the destruction of the temple or the rebuilding of the temple. I think, of course, Steven, Steven doesn't. And has no truck with the physical destruction of somewhere. But he's, he's saying someone has come who is the fulfillment of this temple, who is greater than this physical space. 

[00:37:44] And in fact, he wants to do something now beyond this space into the nation's of the world and. I, I, I, I, I think humans, as humans, we are attracted to places. I think we're attracted to spaces and I think we're attracted to things that we can label identify, protect, and own. As our sacred space, and I think the Book of Acts teaches us in the most powerful and dynamic way that the Lord who fills the universe is not going to be boxed in. 

[00:38:18] He will not be boxed in. He wants to live among a people. That was always his purpose and plan, and he wants to take the sacredness of his glory and the sacredness of his person and. The spaces of our world and do that not, not just in buildings. We thank God for buildings if we own them, but he's, he wants to do that through people, through the brokenness, the ordinariness, the routineness, the. 

[00:38:45] Unspectacular ness of ordinary people, and he wants to invest himself into them so that we become carriers of his presence, carriers of his word, and carriers of his purpose. And I think that's what Stephen. trying to get to, and of course, ironically, and it is a massive irony that as a result of his sermon, not only does he die, but a persecution breaks out against the church, which actually scatters the community of believers all over the region. 

[00:39:20] So the very idea that he's trying to put. We're not meant to be stuck behind a border. We're not meant to be looking to a specific place, but we're meant to be carrying God to the nations of the world. His sermon becomes the catalyst that begins to do just that, not only amongst Jewish people, but Samaritans and Gentiles across the earth. 

[00:39:44]