1. Christianity is historical before its personal

There is a two-fold beauty to Gospel fluency...

questions get answered that were not being asked things begin to make sense that didn’t before

2. God is not a god of place, v. 3

Stephen was charged with two things:

He speaks against the Temple- where God lives. He speaks against the Law- where we live.

3. God knows our future better than we do, v. 4-5

4. God knows your children’s future better than you do, v. 6-7

5. God has always wanted a people more than a place, v. 8

“Thus says the Lord: Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool; where is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.” --Isaiah 66:1-2

“When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, 2 that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.” 3 Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him, 4 “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. 5 No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. 6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. 7 And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. 8 And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.” 9 And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. 10 This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you.” -Genesis 17:1-11

Mental worship…

Are you ever guilty of “temple thinking?” Meaning, you live one way on Sunday and differently the rest of the week.

What would change in the way you relate to God if you believed that He knew everything about your future?

How would your parenting change if you embraced the truth that God knows your kids future better than you do?

Do you understand the relationship between “this”, “that” and “after that?”