1The big boss of the Jewish ceremonies said to Stephen, “These men are saying bad things about you. We think that they are telling the true story about you, but what do you say?”
2-4Then Stephen said, “Listen to me, my countrymen and my leaders. Think about the story about our grand-fathers that lived a long time ago. Our great God came to our grand-father Abraham, while he was still living in Mesopotamia country, where the Chaldia mob lived. God said to him, ‘Leave your country and your family. Go to the country that I will show you.’ Abraham listened to God, and he left that country, and he went to live in a place called Haran. He lived there until his father died. Then God brought him here, to this country that you live in now.
5But God didn’t give any of this country to Abraham. He didn’t even give him a little bit of it. But God promised him that later on the people born into his family would own all of this land. At that time, Abraham didn’t even have any kids.
8Then God promised to look after Abraham, and Abraham agreed to follow him. God told Abraham that his mob had to do a young man operation on all their boys, to show that they agreed with God. After that, Abraham had a son called Isaac, and 8 days later Abraham did a young man operation on him. After that, Isaac grew up and had a son called Jacob, and he did that operation on him too. And Jacob did the same for his 12 sons, and those 12 men became our grand-fathers that lived a long time ago.
9Joseph was one of those 12 men. His brothers were jealous of him, and they sold him to some people that took him to Egypt. He had to work there for no pay. But God was with Joseph and looked after him there in Egypt.
11After a long time, there was a dry time for all those countries. There was no rain, so no food grew in Egypt. And there was no food in Canaan, the country that our grand-fathers were living in. They had no food, and they were very hungry.Stephen talked about Moses
17Stephen kept on talking to the men of the Jewish Leaders Council. He said, “Remember, a long time before that, God told Abraham, ‘I will give you a big family, and they will become a great nation.’ And God also said, ‘Your family will move to another country, but after 400 years I will bring your family back and give them this country.’ So Abraham’s family lived in Egypt, and they had lots of kids and grand-kids, and those families grew into a big mob of people. Then it was almost time for God to bring them back to this country.
30Moses stayed in Midian country for 40 years. Then one day, he was in the desert place near the big hill called Sinai, and God sent one of his angel messengers to him there. It happened like this. Moses saw a little tree that was burning with flames of fire.
37That same man, Moses, said to the people of Israel,
‘God will get one of your own people, and send him to tell you his message. He will be like me.’
38All our grand-fathers were with Moses in the desert country. And God sent an angel messenger to Moses, at the big hill called Sinai, to tell him the good message that helps people live with God. And then Moses told our grand-fathers that same message.
39But our grand-fathers didn’t listen to Moses. They didn’t want him to be their leader. So when Moses went back up that hill, they said that they just wanted to go back to Egypt.
40They told Aaron, ‘Make us statues of gods, and we will get them to show us the way back to Egypt. We followed that Moses out from Egypt, but now he is not here. What happened to him? We don’t know.’Stephen talked about God’s ceremony house
44Stephen kept on talking to the Jewish Leaders Council. He said, “A long time ago, God talked to Moses, and he showed Moses a picture of his special tent, and God told Moses how to make it. Our grand-fathers carried God’s special tent with them through the desert. That tent showed everyone that they had God’s law.
45Some years later, Moses died, and then Joshua was their leader. He and our grand-fathers came into this country, and they fought against the people that lived here. God made those people run away, and our grand-fathers got this country. And they brought that tent with them into this country, and they kept it here for a long time. It was still here when David became their big boss.
46God was good to David. And David wanted to build a ceremony house, instead of that tent, for the God of us Israel people. So David asked God to let him build that house.Stephen talked strong to the Jewish Leaders Council men
51Then Stephen talked to them straight. He said, “You mob are just like your grand-fathers that lived a long time ago. You don’t take any notice of God. You don’t listen to him, and you don’t do anything he says. You don’t do anything the Holy Spirit tells you to do.Isaiah 63:10
52God sent men to your grand-fathers a long time ago to tell them his messages, but they beat up God’s men. God got some messengers to say that he will send his really good man to us, but they even killed those messengers from God. Then that really good man came to us. He was Jesus. But you mob told the people to kill him. You were the ones that murdered him.
53You see, God sent his angel messengers to your grand-fathers to give you God’s law, but you didn’t listen, and you didn’t do anything it says.”
They killed Stephen with stones54The men of the Jewish Leaders Council heard Stephen say that, and they got really angry. They were so angry that they were rubbing their teeth together.
55But the Holy Spirit controlled Stephen. He looked up into the sky, and he saw God there, shining very bright, and he saw Jesus standing at God’s right-hand side.
56Stephen said to everyone, “Look, I can see into heaven. Its door is open, and I can see God’s special man there in heaven. He is standing at God’s right-hand side.”
57When the Jewish council men heard that, they covered their ears so they couldn’t hear Stephen, and they yelled out really loud, and they jumped up quick and grabbed him.
58Then they dragged Stephen outside the city and started throwing big stones at him to kill him. And the men that told lies about Stephen took off their coats and gave them to a young man to look after. The name of that young man was Saul.
59Those men kept on hitting Stephen with big stones. Then he called out, “Jesus, my leader, let my spirit come to be with you now.”
60Then he went down on to his knees, and he shouted, “Jesus, don’t blame these men for doing this bad thing.” And after he said that, he died.
Who We AreWhat We EelieveWhat We Do
2025 by iamachristian.org,Inc All rights reserved.
