7 Days to Fall in Love With Jesus – Jean-Luc Trachsel

When Love Feels Dry: Rekindling Intimacy God’s Way 7-Day Devotional for Christian Wives

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Water for Your Thirst

Giving Thanks to God in the Wilderness

Run With Endurance: Faith and Perseverance for Everyone

The Listener’s Bible®: NIV Edition

New International Version™  (Anglicised), Audio Edition

Holy Bible, New International Version™ (Anglicised), South Asian Audio Edition

<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
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 <div class="chapter ch6" data-usfm="ACT.6">
 <div class="label">6</div><div class="s1">The Choosing of the Seven</div><div class="p"> 1In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews#6:1 That is, Jews who had adopted the Greek language and culture among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. 2So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, &#8220;It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. 3Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them 4and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 5This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. 6They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.</div><div class="p"> 7So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.</div><div class="s1">Stephen Seized</div><div class="p"> 8Now Stephen, a man full of God&#8217;s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people. 9Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)&#8212;Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia&#8212;who began to argue with Stephen. 10But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.</div><div class="p"> 11Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, &#8220;We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 12So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. 13They produced false witnesses, who testified, &#8220;This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. 14For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 15All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.</div>
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New International Version

<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkACT">
 <div class="chapter ch7" data-usfm="ACT.7.1+ACT.7.2+ACT.7.3+ACT.7.4+ACT.7.5+ACT.7.6+ACT.7.7+ACT.7.8+ACT.7.9+ACT.7.10+ACT.7.11+ACT.7.12+ACT.7.13+ACT.7.14+ACT.7.15+ACT.7.16+ACT.7.17+ACT.7.18+ACT.7.19+ACT.7.20+ACT.7.21+ACT.7.22+ACT.7.23+ACT.7.24+ACT.7.25+ACT.7.26+ACT.7.27+ACT.7.28+ACT.7.29+ACT.7.30+ACT.7.31+ACT.7.32+ACT.7.33+ACT.7.34+ACT.7.35+ACT.7.36+ACT.7.37+ACT.7.38+ACT.7.39+ACT.7.40+ACT.7.41+ACT.7.42+ACT.7.43+ACT.7.44+ACT.7.45+ACT.7.46+ACT.7.47+ACT.7.48+ACT.7.49+ACT.7.50+ACT.7.51+ACT.7.52+ACT.7.53">
 <div class="p">1Then the high priest asked Stephen, &#8220;Are these charges true?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 2To this he replied: &#8220;Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Harran. 3&#8216;Leave your country and your people,&#8217; God said, &#8216;and go to the land I will show you.&#8217;#7:3 Gen. 12:1</div><div class="p"> 4&#8220;So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Harran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living. 5He gave him no inheritance here, not even enough ground to set his foot on. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land, even though at that time Abraham had no child. 6God spoke to him in this way: &#8216;For four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated. 7But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves,&#8217; God said, &#8216;and afterward they will come out of that country and worship me in this place.&#8217;#7:7 Gen. 15:13,14 8Then 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.</div><div class="p"> 9&#8220;Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt. But God was with him 10and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh king of Egypt. So Pharaoh made him ruler over Egypt and all his palace.</div><div class="p"> 11&#8220;Then a famine struck all Egypt and Canaan, bringing great suffering, and our ancestors could not find food. 12When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our forefathers on their first visit. 13On their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was, and Pharaoh learned about Joseph&#8217;s family. 14After this, Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family, seventy-five in all. 15Then Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and our ancestors died. 16Their bodies were brought back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor at Shechem for a certain sum of money.</div><div class="p"> 17&#8220;As the time drew near for God to fulfill his promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt had greatly increased. 18Then &#8216;a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.&#8217;#7:18 Exodus 1:8 19He dealt treacherously with our people and oppressed our ancestors by forcing them to throw out their newborn babies so that they would die.</div><div class="p"> 20&#8220;At that time Moses was born, and he was no ordinary child.#7:20 Or was fair in the sight of God For three months he was cared for by his family. 21When he was placed outside, Pharaoh&#8217;s daughter took him and brought him up as her own son. 22Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action.</div><div class="p"> 23&#8220;When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites. 24He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. 25Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not. 26The next day Moses came upon two Israelites who were fighting. He tried to reconcile them by saying, &#8216;Men, you are brothers; why do you want to hurt each other?&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 27&#8220;But the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside and said, &#8216;Who made you ruler and judge over us? 28Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?&#8217;#7:28 Exodus 2:14 29When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons.</div><div class="p"> 30&#8220;After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai. 31When he saw this, he was amazed at the sight. As he went over to get a closer look, he heard the Lord say: 32&#8216;I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.&#8217;#7:32 Exodus 3:6 Moses trembled with fear and did not dare to look.</div><div class="p"> 33&#8220;Then the Lord said to him, &#8216;Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34I 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.&#8217;#7:34 Exodus 3:5,7,8,10</div><div class="p"> 35&#8220;This is the same Moses they had rejected with the words, &#8216;Who made you ruler and judge?&#8217; He was sent to be their ruler and deliverer by God himself, through the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36He led them out of Egypt and performed wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea and for forty years in the wilderness.</div><div class="p"> 37&#8220;This is the Moses who told the Israelites, &#8216;God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your own people.&#8217;#7:37 Deut. 18:15 38He 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.</div><div class="p"> 39&#8220;But our ancestors refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt. 40They told Aaron, &#8216;Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt&#8212;we don&#8217;t know what has happened to him!&#8217;#7:40 Exodus 32:1 41That was the time they made an idol in the form of a calf. They brought sacrifices to it and reveled in what their own hands had made. 42But God turned away from them and gave them over to the worship of the sun, moon and stars. This agrees with what is written in the book of the prophets:</div><div class="q1">&#8220;&#8198;&#8216;Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings</div><div class="q2">forty years in the wilderness, people of Israel?</div><div class="q1"> 43You have taken up the tabernacle of Molek</div><div class="q2">and the star of your god Rephan,</div><div class="q2">the idols you made to worship.</div><div class="q1">Therefore I will send you into exile&#8217;#7:43 Amos 5:25-27 (see Septuagint) beyond Babylon.</div><div class="p"> 44&#8220;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. 45After 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, 46who enjoyed God&#8217;s favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.#7:46 Some early manuscripts the house of Jacob 47But it was Solomon who built a house for him.</div><div class="p"> 48&#8220;However, the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands. As the prophet says:</div><div class="q1"> 49&#8220;&#8198;&#8216;Heaven is my throne,</div><div class="q2">and the earth is my footstool.</div><div class="q1">What kind of house will you build for me?</div><div class="q4">says the Lord.</div><div class="q2">Or where will my resting place be?</div><div class="q1"> 50Has not my hand made all these things?&#8217;#7:50 Isaiah 66:1,2</div><div class="p"> 51&#8220;You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit! 52Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him&#8212; 53you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.&#8221;</div>
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