Hey Bible Readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble and I'm your host for the Bible Recap.

Yesterday when we left off, Stephen had been falsely accused by a group of Jews

from another synagogue that doesn't recognize Jesus as Messiah. Today, as he's

standing before the San

Hedron, they're the ruling counsel that's kind of like the Supreme Court,

they give him the opportunity to defend himself.

But Stephen kind of answers questions the same way Jesus does,

meaning he doesn't give you the

information you ask for, he gives you the information you need to know.

Stephen talks for a long time and doesn't manage to say a single thing about himself in

53 verses.

He just gives a synopsis of the Old Testament storyline as it relates to the gospel.

If you were with us in the Old Testament, it was probably nice to have a refresher, but if you

weren't, here's the overarching storyline Stephen presents.

God keeps pursuing his people as people keep rejecting him.

They reject and persecute and kill the prophets he sends to speak truth to them.

Most recently Stephen says, they've killed the righteous

one all the prophets were prophesying about. As he recounts all the horrible ways God's people

have acted in the past, they probably recognize the evil actions of their forefathers.

They probably resonate with what he's saying.

But they may not realize he's building to a crescendo, where the greatest burden of wickedness

is the one these very people are legally responsible for.

...