Feb. 22, 2026

Last week we ended with Chapter 6 and Stephen facing false accusations before the Sanhedrin and his face shinning like an angel. This week we pick up in Chapter 7 and Stephen’s rendition of the story of Israel from the time of Abraham.

Acts Lesson 11 Study Questions

1.    Are these things so? This really was not a defense. Stephen wasn’t interested in _________ himself. He simply wanted to proclaim the ______ about Jesus in a way people could understand. 

2.    The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia: Not only was the temple unnecessary for this __________ of the God of glory; the Promised Land itself was not necessary. God was greater than either, and this explained how Stephen was falsely accused of speaking against the _______. Stephen wasn’t defending; he simply explained.

3.    Get out of your country and from your relatives, and come to a land that I will show you: Abraham’s partial __________ did not take God’s promise away. Instead, it meant the promise was on hold until Abram was ready to do what the Lord said. The fulfillment of the promise didn’t _________ until Abraham left Haran and his father behind and went to the place God wanted him to go.

4.    His descendants would dwell in a foreign land…into bondage: The _________ would not be easy or light for Abraham or his descendants. Yet, God promised to ______ the nation that put Israel into bondage.

5.    God was with him: Again, Stephen emphasized the _________ presence of God with Joseph all the time. Joseph did not need to go to the temple to be close to God – there was no temple. Instead, God was with him all the time.

6.    The tomb that Abraham bought: The only land that Abraham ever actually _________ in Canaan was this burial plot. The rest was received only by ______.

7.    When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren: At an appointed time, Moses came down from his royal throne out of care and concern for his _________. This was another way that Moses was like ______ who would come after him.

8.    An Angel of the Lord appeared to him… in the wilderness of Mount Sinai: Stephen again emphasized one of the main points of his reply to the council – that God, His glory, and His work was not confined to the ________. God appeared to Moses in the ___________, before there ever was a temple.

9.    . He brought them out: Though Israel _________ Moses at what might be called his “first coming,” he still remained God’s chosen ________ for Israel.

10.    This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel: Moses promised that there would come after him another _________ and warned that Israel should take special care to listen to this coming Prophet. But just like Israel rejected Moses, so they were rejecting Jesus, who is the ________ Moses spoke of.

11.    Then God turned and gave them up to worship the host of heaven: In their _________ of Moses and the God who sent him, Israel turned instead to corrupt idols, bringing upon themselves the _________ described in the passage quoted from Amos 5:25-27.

12.    However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands: Stephen confronted their _________ of the temple. In doing so, they tried to confine God within the temple. Yet God is too big to fit in any ________ man could make.