The Arrest, Speech, and Martyrdom of Stephen (Part I)

Acts 6:8-8:1

“God’s Tabernacling Presence”
John 2:13-22

Point # 1 Jesus cleanses the temple (John 2:13-17)

· The worship of God must not be destroyed by outward ritual and forms.

Point # 2 Jesus replaces the temple (John 2:18-22)

How to Read Your Bible For All It’s Worth

1) Understand that Jesus is the interpretive key to all of scripture.

2) Every biblical text either points forward to what God will accomplish through Jesus’ death and resurrection . . . or points back to what God has accomplished in Jesus’ death and resurrection.

3) Therefore, the reader must always ask of the biblical text: “In what period of salvation history does this passage occur?”

4) Focus on the major turning points in the Bible’s storyline - the salvation historical hinges – and biblical themes such as rest, temple, sacrifice, sonship, exodus, covenant, etc.

5) All the little stories in the bible are part of the big story (the metanarrative) of salvation-history.