Good morning, everyone. I wish that I could say that Nathan not being here today is the reason that I'm up here.
! But that wouldn't be a sufficient excuse per se. I asked Nathan a couple months ago if he would allow me the privilege of preaching the Word of God again.
And as the week drew near, work was insanely busy. And even as the days drew near to today, I feared quite a bit about my preparation, it not being sufficient.
And I was really just afraid. So I had to go to Nathan and just seek counsel from him about this.
And he just continued to encourage me to rest on the Lord and lean on the Lord, because ultimately every man that comes up here in the pulpit has to find a sufficiency in Christ to preach his Word.
And my hope is that you'll bear witness of that today. And my hope is that I will bear witness of that today as well.
Let me go ahead and just open us up in prayer and we'll dive into the Word together.
Father, we praise you for this morning bringing together your children, brothers, sisters, families, husbands, and wives to hear the preaching of your Word.
I pray that that would happen today, that it would be heard in this building.
And I pray that it would also be heard in all of the other congregations that are gathering on this Sunday morning, Lord.
I pray that this would be true.
I pray that you would have us all understand what it means to see your young and early church and how that applies to us today,
even as your church continues to grow and spread throughout all of the world.
So let that be true today, Lord.
And we ask this in your name, Christ. Amen.
So open up with me to Acts.
As most of you know, we have been going through the book of Acts since the beginning of the year.
And this book can be, the title of the book can be somewhat misleading.
For example, in my version it says, The Acts of the Apostles.
It is true that this is a story, it's a written account written by Luke,
about what the apostles were doing after the ascension of Jesus Christ.
But I think, and others have mentioned this, that it's sufficient to say that this was the act of the Holy Spirit.
After Christ ascended, he said that he was going to send a helper.
And so only a couple of days later, when the disciples are gathering together, he sends the Holy Spirit to them.
And they begin proclaiming the word of God all throughout Jerusalem and eventually into Samaria.
And we're going to bear witnesses of that as you continue to come on Sundays,
as you continue to meet on Wednesday nights to discuss these things.
You're going to see that take place and unfold.
And that's going to lead us all the way up to where we are today.
Two thousand years later, you've all heard the gospel of Jesus Christ preached and proclaimed to you in some way or another.
So it's incredible to see that continuation of the church after this book concludes.
It's not the Acts of the Apostles, it is the Acts of the Spirit that's done that.
So here we are in Acts 6.1.
We kind of get to see a young child beginning to walk for the first time is how I like to imagine this.
It's the growth of the church or the organization of the church.
It is like a living, breathing organism, as I've heard it described.
It becomes mature.
It's understanding some of its faults and failures, how it can fine-tune itself by listening to the Spirit to serve others
and to preach the gospel louder and throughout other places.
And so what we're going to witness here in this text is a division that arises amongst the early church in Jerusalem
and how the Spirit allows them to approach that and reconcile it.
So read with me in Acts 6.1.
Now at this time, while the disciples were increasing in number,
a complaint arose on the part of the Hellenistic Jews against the native Jews
because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food.
So the twelve summoned the congregation of the disciples and said,
It is not desirable for us to neglect the Word of God in order to serve tables.
Therefore, brethren, select from among you seven men of good reputation,
full of the Spirit and of wisdom,
whom we may be put in charge of this task.
But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word.
The statement found approval with the whole congregation,
and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit,
and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolás,
a proselyte from Antioch.
And these they brought before the apostles,
and after praying, they laid their hands on them.
The Word of God kept on spreading,
and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem,
and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith.
So I want to just lay out and brief the characters that you see here in this part.
And we've got the disciples.
It's referring to all the Jews that have now become Christians in Jerusalem.
But we see two distinctions of Jews.
We see the Hellenistic Jews mentioned here and the native Hebrews.
Something I learned several weeks ago in Cog
was that these Hellenists were actually from the Despora,
which is the region outside of Jerusalem.
They had come to Jerusalem during Pentecost.
And at the time, they were heavily influenced by Greeks.
They all spoke Greek.
They partook in their culture.
They partook in their art.
All of these things that were very foreign to the native Hebrews.
And then, other characters that we see,
we've got the Twelve Apostles.
So when you see the Twelve, it's referencing the Twelve Apostles.
And then eventually, the Seven Appointed Deacons.
And I'll get into that a little bit more.
As I continue through this,
I'm going to give you just kind of a line-by-line,
verse-by-verse exposition.
That's how a lot of us like to do it here.
And there are six observances that I want you to make
as I'm going through this.
And you can write these down.
I'm not going to be going back and forth to these.
I just really want you to listen to the text
and find these as I'm preaching on it.
But these six observations
are the success of the church thus far.
So what have we seen?
What successes in the church have we seen
up to this point in Acts 6.1?
What I call Satan's third attack on the church.
Number three, the obedience of the apostles.
Number four, the spirit solution.
Five, the call to service.
And then six, the result.
And I'll go ahead and give that one away.
But it's a reconciled and powerful church
that we're going to see in Acts 6.7.
So as we go into Acts 6.1,
we see at this time,
while the disciples were increasing in number,
we believe this time is in a reference
to only a couple of months
since the ascension of Jesus Christ.
When it says increasing in number,
the word that they actually use for that is plethora.
And that's obviously where we get the word plethora.
It means a great many or a multitude of people.
And the estimates of this are upwards of 20,000 people.
Some even say that it could be up to 30,000 individuals
that have come to know Christ
through the preaching of the apostles
and the anointing of the Holy Spirit.
And it says,
A complaint arose on the part of the Hellenistic Jews
against the native Jews
because their widows were being overlooked in the daily food.
This complaint that arises,
this is an attack by Satan,
is what I believe it to be,
because we've seen that already happen
a couple of times in the church.
John's preached on it.
Nathan has preached on it.
We saw the persecution of John and Peter
and later the other apostles when they were beat.
That's what I believe to be the first.
Then we see sin that divides the church and the giving.
We see Ananias and Sapphira,
how they're struck down by God.
And then eventually we see this,
this dysfunction,
this disunity coming up in the church.
And this is all an attempt by Satan
to stop the growth of the church.
That's what he was always trying to do.
He was always trying to stop the Word of God
from being spoken.
In order to do this,
he tried to put Jesus Christ up on a cross,
but that was a plan all along,
is that he had to go to the cross.
He had to be crucified.
He had to bear the wrath of God.
Satan thinks that it's his plan,
but it wasn't,
hence the reason he rose from the dead.
So this is just another effort.
Now that Christ has ascended,
he says to himself,
how can I divide this church?
How can I break it up?
How can I make them less powerful than they are?
And we're going to see that result,
what happens from that.
On the part of the Hellenistic Jews
against the native Hebrews,
now as I said,
prior to knowing Christ,
these Hellenists were more Greek
than they were Jews.
Obviously this caused a great amount of division
when they came back to Jerusalem
to worship during Pentecost.
They tried to bring all of these foreign,
just foreign cultures with them.
So there were already divisions
between these Jews
prior to them being unified in Christ.
As a matter of fact,
the Hellenists were known
for wanting to translate
the Old Testament into Greek.
And the native Hebrews said,
no, this is specifically written in Hebrew.
This is what it should be.
This is what it should remain.
But that's how much they wanted
to somewhat be a part
of the Jewish culture.
And there was division because of that.
So this is why I believe
Satan chose these two groups of people
originally to attack and divide
because they already had
dysfunction amongst them
prior to coming to know the Lord.
So he simply says,
I'm just going to wedge myself back in there
and I'm going to divide them once again.
That didn't work despite his best efforts.
They complained.
They griped.
They said,
our widows are being overlooked
in the daily serving of food.
And I thought to myself,
I said, well, how is that happening?
I just tried to put myself
in the shoes of the apostles
or the people complaining.
And I read some things,
listened to things,
couldn't really understand
about how this conflict
is coming about.
How were people being overlooked?
And you would say,
well, there's 12 apostles,
there's 20,000 people.
Obviously, it'd be pretty easy
to overlook a group of people.
But we can see up to this point
that thousands of people
are being served
by the hands of the apostles.
And this is just a theory of my own,
so you can take it for what it is.
But it's quite possible
that in their gatherings,
in the servings of the tables,
they would have the men
come up and get the food
that was sufficient for their families,
that was sufficient for their wives,
that was sufficient for their children.
And the apostles would hand them out to them.
They'd hand them out
to all the men that came up.
Well, if you've got a group of widows,
that's the point,
is they don't have any young men
or any men
that are able to come up
and represent them.
So that's a possibility.
That is a theory
of the reason why
they could have been overlooked.
And the fact is
that they spoke Greek,
so it's not like they could come up
and tell the Aramaics,
the ones who spoke Aramaic,
that they were being neglected,
that they were not having food,
et cetera,
or that they needed food.
So, hence they're overlooked.
As some of you may remember,
I think John mentioned this last week,
or maybe a couple weeks earlier
from someone else,
but one of the duties
of the Christian church
that we're going to see
as it grows
is James says this
in James 1.27.
He says,
Pure and undefiled religion
in the sight of our God and Father
is this,
to visit orphans and widows
in their distress.
And so that's a very simple duty.
I think the apostles knew this,
that it was their duty
to be serving widows
who could not be served
in the home by men.
But when they're being neglected,
obviously the church is failing
to perform one of its functions.
So when they came together
and complained
to the apostles,
the apostles said to them,
they summoned the congregation
and the disciples
and said,
It is not desirable
for us to neglect
the word of God
in order to serve tables.
And that word that they use
for serve
is diakone.
And I'm going to explain that
a little bit later.
But that means to serve
or to be a servant of.
That's where we eventually
get the word deacon from.
And that's something
I'm going to be talking about
a little bit today.
But when I first read this,
and it says,
It is not desirable
for us to neglect
the word of God
in order to serve tables.
I said to myself,
Who are you as the apostles
who think that you're too high
to serve the low,
to serve the widows,
to serve the needy?
That's where my flesh went.
I've learned
from constantly reading scripture
that my flesh
is much more critical
than my spirit is
because it wants to find
a lot of faults
in the word of God.
So,
when I asked myself though,
when I prayed
and I said,
What do they mean by this?
They're simply saying
that it is their duty.
They were ordained
to preach
and minister
the word of God.
That up to this point,
they were able to serve
maybe 10,
maybe 15,000 people,
but eventually
it became too many
to serve on a weekly basis.
So they had to choose
one or the other.
They said,
We can either continue
preaching the word of God
or we can serve the tables.
They said,
It is not desirable
for us to neglect
the word of God
in order to serve tables.
And what I mean
by that ordination
that they have,
that duty that they had
to preach the word of God,
we see it a couple of times.
We see it at the very beginning
of Acts.
And I want you guys
to turn here with me.
Turn to Acts 1.
1.
I'm going to read through 2
and then I'm going to skip
to verse 8.
It says,
Verse 8,
And that's his direct decree
to the apostles,
that they would be witnesses
of the word of God
and what they've witnessed
in Jesus Christ
throughout Jerusalem
and the rest of the world.
It's also,
I'm not going to make you turn here,
but it's also an echo
of what Luke also recorded
in Luke 24, 44 through 48.
What we see in Matthew,
Matthew 28, 18 through 20.
All of you are familiar
with the Great Commission.
This is a parallel text
of where he's commissioning them
to go out
and be ministers of the word.
But someone pointed this out
to me recently.
It's not just,
this commission was not just
found here in the New Testament.
It was not just found
in the Gospels.
It was not just found in Acts.
But it's also a reference
to something in the Old Testament.
St. Augustine said
that the new is the old concealed
and the old is the new revealed.
That means that what we see
in the Old Testament
is a concealing
of what we now see
in the New Testament
and vice versa.
What we see in the New Testament
is revealed to us
of what was spoken of
in the Old Testament.
So turn with me
to Numbers 8, 14.
I'll give you all
some time to get there.
I'm going to read through verse 22.
And I want you to see
the parallels between
the Jesus ordaining
and blessing
the original apostles
and what we see
the Lord's commandment
for the Levites
here in the early church.
If you will.
Thus you shall separate
the Levites
from among the sons of Israel
and the Levites
shall be mine.
Then after that
the Levites
may go
and to serve
the tent of meeting.
But you shall cleanse them
and present them
as a way of offering
for they are wholly
given to me
from among the sons
of Israel.
I have taken them
for myself
instead of every first issue
of the womb.
The firstborn
of all the sons of Israel.
For every firstborn
among the sons of Israel
is mine
among the men
and among the animals
and on the day
that I struck down
all the firstborn
in the land of Egypt
I sanctified them
for myself
but I have taken
the Levites
instead of every firstborn
among the sons of Israel.
I have given
the Levites
as a gift to Aaron
and to his sons
from among the sons
of Israel
to perform the service
of the sons of Israel
at the tent of meeting
and to make atonement
on behalf
of the sons of Israel
so that there will be
no plague
among the sons of Israel
by their coming near
to the sanctuary.
Thus did Moses
and Aaron
and all the congregation
of the sons
of Israel
to the Levites
according to all
that the Lord
had commanded Moses
concerning the Levites
so the sons of Israel
did to them.
The Levites too
purified themselves
from sin
and washed their clothes
and Aaron presented them
as a way of offering
before the Lord.
Aaron also made atonement
for them
to cleanse them.
Then after the Levites
went in to perform
their service
in the tent of meeting
before Aaron
and before his sons
just as the Lord
had commanded Moses
concerning the Levites
so they did to them.
This is where he sets aside
people,
priests,
holy priests
to take care
of the sacrifices
that constantly
had to be made
for the sins of Israel
but this is also
the people
that he chose
to minister
the word of God
to his people
and eventually
God himself
ordains the prophets
to do the same
to speak about
the coming
of the Christ.
These are the men
that are set aside
and it's the same
for the apostles
in this era
that they were set aside
to minister
and to preach
the word of God
and they said that.
We can't neglect
the word of God.
This is of the utmost importance.
So their solution
is therefore brethren
select from among you
seven men
of good reputation
full of the spirit
and of wisdom
whom we may put
in charge
of the task.
And this goes back
to that word
that I used
for serve
earlier.
It's diakone.
It means to serve.
It means a servant of.
That's what they're looking for.
They're looking for servants.
People who know
how to serve
these widows
that are being neglected.
So there are
six qualifications
that I could come out of
or that I could pull
out of this text.
for these men.
The original deacons.
They say
select from among you.
So that means
the people
that were bringing
the complaints to them
they're saying
well what we want you to do
is we want you guys
to get together
talk to one another
nominate
seven individuals
that you believe
can best serve you.
The reason
they had to be among them
is because they spoke
their language
they knew their culture
they knew what
their needs were
which even obviously
the apostles
had a hard time
doing that.
They were still men
nonetheless
but it was best
that they found
someone who was
similar to them
people within
their community.
Another qualification
and I want you all
to take this loosely
and I'll explain why
is he says
seven men.
In this time
they were looking
for men
to serve the widows.
They didn't have
the husbands
as I mentioned
they didn't have
the sons
so they needed
men to step up
and serve these widows
but that doesn't
necessarily mean
that deacons
from this day forward
had to be men
and there is
lots of evidence
for that in the
New Testament.
We see that with Phoebe
I think in
Romans 16.1
we also see
a description
of what a deacon
should be
what they should look like
and I'm going to go to there
I'm going to have everybody
go to there
in a little bit
that's in 1 Timothy
so I think
that there is
sufficient evidence
to say that
women can also
be deacons
in many cases
and the more
struggles that the church
has
as it's growing
you're going to find
things that
really only women
can confront
and serve
they can serve
a lot better
in some ways
to men
you'll notice here
that we don't have
men throwing
baby showers
for people
it's because
women are best
qualified for
something like that
they're better
to serve
in that role
another
observation is
they had to be
of good reputation
and here I want you
to go ahead
and turn
to 1 Timothy 3
I'm going to start us
off in 7
where Paul
is actually
telling Timothy
what the leaders
and the elders
and the deacons
need to look like
in the church
so in verse 7
he's actually
describing
the overseers
kind of the elders
however
he uses
the same word
here
that Luke uses
for good reputation
he says in verse 7
and I'm going to read
all the way through 13
and he must have
a good reputation
with those
outside the church
so that he will not
fall into reproach
and the snare
of the devil
deacons likewise
must be then
of dignity
not double tongued
or addicted
to much wine
or fond of
sordid gain
but holding to
the mystery of the faith
with a clear conscience
these men must also
first be tested
then let them
serve as deacons
if they are
beyond reproach
women
must likewise
be dignified
not malicious
gossips
but temperate
faithful
in all things
deacons must be
husbands of only one wife
and good managers
of their children
and their households
for those who have
served well as deacons
obtain for themselves
a high standing
and great confidence
in the faith
that is in Christ Jesus
so we see there
what Paul lays out
is the specific
qualifications
of the deacons
but he's only going off
of what he saw
in the original church
the early church
that was set aside
by the twelve apostles
the next qualification
the fifth one
is that they must be
full of the spirit
they must be proven
to have the Holy Spirit
within them
and third
fifthly
sorry
yeah fifth
and of wisdom
they must have wisdom
and they must also
be leaders
and I pull that from
that they may be
put in charge
of this task
they weren't looking
for someone
who just simply
had a good reputation
they weren't looking
for just Greeks
for Hellenist Jews
they were looking
for men
who could step up
as leaders
to serve the church
and then they go back
to what they originally said
the apostles do
they said
but we will devote
ourselves to prayer
and to the ministry
of the word
this I believe
to be the crux
of this portion
of the text
or of this text
is that the apostles
are remaining obedient
to what they were
originally called to do
and they're not deviating
from that
despite the dysfunction
that they're seeing
in the church
the two things
that they mention here
are prayer
and the ministry
of the word
Jesus prays upwards
of or at least
what we see recorded
in the gospels
upwards of 30 times
throughout his ministry
that's not including
parallel texts
so that's single
accounts of what we have
of Jesus praying
and we know that
John says
he didn't even record
he didn't record
anywhere near
what he witnessed
Jesus do
in his three years
of ministry with him
so there's no telling
how many times
Jesus prayed it daily
by himself
and with others
that was constant
and so the apostles
eleven of which
are the original
disciples of Jesus Christ
they're just simply
copying that
they're mimicking that
because they know
that it has been fruitful
they know that they
need to call upon
the Lord
so they do that
they say we can't
neglect that
Martin Lloyd-Jones
says this about prayer
he says
prayer is beyond
any question
of the highest
activity of the
human soul
man is at his
greatest and highest
when upon his knees
he comes face to face
with God
that's absolutely
what the apostles
of this time
understood
that everything
that was happening
within the church
in Jerusalem
was not on their
own accord
it was by them
calling out to God
saying we want this
to happen
we know that you
desire for this
to happen
so please make it
happen
and then we see
the ministry of the
word
or preaching
that's how that can
be also translated
again
this is simply
mimicking what
Jesus Christ did
if you think that
these were the first
preachers
of the word
then you're wrong
turn with me to
Matthew 23
or Matthew 4
yeah
Matthew 4
I'm going to start
in verse 23
and read through
verse
chapter 5
verse 2
Jesus was going
throughout all
Galilee
teaching in their
synagogues
and proclaiming
the gospel
of the kingdom
and healing
every kind of
disease
and every kind
of sickness
among the people
the news about him
spread throughout
all Syria
and they brought
to him
all who were ill
those suffering
with various diseases
and pains
demonics
epiletics
paralytics
and he healed
them
large crowds
followed him
from Galilee
and the
Decapolis
and Jerusalem
and Judea
and from beyond
the Jordan
when Jesus
saw the crowds
he went up
on the mountain
and after he
sat down
his disciples
came to him
he opened
his mouth
and began
to teach them
it can't be
any more clear
than that
Matthew
even wants
to tell you
that he had
to open
his mouth
to preach
the word
some of you
may know
that right
after this
he goes
into what's
known as
the sermon
on the mount
every religious
scholar
whether they
study
Christianity
or something
else
or all
religions
they are
all familiar
with the
sermon
on the mount
it's considered
one of the
greatest sermons
ever preached
Jesus knew
that if he
called everybody
together by
healing
if he healed
a few people
word would get
out
everybody would
come to be
healed
he said
I'm not here
to heal
everybody
physically
I'm here
to save
their soul
I'm here
to tell them
how to get
to God
he concludes
that sermon
or he comes
close to
near the
conclusion
of that
sermon
on the mount
tells them
that you
have two
options
you can
go through
the narrow
gate
that path
is hard
it's on
the narrow
way
or
you can go
through
the broad
gate
via the
broad way
that everybody
else goes
to
only one
of them
reaches
to God
the other
will lead
you to
hell
that's what
he preaches
to these
people
who are
sick
who are
dying
who are
needy
who are
poor
so all
we see
the apostles
doing is
the exact
same thing
Jesus also
tells the
people why
it is that
he preaches
the word
of God
and why
they need
to truly
understand
the word
of God
he says
this
and you
don't have
to turn
here
he says
this in
John
539
many of you
I'm sure
are familiar
with this
text
he says
you search
the scriptures
so that in
them you think
that you have
eternal life
it is there
that they
testify about
me
the scriptures
testify about
me
the Christ
and you are
unwilling
to come to
me
so that you
may have
life
there
there's a
record
I can't
remember
in which
gospel
it is
there's
a record
of eight
lepers
that come
to be
healed
by Jesus
so that's
eight individuals
who need
physical healing
only one
of them
comes back
one of the
eight
comes back
and praises
Christ
because of
what he's
done
has faith
in him
that he
is the
Messiah
so it's
obvious that
Jesus Christ
was not
there just
to serve
people with
their physical
needs
nor are
the
apostles
they need
to be
constantly
devoting
themselves
to the
word
Paul
echoes
this
charge
and the
reason
for it
in Romans
10
I want
you to
go there
with me
I'm going
to read
Romans 10
1-4
and I'm
going to
skip to
14
I know
that I've
done that
a couple
of times
skipping
in between
but what's
in between
there is
just as
fruitful
I promise
you
but just
for the
sake
of time
Paul
says
brethren
my heart's
desire
and my
prayer
to God
for them
is for
their
salvation
for I
testify
about them
that they
have a
zeal
for God
but not
in accordance
with knowledge
for not
knowing about
God's
righteousness
and seeking
to establish
their own
they did
not subject
themselves
to the
righteousness
of God
for Christ
is the
end of
the law
for righteousness
to everyone
who believes
verse 14
how then
will they
call on
him
in whom
they have
not
believed
how
will
they
believe
in
him
whom
they
have
not
heard
and
how
will
they
hear
without
a
preacher
and
how
will
they
preach
unless
they
are
sent
just
as
it
is
written
how
beautiful
are
the
feet
of
those
who
bring
good
news
of
good
things
however
they
did
not
all
heed
the
good
news
for
Isaiah
says
Lord
who
has
believed
our
report
so
faith
comes
from
hearing
and
hearing
by
the
word
of
Christ
it's
right
there
that's
why
I
believe
it
is
of
the
utmost
importance
that
these
men
do
not
stop
what
they're
doing
to
serve
the
tables
doesn't
mean
that
the
serving
of
the
tables
is
not
important
they
knew
that
it
was
if
they've
stopped
fulfilling
the
reason
that
they're
preaching
if
they
stopped
serving
others
like
Christ
served
others
what's
the
point
they're
wasting
their
time
so
back
to
Acts
the
statement
found
approval
with
the
congregation
this
is a
great
thing
because
now
they're
getting
to see
reconciliation
right
before
them
those
who
were
complaining
they're
told
this
by
the
apostles
and
they
say
okay
yeah
this
makes
sense
and
they
chose
the
seven
they
chose
Stephen
a man
full
of the
Holy
Spirit
even
though
it
says
that
Stephen
specifically
is
full
of the
!
Spirit
we've
got
to
go
back
to
the
qualifications
of
what
they
say
that
they
need
to
have
all
of
these
were
full
of
the
Spirit
but
I
believe
the
reason
that
Luke
emphasizes
Stephen
is
full
of
the
Spirit
is
because
what
we're
going
to
see
in
the
next
few
chapters
or
the
next
chapter
or two
as
we go
on
through
the
study
of
Acts
you're
going to
see
that
you
see
the
goes
on
to
save
an
Ethiopian
or
brings
the
Ethiopian
to
salvation
the
other
five
I
already
read
those
names
to
you
I'm
not
going
to
do
it
again
however
we
don't
see
them
mentioned
anymore
in
the
book
of
Acts
I
don't
know
the
reason
for
that
I
didn't
take
the
time
to
speculate
so
it's
probably
not
that
important
and
these
they
brought
before
the
apostles
and
after
praying
they
laid
hands
on
them
so
when
they
nominated
these
men
they
took
them
back
to
the
apostles
knowing
that
these
apostles
needed
to
approve
they
needed
to
see
that
these
men
had
those
six
qualifications
of
the
deacons
they
needed
to
know
that
these
men
were
capable
of
serving
the
widows
so
when
it
says
they
laid
hands
on
them
we
see
that
a
couple
of
times
we
see
that
both
healing
that's
when
hands
were
laid
on
people
sometimes
it
was
for
prayer
in
this
case
it's
really
the
leaders
what
I
see
is
kind
of
the
knighting
the
deacons
saying
they
laid
hands
on
them
I'm
sure
they
prayed
over
them
and
they
blessed
them
to
go
back
out
and
serve
the
widows
and
then
we
have
the
result
of
this
reconciliation
this
coming
together
of
the
church
this
agreement
that
they
have
the
election
of
these
seven
deacons
we
have
the
word
of
God
kept
on
spreading
and
the
number
of
the
disciples
continued
to
increase
greatly
in
Jerusalem
and
a
great
many
of
the
priests
were
becoming
obedient
to
the
faith
so
the
ESV
I
think
says
that
the
word
of
God
was
increasing
in
the
NSB
it
does
say
the
word
of
God
kept
spreading
because
people
kept
preaching
it
kept
spreading
because
people
kept
talking
about
it
twelve
apostles
were not
the only
ones
that were
preaching
the word
of God
were ministering
the word
of God
those
who were
being
healed
would go
back
to
Samaria
and tell
everyone
you've
got to
know
about
this
Christ
he's
come
believe
it or
not
the
Jews
crucified
him
but
he
rose
again
from
the
dead
and so
the result
of the
word
of God
spreading
is the
number
of
disciples
continued
to
increase
greatly
in
Jerusalem
and a
great
many
of the
priests
were
becoming
obedient
to the
faith
it's
obvious
that
Satan's
efforts
were
throtted
here
everybody
came
together
and they
went
back
out
and we
see that
word
used
again
that
pletheno
where
we
get
plethora
continued
to
increase
greatly
a great
multitude
of
people
more
than
20,000
people
were
coming
to
know
Christ
that's
a
wonderful
thing
when you
see
the
obedience
of the
apostles
and the
service
of the
deacons
together
what I
want to
exhort
or
challenge
this
body
to do
with
that
is
that
some
of
you
know
that
we're
going
to be
multiplying
and
creating
a new
body
here
pretty
soon
an
extension
or a
branch
of
Christ's
family
in
flowery
branch
I think
it's in
flowery
branch
or is it
in
Gainesville
Oakwood
right in
between
so as
we go
and do
that
these
are the
two
things
that you
cannot
neglect
it's
the
preaching
of the
word
and
prayer
it's
designated
for men
to be
doing
praying
faithfully
and often
and then
the service
to those
people
that are
coming
coming to
hear the
word of
God
they're
not
going to
be
saved
they're
not
going to
know
who the
Christ
is
unless
they
hear
it
when
you
think
about
who
can
serve
I
guarantee
you
almost
everybody
in this
room
everybody
I
believe
has
something
to give
to the
body
we saw
this in
the early
church
I think
Daniel preached
on this
that they're
coming together
they're selling
all their
possessions
or they're
giving
they're
divvying
out all
their
possessions
to whoever
had
need
so when
that happens
there's a
great service
that's going
on to these
people that
are in
need
and we're
able to be
those people
too
I want to
read to you
from a quote
or a quote
from
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
from a book
that several
of us have
been reading
called
Life Together
he says
that the church
does not need
brilliant
personalities
but faithful
servants
of Jesus
and the
brethren
those who
are seeking
to serve
Christ
and those
who are
seeking
to serve
their
brothers
around
them
this is
what
Christ
says
love
your
brothers
as you
love
yourself
that's
all that
we need
to do
we don't
need to
have
programs
if it
ends up
being
ten of
you guys
in a
room
in Oakwood
be
faithful
to preach
the word
of God
be
faithful
to know
the needs
of those
there
and serve
them
now we're
kind of
hindered
here
in my
opinion
that we
don't have
a lot
of diversity
in this
church
and when I
say diversity
I mean
different
ethnicities
you're going
to look
around you
the majority
of us
I'm going
to be so
bold to say
all of us
are white
Caucasians
that doesn't
mean that you
come from
the same
types of
backgrounds
some of
you
many of
you
come from
broken
homes
many of
you come
from poor
homes
it's
absolutely
true
but when
you get
amongst a
group of
people
like those
in Oakwood
and Gainesville
they come
from those
same
backgrounds
but they
also have
something
that the
Hellenist
Jews
had
they have
a different
language
they have
a totally
different
culture
those are
the ones
that I'm
hoping
that we're
able to
reach
with the
gospel
of Jesus
Christ
you
have to
be
faithful
we
have to
be
faithful
to
serve
them
I want
to close
with
a
passage
from
1 Corinthians
13
I'll take
that back
1 Corinthians
12
there's
great
application
that goes
on
into
chapter
13
and I'm
sure that
everybody
in here
that's
been
married
or
is
married
in a
ceremony
has heard
this
verse
but
that's
one
of the
reasons
I'm
not
going
to
read
it
instead
I'm
going
to read
the
context
and that's
prior
to that
so
in
chapter
12
verse
14
listen
carefully
so this
applies
to
everyone
that's
in this
room
if you
are
serving
Christ
if you
know
Christ
if you
confess
with your
mouth
and believe
in your
heart
that Jesus
Christ
is Lord
all of
you
are one
of these
members
of the
body
for the
body
is not
one
member
but
many
if
the
foot
says
because
I
am
not
a
hand
I
am
not
a
part
of
the
body
it
is
not
for
this
reason
any
the
less
a
part
of
the
body
and
if
the
ear
says
because
I
am
not
an
eye
I
am
not
a
part
of
the
body
it
is
not
for
this
reason
!
any
the
!
less
a
part
of
the
!
If
the
whole
body
were
an
eye
where
would
the
hearing
be?
If
the
whole
were
hearing
where
would
the
sense
of
smell
be?
But
now
God
has
placed
the
members
each
one
of
them
in
the
body
just
as
he
desired
if
they
were
all
one
member
where
would
the
body
be?
But
now
there
are
many
members
but
one
body
and
the
eye
cannot
say
to
the
hand
I
have
no
need
of
you
on
the
contrary
it
is
much
truer
that
the
members
of
the
body
which
seem
to
be
weaker
are
necessary
and
those
members
of
the
body
which
we
deem
less
honorable
on
these
we
bestow
more
abundant
honor
and
are
less
presentable
and
our
less
presentable
members
become
much
more
presentable
whereas
our
more
presentable
members
have
no
need
of
it
but
God
has
so
composed
more
abundant
honor
to
that
member
which
lacked
so
that
there
may
be
no
division
in the
body
that
the
members
may
have
the
same
care
for
one
another
and
if
one
member
suffers
all
the
members
suffer
with
it
if
one
member
is
honored
all
the
members
rejoice
with
it
let
!
let
me
pray
to