From Dream to Deliverance
Tuesday, September 21, 2004
My Prayer Today
Heavenly Father, Thank You for Your grace and love, for Your goodness and power! I praise You, O God, for being the one, true and living God who created all that is and provided it for us to enjoy. I pray that You will fill me with Your Holy Spirit right now that I may hear Your voice and respond to it in every area of my life. As I live out my faith in the local body of faith known as New Life Christian Ministries, I pray that You will glorify Yourself among us and use us daily to add members to Your growing and eternal Kingdom. I pray that my life may be a light to others around me, that they will be drawn to You. Thank You for Your faithfulness and for providing abundantly more than I could ever ask or imagine through Your Son, Jesus, in whose name I pray. Amen.
God's Word For Me Today
Acts 6:1-7
1But as the believers rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent. Those who spoke Greek complained against those who spoke Hebrew, saying that their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food. 2So the Twelve called a meeting of all the believers.
“We apostles should spend our time preaching and teaching the word of God, not administering a food program,” they said. 3“Now look around among yourselves, brothers, and select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom. We will put them in charge of this business. 4Then we can spend our time in prayer and preaching and teaching the word.”
5This idea pleased the whole group, and they chose the following: Stephen (a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit), Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas of Antioch (a Gentile convert to the Jewish faith, who had now become a Christian). 6These seven were presented to the apostles, who prayed for them as they laid their hands on them.
7God’s message was preached in ever-widening circles. The number of believers greatly increased in Jerusalem, and many of the Jewish priests were converted, too.
Reflecting on God’s Word
What is the most important characteristic of those who will serve as leaders in the church?
A Deeper Exploration of God’s Word
What was the apostles’ solution to the “rumblings of discontent”?
What were the requirements the apostles set for those who would become the distributors of food?
What did the apostles anticipate would be the result of this action?
Understanding God’s Word
Why do you suppose the apostles required that the seven men be respected and full of the Holy Spirit when all they were going to do was distribute food?
Why do you suppose that the apostles thought they should not be distracted from preaching, praying and teaching to carry out this responsibility?
Applying God’s Word to Our Lives
What do you need to do right now as a result of reading today’s Scripture?
Thoughts...Well Respected and Full of the Holy Spirit...
The apostles wanted to select seven men to distribute food to widows, and in so doing they required that the men would be well-respected and full of the Holy Spirit. Why? Why would someone distributing food to a widow have to be well-respected and full of the Holy Spirit? Couldn’t anyone do such a job? On the surface it seems like anyone COULD do the task, but the apostles understood that all ministry requires that a person be filled with the Holy Spirit and that these men would need to have been well-respected stems from the reality that they were the first seven people other than the apostles to be assigned official ministry positions in the church. Up to this point there were apostles and followers. The apostles preached and taught, and everyone else listened and received. Of course the believers loved each other. They obviously shared food with widows, otherwise the rumblings of discontent wouldn’t have surfaced in the first place. They shared their material blessings with one another, but the “leaders” were the apostles. Now, new leaders were going to be selected. They had to be people that the believers as a whole “believed in,” trusted. It’s the same in our day. There is no “minor” ministry in the church. Whenever Jesus is served the requirement is that we are worthy of respect and filled with the Holy Spirit. Thankfully, Jesus provides Him to us!