1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:03,480 Boldly at the throne we come to hear the Lord's voice. 2 00:00:03,480 --> 00:00:07,080 He speaks to us this morning. Now in these days, when the 3 00:00:07,080 --> 00:00:10,520 disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the 4 00:00:10,520 --> 00:00:14,160 Helenus arose against the Hebrews, because their widows 5 00:00:14,160 --> 00:00:16,720 were being neglected in the daily distribution. 6 00:00:17,480 --> 00:00:19,920 And the 12 summoned the full number of the disciples, and 7 00:00:19,920 --> 00:00:23,960 said, It is not right that we should give up preaching at the 8 00:00:23,960 --> 00:00:28,240 word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brothers, pick out 9 00:00:28,240 --> 00:00:33,200 from among you 7 men of good repute, full of the Spirit and 10 00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:36,760 of wisdom, whom we will appoint this duty. 11 00:00:37,640 --> 00:00:40,680 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of 12 00:00:40,680 --> 00:00:43,240 the Word. And what they said please the 13 00:00:43,240 --> 00:00:46,360 whole gathering. And they chose Stephen, a man 14 00:00:46,360 --> 00:00:49,600 full of faith, and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and 15 00:00:49,600 --> 00:00:53,800 Procurus, and Nick Candor, and Timon, and Parmenius, and 16 00:00:53,800 --> 00:00:56,120 Nicholas, a proselyte from Antioch. 17 00:00:57,080 --> 00:00:59,760 These they set before the apostles, and they prayed, and 18 00:00:59,760 --> 00:01:03,640 they laid their hands on them. And the word of God continued to 19 00:01:03,640 --> 00:01:07,680 increase, and the number of disciples multiplied greatly in 20 00:01:07,680 --> 00:01:12,320 Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to 21 00:01:12,320 --> 00:01:14,800 the faith. And this is the word of the 22 00:01:14,800 --> 00:01:18,080 Lord. Gracious God, we do pray once 23 00:01:18,080 --> 00:01:20,640 again that you would bless us with an understanding of this 24 00:01:20,640 --> 00:01:24,720 word so that we would not just hear it and walk away empty, but 25 00:01:24,720 --> 00:01:27,480 rather that we would be transformed by it, shape it and 26 00:01:27,480 --> 00:01:29,560 mould it. Lord, so that we might serve you 27 00:01:29,560 --> 00:01:31,920 more and more faithfully. We pray through Christ our Lord. 28 00:01:32,400 --> 00:01:34,320 Amen. Please be seated. 29 00:01:35,040 --> 00:01:37,880 If you would grab your Bibles, you can turn to Acts Chapter 6. 30 00:01:38,160 --> 00:01:40,360 It'll be helpful to have the Scriptures in front of you as we 31 00:01:40,360 --> 00:01:42,600 work our way through this text together. 32 00:01:42,600 --> 00:01:45,560 I want to begin, though, by expressing thanks again on 33 00:01:45,560 --> 00:01:49,320 behalf of Kelly and myself for your generosity and allowing 34 00:01:49,320 --> 00:01:51,240 Kelly and I to be gone the past two weeks. 35 00:01:51,400 --> 00:01:54,760 Obviously, great appreciation for the staff and the elders and 36 00:01:54,760 --> 00:01:57,080 others who hold down the Fort so wonderfully. 37 00:01:57,080 --> 00:02:00,360 Kelly and I went to visit my mother and to spend some time 38 00:02:00,360 --> 00:02:02,680 together in Florida. We had a wonderful rejuvenating 39 00:02:02,680 --> 00:02:04,560 time. So we appreciate that very much. 40 00:02:04,920 --> 00:02:08,479 Your freedom to allow us to do that, encouragement to allow us 41 00:02:08,479 --> 00:02:10,880 to do that. In addition to which, I want to 42 00:02:10,880 --> 00:02:13,480 point out something that I hope at this point is somewhat 43 00:02:13,480 --> 00:02:16,920 self-evident, that we're at the beginning of Holy Week, then the 44 00:02:16,920 --> 00:02:18,840 Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday. 45 00:02:18,840 --> 00:02:20,400 That's what we're celebrating today. 46 00:02:20,640 --> 00:02:24,200 If you know the story of long Palm Sunday, you might question 47 00:02:24,200 --> 00:02:28,080 the use of this text to highlight the Palm Sunday theme. 48 00:02:28,320 --> 00:02:31,440 Palm Sunday is that moment. If you haven't read it, I 49 00:02:31,440 --> 00:02:33,960 encourage you to do so. You can look very close quickly 50 00:02:33,960 --> 00:02:35,880 at it. And Mark, Chapter 11 in 51 00:02:35,880 --> 00:02:39,320 particular is a great account of the triumphal entry when Jesus 52 00:02:39,320 --> 00:02:43,560 enters into Jerusalem and all of the people gather, come out and 53 00:02:43,560 --> 00:02:46,080 welcome him in. Now, the welcome that they are 54 00:02:46,080 --> 00:02:48,600 offering is not the kind of welcome that we would offer 55 00:02:48,600 --> 00:02:50,840 somebody who's coming to visit or something like that. 56 00:02:51,080 --> 00:02:53,880 It's very specifically a welcome for a king. 57 00:02:54,440 --> 00:02:59,160 And so the key thrust of Palm Sunday is the fact that all the 58 00:02:59,160 --> 00:03:02,520 people gathered together and are celebrating and welcoming him as 59 00:03:02,520 --> 00:03:04,480 a king. Now, of course, the irony of 60 00:03:04,480 --> 00:03:08,200 Palm Sunday is in four days, all the same people are screaming, 61 00:03:08,200 --> 00:03:11,160 crucify him, crucify him. But we'll look at that in a 62 00:03:11,160 --> 00:03:15,120 couple of days here. What we want to focus upon is 63 00:03:15,120 --> 00:03:17,960 the fact that the people have gathered together and are 64 00:03:17,960 --> 00:03:21,320 recognizing Jesus and celebrating him not for being a 65 00:03:21,320 --> 00:03:24,960 great prophet, not for being a great teacher, but for being 66 00:03:24,960 --> 00:03:27,560 their king. And this is essential in the way 67 00:03:27,560 --> 00:03:31,120 in which they cheer him on when they say hosanna, hosanna in the 68 00:03:31,120 --> 00:03:34,160 name of David. We cried that together in song 69 00:03:34,160 --> 00:03:38,160 numerous times, and then in reading the text we heard it. 70 00:03:39,560 --> 00:03:43,160 Hosanna is basically a transliteration is the way in 71 00:03:43,160 --> 00:03:46,880 which we say save us, Oh God save us, Oh God. 72 00:03:46,880 --> 00:03:48,360 That's what we're saying when we say this. 73 00:03:48,360 --> 00:03:52,800 And it's not just a plea, it's sort of a please save us, O God. 74 00:03:52,800 --> 00:03:56,360 But it's primarily a shout of joy, a shout of excellent 75 00:03:56,720 --> 00:04:00,000 exclamation. Here comes the King, and we want 76 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:03,440 us, and we praise him by acknowledging that central core 77 00:04:03,440 --> 00:04:07,560 aspect of who he is. Save us, O King, save us, O Lord 78 00:04:07,560 --> 00:04:10,960 Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest. And so we are praising and 79 00:04:10,960 --> 00:04:15,760 saying, Hosanna, praise the Lord to acknowledge his kingship. 80 00:04:16,680 --> 00:04:19,200 Now, one of the things that we recognize when we get to the 81 00:04:19,200 --> 00:04:27,600 book of Acts is it crucial, not a side issue, not a second 82 00:04:27,600 --> 00:04:33,480 thought, but crucial to Christ being a king is the formation of 83 00:04:33,480 --> 00:04:37,840 his Kingdom, and central to that Kingdom is a formation of a 84 00:04:37,840 --> 00:04:43,320 people who will be his church. Now as we've been working our 85 00:04:43,320 --> 00:04:46,320 way through the book of Acts, we keep highlighting that central 86 00:04:46,320 --> 00:04:49,600 characteristics of the church, the Spirit, the church in the 87 00:04:49,600 --> 00:04:52,320 world, those themes that run through the book of Acts that 88 00:04:52,320 --> 00:04:57,240 stress that they are the result that the church comes about 89 00:04:57,240 --> 00:04:59,640 because of the work of Jesus Christ. 90 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:03,720 It is so common for a lot of Christians to think of church as 91 00:05:03,720 --> 00:05:07,280 important but somewhat secondary to the work that Jesus has done. 92 00:05:07,400 --> 00:05:10,040 What Christ has done upon this earth is to come and to save us 93 00:05:10,040 --> 00:05:12,240 from our sins and to give us eternal life. 94 00:05:12,400 --> 00:05:15,680 And so he wonderfully has. And yet the church is not 95 00:05:15,760 --> 00:05:18,320 ancillary to that. The church is not a second 96 00:05:18,320 --> 00:05:20,280 thought. The church is central to the 97 00:05:20,280 --> 00:05:24,480 God's work in doing that. And so when we read a text like 98 00:05:24,480 --> 00:05:27,680 this, we are not reading something that is on the side of 99 00:05:27,680 --> 00:05:31,560 Jesus, Jesus Kingdom or Jesus kingship. 100 00:05:32,120 --> 00:05:36,080 We are reading something that is central to what it means that 101 00:05:36,080 --> 00:05:38,880 Jesus is king. And what we see in the early 102 00:05:38,880 --> 00:05:41,840 parts of Acts is the church and its flourishing and its 103 00:05:41,840 --> 00:05:45,160 greatness. We see the church as its caring 104 00:05:45,160 --> 00:05:48,440 for its members, loving one another in such a way that the 105 00:05:48,440 --> 00:05:51,200 whole, whole world can see and notice this. 106 00:05:51,360 --> 00:05:54,440 We see the church expressing the word of God, proclaiming the 107 00:05:54,440 --> 00:05:57,120 word of God, and worshiping together as a group, and of 108 00:05:57,120 --> 00:06:00,960 praying together and of eating bread together, of spending all 109 00:06:00,960 --> 00:06:04,320 this time in the temple doing all these wonderful things that 110 00:06:04,320 --> 00:06:08,240 the church is doing. And yet we also see the 111 00:06:08,240 --> 00:06:12,280 pushback, the counter attack from Satan himself. 112 00:06:13,040 --> 00:06:15,400 Over the past couple weeks in particular, some of this has 113 00:06:15,400 --> 00:06:19,160 become clear. The Satan's use of the world 114 00:06:19,160 --> 00:06:23,720 itself to hinder the work of the King, to oppose the work of the 115 00:06:23,720 --> 00:06:29,480 king, how Satan uses the world to persecute the Church and to 116 00:06:29,800 --> 00:06:34,680 toss barbs and arrows at the work of the Church in this 117 00:06:34,680 --> 00:06:39,240 ministry in this world. And we see also the work of the 118 00:06:39,400 --> 00:06:43,560 sin within our hearts and Satan using that very sin that is part 119 00:06:43,560 --> 00:06:45,280 of each and every person in this room. 120 00:06:45,480 --> 00:06:48,880 Each and every member of the church has that indwelling sin 121 00:06:49,080 --> 00:06:54,440 that is working against us and that Satan uses that to affect 122 00:06:54,520 --> 00:06:57,800 and to work against the work of the king. 123 00:06:58,200 --> 00:07:01,400 And today we're going to see again the work of Satan as he 124 00:07:01,400 --> 00:07:04,440 tries to hinder the coming of the Kingdom of our Lord. 125 00:07:04,600 --> 00:07:10,320 Satan uses the persecution of the church to oppose your king. 126 00:07:11,480 --> 00:07:17,480 Satan uses the corruption of your soul to oppose your king. 127 00:07:18,600 --> 00:07:25,080 Satan uses the distraction of the good to oppose your king, 128 00:07:26,800 --> 00:07:30,720 the persecution of the world, the corruption of our own souls, 129 00:07:31,280 --> 00:07:35,560 and yes, the distraction of the good. 130 00:07:36,320 --> 00:07:37,600 Let's take a look at that for a second. 131 00:07:37,600 --> 00:07:42,680 Here in Acts chapter 6, we can see again one of these problems 132 00:07:42,680 --> 00:07:44,760 that the church early on has to fix. 133 00:07:44,960 --> 00:07:48,160 One of the problems that the church has to deal with 134 00:07:48,560 --> 00:07:50,560 articulated right away in verse one. 135 00:07:51,040 --> 00:07:53,640 Now in those days when the disciples were increasing in 136 00:07:53,640 --> 00:07:57,560 number, this is the church is growing and here we have a 137 00:07:57,560 --> 00:08:01,360 problem of growing pains. I remember when I was younger 138 00:08:01,360 --> 00:08:06,960 seeing a video of a butterfly fighting its way out of a 139 00:08:06,960 --> 00:08:10,000 cocoon. You know, the butterflies birth 140 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:12,000 from a cocoon and they have to fight their way out. 141 00:08:12,200 --> 00:08:13,880 And I remember thinking to myself, oh, that's just 142 00:08:13,880 --> 00:08:15,720 terrible. I wish somebody could just help 143 00:08:15,720 --> 00:08:18,520 the help the little butterfly RIP open the cocoon so the 144 00:08:18,520 --> 00:08:20,880 butterfly could fly and those kind of things. 145 00:08:21,120 --> 00:08:24,960 And at some point or somewhere in my life, I voiced that idea 146 00:08:24,960 --> 00:08:27,360 of somebody and says no, no, the butterfly. 147 00:08:27,360 --> 00:08:30,160 If the butterfly doesn't struggle to get out of the 148 00:08:30,160 --> 00:08:34,679 cocoon, it never learns to fly. It is because of the struggle of 149 00:08:34,679 --> 00:08:38,280 getting out of the cocoon that enables the butterfly eye to be 150 00:08:38,280 --> 00:08:41,120 able to fly eventually. In the same way we have the 151 00:08:41,120 --> 00:08:43,440 church experiencing the growing pains. 152 00:08:43,559 --> 00:08:46,680 We've got the disciples increasing in number, and so the 153 00:08:46,680 --> 00:08:48,520 church is growing faster and faster. 154 00:08:48,760 --> 00:08:53,280 And that introduces a problem. Here's the problem at the end of 155 00:08:53,280 --> 00:08:56,600 verse 1A. Complaint by the Helenus arose 156 00:08:56,920 --> 00:09:01,800 because the Hebrews against the Hebrews because they were their 157 00:09:01,800 --> 00:09:04,200 widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. 158 00:09:04,200 --> 00:09:05,640 And I fumble that. So let's try it again. 159 00:09:05,920 --> 00:09:09,640 A complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews 160 00:09:09,840 --> 00:09:12,240 because their widows were being neglected in the daily 161 00:09:12,240 --> 00:09:14,800 distribution. Now unless you're real familiar 162 00:09:14,800 --> 00:09:17,080 with the Scriptures, etcetera, there's a lot of words in there 163 00:09:17,080 --> 00:09:19,520 that maybe make sense to you that you don't know how they all 164 00:09:19,520 --> 00:09:20,880 fit together. So I'm going to help fit 165 00:09:20,880 --> 00:09:22,720 together. What's the problem that the 166 00:09:22,720 --> 00:09:25,640 church runs into? Well, as the church has grown, 167 00:09:26,120 --> 00:09:29,920 as the church has brought in more and more new members, they 168 00:09:29,920 --> 00:09:32,720 have brought in members. Overwhelmingly all of them are 169 00:09:32,720 --> 00:09:35,720 Jewish at this point, but they fit into two different 170 00:09:35,720 --> 00:09:41,240 categories, two different levels, two different statuses, 171 00:09:41,520 --> 00:09:45,640 almost a caste system that easily existed within Judaism 172 00:09:45,920 --> 00:09:48,360 that we have to explore here. And this is the difference 173 00:09:48,360 --> 00:09:53,200 between Helenus and Hebrews. OK, Now the Hebrews, those were 174 00:09:53,200 --> 00:09:58,840 the Jews who were born somewhere in Jerusalem or Judea, maybe 175 00:09:58,840 --> 00:10:00,920 extending all the way out into Galilee. 176 00:10:00,920 --> 00:10:05,320 But they were the Jews who were born somewhere nearby, right 177 00:10:05,320 --> 00:10:07,720 around Judaism. And they probably spoke Aramaic, 178 00:10:07,720 --> 00:10:11,200 which is most closely related to the Hebrew language itself. 179 00:10:11,520 --> 00:10:14,760 So they were the pure Jews. They were the Jewish Jews. 180 00:10:14,760 --> 00:10:18,880 They were the upper tier level Jews, and then below them, 181 00:10:18,880 --> 00:10:20,800 though, were these Hellenist Jews. 182 00:10:21,000 --> 00:10:23,360 Now, if you're really up on world history, you know that 183 00:10:23,360 --> 00:10:28,040 about 300 years ago, Alexander the Great has swept over all of 184 00:10:28,040 --> 00:10:32,120 known Europe and from India, sorry, the known world. 185 00:10:32,280 --> 00:10:36,160 From India all the way through Egypt and into Europe itself. 186 00:10:36,640 --> 00:10:39,600 Alexander the Great came and conquered all this territory. 187 00:10:39,760 --> 00:10:42,720 And one of the things that he was very intent on doing, his 188 00:10:42,720 --> 00:10:47,200 spreading not just his fame and not just his role, but also his 189 00:10:47,200 --> 00:10:50,000 culture. And so the Greek culture was 190 00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:51,800 spread throughout the whole world. 191 00:10:52,040 --> 00:10:55,400 And this Greek culture came under the name of Hellenism. 192 00:10:55,840 --> 00:10:59,440 Hellenism was the name, the title in which we use for the 193 00:10:59,440 --> 00:11:02,600 Greek culture. Then that Alexander the Great 194 00:11:02,600 --> 00:11:05,480 spread throughout the world. So by the time of Jesus, 300 195 00:11:05,480 --> 00:11:09,240 years later, once again, most of the entire world that everybody 196 00:11:09,240 --> 00:11:12,400 knew would have been Greek culture, would have experienced 197 00:11:12,400 --> 00:11:17,200 Greek culture in general. Their language would have been 198 00:11:17,200 --> 00:11:18,600 there. The religion would have been 199 00:11:18,600 --> 00:11:23,240 present, the culture, the attitudes, the, the, the, what 200 00:11:23,240 --> 00:11:26,440 am I trying to say the, the way in which the people live their 201 00:11:26,440 --> 00:11:27,880 lives. The whole culture would have had 202 00:11:27,880 --> 00:11:32,080 this Greek undercurrent to it. And any Jew that was born 203 00:11:32,080 --> 00:11:36,200 outside of Jerusalem, any Jew that was born outside of Judea, 204 00:11:36,200 --> 00:11:38,880 the immediate surrounding area around Jerusalem would have been 205 00:11:38,880 --> 00:11:42,040 exposed to Hellenism, would have probably spoken as their first 206 00:11:42,040 --> 00:11:45,760 language, Greek, would have been exposed to all of the 207 00:11:45,760 --> 00:11:49,800 Hellenistic cultural traits that would have been part and parcel 208 00:11:49,800 --> 00:11:51,640 of things. Now, when they come, they're 209 00:11:51,640 --> 00:11:54,160 still Jewish. And when they come to Jerusalem 210 00:11:54,160 --> 00:11:58,720 and become part of the church, there's this second tier sense. 211 00:11:58,720 --> 00:12:03,440 This is just short of racism, and maybe it is racism a little 212 00:12:03,440 --> 00:12:06,560 bit, the way in which people would look down upon the 213 00:12:06,560 --> 00:12:09,760 Hellenistic Jews. Well, yes, you're Jewish, but 214 00:12:09,760 --> 00:12:13,720 you know, you have this cultural baggage of being part of the 215 00:12:13,720 --> 00:12:18,440 Greek Empire, part of the world, so much influenced by this. 216 00:12:18,640 --> 00:12:20,880 And So what happens? You have these two groups of 217 00:12:20,880 --> 00:12:25,440 people, the real, real Jewish Jews and then the Hellenistic 218 00:12:25,440 --> 00:12:30,640 Jews, and a complaint by the Hellenistic Jews arose against 219 00:12:30,640 --> 00:12:33,200 the Hebrew Jews because they're widows. 220 00:12:33,200 --> 00:12:36,640 The Hellenistic widows were being neglected in the daily 221 00:12:36,640 --> 00:12:39,120 distribution. Now this goes back to a couple 222 00:12:39,120 --> 00:12:41,960 of weeks ago when we looked at this earlier in the book of 223 00:12:41,960 --> 00:12:47,480 Acts, that the church early on was able to care immensely for 224 00:12:47,480 --> 00:12:50,120 one another. Their compassion and and love 225 00:12:50,280 --> 00:12:54,560 expressed to those around us was overwhelming by their ability to 226 00:12:54,560 --> 00:12:56,920 help one another and to care for one another. 227 00:12:57,160 --> 00:12:59,840 And certainly one of the essential aspects of that was 228 00:12:59,840 --> 00:13:03,120 for caring for the widows. Now, why emphasize on the 229 00:13:03,120 --> 00:13:06,360 widows? The widows are a character, are 230 00:13:06,360 --> 00:13:10,960 a caricature of the poor. In Jerusalem at this time, 231 00:13:12,000 --> 00:13:14,880 widows would not have had access to land, would not have had 232 00:13:14,880 --> 00:13:17,320 access to food, the agricultural that is born. 233 00:13:17,520 --> 00:13:20,800 So widows, you know, we think in today's society, well, you can 234 00:13:20,800 --> 00:13:24,960 go out and get a job. 99% of everybody back in this in these 235 00:13:24,960 --> 00:13:27,760 days lived off of farming, subsistence farming. 236 00:13:28,080 --> 00:13:31,400 And so they needed access to land in order to provide food. 237 00:13:31,560 --> 00:13:34,680 And a widow would not have access land passed from male to 238 00:13:34,680 --> 00:13:36,760 male to male. So a widow would not have had 239 00:13:36,760 --> 00:13:40,520 access to the to the land. There are not social services, 240 00:13:40,840 --> 00:13:43,360 there were not a big government that would come along and care 241 00:13:43,360 --> 00:13:45,640 for the widows and the poor in this world. 242 00:13:45,800 --> 00:13:49,720 And so by caring for the widows here, the church was expressing 243 00:13:49,720 --> 00:13:54,120 God's concern for the poor, God's concern for those who have 244 00:13:54,440 --> 00:13:58,000 not, do not have access to the very necessities of life. 245 00:13:58,840 --> 00:14:03,040 And so the church, stepping into this marvelous role of 246 00:14:03,200 --> 00:14:06,840 demonstrating the kingship of Jesus Christ, the rule of God 247 00:14:06,840 --> 00:14:11,080 himself, is able to care for and nurture those who are in 248 00:14:11,080 --> 00:14:15,280 poverty, those who are in need. And so they do so by a daily 249 00:14:15,280 --> 00:14:17,840 distribution. By this means they, they pass 250 00:14:17,840 --> 00:14:21,480 out food, They were able to pass out food to those who do not 251 00:14:21,480 --> 00:14:25,320 have access to food and to strengthen them by giving them 252 00:14:25,640 --> 00:14:28,600 the very substance in which they need in order to live. 253 00:14:29,440 --> 00:14:32,920 So you can see now what the problem is that you've got a 254 00:14:33,160 --> 00:14:38,920 community of 5000 people, 5000 folks, and you've got a number 255 00:14:38,920 --> 00:14:41,240 of poor that are associated with this. 256 00:14:41,520 --> 00:14:46,000 And people are prioritizing giving food to the Hebrew Jews 257 00:14:46,320 --> 00:14:49,640 and taking it away from the Greek Jews. 258 00:14:50,320 --> 00:14:54,560 Now, in our mindset, we could go a day without food, maybe some 259 00:14:54,560 --> 00:14:57,880 of us, sort of. We could possibly go 2 days 260 00:14:57,880 --> 00:15:01,320 without food. But if we were stuck on three 261 00:15:01,320 --> 00:15:04,720 days without food, many of us would be talking to our 262 00:15:04,720 --> 00:15:09,160 families, talking to our church, talking to the government. 263 00:15:09,720 --> 00:15:13,840 There's no such situation. There's no such scenario 264 00:15:14,080 --> 00:15:18,440 available to the Hellenistic Jews, the Greek Jews. 265 00:15:18,760 --> 00:15:22,440 And So what happens when they miss the daily distribution for 266 00:15:22,440 --> 00:15:28,520 one day, 2 days, three days, Literally, this is a life and 267 00:15:28,520 --> 00:15:32,240 death situation. And so you have people starving 268 00:15:32,400 --> 00:15:36,120 in the church and the church is this community is committed to 269 00:15:36,120 --> 00:15:39,000 demonstrating the King's love for his people. 270 00:15:39,120 --> 00:15:43,480 So what's the solution? Look in verse 2, verse 2, then 271 00:15:43,480 --> 00:15:47,160 the disciples, that's the 12, the 12 summon the full number of 272 00:15:47,160 --> 00:15:48,960 the disciples. So they gathered the whole 273 00:15:48,960 --> 00:15:52,240 church together. Now there's 5000 or so 274 00:15:52,240 --> 00:15:56,160 believers, we were told at this point, I don't know how they got 275 00:15:56,160 --> 00:15:59,520 all 5000 of them together, but they brought the full 5000 of 276 00:15:59,520 --> 00:16:02,640 them together and said it is not right that we should give up 277 00:16:02,640 --> 00:16:04,880 preaching the word of God to serve tables. 278 00:16:05,160 --> 00:16:07,080 Let me clarify something for a second here. 279 00:16:07,240 --> 00:16:10,280 That sounds pejorative. You know, the disciples are 280 00:16:10,280 --> 00:16:13,480 like, hey, you know, we, we've got the word of God here. 281 00:16:13,640 --> 00:16:15,720 We're the important people. It's not important. 282 00:16:15,960 --> 00:16:19,440 We, we can't wait tables. We can't do that lowly job. 283 00:16:19,840 --> 00:16:21,280 That's not at all what's going on. 284 00:16:21,280 --> 00:16:24,720 And you can see that earlier, later in this text, as we go on 285 00:16:24,720 --> 00:16:28,360 later in the Ted text, you'll see how important the disciples 286 00:16:28,360 --> 00:16:32,840 recognize the ministry of loving and of caring for our, our our 287 00:16:32,840 --> 00:16:36,200 brothers and sisters is how central it is to the work of the 288 00:16:36,200 --> 00:16:38,440 gospel message. That's not what the disciples 289 00:16:38,440 --> 00:16:40,200 are doing. What the disciples are saying, 290 00:16:40,200 --> 00:16:44,520 the apostles are saying, is we can't get distracted from what 291 00:16:44,520 --> 00:16:48,800 God has called us to, to pursue something else That is very 292 00:16:48,800 --> 00:16:51,080 important. This is the distracting. 293 00:16:51,080 --> 00:16:53,120 This is Satan's attack against the church. 294 00:16:53,120 --> 00:16:55,520 In this point. Let's bring forward something 295 00:16:55,520 --> 00:16:57,600 that is, is it important to care for the widows? 296 00:16:57,760 --> 00:17:00,040 Is it important to care for the poor in this world? 297 00:17:00,040 --> 00:17:02,400 Of course it is. It's crucial to the expression 298 00:17:02,400 --> 00:17:04,960 of the gospel message. The book of Acts up until this 299 00:17:04,960 --> 00:17:08,160 point has made that crystal clear to us, and we all have to 300 00:17:08,160 --> 00:17:10,520 recognize it. And is that important to our 301 00:17:10,520 --> 00:17:11,880 ministry? It's central. 302 00:17:12,040 --> 00:17:13,800 It should be central to our ministry. 303 00:17:13,960 --> 00:17:18,040 People should walk in. Do you remember the silly little 304 00:17:18,040 --> 00:17:21,440 song from the 70s? They will know we are Christians 305 00:17:21,440 --> 00:17:24,359 by our love. OK, Somebody acknowledged that 306 00:17:24,359 --> 00:17:27,359 they recognize that song. No, because otherwise I'll sing 307 00:17:27,359 --> 00:17:29,480 it. No, you know, So, yeah. 308 00:17:30,840 --> 00:17:33,200 Thanks, Chris. They will know we are Christians 309 00:17:33,200 --> 00:17:36,440 by our love. Tacky, gross song. 310 00:17:36,920 --> 00:17:41,520 So true. So true, it is exactly what's 311 00:17:41,520 --> 00:17:44,160 supposed to happen, visitors, and we have some among us that 312 00:17:44,160 --> 00:17:47,240 right now visitors are supposed to come in here and they're 313 00:17:47,240 --> 00:17:50,520 supposed to be overwhelmed by the love in which we show one 314 00:17:50,520 --> 00:17:53,400 another. That is gospel message. 315 00:17:53,520 --> 00:17:56,920 That's crucial to the gospel. And the disciples, the apostles 316 00:17:56,920 --> 00:18:01,400 here are saying we can't afford not to do that good ministry, 317 00:18:01,640 --> 00:18:05,000 but at the same time we can't get distracted from preaching 318 00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:08,560 the gospel message. So what do we do in verse 3? 319 00:18:10,400 --> 00:18:13,840 Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you 7 good men of 320 00:18:13,840 --> 00:18:18,640 good repute. The the weight, the importance 321 00:18:18,640 --> 00:18:22,760 that the the apostles put on this task is seen in in the 322 00:18:22,760 --> 00:18:26,040 people that they choose and how they're charging to do this job. 323 00:18:26,320 --> 00:18:29,320 Just don't find any flunky that can do the work. 324 00:18:29,800 --> 00:18:34,520 No, what do we need in order to show God's love, to demonstrate 325 00:18:34,520 --> 00:18:37,560 the care and compassion that God has for his people, the king has 326 00:18:37,560 --> 00:18:39,640 for his people. What are we supposed to do, pick 327 00:18:39,640 --> 00:18:45,840 out seven men of good repute? It's too, we don't have time to 328 00:18:45,840 --> 00:18:48,920 develop the intent of that. This is not just, you know, 329 00:18:48,920 --> 00:18:52,640 they've got a good reputation. There's so much behind this, 330 00:18:52,880 --> 00:18:57,120 this word of good repute, full of the Spirit and full of 331 00:18:57,120 --> 00:19:02,000 wisdom, and we will appoint them to this duty, but we will devote 332 00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:05,360 ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word. 333 00:19:05,360 --> 00:19:09,720 How do we combat the attack of Satan here in this case? 334 00:19:10,000 --> 00:19:15,560 To distract from the good, from the best by the good, to 335 00:19:15,560 --> 00:19:19,760 distract us by the good, helping, caring, loving for one 336 00:19:19,760 --> 00:19:22,800 another, from what is best for the disciples. 337 00:19:22,960 --> 00:19:26,120 The apostles are called to proclaim and to preach the Word. 338 00:19:26,720 --> 00:19:31,120 What's the solution? Gather among us, the people of 339 00:19:31,120 --> 00:19:38,720 God, and the task becomes not theirs, but ours. 340 00:19:39,560 --> 00:19:42,640 Just to build on that a little bit, look in verses 5 and 6 341 00:19:43,880 --> 00:19:46,520 again, what they said, please, the whole gathering. 342 00:19:46,520 --> 00:19:50,320 And so they chose Steven, a man full of faith in the Holy 343 00:19:50,320 --> 00:19:52,840 Spirit. Once again, he's passing out 344 00:19:52,840 --> 00:19:55,480 bread. No, that's not the point. 345 00:19:55,480 --> 00:19:57,920 The point is that this is the ministry of the king. 346 00:19:58,120 --> 00:20:00,760 This is work for the king. And what is work for the king? 347 00:20:00,760 --> 00:20:03,920 Demand work for the king, demands those who are full of 348 00:20:03,920 --> 00:20:07,960 faith and of the Holy Spirit, Stephen, Philip, Procurus, Nick, 349 00:20:07,960 --> 00:20:10,880 Andor, Timor, Permanius, and Nicholas. 350 00:20:11,280 --> 00:20:14,280 Now I read those names. To communicate something that 351 00:20:14,280 --> 00:20:15,960 you're probably not going to be able to pick up. 352 00:20:16,760 --> 00:20:20,960 And I understand that this is one of the things for studying 353 00:20:20,960 --> 00:20:22,960 scripture. You come across things that you 354 00:20:22,960 --> 00:20:27,080 wouldn't picked up otherwise. All of those names are Greek. 355 00:20:28,120 --> 00:20:31,040 All those names are Hellenistic names. 356 00:20:31,480 --> 00:20:35,080 In other words, it's the Hellenistic Jews that are losing 357 00:20:35,080 --> 00:20:38,080 out on the on the daily distribution. 358 00:20:38,080 --> 00:20:39,400 They're the ones that are suffering. 359 00:20:39,560 --> 00:20:42,000 And so how do we go about compensating? 360 00:20:42,000 --> 00:20:45,720 How do we fix this problem? We pick people who will care for 361 00:20:45,720 --> 00:20:48,320 them. And specifically, we on behalf 362 00:20:48,320 --> 00:20:52,680 of the whole community are not picking Hebrew Jews, we're 363 00:20:52,880 --> 00:20:56,120 picking Hellenistic Jews. There's wisdom in what they are 364 00:20:56,120 --> 00:20:58,680 doing to solve this very problem. 365 00:20:59,040 --> 00:21:01,560 What's this? If this is the solution that 366 00:21:01,560 --> 00:21:03,600 they come up with, what's the result? 367 00:21:04,880 --> 00:21:08,240 Sorry, we should read verse 6. These they set before the 368 00:21:08,240 --> 00:21:10,680 apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them. 369 00:21:11,080 --> 00:21:12,920 And what's the result? Verse 7? 370 00:21:13,320 --> 00:21:17,000 And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of 371 00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:20,640 disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of 372 00:21:20,640 --> 00:21:22,400 priests became obedient to the faith. 373 00:21:22,680 --> 00:21:25,120 The result is 3 things. Look at it. 374 00:21:25,120 --> 00:21:28,600 And again you can see the word of God continued to increase. 375 00:21:29,240 --> 00:21:32,600 Now, I'm not sure exactly what that means, but I think we all 376 00:21:32,600 --> 00:21:35,920 kind of get the feel for it. The proclamation of the gospel, 377 00:21:36,080 --> 00:21:39,840 the spread of the message of love, the care for the king, the 378 00:21:39,840 --> 00:21:43,720 elevation of the king of kings. This continued to increase. 379 00:21:43,720 --> 00:21:47,320 In other words, it it was manifested more and more clearly 380 00:21:47,600 --> 00:21:50,720 to the whole community, to everybody that was around. 381 00:21:50,720 --> 00:21:54,200 The gospel continued to increase to everybody around. 382 00:21:54,320 --> 00:21:57,480 That's first. Then secondly, and this is, I 383 00:21:57,480 --> 00:22:00,440 don't know, a pastor that it hates that doesn't hate this 384 00:22:00,440 --> 00:22:05,680 verse because what happens because the number of disciples 385 00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:10,280 multiplied greatly. Now we hate that because adding 386 00:22:10,280 --> 00:22:13,320 them disciples is something we want to do because you can 387 00:22:13,320 --> 00:22:17,800 measure adding them multiplied. That's a lot of pressure 388 00:22:18,320 --> 00:22:20,840 multiplied. In other words, God is bringing 389 00:22:20,840 --> 00:22:23,600 in so many people into the community. 390 00:22:23,960 --> 00:22:27,520 The word of God is spreading so powerfully, so wonderfully, that 391 00:22:27,520 --> 00:22:30,320 it's not that you can tell that, well, we're getting different 392 00:22:30,320 --> 00:22:32,560 people, we're getting new people every week to worship. 393 00:22:32,720 --> 00:22:35,200 It's not that. It's that the number is growing 394 00:22:35,200 --> 00:22:38,960 so big that the only way to quantify it is by saying it's 395 00:22:38,960 --> 00:22:41,520 multiplying. It's spreading that much. 396 00:22:41,720 --> 00:22:46,600 And then thirdly, even priests were responding to the Gospel 397 00:22:46,600 --> 00:22:48,760 message. Now, why do we say even priests 398 00:22:49,600 --> 00:22:52,800 Because they were the opponents of the Gospel message. 399 00:22:53,080 --> 00:22:56,400 In other words, one of the results of not being distracted 400 00:22:56,400 --> 00:23:01,000 from the good, but focusing on the on what God has called us to 401 00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:04,600 do. Is it even the opponents end up 402 00:23:04,600 --> 00:23:08,400 embracing the gospel message. What's the point? 403 00:23:10,240 --> 00:23:13,800 I think the point is this. The king is calling each and 404 00:23:13,800 --> 00:23:16,920 everyone of you to a specific task. 405 00:23:17,880 --> 00:23:22,920 Don't get distracted by what is good from doing what God has 406 00:23:22,920 --> 00:23:26,160 called you to do. That's the easy way of looking 407 00:23:26,160 --> 00:23:28,200 at it. OK, so hold on to that. 408 00:23:28,200 --> 00:23:31,560 Put that aside for a second and realize the second point. 409 00:23:32,360 --> 00:23:38,200 Here's the second point. We can't function as part of 410 00:23:38,200 --> 00:23:42,320 God's Kingdom the way God called us the function as part of God's 411 00:23:42,320 --> 00:23:46,840 Kingdom without the input of every single person in this 412 00:23:46,840 --> 00:23:50,480 room. That's that's what what the 413 00:23:50,560 --> 00:23:53,120 people did. They gathered the disciples, the 414 00:23:53,120 --> 00:23:57,000 apostles, gathered up the whole congregation and said, how are 415 00:23:57,000 --> 00:24:00,720 we going to solve this problem? And then they appointed 7 people 416 00:24:00,720 --> 00:24:03,400 as representative of the whole entire group. 417 00:24:03,920 --> 00:24:06,360 The whole entire group is to love. 418 00:24:06,520 --> 00:24:09,280 The whole entire group is to communicate the gospel. 419 00:24:09,280 --> 00:24:11,720 The whole entire group is to share their faith. 420 00:24:11,720 --> 00:24:13,120 We're going to see this in a little bit. 421 00:24:13,240 --> 00:24:15,680 You might have picked up some of the names that you recognize. 422 00:24:15,840 --> 00:24:19,080 Parmenius never shows up again, Timon, Nickandor. 423 00:24:19,160 --> 00:24:22,920 But you do recognize Steven and you might recognize Philip. 424 00:24:23,240 --> 00:24:26,440 And both of these men communicate the gospel message 425 00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:32,560 in all that they do in life. We need to be pushing forward to 426 00:24:32,560 --> 00:24:35,520 understand what God has called Hebron Church to be. 427 00:24:36,200 --> 00:24:38,760 What is Hebron Church's goal in life? 428 00:24:38,960 --> 00:24:43,160 How do we fulfill that mission calling to be part of the 429 00:24:43,160 --> 00:24:47,400 Kingdom of God? And in order to do so, every 430 00:24:47,400 --> 00:24:52,880 person in this room is needed. That's the message of Scripture 431 00:24:53,080 --> 00:24:54,720 that's communicated over and over again. 432 00:24:54,720 --> 00:24:57,960 The passage that Tim read earlier for us hits on that very 433 00:24:57,960 --> 00:25:00,840 point. Every person, no matter how 434 00:25:00,840 --> 00:25:04,600 young you are, you have a role in God's Kingdom. 435 00:25:05,320 --> 00:25:10,280 No matter how old you are, you have a role in God's Kingdom, no 436 00:25:10,280 --> 00:25:13,320 matter how immature you are spiritually. 437 00:25:13,680 --> 00:25:16,320 And I know that there are people here that say, hey, I've only 438 00:25:16,320 --> 00:25:18,120 been coming to worship for a couple of weeks. 439 00:25:18,320 --> 00:25:20,360 I've only been a Christian for a year or two. 440 00:25:20,560 --> 00:25:25,000 No matter how immature you are spiritually, you are called by 441 00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:29,280 the King to serve him and called into this community. 442 00:25:29,680 --> 00:25:31,200 Do you have to be a member of this church? 443 00:25:31,200 --> 00:25:34,480 No, you worship in this church. You're part of our community. 444 00:25:34,640 --> 00:25:38,920 God has called you to minister here in this place, and we can't 445 00:25:38,920 --> 00:25:41,960 fulfill God's calling without you. 446 00:25:43,400 --> 00:25:48,160 It's that easy. The Cantor was necessary. 447 00:25:48,160 --> 00:25:51,320 Timon was necessary, Steven Phillip was necessary. 448 00:25:51,480 --> 00:25:55,520 Henry is necessary, Linda is necessary, Alex is necessary, 449 00:25:55,800 --> 00:25:58,640 Mark is necessary, Chuck is necessary. 450 00:25:58,640 --> 00:26:05,480 I'm just naming off people that I see necessary, and I know it 451 00:26:05,560 --> 00:26:09,320 because God's called you here to this place, to his Kingdom. 452 00:26:09,920 --> 00:26:17,920 First off, Lord, speak to me so that I can see what you want for 453 00:26:17,920 --> 00:26:22,360 me to do. Secondly, empower me. 454 00:26:22,880 --> 00:26:26,920 Enable me, fill me with your Spirit, fill me with wisdom. 455 00:26:27,200 --> 00:26:31,440 Enable me to be the man or woman of God that you call me to be so 456 00:26:31,440 --> 00:26:35,160 I can fulfill that Kingdom purpose here at Heaven Church 457 00:26:35,440 --> 00:26:39,840 and beyond. Two prayers, speak to me, 458 00:26:40,840 --> 00:26:44,120 empower me. Go ahead, pray. 459 00:26:59,360 --> 00:27:03,960 Lord, I do pray that you would enable us not to be distracted 460 00:27:03,960 --> 00:27:06,880 by good things, but to listen well for the calling that you 461 00:27:06,880 --> 00:27:11,040 have given to us as individuals, and then as calling to be part 462 00:27:11,040 --> 00:27:15,440 of this community, to see your Kingdom come powerfully here 463 00:27:15,440 --> 00:27:21,080 through Hebron Church and in Penn Hills and in Pittsburgh and 464 00:27:21,080 --> 00:27:23,800 in the United States and across this world. 465 00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:28,800 Lord, speak to each of us individually if we are used to 466 00:27:28,800 --> 00:27:32,960 listening to your voice or not. Lord, speak so that each of us 467 00:27:32,960 --> 00:27:36,920 can hear. And then, Lord, give to us what 468 00:27:36,920 --> 00:27:39,720 we need in order to be faithful to the calling that you've given 469 00:27:39,720 --> 00:27:41,960 to us. We ask all this through Christ 470 00:27:41,960 --> 00:27:43,440 our Lord, Amen.