Open your Bibles, if we would,
to Acts chapter 6. Starting a new chapter today.
Acts chapter 6. We'll look at the first seven
verses of Acts chapter 6. The name of the message is chosen
to serve. Now, every one of God's people
were chosen in Christ Jesus and we will serve God. We serve God
while we're on this earth and beloved, we're going to serve
the Lord in heaven. Somebody asked me one time, well, won't
you all get kind of bored just serving in heaven? Nope. The one we're serving is the
king, the one who redeemed us with his precious, precious blood.
My, my oh my, I'll tell you what. Folks just don't understand,
do they? And we didn't either. We were there. We didn't understand
either but praise God he's given us an understanding now just
a little bit and we're going to give him all the glory for
it. Oh my. Now in this study we've seen
so far even very early in this book that the Church of the New
Testament saints have already suffered
persecution, just like the church of the Old Testament saints suffered
persecution as well, right? Oh my. And they've continued
forward only by the grace of God, which is true for any of
us. They've continued forward. And just like in Egypt, the more
the church is afflicted, the more it multiplied. Oh my. And this is a work of
God, beloved. It's a work of God. And the cause
of Christ and the success of the gospel cannot be hindered
by man. Man cannot hinder the gospel
going forward. Now foolish men say that men
can resist God. Not if he's drawn you with his
irresistible grace, you can't. We may kick and scream and kick
against the pricks, but you know what the Lord does? He subdues
the rebel, doesn't he? He subdues the rebel. He subdues
the one who was shaking their fist at God, maybe not speaking
things in words, but by all our actions saying, I don't want
nothing to do with you, Lord. And some of us were saying that. along with our actions. God subdued us, didn't he? Oh my, his almighty power, I'll
tell you, I get so excited about the sovereignty of God and about
his almighty overruling power. Last week we saw him use two
men from the past to keep the Jews from killing the apostles. And those men weren't saved,
they were insurrectionists. Oh my. It's amazing, I'll tell
you what, it's absolutely amazing. So just as the Old Testament
saints were preserved and taken home to glory, right? They suffered
and they were preserved and they were taken home to glory. So
the New Testament saints will preserve and will be taken home
to glory. We don't have to worry about
that. I remember somebody brought up a topic to Brother Henry Mahan,
said, well, what if someone gets Alzheimer's and they forget about
the Lord and they forget about everything? They're still Lord's
sheep, aren't they? Saved by the blood, right? See you in heaven. It's not based upon us, you see?
And this is what the gospel preacher, each week we get up and we say
that. We remind ourselves and we remind others that sit amongst
the congregation that we preach to. Because we need to hear that,
don't we? A dear sister going out last
week said, brother Wayne, I understand now we have to hear this all
the time. Because we forget. We forget. Oh, it's so true. Oh my. So God will keep his people,
he'll preserve them through persecution, through suffering, whatever they
go through. Look at this, now let's read
the first seven verses of Acts chapter six. And in those days,
when the number of disciples was multiplied, there arose a
murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows
were neglected in the daily ministration. Then the 12, that being the apostles,
called the multitude of the disciples unto them and said, it is not
reason, is it not, sorry, it is not reason that we should
leave the word of God and serve tables. So they're saying, this
is not the reason, right? We're not saying this so that
we can be free of serving the tables. That's what they're saying. Wherefore, brethren, look out
among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost
and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. Now here's the reason, verse
six, but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to
the ministry of the word. And the saying pleased the whole
multitude. So it pleased the Grecians and
the Hebrews. Then, and they chose Stephen,
a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus,
and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicholas, a proselyte of
Antioch. Brother Gene Harmon said, notice
all the names are Greek names. That's interesting. We're going
to see why. We're going to see why. Whom
they set before the apostles, and when they had prayed, they
laid their hands on them. And look at this. And the word
of God increased, and the number of disciples multiplied in Jerusalem
greatly. And a great company of the priests
were obedient to the faith. Now we've seen in our study of
this wonderful book that the church in Jerusalem grew in a
very short time from 120 disciples to thousands. Thousands. The early church, though a great
multitude, was a community of love. Remember we've seen twice,
I think mentioned earlier in the book, they were of one accord. Last chapter that we were in,
chapter 5, we started to see some division with Ananias and
Sapphira. Now we're seeing a little murmuring. Right? Oh my. And there were a great many in
the congregation who were poor, and these poor ones, particularly
the fathers and the widows, were clothed and fed and housed with
church funds. In verse 1, we see a problem
arise in the midst. Some of the Grecian widows were
being neglected, or they thought they were. not receiving an equal
share of the daily compensation with those widows from Judea. So they thought, oh, they're
all getting a little bit more. Oh no. Oh no. Now some may wonder, who
are the Grecian widows? Well, let's read, listen, actually
listen to this verse. in the Greek literal Bible. They
were called Hellenists. Now in those days, when the disciples
are multiplying, there arose a grumbling of the Hellenists
against the Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked
in the daily gesturations. So it wasn't just, it wasn't
the widows, it was the Hellenists, or the Grecian men and the women,
who were saying, they're not getting enough. So who were the Hellenists? Well,
here's the answers. A Hellenist is a person who is
Greek in language, outlook, and way of life, but is not Greek
in ancestry. And they can include a non-Greek
Jew who adopts a Greek language, customs, or speech. They're known
as Hellenistic Jews. which is a Jewish person who
was born in an area highly influenced by Greco-Roman culture. And the Hellenists, or the Grecian
widows in our text, are Christian converts from among the Hellenists. Jews who had returned to Judea
after having lived abroad in the Greek world despite being
Jewish The Hellenists had adopted the Greek culture and elements
of the Greek lifestyle and spoke the Greek language. That's who
they are. So these are believers, but they're
what's called Hellenist Jews. But they're not Jews anymore.
Well, they're the Israel of God, right? But now they're born again. And remember, up until chapter
5, the church had been of one accord. Again, it was mentioned
several times. They were of one accord. And
then, as they began to multiply, division started to creep in. Strife started to creep in. And
our text says here, there arose a murmuring, not an open falling
out, but a little murmuring going on over here and over here. We're
not getting enough. Several commentators said it
was about money pretty much, not getting our share. And as a result of that, there was murmuring going on,
which comes from selfishness and pride. And it's in all of us. It's in
all of us, beloved. Listen to this. We're seeing
the scripture come alive. Proverbs 26, 21 says this, as
coals are to burning, as coals are to burning coals and wood
to fire, so is a contentious man to kindle strife. So you
get a few people murmuring, You get some strife, start to cook
up. All division in a church starts
with a little murmuring, pride and self-righteousness. I'll
tell you. Now, Lord, keep us in one accord,
Lord, please. Right? I believe we have that
here. I believe we're of one accord here. It's wonderful.
But keep us from murmuring. Keep us from murmuring, Lord,
please. And then Proverbs also says this, He that is of a proud
heart stirreth up strife, but he that putteth his trust in
the Lord shall be made fat. Just meaning be content. Right? Content. Now in the day
set before us again, I'm going to say this quite a bit through
the study and through even more of my preaching, these are real
people and these are real events. This is actually happening and
recorded for our learning, right? So the church is increasing in
numbers. And now we've got a little strife here, Ananias and Sapphira. Then we've got a little strife
with the Galatians. You know what that shows us?
We're all a bunch of sinners. It just comes from our nature.
It comes from our flesh. Right? Even the Lord's people,
we can get in spitting hot mad fights, can't we? It's unfortunate.
It shouldn't happen. But it does. But you know what? Division comes from pride. Division
comes from selfishness. The scripture tells us, let us
be content. Let's be content, right? Oh my. I'll tell you what, what we have
here doesn't come around very often. Praise be to God, right? Praise be to God for the unity
that He's worked here. The love in Christ that we have
for one another. It's all Him. We're going to
give Him all the glory, aren't we? We're going to give it all
to Him. It's all His work. I'll tell you what, it's absolutely
amazing too. So this shows us that the taints
of our Adam nature, transgression, is showing up now in the midst
of the church. That's what happens. We're sinners. We're same sinners,
aren't we? My. My oh my. But now you got one
murmuring here. Murmuring's starting to break
out. What do you think? I think they're getting more
than us. I think you're right. And then the other folks are
over here thinking, well, isn't this a blessing? We're all getting
this stuff. The Lord's taking care of all
the widows, whether they be Hebrews or Grecians, this is wonderful.
Totally oblivious to what the folks over here are thinking,
right? Totally oblivious, right? Oh, God keeps stuff from us,
doesn't he? And it's good, it's good, I'll tell you what. So
may we who are the born again people of God learn from these
passages and seek unity to be of one accord, to be of one accord,
beloved, without murmuring and dissatisfaction. And again, what
we have here is rare. Our hearts have been knit together
in love through different things we've went through. It's absolutely
amazing to see. It's amazing. My oh my, and it's
all of God. Now, our Lord Jesus Christ, we
see, had been pleased to bless the preaching of the gospel,
which is what he does, right? By calling out a chosen number
of blood-bought children out of darkness, because that's where
they were. They were in darkness. And just
like us, born again by the Holy Spirit of God, right? Taken out
of darkness into the light of the marvelous kingdom of God
the Son. My oh my. And we know from the
past chapters that about 3,000 for whom Christ died were added
to the church on the day of Pentecost. 3,000 souls. And you know they
went home and told their wives and their children about what
happened. Oh my. And then, a few more days later,
5,000 more added to the church. Called out of darkness unto the
preaching of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. to the glorious
grace of God through the merits and work, perfect work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And now we read in the first
verse of chapter six that our Lord Jesus was still added to
his church such as should be saved. He's still added. He got
some Grecians. My oh my. Look at the last verse of last
week's text in chapter 5 verse 42. And daily in the temple,
and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus
Christ. So the disciples were daily preaching
Christ. They were going around preaching
Christ. In the temple, when it was open, and in houses. In houses. Oh, and along with
the daily preaching of God's glorious gospel, which provided
spiritual nutrition for the saints, right? Because this is our spiritual
food, is believers, right? Oh my, we feast on the word of
God. They were also daily ministering to the needs of the widows, Hebrews
and Grecians, the widows of the church. as there's a daily need
for distribution of the needed monies to purchase food which
is needed, and for the physical nutrition and need of these widows. Now let's read Acts chapter 6
verses 1 to 4 now. And in those days, when the number
of the disciples was multiplied, so there's even more added, we
see, right? Look at that, isn't that wonderful? God just keeps
adding to his church. He doesn't tell us how many,
just keeps adding to his church. Oh, it's wonderful. Yeah, that's
why I pray for the messages as they go out. God can use them,
take and add to his church. Right? As he sees pleased. Oh
my. And in those days when the number
of disciples were multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the
Grecians against the Hebrews because their widows were neglected
in the daily ministration. Then the twelve called the multitude
of the disciples unto them and said, It is not reason that we
should leave the word of God and serve tables. Wherefore,
brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full
of the Holy Ghost, so born again, right? They must be born again,
oh my, in wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But
we will give ourselves continue to prayer and to the ministry
of the word. Now the first thing we need to
consider from verses 2 to 4 in Acts chapter 6 is the apostles
were led by the Holy Spirit of God. And they were led to introduce
the office of deacons to the early New Testament church. This
didn't happen by chance. This happened according to God's
will and purpose, didn't it? Oh my. And it was God's eternal
purpose executed at his appointed time, right? Remember that, at
his appointed time. Everything happens according
to God's appointed time. That's wonderful. We were born
into this world at God's appointed time. We lived and moved where God
had appointed us to be. Brother Jim, it wasn't by chance
that you saw Barb and fell in love with her. It's God's appointed
time, wasn't it? Isn't that wonderful? It's wonderful,
I'll tell you what. And it was our appointed time
when we were born again by the Holy Spirit of God. Just like
our first birth was appointed, our second birth was appointed
by God through the preaching of the word. And it was by the
work of God, the Holy Spirit, wasn't it? I'll tell you why. And then the day that we're going
to breathe our last breath is appointed by God. And then we'll
be in glory with him forever. It's amazing. All by God's appointment. So it was God's eternal purpose
executed at his appointed time for certain men to be ordained
to this position of authority, to be a deacon, Right? In his church. So he moved his
apostles to perform his will. Now the word for deacon is diakeno. The word deacon means, you know
what the word deacon means? To serve. Remember how I've told you that
we who are in the leadership in the church, we're not here
to lord over you. We're servants. The preacher's the first servant.
And deacons are servants to the church as well. We're here to
serve. Isn't that wonderful? And you're
here to serve God too, aren't you? It's wonderful, we're all
here to serve, aren't we? It's amazing, I'll tell you why.
God is so good. And deacons are ordained by God
himself to be the pastor's attendants to help, to help. to minister
to the physical needs of the members of the Lord's Church,
to serve the Lord Jesus Christ by taking care of everyday things
that arise up in the church. Like Travis, anything happens
work-wise, Travis steps right in and takes care of it, doesn't
he? My, oh, my. My, oh, my. Brian, you're always
available to help, to do things. Brother Dan, he's doing the treasury
and deacon. He's got two hats on. But you're
serving. You're serving. And I'm blessed
here, because I could call for many of you to be deacons. Many
of you men. I'm so blessed. I really am. My, oh, my. You've got Neil,
who serves. He cuts the grass every year
for us. Brian, he does all the plowing
in the wintertime. It's amazing. Dave gets up and
sings every week. My. It's amazing, but we serve
God because we desire to serve God, right? And some of you pray
all the time for the church, which is, I value that more than
anything. I'll tell you why. Oh my, but it means to serve,
to minister, to serve, to come alongside, to serve. The deacon and the preacher aren't
supposed to be fighting, they're supposed to work together, aren't
they? And the preacher, I'll tell you
what, when it's all going well, the preacher will not lord over
the deacons and the deacons will not lord over the preacher. Guys,
we serve together, don't we? It's amazing. That's how it is. We're here to help each other,
to support each other. My, just as we're all here, and
I don't want to just leave everyone out, because we're all here to
do that, aren't we? All of us are here serving the
Lord. But in this specific portion
here, we're looking at deacons who are called, called, ordained,
ordained by God. And what the deacons are called
to do is very important. Our Lord is sincerely concerned
about the daily needs of his church. Don't ever think, don't ever
think, well, Lord, don't got time to hear my prayer, don't
got time to hear. If you're a sheep of God, he
is concerned about you and will watch over you and will take
care of you every breath you breathe in your whole life. Now that, that's comforting,
isn't it? Before we're saved and even afterwards. Oh my, what a King, what a Savior
is Jesus Christ, my Lord. Oh my. And remember, every single
member of God's church, the elect of God, He has loved with an
everlasting love And he shall supply our needs through his
ordained means. Won't he? Years ago, we found
out that there was a family that needed some help. We collected some money and gave
it to them, didn't we? Because that's how it is. That's
how it works. We hear of a church needing help.
We'll collect some money and send it off. Right? That's just how it works. Oh
my. Some may ask then, why was the office of a deacon
established? Well, in verse four it tells
us that the apostles could then give themselves to prayer in
studying the word, in the preaching of the gospel. To allow them to look into the
word more and to study the word and to pray. I thank the Lord that through
you all, he's given me the means to study each day. I thank the
Lord for that. It's wonderful. I get to listen to messages and
study the word of God and write messages and preach them. Oh my, that's wonderful. In Oregon, I didn't have that.
I worked a full-time job with my wife. We had our own business,
and we did things out there. And I'll tell you what, it was
last-minute studying. Because you're trying to take
care of your life, right? But back then, I only had to
preach one message. When I came here, I started off with four.
Bruce Crabtree said, man, you went from the little wee miniature
frying pan to the great big one, didn't you? But you know what? God just, asking a preacher,
asking a preacher to preach more messages, oh my gosh, man. We love it. And you have to be careful a
preacher don't get burned out, too, because he won't stop. You
know? No. But God will sustain us just
like he does everybody else, right? Just like he does everybody
else. Oh my. So what we see here is
that no man can properly give himself to more than one weighty
employment. Therefore the Church of God have
deacons whose responsibility it is to see that material needs
of the pastor and his family are met. Also deacons are to
make sure that church property and church members are cared
for properly. And deacons also are to distribute
church funds for the ministry of the word. the care of the
poor, and just as the pastor is the servant of the church,
so are all the deacons, and so are all the members. We are all,
all of us here, who are born again are servants of God. First
and foremost. Right? First and foremost. We're bond slaves for Christ,
aren't we? Oh my. And we see that they were not
chosen based upon friendship, but based upon faithfulness. Based upon faithfulness. Now
I was blessed, it was a hard thing for us to go through, but
I was blessed that now I was able to choose who the deacons
would be by God's leading. And I believe we have three very
faithful men. And I could have chosen a whole lot more. I asked
one brother if he wanted to be involved, and he said, I just
like to sit on my butt and listen to the gospel preached. And I
said, hey, that's fine. My, oh, my. But we have very
faithful men who are serving the church here. It's a great blessing to me as
a pastor, I'll tell you that. So they're not based upon friendship,
or they're not based on one... Brother Gene Harmon said, well,
they're not based upon whether they're handsome or not. And
I laughed at that. I thought, no, that's Gene. We
got handsome deacons, so we don't have to worry about that, right?
So... Right? Oh my, what a blessing
in a way. Let's look at Acts chapter 6
verse 3, look at this. It says, Wherefore brethren,
look ye out among you, seven men of honest report, so faithful,
full of the Holy Ghost, they have to be born again, and wisdom,
wisdom in knowledge and doing things, wisdom and knowledge
in the Scriptures, Turn, if you would, to 1 Timothy
chapter 3. We're going to read here the qualifications of a deacon.
Now, you men who are deacons, I don't want you to sit there
and go, oh, that's not me. I'm just one of the others. Because
even in the qualifications for a pastor, Norm Wells, Norm Wells
said to me once, he looked at the qualifications for a pastor,
and no one's fit for it but Christ. Oh my! Oh my! I thought that was funny. Look
at here in 1st Timothy chapter 3 verses 8 to 12. Likewise must the deacons be
grave, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy
of filthy liqueur, that's gain, that's gain, holding the mystery
of the faith in the pure consciousness, so just believing on Christ,
believing that salvation is by grace alone, And let these also
first be proved. So, you know, you don't want to just
put someone in a deacon position who's not being proved, who's
not being faithful. Right? Then let them use the
office of a deacon being found blameless. Well, the only way
we're found blameless is in Christ, right? So let them be found in
Christ. Even so, must their wives be
grave, not slanders, sober, faithful in all things. Let the deacons
be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children in their
own house as well. So that brings forth the qualifications
of a deacon. So a deacon is a man who serves
in the church of God. And they serve in the interest
of the gospel, just like we do. All of us are here for the furtherance
of the gospel, right? All of us. All of us. And they also come alongside
the pastor who proclaims the gospel to them. Now what effect did the service
of the seven deacons here have upon the church of Christ and
the ministry of the gospel? Now look, look at verse 7. This freed up the apostles to
preach the gospel all the time. I know what that feels like. Because I have that opportunity
whether I go visit people in the community or go across. Everywhere
I go, the Lord always comes up somehow. Oh my. And look at this. And the word of God increased.
God blessed it. So God ordained it, didn't he?
And he ordained those men who would be in that position too,
didn't he? And what's he do? Now he's blessing
it. He's blessing them. Now the preachers can go out
and preach the gospel and not have to worry. Because I'll tell
you, it was probably playing on their minds. I have to split my time between
both things. And those widows were on their
minds. They were concerned for them.
I guarantee you they were. And the word of God increased,
and the numbers of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly. And a great company of the priests
were obedient to the faith. So the gospel was preached where
it could not have been preached before. They had more time to go out
now, more time to preach the gospel. They were free just to
go out and preach and proclaim Christ. Faithful deacons are an asset
to the congregation, I'll tell you that. An asset to the congregation. And actually, they're an asset
to the pastor's labors as well. I don't have to worry about the
finances. Dan and Kathy, they take care
of all that. Dan's the treasurer. I know Kathy
helps him too with stuff. But I don't have to worry about
the bills. I don't have to worry about any
of that. I'll just ask Dan how we're doing, and he tells me.
And anyone can ask him that. But what a blessing for us, right?
All the bills are paid. Everything's taken care of. Because
God's appointed Dan to be the treasurer. And I'll tell you,
it brings it right down. Isn't that amazing? Oh, I'll
tell you, it's wonderful. It's wonderful. Pastors, elders,
and deacons, together with the membership of the local church,
labor together for the cause of Christ. That's why we're here. We labor together for the cause
of Christ, beloved. Dave cuts up and sings for the
cause of Christ. Jill plays the piano for the
cause of Christ. The ladies and Luke upstairs
do all the recording and the video for the cause of Christ,
that the gospel might go out further. You support the ministry
with your finances for the cause of Christ. Isn't it amazing?
It all goes back to him. All the glory, all the honor,
and all the praise, beloved. It's wonderful. And He allows
us, do you ever think of this? He allows us by ordaining us
to be here. That's amazing. What a privilege to be a child
of God. What a privilege, what an honor to be a member of God's
church. And I'm not talking about membership
on some role. I'm talking about membership,
faithfully coming and hearing the gospel and supporting the
gospel. That's the church of God, the call and assembly, right?
The ecclesia, the people. My, people get so hung up on,
well, we got 5,000 on the rolls, but only 200 show up. Well, that
ain't no good, is it? You know what? Everyone who comes
here. and supports this work. This
is how Norm Wells looks at his church. He's a member of the
church. I'll tell you what. I'll tell you what. You're part
of the body of Christ, right? No role put you in the body of
Christ, did it? No membership role put you in
the body of Christ. Who put you in the body of Christ?
God the Father, right? Oh my. I'll tell you, we humans
mess things up pretty good, don't we? We do, I'll tell you what,
I'll tell you what, oh my, oh my. So the deacons who labor faithfully
as deacons, and they also, the deacons earn the respect of the
congregation for serving. And the congregation earns the
respect of the deacons too. for serving as well, for being
faithful. And the pastor too. I'll tell
you what, it's no greater joy than to see you here. Because I know God's ordained
you to be here. Isn't that wonderful? And I know you're not here, I
know you're not here because you have to be. Because if we
were here because we have to be, we wouldn't be here anymore,
would we? You're here because you want to be, aren't you? Big
difference. I'll tell you what, one's labor
and one's love. I get to go to church. I get
to be your pastor. I get to preach the word of God.
I get to pray for you guys. It's a privilege. It's an honor. And it's the same for you all. Let's just boil it down. It's
just a plain privilege to be in the body of Christ, to be
born again. See, we have to change our thinking
that way, because not everybody is born again. And that privilege
is all according to God's will and purpose. Now just let that
sink in. All according to His sovereign
will and purpose. You are sitting here today hearing
this message, or whoever you go out to in the world, you're
hearing this because God ordained it to be so. Isn't that amazing? I'll tell you why. Look at verse
5 here. Look at verse 5. And the same
place the whole multitude. So the Grecians were happy, the
Hellenistic Jews were happy, and the Hebrews were happy. They
were all happy. They're of one accord again. They're all happy. In the same place, the whole
multitude. And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the
Holy Ghost, and Philip. Now that Philip there, I believe,
is the same Philip that was in the chariot with the Oh, help me out here. With the
Ethiopian. Yes, thank you. With the Ethiopian
fellow. I believe that's the same Philip.
And Procrius, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Farmenus, and Nicholas,
a proselyte of Antioch. So we see here that the early
New Testament church is very concerned about the preaching
of the gospel, so concerned that they agree and consent that these
seven men should be chosen. So what's the paramount thing?
It's the preaching of the gospel, right? That is the most important
thing. Again, the reason we're here
and the reason God's called us together is for the furtherance
of the gospel. And we get the blessing and the
privilege to be together. Some of you have been here for
years. Almost as long as I've been alive.
Sister Carolyn has been 50 something years, right? I'm gonna be 60
this year. That's amazing. I'll tell you
what, God's faithfully placed you in a gospel preaching church.
Isn't it wonderful? It's wonderful. You heard it
through Peter, you heard it through Jim, now you hear it through
me. All according to God's will and purpose. Sister Linda, I
think you're one of the oldest ones there. No, no, the oldest
ones, years wise, years wise, that's been involved in the church.
You come here as a little girl. Look at this. What a privilege. What an honor. And then all of
us brought together from different places. You know, we never probably
would have even bumped into each other. if we were just left out
in the world. And now look, the Lord's just
knit our hearts together. Isn't it wonderful? I got a big brother, man. I lost my big brothers when the
Lord saved me. I got two more big brothers and
a whole bunch more. I got more moms and dads. I got
aunts and uncles now. I even have little brothers now. Isn't God so good? I'll tell
you it's wonderful, I'll tell you. And what's the connecting
thing that keeps us all together? The Lord Jesus Christ. His blood
and righteousness. Isn't it wonderful? Oh my. So the whole multitude is pleased
with them choosing these deacons. And think of it, these are new
believers too. These are new believers. And
when they come together for public worship, it wasn't the mundane
things of the world that they were interested in, they came
to hear Christ. They didn't come to get a lecture
on how to be a better Christian, did they? Just tell me, I already
know I'm a sinner, just tell me about Christ. Tell me about
my Savior. Tell me about the one who loved
me and gave himself for me, shed his precious blood for me. Tell
me about the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one I want to hear about.
Oh my, he's wonderful. They wanted to hear nothing but
the Lord Jesus Christ, their exalted Savior and Lord. They
wanted to hear about him. And all God's born again blessed
children, when we assemble for public worship, we want to hear
the gospel. We want to hear God's sovereign
amazing love that was moved to send Christ. His eternal love
that moved him to send Christ Jesus our Lord down to this earth
to bleed and die for sinners such as we. And what a blessing the Lord saved
us. What a blessing, He didn't leave us where we were dead in
trespasses and sins. No, He came and He saved our
eternal souls, beloved. Oh my, isn't that wonderful?
And why did He do it? Because He loves us with an everlasting,
unchanging love. Oh my, and because it was the
will and purpose of God the Father that it might be so. Oh, and then the Holy Spirit,
of course, regenerates us and gives us life. Eternal life in and through the
Lord Jesus Christ. Faith to now believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. And we never, we as God's born-again,
blood-washed saints, never grow tired of hearing the gospel.
You know, a car can get, you buy a new car, it gets old, doesn't
it? You get a new job, it gets old. Right? Oh my. You get a new house, and
then, oh, look at my house. After a while, it starts to break
down. Right? My. But the gospel never gets old,
does it? Those things get old. But the gospel never gets old. Never to the believer. All we
want to hear about is the Lord Jesus Christ. We want to hear
about him. We want to hear about his marvelous,
glorious salvation of sinners that gives our majestic
God all the glory, honor, and praise. That's what we want to
hear, isn't it? And every true follower of the
Lord Jesus Christ has an earnest, sincere desire that their pastor
might have the time and the needs to prepare sermons and Bible
lessons for the spiritual needs of the saints that he's called
to minister to. First and foremost, my ministry is to you. Now we
send the messages out online and that's, praise God. He does
whatever He pleases. But my ministry first and foremost
is to you. That's why you don't see me go
around to a lot of places. Number one, I'm a homebody. And
number two, my ministry's here. Right here. This is where I'm
called to. And I take that, I don't take
it lightly at all. I love you guys. You're my family
now. It's amazing. Absolutely amazing. Now, how did the multitude know
who met these qualifications? Because these seven men who were
chosen, who, as the apostles had directed,
were of an honest report and full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom.
So they have to be born again, right? They have to be servants. One of our deacons, I'm going
to tell you something, one of our deacons, he wasn't a deacon when I first
got here, and I watched this man serve every Sunday, just
do the same thing every Sunday. No one even say anything, just
go and do it. And that's why that man's a deacon. Because he loves the Lord, and
he serves the Lord. Isn't that amazing? I'll tell you why. Faithful men. We have faithful men as deacons
here. And I'm not trying to puff them
up at all, because the only reason, Brian, you're the way you are,
and Dan and Travis are the way you guys are, is because of Christ.
I know that because I'm only, the preacher I am is only because
of Christ. You know, God makes, He gives the ability to be in
these positions. And again, by no means do we
lord over you. We are servants of the church.
Servants of the church. So how did the whole multitude
know that these men met the qualifications? How did they know that those
chosen of were of an honest report and full of Holy Ghost and wisdom?
Well, they'd already proven themselves, hadn't they? They'd already proven
themselves. And I'll tell you, like I said,
I could have 15 deacons, because I believe we have a lot of faithful
men here. I really do. My, oh, my. They'd already been ministering
to God's saints. They'd already been helping whosoever
they could. They'd been encouraging people
in the faith. They'd probably been praying with people. Coming
alongside them. They had an honest report from
all who knew them. Because they dealt honestly with
the saints who they ministered to. They weren't doing it for
show. They weren't doing it for a badge. You know? I've been in churches
and heard people say, well, I could be a deacon. Well, that's the
reason you're not. Right there. You know? My, oh my. Henry tells the story of a young
man who was sitting, they were at a conference there, This young
man said, Henry, are you ready to preach? And Henry said, well,
as ready as I can be. He goes, well, if you're not,
I can preach for you. And Henry said, no, you can't. That man was full of pride, wasn't
he? Full of self-righteousness. Oh, my. God's servants are humble
servants, aren't we? by the grace of God, by the mercy
of God. And it was obviously that they
were filled with the Holy Spirit of God because they were filled
with wisdom of his glorious truth of the gospel. And they ministered
to the physical needs of the saints. They also ministered
to the spiritual needs of the saints. And we see in verse five
that they're named Stephen, the man full of faith, the Holy Ghost,
Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Dimeon, Parmenas, and Nicholas. All these
men, again, had Grecian names. Notice that? They all had Grecian
names, which seems to indicate that they were Hellenistic Jews.
And it could have been a complaint by the Grecians that there was
no Hellenistic Jews helping. We don't know. We don't know.
There's been speculation about this. We don't deal in speculation,
do we? We're just going to lay that
foolishness aside and read what the text says and just go, Amen.
Right? I don't deal in speculation.
I'll tell you what. We know this. We know this, that
our Lord Jesus Christ rules over every situation. and overrules over every situation.
He rules and overrules over every situation. So we know that it
was God's will for these men to be in those positions. And
these men ministered to our Lord's saints. They were not seeking
the praise or adoration of man, not at all. And their service
in the Lord's kingdom came from being born again. New heart now,
that hungered and thirst after righteousness. Now they sought
the honor and glory of God. As for the other, now we hear
about Stephen, we're going to hear more about Stephen in this
chapter, we hear more about Philip down the road, but as for the
other five, they're not mentioned anymore in scripture. They were servants of the Lord.
Faithful servants. Isn't that amazing? Again, there's speculation about
them, but we ain't going to get into that at all. We do not do
that. That's just foolishness. We have
nothing to do with speculation. Let's read verse 6 now. Whom
they set before the apostles, and when they prayed, they laid
their hands on them. So we see here the members of
the New Testament Church were directed by the apostles to seek
out men who were of honest report, full of the Holy Spirit of God,
wisdom, and they'd be appointed as deacons in the Lord's Church.
And we see that the church members bought these men, set them before
the apostles, who were the instruments our Lord used to ordain these
men as officers in the church. And we see that when they had
prayed for them, they laid their hands on them, ordaining them
to the honorable position that our Lord Jesus Christ had predestinated
them unto. Now let's read Acts chapter six,
verse seven. And the word of the God increased,
and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly,
and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith. Two
things in this verse that are magnificent. So immediately after
the ordination of the seven men to be deacons to serve, we see
the importance then of giving the preachers, the apostles,
time to study and pray. Because when the deacons took
the burden of everyday tasks of serving the widows from off
the shoulders of the apostles, we read here, the word of God
increased. The church increased. And the number of the disciples
multiplied in Jerusalem greatly. And we have no way of knowing
how many. How many of our born again, blood
washed brethren were added to the church at this time? But
we see the number of his disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly.
Let's read verse seven again. And the word of God increased,
and the number of his disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly,
and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith. So
the first thing is, the word greatly there, means much, greatly,
exceedingly. There was a whole bunch of them.
A whole bunch of them. Who were what? Obedient to the
faith. But not only a multitude of them,
and here's the second thing that's amazing in this verse, and a
great company of the priests were obedient to the faith. The
very ones who despised Christ. God's turning rebels into saints,
beloved. They hated him. These priests
hated Christ. Oh, look at this. Look at the
marvelous work of our great God. In a great company of the priests
were obedient to the faith. Oh my God, the Holy Spirit gave
these priests faith to believe. They were born again of the Holy
Spirit of God and given faith to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. They now believe. They once scoffed at him, spoke
evil of him. Now they say, he's God in the
flesh. He's the only savior of sinners. What a miracle, beloved. It's wonderful. I love little
things like this and how it just magnifies God's sovereignty. Oh, by God-given faith, they
believe that Jesus Christ, they now believe that he's the promised
Messiah. They now believe it. They now believe he sent from
God. And they believe that this same
Jesus, just like we do, was their sin atoning sacrifice to pay
for all their sins and that he redeemed them with his own precious
blood. And they believe that all their
sins were laid on the Lord Jesus Christ. their Savior, their Lord, and
that they were removed from God's sight forever, just like we do. Isn't that wonderful? See, we
could read right over this text and not see that. A great company
of the priests, hallelujah. What a great God. What a great
God is our King. My. And it says, being obedient
to the faith. You know what that means? That
means they bowed their knee down to Christ. They said, Thou art
Lord. You're Lord. What have we done? By the power of God, the Holy
Spirit, His regenerating power, we bow our knee down, don't we?
Oh, Lord. You're King. You're Lord. You're
sovereign. Thou art my Savior. Thou art
my God. Thou art my Redeemer. Oh my. My oh my. So we see here, those
who were denying Christ as the Messiah are now obedient to the
faith. And how? By the power of God. By the power of God. Now think
of How wonderful and marvelous this miracle of a great company
of the priests being obedient to the faith. What a miracle.
And this is a large number of them. That they should be obedient
to the faith. They were at one time the most
prejudiced enemies of Christ. Now they're praising them. Isn't God amazing? Isn't he incredible? He turns rebels like you and
I. who once cursed God's name and makes us praise his mighty
name. My, oh, my. So what can we learn
from this passage? Well, we can learn that no church
has ever been perfect and pure, right? If you're looking for
the perfect church and you attend it, it ain't gonna be perfect
anymore, and there ain't no perfect church, right? Because we're
all a bunch of sinners, right? We all are. And any congregation
of believers will from time to time have problems to face and
deal with and overcome. And the only way we will overcome
them is it's not by might nor power, but by my spirit, saith
the Lord. That's the only way. And never forsake the church
of God or the local church to which you belong. Just because
a problem arises, don't say, I'm going to leave now. Don't.
Let us instead work together with God's saints to overcome
the problem. Husbands and wives don't break
up just because they have a little spat, do they? No. Neither should we allow insignificant
differences to break up the household of God. and let us rather yield
to one another, right? Let us yield to one another and
serve one another in peace and mercy and love and grace. Amen and amen, right? Brother
Jim, would you mind closing us in prayer, brother?