I didn't tell Mike what I was
preaching from. I told everybody it was going
to be in Acts 6, but it just goes right along perfect. Same
thing as last time he read, but different ending. I'm thankful. I hope you see that. But to do
good and communicate not, or communicate forget not. Don't
forget to do that. We know what those words mean,
don't we? Well, we're going to see that that doesn't just mean
money. It does mean that. Give. Don't forget to give to
the Lord's Church. Don't forget to support the work of the ministry.
But it's not just of cold, hard cash. It's of other things. Time
and prayer and painting walls and cleaning toilets and encompasses
a lot. Don't forget to do it. Don't
forget to do it. We don't forget for our homes.
buy groceries, like, well, I'll just eat next week. We go buy
groceries. And that goes well with it. Acts
chapter six. Well, I'll be here to preach
to you this Sunday and then the following Sunday. Tell anybody,
listen, Brother Eric Floyd's going to be here to bring the
messages to you. The following Sunday. Here in
Acts six. We remember what happened with
the church up till now. This is after the Lord had ascended
and Pentecost had came 50 days after the Lord had ascended,
after that Passover. And these men preached and there
was 120 people. That was their company. That's
how many people were there, 120. And then Peter got up and preached
and it says 3000 were added that day. So that's 3,120. And then they preached some more.
They went to jail three times, got beat the third time with
a cat of nine tails, and 5,000 were added. So that's 8,120,
roughly. And then it says there were multitudes
after that. So they got about 10,000, 12,000,
something like that, 10,000 some people there that believed, believers, It says in verse 42, and daily
in the temple and in every house, they cease not to teach and preach
Jesus Christ. That's what had happened. That
is what's happening now. And that's what's going to happen.
They're going to keep doing that. They have one job to do. They
got one job and they're going to preach Christ. And the Lord's
going to add to that. He will bless that. He won't
bless something else. They have a game plan coming
up, and the apostles are going to rebuke these people and say,
God ain't going to bless that. He ain't going to bless that
attitude, and he ain't going to bless what you're doing. He's
going to bless things the way he said he's going to. We got
to remember that. And those people could be happy,
mad, glad, or sad about that, and it doesn't matter. That's
what the word says. I was talking to my children this morning.
There's some discrepancies on opinion and feelings, but there's
no discrepancy in this word. We may not like it. We may dread
to read it. I was talking to Brother Angus
this morning. He says, tell everybody hello.
And he asked me where I was preaching. I said, I'd rather be beat with
a garden hose than to preach from this text. But what am I
going to do? Just skip over the parts that ain't convenient for
me? Should I skip over the parts where I sin against God and I
willfully rebel against his word, or I know that you all do? Should
I just glaze over those parts and we'll go on to the good parts
and have conference messages? That ain't my job. Preach to
them and teach them. And I gotta go verse by verse,
that's what we do. Acts six, verse one. And in those days,
when the number of disciples was multiplied, as multiplied
again believers, there arose a murmuring, problem came up,
a reservation, of the Grecians against the Hebrews, the Greeks
against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected of
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 and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this
business. But we will give ourselves continually
to prayer and to the ministry of the word. And the saying pleased
the whole multitude. And they chose Stephen. I want
to cover these first seven verses because we're going to look about
a chapter and a half on Stephen. Starting in verse eight. They
chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost.
And Philip, we're gonna see Philip here soon, too. He's the one
that was sent down to that eunuch. And Prochorus, and Nicanor, and
Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicholas, a proselyte of Antioch, whom
they set before the apostles, And when they had prayed, they
laid their hands on them, and the word of God increased, and
the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly. And a great
company of the priests were obedient to the faith." Here in these
seven verses, I got four points. Reservations, problems, a rub. Reservations, rebuke, remedy,
and results. I want us to see what the problem
was, how it was handled, what the remedy was, and what the
outcome was. Reservations, rebuke, remedy,
and results. What was the reservation? What
was the drawback? What was the rub? What was the
problem that happened? It says in verse one, and in
those days when the number of disciples was multiplied, the
Lord was blessing this work. He was blessing this preaching
of him in Jerusalem, regardless if they was getting beat. They
was happy about that. They took a cat and nine tails and they rejoiced
greatly. It's just wonderful. And those people prayed. They
said, Lord, give boldness. We don't need anything. We need
them to be bold and speak plainly and have some courage when they
do it. Tell us the truth. Tell this nation the truth. That's
what they prayed for. And God answered the prayer.
He did it. Number of disciples was multiplied.
There arose a murmuring, a murmuring. of the Grecians against the Hebrews,
of the Greeks against those physical nation of Israel that believed
Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. The first internal problem, we've
seen a bunch of external problems and forces without getting Peter
and John and warning them and throwing them in jail and then
beating them, being mean to them and ostracizing them. We've seen
these problems from without. And now we see the first internal
problem of the church in that day. They've been persecuted,
jailed, everything else beat, and they rejoice for those things,
but now they got a problem. What was the problem? These widows
from Greece, the Grecian widows, they were not taken care of enough
to suit the Greek believers. And I said that, I chose my words
carefully. These are believers that we're talking about. These
are believers that we're talking about. And their widows, they
say, our widows aren't getting the right attention that the
Hebrew widows are. How are they not taken care of?
How are they? What's the first thing that comes
to your mind? Money. Money, there's going around and
giving out money and bread and all those things to the widows
and those that were in need and a widow's in need. If they're
a widow indeed, we'll get to that in Corinthians, what a widow
indeed is. But first thing we think of is money. Echoing what our brother read
just a little bit ago, Paul told Timothy, he said, for we brought
nothing into this world and it's certain we can carry nothing
out. and having food and raiment, let us be there with content. But they that will be rich fall
into temptation and a snaring into many foolish and hurtful
lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of
money is the root of all evil. which while some coveted after,
they have erred from the face and they've pierced themselves
through with many sorrows. It's just a pain. People say,
well, if somebody's going broke, that's terrible. If somebody's
going rich, that's terrible. I've seen people leave a gospel
for a better job and still leaving a better job for a better gospel. And it's a terrible thing. It's
a curse. If somebody won a lottery, we
better get together and pray for them. We better, because
that big life may take them away from Christ. What we call a blessing
is a curse. It's so. That doesn't say that
money is bad. And I don't pray that Lord take
our money from us, but I pray he take our love of it from us
and our love of things in this world. We read in chapter four,
there's neither any among them that lacked. Nobody was lacking.
For as many as were possessors of land or houses sold them and
brought the prices of the things that were sold and laid them
at the apostles' feet and distribution was made unto every man according
as he had need. So as far as money and the means
to get food and things, that's been covered. That's been covered. I know a pastor one time when
they first started about year two, the church couldn't pay
him. And one of the men went and sold his house so they could
cover his salary for a year. Why? That gospel's important. Important for his children to
hear it. Important for his community to hear it. And he put his money
where, what's a house? Good fire come through, burn
it. And then all state or whoever says, well, you ain't in good
hands. We canceled you the day before. We've seen it happen
out here, ain't we? I've had my insurance canceled.
Y'all come close to having yours canceled too, or have had it
canceled. They change their mind in a heartbeat. What are you
going to do, sue them? They got bigger buildings and bigger lawyers
than we do, though. That didn't mean nothing to him. Gospel's
what meant to him. It wasn't just trusting that
man that was there, it was trusting the God that sent him. But these
people, they were taken care of, and that's a shame if, if
the first problem, the first reservation, the first rub that
the church had was over money. Out of 10,000 people, the first
problem was money. That's a shame if that's what
happened. However, the apostles refer to this at the end of verse
2 as serving tables. Now let me tell you up front,
because words mean things. The apostles were not running
a restaurant. They didn't have a soup kitchen.
They didn't have a food pantry. This is God's church, and we
take care of our own. Did you know the federal government
recognizes that? Within the first two years of
being a pastor, I have the option of waiving Social Security. Do
you know why they allow that to happen? I don't have to put
in for it, and that's my biggest expense. I gotta pay both sides
of it. One of my biggest expenses. Why does the government let that
happen? Because they know that God's church ought to take care
of God's people. that wicked government that's got so many
rules and tax codes that stack to the ceiling. They said, well,
that's the church. They ought to take care of their
own. These apostles referred to serving tables. A widow indeed
is explained plainly in 1 Timothy 5. It's a woman's over 60 years
old and she has no family to support her, no means or anything
like that. The church is to take care of her. And I thank many
pastors while I'm thankful for that. I think of many pastor's
wives, the Lord took the pastor home and they don't, some of
them have parsonages. So that means what Americans
call their number one investment, their home, they don't have one.
They don't have 401ks, they have no ability to put that little
percentage back over the years because they take a small salary. They don't take a salary at all
and they haven't put into Social Security. We're to take care
of them for their work's sake. That's our mothers in the faith.
We ought to do all we can. If the Lord gets us on our feet
here, we ought to take care of them. We're commanded to, we're
told to plainly. We are. Paul's telling Timothy,
except we ask pastors not to say that. Y'all can read it too. So what were they in need of?
You know, I thought it could be anything. It could be anything
that you're in need of emotionally, physically. That's probably what
they was in need of. Visiting the sick. I thought,
well, they're older. They're of age. They're widows,
probably ain't in great shape. And I said, you know, Peter and
John, they never did come see me in the hospital since I hurt
my back last week. They ain't come by. That's telling
those Grecians, their children or whoever it was, or countrymen. Manual help, manual labor. You
know, James, he never did come over. I need somebody to dig
that hole out there to put that tree in, and they never come over.
They don't help me paint my fence or plant those flowers or get
my garden in. And I'm just too old to be out there doing that,
and they ought to come help me. Maybe it was just spending time
with those that don't have a family anymore. That's a lonely thing.
I can't imagine. It had to be lonely. You know, Andrew, he
hasn't come and hung out with me, and I'm bored. And he hasn't
answered my emails. It takes him two days to answer
my email. I don't think they had email back then, but you
know what I mean. Let's apply it to us, huh? Let's not just have this
a story about somebody 2,000 years ago. Let's have this hit
home in our living rooms, huh? God teach us, we pray for that,
and I hope he does. I'm gonna apply this to me. Speaking
of a table, David said, thou preparest a table before me in
the presence of my enemies. What does the Lord prepare before
us? Everything and anything, don't he? Everything and anything. Something to eat, something to
drink, something to keep our mind in affection, something
to keep our attention. Everything, everything. So this
murmuring, does it say there was a knock down, drag out fight
and then people had a spine in them. They stood up and they
said, this is what we're standing for. Do something about it. That's
not what it says. You know what I think? Did you
say something? They didn't say nothing to Peter
and John, the rest of them, the 12. Matthew's still there with
them. Word got back to him, murmuring, murmuring, just a rumbling. And whatever it was, it was over
something that would take up the time of the apostles. It's
something that took up their time. Now, that's the issue. That's the reservation that they
had for the murmuring. Now, what's the rebuke over this
issue? And this is a rebuke. It's short, it's sweet, but this
is a rebuke. They just told them plainly.
They told them plainly what they had learned from the Lord, and
they had learned experientially, and they were telling them, I've
lived through this, and I know what God says. Now, here's the
answer to it. Paul told Titus, he said, wherefore
rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith. Do
you want to be sound in the faith? I asked that the other day, do
you want to be made like Christ? Do you want to have his faith? Faith
of a mustard seed, I'd love to have that. Don't you? Not giving
heed to Jewish fables was how we always did it. Not the commandments
of men. Well, that's what I heard so-and-so say. That turn from
the truth. Tell them what God says. Verse
2. Here's the rebuke. We've been called. We've been given a job. And that job
is to study the Word of God, to bring a meal to you. Spiritual
tables. We're cooking a spiritual meal. Pray the Lord gives it
to us. They say, preach to my heart.
Well, they're talking about that. That's their job. And it ain't
meat for us to go serve tables. Like I said, they wouldn't run
a restaurant, but chasing ambulances and sipping tea with little old
ladies is what Don always said, right? You've heard him say it
before. We're visiting sick. And that's what Paul told Timothy
that too. Great instruction. He's learned these things. No
man that woreth, that means no, that's a soldier for the Lord.
goes out in wars against flesh and blood, principalities of
power, all this, the enemies of the gospel. No man that warth
entangle himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please
him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. That's not to please
the people. That's to please God who sent
him. I was talking about insurance.
I was telling an old preacher. I said, yeah, I was kind of worried.
I said, they canceled my insurance. I hope we can find it a couple
of years ago. And he laughed. And you know what he said? He goes,
that ain't your problem. That's them people's problem down there
at the church house. Let them worry about that. And I said,
well, I sleep here. I'm at it every day. I'm kind
of on my mind. He reminded me of this passage.
Paul told them in 1 Corinthians 9, he said, even so hath the
Lord ordained, this is what God ordained, that they that preach
the gospel should live of the gospel. That means live by the
gospel, not have another job serving tables or anything else,
but that's our food first. And I said, I have to have that
more than my daily bread. And I have to seek a word from
God. Paul Maynard told me that when I moved out here. He said,
you're going to spend more time praying than you are reading
old deadfellas. And I thought, well, he ain't lying. From daylight
to dark and the middle of the dark most of the time. To pray
and to seek the word of God. Seek that daily bread for you. That's what these men are telling.
You can read that, the Lord saying Matthew 10, 10, Luke 10, 7, Galatians
6. Paul said again, 1 Timothy 5,
he says, The apostles said God chose us to be soldiers. He chose
us. We didn't, but he made us laborers
in the word. And we can't tangle ourselves
with the things of this world. We can't look back. He's give
us something to do. He set his face like a flint.
I want to be just like him. I need my face set like a flint
to preach the word, to give time to the word and prayer and study
for you. This is profitable. That way
when I have to give an account, I ain't sad. So that means I'm
going to give it all I got. You know what I'm saying? I'm not saying that preachers
aren't supposed to help people. It's like I say, you read the
scriptures in a year, it's too fast. I'm not telling you don't
read the scriptures in a year. She's doing it right now, halfway
through. I'm not telling you not to read
scriptures. I'm not saying a pastor can't help somebody pay the fence.
I'm not saying a pastor can't go visit the sick, a brother
and sister in the hospital, or go to a cookout. But I'm saying
the priority is to have a message ready from the throne of grace
to your hearts first. That's gotta come first. That's
gotta come first. The Lord said, no man, having
put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom
of God. That applies to me as it applies
to every one of his children. Nobody's put their hand to this
plow, the Lord's plow on the ground. He's the husbandman. You put your hand to Christ and
you say, well, I like the way things was back then. The Lord
said, you ain't fit for this kingdom. That terrifies me. I
don't want to look back. I have no desire to. He says, it's not reason that we
should leave the word of God and serve tables. Told Tennyson,
study thyself, you study, to show thyself approved unto God,
a workman that need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of
truth. Not just a word, not any old
word, not a self-help guru for families and marriages and raising
children, the word of truth. I was told this, and it's proved
true. My faithful men that experienced it, just like these apostles
were telling them what God said and what they had lived. My wife
comes second. She does. My children come second. Everything else comes second. The people's opinion of me in
this community or what little bit of respect I thought I had
or esteem or anything else, pride, it comes second. There's one
thing needful. Christ and a word from Him to
those that I'm required of God to preach to, to tell the truth
to. What's the remedy for this issue? There's murmuring, whispering
behind the backs. Ought not happen, but it did.
And they rebuked them sharply. They said, we ain't here to serve
tables. I ain't come down here to wait tables. I come down here
to preach to you. What's the remedy? How are we gonna sort
this thing out, verse three? Wherefore, brethren, look ye
out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost
and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. When it says
serve tables, that word serve is the same word we get deacon
from. Deacon. There's bishops, elders,
and pastors in the scripture that all encompasses one person.
That's the pastor. Sometimes they're called bishops.
They're called the elder of that church. There's other elders
that preach too. The Lord made strong in the faith
and gave them wisdom and understanding of the scriptures and they preach.
That's what an elder is, but there's a elder at the church
and pastors. It's all the same. But here's
deacon. That's something different. It's
something different. It means servant. It literally
means table waiter. Table waiter. Go just get the
plates off the table. Needs done. Take the trash out. Trash got to go out. Keep the
walls painted or whatever it is. Things happen. Floor's got
to get vacuumed. Or go out and work. They've got
to, the lights got to stay on. David said, it's just a doorkeeper.
I was thinking of those that might've been in the army. I
don't know if it was old. We used to have a doorman when you
go chow. I said, get the door, doorman, get the door. And that
fellow's job was to run and open the door and hold it open. That's
it. And every time, every morning,
every breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I thought of what David said.
He said, a day in my courts is better than a thousand. I had
rather be a doorkeeper in the house of God. Just like them
fellas run up, I'd like to run up and open the door. That's
a great privilege, isn't it? Than to dwell in the tents of
wickedness. What a privilege. Verse four,
but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry
of the word. R.C. Curtis wrote this, to the
carnal eye. The apostles did not have nearly
the workload as the disciples, as those deacons. It seems like
the apostles, they work a little bit at a time, and these other
men worked all the time. The apostles' work required them
to go most of the week unseen in their study and in prayer,
seen by the church only when they preached the gospel publicly.
That's the only time anybody saw. Somebody told Clay that,
a girl dating one of the boys there. She said, he just got
up and talked for 30 minutes. Y'all pay him. He took that as
a great compliment. He said, you know how hard I
had to work to make it look like I just got up and talked for
30 minutes? Spent 80 hours on that message. The carnal heart would reason
the apostles were only excusing themselves. Carnal understanding
would say these disciples should have been the last to call to
this work because they had full schedules and the apostles only
preached once a week in that early church. These other men
had jobs. They had to get up early in the
morning, they had to go to work, and they had to come home from work,
and they had families and wives and children to take care of,
and now you're putting more on them? They've got to get up the next
morning and do it again. It said, But no carnal eye can see the
burden of speaking for God to eternity-bound sinners, which
wait heavily on the apostles continually, day and night. Oh,
be thankful God does not leave His work to carnal hearts and
carnal minds. What's the result of this? There
was a problem, there was a reservation they had that was murmuring.
The apostle said, hey, everybody get together. God ain't gonna
bless that, knock it off. Well, we'll sort to it, but stop
it. That ain't an attitude God's gonna bless. And they gave a
remedy. You pick out seven men. They're
faithful, have wisdom, Lord's matured, and we'll appoint them
over to take care of this. What's the result? I thought,
you know, we always hear that saying, too. And I've been encouraged
that you can't please everybody. You can't make everybody happy
and you can't. You can't make everybody happy.
You got to pick something and go with it because you ain't
gonna make everybody happy. I'll tell you what, the Lord can make everybody
happy. Did you know that? Look here
in verse five. And the saying pleased the whole
multitude. They said, what you're doing
is wrong. Stop it. We'll take care of it. We're not serving
tables. We're here to preach. Now pick
out seven people to help you with whatever it is that you've
got a problem with, and we're going back to studying, and we're
going back to praying for you. And everybody, everybody, everybody's
giving some wisdom that day. See how important that was. And
the saying pleased the whole multitude. It didn't please 86%,
and that's good enough, that's a B, let's move on. We got the
majority of the votes. No, they just said it, and it
pleased everybody. It ought to. That's the result
of the apostle studying and praying and preaching. These born again
are going to rejoice about it. To be put in remembrance of him. I want you to think just for
a second. I wonder how I was going to handle this. We'll find
out in a second. You think about Matthew 27. You think about about
what the Lord went through on that cross. And I mean, think
about it. You think about that hammer hitting
that nail going through his feet and going through his hands. Now, you think about his table
that he's commanded his people to take as he commanded it to
take it. Take, eat. Simple. This is my body, which
was broken for you. Let's do a remembrance of me.
You remember me when you think about that. and that spear coming
out and piercing his side, blood flowing from it. And he says,
here's my cup. This is the blood of my New Testament. Drink it,
drink it. Now, if we could really be focused
on him, if through prayerful consideration all week, our hearts
have been directed and our minds have been directed to Christ
and him crucified, the word, that's what they said, we're
going back to the word. Well, what's that? In the beginning was the word, the word
was with God and the word was God. It's Christ. Look to Him. We'll labor all week thinking
of any illustration we can come up with and show you any scriptures.
Look to Him. What's on your table that needs
cleared? Do you have some dirty dishes at home? Who cares? Who
cares? The Lord saves individuals, but
we're of one body. And of those individuals, there's
differences in everything. Some people like Ford. Some people
like Chevy. Some people like Toyota or Honda.
Some people like University of Kentucky. Some people like that
terrible place, Duke University. I know one. And I get over that. He can come in my house any time
he wants to. I don't know about the rest of them. But there have
differences. There's Democrats and Republicans.
Everything, whatever you can think of, there's differences.
We agree on one thing. We agree on Christ. We agree
on that we're sinners, we're ruined by the fall, redeemed
by the blood, and that we didn't find God, He found us. We were
generated by the Holy Spirit. That means we wasn't alive, and
He came to us and made us alive, and it's all His doing, and He
ought to get all the glory, shouldn't it? Do you think there's anything
else or anybody else that ought to receive just a little? Well,
I mean, you know, we ought to give. No! Him! We agree on that. You can drive all the Fords or
Chevys you want. We'll get over that, won't we? They'll be happy. Happy. This is the solution.
The preaching of the word. Preaching of Christ and Him crucified.
And who we are, why He had to come, what He did, it's finished,
where He's at now, what He's doing where He's at now. How
many times a day do you remind of God's on His throne? He's
not mocked. He's not Disappointed. That's what the
word means. He doesn't get frustrated. You get frustrated. I get frustrated.
You get disappointed. I get disappointed. I get let
down. He doesn't. He doesn't. He says, I'm not
mocked. Rick, what you sow? Are we in disbelief if we sow
corn and green beans come up? We'd be in disbelief then, wouldn't
we? If corn comes up where we sow corn, well, we get frustrated
about it. Everything's happening exactly
according to the Lord's purpose and plan. Nothing's amiss. That's an attitude of the Spirit
the Lord gives His people. to look to Him, to see His wills
being performed, and have contentment. The multitude would be happy
about it. Turn over to Matthew 18. I want
you to see this. This is another one that came to mind because
of what was going on. There's things that we quote,
but we don't really know the context of. And there's a lot
of people that, me included, likely now too, and I'll be embarrassed
when I'm See it, but we quote things out of context. We say,
well, two or three are gathered. Well, two or three are gathered.
Our Lord's with us. Well, what's the context of that?
Matthew 18, verse 15. Moreover, if thy brother, the
heading is if your brother sins against you, in my Bible. Moreover,
if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him
his fault between thee and him alone. If there's somebody that's
rubbed your widow wrong, You go meet with them by themselves,
go get you a cup of coffee, sit down and talk to them. Between
him and thee alone. If he shall hear thee, thou hast
gained a brother. If he says, that's right, I'm
sorry, I was wrong. Well, what you gonna say? It's
done. It's over. You've gained a brother. But
if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more,
that in the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word may be
established. You be sitting down with one or two other ones with
you. I said, hey, this is a big problem. We have to deal with
this. And if he shall neglect to hear
them, tell it unto the church. But if he neglect to hear the
church, let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican. Verily I say unto you, truly,
Christ is speaking here. He said, this is a true thing.
You listen to me. Verily I say unto you, whatsoever you shall
bind on this earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever shall
you loose on this earth shall be loosed in heaven. And I say
unto you that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything
that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father
which is in heaven. Now if you want this problem
to stop and you want that brother corrected, and y'all agree on
it, you ask me and my Father will make it happen. What's the
end state of that? Whatever you bind on earth bound
here, whatever's bound on earth bound in heaven. There could
be eternal consequences of this. He's reminding us of the weight
of what's going on. And then if that wasn't enough,
before you go taking somebody to tasks, I've spoke with some
people privately before. I've spoke with them with two
or three witnesses before. It's a very uncomfortable thing. It's
a frightening thing, and you better make sure it's a necessity.
Like, I don't like that you drive Fords or Chevys. That's not,
Lord's putting us in context for it. He's giving us a situation
here, the parameters of this. Now you think about what you're
doing before you do it. You better be serious, and you
better be according to this word. And if that wasn't enough, And
you got to do it. Here's the attitude with which
we ought to rebuke a brother that sinned against us. Verse
20, four, because where two or three are gathered together in
my name, when you get two or three together, you're going
to talk about this one-on-one with your brother. You're going to talk about this
with two or three witnesses. I'm with you. I'm right there. Christ is in
our midst. He's in our presence before this
happens. If the consequences weren't enough
to calm our attitudes and cool our jets, he says, I'm listening
to every word. I'm sitting right there with
you. What's on our table now? It better be something important,
hadn't it? It better be vital. Let us always
remember the Lord's presence. When we begin to murmur, or complain,
or rebuke, or give a remedy, that he will give us the right
attitude and spirit to do so, and make sure it's necessary
before it takes place. I thought of those Sons of Thunder,
James and John. They wouldn't receive the Lord
in a town. They said, can we call down fire and brimstone on them? Don't you feel that way? They
hear the gospel and they say, I hate that. That's monstrous. Don't you ever talk to me about
that gospel again. Burn them up. You don't love
my Lord, I hate him. That runs through me, don't it
run through you? Christ told him, he said, you
don't know what spirit you're of. You got the wrong spirit
in you. He said, I didn't come to kill
everybody right here. I came to save my people. Maybe
that's my people. Oh, that's right. Acts 6, verse 5. And the saying pleased the whole
multitude, 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 the proselyte of Antioch. whom they set before
the apostles, and when they had prayed, they lay their hands
on them." I'll touch on that briefly, the apostolic gifts.
And that day the apostles could perform miracles, they could
lay hands on men, and then those people could perform miracles,
raise the dead, heal the sick and those things, but they couldn't
pass that on to anybody else. Stephen already had the Holy
Ghost. They just said, here, this will help you dig in them
holes and paint them fences or whatever. But in our day, the
laying on of hands is just a ceremony, a super religious act of men.
It's putting empty hands on empty heads. Ain't gonna do nothing
but mess up somebody's hair. These men were already had the
Holy Ghost. They were already full of faith. They were already
wise. They were already mature. What else they need? And here's
the result of the whole thing. And the word of God increased.
And the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly,
and a great company of the priests were obedient to faith. God saved
a whole bunch of people. The word of Christ went out and
multiplied. Do we have a desire for that?
Do we? If we've been made like Christ,
do we have a desire that those that we love and those that we
hate and those that are enemies, that they be made like Christ?
It'd solve all the problems. Those that are enemies to us,
wouldn't that fix it? They might still do the things that make
you murmur and rub you wrong, but you just have a different
attitude about it, wouldn't you? It's, well, it's all right. That's
just my brother and my sister. It's fine, isn't it? I pray that the
Lord will keep us fixed. on looking to Christ, and anything
that may come up that'll detract from that, that'll remove us
from that, an attitude or an action or anything like that,
whether it's in the mind or in the flesh, in providence, let
the Lord remove that from us, and that our sole focus will
be to look to Him and to have the heart to further that gospel
that others look to Him to. I do. Father, thank you for this
hour. Thank you for your word. What
an encouragement, Lord. Keep us fixed upon Jehovah and
our hearts at full rest. We can find peace and comfort
there, Lord. And those around us may find
that peace and comfort too. Our loved ones, we pray for them
often. Our children and our friends, those that we care about. Lord,
we pray they care about Christ. They're given a heart that love
him and know him as he is and rejoice in him. If you're pleased,
Lord, do that in this community. We pray that your people are
scattered throughout San Diego County, and there's a multitude. We expect you may show mercy
because of Christ. Lord, forgive us. for our thoughts
and our inability and our inaction and all that we are. You look to us, look to your
son. And it's because of him, who he is, what he's done for
us and for you, for your law, and where he is now that we dare
ask him. Amen.