Instead of reading these whole
15 verses, I'll kind of deal with them as I go along, and
you'll see what's happening. We have a new trial for the church
and a new testimony, a new man with a new testimony. And, you know, here's a new trial
for the church. Here's a new trial for this early
body of believers, dissection among them. And it tells us how
they dealt with it. And it says in verse 1, And in
those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied,
there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews,
because their withers 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 table of God
and serve tables. The word of God and served tables
were for brethren. Look ye out among you seven men
of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we
may appoint unto you over this visit, that we will give ourselves
continually to prayer and to the ministry of the Word." Now,
you notice here that the Greeks, the Greek believers, the church
began to greatly multiply. And there are two distinct bodies.
You know there were the Palestinian Jews, those that was born and
raised in Israel. They spoke Aramaic, they spoke
Hebrew language. Then there was lots and lots
of Greek Jews, and they didn't speak Hebrew. They only spoke
Greek. And so what happened was you
got these Jews and Greeks being one in Christ, and the Greeks
began to say, now wait a minute, you've all taken care of all
your and all the poor among you, what about ours? What about our
widows? What about our poor people? And
so they started having a conflict, and these were both believers. All of them are believers. All
of them know Christ. All of them are trusting Christ.
So how do they deal with this? So this is a new trial. And you
see, the complaint's this, you know. The church had grown. Oh,
it had grown abundantly. Oh, the disciples have multiplied. Oh, they just kept multiplying.
There was one time 3,000 added, another time 5,000 added. And
they just kept growing and growing and growing. God was blessing
the Word. And there's these Greek-speaking
Jews. And watch what it says. They murmured. They murmured. And that's bad. That's not the
way to deal with things. Don't start murmuring around.
It's talking among themselves. But they were murmuring instead
of dealing directly with it. because the Jews were neglecting
their widows. You see, they were burdened with
the needs of their sisters in Christ. But it wasn't a willful
neglect on the part of the Hebrew church or the church altogether.
In fact, over here in chapter 4, in verse 34 and 35, look what
this is what they were doing. You see, the temple offerings,
you know, God always charged Israel with taking care of orphans
and widows. that there was money set aside. The offerings were
set aside for the temple to take care of the orphans and the widows,
and see that they were not done without. But you had to be a
widow indeed. And it says here in Acts 4.34, Now there was not
any among them that lacked. For as many as were possessions
of houses, Lance sold them, and brought the prices of the things
that were sold, and laid them down at the apostles' feet, and
distribution was made unto every man according as he had need."
Now these people, that's what they'd done when there was need.
But now I want to show you this. Now it was right that the, see
the temple over at 1 Timothy chapter 5, look real quick over
at 1 Timothy chapter 5. You see, it wasn't a willful
neglect on the part of the church, on the part of these Hebrew believers,
not taking care of the Jewish or the Greek winners. It wasn't
just a willful neglect. And the church, when people started
getting converted, they naturally wouldn't expect the temple office
to take care of the people in the church, the people who were
believers. It was our responsibility. They're
in the body of believers. They trust in Christ. It's our
responsibility to take care of these widows, take care of these
orphans. And you find this, Dorcas was one of those widows. Remember,
there's a whole bunch of widows there in Acts chapter 9, I believe. And they were all doing work,
supporting themselves, taking care of themselves. But there
were those who couldn't take care of themselves. And look
what he said here now in 1 Timothy chapter 5 and verse 8. But if
any provide not for his own, especially for those of his own
house, he hath denied the faith and is worse than an infidel.
If he's got family members, people he can provide for, if he doesn't
do that, he's worse than an infidel. He's denied the very gospel.
Now, let not a widow, now watch this, be taken into the number.
Now, taken into the number means taken into the number that's
going to be cared for, provided for. Their needs met, their food
bought for them, their clothes bought for them, a place for
them to live, taken care of for them. Don't let her under three,
four years old, see she's got to be sixty years old or better,
having been the wife of one man. If she's been married three or
four times, don't take her in. Now watch this, well reported
her for good work, she's got to have a good reputation. She's
got to have a good reputation. She can't be considered one of
these busybodies running around causing trouble and gossiping
and that if she's brought up children, if she has obliged
strangers, if she's washed the saints' feet, if she has relieved
the afflicted, if she has diligently followed every good work. But
now any of the younger winners, you refuse them. Don't take them
in. Don't support them. Because I'll
tell you what they do. They'll start looking for somebody
to get married to. They're actually wanting. They're
looking for somebody to get married. And that's what they're doing.
But this is what the church was doing. This is what the Greeks
were murmuring about. We got these widows here. We
got these old women. These people here that they ain't
got nobody to take care of them. And you're taking care of yours.
What about ours? We got all this money coming
in and all the things coming in. Oh my. But that's why James
says, pure religion and undefiled before God is to visit the fatherless
and the winners in their affliction. Now we don't have those nowadays.
We don't have that going on nowadays. We don't have that at all. But
now what's the remedy? What are they going to do about
this? Well, you know, they're going to start a fight right
then and there. You all take care of yours and we'll take care
of ours. That's what they could have said. You take care of the
Greeks, we'll take care of the Jews. They're going to cause
a split right there. They're going to cause a lot
of trouble. The twelve called the church together. The twelve
called the multitude of disciples under them. Called a whole group
of them. Now, I don't know how many showed
up. May have been hundreds. May have been even thousands.
And this is what they said. And this is the first thing that
I want us to see. Before any poor people is taken
care of. Before anything else is done
than gospel. The ministry of the word is the
most important thing the church has to do. And that's what Peter
said. And these disciples said, the
apostles said, the twelve. It's not reason that we should
leave the word of God and go and take care of with us and
the people that have need. It's not what we're called to
do. And that's what he said down here in verse four. But we'll
give ourselves continued to prayer to the ministry of the word.
Oh, we're not going, the ministry of the word is first. most prominent,
most needful. We're not going to leave the
Word of God. We're not going to leave the Word of God and
wait on the poor, and take care of the poor. That's not our position.
The preaching and prayer is more important than taking care of
anything else in this world. This right here is how the social
gospel got started. This is how the social gospel,
and the social gospel is this. Don't worry about the Word, just
worry about doing works. Forget about the gospel. It ain't
no sense talking about the gospel if you're not feeding people
and clothing people. And out here, feeding a bunch
of people, setting up soup kitchens and all that stuff. That stuff's
got to think... Listen, do you go to these missions
where they get all these people and you know where to feed them?
I've never met anybody that's got converted in one of those
missions. Not the first person. I never have. That's a wonderful thing. We
ought to do those things. But the social gospel, there's
no such thing as a social gospel. There's no gospel if it's a social
gospel. It's not man's poverty. It's not his problem. He's got
a heart problem. Because he ain't got a turkey
on Thanksgiving. That's not his problem. He's
got a heart problem. Because he can't give thanks
for his children on Christmas, that's not his problem. His problem's
got a heart problem. And that's what the Word, that's
what Peter said here. If there's risks, God will take
care of you, you ought to take care of them. We're going to
stay with the Word. Our Lord said, you're going to
always have the poor among you, but you won't always have me.
Well, that makes a lot of sense, and here's how they dealt with
it. They said in verse 3, Look out among you, seven men,
seven men, of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom,
whom we may appoint over this business." Oh, they left it up
to the church. You all know the men. You all
know the men. You know them very well. They're
around them all the time. Know them that labor among you,
them that's worthy of double honor, give it to them. Look
out among you. You all pick out among yourselves
seven men. And these men have got to have
some qualifications. They've got to have some qualifications.
What's the first qualification of an honest report? They've
got to have a good reputation. They've got to be men, when you
talk about them, they get an honest report about them. These
men, they've got a good reputation. They're honest men. They're faithful
men. They're God-honoring men. These
are men that I tell you when you call them to do something,
they do it. These are fine men, wonderful
men, God-honored men. And they're not all that, but
they've got to be full of the Holy Ghost. They have to be spiritual men.
Now, why in the world would it take a man full of the Holy Ghost
to go take up offerings and go find out the widows and see that
the widows had clothing on their back and a place to live and
food on their table? Why would it take a man full of the Holy
Ghost to do that? Because it takes a man full of the Holy
Ghost to do anything in the kingdom of God. Whether he's feeding
the poor, clothing the naked, or whatever. That's right. And look, they've got their spiritual
men. And then, now watch this. and wisdom. They've got to have
some wisdom. They've got to know some things
about some things of God, some things of the Scriptures, some
things of Christ, of human nature, and how to do things well. They
don't just jump into things. They think things through. They
watch things through. They deal with things according
to the Scriptures. And oh my, it takes spiritual
understanding to distribute among men and women the things that
belong to God. Now, oh my, if there was anybody, you're making,
what kind of qualifications did it take today to do this kind
of stuff? It don't take any qualifications. They don't even ask for qualifications.
If you're willing, and you've got a little bit of get up and
go about you, let's get up and go is what you're saying. Don't
need any qualifications. Now, they don't know nothing
about being full of the Holy Ghost. They don't know anything
about the spiritual wisdom of God. Huh? Well, oh, look at how
they reacted to this. And the saying, please the multitude,
in verse 5. Oh, everybody said, oh, that's
good. That's wonderful. That's wise. These men knew some wisdom. This
is how they dealt with it, because they were full of the Holy Ghost.
And they started choosing out men. The first one they chose
was Stephen. A man they chose, Stephen. Then they chose Philip,
Procurus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, Nicholas, and Proselytus Antioch.
Seven men. Two men are mentioned several
times here in the book of Acts 5, 6, 7, 5 of Mark. But they
said this as well, please. The first one they chose is Stephen.
Watch what it says about him. A man full of faith. Oh my, full
of faith. It was obvious that he was full
of faith. What does that mean? That means he was like Abraham.
He believed God. He was full of it. He was full
of the faith, the gospel. He believed God. He believed
the Word of God. He believed the promises were
fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ, fulfilled by Christ. And, oh,
beloved, he was full of faith, full of it, bubbling up with
it. Not only that, but he's full of the Holy Ghost. And I'll tell
you what, wherever... A man's full of faith. You believe
he's full of the Holy Ghost. If he's full of the Holy Ghost,
he's full of faith. Oh my, I just can't imagine. You know, Philip,
wherever he went, he'd have been telling somebody, You know, they
looked at him. This is the man they'd been looking
to for answers and for encouragement and for the word and going to
say, what does this mean? What does that mean? Because
this man was full of faith. And Philip and all of these were
Greek-speaking Jews. And watch what they did with
them. Well, they brought them and they sent them before the
apostles. Here they are. This is the seven we've chosen.
Here they be. Here they be. And when they prayed, oh my,
pray? Why in the world would they need
to pray? Well, they're undertaking a task for the glory of God,
a task that was causing trouble in the church. They were undertaking
a spiritual task. They were undertaking a work
that had never been called on before to be done. This is all again something new.
And they prayed. They began to pray and said,
Lord, it's just like they prayed when that first apostle that
was chosen to take Judas' place. They prayed. Oh, Lord, you know
these men. These people have chosen these
men. Lord, these men will need wisdom. They'll need your guidance.
They'll need some understanding. Give them wisdom to distribute
what is brought in. Give them wisdom to do right
by the ladies and by the sisters. Give them wisdom to handle the
Word of God. Give them wisdom to be faithful
with us. Give them wisdom. Give them power. And watch this,
and then they laid their hands on them. What does that mean,
to lay hands on them? Well, let's look in 1 Peter.
I mean, excuse me, not 1 Peter, 1 Timothy again. Why would they
lay hands on them? Well, I'll tell you why. That
means approval. That means approval. That means
anointing. Setting them apart for the work. Setting them apart
for the work. And that's what they're doing.
They laid hands on them to show that they approved of them. That
God approved of them. And they're being separated for
this particular work. Now look what it says here in
1 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 14. Paul talking to Timothy. Neglect
not the gift that is in thee which was given thee by prophecy,
by preaching, and with the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery,
by the laying on the hands of the elders, by the laying on
the hands of several men who came and laid their hands on
you to set you apart for the ministry. Now look over here
in verse 22 of chapter 5. Now he's telling Timothy, now
you're called to be a pastor, you're called to be a preacher,
and you're going to be called on to lay hands on men and approve
men and separate men for the ministry. And he says this, lay
hands suddenly on no man. Just because a fellow says, you
know, I'm called, I've got the qualifications, I think I want
to be in the ministry, lay hands suddenly on no man. And don't be a partaker of other
men's sins, because that's what you'll do if you lay hands on
the man. If he's not called of God, and he's not ordained of
God, and he's not set apart of God, and he don't have any evidence
of the gift, you'll be a partaker of his sins. You keep yourself
pure. Keep yourself pure. I know a
young man ten years ago. He went to Brother Henry. He
said, Pastor Van, I feel this burden to preach. I feel this
burden. I just study all the time. Him, he said, go get an
education and forget it. He told him that because he knew
that if the man's called to preach, God would preach him no matter
what. But if he wasn't, at least he'd
have an education. He'd have something to do. About
ten years went by and the fellow just studied and studied and
studied and studied and just wanted to preach, you know. Finally,
one time, somebody asked him to preach. And he just brought
an outstanding, and he preached. But he laid it to heart. He didn't
lay hands on the Lord. He said, you want to preach? We need more preachers. That's
what we need. We need some more preachers. We ain't got enough
preachers. I'm just saying, come on, let me lay hands on you.
Sit down here in front of the whole congregation. Oh, we've
got another preacher. Another one called among us.
No, no, that's not the way it's done. It's not the way it's done. No, no. Let me show you this
in Acts 13. Here's another thing exactly
the way it happened. You know, I want to see labors
put in. So do you. We all want labors.
And I pray that the Lord send forth labors into the harvest.
Fields are wiped. But, oh, be very, very cautious
and careful. Here in Acts 13. Now, that was
in the church that was at Antioch. Certain prophets and teachers,
Barnabas, Simeon, that was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, And
the nine which had been brought up with Herod, the tetrarch,
and Saul. Now watch it. And as they ministered to the
Lord and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and
Saul for the work whereunto I called them. Watch this. And when they
had fasted and prayed, they laid their hands on them and sent
them away. That's the way they done it.
They'd already been separated for the work. And that's what
happened. The church called these men. the church said, this is
the one to the wall. Now look back over here in Acts
chapter 6, and then look what happens now. So they laid hands
on him, prayed over him. And it says there in verse 7,
And the word of God increased. Oh, the word of God increased.
How can you increase the word of God? You know what it is? Well, that means that it flourished.
That it went forth with power. That it went forth in the Word
of God increased. More and more people believed
it. More and more people preached it. More and more people witnessed
it. More and more people believed it. And watch what it says, and
the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly. Greatly. I mean, people were being converted.
Men were being used. And watch what it says now. And
a great company of the priests We're obedient to what? To the
faith. And you know what? And I've told
you this before. The faith. The faith is what we believe.
The faith is synonymous with the gospel. The faith. You know, people say, what's
your faith? Oh, I'm Catholic, or I'm a Presbyterian. Somebody
asked me the other day, what's y'all's faith here? Are you Pentecostals
or what? I said, oh, no, no, no. He said, what kind, what's
your qualifications? He's got all them books. Where'd
you go to school at? That's all kinds of questions. It's about
insurance. It's about insurance. We should
ask these questions. But you know, when I say, what's
your faith? What is it that you believe?
You know what you would say? Well, you would say, I'm a Baptist. You know what you start, you
start saying, start telling what you really believe. You start
talking about Christ, God's electing purpose in Christ, about His
redemption, about His power, about His love, about His grace.
Like Dirk read tonight, that He's got sheep, and He goes after
those sheep, and He finds those sheep, and He rejoices over those
sheep, and all other sheep rejoice with Him over finding those sheep.
And then those that are dead are made alive, and we rejoice
over them. That's the faith. And men are
dead. Only God can give life. Christ
died, and He died for His people. Men are sinners, and only God
can give life. Only the blood of Christ can
wash from sin. That's the faith. And oh my, and it's the Word
of God that increases. It's the Word of God is what
the Holy Ghost blesses and uses to say, to bring people to de-faith. De-faith. Now, let's look here
at this new testimony. That's a new trial. Murmuring,
complaining over people. Who's going to take care of who?
Some of us are being ignored and others are getting more.
Well, we'll deal with that. They dealt with it very wisely,
very graciously. Then look what happens now. And
Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles
among the people. Look at old Stephen. He was called
the Sir of the Tables. What did you find him doing?
Find him out preaching, full of faith and power, doing miracles,
doing wonders among the people. Full of faith. Faith and power
go together, and these are gifts. They're not natural to the natural
man. And you know he's created in
Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath afforded. And
this is what this man was doing. That's why he was the first one
named. Evidently, there was something
about him, something that these people said, God's got his hand
on this man. And he was full of faith and
full of power. Oh, but look what happens to
him. He was just like his master. In verse 9, just like his master, he is hated,
despised, rejected, like all God's people are when they understand
what they're doing. Then there arose a synagogue,
certain of the synagogue, which is called the Synagogue of the
Libertines. It's evidently from some particular
area that and Cyrillians and Alexandrians of them of Cilician
of Asia, disputing with Stephen. They start arguing with him.
He's off preaching, he's full of faith, he's preaching, he's
doing wonders, he's doing signs, God's blessing him and using
him. And what's this now? They were not able to resist
the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake. What that means
is, beloved, they couldn't deny it. They couldn't say, this man
is dead wrong. This man is a heretic. This man
is nothing but a troublemaker. They could not find anything
wrong. And that's what, look over here
in Luke chapter 21 with me, just a moment. That's exactly, that's
the way they done our master. That's the way they done our
master. Oh my, he said, which of, what,
what am I saying? What words am I saying? What
works have I done that you're going to stone me? What have
I done that you hate me? Which of you convinced me of
sin? And all the wisdom and the power by which he spoke. Never
man spake like this man. That's the way it was with Stephen.
They couldn't resist. They couldn't say, man, this
guy's a fool. This man is an idiot. He don't
know nothing. He's not like the person that
Kyle Manning is telling me about this morning, the preacher. Real
estate down the aisle of the church. He's talking about one of their
friends that that's where he's going. He said, the preacher
come roller skating one certain morning. They went there and
the preacher come roller skating down the aisle of the church.
He said, we're through with these old time songs. We're through
with this old time worship. We're going to start everything
new. It wasn't like this. Stephen
wasn't like that. No, no. But look here. Our Lord
said, In verse 12 of Luke 21, before all these signs and things
start coming to pass, they'll lay hands on you, persecute you,
delivering you up to synagogues. Ain't that what these fellows
are, a bunch of men from the synagogues? That puts you in
prison. Simon Peter and John both have
been in prison twice, been jailed twice. Brought before kings and
rulers for my name's sake. Luke 21, 12. And it shall turn
to you for a testimony. This will be a great testimony
for you. It'll be testified in glory.
It'll be a testimony for you in the sight of God. It'll be
a testimony for you in the sight of men. It'll be a testimony
for you in the sight of God's people. It'll be a testimony
for you. Now watch this. Settle it, therefore,
in your hearts not to meditate before what you'll enter. Oh,
I've got to go before these men. What am I going to say? How am
I going to answer? Now watch this. For I'll give you a mouth
and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay
or resist. In other words, I'll put words
in your mouth, and they won't be able to say them. You fellas
don't know anything. That's where they're at with
Stephen right now. And so what did they do? What
did they do? Back over here in Acts 6, it
says, they were not able to resist the wisdom and spirit by which
he spake. In verse 11, then they suborned men, which said, supported
men, paid men. We have heard him speak vice
from his words against Moses and against God. And they stirred
up the people and the elders and the scribes who came upon
him and called him and brought him to the council. Our Lord
just said that's what they're going to do to you. Huh? And what's this? Now set up false
witnesses which said, he's like his master now. They saw false
witnesses against him, just like they did our Savior. They set
up false witnesses which said, this man ceases not to speak
blasphemous words against his holy place and the law. Ain't that what they said about
our Savior? You've come to disobey Moses' law. We know Moses as
to you. We don't know where you come
from. Our Lord said, if you believe Moses, you'd believe me. He wrote
of me. Watch this, for we've heard him
say that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place and
shall change the custom which Moses delivered unto us. Oh my,
they're speaking blasphemous words against this place. And
what's this place? The temple. Now look over here
in Matthew 26. This is exactly what they've
done by our Master, and they're doing it to Him. Said, if they've
done it to Me, if they've done it to a green tree, a living
tree, what will they do to God? In a service not above His Master? A disciple above his Lord. Look
in Matthew 26 and verse 59. Now the chief priests and elders
and all the council sought false witness against Jesus to put
him to death. See, they paid people, subordinate
people, come in here and lie on him. Come in here, this is
what he said. And watch this. But they didn't find any. Verse
68, Though many false witnesses came, yet found they none, and
at the last came two false witnesses. And this is what they said, exactly
what they said about Stephen. And this fellow said, I am able
to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days.
Build it back in three days. And that's what they're saying.
He's going around here saying that Jesus of Nazareth is going
to destroy the temple and going to destroy Moses' wall. That's what they accused our
Master of. Huh? Oh my. That's exactly what they
accused our Savior of. And that's how they talked about
this Jesus of Nazareth. And here he was, they brought
him into this council. They had all the people, the
elders and the scribes, caught him, brought him into the council.
And here he was sitting in the midst of this council, all the
Sanhedrin gathered around, at least 70 men, not counting all
the other people and the hangers-ons and all that. And watch what
happened. And all that sat in the council, they're sitting
in this council, and they were looking steadfastly on him. They
were looking, I mean, they had their eyes, they were placing
their eyes on him. Let's see what he's going to
say. Let's see what he's going to do. Let's see how he's going
to react. He's out here preaching. He's out here performing these
miracles. He's out here performing these signs, these wonders. Let's
see how he's going to act. What's he going to say? But when they were looking steadfastly
at him, what happened? Saw his face. And while they
were looking at him, his very face, his countenance changed
right while they were looking at him. Saw his face, and it
had been the face of an angel. What did they see? They saw this
man sitting there with a shining face, calm, serene, peaceful. They'd never seen anything like
this before. This was a new witness to the Council. And Christ our
Lord glorified Himself through this man. As we behold the glory
of the Lord, we shall be changed into the same image from glory
to glory. Now, beloved, we'll pick up next
week right here where he goes into this trial. And you've got 58, 57 verses here where
he is tried in the things that were said. But let me tell you
this, difficulties and deception, they'll come. They're going to
come. Wherever there's people gathered
together, there's going to be difficulties, there's going to
be dissension, there'll be murmuring. They'll come. And the reason
being because of all of our different natures. And human nature is
imperfect. The best, even at its best, as
it sits under the sound of the gospel and grows under the sounds
of the gospel, there'll still be difficulty and dissension.
That's just part of it. Well, how do we overcome it?
So Satan can't divide us. Paul says, you know, we're not
ignorant of the devices of the devil. How do we overcome it?
So Satan can't divide us. First of all, by trust. By trust. The apostles called that multitude
together and trusted them to choose. We're not going to choose
the men. It's not our place to choose. We're called to preach
the gospel. If you want these winners taken care of, you choose
the men that's going to take care of them. You know who you know the people
better than I do. You choose them. So they trusted
them to do the choosing. And by love, trust in love, these
Jews and these Greeks, they set aside their differences, set
aside their language difficulties, and they sought the good of all,
the Jews and the Greeks. There was a need, and the need
was addressed. And they loved the people, they
loved the widows, they had the needs, and they loved the Jews,
the Jews loved the Greeks, and they said, there's a need, and
they wanted to see that need met. And they said, it don't
make any difference to us who does it. You choose. You choose. We don't have to
be the ones that does it. We don't need the prestige of
doing anything. We got a calling. And they chose
out those different men and different gifts from you. And here we see
that they bore one another's burdens, and so fulfilled the
law of Christ. Huh? And fulfilled it. But oh
my, what a blessed thing it is. Started
out, there could have been a great split, but just the opposite
of that happened. God was honored. More men were
added to the ministry. Every need was made to the glory
of Christ. Our Father, O gracious, gracious
God in heaven, we bless You for allowing us
today, giving us today. It's Your day. And oh, we were
glad when You, it was time for us to go into the house of the
Lord. glad to gather, to sing, to pray, to preach, to enjoy
one another's fellowship and company. Thank you for the prayers. Thank you for the readings. Thank
you for the songs. Thank you for the readings of
your word and the messages, O Lord God. I know they come from you.
And, O Lord Jesus, we pray that you would give us such unity
of heart and spirit and mind that we would labor together
for the fervence of the gospel. that we strive together for the
gospel, the faith of the gospel of Christ our Lord, that everything
else would be secondary, but this would be our great, grand
objective in this world, is to love one another, and preach the gospel, and witness
to the gospel, to the blessed blood, righteousness, death,
and sacrifice, and the life of our blessed Savior, who sits
at God's right hand. Bring glory to Yourself through
this congregation of believers. We ask in Christ's name. Amen.