This message was preached by Colin D'cruz at Word of Grace Church on May 14th, 2017. To listen/download the audio please click here. To listen to the Sunday's worship and prophetic contributions please click here.
In Acts
1:8, Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to his disciples many times over
40 days. Jesus’ prophecy over the church- “But
you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be
my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the
earth.” We are the fulfillment of Jesus’ prophetic word. In Revelation 7:9 – 10 we see the complete
fulfillment of this prophecy “After this
I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every
nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne
and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands,
and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the
throne, and to the Lamb!”” People from every tribe and tongue chosen for
salvation will be there. Praise God for that time.
Between his prophetic word and what happens in
the end of time, we see the growth of the church recorded in Acts. Acts 1: 15 It was just 120 people. In
Acts 2, it becomes 3000. In Acts 3, we see that the Lord was adding to their
number every day. Acts 4- 5000 people. Acts 5- The Lord added multitudes. We
see the growth of the church. In the midst of this phenomenal growth, imagine
Peter walking down and healing people everywhere his shadow fell. People were
being changed forever. Along with this
explosive growth, some things happened to hinder its growth.
Acts 5- Ananias and
Saphira- their
deception resulted in their death. In Acts
6:1- “Now in these days when the
disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose
against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily
distribution. And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and
said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to
serve tables. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good
repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty.
But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” And
what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full
of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and
Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. These they set before
the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them. And the word of God
continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in
Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.”
One of the amazing things
about the Bible is that it records the good, bad and ugly. King David’s whole life is laid
out before us. In 1 Cor 10 Paul
writes, “Now these things happened to
them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the
end of the ages has come.”
The instruction from the example of Ananias and
Saphira, is to be holy. Then at the
height of a revival, there are arguments about food. They are arguing about
the chicken leg in the Biryani. The Greek speaking Jews were complaining about
their widows are being neglected.
Q. who was this food being distributed to?
To needy widows who
didn’t have sustenance.
Q. Why were they
distributing this food?
Once they were saved, they could not go back.
So the 120 had to look after so many of them. In Acts 2 after the 3000 were
saved “And all who believed were together
and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and
belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.” So the
Grecian widows came to the apostles. This was a problem. It is important that
we take care of widows. True religion is
purity but also to take care of the downtrodden.
Q. What’s the
solution?
The apostles could say, these people can’t
handle it, so we will handle it. They
say, it is not right that we should give up preaching of the word to serve
tables. Each one has a different calling. Jesus himself said at the last
supper that it is blessed to serve. God looks up on people who stoop down to
serve. At this particular time, the apostles said that it is not right for them
not to attend to the people being saved.
Q. What is so
important about giving food to widows?
It is true religion.
If they didn’t do that it would have hindered the work of God. Therefore, they ask for 7 people
from among them.
Q. What were the
characteristics of the men chosen for this?
The task was to serve food. But the apostles
felt it was so important!
1.
Character- Of good repute. Men above reproach.
2.
Charisma- Full of the Spirit. Someone being
led and controlled by the Spirit.
3.
Competence- Full of Wisdom.
If we want to fulfill a task in the church,
these are important. Prayer and the
preaching of the word is a key function of the apostles.
These names were all Greek. They chose Greeks
to serve the Grecian Widows.
Q. What was the
result?
The word of God continued to increase. The Number of disciples multiplied.
They took care of distributing food to the widows, and this was the result.
These things are
written down as examples.
Q. How does this apply
to us?
Are there needs in the church to be met? Are we
playing our role to meet those? Having a
welcome team to greet and receive people, the Sunday school, these are all
different needs.
By not doing anything, you are actually doing
something negative. Jesus said, who doesn’t
gather with me, scatters.
For a church, an ideal team must consist of
these people:
1.
A
leader
2.
A
worship leader
3.
A
children’s worker
We have treated the
children’s work like they treated the Grecian Widows. We need to get that thing
right. We are
looking for someone with character, charisma and competence. Each church will
have to apply it according to their situation. Our action or non- action could be hindering the growth of the church.
In the kingdom, we are looking for ads like, wanted- someone to wait on tables,
wipe a child’s nose, set up the hall.
This is not the end of the story though, is it? Stephen, after Jesus, became the first
martyr. He had the privilege of dying for his faith. Philip, went down to Samaria and preached the gospel. A whole city came to faith because of him.
An angel of the Lord comes to him. He baptizes the Ethiopia Eunuch. He gets
bodily transported. The Lord looks upon
such people with greatness.
Would you like to wait
on tables?
Our answer should be
YES.
Word of Grace is an Evangelical (Born Again), Spirit filled (Charismatic), Reformed, English speaking church in Pune that upholds the Bible as God's inspired Word for life. We are a church community that have people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service. To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.org.
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