Seven Chosen to Serve
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. 2 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. 3 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. 4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” 5 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. 6 These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.
7 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.
Stephen Is Seized
8 And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. 9 Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen. 10 But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. 11 Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” 12 And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council, 13 and they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law, 14 for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.” 15 And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel. (ESV)
3 Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them
4 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”
I love the way the early Christians carried out their ministry. Even in the face of a situational dilemma, they did not compromise on evangelism or stray from devoting themselves to the LORD and their work for Him. We really have to take the same mindset. As human beings, we cannot do everything, and at times we need to rely on other brothers and sisters who are “full of the Spirit” to assist us, as the apostles did. Yet, what we can always be doing is staying in the Word, praying, and living out our faith, so that the Word of God can spread and his ministry can be expanded. Let’s focus on living right now, today, completely devoted, above all else, to God’s ministry!
9 … These men began to argue with Stephen,
10 but they could not stand up against his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke.
11 Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We have heard Stephen speak words of blasphemy against Moses and against God.”
This is actually pretty sad for the members of the Synagogue of Freedmen (kinda ironic name). They could not win a single argument with Stephen, so they had to resort to lying about him in court. Stephen lived a life that was above reproach, and was full of the Holy Spirit (v.9). The few chapters of his life that Acts records are an amazing account of someone who boldly defended the Word of God, even though it cost him his life. He probably knew that something would happen to him the moment he was confronted, but he did not back down or stop. We need to have this same kind of lifestyle: Living above reproach, and being so bold for Christ that our enemies have to resort to lying or similar things to even accuse us of anything and try to make us shut up.
7 So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.
This would be amazing if we would see such growth and people getting saved. We should be evangelizing this daily and praying for people’s salvation! We should be spreading the word of God to everyone, and hope people get saved, and that it increases!
DOUBLE IT UP BABY!
7 So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.
As we learned from verses 1- 7 last week we need to spread the Word! Go hear to listen to the sermon again or just leave a comment letting me know what you thought about it: http://www.compasschurch.org/hs/sermons/double-it-up/audio
This week we are learning a more specific word that we need to spread: repentance! This is their one way out from the coming destruction. Let’s represent God’s patience and love by using each day to spread this truth!
11Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We have heard Stephen speak words of blasphemy against Moses and against God.”
12So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin.
I like how when the men that couldn’t stand up to Stephen started to turn men against him and then brought him before the Sanhedrin. And then, the chapter ends…. but lets see what happens to him tomorrow!
7 So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.
I was struck by the mention of the new converts being “obedient to the faith.” True, saving faith is always followed by obedience to God’s commands. James 2:26 says, “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.” We do not want to have dead faith! In order to be shining Christ’s light to this lost world we must be sure that we are dilligent with our spiritual disciplines. By reading, studying and meditating on God’s Word, prayer, service, and evangelism we are having an active faith that is like that of the early church. It is this kind of ambitious faith that leads to others being won for the cause of Christ. Let’s DOUBLE IT UP!
4.) and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”
Wow it is so cool to read about how the early church was so passionate about preaching and studying God’s Word that they wouldn’t even stop to help some widows get food. Like Bobby said in his sermon last week, helping the old ladies is important, but we need to prioritize our lives and know that God and His Word/Ministry are most important.
Nice comment earlier Beth.
3Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them
As we learned this week the apostles kept the teaching of the Word their top priority even as the number of disciples grew (as did their needs). Because the apostles were able to delegate tasks to reliable men the ministry was made more effective and more people were reached. We should all strive to be people who are leaders can entrust with responsibilities so that they can have more time for the ministry of the Word. As we seek to DOUBLE IT UP we need people to STEP IT UP!
3Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them
4and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”
This verse shows us how we really should be involved in the church even more than just going on sundays. In teen ministers we talk about how we can take over more responsibilities so that Pastor Bobby can have more time to himself to study God’s word because that is more important than anything.
15All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
This would be strange to see if you were getting angry at someone for speaking “against” the church and then te look like an angel. If stephen looks the same in heaven it’ll be cool to talk to him!
4 … and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”
This chapter tells us that we should be prioritizing godly things. And like we learned before, we need to all take part in the ministry of God, and we all need to have our “jobs” in the church. This verse also tells us how important it is that we are always praying!!
7 So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.
Like said before, “DOUBLE IT UP!!!!” This is an encouraging verse to want to go out there and make believers. It is our job to spread the word of God. Like it says in that song: “I am your hands and feet!” We are the body of Christ and we need to carry out godly actions.
3 Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them.
They didnt just want anyone to help with the church….they wanted men who were known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. Just like today in church. When we are a part of the church (or in Teen Ministers or something) we need to be like the seven men that were chosen in this chapter. They want the responsibility to be given to someone who knows what he is doing and is full of wisdom and spirit.
15All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
I’m not sure exactly what this means, but I think it has to do with God’s presence being with Him and granting Him peace. It’s sad like Mike said, how the people could not defeat Stephen’s arguments about Christ, so they had to resort to lying and deception to get him stoned. But still among persecution, these Christians like Stephen still proclaimed God’s Word boldly because God was with them. And we know that He promises to be with us too, so we need to proclaim His Word boldly despite persecution and we know that He will be with us and work things according to His Will.
10 but they could not stand up against his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke.
This reminds of when during the life of Jesus the Sadducees and Pharisees were always trying to play the game “Stump Jesus” and they could never stump him. Now that Jesus had gone back to heaven he left the Holy Spirit to be with the believers. Again there are people trying to stump Stephen but because of the Holy Spirit in him they could not stand up against him. This is encouraging for me and makes me want to share the gospel more. Stephen was bold in sharing the gospel and because he proclaimed the words of God he was more wise than anyone who came up against him.
What a great chapter! This is the passage we learned on last weekend. The growth in the early church was increasing as we have seen through the Acts so far, and here we see that its all exponential growth! That is exactly how our church should be increasing, so Let’s Double It Up!!!
10but they could not stand up against his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke.
We should all strive to have this kind of wisdom. 2 Peter 1:3 says “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.”–Operative phrase: ‘through our knowledge of him…’ and along with the precious gift of the Holy Spirit living within us we can stand up to any opposition. We do not have to fear being brought before “the Sanhedrin” but we do face daily opposition to Christ in our everyday lives. We have the God of the universe on our side! Let’s remember this as we strive to “double it up!! PRAY and God WILL equip you!!
2So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables.
3Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them
4and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”
These verses show how our priorities ought to be. Turning our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word should be our number one priority. Doing good deeds and serving the church is also important but our main focus has to be on spreading the good news and preaching the truth. With these priorities their numbers increased rapidly as we see all through acts. If we act this way our numbers will grow as well!! If we truly believe that the gospel is true then it will be proceeding from our lips all the time, and we will have EXPONENTIAL growth!!
THis is such a great chapter and such a push to go and evangelize and Double it UP!! We need to go spread the word and the church will grow, rapidly (= Im so excited to see whats going to happen in the near future with our church!
Nice comment Chris!!
15 All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
Its crazy how Stephen was so filled with the spirit that his face shown like that of an angel! He was so on fire and gospel crazy that it showed with his actions, his words, and HIS FACE!! Everyday we should be striving to be more god-like and grow in our sanctification in Him!
the dedication of the disciples to teaching the gospel of Christ. they have already been beaten and sent to jail twice, but that doesnt stop them. when the resolve the problem here, they again show that NOTHING can stop them from preaching the gospel. we need to dedicate our lives to Christ, and we need to examine ourselves to see what our motives are. are we really ready to give it ALL up for Christ? we need to put Christ as our number one, and constantly persevering in trials to help our perserverence and walk with God
the people are so smart! it is amazing how fast the church is growing! we must ALWAYS put God first!
3Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them
I think it is essential to have the right motives when serving in the church. God’s glory is the ultimate goal of anything we do as Christians. Because the men chosen to help here were “full of the Spirit and wisdom,” their influence on those they were serving would clearly show God’s glory.
How cool would it have been to be one of the seven chosen by the disciples!!They were called to choose seven men who were full of the Spirit and of wisdom.It would be so awesome if when others saw us, they would immediatley thing “wow, he/she is so full of wisdom and of the Spirit!” what a great example that would be, huh?!
anyways, verse ten says that members of the Synagogue from various places were trying to argue with this man Stephen who was soo full of wisdom and of the Spirit. What a great exaple…they could not argue with him because he was what God wanted him to be-full of wisdom and of the Spirit.
by reading the Bible daily, and by really meditating on His word, we can become so wise and really evangelize and have boldness to answer questions that non-belivers have. Each day we are to live it like it is our last day, we need to be thankful that we are given each day to live-they are blessings from God.i think we should take advantage of the days we have by making disciples!!
MARANATHA-come lord, come!!!!!!!!
7So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith
I think Acts 6:7 is such an insperation for us because it shows us that we can grow enormously in our church. But we can’t just sit around and think it will grow we have to go out there and evangelize.
7So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith
This was the major goal for the disciples of Christ, the word of God to be spread!
I know that I am doing what I can on my campus as should we all, so I would like to encourage us all to accomplish what God wants accomplished, let us tell everyone we know the gospel of Christ, and when I say everyone we know, I MEAN IT!
7So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith
Evangelism is huge, if we want people to get saved from torment, then we must spread the gospel all over our campuses. A great to do that through the campus lunch at our high school. These first chapters are a great way of showing the power of evangelism, so let’s take it to the streets, and tell people that Jesus is the Lord!
When I read about Steven I couldn’t help but think about Jude 24. God want’s us all to be presentable, without even a hint of sin, so that know one can find fault in us. Stephen is great example of this and is deffenitely above reproach (Titus 2:8)!
15All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
I love how his face shown like an angel because they could not find anything wrong with him!!!! They couldn’t prove that he was a false prophet. It’s the way we should look towards others. They shouldn’t be able to find anything wrong with the way we act or talk. Nothing should be false or inaccurate when we tell others about His name and what He’s done for us. They can’t accuse us of anything because we know the Truth so lets get out there and proclaim His name! God’s coming back and we need to be ready!
This passage has just made me more and more grateful for those who do work in True North and spend their own extra time to help us grow spiritually! (like pastor bobby and all the high school leaders!!
) Praise God that we have people who are willing to help teenage christians, like ourselves, grow together as a church and encourage us to help add to the church!!
7So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.
this verse is showing that they were sharing the word of god with people everyday amd the number of disciples grew!! this is how our church should be, we should be evangalizing so much that tons of people would be getting saved and true north’s number of people would rapidly increase to a high number!!
7So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.
This verse makes me think of True North. I think of the disciples as the Teen Ministers and we are spreading the word of God to all those non-christians, especially on Saturday nights and the Church will grow rapidly on that next Sunday morning. Then a lot of them will hear the message Bobby preaches about repentance and they will decide to repent and become obedient to the faith. Double it up!
Everyone elses comments pretty much said all I had to say about this chapter of doubling it up! I thought it was so cool to see all the people at true north today! We need to keep up those numbers and have them grow every week! woohoo again, what an awesome amount of people today!
7So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.
The word that sticks out to me is obedient. A large number became obedient to the faith. It is so important that we remain obedient to Gods word first and fore most and as we see others being added we should see in them a desire to be obedient to Christ first. That is how we will know who has genuine faith if they are obedient to Gods word first. As we double it up may we take the step of disciplining others to become obedient to the faith.
Hey where are my SC girls?
6They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.
7So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.
Amazing!!!!! These verses really make me realize how big and important spreading the word of God among others was. Definately something that isnt being done as much as back then. But hopefully we can change that and have the stage of doubling it up very soon.
7So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.
The word of God spread becasue the early apostles and disciples were devoted to the preaching of the word. They didn’t want anything to hinder them from preaching the word. That is why the apostles chose 7 men to wait on tables. And because of that the word of God continued to spread and the number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly. We need to be devoted to spreading the Word and that is why I am so glad that True North goes out evangelizing every Saturday night. See you this Saturday night!!
6They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.
7So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.
We definitely need to double it up and start spreading the word at school and wherever we have the opportunity to do so. We want true north to be huge and the only way to do that is to start spreading the gospel and inviting people to church.
7So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.
This doesnt really happen now adays. Yes, many people are becoming Christians daily but not like this. This is just in one little are that this happened. We spread the word of God today in our lives but so many people do not want to hear it. We need to keep pressing on though with God’s help and keep on spreading the word of God to every soul we see.
we should all be way more involved in the church and not just attending the services and small groups every week not just sit at church and here the message and then leave without doing our part
1Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them
4and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”
Peter’s priority during this time was praying for the ministry and teaching the word. However, like Bobby said last week, there were other responsibilities for the Christians in the early church. The widows needed to be taken care of and other needs were met. God uses his children to serve the church body in different ways. Teaching the word is the most important, so those of us who are not in this role need to be serving the body in other ways so the teachers can devote themselves to preaching God’s Word and prayer. Think of what you can do to serve the church body so the men who are called to preach God’s Word can more fully devote themselves to that task.
7So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.
How cool that some of the priests were saved! It must have been so amazing for them to see so many of the prophecies they had been studying and waiting for fulfilled in Jesus. I wonder what they did for work since they no longer had to offer sacrifices for sins. They must’ve been out of a job!
This passage has been preached on a lot but it does have that one point it enforces. We all have our duties to the church and we all contribute to its growth. Whether it be evangelizing, worship, set up-tear down, we have to do it because Bobby can’t do it all.
i liked the example set by stephen in this chapter… if people have to get other people to make up stuff just so that they can try to accuse you so that you’ll shut up, you know you’re doin something right
2So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables.
3Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them
In Compass I know that the pastors have a one specific job and that does not include getting the donuts and coffee on the tables sunday morning or leading the worship team or running all the events such as Fall Fest. Their job is to preach the Bible every weekend and sometimes even more. It is our job to volunteer and help out in church so that Pastor Bobby doesn’t have to be taken away from preaching God’s word. By serving in the church at events such as Fall Fest we will ultimately be serving the Lord. So sign up for an opportunity to serve the Lord..
The Disciples with their God given wisdom recognized the need for qualified Christians to serve in the ministry of the church. If they did not receive the wisdom from God their problem could have given Satan a foothold in the fellowship. True North is no different from the early church. At True North we have many opportunities for young Christian men and women. This frees up pastors and leaders to give their full attention to studying and prayer. God calls each and every one of us to serve the church. Every ministry of service in the church is as important as another. If you are not serving you’re not living.
I like verses 11 and 12 because you really argue with what God has to say. If a Christian is truly speaking the truth of the Lord no one can truly dispute what he is saying… so the only way to get him to stop speaking is to kill him. The only way to do that is to make stuff up about him…As Christians we know that the world is not our friend it is out to get us. We need not be intiminated by it but realize that God is on our side, or rather we are on His. This has been a real round about way to say that we need to speak the truth fearlessly.
7So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.
How awsome would it be if this happened in Orange County. I think that it is amazing how the early church started so strong and stayed strong for many years after.
7 So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.
This is so cool to see the church growing constantly. Here we see that even when we see growth and success we need to still keep pushing cause we are still here for a reason and havnt been taken up yet. And i like how it says that the number of disciples increased rapidly. We should not be content with a little bit of people trickling into our church on the weekend. It was really cool this weekend to see the packed house at True North. And i just want to say MARANATHA