Something Greater

Big Enough to Save "Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people." Acts 6:8 (ESV) In our modern, commercialized minds, Stephen does not fit the image of "Table Server". Rather than function as a mild committee member, helping to make food distribution fair, he lives a life "full of grace and power", "doing great wonders and signs among the people." The apostles were right to view ministry leaders, leaders of any Christian ministry, as reflectors of Christ Himself, requiring hearts of honesty, full of God's Spirit and wisdom. GRACE: pistis (persuasion, credence, conviction, reliance, constancy and truth); from peitho (to convince, pacify, conciliate, assent or rely) The ESV translation uses "grace", but the original word is better translated as faith. Stephen was full of faith. Faith in Christ provided the motivation for all that Stephen wanted and all that he did. Stephen was comple...

Devoted to Prayer and Preaching "But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word." Acts 6:4 (ESV) DEVOTE: proskartereo (to be earnest towards, to persevere, be constantly diligent, to attend, to adhere closely to); from pros (forward to, toward) and kartereo (to be strong, steadfast or patient); from kratos (vigor) The English word "devote" comes from a Latin word meaning "from a vow", to be dedicated by a solemn act. The English word tends to be used to describe emotions of compassion and selfless love for others. It has a quality of softness , with tones of tenderness. "The woman devoted herself to the unending care of her ailing husband." The Greek word used by Paul is as similar to that our our English word, devote, as an M1 Abrams battle tank is similar to an XTS Cadillac luxury vehicle. The apostles declared that they would make prayer and preaching their M1 battle tank: unstoppably strong and steadfast. ...

Serving Tables: Leadership Qualities Conflict divided the early church in Jerusalem. On one side, the Hellenists, preferring an intellectual emphasis in worship. On the other, the Hebrews, preferring a cultural, genealogical emphasis in worship. The apostles, as leaders of the church, directed the assembly to create a committee: "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." Acts 6:3 (ESV) The apostles required the "Table Serving Ministry" leaders to excel in three qualities: Good repute Full of the Spirit Full of wisdom First we will examine "good repute". GOOD REPORT: martyreo (to be a witness, to testify, give evidence, bear record, be well reported of, testify); from martys (a witness, or a "martyr") "Good report" is translated from a single Greek word that means "witness", whether of one telling what he has seen and ...

Hellenist versus Hebrew: Conflict in the Church "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." Acts 6:1-2 (ESV) Who were the disciples? DISCIPLES: mathetes (a learner or pupil); from manthano or matheo (to learn, in any way) Mathetes (disciples or brothers) appears in the Book of Acts only once before this (Acts 1:15), yet it ends up being one of the most frequently used descriptions of Christians in the Book of Acts, with 30 occurrences. It can be found 268 times in all of the New Testament. The word translated as disciple or brother, with four other words found in the Book of Acts, appears to be the most frequent descriptors of "Christian": MATHETES (a learne...

The Cross of Christ: Humiliation of Sin Matthew 27:31 Listen: The Cross of Christ (mp3) Watch: The Cross of Christ - Slide Presentation(wmv) Every mention, every reminder, of the cross of Christ should bring a vivid image of the suffering of Jesus on our behalf. In our safe, modern world...living in a country at the heights of affluence, luxury and technology, the dirty, messy, gory death of crucifixion is easy to minimize . The cross of Christ for us is often a lovely pendant on expensive jewelry, a silk-screened logo at the side of a business sign, a brand for buildings in which worshipers gather. It was not so for Peter and Andrew, Jewish fishermen in Galilee. They and James and John and all the disciples that first followed Jesus all lived under direct control of a harsh government that daily crucified criminals and political rebels . "When they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him....

Earthen Vessels A friend, Jeremy, lives in Israel. He was in a small village, inspecting some earthen pots which traditionally were used to store drinking water. His hosts told him that they were considered the best for the task since the water would actually become cooler once placed inside of them without any modern refrigeration – an incredible advantage for inhabitants of arid lands. The very idea seemed too good to be true, but it turns out that the villagers were not making this story up and that this is common knowledge in some parts of the world. While swallowing this bit of information my friend was reminded of a verse written by Paul regarding the ministry of reconciliation between God and man. His thoughts encourage me: "But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us." 2 Corinthians 4:7 (ESV) Paul was describing how God committed his greatest work into the hands of men formed from the dust – in ...

Trust and Obey "And someone came and told them, - Look! The men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people. - Then the captain with the officers went and brought them, but not by force, for they were afraid of being stoned by the people. And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them, saying, - We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us. - But Peter and the apostles answered, - We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him." Acts 5:25-32 (ESV) The Jewish leaders were greatly perplexed (thoroughly ...