From Dream to Deliverance
Sunday, September 19, 2004
My Prayer Today
Heavenly Father, Thank You for this day! Thank You for the gift of life and the gift of eternal life through Your Son, Jesus. I thank You that You have created me and all people to be in relationship with You and one another. As I live in relationship with other believers throughout the week—at home, at work, in the community, in participating in church activities and events or wherever—I pray that You will allow me to reflect the love and grace of Jesus in all my relationships. Fill me right now with the Holy Spirit that all that I am and all I do will bring You glory and honor. This I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
God's Word For Me Today
Acts 6:1-7
1But as the believers rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent. Those who spoke Greek complained against those who spoke Hebrew, saying that their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food. 2So the Twelve called a meeting of all the believers.
“We apostles should spend our time preaching and teaching the word of God, not administering a food program,” they said. 3“Now look around among yourselves, brothers, and select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom. We will put them in charge of this business. 4Then we can spend our time in prayer and preaching and teaching the word.”
5This idea pleased the whole group, and they chose the following: Stephen (a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit), Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas of Antioch (a Gentile convert to the Jewish faith, who had now become a Christian). 6These seven were presented to the apostles, who prayed for them as they laid their hands on them.
7God’s message was preached in ever-widening circles. The number of believers greatly increased in Jerusalem, and many of the Jewish priests were converted, too.
Reflecting on God’s Word
Have you ever had a problem with another believer over some matter in the church? How did you bring it to resolution?
A Deeper Exploration of God’s Word
What was the status of the early church as we take up today’s reading? (6:1)
What problem/challenge arose as a result of the rapid multiplication of believers? (6:1)
How did those who were offended react? (6:1)
Understanding God’s Word
If you heard of a problem/challenge like the one in today’s reading, how do you suppose that you would have responded to it?
Do you think that racial/ethnic prejudice would really have been present in the early church? Why or Why not?
Applying God’s Word to Our Lives
Think of one problem/challenge you are dealing with in your life right now. Take some time right now to pray and ask God for wisdom to resolve it.
Thoughts...Rumblings of Discontent...
One of the most important points about today’s reading is that the “rumblings of discontent” occurred during a period of rapid growth in the early church. The problem wasn’t that the church had stagnated. The problem wasn’t that there was no vision or direction. The problem was that the rapid growth of the church made it difficult to meet all the needs of all the folks who were being incorporated into the body of Jesus. In particular the widows who had been non-Jews before their conversion to the faith believed that they were being slighted in the distribution of food. It seemed the ethnic prejudice was creeping into the church. This tells us that challenges will ALWAYS face a church. The best challenges result from growth—because growth is God’s will for us individually and corporately. God wants us to grow in our own personal relationship with Him, AND He wants us to grow as a body—spiritually and numerically. When there is no growth in a congregation in any of these ways, that also produces challenges and problems. As we’ll see tomorrow the apostles weren’t caught unprepared for the challenge they faced, but their response to was probably not what anyone would have anticipated. They basically said, “Yes, it IS a problem, but we have more important things to do than address it.” Stay tuned to see what happened!