Acts 6

Acts 6 is a short chapter, therefore, this will be a short blog.

Acts 6:1-7 (NIV84)

"1 In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. 2 So 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. 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.”  5 This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. 6 They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.  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."


Basically there was a conflict in how the food was being distributed in the early church.  The apostles decided that it wouldn't make any sense to take time out of preaching the gospel to do grunt work.  So they appointed seven men to make sure the situation was handled properly.

There are a few points that I really got out of all this.

1. Leaders can't do everything.  Although the apostles were doing miraculous things, they still couldn't be two places at once.  They had to appoint people to do a seemingly small job to make sure that the word of God was still being spread.

It's the same way at Under1.  As an intern I'm given easy tasks like setting up chairs, inputting lyrics into Pro Presenter, taking bottles back, pretty much grunt work.  But it wouldn't make sense for Bryan to sacrifice his time and energy into those things if it takes away from him spreading the gospel.  So, whenever I'm given a task, I have to make sure it's done well.  The smoother things go on the grunt work end, the easier it is to preach the gospel.

2. Out of that small ministry came Stephen.  Stephen was recognized as being full of the Spirit and wisdom.  Stephen had a heart for God and he was willing to take a behind-the-scenes role for the kingdom. Who would have thought that a man who was in charge of making sure widows were fed would be the first martyr?  Sometimes it's hard to remember that even the little things matter.  And if we are faithful with the little things, than God can trust us with big things.

well that's it tonight, thanks for reading

-JDWayt