I hope you have your handout. We're going to finish this up tonight, I promise. Thank you, Brother Gray. And we're in Acts chapter 6. We're doing a survey of the book of Acts, and we've spent a couple of services, Wednesday night services, on the ministry of the deacon, the biblical Baptist deacon. And you don't see that in the Bible, but I just say that part, but it's the ministry of the deacon. We're in chapter 6 of the book of Acts, verse 3. Wherefore brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. And we've covered the function, well we've covered the qualifications in 1 Timothy chapter 3. These are the qualifications. There's only two offices in the church that have qualifications. That's bishop, which would be pastor. The pastor is the elder, he's the pastor, he's the shepherd, the overseer. and maybe a couple others that you could remember. And then there's the qualifications for the deacon. And this is the understanding of verse 10 of 1 Timothy 3, the office of a deacon. And that's the difference. It's not just a servant, but it's an office. And I want to say that, you know, I've spoke and I've bragged about our deacons last time I spoke and I meant everything that I said. But some of you men, it should be a goal one day for you to be a deacon. If you're not called to preach, some of you teenagers, you ought to live a life and have a testimony where you could serve the Lord in this special capacity of the office of deacon. If I wasn't a pastor, if God had not called me to preach, I would have loved to have served in some way in the office of deacon. Now, there's the New Testament function of deacons that we talked about. We said the word deacon is not mentioned in this passage. We said the early church used this plight of the widows to begin the ministry of the deacons. And we said in this passage we can determine two things. That the deacon, he is a servant and he is a helper. It's more of a functioning position than a position with title. And then we gave three criterias for the deacon. We said that he is to be a person of integrity. The Bible says in verse 3 again of Acts chapter 6, look ye out among you seven men of honest report that would be of a good reputation. He should be a person of integrity. He should have a good reputation and testimony in the neighborhood. He should pay his bills. and be upfront and not double-tongued. He needs to be a person of integrity. He needs to be a person filled with the Spirit. He should have the Spirit control life, Ephesians 5, 18, be not drunk with wine, wear in his excess, but be filled with the Spirit. And then we said that he is to be full of wisdom, and the wisdom is the fear of the Lord. And wisdom is not knowledge. Knowledge is a learned skill. Wisdom is a gift from God. And he should be filled with wisdom. Now, we're going to talk about the role of the deacon. I don't think that, yeah, I did cover this last time too, so I'll just touch on it. Deacons do not have the responsibility of policing the pastor. In a lot of churches, especially little old country churches where the deacons have played such a key part in the ministry because there's been such a long absence of being able to find a pastor, the pastor, the deacon board kind of get the understanding that they are the hierarchy and they're to rule over the pastor. The deacon told me one time, years ago, never in this church, but years ago, you know, we're your boss, and we're to tell you what to do. And he made a whole list of things that he said, and I wrote them down as he was shooting them off. And then I had a deacon's meeting that weekend, and I said, you said these things, and I read them off. I said, now I know that perhaps you were not feeling well. Maybe you did not take your medicine that morning, and you were just, maybe you had some upsetting news. But if you will apologize for these things and for what you believe, you know, unless you really believe this, if you'll say, you know, pastor, those those are not correct. I think we've just gone down the river together. But if you actually believe these things, I think that we've we've met our Waterloo and we've come to. He said, I believe every one of those things. And let me have your keys. You're no longer a deacon. So can a pastor do that? Just like that. Just like that. And so, understand, they don't police the pastor. Deacons are not the ruling body of the church. And deacons are not the defenders of church tradition. We've never done it that way before. Well, that's probably why we ought to do it now, because you've never done it that way before. Deacons are not just the old men of the church. Now, I think we've got a good balance here at Bethel, and I'm grateful for our deacons. And I said last week, and I'll reiterate, I don't believe deacons should three years on, three years off. I don't think there's a biblical place for that. I don't see that in the scriptures. I think that gives a pastor who feels like he's got some problem with the deacon, it gives him three years of breathing room. But I think that we just need to learn to get along and seek God together. We've never presented anything to the church that we were in disagreement on. There's been times that we've voted and most of the time the vote would have gone my way or did go my way. But I didn't push it because I don't want to present something to the church body that we ourselves are divided on. And I have found that if we go away and pray and we come back God gives us just a wonderful understanding, and I don't want to say the word compromise, but just a good understanding that we can all be in agreement and then present it to our church as a whole. I think that's very healthy for a church. Deacons are not to control the church finances. My wife pointed out to me in the handout, it says you're not supposed to go before the deacons with your fiancé. And I don't know if you saw that or not, but I want to thank Spellcheck for that. But it might be good. You don't want to go before Brother Crook, one of our deacons with your fiancé, because he would tell you, there's still time. Isn't that what he says? And so that being said, you know, they don't control the finances. Now there's a lot of trust that goes into this and it has to be. And we have deacons that count the money. They count the loot just like Judas did. Now I'm just teasing. But they count the money, they make bank deposits, and a wise pastor will distance himself as far as he can from the money. And if one day the Lord moves me to heaven or moves me to the pastor's old folks' home, which we are slowly becoming with Brother Martis and Brother Derryberry and everything. If the Lord moves me, listen, the new pastor, he doesn't need to have his signatures on checks. I don't know what the safe combination is. I can't get into it. I can't sign a check. All that is not by accident. It's on purpose. It's my principles and philosophy of ministry. I don't need that. I don't need to do that. And we put out a monthly Financial sheet, we can show you where every nickel goes and Brother Manley has been just invaluable in that area. So, number six, deacons do not have the final say-so on church decisions. I said red. I said the carpet's going to be red. We deacons have talked. Well, let me tell you, and I said this last week, the grays, they were the last to join our church just this past month or so. They get one vote and the charter member, whether you're a deacon or who pastor or whoever, assistant pastor, whoever you are, you get one vote. And there's not seniority because you are a charter member of the church. Can somebody say amen? OK, so these are the things. Notice, if you would, there are four roles for the deacon in the church. What are these roles? Number one, the deacons are servants. The Greek word comes, and I shared it with you early on, but it translates waiter, attendant, one who ran errands, or one who deals with basic duties. That's the deacon and the servant. He's to be a servant. Now I believe this, that the pastor should be the chief servant. And that if the pastor wants a deacon or anyone in the church to do anything, he should be willing to roll his sleeves up and pitch in and do that. Debbie and I both have tried by the grace of God to always be that way. But the early church used this work to describe a special servant commissioned by God to serve in the church, things that need to get done. And, you know, the word deacon in the verb form, it translates in a phrase of serve as in serving tables. Verse six. So deacons are servants. Deacons are advisors. This is an important, important part because of the strict qualifications for deacons. And in Acts, Chapter six and in First Timothy, Chapter three, deacons must be godly and they must be spirit filled man. And I want you to know, Church, your deacons are that, every bit of that. And they are advisors. And, you know, it seems the longer I've been here and the older I become, the more relaxed I am with our deacons and with our deacons meetings. I remember I had a real bad experience as a young pastor, not here at Bethel, but a real bad experience. And it made me just really It affected me greatly, and it was a terrible time for Debbie and I and for our family. And when I got to Bethel, I came in with both barrels blazing, let me tell you. I thought, we'll just go ahead and draw the lines now. And it was never an issue here, but someone said that a leader should look behind and see if there are followers. And if you look behind and there's no one following, you're just taking a stroll through the park. Someone else says that a great leader surrounds himself with great leaders. And I don't think that I'm a great leader, but I do believe that I've surrounded myself with very capable men. And I think with men who have understandings and abilities of things that I do not have. that and it has made us the church we are. That's been part that has been blessed here at Bethel for the last 31 years. They are advisors, you know, they are often important advisors to pastors and to man. And when when, you know, Brother Manley is our he's our treasurer, Brother Crook, one of our deacons, when he comes to me, Brother Brother Gray, Brother Gray is one of those guys who doesn't talk a lot. But when he talks, you better listen because he's got something to say. And Ben Miller and Joe Grapes, you know, when they say something, they understand things. Joe and Ben, you were out when I was covering this one night. I think y'all were out. And I said, I know the strengths and weaknesses of our deacons. I have Joe do the it stuff. I have James build stuff, and I have you break stuff, you know, and he all do a good job of it. And Ben's going to take the sign down for us eventually. And, and so, but they're advisors. And, and there's been times that and I remember being in a D because many years ago, in Brother Gray, If he was a deacon then he had just become one or he had been one for a short while but we were on the building team and we were sitting right here on concrete with a white table and everything was partially studded in. It was freezing cold. And we were sitting here, and we were talking, and those men that were on the building, we were talking about different things. We were talking about the return, the air returns up in the ceilings, and that's a $5,000 cost that was kind of misunderstood. We came in, there's a huge white, enormous white grill on this wall. And I said, no, that will not do. It destroyed. the look of it. This is a place we live and I want it to be a certain level. But Brother Gray, in one of those things, he spoke up and began to talk and I just listened to him. I thought, man, this this guy knows so much about this kind of stuff. I didn't know he was this smart. You know, I did. I knew he's smart guy. You know, I know guys who are so smart, but then got a sense to get out of the rain. You know, I'm talking about, he's that kind of smart, too. I mean, he can do all that math stuff. And, and, uh, And I'm glad he can. But he distinguished himself to me that night. He didn't know it, but he distinguished himself to me that night. And that's true with all of these men. Now, number three, deacons are to be examples. According to First Timothy chapter three, verse 10, deacons are to be found blameless. There are people who who want to find what I call a handle, something they can get a hold of and and use as a pry bar to hurt the church, to to hurt the ministry. Those people are there. You know, there are some people, if the pastor falls into sin, They bake a cake and run a flag up and they rejoice about it. And we've all had sorrow and disappointment. We've all had failure. And, you know, when you when you suffer failure, whether it's yourself or in your family, you really see who your friends are. You really see and you really see how the devil works in that. And so, you know, they they are to have such character. Listen to me. They are to have such character. They are to have such dedication. They are to have such commitment. They are to have such integrity. They are to be people of ethics that others in the church can look to them as an example and as a role model. You know. Let me go back a bit. How many have been at a church between Sunday school and church, the deacon smoking cigarettes on the front porch of the church? Yeah. That I'll not be. That I'll not be. Somebody said, Where's Deacon Jones? And I said, He's on fire for God out there on the front porch. It wasn't appreciated. And It's being a deacon in the office of deacon, it's not a prestigious thing. It's more function than it is title. But it is it's a heavy load sometimes, isn't it, fellas? It's a heavy load. And, you know, you're to have the character. I mean, listen, you ought to have the character to be so winner. You ought to be you ought to be in Sunday school. You ought to be back Sunday night, Wednesday night. You ought to be here every night preaching. There ought to be dedication and character and integrity. They ought to have a set of ethics that anyone that says that my grandsons can look to and admire that man of God, that deacon. I'll be saying, hey, I'll be the same about Sunday school teachers. There's no qualification for Sunday school teachers. But you know, you ought to have you understand someone's looking at you and watching you. Deacons are to be examples, advisors, servants, and then they are to be leaders because of the very nature of their call and work. Deacons are to lead out in the church. They ought to be leaders and so winning leaders in service, leaders in giving. You know, all these things. And as a pastor leads by equipping the church spiritually, deacons lead by equipping the church physically. The pastor equips the church spiritually. But there are things they have got. Listen, when the music starts in the choir, are you listening to me? Those doors should be shut. I don't want to have to get up and come down during the choir special. Those doors should be shut. You know, there are things that that need to be taken care of. And so as a pastor leads, he equips the church spiritually by teaching and preaching the word of God. But the deacon, he takes there are physical things that need to be done that you don't have to be a deacon. If you're not a deacon, we'll let you close that door. Okay, if you're not a deacon, we'll let you change the paper towels in the bathrooms. We'll give you a key. There's a lot of things, you know, but these need to be done. Now let me let me wrap this up. Notice the four phases of the ministry of deacon. Number one, the need for deacon, Acts chapter 6. Verse one, the Bible says, and in those days when the number of the disciples were multiplied, deacons were needed because the church was growing. And now, I think this was a very large church. We saw where 3,000 were saved. We saw where 5,000 were saved. So this is a very large church. But they only had seven deacons. I think that you go to a church and there's 18 deacons and there's 30 members, you know, I think that's really ridiculous in doing that. But they were experiencing rapid growth, and from rapid growth comes a lot of problems. In Acts 2, verse 47, the Bible says, So as the church grew, so did the problems. And there were more people to be taught, more people to be helped, more people to be visited, more people to be fed. The church was constantly changing and was having all kinds of new needs. Our church has some of the same problems. We've experienced these in the past. And so, you know, you can minister to 100, you know, or you can't minister to 100 the way you minister to 30. You can't minister to 200 the way you do to 100. And deacons were needed because the church was divided. So they were needed because the church was growing. But notice in verse one, it says there arose a murmuring. Now, that's not a good thing in any church. This is a terrible thing. Now, we know how Ananias and Sapphira, they came in and they lied to the Holy Spirit and God struck them dead. But now we've got some murmuring. Can I tell you something? There's no reason to murmur, and if you don't understand something, you should come to me. Go to one of our deacons or just come directly to me, and you can ask why we do a certain thing a certain way. There's a reason for it. Do you know that? We do everything we do with purpose. It's not just by chance. and it's worked well for many years. So as the church grew there was problems, but they began to be divided. And in verse 1 it speaks about the murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews. Now, there was a complaint raised against the Hebrews. The Hebrews are Jewish believers while the Hellenists were Greek believers because their widows were being neglected in the daily portions of food that was being passed out. The Greeks felt like the Jews were being unfair. Now, I want to talk into this. It's not just the food portion, but these were different cultured people and their water and oil and they don't mix well. They don't mix. And so when you get people Understand, we're all from different backgrounds, and we've got people from the South, we've got people from Michigan, we've got people from all over the place, and we have different backgrounds, but the common bond is that we're sinners saved by grace. The common bond is that we have the same Heavenly Father. But these Greeks felt that the Jews were being unfair, that they were getting a bad deal, and they began to murmur about it. And murmuring is a revelation of your spirit. You can have revival while you're murmuring. And deacons helped solve this problem. You know, if it were for the wisdom of these apostles, they could have been, you know, right at the grounds of a church split here. And these Grecians could have say, let's go over and start our own church. We have a Greek church. Let's do that. But these disciples or these apostles were wise. The deacons helped solve the problem. The deacons also helped stop the gossip. And I tell our deacons often, you know, we're to wait on tables and you're to stop any murmuring that causes hurt feelings. It causes strife. It causes division. Listen to me. Disbelief and division are some of the tools of the devil. If he can divide us, he will. 1 Timothy 3, verse 8, likewise, must the deacons be grave, not double-tongued. They can't say one thing over here, then say something different over here. They can't get, you know, say, this is what we're gonna do, and then later on get butt and hold in the parking lot and compromise and double-talk on it. We can't do that. There's been times, we all wish that we could, but we can't do that. Now, C, notice deacons weren't needed because pastors knew their priorities. The pastors did not have time to serve soup. They didn't have time to deliver groceries. They were dealing and they were ministering. Do you realize that there are people whose marriages are hanging by threads, people whose young people are out living like the devil, People who have just lost their second or third attempt to have a child. People who have just found their daughter or their son in a terrible compromise situation. People who have a child or a husband or wife that's headed to jail. Can I tell you this? Those things trump changing light bulbs and cutting grass. And I wish often it was as easy as changing the light bulb, but it's not. And there's no quick fix to some of these things. And so it takes time, it takes loving care, it takes prayer, prayer together. And you know, right now, my heart's so heavy for two men, and I pray for them every day. I pray for them at least twice a day, I pray for them. And if God doesn't get a hold of their heart, they're not going to end well. They're not going to end well. You know, you could help people. You know, the Bible says, bury one another's burdens, but then it says, let every man bury his own burden. And we can house people, and we can feed people, and we can clothe people, and we can help people get jobs, and we can, I mean, all but change their diaper and powder them and change their diaper. We can do that. But there comes a time where every man's got to stand on his two feet. And and and you know, I've been in ministry long enough and I, you know, I'm not a novice at this. And I just know if God doesn't intervene and if there's not a an awakening, some are. And I will tell you, it's heavy. It's a burden. It weighs on me. It's heavy. It's a heavy. It's not something I think about and then it's done with. I I fret over. I wake up sometimes about it. I've been devastated over the loss of our Spanish in our church. Now, there are loved ones who have perished by this COVID-19. I saw Brother Noe in the restaurant last Thursday. It was so good to see him and, you know, devastating. And, you know, Sylvia Lecusan and Araceli and Noe and others. And I do think that this this virus is harsher and harder on people of color. I think that may be true. I don't know. But those are burdens. And you can send flowers and you can send cards and you can you can give a text. But you know, you never can do enough. and these are heavy burdens. So these deacons were needed because the church was growing, because the church was dividing, there was murmuring, and because these pastors, they knew their place. In verse 2 of chapter 6, then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. Now, they're not saying they're too good to do that. This is pure life water. I think it's from Michigan. And I think it's from Flint. You know, I mean, it does. It tastes nasty. And I know I opened the cap on it. But it says from Switzerland. I think that's baloney. Maybe the bottles from Switzerland, but water is not. And I wish Ella would take it poured out and go fill it up with the water fountain. I feel better. And let you know, am I murmuring? Where are the deacons at? Why don't you do your job? Stop your murmuring, pastor. Okay. But these apostles are the pastors of the early church. Listen, it is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. And that's true. Someone said that, you know, it's going to be a bad message when the pastor gets up and said, as I was reading the cereal box at breakfast this morning, you know, it's not going to be a good message. So let me see. The Bible says in verse 4, they say, Now they knew their place. They knew what was important. They knew that they had men, they had gifted men, Man who they could commission in a special ministry, in a special way to go and meet the needs of these people and to stop this murmuring. But they knew that they were called and gifted and commissioned of God to give themselves to the Word, to study, to prepare to preach God's Word. Now, if they spent all their time caring for the widows, they would have been unfaithful to their call as far as their priority. So if widows need help, then the church set aside a group of men, and they're called deacons that did that. Number two, the selection of deacons. In verse 3, the Bible says, Notice the apostles' qualifications for deacons. First of all, the first deacons were believers. The apostles told the church, look ye out among you. This was not outside the church. It was from inside the church. They were believers. Obviously, they were not to look for deacons outside the church. The most basic qualification of the office is salvation, a genuine relationship with Christ. And many churches are wounded because they ordain people to the position of deacon because they seem to have so much distinguished authority outside the church. I've seen, and there are some good deacons that are lawyers and bankers, I assure you, but that's not a reason, a person's vocation is not the reason why they should be a deacon. I've seen churches, the same churches that smoke on the front porch. You know, oh, Jerry, he won't halfway come to church. Let's make him a deacon. Maybe he'll start coming. Isn't that true? Man, is that ridiculous or what? Maybe if I make Jerry a deacon, maybe he'll come to church some. Oh, boy, that sounds like I make that up, but I'm not making that up. Number two, the first deacons were respectable. The Bible says men of good reputation. They were men of integrity and trustworthy, both inside and outside the church. They were highly esteemed, and I think our deacons certainly fit that bill. Deacons must be men that can be trusted. They handled finances, they handled monies, and they handled information. Information is powerful. And they know, some of them, not all of them, but some of them know who gives and who doesn't give, how much they give. They know that. And it's nobody's business to know that. But somebody has to deal with that. And it's the deacons and church treasure that does so. So deacons must be men that can be trusted, faithful men who have who have proven themselves, we don't let them become a deacon so they might prove themselves. Number three, the first deacons were spirit filled. They were told to be full of the Holy Ghost or to be surrendered to the control of the Holy Spirit. Why? So they will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Galatians 5 verse 16. This I say then, walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Number four, the deacon, the first deacons, they were wise. They would be full of the Holy Ghost and full of wisdom. Now, wisdom is the ability to see a situation from God's perspective or from God's point of view. We need deacons who will not act impulsively, but will use godly wisdom in ministry and helping to make decisions. We need deacons who are full of faith. And will not. Be restrictive or binding in areas just because the money's not there. Can I tell you something in my life? In my personal life and as a pastor, I've never let money decide whether we did something or not. There's one time, you know, the story, I don't have time to really tell it. But we had this front room in our other house. And I finally had gotten James Gray to come over. And after he had cut all the work that I had done for months there, and he cut it all out and started all over again, and made it perfect. I mean, perfect, and painted and God told me one day, take your wife down to the furniture store and just buy a room full of furniture. Now he told me that just like just like you said good morning to me. I didn't have any money. I had no monies. Young couples be careful. Be careful. Don't use this as a license. We had an agreement that we never ever charge anything. We could pay it off in 30 days. And God told me one time, I go down there, and you've got a good wife, and she was, she's worked her, she's just worked her finger to the bones, not just at home, but in this ministry. So I got in the car and I drove down pick Debbie up and I was going down the hinkos furniture house down in Selma. And she said, What are you doing? I said, We're gonna go down here. We're gonna. I said, You've been such a good wife. You're such a blessing. God bless you. I don't know where we'd be today without a marriage. Just loving her and praising her. And she said, Did you come in the money? I said, I don't have a penny. Well, she starts stuttering. Well, what are we going to do? How are we going to pay for this? I said, God just told me to do it. Well, how do you ask that? We got a charge card. And she starts protesting. Honey, we sit before God with our hand up and the other on the Bible. If we can't pay it off in 30 days, she starts preaching in the front seat. And once we got in the furniture store, all that left right away. You see those love seats and those couches and those recliners and those tables and all that went away then. And we got it and they delivered it and set it up in that front room. It was beautiful, just gorgeous. And she could hardly sleep over it about it, about the bill, because I didn't have the time to pay for it. And I was at the office working one day, she called me she's crying. She said, You're not gonna believe it, you know, believe it. So what is it? She said, the same day, the bill came in the mailbox, there's a there's a envelope in here from a marine that you minister to. 25 years ago. And his mother had died. His mother left a note saying you meant so much to us helping our young son when he first went into the core. And she remembered you in the will. It was more more than enough to pay for that living room furniture. I tell you what it did, it did more than just provide furniture and something my wife really loved and enjoyed. But it was a revelation to her that her husband was in tune with God. I feel God calling me right now to go buy a new gun. I don't have a penny, but I can trust the Lord. Probably not so, huh? So, you know, these deacons were wise and we need to have wisdom and walk with the Lord. And then number five, the first deacons, they were capable. Notice the church, they would appoint them over this business of taking care of these widows, stopping this murmuring. They were men who could handle the situation. Notice, we said, notice the apostles' qualifications, and then notice the church's approval for deacons. In verse 5, and the saying pleased the whole multitude, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith, and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Saul. So understand, the passage doesn't just say, okay, you know, Jim and Dennis and Dwight and Kirk, I like you guys. We love UT football, and we love burgers, and we meet at Freddy's every Saturday, and you buy my meal, and, you know, I want you to be my... No, no, the church votes on it. It's the church that elects the deacons, and that's the way it's done. Now, notice the ordination. Well, I don't know. I didn't finish that. Let me say that the church was pleased with the plan, and the whole multitude said, Amen. Praise the Lord. The ordination of deacons. In verse 6 it says, Whom they set before the apostles, These seven men are sitting before the apostles. And when they had prayed, they laid hands on them. Now, I've had some pastors ask me questions, and I'm not that smart. I don't know the answers to everything. But there are some that certainly the call of pastor The call to preach is different than the call of deacon. That is a different call. But I had some pastors said, you know, do you think that we make too much? How do you, when you ordain your deacons, what do you do? I said, that's a big deal. And I said, we bring them up. We bring the names before the people. We vote on it. And then after the vote's taken, we ordain them. We lay hands on them. I said, I have a brand new Bible that I give them. And I write something in there. I want them to remember that that night they became a deacon. And I give them that Bible. And a pastor told me, I think we make too much of deacons. They're plumbers and painters and they don't have the biblical depth that we have gone to Bible college. You know, I thought that was a very wrong. I do think it's very wrong position to have. So these these deacons, these candidates, they were set before them and them being set before them and laying hands on them. This signified not only the approval of the church, but also the approval of the leadership. It's not just something the church voted in, but it shows the approval of the leadership. The leadership should be in this process all the way from the beginning to the end. And we vote on new deacons. They will be set before the church family, and they'll be ordained just like the pastor was ordained, per se. The apostles prayed over them. So the candidates were sitting before him. The apostles prayed over them. What do you think the apostles prayed? I bet they prayed that these men would continue to be faithful men of God. Let me tell you, when you take that position, you get a new target on your back by Satan. And I believe they pray for them to grow in grace in their relationship with Christ. And I believe that they might have even pray that God would bless them even for much effective ministry to the point that maybe you know I was a deacon long before I was an assistant pastor that's and I've seen many deacons and you were a deacon right brother Martis top brother Tom were you didn't know if you were not but a lot of a lot of to pastor somewhere. So the apostles prayed over them. The apostles laid hands on them. This signifies the identification, the affirmation and the affection of the church. It's a big deal. No special powers, but a sign of blessing, you know, is what this is. And then lastly, the benefit of deacons. Well, I had a pastor call me not too long ago, and he's a good pastor, and I preach for him, he's got a good church. And he says, I don't have any deacons. He said, I don't want any deacons. They have just been problems. And that's true with many pastors. But notice the benefit of deacons in verse seven. And the Word of God increased, and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly. So God's Word continued to be spread. Why? Because these deacons met those tasks. that did not take the apostles away from the word. Note the word of God spread because the apostles were no longer encumbered with with, you know, I won't say petty problems, but just these problems that needed to be dealt with. But they were not plagued with those. They were free to give full energy to study, teaching, preaching and giving the word, the word of God. Then lastly, be the church continue to grow. This is another great benefit. So the word continued to spread, but the church continued to grow. The numbers of disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem. Even though their numbers had previously been multiplied, now they're growing even stronger. Now, let me finish by saying that we need not just deacons, but we need men who see the need and take care of it. You know, when we have, I feel like English ushers, if you're an usher, although you're not taking the offering up and although we're social distancing, we still got to get these people visitors packets. We have people come in and if you're not an usher and if you're not a deacon, you're not going to hurt my feelings if you get that packet to someone. Also, you know, there's things like in the service and where the grace always good Joe grapes is very good about this Normally been you're over in the Children's Church But if the if it's hotter than blue blazes I need to get someone to know how to to set this and and I like to have men Set this air before the service even begins so it doesn't have to catch up now. We're past the hottest months But there's there's there's all those things You can see this is some philosophy that I've got. If you come into an auditorium and it's poorly lit and it's cold, it affects your spirit of worship. If you come in and it's hotter than the Fourth of July and you're fanning, you know, and you're uncomfortable, it affects your spirit. If you pull up, listen to me, you guys who open and close the church buildings, if you pull up and the church is dark, and the doors are locked. It's a mental affecting to people. When people get here, the lights should be on, it should be bright, the doors should be open. These things, when I pull up and it's a dark, locked church, it can affect your spirit. I believe this. And these are things that need some leadership. It's not like rushing to the ICU because someone's been in a head-on collision. It's not going to kill the church. But these are things that people ought to take. Listen, if you're in leadership, you ought to take it seriously and make sure it gets done. You know, if you're a deacon, and we talk about ABC and XYZ, you know, we shouldn't have to go back and follow up on it. But you should have a target date to have that thing done and accomplish it. These things, it makes the church run so much smoother. These are key things. These are important things. Well, I don't think it's very important. If the church is open or not, when people get here, well, you just don't know. You're talking about stuff you don't know about. So these are key things, very key things. So let me encourage you in these things. And you don't have to be a deacon to serve. Listen, you don't have to wait for a pastor to say, can you do this? Can you take care of that? If you see the job needs to be done, just do it. The other night on Sunday night, these doors were open, the choir was singing. I kept turning around like is there somebody want to get those doors and I turned around. Finally, one of our ladies got up that she saw that I think I bothered her and she got it went back there and closed the doors. And then it chap chap me so bad that we not have a man that can close the doors. You know, Amen. I'm not rebuking, I'm just sharing with you. So take seriously. I don't want to have to say somebody give him a visitor's packet. Do it. Get it done. If you're an usher, if that's your job, get it done. Get the doors open. Be sure. Hey, check the doors, lock it up, set the alarm. If you don't, if you don't make sure the doors are locked, good. The alarm goes off and guess who has to come here at two in the morning. Grumpy bear does, that's who. Unless I can call a deacon and ask him to do it. Would you stand with me? I don't believe that these apostles said, I'm not going to serve in a soup line, let's choose some man to do that. I believe a real need came up in the church. and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit led these men in biblical wisdom to say, we need an office of deacons and to appoint over this matter. Thank God for it. I thank God that even though we have things that happen and it happens to all of us, that when it happens, we have other men. If the balls fumbled because of sickness or because of a mandatory late night at the workplace. It's the exception. It very seldom ever happens. We have other men who can just pick right up and everything just flows smooth and nobody even knows the difference. Amen. We should thank the Lord for the men of God that we have as deacons. And I want to say that if you meet those qualifications that's in the Bible, it should possibly be a goal for you one day. And if you don't meet those qualifications, let me tell you something, there's plenty that you can do. You can teach Sunday school, you can drive a bus, work as a bus minister. You can work with children's ministries. There's plenty, plenty that you can do. And I thank God for that. All God's people said. Lord, I want to ask you to help us tonight. We're preparing for revival and we need you. Oh, we so much need you. I appreciate what Jacob said. You can send revival tonight. We don't have to wait for the speaker to get here. That is so true. And Lord, I believe that you want to send revival. I believe revival can can be sent and flourish in the midst of the mixed up culture that we're in right now. And I ask that you would help us. I pray that you'd help us as a church tonight. Lord, meet our needs. Heads are bowed and eyes are closed. I want to ask Brother Eddie Ray and Brother Jim Gray to dismiss us in prayer tonight. Brother Ed, you open and Brother Jim, you close tonight.