All righty. You guys really know how to bring in the global warming. Well, let's open our Bibles this evening to the book of Acts, chapter six. Acts chapter six, verse four. So the first part of this chapter is the appointment of the first deacons. And so we started studying that last time, which was our first Wednesday back after Christmas break. So we're going to try to finish that today, try to move through verses 4, 5, 6, and 7. But you remember the occasion. The occasion is the church, which is the Jerusalem church, because at this point in church history there are no other churches. So it's growing, the number of disciples are multiplying, and it created a problem because the widows of the Jews that came in from faraway lands to participate on the day of Pentecost and wanted to stick around because they got saved in Jerusalem thanks to the work of God through Peter's sermon, Acts 2. So they wanted to stick around and they wanted to learn this new Christian way of life from the apostles. And it was creating an economic problem because they had to sort of live off the resources of the native Jerusalemites. That's why they liquidated their assets, many of them, to have money on hand to help these out-of-towner Jews. The technical name for them is the Diaspora Jews, Jews in the dispersion. But at any rate, you have this situation where the church is growing, but the widows of the Diaspora Jews, they were being overlooked in the daily ministration of food, administration of food. So it causes tension. Verse one says, a complaint arose. The idea is there's some smoldering resentment. And you can imagine how you would feel if your family was being overlooked in something that was blessing the whole church financially, you know, because you were from out of town. I mean, that would bother any of us. And so that's sort of the situation that's taking place here. So essentially what happened is the apostles give some advice. We need to appoint deacons. So this is the beginning of the office of deacon in the church to handle this food crisis issue. And as that happens, then that will liberate us apostles to continue on with our ministry of the word of God and prayer. So they lay out these qualifications for deacons to administer this food project, and those are mentioned there in verse 3. There's about five qualifications. So if you're looking for the qualifications of a deacon, you could find a lot of them right there in verse 3. There's some more over in 1 Timothy chapter 3. And it's at this point that the apostles say, okay, this is a good thing that we're doing because that frees us up as apostles who are functioning as elders of the Jerusalem church to pursue our apostolic responsibilities, our priorities. So what are the apostolic priorities? If the apostles are not supposed to be involved in this service project, but instead be liberated from it because it's been handed over to the deacons, allowing them to pursue their own priorities, what are their priorities? So, I'm so glad you asked me that question because they're right there in verse 4. But we, that's the apostles functioning as elders of the Jerusalem church, we will devote, the idea of devote is priority. We will devote ourselves to, and notice the order here, to prayer, that's number one, and number two, to the ministry of the word. So verse four is a description of what the apostles functioning as elders were supposed to be doing. And I don't see how these priorities have changed over the last 2,000 years. Anybody that's a shepherd or shepherds of a church, those are their two responsibilities, prayer and the word. And then it says in verse four, while we, in other words, the deacons are doing one thing, verse three, a task, the administration of food to the widows and making sure everything's equal and people aren't being discriminated against. So as the deacons are doing that, the apostles say, while we devote ourselves to the ministry of prayer and the word, So obviously the apostles or the elders have different functions than the deacons. So this is your first verse in the Bible, verse four, that tells you the deacons are to do one thing and the apostles functioning as elders are to do something different. What are they supposed to do that's different? Well, we devote, prioritize ourselves to the ministry of the word of God and prayer. Something that the apostles could not do as the church continued to grow. So I take this as another internal attack on the church. Most of the things that we've read about so far in the book of Acts are external attacks coming from the outside. The first time something internal happens is the Ananias and Sapphira incident in Acts 5. And the Lord dealt with that through maximum divine discipline, as we've studied. But the second internal attack is right here in Acts 6, and you have to understand that if the decision had not been what it became, the early church would have suffered severely. Because the apostles would become absorbed in service projects, the ministry of the word and prayer, or prayer and the word, wouldn't have continued, and the church wouldn't have continued to grow. Because the growth and the conversions that are happening in the church are related to the ministry of the Word. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ. You can get a big crowd of people in a room by teaching psychologically based motivational principles. But those psychologically motivational type principles don't convert anybody because conversion happens through the Word. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ. So the early church would have suffered numerically big time had the apostles become absorbed in service projects. So this is the second way that the early church overcame an internal attack. Now, the exact same thing happened in the book of Exodus in the prior dispensation of the law. The nation of Israel was coming out of Egyptian captivity. They were coming out of Egyptian bondage. They had passed through the Red Sea, and they were on their way to Mount Sinai. And this is what happened as they were on their way to Mount Sinai. I'm in Exodus 18, if you're interested, verses 13 through 27, which is the Old Testament parallel of what's happening here in Acts 6. It's the identical situation. Exodus 18, verse 13, it says, it came about the next day that Moses sat to judge the people. and the people stood about Moses from morning until evening. Now when Moses' father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, what is this thing you are doing for the people? Why do you sit as judge and all the people stand about you from morning to evening? And you have to understand that there's probably over a million people that he's leading, if you take the numbers in the book of Exodus literally, which I do. Moses said to his father-in-law, because the people come to me and inquire of God. When they have a dispute, it comes to me. And I judge between man and his neighbor and make known the statutes of God and his laws." So Moses is out there working himself to death, taking care of every little issue that comes up in a flock of about a million Israelis that had just come out of Egypt. Moses' father-in-law said to him, the thing which you are doing is not good. you will surely wear out both yourself and those people who are with you. For the task is too heavy for you. You cannot do it alone. Now listen to me, I will give you counsel and God be with you. You be the people's representative before God. You bring the disputes to God. Then teach the statutes and the laws and make known to them the way in which they are to walk and work and the work they are to do. Furthermore, you shall select out of the people able men. Now this is not deacons, these are lower court judges. You are to select out of the people Able men who fear God. So he's laying out criteria for these lower court judges, just like criteria character wise was laid out for deacons back in verse three. So people who fear God, those who hate dishonest gain, not hate the truth, what am I thinking here? Hate dishonest gain, you shall place these over them as leaders of thousands and of hundreds and of fifties and of tens. So as father-in-law is saying, you need a judicial system. You can't handle every single dispute. You've got to have some lower court judges or else you're going to wear yourself out. Let them, that's the lower court judges, judge the people at all times and let it be that every major dispute they will bring to you, but every minor dispute they themselves will judge. So it will be easier for you and they will bear the burden with you. In other words, Moses, you're the Supreme Court. You take care of the big cases and you've got to hand off these lower level cases to this judicial system. based on people that you select that have reputable character. If you do this thing, and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure all these people, over a million of them, who, by the way, didn't do anything but complain against Moses as you study the story, and all these people who go to their place in peace. So Moses, look at this, listened to his father-in-law. Some of your best advice, some of the best advice I've ever gotten in my personal life has come from my father-in-law, to be honest with you. So your father-in-law is a pretty good person to listen to if he's walking with the Lord, because he has your best interest at heart. So Moses listened to his father-in-law and did all that he had said. Moses chose able men out of all of Israel and made them heads over the people, leaders of thousands, leaders of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. And they judged the people at all times, the difficult disputes they would bring to Moses, but every minor dispute they themselves would judge. Then Moses bade his father-in-law farewell, and he went his way into his own land. So the nation of Israel was saved from, I don't know, legal chaos. by creating a lower court system to lift the burden for Moses. The same type of thing is happening here in Acts 6 for the church age, because the apostles, had they been sucked into this task of administering food to the widows, it would have pulled them away from what God wanted them to do, prayer and the word, and the church would have suffered. So, it's kind of interesting to me this concept of delegating authority and leaders not being control freaks where they have to micromanage everything, but they're able to pick people of reputable character to manage tasks. That kind and how it alleviates burden off of leadership. That whole issue is narrated for us in the dispensation of the law and again in the dispensation of the church age twice. So it must be an important leadership principle as far as God is concerned. And I think this is something that every church, frankly every generation needs to relearn this. over and over again because what people do is they run to the person they see that's the most visible, which in a church is usually the pastor, and they run to him with every single problem. And the truth of the matter is if he became involved in managing every single problem, he would burn himself out. And most pastors burn themselves out. They don't really survive long in ministry because they haven't paid enough attention, in my opinion, to what God says. So leaders have to be willing to abdicate authority to people that you can trust. And if you don't do that, you'll work yourself right into the ground. By the way, in ministry, you have total permission to go and totally burn yourself out if you want to. I mean, you had not permission, but you have the ability to do that, let me put it that way. And that's not God's best for spiritual leaders. He wants some longevity. And so leaders need to learn the art of delegating authority to capable people, which means type A persons that want to do the job themselves all the time, because only then is it going to be done exactly their way. They need to get over that, delegate authority to people you trust, let them do things their own way, let them make a few mistakes, but that's how you expand your longevity in ministry. And this is how the nation of Israel was saved from judicial chaos in the wilderness, through the appointment of different lower court judges. And this is how the church in Acts chapter 6 survived a second internal attack as the Holy Spirit is at work here raising up another office in the church, the office of deacon. And the deacons would handle the daily administration of food. Not anybody could be a deacon, you had to meet character. criteria. Not anybody could be a lower court judge, Exodus 18, your character had to meet a certain criteria. But once that criteria is met and there is no major character issues, the delegation of authority is of God. So, this was the apostles' advice. The apostles' advice is select deacons. Verse 2, here are the qualifications. Verse 3, and that will liberate us apostles to do what God has actually called us to do. If I did everything people wanted me to do at Sugar Land Bible Church, and if I did everything people wanted me to do in the community, I really would have no time at the end of the day to be a decent Bible teacher, to study. I really wouldn't be a very good family person at the end of the day. It would pull me away from what God actually wants me to do. And so what's laid out here, I think, is a healthy principle. So what follows in verses five and six is the appointment of these deacons. You have their approval, verse five. The enumeration of who these deacons are, verse five. And then they're appointed into their role, verse six. So notice, if you will, verse five. It says this statement found approval with the whole congregation. And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip and Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, let's see, Parmenas, Nicholas, a proselyte from Antioch. Verse six, they brought these before the apostles, and after praying, they laid hands on them. So notice this first expression here. The statement found approval with the whole congregation. Why is the whole congregation happy with this? Because it's a way of resolving the diaspora Jews' widows being overlooked for food. That's why they're happy. And just because the statement found approval with the congregation doesn't mean the congregation had the authority to implement the decision. What you're going to see here is these deacons make the apostles slash elders aware of the problem. They nominate deacons for the position. But they're not actually installed and appointed until the apostles become involved. So this is an example of what we would call an elder-led church here, which is the same model that we follow here at Sugar Land Bible Church. Decision-making, when it comes to the final say, is made by the elders, which consists of a plurality of godly men. And, you know, we think that's the model that best fits the New Testament understanding of the church. We don't follow here a congregational-led model where the authority is vested in the congregation. There are a lot of churches that do that. That's why there's continual votes on this and that. That doesn't happen here at Sugar Land Bible Church because we want the congregation's input. We want their involvement. We want their nominations. We want them to have the freedom to come to elders when they see needs. But when it comes to making the final decision of are we going to do this or are we going to do that, it's made by a plurality of godly men. And the reason we don't follow the congregational-led model is the function of the local church is to bring the sheep to maturity. Ephesians 4 verses 11 and 12 says God has put gifted men into the church so that they can use their spiritual gifts so that the flock, the body of Christ can be matured so they can be equipped for service. So those that you are leading into maturity don't call the final shots, right? That would be like letting the inmates run the asylum. be like my daughter, you know, telling mom and dad how things are going to go. That's not how it works in the natural world. It's not how it works in the church world. The shepherds, the sheep don't control the shepherds. It's the shepherds that lead the sheep. It's the other way around. And I think a lot of that gets lost in sort of this American mindset of one man, one vote kind of thing, where the authority actually in many places rests with the congregation. We don't really find that in Scripture. We see final decision making being made through a plurality of godly men. The apostles are made aware of a need here in Acts 6 by the flock. Nominations are brought forward, but the actual installation and the decision to install deacons is something that resided with the apostles, who in this case are functioning as elders. So keep that in mind when you read these verses that say this statement found approval with the whole congregation. If you look at verse two, it says, so the 12 summoned the congregation of the disciples. It's the twelve that are implementing the decision. If you look at verse 3, it says, therefore brethren, the apostles now are speaking, select from among you seven men full of good reputation, etc. So the authority is vested here in the elders slash apostles. And as you look at verse 6, it says, these they brought before the apostles. And after praying, they, that's the apostles, laid hands on these deacons. So yeah, they're making decisions that's pleasing to the group, but the group is not controlling what the apostles are doing. This is not a congregational model as some try to turn it into, but it's an elder-led model. In fact, over in Acts chapter 4 verse 37, just to show you the authority of the elders slash apostles, It talks there about, let's see if I can remember his name, Barnabas, who owned a tract of land and sold it and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet. So it's the apostles that are determining how money is to be spent and how it's to be distributed in the local church. So again, not a congregational rule model, but an elder-led model. And then as you look at the second part of verse five, you see the names of these elders, excuse me, deacons that have just been selected. This statement found approval with the whole congregation and they chose, and it lists, several people here. The first is Stephen. And by the way, all of these names, Stephen, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicholas, those are all Greek names, which means all of these deacons come from the diaspora. So in this position, they didn't appoint native Jerusalemites. Everyone that's appointed comes from the diaspora to participate on the Day of Pentecost. Now, why did they do that? Why did they appoint all diaspora Jews to this position? And we think that's true because all of these names are Greek names. Just to make sure that there's no accusation that these widows are being treated unfairly, because the accusation was the Hellenistic Jews, not the native Hebrews, but the Hellenistic Jews, their widows were being overlooked. And so the apostles said, well, we're gonna solve this problem by making every single deacon a Hellenistic deacon. See that? And so that's why all of these names, interestingly, are Greek names. So let's kind of go through each of these guys very fast. The first one's name is Stephen. And Stephen is actually described here. There's two things said of Stephen. Number one, he's a man full of faith. That's who you want as a leader in a church, someone who's full of faith. That issue of faith is so significant to God because Hebrews 11 verse six says, without faith it is impossible to please him. For he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him. So people that should become leaders, deacons in a church should be people of faith, not only people that have been justified before God through faith alone, but people who continue to walk by faith and allow the Lord to use them. The second attribute of Stephen here is he is a man full of the Holy Spirit. He's a spiritual man. very different than Ananias and Sapphira, right? What did Peter say about Ananias? Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the land? Ananias, we think, was a believer, but his heart was filled with satanic things. Self-centered things. Stephen is the exact opposite. By the way, I think it's the same Greek word, phil, plurao. Stephen was a man that was full of the spirit. So he is what we would call, Stephen, a spiritual man. So this is the heritage of these deacons who came from the diaspora, as we've tried to explain. Stephen was a man full of faith, and he was a man full of the Spirit. You know 1 Corinthians 3, 1-3, right? Where Paul says, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. So when he says in Christ, he's talking about Christians. There's three kinds of Christians, spiritual, carnal, and babes. I fed you with milk, but not with solid food, for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you're still not able to. For you are still carnal, for where there is envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? So a carnal Christian is someone that can take in milk, but they can't take in solid food. They thrive on milk, but reject the meat. They have an inability to go deeper into spiritual things. That's why this church drives out carnal Christians all the time, because a carnal Christian will say, well, you can't expect us to sit here and listen to the Bible for an hour. Well, that's a revelation of someone's carnality. They will take in a surface, 20 minute, three points in a poem, but they can't take in any more than that because they're in a state of infancy or carnality. Carnality is also evidenced by, they're dominated by fleshly ambitions and desires like jealousy and strife. So Paul the Apostle, and actually a carnal Christian, when he says, are you not behaving like mere men? A carnal Christian can out-sin an unbeliever any day of the week. That's why Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter five says, you know, the pagans don't even do what y'all are doing. You've out-paganized the pagans as Christians. So he's not calling into question their salvation. Paul took the world and he divided it into two, the unbelievers and the believers. He calls the unbeliever the natural man. And most people, their thinking stops there, but Paul says, no, I'm gonna keep drawing. I'm gonna make some more categories here. I wanna divide the world of the saved into three kinds of people. Number one, there are the infants. Did you see the word infant there? Babes, 1 Corinthians 3.1, those are people that are new in Christ, and they're doing things that are age appropriate, like sucking your thumb when you're three years old. That's age appropriate. When you're sucking your thumb at age 17, it's not age appropriate anymore. The second category he describes are the carnal, people that should have grown up a long time ago. but their spiritual life as a Christian is still devoted to the meat, in this case the flesh, the sin nature. They haven't learned to reckon the sin nature dead and live according to the desires of the new nature. Not that God calls us to be sinless, that's sort of impossible, but a carnal Christian is not sinning less. They're exactly the same way they were one or two days or one or two weeks after salvation. And people can very sadly stay in that state for decades and decades and decades. That's why the author of Hebrews says, by this time, some of you ought to be teachers. But you need someone to teach you all over again the elementary truths of God's word. in Hebrews 5, 11 through 14 in a state of carnality far longer than what's age appropriate. So they're not infants anymore, they're just carnal. And then the third category of the saved is the spiritual. And I'm drawing it this way because Paul uses three different words here. And these are people that are growing Christians. They don't have a birth issue and they don't have a growth issue. The infant has been born, but there hasn't been enough time to grow. The carnal has been born, but they haven't grown beyond infancy when they should have by now. But the spiritual man is not the believer that's sinless but is sinning less and is learning to reckon the old desires dead and to live according to the desires of the new nature. Lewis Berry Chafer has a book entitled, He That Is Spiritual, describing that third group of the spiritual man. And that's who Stephen was. He was full of faith. He was full of the spirit. He was a spiritual man. And that's why he was appointed to the office of deacon. And that's why he's the first one mentioned. So they, apostles chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the spirit. Now, why is Stephen's name mentioned first? Because he's going to become the main act. At the end of act six, he's going to be arrested. Act seven, he's going to give one of the greatest speeches and sermons ever. And acts eight, he's going to be martyred. So he becomes the main act in chapter six, seven, and eight. And it's his martyrdom, the first death martyrdom in the church age, that's gonna lead to persecution against the church by the unbelieving Jews, which is gonna push the church out of Jerusalem into the surrounding areas of Judea and Samaria. And what revolves around all of that, including the conversion of Saul, who was actually going to administer Stephen's execution. And as he sees Stephen go to his grave glorifying God, I think a deep seed is gonna be planted in Saul's heart, leading to Saul's conversion in Acts 9. So if you don't have a Stephen, you don't have an arrest, chapter six, you don't have a speech, tremendous speech, chapter seven, You don't have a martyrdom, end of chapter seven. You don't have a persecution of the early church, chapter eight. And you don't have a conversion of Saul, who later became Paul, who's gonna write two thirds of our New Testament epistles. So the central character in this coming section that I've tried to outline is this man, Stephen. That's why he's mentioned first. Deacon number two is Philip. He's mentioned second because he's gonna be the main guy, the main character of action after Stephen goes into the presence of the Lord through martyrdom. So Philip is gonna do two things. He's gonna start a revival in Samaria, and Philip is going to lead the Ethiopian eunuch to Christ, Acts chapter eight. And if the Ethiopian eunuch is not led to Christ, Acts chapter 8, then how in the world can the gospel get into Africa? So the Ethiopian eunuch is gonna believe because of the influence of Philip. And presumably, the Ethiopian eunuch took the truths of the gospel and took it back to Africa, Ethiopia, and that's how the gospel made its way into Africa. So that's why Philip is the second guy I mentioned. because of the revival he's gonna lead in Samaria, and he's the one that's gonna lead the Ethiopian eunuch to Christ. So Stephen is mentioned first, because he's the main guy in chapters six, seven, and most of eight. Philip is mentioned second, because he's the main guy with the revival in Samaria in Acts 8, and the conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch. And then there's a few more of these deacons mentioned. that we don't have a lot of information on. Procorus, don't know much about him. Nicanor. Timon. Parmenas. And then Nicholas. If you're looking for a Saint Nick in your Bible, that's probably as close as you're gonna get. Nicholas. Now what does it say about Nicholas? This is very interesting. A proselyte. It doesn't give any other information on any of these other guys in between Philip and Nicholas, other than Nicholas more information is given about him. He is a proselyte. What is a proselyte? There were proselytes present to hear Peter preach on the day of Pentecost. Acts 2 verse 10 says Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the districts of Libya around Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes. You see Rome way up there in the west. There were people from Rome visiting Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost and happened to hear Peter's sermon, many of whom were converted. Who came from Rome in the West? Jews, Diaspora Jews, and proselytes. So, what is a proselyte? A proselyte is basically somebody who wanted to follow the ways of Yahweh. And consequently to do that, they converted to Judaism in the sense that they came under the authority of the Mosaic law. The most famous proselyte in the whole Bible that I know of is a woman named Ruth. There's a whole book written about her and her story. She was a Moabitess, meaning she lived adjacent to the land of Israel in the West, and she was converted through Naomi. And the situation that took place there in Ruth, and Ruth the Moabitess said to her mother-in-law, your God will be my God. Your people will be my people. And so she converted to Judaism in the sense that she as a Gentile deliberately put herself under the Mosaic law. That's what a proselyte was. And so apparently there were proselytes in Rome who went with the Jews to celebrate the feast of…the Day of Pentecost and then heard Peter preach and were converted to the way which later is going to be called Christianity. Jesus in Matthew 23 verse 15. said, woe to you scribes and Pharisees and hypocrites. I love the way Jesus talks because you travel around on the sea and the land to make one proselyte. And when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves. So the Pharisees were really interested in gaining proselytes. It's just, they weren't doing it the right way. When they gained one, they would put him under all this legalistic bondage. But that's not really what a proselyte is in the true sense of the word. So that's who this man Nicholas was. Nicholas, look at this, is also from Antioch. It says Nicholas, a proselyte from Antioch. Why should I care about Antioch? Whenever you're reading the Bible, you have to ask yourself, why is the writer telling me this? Why should I care about Antioch? Well, Antioch is on the northern tip of Israel, and it's gonna become a big deal. Because it's from Antioch, many, many people will get saved. The apostles will go there in great numbers, discipling the masses. And the apostle Paul, from Antioch, is going to launch his three missionary. why Luke tells us that this man Nicholas came from Antioch. Maybe Nicholas played some kind of role in seeing that the gospel made its way to Antioch, which is going to become a key geographical sending place later on in the book of Acts. Now, in the book of Revelation, there's a heresy floating around called the heresy of the Nicolaitans. related to the church at Pergamum and the church at Ephesus. Jesus says this to the church at Ephesus much later, yet this you do have that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans which I also hate. And then to Pergamum he says, so you also have some who in the same way hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. And scholars spend all this time trying to figure out what's the heresy of the Nicolaitans. Nobody knows. I've read probably every theory that can be out there and nobody knows exactly what it is. The best you can do is put the heresy together from the name. Laotans means laity, people. Niko, where we get the Nike company. Nikeo means victor, conqueror. So when you put Nikeo together with laity, it was some kind of system, I think, and I can't prove this. I'm just getting it from the etymology of the word. It was some kind of system where there was a laity-clergy distinction where the laity were told they couldn't get to God unless they came through the conquerors, kind of like Roman Catholicism says you can't come to God unless you go through a priest. I think that's what the heresy of the Nicolaitans was. Gnostics did this constantly. They told people, you can't really be complete in Christ until you have our secret knowledge. So here's the laity, here's God, and they put themselves right in the middle and kind of promoted themselves as a pathway to God. It's the beginning of clergy-laity type distinctions. So churches that follow this kind of thing, the clergy all have a special place where they sit and they have these special robes and all of this stuff that other people don't have. That's kind of what I think Nicolaitanism is. And the reason I'm bringing this up is a lot of people speculate that Nicolaitan came from Nicholas. There's a similar sounding word, Nicholas, Nicolaitans. So a lot of people see Nicholas as sort of a drifter who started this heresy that Jesus confronts in the book of Revelation. And it's something that's very interesting to think about. I just don't think you can be 100% dogmatic on it, but you'll read that in a lot of commentaries coming from Nicholas. So these deacons are now appointed, verse 6, and these they brought before the apostles. And after praying, they laid hands on them. So notice who's making the decision. The congregation is making the apostles aware of the need, but it's the apostles functioning as elders that have the final say. And then as they're appointing these deacons, they're laying hands on them. Now what's this whole business of laying on of hands? What does that mean? The first time it's used in the Bible is Numbers 27, 22 and 23. It says Moses did just as the Lord commanded him and he took Joshua and set him before Eliezer the priest and before all the congregation. Then he laid hands on him and commissioned him just as the Lord had spoken through Moses. So it's a ritual where you publicly lay hands on someone when you're appointing them to an office of some kind within the church. And since these are all Jewish people, they all knew that custom. And so it's carried over into the church age. Paul, when he writes to Timothy, makes reference to this laying on of hands. He says, do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance. with the laying on of hands of the presbytery or elders. So the elders recognized the spiritual gifting of Timothy. And when he was appointed to the office of pastor teacher over the church at Ephesus, there was a public ceremony where the leadership of the church laid hands on Timothy. Paul in the same book, 1st Timothy 5.22 says this, do not lay hands upon anyone too hastily. And thereby share responsibility for the sins of others. Keep yourselves free from sin. In other words, you could do it too fast. publicly appoint someone to some kind of position before they have the character to handle it, or without the leadership knowing the full character of the person that they're appointing. So I've seen this happen in churches where you have a gap, a ministry that you need filled, and you're so eager to fill that void or that gap that you just, you grab the first person that you think might fit and you rush them into the position before that person has really been vetted. So that's why Paul, when he's writing to church leaders, says, be careful. Laying on of hands is a good thing, but don't do it too fast. And don't do it with elders, and don't do it with deacons, because there's actual character attributes that an elder or deacon has to have. It has to be visible and understandable and known to everyone before you lay hands on somebody. But anyway, there's approval, there's the enumeration of the deacons, and then you see their appointment into this office. And because the church was doing things God's way, there's a blessing that follows. And the blessing is recorded in verse 7, which is the last verse we're going to look at tonight. Says the Word of God kept on spreading. And the number of disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem. And a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith. So three really good things happened because deacons are appointed and the apostles are liberated to pursue prayer and the Word in a more prioritized way. Three good things happened. Number one, the Word of God increased. You see the focus here on the Word. Verse four, we will devote ourselves to the ministry of the Word. of verse 7, the Word of God continued to increase. Verse 2, it is not desirable for us to neglect the Word, to wait on tables. So the Word, logos, which I think here is the Scripture, is spoken of in verse 2, it's spoken of in verse 4, and it's spoken of in verse 7. That's why this is an internal crisis. there could have been here a crisis of the word. Because the apostles slash elders would have been too busy doing something else, no time for the word. But because they did what God was directing them to do, they had time for the word, and the word of God increased. Which is a good thing, amen? Because when the word of God increases, power increases. Because there's power in the word. Isaiah chapter 55 verses 10 and 11. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return without watering the earth, making it barren sprout and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so will my word, which goes forth from my mouth, it will not return to me empty. without accomplishing what I desire and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it. So when God's Word goes out, it doesn't return empty. I have to be honest with you, I have to hang on that promise constantly because a lot of times you're up here and it's kind of lonely. You're trying to teach the Word and you don't know exactly what's happening. So you hang on the promise that when God's word goes out, it doesn't return empty. It always succeeds in the reason for which it was sent. Jeremiah 23, 29 is not my word. Like fire declares the Lord and like a hammer, which shatters rocks. Hebrews chapter four verse 12, the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit of both joints and marrow and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Second Timothy four two, preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction. So the word increased. Because the apostles slash elders had time to devote themselves to a study and a proclamation of the word because they weren't sidetracked into a service project, which on its surface was a good service project, but not for the apostles. That's a deacon's project. The apostles and elders have a different set of priorities. The second good thing that happened is the number of disciples increased. Verse 7 and the number of disciples Continued to increase in Jerusalem. Why did the number of disciples increase? Because conversions happen through the Word of God Romans 10 verse 17 faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ 2nd Timothy 3 15 And from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. First Peter 1.23, for you have been born again, not of spiritual seed which is perishable, but imperishable, that is through the living and enduring word of God. All of these verses say people get saved through hearing the word. Remember the guy that went to hell and he said, let me out, I've got five brothers. Or send somebody out, I don't know if he said let me out, but send somebody to warn my brothers. Remember the answer that was given to him? Luke 16, 28 through 31, for I have five brothers in order that he may warn them so that they will not also come to this place of torment. But Abraham said, they have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them. But he said, no, Father Abraham, if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent. But he said to him, if they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone comes back from the dead or rises from the dead. In other words, the word of God is the best. It's the very best ingredient that God has to save a soul. And if a person doesn't want to hear that, you can do miracles until the cows come home. They won't listen because there's a certain degree of authority and power in the word. So the disciples here are increasing because now the word of God is going out and the church continues to grow. since there's no longer a division concerning the Hellenistic Jews being overlooked. I think Luke includes this because it's one of his progress reports that he's giving to Theophilus about the birth and the growth of the church, documenting how the church started and how it grew geographically, ethnically, and numerically. And he documents the numerical growth of the church as we've studied through various progress reports. 3,000 are saved. Later on, the number's up to 5,000. And there's some more less clear indirect progress reports like the one we're reading here. The church continues to grow. And why wouldn't it grow? Didn't Jesus say, I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not overpower it? So when Christianity spreads, it shouldn't be a big shock to us. Jesus said that would happen. But these conversions happen through the word. And as the apostles are giving themselves to the word, the church is increasing. You'll notice it says in Jerusalem, because the book of Acts is divided into three parts. You'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria, even to the remotest parts of the earth. That's how you outline the book of Acts. Jerusalem ministry, chapters 1 through 7, Judea and Samaria ministry, 8 through 12, remotest parts of the earth ministry, the missionary journeys of Paul and his trip to Rome, outside the borders of Israel, chapters 13 through 28. We're not even in those latter sections yet. We're just early on in the book of Acts. We haven't even gotten outside of Jerusalem yet. So it says the word of God is expanding in Jerusalem. Later, it's going to get out into the surrounding areas of Judea and Samaria. Ultimately, we'll get outside of the borders of Israel and all the way to Rome, where Theophilus is going to hear the message and be saved. So Luke is documenting all of these things for Theophilus. And then the third really good thing that happened through the appointment of deacons is the end of verse seven. And a great many of, this is amazing, a great many of the priests were coming obedient to the faith. Who are the priests? The Sadducees. who were always sad, you see, right, Sadducees, because they didn't believe in miracles, they didn't believe in resurrection, and they only believed in the first five books of Moses. And here's this church in Jerusalem proclaiming the word, and even these hard-minded, prideful, hard-hearted Sadducees are getting saved. I mean, the least likely group of people to get saved are getting saved. So you've got people in your life and you're saying that person will never get saved. Well, let the Word of God do its thing. And you'll be shocked at the number of people that you never thought would be saved, getting saved. And these Sadducees are being won to the faith. See that? A great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith. What's the faith? Definite article in front of the noun faith. It's the apostolic doctrine. Of the resurrected Christ that the apostles are teaching. Going all the way back to Acts 2 verse 42, what does it mean there when it says they were becoming obedient to the faith? Does that mean you have to to get saved? You have to submit every area of your life to Christ. The way Lordship salvation teaches. No, all you have to do is accept a gift. A free offer of salvation. So you have to understand obedient the way John 336 describes it. It says the one who believes in the sun has eternal life, but the one who does not obey the sun see that. Will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. When it says, but the one who does not obey the sun, you have to say, obey the sun to do what? Obey the sun to do what? To believe. God's command is to believe. But there are people that won't obey that command. There are others that do obey the command. They believe and get saved. So that's how Acts chapter 6 verse 7 is using this expression, obedient to the faith. People are obeying the command to believe in Christ alone and consequently be saved. And so it's just a wonderful thing that God does here through this really significant office of deacons. And God's hand is on it so significantly that it's going to result in Stephen's arrest. Rest of the chapter. Leading to one of the greatest speeches. With no sermon notes, I might add. In front of the enemies of Christianity. In chapter 7. Leading to Stephen's martyrdom. End of chapter 7. the first martyr of the church age. And as Stephen dies, Jesus will be portrayed in heaven as standing. Jesus never stands in heaven. He's always seated at the Father's right hand. But at the end of chapter seven, Jesus is standing. I think to welcome Stephen into heaven and to honor him as the first martyr of the church age And the guy that administers this martyrdom, presides over it, is so mad that he's just gnashing his teeth. My dentist would have a field day with that guy, because I'm a grinder. I have to wear a little thing to keep me from grinding my teeth at night. There's some real teeth grinders going on here, and they're not even napping. They're grinding their teeth because they're just so angry at what Stephen says because he points out all of Israel's faults. And the teeth grinders, Saul being one, is so angry at the content of the speech that the martyrdom of Stephen is not enough. They then launch a persecution against the whole church. which is exactly what God wanted because it pushed them into Judea and Samaria, which they probably wouldn't have gone into absent persecution. And so what spearheads this whole thing, this whole chain of events is the appointment of deacons. So next time, if you could, read verses eight through 15, and we'll try to finish chapter six next week. Lord, we're just thankful for today. Thankful for your truth and your word. Thankful for the record in the book of Acts. Help us to walk these things out. I pray for all these people that came out in what we in Texas consider to be really cold weather. So I just pray that you'll bless them for their efforts. I pray you'll give them traveling mercies on the way home. And we lift up all of these things in Jesus' name. God's people said.