Take Notice!

Last night in Core Group, we worked our way through Acts 6:1-7. As the community of believers in Jerusalem continued to grow, there was more to do than the disciples could handle. Here are a few observations we made as we discussed the passage:

  1. The disciples knew that they were the most qualified to continue the teaching of Jesus and that they needed to focus on that. At the same time, they knew it was important for the church to continue to do the things Jesus had taught them to do — in this case, meet physical needs.
  2. Even the task of distributing food was not taken lightly, as the disciples specifically chose men who were full of the Spirit and wisdom. They weren’t just looking for able bodies, but Godly hearts. Because they chose men of Godly character, these men were able to rise to prominence in the spreading of the kingdom, and we will see examples of this through Stephen and Philip in the next few weeks. As Godly people of character are given opportunties to stretch out their gifts through Pathways, who knows what God has in store for them!
  3. This section closes noting that even a large number of priests were beginning to follow Jesus. After all the spiritually glamorous things that had happened in the early church, why did that happen after this seemingly mundane event? Perhaps it was because they were seeing genuine authentic faith inaction. For so long, the Jewish religion had been sidetracked to just doing the right things. Here was a group of people who were so genuine and authentic about their faith that, though God was doing pretty incredible things among them, they were serious about meeting the needs of individuals. What they were teaching was real, and they were living it out. Perhaps that was fresh water for so many priests who had been caught in the duty of their religion for so long and they were beginning to take notice. We closed out the night praying that we too could draw people through the combination of a solid understanding of Truth, combined with a community of people putting that truth in action. We prayed that we could continue the work of Jesus, adn that the world would take notice.
This entry was posted on Thursday, May 5th, 2005 at 2:48 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “Take Notice!”

  • Rob-roy Nelson Says:
    May 6th, 2005 at 12:26 pm

    I enjoyed the key points of your study in Acts 6. It is encouraging and challenging to read about the early believers allowing God to work through them.

  • Josh Says:
    May 13th, 2005 at 11:32 am

    Dean- Had a blast this last week (May 11th), although we missed everyone else. The martyrdom of Stephen reminds me how easily we have it in our world. I hope that we can all challenge each other in our faith, and deal with the tough parts of Christianity. You and John, Keep the focus, God and His Spirit will provide the rest.

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