QT 10/5/2024 Acts 6:2-4, The importance of using your gift

Acts 6:2–4 (ESV) —

2 And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. 3 Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. 4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

 

NOTE: "It is not right" is not an indication that one thing is more important than another thing, that is, the twelve are not saying that preaching is more important than serving. I think the Apostles are not able to use their spiritual gifts because others in the body were not using their spiritual gifts as they should. They chose seven men to take over this ministry, these men are our first examples of deacons. They serve in a way that relieves the pastor/elders to serve as God has gifted them.

 

Our church currently does not have a lay-elder role, or at least not officially. We only have deacons and then paid full-time pastors. But, God is not limited by structure or scheme. If a person is a pastor-teacher (elder) then he needs to exercise that gift, even if he does not receive or have that title. My gifts are teaching, studying, discipling, and giving. I can serve, all people should serve, but it does not excite me like teaching does. Still, I can perform the role of an elder even if there is no position or title in the church. The body has parts, not titles or name plates. The most important thing is that we discover our gift and then utilize it, whether or not there seems to be a place for it. There is always a place for a gift, we might have to create it by doing it.

 

PONDER:

1. What is/are my gifts and how am I using it/them?
2. Am is using an excuse of no places to serve for the reason I am not exercising my gift?

 

PRAYER: Father, thank you for the body I serve in. I pray for wisdom for the new pastor as he brings in new practices. I pray you would protect him. I pray that our church would be unified and accept his leadership.

QT 10/4/2024 Acts 11:2-21, An exceptional church example

Acts 11:19–29 (ESV) —

19 Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews. 20 But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Jesus. 21 And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. 22 The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23 When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose, 24 for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord. 25 So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26 and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.

27 Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 And one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world (this took place in the days of Claudius). 29 So the disciples determined, every one according to his ability, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea.

 

NOTE: Antioch, more than Jerusalem, was really the first century sending church. They were growing and impacting their community and others. They saw needs and determined how to meet those needs. They sent missionaries and would be the church supporting Paul's first two missionary journeys. What I also like about this passage is how a handful of unnamed men from Cyprus and Cyrene started the most influential church in Europe. Not only that, but this Church was made up of Hellenistic Jews, Proselytes, and formerly pagan Gentiles. We don't know if they had to become Jews first but I imagine after the arrival of Saul, and his year of teaching, they were grounded in the true gospel. This is the church, a body composed of many different parts, following the Lord, and taking steps to both love others and to share the gospel.

 

PONDER:

1. How does my church look? Are we reaching out? Are we sharing the gospel?
2. Does my church make disciples? Are people growing in their relationship with God?
3. Is my church a place for religion (rules and rituals) or a place for a relationships with Jesus to grow?

 

PRAYER: Father, Continue to lead our church in your will. Help us to be receptive and excited about what you are doing in our midst. May there be growth and change and excitement caused by our relationship to you.

QT 7/1/2021 Acts 9:32-43, Healed to work

 

QT 6/30/2021 Acts 9:23-31, Taking risks for Jesus

 

QT 6/29/2021 Acts 9:20-22, Transformed

 

QT 6/28/2021 Acts 9:10-19, Seeing and yet blind

 

QT 6/24/2021 Acts 9:9, Too busy to listen

QT 6/23/2021 Acts 8:34-40, Being open to God's leading

 

QT 6/22/2021 Acts 8:25-30, The gospel is inclusive of all peoples

QT 6/21/2021 Acts 8:18-24, We are not perfect but we should be changing

 

QT 12 Oct 2020, Acts 1:7-8, How to witness using new wineskins

 

QT 16 Sep 18, Acts 10:38, What are we here doing?

Acts 10:38 (ESV) — … how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.

NOTE: It seems like such an insignificant comment about Jesus, but it really captures the purpose of any believer's life is the sentence, "He went about doing good …." I think that would be a nice epitaph for just about anyone. That would mean that you were not remembered for: causing strife, angering people, spoiling people's job, breaking down their accomplishments, using hurtful names, talking behind another's back, ridiculing another's beliefs, and many other things. Of course, one might reply that sometimes we must do those things when another person is in error. Jesus chose two paths in that regard. In one case he gently instructed people with error. He used questions to draw out another's thinking. He was compassionate on the lost and struggling. He also dealt harshly with some, but that was always individuals with authority who were propagated things that were untrue, not those who had an error to themselves.

PRAYER: It is so easy to use the things you have given us for the wrong reasons. Help us to be gentle in our words and our interactions. May others remember us as individuals 'who went about doing good.'

QT 19 Jul 18, Acts 17:30-31, Pain is God's megaphone that the world is not as he intended

Week	Passage	Date	Verse	Thought	Prayer
12	Acts 17:22-34	7/19	Acts 17:30–31 (ESV) — 30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”	The world is not the way God intended. In the garden, God gave us what we wanted, independence from his rule (his commands) and he also gave us the consequences. It is easy to look at the pain in the world and wonder if God exists. But the reality is that the pain in the world is intended to remind us of our rebellion and our need to repent. God is not pleased with evil. He has fixed a day to judge the earth by Jesus. He will restore the earth as he intended with him ruling and it will be far different than what we experience today. But the key is that we need to repent of the rebellion that we are part.	Father, open our eyes to our own evil. Help us to patiently wait for the day when you will restore all things. May we stand up against the evil in the world in the meantime. Let us not shrink back. What you call sin, is sin. It is not good. It is nothing to be prideful about.

QT 18 Jul 18, Act 17:18, We need to honestly seek truth and not hide it away

Week	Passage	Date	Verse	Thought	Prayer
12	Acts 17:16-21	7/18	Acts 17:18 (ESV) — Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, “What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection.	People are always trying to categorize the gospel in a box or dismiss it in some way. We respond to truth in a classic Babylonian way. We believe we are own gods and we decide our own fate. In the garden we rebelled against God and his commands. Today, we actively continue that rebellion in all ways possible. Things that God calls sin, we call good. We rejoice in our wickedness and take PRIDE in our rebellion. Nowadays, our category for Paul's message is myth and stories for the weak of mind. But our pride has blinded us to even the idea of investigating the truth that was spoken (yea, lived) 2000 years ago.	Father, forgive us for our stupidity. Open our eyes to truth. May we not hide from it. Can things get any worse spiritually for us as a nation, and a world? I'm sure it is so, but it would be so painful. Have mercy on us.

QT 12 July 18, Acts 4:12, Christianity does not mix with other faiths, it is one way or no way

Week	Passage	Date	Verse	Thought	Prayer
11	Acts 4:1-12	7/12	Acts 4:12 (ESV) — And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”	Peter did not flinch from the truth, Jesus is the only way to salvation. Yes, Christianity is exclusive. Actually, Ravi Zacharias argues that all religions are to a degree. And it doesn't make sense for it not to be exclusive. If Jesus says that he is the Son of God and that he is the way, the truth, and the life, then by definition, he is either completely right or completely wrong. God cannot lie. You can't mix Christianity with other faiths. It is a logical impossibility. If Jesus was not who he claimed to be, the Christianity is false. If Jesus was who he claimed to be, all other religions are false.	Father open our eyes to truth and logic. Free us from our emotional decision making process and help us to see truth, absolute truth. Un-blind us so that we can think.

QT 4 Feb 16, Acts: 1:6-8, I have a job and it's not God's job

Historical QT 11 Nov 1987, Our witness requires our observation

Acts 2:47 …  praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

NOTE: This is what it will take to win people to the Lord in this new age. We need a witness which is so overwhelming and so positive that it draws people to us to find out what makes us different. Lord, I pray in the years ahead, that you give my family and I that type of witness -- and bring many through us to yourself. Amen.

((TODAY, 5 Jul 2012: It is still early in the morning, that 11 Nov 87. The birth will not occur until 11pm later in the day. At this point, we still believed that everything would be alright, that God had answered our prayer for healing. The shock that would confront us was unimaginable.  God did use our story as a witness for many years and to many people. And we learned the importance of compassion toward others--not to be so inwardly focused. We learned that people are out there hurting and we never noticed. We were about to be confronted with pain and suffering at a level far beyond our understanding, and many around us would never notice either. The world is full of pain and hurt, do we stop and notice?))