 We're in chapter six of the book of Acts. If you'd like to open your Bibles, I intend to take us through the chapter. There's only 15 verses, and we'll be spending a good portion of our time looking at the qualities of a leader that we find here in this particular portion of scripture. So I'll begin reading to you here in Acts chapter six at verse one. I'll read to verse seven and get into our study. Acts chapter six, beginning at verse one, reading to verse seven. Luke writes, now in those days when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a complaint against the Hebrews by the Hellenists, because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution. Then the 12 summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, it is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business, but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word. And the saying pleased the whole multitude, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit. And Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenus, Nicholas, Bobby, Joe and Bill. No, I'm sorry. And Nicholas, the proselyte from Antioch, whom they set before the apostles. And when they had prayed, they laid hands on them. Then the word of God spread and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem and a great many of their priests were obedient to the faith, obedient to the gospel. The term the faith speaks concerning the message of the gospel. And so as we begin, let's remember that the last time we were together, we had seen how the apostles had been beaten for their faith in Jesus Christ. And as we were concluding that chapter, chapter five, it was interesting to note the reaction that they had to that beating. It says in chapter five, verse 41, they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. And so their attitude was that they rejoiced over the fact that they were suffering in the name of Jesus Christ. In other words, it was a real privilege to suffer for Jesus. This suffering that would be referred to here is something that we find to be the part, part of the walk of a believer. Suffering is part of your spiritual life. It's interesting how in Philippians one, verse 29, how Paul says, for to you it has been granted. It has been granted on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake. It has been granted. You've been privileged, he's saying, to not only believe which leads to eternal life, but also to go through this life and to suffer. Now, we need to remember that before Jesus had died, he had spent three years preparing his disciples for the work of ministry and the teaching that he gave to them in preparation would have included that they would be persecuted. Remember in Matthew 10, verses 16 and 17, how he said, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves, therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves, but beware of men, for they will deliver you up to the councils, they will scourge you in their synagogue. So Jesus prepared them for this, the inevitability of persecution. In John 16, he said in verses two through four, they will put you out of the synagogue. Yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. Think about that one for a moment, because in our society right now, in our world right now, we are seeing Christians killed by those who think that they are doing their God service. That's happening right now. When a Muslim kills a Christian, they believe that they are doing God service and Jesus made it very clear that that would take place. He said, these things they will do to you because they have not known the father nor me, but these things I've told you that when the time comes, you may remember that, I told you of them. These things I did not say to you at the beginning because I was with you. And so we see that the apostles have been forewarned and they were prepared for this treatment and with this knowledge, this preparation, they endured the beating. It says in verse 40 that they had been threatened and they were commanded to cease teaching. And verse 42 tells us the reaction was that they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ. So let's develop something with you because I want to spend some time here in chapter six looking at the selection of leaders and the quality of leaders. In order to do that, we need to remember they had been threatened, they were commanded to cease preaching and teaching in the name of Christ, but instead of obeying men, they obeyed God. And the church as a result of their obedience and willingness to continue in the name of Christ continues to grow. Now when you look at the pattern of growth in all, we know that the apostle Peter had preached on Pentecost and we saw the result of his preaching were 3,000 who were saved. We saw that at the healing at the beautiful gate that the number grew to over 5,000 men. We know that after the judgment on Ananias and Sapphira, the church continued to grow. Now we looked last time and noted that some didn't want to join after the hypocrisy of Ananias and Sapphira had been judged. We saw in chapter five verse 11 that great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things. And in chapter five verse 14, we went on to say believers were increasingly added to the Lord multitudes of both men and women. And so after the judgment, there was still a growth that was continuing. So there are those who estimate the size of the church or believers at that time to have been around 20,000 when we get to chapter six. And so during the season of rapid growth, many believers had become impoverished. We've already seen this again, but to minister to those in financial need, the church established what would be called today a general fund. In Acts two, 44 and 45, it said all believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. In chapter four verses 34 and 35, it says there were no needy persons among them for from time to time, those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales, put it at the apostles feet. It was distributed to anyone as he had need. And so in the early days of the church, they would sell possessions, they had what would be called a general fund and they would minister to those in need from that fund. So as is true today, the church was growing rapidly. And so when the church was growing rapidly, there was going to be some neglect that was experienced. With the church growing as fast as it was, it was inevitable that some neglect would occur. Now that is something, this neglect, this thing here that's taken place that we're looking at in chapter six, that neglect is something that Satan will use to attack the church. Now he's already begun to attack the church. He had attacked it first and foremost through religious opposition. The religious leaders had risen in opposition, they had arrested the apostles, they had beaten the apostles. So he tried to attack the church first and foremost through opposition from the outside. But when that's not effective, he now begins a second tactic and that is, if you can't destroy it from the outside, destroy it from the inside. Now didn't Jesus teach us that? Didn't he say that a house that is divided against itself cannot stand? It's a very old tactic, divide and conquer. And that's what the enemy does. If he can't destroy the work from the outside, he'll just join the church. Now he had attempted at first by provoking Ananias and Sapphira to lie to God in the sales of a possession of property. And that wasn't effective because God simply purged the evil. But he's relentless. So he begins to attack by creating dissension within the church. And what he does, and we're seeing it here in chapter six, is he pits two groups in the church against one another. What he does is he inspires dissension between the Hebrews and the Hellenists. We'll look at that in just a moment. But what you're looking at is, you're looking at a cultural kind of thing. There are cultural differences between the Hebrews and the Hellenists. And I'll look at that in some practical ways in just a moment. Now, Hellenists were Jews who were not born in Israel. Their language and their culture was Greek. So they were considered by the Hebrews as second-class Israelites. There existed a racial and cultural animosity in the hearts of the Jews who were born, raised, and were cultural and linguistic Hebrews. There was an animosity between the Hebrews who were cultural Hebrews, born, raised in Israel, and the Hellenists who were Jews, but were Greek-speaking and had been influenced by Greek culture. Many of these Hellenists had been converted during the Pentecost outpouring. And they had remained behind. They were serving in the church. They were learning from the apostles. Others were more than likely retirees from other lands living out the last days in Israel. And so there is now a division that's occurring. And we're gonna look at that for just a moment. Notice again in verse one, in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a complaint against the Hebrews by the Hellenists. Why? Their widows were neglected in the daily distribution. The general fund that was used to support the people in need, there was a preferential treatment taking place for the Hebrews as opposed to carrying for the Hellenists. And so there was a neglect of their widows in what was called the daily distribution. Now, carrying for widows is part of the Jewish heritage. And to care for widows was expected by all. In the Old Testament law in chapter 24 of the book of Deuteronomy verses 19 through 21, Deuteronomy 24, 19 through 21, it says, when you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the alien, the fatherless and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for the alien, the fatherless and the widow. When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the alien, the fatherless and the widow. There was a concern for the widow because in their culture she would have been the most helpless individual, widows and orphans. And so God was making sure all the way in the Old Testament when he gave the law to make sure that the nation of Israel cared for the helpless, cared for the widows. Up to this point, unity and generous concern is the norm for the body. They were united, they were pressing forth with the word of God, people were being saved, but now grumbling begins to occur within the church. Notice how it says there arose a murmuring against the Hebrews by the Hellenists. The word murmuring, the word murmuring is a word that we don't use an awful lot today. It's a biblical word, it's literally translated a secret debate. It's a secret displeasure that is not openly spoken of. Murmuring is always wrong because it is divisive. And so there's a secret debate, a murmuring against the Hebrews by the Hellenists because the widows are neglected. The word neglected there in the original language means to be overlooked due to partiality. So there was a partiality taking place. The Hellenists, the widows, the culturally Greek Jews, their widows were being neglected while the Hebrew widows were being cared for. And it was a cultural thing that caused a tremendous problem. This isn't in my notes, but I'll say this very briefly. I don't even know how to say this properly, but I'll say it like this. Is it possible for people to this day to have division in churches based on cultural differences? And the answer is obvious. Yes, of course. Si, como no. No, yes, of course. That's all I know. It's the only Spanish I know. But can that happen? Yes, of course. Can there be cultural differences that lead to division? Absolutely, absolutely. What are we supposed to do as a church? What is the body of Christ supposed to do? Is the body of Christ supposed to be broken into certain demographics where you have a church that is for blacks, a church that is for Hispanics, a church that is for Asians, a church for those who are white, a church for Native Americans. Is that what we're supposed to do? Are we supposed to break the church down into cultural demographics in order so that everybody who feels a certain way about a certain thing, whether it's language or music or whatever, that they feel at home right there. So let's create a cultural church rather than a biblical church. We have to be careful. We have to be careful. Because it's interesting to me that the first division that you find in the church was over culture. It was over differences of culture, of language. It was a division that was sparked by Satan because he was provoking them to believe that they were being treated as second-class citizens because of their cultural differences. God help us as a church, even in these last days, to remember that we're one in Jesus Christ. God help us to remember who we are. Because sometimes we forget. Sometimes we will put, we will put our differences in the forefront and fail to unite at the things that are most important. And in the early church, it's interesting to note that the first division was a cultural division between the Hebrews and the Hellenists. And that continues to this day. I can tell you stories, and I won't because I didn't prepare this message to tell you these stories, but I can tell you that there have been things said that have come to my ears that are so wrong and so wrong based on, on, on cultural differences that people just don't feel comfortable when they're around people who aren't exactly like them. But he has made us all out of one blood. All of us belong together. God help us all. God help the church today. God help us all to know that that person next to you, whether they're from your same language group, your same ethnic group or whatever, that if that person is a brother or sister, if that person's a believer, they belong to you. They're your family. And we need to understand that. We need to, we need to, we need to hold fast to the things that unite us and be careful about those things that divide us. And here what we have is we have a division because the Hebrews apparently are carrying more for their own than they are for the Hellenists. And so a murmuring occurs. You see, unity is intended by God to be a living testimony of what God can do. God repairs the broken. That's what he does. And when we dwell together in unity, it is something that brings glory to God. Psalm 133 verse one says, how good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity. Now this problem is growing because according to verse two, the 12 summoned the multitude of the disciples and said it's not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. So the problem has reached the ears of the apostles. And what is their response while they deal with it? They deal quickly and firmly and they deal with it spiritually. They don't ignore the problem. They don't think it's gonna disappear all by itself. They actually deal with it. So they had to establish within the community an understanding of priorities. And their ministry priority was to teach and preach God's word to the church as well as reaching the world. So they needed to make sure that the needs of the people were not neglected. So to make sure that they were cared for, what they do is they delegate power to those who can help. One of the things to always remember is every growing ministry requires training, selection and delegation. Every ministry that is gonna be used by the Lord requires that. You see, it's not possible for the apostles to meet all the needs of all the people. And again, the first division was over physical and not spiritual lack. It would seem that when the Lord is increasing a work numerically, neglect can occur. It's one of those human relations problems that cannot be avoided. And people are not always understanding, concerning these kinds of things. You see, people always have needs, of course. And when you're part of a church fellowship, the needs that people have within the body, within that church family, those needs are, well, we attempt to meet those needs the best that we can. But some requests are just not reasonable. And therefore you have to be aware of that. I as a leader of this church have to be aware that some requests just aren't reasonable. I cannot meet every need. Yeah, there are gonna be problems. And yeah, there's a lot of people and all. And it's difficult to meet every need. And you would be surprised at some of the things that people expect. Many, many years ago, when we moved into this building over 20 years ago, we were having in this building here, in this room here, we were having triple services. And there were people already who were seated outside in different places. And I still remember somebody in our fellowship who was upset at me because he said, he said, I've been gone for a while and David didn't even call me or know. And I couldn't help but smile within my own heart about that. And I thought, that's, how could I know? How could I know you were gone? There's so many people in the room. There's so many people here. And then they're sitting outside. How do I know you're gone? And I developed a saying at that time and I don't use it anymore, but I'll say it right now. I said, funny thing about telephones, they not only receive, but they also dial out. And so if you expect me to call you, how do I know you were gone? How could I know you were gone? Why didn't you call and tell me? Why didn't you let me know? Why would you expect me in the midst of so many faces to not see your ugly face? I obviously knew them real well, but it's true. I mean, that's a fact. There are just some unreasonable expectations. I'm supposed to be able to tell which sheep is hurting the most and I'm supposed to approach them. I'm supposed to send flowers and cards to every hurting person in the church. I'm supposed to tell people what to do and not tell them to read, pray, and decide for themselves. I'm supposed to receive any phone call that comes into my office anytime, anytime. It's just not possible. What can we do? What can we do to minister to so many who are hurting? What is the answer? Well, the answer is found before us because notice the response in verse two. It is not desirable to leave God's word to deal in church business. When he speaks about the tables, when he says it's not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. The word tables actually is used to speak of a stand. It could be even used as the stand that was used by money changers. He's speaking about church business. You see, the danger that the apostles was that the apostles time would be jeopardized by church business. Their ministry priority was to teach and preach God's word and to pray and that's what they're saying. They're not about to go about stamping out church brush fires because those can be distractions. You see, that is one of the typical temptations of the enemy. What the enemy does is he works to divert attention from important things. And the important thing for the pastor, for the leaders and in this context for these men, these apostles, the important thing was the word of God in prayer. So one of the greatest temptations any spiritual leader can have is the temptation to leave God's word to handle the distractions. So there's problems with buildings or with finances or operational concerns, non-emergencies and all of those things can distract you. So in order to be able to meet the needs of a growing group of people, you have to develop a leadership. You have to have people who can carry out those kinds of things. And so here's your solution, verse three. Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom whom we may appoint over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer in the ministry of the word. So the apostles knew what they were to do. They stay connected with God and give out God's word. But the business could be taken care of by those who had spiritual qualifications. So what they do is they delegate the people to select seven men to meet that need. What will happen is the apostles will confirm their decision, but these people are to select the qualified men. We need to remember, of course, these are jobs, but they're spiritual jobs. So spiritual jobs require spiritual men. And so these men have spiritual qualifications. Now, as we look at these things, I would say this to you. There are some in this room I know right now who have a position of or a desire for spiritual leadership. And so as we go through this together, one, I think these things that we're gonna see are not amazingly unique in one sense. I think that we all could have these qualities. But in another sense, these are the qualities that are necessary for spiritual leadership. And if you are leading right now, if you have a spiritual position that you're leading in, why don't you take personal inventory as we go through this and see the various things that qualified leaders? You see, when you look in the Old Testament, Moses had to select man to lead. And in the Old Testament, they also needed certain qualities. There's a story that goes about, it's found in the book of Exodus 18, how that Moses was judging the children of Israel. He sat in judgment. He was the judge as like an illegal judge. He would handle cases that were brought to him all day long. And he had a father-in-law who asked him, what are you doing? And Moses said, well, I'm judging the people. That's what I do. And his father-in-law, Jethro said, that thing that you're doing is not good. You're gonna burn yourself out. You can't be doing this. And so what you need to do is you need to have people who share that burden, who help you. So he said, Jethro said in Exodus 18, 21 and 22, you shall select from all the people, able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covenants, and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, rulers of tens, let them judge the people at all times. Then it will be that every great matter they shall bring to you, every small matter they themselves will judge. So it will be easier for you and they will bear the burden with you. I was given a philosophy by a man who was a former leader in an organization called the Navigators many years ago now, where he said in the way that he handles difficulties in ministry, and he was the leader over a very large ministry, he says, I have a philosophy of gorillas and monkeys. Gorillas and monkeys. What does that mean? He goes ape in ministry. Now, what does that mean? Well, he said, and he was teaching pastors and he says, listen, have you ever been after a service talking and one of your staff members approaches you and says, we have a problem in the children's ministry, we'll say. Now, you're supposed to have your mind on the teaching of the word of God and ministry to the people, but you have a children's ministry who has now walked up to you and he says, picture it like this, what they do is they've got a monkey on their shoulder, children's ministry problem. And he says, and they reach their hand and touch your shoulder and say to you, we've got a problem in the children's ministry. And if you take that problem upon yourself, that little monkey that was on the shoulder ran across his arm, landed on your shoulder, he removes his hand and you walk away with a monkey. He says, what you need to do is put your hand back on his shoulder and say to him, take care of it. Then that little monkey will jump off of your shoulder, run down your arm and go back to him. He says, so that's your monkeys that you deal with, small problems that you don't have to take care of. He says, but they may walk up to you with a large problem, that's a gorilla. He says, you take care of the gorillas but make sure you have people around you who can handle the monkeys. Where do you get that? From Exodus 18, I just read it to you. That was what Jethro was saying. He said, it will be that every great matter they shall bring to you, every gorilla they shall bring to you, but every small matter, every monkey they themselves shall judge. It'll be easier for you for they will bear the burden with you. That's how ministry is intended to work. You see, these people that were going to be serving alongside of Moses needed to be capable. They needed to be able. They were gifted, in other words, to perform the duties. But the qualities that made them leaders were character traits. They were to have the fear of God. They were to be men of truth. They were to hate covenants. This all speaks of character. One of the big problems in ministry today, and I can speak as somebody who knows it very well, I've been part of ministry and involved in ministry for the majority of my life. And I can tell you that the problems that we have today in church very often in ministry are character problems. The character problems. There's a covetousness or a pride. There's a selfish ambition. There's something that is a character problem that's taking place. It's not the skills because very often people love the skills of that person who has no character. They love his personality. They love his ideas. They love his vision. They love the way he speaks. They love everything about him. But he doesn't have character. And your ministry is built on your character. It is built on your character. And that's why Jethro would say these men should be able. They should be capable men. They need to have qualifications. But the thing that matters is that they have a fear of the Lord that they're not covetous. You know that these men have great character. And so that's what's taking place here. When you look at the different things that are spoken of in Acts chapter six this problem has arisen and a solution has to be found. So notice what he says concerning these people. Notice that the men that are being selected for leadership are men of character. That is the priority. Now I want you to notice. He says in verse three, and I'll look at this briefly as if I can really do that. I'm gonna try. I'll look at this briefly. He said, seek out from among you one seven men. So first for leadership, they were men. Now of course we have great women in scripture, women that are used wonderfully of the Lord. As you read your New Testament we'll be seeing some of these ourselves. There's a woman named Tabitha. There's a woman named Lydia. There's a woman named Priscilla. There are various women that you see in scripture that are amazing godly women. But in leadership, men lead. In 1st Timothy two, 11 and 12 a woman should learn in quietness full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man. She must be silent. There is male leadership. So he said, you seek out amongst you men. Men are intended by God to lead in the church. Two, they're selected from among the members of the church. So leaders should be raised up from among those in the congregation because the people will trust the ones that they know the best. Third, they're to have good reputations. Why? Because a bad reputation dishonors the work of the Lord. These are men who are to be models for the fellowship. And there are times that they're gonna be dealing with great sums of money. They'd better be men with great reputations. In 1st Timothy three, verse seven, it says he, speaking of an elder, must have a good report of those who are outside of the church, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. A bad elder will undermine the work of a church. There's no doubt about that. So you look for men with a good reputation. Somebody who is well-spoken of. Fourth, they are to be filled with the Holy Spirit, which is being totally yielded to the leading of the spirit. They're to be spirit-filled leaders. One of the worst things you can do with the church is treat it as a business. It's one of the worst things you can do with the church. It is not a business. I call it an organized organism. It is organized, but it's a living, breathing entity. And when you treat a church like a business, there's no life in it. Leaders need to be capable, but they also especially need to be filled with the spirit. The Holy Spirit needs to fill them. In Numbers 11, verses 16 and 17, the Lord said to Moses, bring me 70 of Israel's elders who are known to you as leaders and officials among the people. Have them come to the tent of meeting that they may stand there with you. I will come down and speak with you there and I will take of the spirit that is on you and put the spirit on them. They will help you carry the burden of the people so that you will not have to carry it alone. Ephesians 5.18 says, do not be drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the spirit. Spirit-filled leaders are a necessity for the life of the church. A fifth thing, there to have godly wisdom. Wisdom is simply knowledge that is applied. That wisdom comes through the word of God. It comes by the Holy Spirit. It comes through experience and it's an earmark of spiritual maturity. There to have wisdom. A sixth thing, there to be filled with faith. Faith in Jesus and a daily trusting in him. One of the worst things that you can have in ministry is somebody in leadership who has no faith, who has no faith. There's so many stories I can tell you, I'm trying not to get loaded down with them. Trying to select one, two, or 20 that I can tell you right now. I'll go all the way back to the beginning. When our church first began, I was having a board meeting. Our church had been going for two or three months. Brand new church. And I had my board with me. I met with them on a regular basis and we were meeting at a restaurant in Ontario. We'd have coffee and breakfast and go over church business and we did that regularly. And so there we are. This will date this church for you. So my board tells me, we think we need to get, now this is back 35 years, we need to get a tape duplicator. Tape, you guys remember what tapes are? A tape duplicator. And I said, why? They said because we want to duplicate your messages and put them on tape. And I said, why? Because people want to hear them. And I said, listen, they're not listening to it the first time I say it. What makes you think they're gonna listen the second? And so they said, no, we were actually getting requests. And I said, and I was not in favor of it. I said, I don't see the reason for that. Why would we record my messages? We only have 40 people in the church. Why would I do that? Because they're asking. So I said, what's it cost? I knew how much we had in the bank. $700, that's what we had in the bank. Our offerings at that time were around $400 or $500 a week. Sometimes less, very seldom more. And I thought, see, I wasn't receiving a salary. I received a portion of a salary. And I knew that the money in the bank was gonna go towards my salary and I have bills to pay. And I'm thinking this as I'm just smiling at them, saying, oh, really? And I'm thinking, there's no way. I'm not gonna do that. So I said, convince me, because I still to this day, I'll say, convince me, convince me, convince me that that's what we should do. So they shared with me. And then I finally said, listen, do you really feel for the good of this church, do you really feel that these tapes ought to be made? That people really, do you really feel that? Do you really sense that? Is that the Lord or is that just, why you? Do you believe that? They said, we do. I said, well then, I'm gonna allow you to make that decision. I said, I don't wanna make a decision because it could give the appearance that I'm trying to promote my own ministry. But seeing that you guys as the board believe that, I'm gonna yield to your decision on that, which I did. So they said, we're gonna buy a tape duplicator. And I'm shaking my head with them saying, well, I ain't getting paid this month. It's a fact. The next day as the Lord is my witness, we received our regular offering and $700 more than we normally got the next day. And that's when the Lord, yeah, and that, yeah, to me that's worth clapping about. You're overwhelming exuberance just causing me. I can tell you story after story, just like that. Where the Lord said, no, where I guide, I provide. And I had to learn. I had to learn to trust the Lord. I had to learn to walk in faith like everybody else does. I had to learn to do that. And if you looked at the history of this church, you would see that we have hard staff members when we didn't have the funds to pay them. We have bought, I used to use that word all the time. We have bought properties, I invent words. We have bought properties that we could not really afford. We have done ministry by first seeking the Lord, trusting him for it, and saying, let's go for it. So many times. So many times. Because that phrase that I learned from my pastor is a biblical principle where God guides, God provides. When you seek the Lord first and his kingdom, all of these things shall be added unto you. So one of the things I don't like around me as an influence is somebody with no faith. You know, I call him Eor. You guys know who Eor is? Some of you may remember, oh, it's gonna rain today, oh no, you know that, that donkey, oh no, you know. I don't need that around me. I don't need Eor's around me. My heart is already fighting with the spirit. I don't need a cheerleader on the side on my staff saying the same thing, oh no. If you do that, nobody'll show up. If you do that, they won't like it. If you, no, I want somebody to say, my heart is with you, let's see what God wants to do. And you need to have that in ministry. You need to have, yes, I want somebody who will tell me the truth. I'm not asking for somebody to just be like one of those dolls you used to see on the back of cars and you hit a bump in the head just bouncing. You know, those bobble heads. I don't need a bobble head staff member. What do you guys think? We ought to do it, they're all going like this. I don't need that. I want to hear the truth. I want to hear what God is saying through you. I want to know. But if God says we're going to do it, if God says he'll provide for it, we're going there and we'll see what he'll do. And I have seen God do amazing things. And so when you're looking for somebody in ministry and that's what they're saying, they need to be filled with faith, faith in Christ, faith in the possibilities of what God can do. Nothing is impossible with God. You need to have that in ministry. And so what are they looking for? They're looking for people who are filled with faith. That is an essential in leading and especially in matters that they're dealing with, the finances and provisions. There are also, verse, also number seven, they are to minister in the power of the Holy Spirit. There needs to be the work of the Spirit. There needs to be an obvious anointing of God in them. And that's what he's saying. They need to be filled with faith. They need to be filled with the Holy Spirit and wisdom. And so as they're looking for these men, they make a selection. Notice what it says. They had said in verse four, we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the minister of the word and the saying, please the whole multitude. And they chose these men, Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, Philip and the rest of those who we've already mentioned, whom they set before the apostles and when they had prayed, they laid hands on them. What's the result? Verse seven, the word of God spread and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem. A great many of the priests were obedient to the faith. God began to move once again and he moved in powerful ways. Now it gives us names. Yeah, Stephen. Stephen is mentioned first because he's soon going to be martyred. Philip is mentioned. Philip is later mentioned as Philip the evangelist. He's the only person in the Bible in the New Testament who has ever referred to as the evangelist, which is interesting. This is a man who gave the gospel to Samaria. He converted a eunuch through his preaching. Afterwards he lived and labored in Caesarea. You see him in Acts 21. Now, here's something else. This is just a practical sidelight for you. The others that you see here, you see Stephen and you see Philip, but these others, Prochorus, Nickoner, Timon, Parmenas, Nicholas, they're not mentioned again. You don't see them again. Here's something very basic. Here's something very basic. I say this to you quite often, but it's, to me, it's very important. The others are not mentioned. Nothing is really known of them, but that seems to be God's way. Much of what occurs in churches that God is blessing seems to be done by those that nobody really knows. Don't ever feel, and this is so important. Please don't ever feel that you are inconsequential, that you are not necessary. Please don't believe that. That's not true. That is not true. There are too many believers who think that they have no value because nobody knows them. You wanna know something? Please believe me when I say this. The only person that matters who knows your name is Jesus himself. Keep that in mind. He knows his sheep and he calls them by name. Sometimes you may think, nobody even knows if I'm here or not here. He knows. The one who really matters, and I mean this with all sincerity and I can't say it deeply enough, please don't get caught up thinking you're not important to God. Every person in the body of Christ is an important person. The Bible speaks of the church as being a body. You know, hands and feet, you know, a body. When you look at 1 Corinthians chapter 12, the church is described as body, here, eye. And there are reasons for that kind of metaphor, but on your body, what if somebody approached you and said, listen, what portion of your body do you wanna give up today? Tell me, you know, when are your fingers, when are your toes? You wanna give up a leg? What do you wanna give up today? Would you say, oh, you know, I've had a tough time with my pinky here, you can have it? I'm kind of like partial to keeping the whole thing. You know, I may not think that's the most attractive hand, I may not think that's the most attractive hand, but I'd like to keep it. There's not a part of your body, really, hands, fingers, toes, that you really should give up. That means that every one of those parts are important. Everyone, everyone is important. And you are part of the body of Christ. And there is an importance to your roles and your gifts and your ministry, because if you've ever thought that you wanted to be somebody else, you see somebody who's doing something, you'd like to be that person, have you ever stopped to think that if you were somebody else, well, if you were exactly like that person exactly in every way, then one of you is not necessary? One of you is not necessary. God is so amazing in creativity that he gave to you so much that makes you who you are. And you are important. Important, not in this self-seeking, I mean, no, you are necessary in the body of Christ. Your gifts, your prayers, your love, your service, you are important in the church. And I see this often. I've done this, especially when I've looked at the names of the apostles, because when you look at the 12 apostles, there are very few names that you remember. You know, we all know Judas, we all know the apostle Peter, you know, James and John. There are various names that we do know, but there are a lot of names that we don't really see in scripture use very much. Simon the zealot, he was an apostle. What did he do? Nobody knows. There are names that you see as apostles that really don't have much time in scripture at all, other than their names are mentioned in the list of apostles, that's it. And yet they were apostles, they were used by God. And it seems to me that there are quite a number of people. These people are, you know, we see a couple that we recognize you'll see later on, but five of these names, they're unknown, they're mentioned here and that's it. So I always get encouraged when I see these kinds of things because I realize that God has a tendency of doing wonderful things through people who are unknowns. He does speak of Nicholas who is a proselyt of Antioch. That simply means that he was a Gentile, he lived in a city called Antioch who had been converted to Judaism and then came to faith in Christ. They said them verse six before the apostles, they prayed for them and they laid hands on them. Now the result, verse seven, the word of God spread and the number of disciples multiplied greatly. What is the result of dealing with problems? The word of God spreads. It even says in verse seven that priests were being saved. The Lord was reaching into the faith of Israel and saving priests. Now you're thinking, are you gonna be able to finish this in five minutes? And the answer is we'll see. Verse eight, Steven full of faith and power did great wonders and signs among the people. There arose some from what is called the synagogue of the freedmen, Syrenians, Alexandrians, those from Salishia in Asia, disputing with Steven. And they were not able to resist the wisdom of the spirit by which he spoke. Then they secretly induced men to say we have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God. They stirred up the people, the elders, the scribes and they came upon him, seized him and brought him to the council. They also set up false witnesses who said this man does not cease to speak blasphemous words against this holy place in the law. For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place, change the customs which Moses delivered to us. And all who sat in the council looking steadfastly at him saw his face as the face of an angel. So Steven is introduced as a man filled with faith and power and his ministry as it states is filled with ongoing miracles. And so as this man's spirit filled ministry is exploding in verse nine it says there's some from the synagogue of the freedmen who came up in opposition to him. When it says the synagogue of the freedmen, the freedmen were ex-slaves who had been freed from various areas. They were descendants of Jews who were enslaved by Pompeii in 63 BC taken to Rome. So they're descendants of slaves who had been freed and that's why they're called the synagogue of the freedmen. It says in verse 10 they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spoke. In other words, they were unable to defeat him in debate. And because they were unable to defeat him, they secretly, according to verse 11, induced men to lie about him. Just say they heard him speak blasphemous things. And they also set up according to verse 13 following false witnesses and said this man doesn't cease to speak against Moses. And so what happens is they are saying that he is speaking according to verse 13, blasphemous words against his holy place and the law. And they say in verse 14, we heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the custom which Moses delivered to us. Now Jesus did not come to destroy, he came to fulfill. And that's where they're wrong. You see in Matthew 5, 17 and 18, Jesus said, think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets. I'm not come to destroy but to fulfill. For truly I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all is fulfilled. According to Romans 10 verse four, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. The law pointed to Jesus. It is consummated in him. So he didn't say that he was coming to destroy. He said, I have come to fulfill. So their accusation was wrong. So as they're bringing these accusations against him, it says simply in verse 15 that the council is looking at him and they see his face as the face of an angel. They see his face as one burning with an inner light. They see his face as one in the presence of God. And as they're looking at this man who is so filled with the spirit that his face has an evidence of the presence of the Lord, God is basically making it very clear that he's approving the ministry of Stephen and the new covenant that he's bringing. In closing, when I read this, I'll close with this thought. When I read this, wouldn't it be great? Wouldn't it be great if when people looked at us, when people looked at us, there would be something about us that was so amazing, the presence of God, that they could actually see it on your face. You know, I've known Christians that look like they've been ivied with lemon juice. If your heart is happy, let your face know it. Have you ever had anybody approach you and say there's something different about you and I'd like to know what it is? Have you ever? Some of you have. There's something different about you and I'd like to know what it is. I've had that happen to me. And it just always humbles you. But it also gives you a great opportunity. What is it about you? There's something about you. What is it? What do you mean? I have actually said that. I've told you this story. When my father died, I was in the hospital and the doctor had told us that he had died. And when he came in and did that speech that my heart goes out to doctors because they have to say that to people. We did our best. I let him finish his encouragement. I appreciated it very much. Then we as a family, my kids, my mom and Marie, we prayed together and we held hands there in the waiting room and went in and had our moment came out and a woman approaches me and just wanna know what you are. I said, what do you mean? What are you? I just saw what you did because her daughter, I believe her daughter had been hospitalized and she and her husband were there concerned about her little girl. It's an emergency. And I said, what do you mean? There's something different. What is it? I said, oh, we're Christians. We're Christians. You can be known. Listen, you can be known just by your countenance, just the way you respond to things, just the way you carry yourself. The inner light that can beam from within and come out. That can happen. I'm not saying, Lord, please help us to walk around like human glow sticks. I'm not saying that. Shining the dark right at night. What I'm saying is, what a blessing it is that the presence of God in Stephen was so evident that those who were judging him could not help but notice that there was a presence of something in him. He had the face of an angel. God was revealing his approval of the message Stephen was teaching and the messenger of that message. And you can have that glow about you even when people are judging you. You can have it. And they'll look at you and they'll say, there's something different about this person. And sometimes God gives us the opportunity to explain what that difference is. It's Jesus. It's Jesus.