One thing never changes, people need the Gospel.

Introduction

Good morning LaFayette Baptist Church and happy father’s day. If you would all please go ahead and turn in your Bible’s to Acts , Acts 6:1-7 will be our sermon text today. For the sake of time today, we are going to do just like we did last week, and hop right into the scripture today. So,

Scripture

If you would all please rise for the reading of God’s Word today. The words to the scripture will be on the screen, please read along with me as we are reading. When I am done I will say “this is The Word of The Lord” if you will all please respond with “Thanks be to God.” Let’s Practice that for a second. Also, there are a few hard words to pronounce in the reading today. So, we are all just going to give it our best shot, no worries if we say it wrong. First, let’s pray.

Father, we thank you for who You are and what You are doing to us in this place. Father, we ask this day as we are about to participate in the reading of Your word, that you refine us with it Father, Your Word is truth, and we thank You for that truth. Make us, build us, shape us, rearrange us in a way that conforms us more into the image of Christ. Help us be a people that are totally on mission for you and your kingdom, seeking to fulfill both you great commission and the great commandments (to love You and love people). Help us put aside anything in our lives that hurts or hinders us from doing so; because we want to know You and want You to be known by others around us. We also ask this day, as we are about to participate in the reading of Your Word Father, that you would take any distraction that we may have away. Take it as far away as it could possibly go, because we want to see, know, understand, and apply whatever it is that you are trying to tell us. It’s in these things that I ask and in Jesus Christ’s Holy and precious name that I pray, Amen.

6 In those days, as the disciples were increasing in number, there arose a complaint by the Hellenistic Jews against the Hebraic Jews that their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution. 2 The Twelve summoned the whole company of the disciples and said, “It would not be right for us to give up preaching the word of God to wait on tables. 3 Brothers and sisters, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and wisdom, whom we can appoint to this duty. 4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” 5 This proposal pleased the whole company. So they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a convert from Antioch. 6 They had them stand before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.7 So the word of God spread, the disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly in number, and a large group of priests became obedient to the faith.

Context

This week we begin chapter 6 in Acts. Just to give you a quick understanding of where we are going, so you can know what to be studying in your own personal devotional time; next week we will finish chapter 6. Then, we will take a one week break on it, and that week’s sermon will be about our VBS passages. Following that, we will hop back into Acts. Now, it would be a very good idea to start reading through Acts 7 right now. This is because that chapter will be a “2 parter,” but the first one will cover nearly 50 verses, so go ahead and start on Acts 7 in your own time.

Up to this point in Acts, we have seen lots of important things during this time of transitional history in The Church. Remember that Acts is recorded actions of the Apostles and the early church after Christ’s death. To this point we have seen the Holy Spirit come upon them and live in the believers, as He does today. We have also seen time and time again that the apostles, disciples, and church members went out and did exactly what Christ had told them to do. To GO and make new disciples. These new disciples were themselves to go and likewise and this cycle continues to today and will continue until The Lord Jesus comes. We saw that The Early Church through this time grew exponentially as a result of their witness and the Holy Spirit’s call. We also saw that The Church went to fulfill it’s mission, not matter the cost, with all the apostles themselves being arrested, and John and Peter in particular being arrested twice. In both situations, God saw them through and He will continue to do so as long as He has work for them. This brings us up to our text, where we see a transition even during this transition period in Church History. So, from the text today I want you to see that change must happen because One thing never changes, people need the Gospel.

Message

As new needs come, change must happen

6 In those days, as the disciples were increasing in number, there arose a complaint by the Hellenistic Jews against the Hebraic Jews that their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution.

So, just after the arrest and trial of the apostles, who were once again told not to speak in the Name of Jesus, which by the way they continued to do anyways because God Himself had told them to, the amount of believers continued to grow and increase. From this book and this chapter we can clearly see that the needs and The way the Early Church operated needed to change. At first, they could have preached in small spaces, now they needed bigger areas or lots of small areas to preach a sermon. In addition, remember the church held all things in common, meaning they shared as everyone had needs both financially, physically, spiritually, or what have you. So, as they became larger and they began taking in different groups of people, the way they had to take in, and distribute the proceeds or charity had to change as well. Well, at this point, that needed to have already happened, but it had not. So, the Hellenistic (or Greek speaking jews) were being ignored in the care of their widows while the Hebraic (or Hebrew speaking jews) were not. So, and rightly so, a complaint came up, that the handling was not fair and even and a change needed to happen.

As much as we do or do not like it, we all know that change happens all around us, whether we change with it or not. Believe it or not, change is happening all around us even here in LaFayette, KY. One thing that I hear often as I ask around this church and around this community it that, “LaFayette aint LaFayette anymore”, often pointing back to the changes of Fort Campbell and the change in age of the community. A recent study of our area of 5 square miles around this church, has proven that right. Many more young people live here than we think. In fact, this slide will show you by percentage of people that live here by generation. One unusual thing about our community is that around 42% of people are under 20 years old, and just over half of the community are under 35 years old. So, the area around us by-in-large is fairly young.

This means, that as we as a church look to our “Jerusalem,” the area closest to them, as the apostles do; we are going to have to consider several things. First, is that the community around us is quite different from us. They think differently, they act differently, they experience different things, they share information differently, they listen to different music, overall, they are just different. Second, that difference doesn’t mean that one side or the other is right or wrong; but it does mean that as believers we have a responsibility to study them and try to communicate and serve them in a way that works for them, so that Gospel opportunities are made and capitalized on. Third, to do this we (both as a church and as individuals) are with time going to have to make or changes and adjust in ways that make us uncomfortable because we are unfamiliar with it. That’s ok though, because God didn’t call you into a faith of comfort. This is because new needs have come up in the community, and change must happen. But the fact that people need the gospel hasn’t changed.

Next, As change happens, needs are better met

2 The Twelve summoned the whole company of the disciples and said, “It would not be right for us to give up preaching the word of God to wait on tables. 3 Brothers and sisters, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and wisdom, whom we can appoint to this duty. 4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” 5 This proposal pleased the whole company. So they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a convert from Antioch. 6 They had them stand before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.

Here, the twelve apostles gathered everyone together. Essentially they said, “hey, we are already stretched really thin, as The Church is doing more and more we have been less and less able to do our primary tasks, to pray and preach/share the word of God, because we have been doing other parts of ministry.” So, we need some help. Let’s choose 7 men of good reputation, full of Spirit and wisdom who can help us out in this duty while we spend more time in prayer and the ministry of The Word. Everyone that heard this, thought it was a good idea and a good way forward to solve the problems that they were having. So, they chose 7 men who then were prayed for by the apostles. So, they entered into this ministry.

This reminds me of when a similar situation happened in The Bible. In fact, this happened to Moses. You see when Moses left Egypt with the Israelites, he was the only Judge of the entire nation. This led to an impossible leadership situation for Moses. Day and night, day after day, all Moses had time to do was settle the disputes between the people. He could nothing else, and this kept him from doing the other things that God had called him into. Fortunately, Moses had wise council from his Father-in-law Jethro, and in Exodus 18 and Deuteronomy 1, we see that Moses appointed helpers and created a system where Moses didn’t hear all the disputes, but only the hardest of the hardest that had been vetted through the proper channels and people. This was a change, but it was a good change and one that would set the tone for how Israel as a nation would be run until the time of the kings. This change meant that the needs of the people, the needs of the nation were not only met, but that they were met in a more timely and effective way and it gave time for Moses to focus more on his other pressing leadership issues, like hearing from God and fulfilling his particular appointment as a prophet from God.

Now, change can be both a good thing and a bad thing. The goal of change though, should always for it to be a good thing and build up (not just to change for the sake of destruction), so that the needs are better met. That means for us, both as people and as a church that the methods and ways we do things such as: worship, Sunday school, kids ministry, retirement community ministry, benevolence ministry, and anything else are continually evolving, though what we do and our message (the gospel) does not. To some degree, it means that we have to watch and observe other people, seeing how they communicate, what they communicate with, and overall just being a good student of them so that we can understand in what ways we can share Jesus with them in a way that they understand. It also means that we have to be willing to change how we do ministry, putting our wants and comforts behind others so that they can be served, be invited in to the flock, made to feel welcome and seen, and become believers themselves as they have more and more opportunities to both hear and respond to the Gospel. After all, Jesus Himself said that he came to earth to serve man, not to be served himself. Which is exactly what His bride (The Church) is do as well. Guess what, that is a hard truth for us yes, but it is a hard truth that the believers behind us will have to swallow as well. As change happens, needs are better met but One thing never changes, people need the Gospel.

Another point to know, As the work continues, the kingdom grows

7 So the word of God spread, the disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly in number, and a large group of priests became obedient to the faith.

Here we see the result of the change. The distribution ministry was handled rightly and received the attention that it deserved, and the ministry of The Word was handled rightly and given the attention it deserved. As a result from this and from God’s favor more and more disciples of Jesus were made in their community, even to the point that some of the priests (those that had formerly been opposed to The Christian Church, Jesus, and His followers, became convinced of the Gospel and became redeemed believers themselves. They did the work of the Kingdom, in the best way that they could, and God loved that, honored that, and increased their ministry, and we can honestly all say that every believer has benefited from this time of difficulty that was met with positive and beneficial change.

Think about 2 houses being built. As the work on them continues, they grow and grow until one day, a fully made house is finished. Anyone who has built any house knows though, that even though a house can look like another house, the story of how each one is built is different. This can be for lots of reasons, for example the location or lot can be very different from one another, even if they are right next to each other. So, when that is true, what happens? Surveyors have to come out and study the land and planners, architects, builders all have to come together and develop a plan for how to build the house, with the particular challenges that this piece of land would have. Not to mention, things like supply availability and work crew availability can make the construction process look very different. So, how a house is assembled and made can be very different from even its identical next-door neighbor. As a result, how the house is built must adapt and change to be completed. Either way, as the work is started and adjusted as needed, eventually a house is built.

Our goal needs to always be this, to play our part to see the kingdom furthered by The Gospel being Shared, so that people can respond and accept Jesus so that God can be glorified. Each and every one of us need to be continually asking ourselves, what is keeping me from being a part of the kingdom work or the best participant in the work that I can be? Perhaps it is some kind of secret or hidden sin that we need to repent from. Maybe it is because we are comfortable with what we are doing, so we don’t want to adjust or change what we are doing. Maybe you are scared to take the next step that you know you need to, because you are frightened of the results and the calling. It could be that you think you have done all that you can do, and now to you it seems like it is time to “run out the clock.” Brothers and sisters, don’t fall into that trap! God has put you in just this kind of place in a time just like this one to do something special for The Kingdom. Don’t ignore his calling. You are all called into a royal priesthood (as 1 Peter 2:9 says) to do the work and ministry of God’s kingdom here on earth. If you can hear my voice, right now I’m telling you, God’s not done with You. He has both comfort for you and work for you yet. So, as you go and as the work continues, the kingdom grows. All of this is true, as true as this statement is, One thing never changes, people need the Gospel.

Conclusion

Beloved, let me share a story with you. When the railroads were first introduced to the U.S., some folks feared that they'd be the downfall of the nation! Here's an excerpt from a letter to then President Jackson dated January 31, 1829:

As you may know, Mr. President, 'railroad' carriages are pulled at the enormous speed of 15 miles per hour by 'engines' which, in addition to endangering life and limb of passengers, roar and snort their way through the countryside, setting fire to crops, scaring the livestock and frightening women and children. The Almighty certainly never intended that people should travel at such breakneck speed. - Martin Van Buren Governor of New York. Who would of course go on to be the 8thpresident. Now, clearly 15 miles per hour is considered nothing today. In fact, this is considered the top speed of many golf carts, which is a traveling vehicle we consider to be quite slow. Why did this change in such a short amount of time happen? Well, much like our first two points, As new needs come, change must happen and As change happens, needs are better met. But, when we apply the same ideas to our faith lives, to the kingdom of God and the spreading of the gospel this leads to two conclusions 1st, that As the work continues, the kingdom grows. 2nd is that One thing never changes, people need the Gospel. So, we make adjustments as needed and study people so that we can share the full council of God with them.

With all of that being said, I would be remised if I didn’t share the Gospel (or the Good News) of Jesus Christ with you today, for the benefit of both believer and non-believer in the room. This begins all the way back at the beginning, God created everything, and he created all things good. He gave His most treasured creation (us, mankind) the ability of free will, the ability to choose Him or rebellion. Man was deceived by Satan and desired to be like God and sinned (or rebelled against God). This brought the curse of sin and death into the world and it remains with us to this day; which separates us from God. God though, loved His creation (mankind) so much that He worked through history to redeem all mankind that would turn to Him from sin so that we can experience a full and perfect relationship with Him again. This was through the perfect and final sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the pay for sins. Accepting this free gift from God, makes you new and forgiven. All you have to do accept this free gift by repenting and believing in the Lord Jesus and you will get to experience the good side of God’s justice forever. So, now that you know this, you can no longer plead ignorance. I invite and urge you to respond today non-believer and apply this to every part of your life believers in the audience today.

With that, Let’s conclude. Brothers and Sisters, I love you all. During our last song together, if you need prayer, or want to talk more about Jesus, or have something you want to talk about, I’ll be here, don’t be afraid to come on down. Let’s pray. Father God, we thank You for who You are and what You are doing to us here in this place. May whatever it is that You are doing in each of heart here, continue as we leave go out into the world this week. Change us, mold us, make us, re-arrange us, that we can be both better lovers of You and better showers of You. It’s in these things that I ask and in Jesus Christ’s Holy and precious name that I pray, Amen.