How the handle Rapid Growth

July 17th 2022

Series: The Book of Acts

Sermon Title: How the handle Rapid Growth

Topic: Journey through the book of Acts.

Key Passages: Acts 6

Sermon Blurb: In our message today, we see how the early church delegated ministry tasks. We also see how the culture around attacked the early church for doing good things. Let’s see what we can learn and apply to our lives today.

Sermon:

Well, hello everyone!

Family Moment

Today we continue in our journey through the book of Acts.

If you want to grab your Bible, we will pick up where we left off in Acts 6

PAUSE

Now if you are new or newer to Family Church let me explain how we approach messages.

We are a church that really believes in the word of God, the Bible.

What we do as a church, week in and week out, is we bring our Bibles to church.

We open our Bibles.

We read our Bibles.

We study our Bibles.

And we ask God….how can we apply this to our lives today.

And so, we will simply do that today.

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If you do not have your Bible with you I would encourage you to download our FamilyChurch.App.

There you can find the sermon notes, a free Bible and so much more.

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And since we do not want anyone to feel like they are behind, let me share a few things to catch you up on if you are new or newer today.

The book of Acts is all about how the church we know today started.

We are walking through how the church started and grew.

We are seeing how the church operated in the culture and country they were a part of.

We are seeing the church being attacked by the culture around them and how they respond by just pointing people toward God and not trying to tear down their culture or even really fight their culture.

Today we will also see how the early church delegated leadership as well.

PAUSE

I love reading the book of Acts because it shows us that healthy churches are growing churches!

We will see not once but TWICE today God talking about the church growing!

We will also see the church shifting what the leaders do as they grow…..which I know people struggle with but it has to happen.….

PAUSE

So, let’s pick up where we left off last week in Chapter 6 verse 1 today.

This first part of chapter 6 is something that we can 100% relate to in our church for sure!!!

Check this out…..

Acts 6 In those days when the number of disciples was increasing,

By the way this is the 6th time we have been told so far in the book of Acts that the church was growing….

As I have said before, clearly God wanted us to understand a growing church is a GOOD thing!

And if you are not aware we are growing church as well!

As a church, we have been growing on the low end 30% year over year and some years over 100% growth!

Growth is good!

But just because it is good, it does not mean it is not without problems.

And what we are about to read shows us the early church also had some issues with their growth, just like we do…..

Check this out… In those days when the number of disciples was increasing and it continues….

the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.

Pause here for a second….

And let’s bring it to our church today.

In these days, when Family Church was growing… some people were complaining because their widows, or elderly were being overlooked.

Or the Pastoral Care was not meeting the expectation of people.

Let’s be real….

Do we have this struggle?

Yes!

We do!

I know there are some people that feel we are not cutting the mustard with how we do pastoral care.

I know there are some people that still think I should be doing house visits with the older folks in our church.

I know there are some people that think I should visit every person who is in the hospital.

I know there are some people that think I should make quarterly visits to peoples homes.

Because some people grew up with that as the norm in their church.

We have had the exact same problem going on here!!!!

We have people complaining just like this Bible verse said the early church did!

Isn’t that awesome!!!! Anyone think that is awesome?

NO….well I do….because what that tells me is that we are obviously doing some things like the early church and are being blessed by God in the same way….

And that is a good sign to me!

And that also tells me that our solution is going to be right here in the Bible….

PAUSE

And let me say this….there is nothing wrong with wanting things you grew up with.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to see your pastor.

There is nothing wrong with wanting you pastor to pray with you.

BUT

But…we also need to make sure our expectations align with Scripture.

PAUSE

Let’s see the solution to this problem in the Bible. Verse 2

2 So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables.

Pause there….

So, the early church leadership got together….

The early church leaders made a decision together on how to handle this situation….

After they figured out the best next steps….

They called a church meeting…..

At that church meeting the leaders clearly said here is the call God gave us….look in your Bibles…..

It says, “God has for them is to be about the ministry of the word of God.”

They are called to be preaching.

They are called to be teaching.

They are called to be leading people closer to God.

That is their calling by God.

They also said clearly….

They said it would NOT be right….for them to neglect their focus on

Preaching

Teaching

Leading people closer to God

They said it would NOTbe right for them to replace their calling from God with a NEW focus of taking care of the widows……

That is exactly what the Bible says…

Like it or not, that is what the leaders of the first church in the history of the word said…..

So……

So…..there is no way they are just going to say SORRY that is NOT our call and so forget the widows…..

And you’re right…..

So let’s see the rest of the solution….Verse 3

3 Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them 4 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”

Hold up there….

They said this is a problem.

We cannot neglect our elderly.

We have to help people in need.

And the solution is NOT to dump more on our church leaders.

There is a BETTER solution than making our leaders work more.

They said what we need to do is….write this down.

How to handle rapid growth: 1. Restructure.

Repeat

Clearly, what the early church had been doing in the past was NOT working….. hence why the issue was raised.

So right here in verse 3 they say…. Ok…. we need to change some things up.

Clearly, things are falling through the cracks, and it is NOT ok.

PAUSE

And we say the same thing here at Family Church…..

I told the pastors on the staff earlier this year…..

You know I want to hire a crack pastor….

A pastor to make sure people do NOT fall through the crack.

A person to make sure people are followed up with well.

A person to make sure no one misses out on being cared for.

I said we need a Crack Pastor….

100% true story….

But Pastor Keith said….you know I am thinking that is probably not the best title….

But that desire to make sure we serve you all well is what lead us to looking at how we are structured and what needs to change so we can try our BEST to not let people fall through the cracks!

I mean part of being in a family is that your family looks out for you!

And we want to look out for all of you!

That is why we hired Eric….so we could shift Pastor John’s role around to be our Crack Pastor…. And no we don’t call him that but a LARGE part of his job is not to follow up with people to make sure they are well cared for!

PAUSE

We responded just like the Bible says we should!

We have done the exact same thing here!

The Bible says they sought out people to help share the load!

If you are not aware Pastor John is trying hard to build our care team to do the exact same thing.

Pastor John helping build the assimilation team to make sure the new people are not overlooked.

Pastor John is helping find good people, just like we see here in the Bible, to be released based on their gifting’s and share the load.

We do the same thing in all areas of our church!

The people who love to wait tables to use the Bible’s wording…. They serve in our café and do an AMAZING JOB!

People that LOVE to do building and grounds stuff take care of our building and ground!

People that LOVE to pray get to church early and pray with our pastors and pray throughout our service!

People that LOVE to talk….greet!

People that LOVE to make sure people get seated usher!

People that LOVE the next generation serve in Kids or Teens.

People that LOVE to study God’s word lead Bible Studies and Small Groups.

People that LOVE missions set up local, regional and international missions trips for all of us!

People that LOVE men lead our men’s Bible study.

People that LOVE women lead our women’s Bible studies!

People that LOVE to technology work in the tech booth!

People that LOVE to sing and play instruments lead us in worship!

And on and on I could go….…..

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Do you see it church?

We are simply trying to live out the Word of God here at Family Church with all of you!

We are sharing the ministry load with all of you so we can focus on what God has called us to do….

I will be honest our church would NOT be the amazing place it is without all of you……

All of you stepping up, like you see right here in the Bible, is what makes Family Church such an amazing place!

I mean we are 1 full-time staff person to 100+ volunteers!!!!

That is CRAZY awesome!!!!!

PAUSE

See…..

When we refocused people so everyone can be more effective and we do not stop doing what God has called us to do!

This helps us live out what the Bible teaches!!!

So thank you all for being so awesome and living out our faith together!

PAUSE

Let’s keep reading….Verse 5

5 This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. 6 They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.

I want you to notice one last thing here…..to maybe help you reset your expectations based on the Bible.

Note all of those people just listed…. they were NOT the leaders of the church…..

They were NOT the pastor, elders, deacons, apostles, and so on.

They were regular Godly people!

And if regular Godly people could lead ministry back then…..

Regular Godly people can today as well!

PAUSE

How to handle rapid growth:

2. Raise up NEW leaders.

But this is not just a church leadership thing!

Business leaders….. you need to realize your business will be limited by your ability to RELEASE what you do to other!

Your business will be limited by your ability to raise up and release new leaders.

Parents….same goes for you!

You need to raise your children to be leaders!

DON’T do everything for them!

Teach them and release them to do it on their own!

They can do their own laundry!

They can clean the kitchen!

They can mow the lawn!

They can pitch in and share the load with you mom and dad!

Teachers…..same goes for you!

Don’t just teach your students head knowledge!

Teach them how to lead other students!

Coaches…you know this!

Keep pushing your players to the next level!

PAUSE

That is why we are as a church are working on developing a process to develop those of you in our church who feel a potential call to ministry.

We want to develop a process to help that become a reality!

I am hoping in the future that we will raise up more and more of our staff internally!

That we will not need to hire from without but raise up our staff from within…..

PAUSE

Please…just look at the Bible….. it says…..as the church grew….. the church leaders could NOT neglect the word of God to do other things.

Every one of you listening to this….

This applies to you!

You will NOT become who God created you to be if you try to do everything!

We all need to raise invest in others and grow leaders!

The early church did it and look at what happened!!!!! Verse 7:

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

Stop there….

Did you hear what that verse says!!!!!

Read it again!!!!!

So, the word of God spread.

The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly,

AND a large number of PRIESTS became obedient to the faith.

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Do you see it church?????

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Let me show you…

Go back to verse 1 in your Bible….… Not putting it on the screens…

You need to bring your Bibles to church…

Verse one says….the church was growing even while some things were falling through the cracks!

Do you see it church?????

Come on do you?????

Then it says in verses 2-4 that they made some changes….

And in verse 5 once those changes were ACCEPTED by the people….

That then they prayed over the new leaders in verse 6.

Then in verse says it says they went from increasing to increasing RAPIDLY!!!!!

Do you see it!

Increasing….to increasing RAPIDLY!!!!!

PAUSE

What was holding back RAPID growth…

So stuff was falling through the cracks….

Some people were complaining….

They were not fully caring for each other…..

And when that was fixed!

And when everyone stopped complaining and got to work!!!

They didn’t just GROW they GREW RAPIDLY!!!!!

PAUSE

You know…..as I read this it got me to thinking about our church.

We are not a complaining church.

We are church that does not infight.

We are not a church where the “real” conversation happens in the parking lot after the meeting….

You all know what I am talking about!

We are a JOY filled church!!!

And I think that is part of the reason we are growing RAPIDLY…

Because just like you see in the Bible right here….

When everyone is working together it just works!

So let me say….

Thank you all for being so awesome!

Thank you for choosing to not complain but to serve willingly!

Because you all do that so well we again are living out the Bible and growing like the early church RAPIDLY!!!!!

I love you all so much!!!!

I am so thankful God allows me to be your Pastor!!!!

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We as a church are simply following the model of the early church and are asking you to jump on board with us!

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Let’s wrap up this chapter today…Verse 8

8 Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people. 9 Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)

—Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia—who began to argue with Stephen. 10 But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.

Let me pause right here and say something I have said before.

Most people are afraid to tell people about Jesus because they are afraid that they will not know what to say.

Or they will not know how to respond to the questions people have.

The Bible has comfort for all of you that have that fear today…..Look at verse 10 again.

Stephen is out talking to people about God and they are arguing with Stephen….

Who gives Stephen the wisdom and words to speak?

What does it say in verse 10?

The Spirit!

God helped Stephen!

Just like we saw God give the words to Peter and John in chapter 4!

If you are doing what God calls you to do I want you to understand something today.

If you are doing God’s will; God will provide everything you need.

Repeat!

I didn’t say God gives you what you WANT ….I said NEED!

So, let me encourage you….

Step out in faith and listen to God and then you will be amazed at how God shows up in your life!

But also know…..

When you are walking toward God….

There is a REAL enemy called Satan or the Devil and he will do anything he can to try and stop you from growing closer to God!

That is what you see here in verse 9….opposition to God moving through Stephen!!!!

And it keeps coming…..

Verse 11:

11 Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.” 12 So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin.

The Sanhedrin were the super religious people of the day.

They were the “other” church leaders of this day who did NOT believe in Jesus…..

Verse 13….

13 They produced false witnesses, who testified, “This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. 14 For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us.”

15 All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

A brightness emitted from Stephen and everyone saw God shining through him!

Can you imagine how many people would be drawn to you….if they saw God shining through you?

The early church grew so much because when people looked on the church they wanted to be a part of that type of culture!

The early church grew because people saw God in them!

The early church grew because people wanted to be a part of it!

The early church grew because they lived like Jesus!

It did not matter how much the culture attacked the early church it GREW!

Have you ever thought about how crazy that is!!!!!

PAUSE

That is my goal for our church…..

I want our church to be a place to is SO attractive to people that do NOT know God that they want to come be a part of what God is doing here!

I want our church to be a place where people see God in all of us!

A place where people walk through the door and feel God’s presence!

A place where people walk through the door and feel like they are home….maybe for the first time in their life!

A place where people are drawn to….and cannot explain why!

And later they find out it is Jesus…..

Just Jesus living through us…..

PAUSE

And I think we are doing well at this…..so again….

Thank you!

Thank you all for being so awesome!

I love our church!

PAUSE

Here is the last point….but really it is the first point but I wanted to save it for the end….

How to handle rapid growth:

3. Keep Jesus at the center of everything.

Repeat

Here we clearly see the early church and Stephen keeping Jesus at the center.

And they are attracting people to follow Jesus…..

But there is a problem.

The old church leaders of that time do NOT LIKE IT….because they are losing power.

And if you want to see what happens….

Well come back next week and you will see!

So let me close with our life application for this week.

Life Application: Jesus’ goal for all of us is to be a disciple and make more disciples of Jesus. Honestly reflect on your life and how you are doing at that. Share with someone you trust and how you plan on improving.

Let’s Pray…..