Acts 6:1-7

Good morning, everyone. I wish that I could say that Nathan not being here today is the reason that I'm up here.

! But that wouldn't be a sufficient excuse per se. I asked Nathan a couple months ago if he would allow me the privilege of preaching the Word of God again.

And as the week drew near, work was insanely busy. And even as the days drew near to today, I feared quite a bit about my preparation, it not being sufficient.

And I was really just afraid. So I had to go to Nathan and just seek counsel from him about this.

And he just continued to encourage me to rest on the Lord and lean on the Lord, because ultimately every man that comes up here in the pulpit has to find a sufficiency in Christ to preach his Word.

And my hope is that you'll bear witness of that today. And my hope is that I will bear witness of that today as well.

Let me go ahead and just open us up in prayer and we'll dive into the Word together.

Father, we praise you for this morning bringing together your children, brothers, sisters, families, husbands, and wives to hear the preaching of your Word.

I pray that that would happen today, that it would be heard in this building.

And I pray that it would also be heard in all of the other congregations that are gathering on this Sunday morning, Lord.

I pray that this would be true.

I pray that you would have us all understand what it means to see your young and early church and how that applies to us today,

even as your church continues to grow and spread throughout all of the world.

So let that be true today, Lord.

And we ask this in your name, Christ. Amen.

So open up with me to Acts.

As most of you know, we have been going through the book of Acts since the beginning of the year.

And this book can be, the title of the book can be somewhat misleading.

For example, in my version it says, The Acts of the Apostles.

It is true that this is a story, it's a written account written by Luke,

about what the apostles were doing after the ascension of Jesus Christ.

But I think, and others have mentioned this, that it's sufficient to say that this was the act of the Holy Spirit.

After Christ ascended, he said that he was going to send a helper.

And so only a couple of days later, when the disciples are gathering together, he sends the Holy Spirit to them.

And they begin proclaiming the word of God all throughout Jerusalem and eventually into Samaria.

And we're going to bear witnesses of that as you continue to come on Sundays,

as you continue to meet on Wednesday nights to discuss these things.

You're going to see that take place and unfold.

And that's going to lead us all the way up to where we are today.

Two thousand years later, you've all heard the gospel of Jesus Christ preached and proclaimed to you in some way or another.

So it's incredible to see that continuation of the church after this book concludes.

It's not the Acts of the Apostles, it is the Acts of the Spirit that's done that.

So here we are in Acts 6.1.

We kind of get to see a young child beginning to walk for the first time is how I like to imagine this.

It's the growth of the church or the organization of the church.

It is like a living, breathing organism, as I've heard it described.

It becomes mature.

It's understanding some of its faults and failures, how it can fine-tune itself by listening to the Spirit to serve others

and to preach the gospel louder and throughout other places.

And so what we're going to witness here in this text is a division that arises amongst the early church in Jerusalem

and how the Spirit allows them to approach that and reconcile it.

So read with me in Acts 6.1.

Now at this time, while the disciples were increasing in number,

a complaint arose on the part of the Hellenistic Jews against the native Jews

because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food.

So the twelve summoned the congregation of the disciples and said,

It is not desirable for us to neglect the Word of God in order to serve tables.

Therefore, brethren, select from among you seven men of good reputation,

full of the Spirit and of wisdom,

whom we may be put in charge of this task.

But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word.

The statement found approval with the whole congregation,

and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit,

and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolás,

a proselyte from Antioch.

And these they brought before the apostles,

and after praying, they laid their hands on them.

The Word of God kept on spreading,

and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem,

and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith.

So I want to just lay out and brief the characters that you see here in this part.

And we've got the disciples.

It's referring to all the Jews that have now become Christians in Jerusalem.

But we see two distinctions of Jews.

We see the Hellenistic Jews mentioned here and the native Hebrews.

Something I learned several weeks ago in Cog

was that these Hellenists were actually from the Despora,

which is the region outside of Jerusalem.

They had come to Jerusalem during Pentecost.

And at the time, they were heavily influenced by Greeks.

They all spoke Greek.

They partook in their culture.

They partook in their art.

All of these things that were very foreign to the native Hebrews.

And then, other characters that we see,

we've got the Twelve Apostles.

So when you see the Twelve, it's referencing the Twelve Apostles.

And then eventually, the Seven Appointed Deacons.

And I'll get into that a little bit more.

As I continue through this,

I'm going to give you just kind of a line-by-line,

verse-by-verse exposition.

That's how a lot of us like to do it here.

And there are six observances that I want you to make

as I'm going through this.

And you can write these down.

I'm not going to be going back and forth to these.

I just really want you to listen to the text

and find these as I'm preaching on it.

But these six observations

are the success of the church thus far.

So what have we seen?

What successes in the church have we seen

up to this point in Acts 6.1?

What I call Satan's third attack on the church.

Number three, the obedience of the apostles.

Number four, the spirit solution.

Five, the call to service.

And then six, the result.

And I'll go ahead and give that one away.

But it's a reconciled and powerful church

that we're going to see in Acts 6.7.

So as we go into Acts 6.1,

we see at this time,

while the disciples were increasing in number,

we believe this time is in a reference

to only a couple of months

since the ascension of Jesus Christ.

When it says increasing in number,

the word that they actually use for that is plethora.

And that's obviously where we get the word plethora.

It means a great many or a multitude of people.

And the estimates of this are upwards of 20,000 people.

Some even say that it could be up to 30,000 individuals

that have come to know Christ

through the preaching of the apostles

and the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

And it says,

A complaint arose on the part of the Hellenistic Jews

against the native Jews

because their widows were being overlooked in the daily food.

This complaint that arises,

this is an attack by Satan,

is what I believe it to be,

because we've seen that already happen

a couple of times in the church.

John's preached on it.

Nathan has preached on it.

We saw the persecution of John and Peter

and later the other apostles when they were beat.

That's what I believe to be the first.

Then we see sin that divides the church and the giving.

We see Ananias and Sapphira,

how they're struck down by God.

And then eventually we see this,

this dysfunction,

this disunity coming up in the church.

And this is all an attempt by Satan

to stop the growth of the church.

That's what he was always trying to do.

He was always trying to stop the Word of God

from being spoken.

In order to do this,

he tried to put Jesus Christ up on a cross,

but that was a plan all along,

is that he had to go to the cross.

He had to be crucified.

He had to bear the wrath of God.

Satan thinks that it's his plan,

but it wasn't,

hence the reason he rose from the dead.

So this is just another effort.

Now that Christ has ascended,

he says to himself,

how can I divide this church?

How can I break it up?

How can I make them less powerful than they are?

And we're going to see that result,

what happens from that.

On the part of the Hellenistic Jews

against the native Hebrews,

now as I said,

prior to knowing Christ,

these Hellenists were more Greek

than they were Jews.

Obviously this caused a great amount of division

when they came back to Jerusalem

to worship during Pentecost.

They tried to bring all of these foreign,

just foreign cultures with them.

So there were already divisions

between these Jews

prior to them being unified in Christ.

As a matter of fact,

the Hellenists were known

for wanting to translate

the Old Testament into Greek.

And the native Hebrews said,

no, this is specifically written in Hebrew.

This is what it should be.

This is what it should remain.

But that's how much they wanted

to somewhat be a part

of the Jewish culture.

And there was division because of that.

So this is why I believe

Satan chose these two groups of people

originally to attack and divide

because they already had

dysfunction amongst them

prior to coming to know the Lord.

So he simply says,

I'm just going to wedge myself back in there

and I'm going to divide them once again.

That didn't work despite his best efforts.

They complained.

They griped.

They said,

our widows are being overlooked

in the daily serving of food.

And I thought to myself,

I said, well, how is that happening?

I just tried to put myself

in the shoes of the apostles

or the people complaining.

And I read some things,

listened to things,

couldn't really understand

about how this conflict

is coming about.

How were people being overlooked?

And you would say,

well, there's 12 apostles,

there's 20,000 people.

Obviously, it'd be pretty easy

to overlook a group of people.

But we can see up to this point

that thousands of people

are being served

by the hands of the apostles.

And this is just a theory of my own,

so you can take it for what it is.

But it's quite possible

that in their gatherings,

in the servings of the tables,

they would have the men

come up and get the food

that was sufficient for their families,

that was sufficient for their wives,

that was sufficient for their children.

And the apostles would hand them out to them.

They'd hand them out

to all the men that came up.

Well, if you've got a group of widows,

that's the point,

is they don't have any young men

or any men

that are able to come up

and represent them.

So that's a possibility.

That is a theory

of the reason why

they could have been overlooked.

And the fact is

that they spoke Greek,

so it's not like they could come up

and tell the Aramaics,

the ones who spoke Aramaic,

that they were being neglected,

that they were not having food,

et cetera,

or that they needed food.

So, hence they're overlooked.

As some of you may remember,

I think John mentioned this last week,

or maybe a couple weeks earlier

from someone else,

but one of the duties

of the Christian church

that we're going to see

as it grows

is James says this

in James 1.27.

He says,

Pure and undefiled religion

in the sight of our God and Father

is this,

to visit orphans and widows

in their distress.

And so that's a very simple duty.

I think the apostles knew this,

that it was their duty

to be serving widows

who could not be served

in the home by men.

But when they're being neglected,

obviously the church is failing

to perform one of its functions.

So when they came together

and complained

to the apostles,

the apostles said to them,

they summoned the congregation

and the disciples

and said,

It is not desirable

for us to neglect

the word of God

in order to serve tables.

And that word that they use

for serve

is diakone.

And I'm going to explain that

a little bit later.

But that means to serve

or to be a servant of.

That's where we eventually

get the word deacon from.

And that's something

I'm going to be talking about

a little bit today.

But when I first read this,

and it says,

It is not desirable

for us to neglect

the word of God

in order to serve tables.

I said to myself,

Who are you as the apostles

who think that you're too high

to serve the low,

to serve the widows,

to serve the needy?

That's where my flesh went.

I've learned

from constantly reading scripture

that my flesh

is much more critical

than my spirit is

because it wants to find

a lot of faults

in the word of God.

So,

when I asked myself though,

when I prayed

and I said,

What do they mean by this?

They're simply saying

that it is their duty.

They were ordained

to preach

and minister

the word of God.

That up to this point,

they were able to serve

maybe 10,

maybe 15,000 people,

but eventually

it became too many

to serve on a weekly basis.

So they had to choose

one or the other.

They said,

We can either continue

preaching the word of God

or we can serve the tables.

They said,

It is not desirable

for us to neglect

the word of God

in order to serve tables.

And what I mean

by that ordination

that they have,

that duty that they had

to preach the word of God,

we see it a couple of times.

We see it at the very beginning

of Acts.

And I want you guys

to turn here with me.

Turn to Acts 1.

1.

I'm going to read through 2

and then I'm going to skip

to verse 8.

It says,

Verse 8,

And that's his direct decree

to the apostles,

that they would be witnesses

of the word of God

and what they've witnessed

in Jesus Christ

throughout Jerusalem

and the rest of the world.

It's also,

I'm not going to make you turn here,

but it's also an echo

of what Luke also recorded

in Luke 24, 44 through 48.

What we see in Matthew,

Matthew 28, 18 through 20.

All of you are familiar

with the Great Commission.

This is a parallel text

of where he's commissioning them

to go out

and be ministers of the word.

But someone pointed this out

to me recently.

It's not just,

this commission was not just

found here in the New Testament.

It was not just found

in the Gospels.

It was not just found in Acts.

But it's also a reference

to something in the Old Testament.

St. Augustine said

that the new is the old concealed

and the old is the new revealed.

That means that what we see

in the Old Testament

is a concealing

of what we now see

in the New Testament

and vice versa.

What we see in the New Testament

is revealed to us

of what was spoken of

in the Old Testament.

So turn with me

to Numbers 8, 14.

I'll give you all

some time to get there.

I'm going to read through verse 22.

And I want you to see

the parallels between

the Jesus ordaining

and blessing

the original apostles

and what we see

the Lord's commandment

for the Levites

here in the early church.

If you will.

Thus you shall separate

the Levites

from among the sons of Israel

and the Levites

shall be mine.

Then after that

the Levites

may go

and to serve

the tent of meeting.

But you shall cleanse them

and present them

as a way of offering

for they are wholly

given to me

from among the sons

of Israel.

I have taken them

for myself

instead of every first issue

of the womb.

The firstborn

of all the sons of Israel.

For every firstborn

among the sons of Israel

is mine

among the men

and among the animals

and on the day

that I struck down

all the firstborn

in the land of Egypt

I sanctified them

for myself

but I have taken

the Levites

instead of every firstborn

among the sons of Israel.

I have given

the Levites

as a gift to Aaron

and to his sons

from among the sons

of Israel

to perform the service

of the sons of Israel

at the tent of meeting

and to make atonement

on behalf

of the sons of Israel

so that there will be

no plague

among the sons of Israel

by their coming near

to the sanctuary.

Thus did Moses

and Aaron

and all the congregation

of the sons

of Israel

to the Levites

according to all

that the Lord

had commanded Moses

concerning the Levites

so the sons of Israel

did to them.

The Levites too

purified themselves

from sin

and washed their clothes

and Aaron presented them

as a way of offering

before the Lord.

Aaron also made atonement

for them

to cleanse them.

Then after the Levites

went in to perform

their service

in the tent of meeting

before Aaron

and before his sons

just as the Lord

had commanded Moses

concerning the Levites

so they did to them.

This is where he sets aside

people,

priests,

holy priests

to take care

of the sacrifices

that constantly

had to be made

for the sins of Israel

but this is also

the people

that he chose

to minister

the word of God

to his people

and eventually

God himself

ordains the prophets

to do the same

to speak about

the coming

of the Christ.

These are the men

that are set aside

and it's the same

for the apostles

in this era

that they were set aside

to minister

and to preach

the word of God

and they said that.

We can't neglect

the word of God.

This is of the utmost importance.

So their solution

is therefore brethren

select from among you

seven men

of good reputation

full of the spirit

and of wisdom

whom we may put

in charge

of the task.

And this goes back

to that word

that I used

for serve

earlier.

It's diakone.

It means to serve.

It means a servant of.

That's what they're looking for.

They're looking for servants.

People who know

how to serve

these widows

that are being neglected.

So there are

six qualifications

that I could come out of

or that I could pull

out of this text.

for these men.

The original deacons.

They say

select from among you.

So that means

the people

that were bringing

the complaints to them

they're saying

well what we want you to do

is we want you guys

to get together

talk to one another

nominate

seven individuals

that you believe

can best serve you.

The reason

they had to be among them

is because they spoke

their language

they knew their culture

they knew what

their needs were

which even obviously

the apostles

had a hard time

doing that.

They were still men

nonetheless

but it was best

that they found

someone who was

similar to them

people within

their community.

Another qualification

and I want you all

to take this loosely

and I'll explain why

is he says

seven men.

In this time

they were looking

for men

to serve the widows.

They didn't have

the husbands

as I mentioned

they didn't have

the sons

so they needed

men to step up

and serve these widows

but that doesn't

necessarily mean

that deacons

from this day forward

had to be men

and there is

lots of evidence

for that in the

New Testament.

We see that with Phoebe

I think in

Romans 16.1

we also see

a description

of what a deacon

should be

what they should look like

and I'm going to go to there

I'm going to have everybody

go to there

in a little bit

that's in 1 Timothy

so I think

that there is

sufficient evidence

to say that

women can also

be deacons

in many cases

and the more

struggles that the church

has

as it's growing

you're going to find

things that

really only women

can confront

and serve

they can serve

a lot better

in some ways

to men

you'll notice here

that we don't have

men throwing

baby showers

for people

it's because

women are best

qualified for

something like that

they're better

to serve

in that role

another

observation is

they had to be

of good reputation

and here I want you

to go ahead

and turn

to 1 Timothy 3

I'm going to start us

off in 7

where Paul

is actually

telling Timothy

what the leaders

and the elders

and the deacons

need to look like

in the church

so in verse 7

he's actually

describing

the overseers

kind of the elders

however

he uses

the same word

here

that Luke uses

for good reputation

he says in verse 7

and I'm going to read

all the way through 13

and he must have

a good reputation

with those

outside the church

so that he will not

fall into reproach

and the snare

of the devil

deacons likewise

must be then

of dignity

not double tongued

or addicted

to much wine

or fond of

sordid gain

but holding to

the mystery of the faith

with a clear conscience

these men must also

first be tested

then let them

serve as deacons

if they are

beyond reproach

women

must likewise

be dignified

not malicious

gossips

but temperate

faithful

in all things

deacons must be

husbands of only one wife

and good managers

of their children

and their households

for those who have

served well as deacons

obtain for themselves

a high standing

and great confidence

in the faith

that is in Christ Jesus

so we see there

what Paul lays out

is the specific

qualifications

of the deacons

but he's only going off

of what he saw

in the original church

the early church

that was set aside

by the twelve apostles

the next qualification

the fifth one

is that they must be

full of the spirit

they must be proven

to have the Holy Spirit

within them

and third

fifthly

sorry

yeah fifth

and of wisdom

they must have wisdom

and they must also

be leaders

and I pull that from

that they may be

put in charge

of this task

they weren't looking

for someone

who just simply

had a good reputation

they weren't looking

for just Greeks

for Hellenist Jews

they were looking

for men

who could step up

as leaders

to serve the church

and then they go back

to what they originally said

the apostles do

they said

but we will devote

ourselves to prayer

and to the ministry

of the word

this I believe

to be the crux

of this portion

of the text

or of this text

is that the apostles

are remaining obedient

to what they were

originally called to do

and they're not deviating

from that

despite the dysfunction

that they're seeing

in the church

the two things

that they mention here

are prayer

and the ministry

of the word

Jesus prays upwards

of or at least

what we see recorded

in the gospels

upwards of 30 times

throughout his ministry

that's not including

parallel texts

so that's single

accounts of what we have

of Jesus praying

and we know that

John says

he didn't even record

he didn't record

anywhere near

what he witnessed

Jesus do

in his three years

of ministry with him

so there's no telling

how many times

Jesus prayed it daily

by himself

and with others

that was constant

and so the apostles

eleven of which

are the original

disciples of Jesus Christ

they're just simply

copying that

they're mimicking that

because they know

that it has been fruitful

they know that they

need to call upon

the Lord

so they do that

they say we can't

neglect that

Martin Lloyd-Jones

says this about prayer

he says

prayer is beyond

any question

of the highest

activity of the

human soul

man is at his

greatest and highest

when upon his knees

he comes face to face

with God

that's absolutely

what the apostles

of this time

understood

that everything

that was happening

within the church

in Jerusalem

was not on their

own accord

it was by them

calling out to God

saying we want this

to happen

we know that you

desire for this

to happen

so please make it

happen

and then we see

the ministry of the

word

or preaching

that's how that can

be also translated

again

this is simply

mimicking what

Jesus Christ did

if you think that

these were the first

preachers

of the word

then you're wrong

turn with me to

Matthew 23

or Matthew 4

yeah

Matthew 4

I'm going to start

in verse 23

and read through

verse

chapter 5

verse 2

Jesus was going

throughout all

Galilee

teaching in their

synagogues

and proclaiming

the gospel

of the kingdom

and healing

every kind of

disease

and every kind

of sickness

among the people

the news about him

spread throughout

all Syria

and they brought

to him

all who were ill

those suffering

with various diseases

and pains

demonics

epiletics

paralytics

and he healed

them

large crowds

followed him

from Galilee

and the

Decapolis

and Jerusalem

and Judea

and from beyond

the Jordan

when Jesus

saw the crowds

he went up

on the mountain

and after he

sat down

his disciples

came to him

he opened

his mouth

and began

to teach them

it can't be

any more clear

than that

Matthew

even wants

to tell you

that he had

to open

his mouth

to preach

the word

some of you

may know

that right

after this

he goes

into what's

known as

the sermon

on the mount

every religious

scholar

whether they

study

Christianity

or something

else

or all

religions

they are

all familiar

with the

sermon

on the mount

it's considered

one of the

greatest sermons

ever preached

Jesus knew

that if he

called everybody

together by

healing

if he healed

a few people

word would get

out

everybody would

come to be

healed

he said

I'm not here

to heal

everybody

physically

I'm here

to save

their soul

I'm here

to tell them

how to get

to God

he concludes

that sermon

or he comes

close to

near the

conclusion

of that

sermon

on the mount

tells them

that you

have two

options

you can

go through

the narrow

gate

that path

is hard

it's on

the narrow

way

or

you can go

through

the broad

gate

via the

broad way

that everybody

else goes

to

only one

of them

reaches

to God

the other

will lead

you to

hell

that's what

he preaches

to these

people

who are

sick

who are

dying

who are

needy

who are

poor

so all

we see

the apostles

doing is

the exact

same thing

Jesus also

tells the

people why

it is that

he preaches

the word

of God

and why

they need

to truly

understand

the word

of God

he says

this

and you

don't have

to turn

here

he says

this in

John

539

many of you

I'm sure

are familiar

with this

text

he says

you search

the scriptures

so that in

them you think

that you have

eternal life

it is there

that they

testify about

me

the scriptures

testify about

me

the Christ

and you are

unwilling

to come to

me

so that you

may have

life

there

there's a

record

I can't

remember

in which

gospel

it is

there's

a record

of eight

lepers

that come

to be

healed

by Jesus

so that's

eight individuals

who need

physical healing

only one

of them

comes back

one of the

eight

comes back

and praises

Christ

because of

what he's

done

has faith

in him

that he

is the

Messiah

so it's

obvious that

Jesus Christ

was not

there just

to serve

people with

their physical

needs

nor are

the

apostles

they need

to be

constantly

devoting

themselves

to the

word

Paul

echoes

this

charge

and the

reason

for it

in Romans

10

I want

you to

go there

with me

I'm going

to read

Romans 10

1-4

and I'm

going to

skip to

14

I know

that I've

done that

a couple

of times

skipping

in between

but what's

in between

there is

just as

fruitful

I promise

you

but just

for the

sake

of time

Paul

says

brethren

my heart's

desire

and my

prayer

to God

for them

is for

their

salvation

for I

testify

about them

that they

have a

zeal

for God

but not

in accordance

with knowledge

for not

knowing about

God's

righteousness

and seeking

to establish

their own

they did

not subject

themselves

to the

righteousness

of God

for Christ

is the

end of

the law

for righteousness

to everyone

who believes

verse 14

how then

will they

call on

him

in whom

they have

not

believed

how

will

they

believe

in

him

whom

they

have

not

heard

and

how

will

they

hear

without

a

preacher

and

how

will

they

preach

unless

they

are

sent

just

as

it

is

written

how

beautiful

are

the

feet

of

those

who

bring

good

news

of

good

things

however

they

did

not

all

heed

the

good

news

for

Isaiah

says

Lord

who

has

believed

our

report

so

faith

comes

from

hearing

and

hearing

by

the

word

of

Christ

it's

right

there

that's

why

I

believe

it

is

of

the

utmost

importance

that

these

men

do

not

stop

what

they're

doing

to

serve

the

tables

doesn't

mean

that

the

serving

of

the

tables

is

not

important

they

knew

that

it

was

if

they've

stopped

fulfilling

the

reason

that

they're

preaching

if

they

stopped

serving

others

like

Christ

served

others

what's

the

point

they're

wasting

their

time

so

back

to

Acts

the

statement

found

approval

with

the

congregation

this

is a

great

thing

because

now

they're

getting

to see

reconciliation

right

before

them

those

who

were

complaining

they're

told

this

by

the

apostles

and

they

say

okay

yeah

this

makes

sense

and

they

chose

the

seven

they

chose

Stephen

a man

full

of the

Holy

Spirit

even

though

it

says

that

Stephen

specifically

is

full

of the

!

Spirit

we've

got

to

go

back

to

the

qualifications

of

what

they

say

that

they

need

to

have

all

of

these

were

full

of

the

Spirit

but

I

believe

the

reason

that

Luke

emphasizes

Stephen

is

full

of

the

Spirit

is

because

what

we're

going

to

see

in

the

next

few

chapters

or

the

next

chapter

or two

as

we go

on

through

the

study

of

Acts

you're

going to

see

that

you

see

the

goes

on

to

save

an

Ethiopian

or

brings

the

Ethiopian

to

salvation

the

other

five

I

already

read

those

names

to

you

I'm

not

going

to

do

it

again

however

we

don't

see

them

mentioned

anymore

in

the

book

of

Acts

I

don't

know

the

reason

for

that

I

didn't

take

the

time

to

speculate

so

it's

probably

not

that

important

and

these

they

brought

before

the

apostles

and

after

praying

they

laid

hands

on

them

so

when

they

nominated

these

men

they

took

them

back

to

the

apostles

knowing

that

these

apostles

needed

to

approve

they

needed

to

see

that

these

men

had

those

six

qualifications

of

the

deacons

they

needed

to

know

that

these

men

were

capable

of

serving

the

widows

so

when

it

says

they

laid

hands

on

them

we

see

that

a

couple

of

times

we

see

that

both

healing

that's

when

hands

were

laid

on

people

sometimes

it

was

for

prayer

in

this

case

it's

really

the

leaders

what

I

see

is

kind

of

the

knighting

the

deacons

saying

they

laid

hands

on

them

I'm

sure

they

prayed

over

them

and

they

blessed

them

to

go

back

out

and

serve

the

widows

and

then

we

have

the

result

of

this

reconciliation

this

coming

together

of

the

church

this

agreement

that

they

have

the

election

of

these

seven

deacons

we

have

the

word

of

God

kept

on

spreading

and

the

number

of

the

disciples

continued

to

increase

greatly

in

Jerusalem

and

a

great

many

of

the

priests

were

becoming

obedient

to

the

faith

so

the

ESV

I

think

says

that

the

word

of

God

was

increasing

in

the

NSB

it

does

say

the

word

of

God

kept

spreading

because

people

kept

preaching

it

kept

spreading

because

people

kept

talking

about

it

twelve

apostles

were not

the only

ones

that were

preaching

the word

of God

were ministering

the word

of God

those

who were

being

healed

would go

back

to

Samaria

and tell

everyone

you've

got to

know

about

this

Christ

he's

come

believe

it or

not

the

Jews

crucified

him

but

he

rose

again

from

the

dead

and so

the result

of the

word

of God

spreading

is the

number

of

disciples

continued

to

increase

greatly

in

Jerusalem

and a

great

many

of the

priests

were

becoming

obedient

to the

faith

it's

obvious

that

Satan's

efforts

were

throtted

here

everybody

came

together

and they

went

back

out

and we

see that

word

used

again

that

pletheno

where

we

get

plethora

continued

to

increase

greatly

a great

multitude

of

people

more

than

20,000

people

were

coming

to

know

Christ

that's

a

wonderful

thing

when you

see

the

obedience

of the