The Magnificent Seven

Let's pray. Dear Father God, we don't want to be

ordinary Christians. We want to be extraordinary Christians. Really, we're

not here to come to church and whining about what

went wrong in our life, but to rejoice in the

fact that you're the jewel in the journey, the gold

of the Son of righteousness, the honey of the Word

of God. Jesus, we love you. Thank you for allowing

us to be here. Father, we have seen events yesterday

that have changed the world. We are sleeping adventists. So

many of us know nothing of prophecy, some who have

been irritated by its preaching and teaching. And yet we

are living at a time where we must engage the world.

And Lord, our radio broadcast goes to places we don't

even know. I've been informed today there was a listener

a radio station picked up our broadcasts without permission. Of course,

that's so with us, and that dear heart reached out.

May you bless every place like this, Take our little

here and make it much for your cause. Make us

like the magnificent seven in Jesus' name. Amen, What kind

of person does God called elitis Church? We should ask

that question very shortly. The world church will be selecting

leaders to replace our world leadership, and so we should

ask the question what kind of persons God called elitist church?

We know that Jesus called imperfect people with potential to

become his disciples. Did you hear the word imperfect potential?

We call that God's grace. If you could go back

and you could know where I came from as a

young person, I don't talk a lot about it because

life before fifteen for me was trauma. I experienced a

kind of life that many of you can never think of.

You would not imagine that your pastor came from where

he came from. But God, in his mercy, took me

from that put me into a loving Christians association in

Fletch your academy. And I was very imperfect. I'm still

very imperfect, but I began to preach and teach. The

very first year I came to academy was baptized. Because

God works with imperfect people. Did you hear me? So?

As a disciple of Jesus, a person is mentored under Jesus.

They learned the ways of Jesus from Jesus. Back then,

they learned the ethics of Jesus. From Jesus, they learned

to value God and others as Jesus values every person

with potential. A disciple in time can, in theory, become

a leader, even though he or she must always remain

a disciple. So just because you become a leader doesn't

mean you stop being disciple. We never stopped following Jesus

just to become a leader. In fact, leaders need to

dig in and follow Jesus all the more because they

are a leader. In fact, leaders will not lead long

if they don't follow Jesus as a disciple. The early

Church was growing in the Book of Acts. They had

overcome their first hurdle of apostasy in the case of

Antonius and Saphira. They had faced opposition and persecution with

courage and prayer. They were not concerned about numbers. But

God brought providence to grow the church through basics, through fellowship,

Bible study, friendship, commitment, sharing Christ and so the church

grew in boldness in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Everything looked mighty good until dissension arose in the early Church.

How did rise concerning the widows of the Church. Now

you shouldn't be arguing over widows. So they were complaining

about widows in the early Church. I've heard all kinds

of complaints at times in the church arise about this,

that and the other thing. But they were concerned about

the widows. And it had a lot to do with

whose widows were being taken care of or weren't in

their eyes and perception. You see, the early Church supported

widows that were deserving of their support. Godly widows who

met a certain criteria were fed and were not allowed

to starve to death in the early Church. Historians tell

us that by the end of the first century, the

Early Church had created a support structure for the elderly

and the sick that became the envy of the Roman world.

They left no one behind in the Apostolic Church. When

our treasurer Tom Kunju had a stroke. You know, sometimes

people say, well, how can who so and so serve

in the church with a stroke? Many of you don't know.

But our transition from Alleghany's Conference the Chesapeake Conference was

led by Tom Kunju after he survived with a life stroke.

He guided us with wisdom and the audit to make

it happen. Now we have a new treasure at RhI.

But Tom is on our finance team and new treasures

Doris Horner. Where's Doris at? Doris? Now, Doris isn't taking

Tom's place. Doris is standing on the shoulders of Tom.

She is humble, committed working with our conference auditor who

is doing our books until certain transitions and fixes occur,

which is wonderful and God be praised. But you know,

we made a decision we would not leave Tom behind,

and God allowed him to get through that life's threatening

situation to emerge and bless the church in a quiet way.

Everything looked mighty good until dissension arose over the widows history.

Just like Jesus, the early Church left no one behind.

And that's important to take note of here. Those early

believers did not forget the week and the elderly, and

should we Sometimes good things can be used by the

enemy for bad outcomes if our focus is misdirected on

the good thing. And that's what happened. Look at verse one,

Act six, that's enter our bibles. Last week. You had

to actually open your bible, open them anyway their slides.

It won't hurt you to turn to Act six. Now,

in those days when the number of the disciples was multiplying.

There arose a complaint against the Hebrews by the Hellenists

Hebrew Christians Greek Christians. Hellenists are Greek Christians because their

widows were neglected in the daily distribution. Then the twelve

summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, it is

not desirable that we should leave the word of God

and serve tables. Now, the Greek word for desirable is

the Greek word for pleasant or pleasing. Have you ever

seen an unpleasant person going unpleasant I'm happy, and their

faces down their stern at you, as my wife is

sometimes honey, you know, you gotta watch those eyebrows. Keep

them down, so I don't know they're up. They're up. Okay,

we can look unpleasant when we're trying to be pleasant.

Sometimes now they're saying, here, it's not pleasant that this

is happening in the church. God is not pleased when

ministers of the gospel are distracted and preoccupied doing the

work of maintaining the church and even caring for its

needs at the expense of not being in the word

and praying. Problem here, it takes time to study the

Word of God. The spiritual leaders of the church to

be foremost in sharing, studying, and praying. It's hard for

a minister. I speak from experience. It's hard for a

minister to minister from the Bible if they are distracted

from Bibles, study, prayer, and teaching, preaching and visiting people

that the members should be doing. There are roles for

the pastor, but he's not to do everything. Imagine God

frowning on such a thing. Because he does, he's not pleased.

The same challenge was hoisted on Moses and outside. Remember Moses,

children of Israel, of Sinai, I'm out of Egypt to Sinai,

Jethro as good godly father in laws. As Moses, You're

going to burn out here. You can't handle all the

pressures of the people. You're gonna need to choose spirit

filled men. Let them lead in circles of concern, have

hierarchical levels of leaders, so that the important matters only

come to you and not everything else on the table.

And when Moses took that council, and Moses lived to

write the Torah, he lived to bring him through the

wilderness for forty years. He lived to see his life

purpose realize we wouldn't have a Bible if he had

not taken that council from Jethro. The same challenge Moses

overcame way back then arose in the early Church among

the Apostles. God was rebooting Israel through the Apostolic Church,

the Helenus. The Greek widows were Jewish widows who spoke

Greek and who were affected by the Greek culture since

the babylon In captivity. That did dasper was the spreading

of the Jewish people throughout the Greek world, and so

Jewish were everywhere. They've learned Greek language, Greek culture. The Bible,

the New Testament's not written in Hebrew or Aramic, It's

written in Cooin, a common person Greek. Thus the church

had cultural diversity. Is that a good thing? Let's say, amen,

come on, let's what's the name of our church here?

Going to help me reaching hearts? International? That means multi

ethnic from every nation, kindred tribe in tongue. We celebrate diversity,

and that means cultural diversity, racial diversity, age diversity. The

Church had cultural diversity back then. That kind of verse,

and the Greek Christians felt that their widows were being

ignored for the sake of the Jewish Christian widows of Jerusalem.

That's pretty bad. It's apostle that's called we call it racism.

That's what they felt was happening. There probably was a

little bit Peter struggled with racism. God had to straight

out straighten it out with Cornelius. I'm gonna tell you

right now, I love being able in the Lord to

be an old, sixty two year old pastor giving a

godly affectionate hand thing, you know, and this fist bump,

you know, to the diversity of children in the church.

The apostles said, it's not pleasant for that we should

leave the word of God to serve tables. Are they right?

Are they right? Okay? I would like to affirm the

same truth here today with you, from the word of God.

It's not pleasant your pastor should leave the word of

God to set tables, to clean the church, to weave

the flower bed, to do a host of things that

would divert his attention from Bible studies, sharing the Word

of God and evangelism. Does that make sense, okay? When

I cannot train and teach because I'm doing everything else

under the sun. There's a problem we've had COVID. COVID

has really redone the church in any ways. People have

lost the sense that they need to be engaged. People

come to church late because of COVID. Some people choose

to just stay at home and go online rather than

get to church. Well, I got news for you. The

COVID virus at this present state is not going to

kill you. You need to get to church, and if

it does, you'll die in church serving the Lord, and

then you'll know you'll be in the right resurrection at

the end of the age. Am I right? So get

back to church. So the early Apostolic Church was in

a crisis, racial tensions, rolls were messed up, Satan had

moved on some to murmur and the complain instead of

rolling up their sleeves to make a difference for the church.

So the word of God gets spread and prosper. So

the Apostolic giftedness could work in behalf of the church

and Act sent six the Apostles called a town hall

meeting where the folk us was placed squarely on sharing

ministry rather than hoarding ministry. I've seen some pastors just

want they want to do everything. I don't look look

at the manual here leading out Today, God be praised

Samuel's at his older brother. He took the place of

his older brother. Did he do a good job? Amen? Okay, Texas.

They called a multitude of disciples together. We call that

broad consensus. There was a time in reaching Hearts where

we didn't use board meetings. We had full business meetings

of everybody to make decisions. Now I realized the church

manual structures different, but I liked it better that way

because then we had consensus and buy in. So we've

got to figure out how to work with the structure

to keep the Apostolic way going. Okay. Now they had preached,

and they administered, and a multitude of new disciples stood

before them to hear. The apostles appealed to the brethren

to empower the apostles so they can teach and preach

the word of God. Look at verse three x six. Therefore,

and what does it say in your Bible the very

next word, Brethren, seek out from among you, don't come

to us. You look inside your own circle, from among

you seven men of good reputation. The word good is

not in the Greek there of 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. Were the Apostles right in

standing the ground for those things? Yes? Or no? Okay,

Now think about these verses a little bit with me here.

First of all, the apostles address the disciples who had

become a multitude as brethren. Are they talking down to

them or are they engaging them as equals in the

family of God? See? So they're not larding over anybody here.

That's the correct leadership style. But are the apostles Do

they not have apostolic authority? Yes, but they're not using

the authority to hit someone over the head. Secondly, they

collaboratively called the brethren to look within their own ranks

and to consider the lives of their fellow brethren to

see who could make the best leaders among them. Is

that a good thing? Now? Some people just want to

be leaders. I feel that I have been called to

preach six sermons at Reaching Hearts this week. Some people

say that maybe he has called you to preach a

sermon or two, But it could be he's called you

to preach six sermons at the prison. Brothers Zundel, You

preach how many times a month? How many what? How

many times a week a month? Do you preach when

you're in the prisons? Every other week? Every other month? Boy,

you're preaching all the time. If I don't get my

voice back, I'll have you come up and finish. Excuse me,

I choked as I was talking to you, all right now.

The bottom line is that you're preaching and your teaching

and you're not even in the church. Mark you do

the same, don't you. You share the word of God

in prisons, Doris, you do, And so it's good when

you're not. Is it good when they're not in church?

Having church in the prisons for people who need the

word of God? Yeah? Absolutely? Okay. Now, the Apostles gave

three important criteria for choosing the seven leaders from the

Brethren greatly needed to stabilize the church. Let's look at

those characteristic number one of the Magnificent seven. They were chosen.

They were to choose men of good reputation. You see

that in your Bible. Some translations say it differently. The

Greek is a little more clear than this. It uses

the verb for martyr, meaning to testify, to bear witness

to something. It's one thing to choose a leader, it's

another thing to be willing to testify that you choose

a good leader whose life bears witness to the consistent

see of their faith and calling. Isn't that right? You

can say, I know that person is a man or

a woman of God. Isn't that someone you want to

be a leader? Rad I'm not really sure. I have

to really study it. They really don't give much evidence,

but maybe they'll work. That's not the kind of thing here.

It's another thing thing to be willing to testify to

person's credentials. A good person's life bears witness to the

truth they taught that we would testify to. It is

the duty of the church to choose men and women

to lead the church who are people of integrity. Does

that make sense? Integrity and who will not abuse their

position as leaders? Characteristic number two of the Magnificent Seven.

The Apostles ask the brethren to choose men full of

the Holy Spirit. Who wants to have somebody in leadership

in the church who's not a Holy spirit filled leader?

Forget it? How can you tell if someone is full

of the Holy Now, this is where I start meddling. Okay,

hold your pulse, hang on here. A holy spirit filled

person has self control in their lives, yes or no? Okay,

Paul says, a holy spirit filled person doesn't go after spirits.

He says that and that means alcohol that can make

you drunk, and after the Holy Spirit. But after the

Holy Spirit he gives you love, joy and peace. So

is it okay? If for the for the leadership the

church and people who aren't drinkers of alcohol, yes or no. Yeah.

A person who strives to be a leader in the church,

but who puts alcohol in their house, and who goes

to bars and enjoys worthy pursuits in bars or at

the theater and thinks that that's Christian liberty has no

business being the leader in the church, no matter who

they are. And you know, in Psalm's one, it says

that as people we should not sit in the in

the seat of scoffers. That when people know the church

and they try to abuse it, and we have fellowship

and association with them as they do this, do you

realize we share in their sins. God has placed us

here to build up the church, to build up the

people of God, to find the weak in the broken

and to help mend these things. And so these people

that we love dearly, and they're in every church, in

every place in North America I've seen in every church

I've been this has been the case. You see this,

These dear folks need to repent and be baptized or

rebaptized or even disciplined in love as God commands it

for the good of the church in themselves. Holy spirit

feeled people may feel upset at times. Have you ever

been upset? Do you ever feel upset? Okay? I have

because we're all human? How many of you are human?

Need a DNA check to make sure you're a human? Okay?

But holy spirit people don't blow up in anger and

keep on blowing up up and refuse to calm down

when God wants peace and calmness in the church. Losing

temper with grudges, trying to exert one's will as if

they're the righteous judge disqualify someone as a spiritual leader

in the church. Holy spirit filled people don't manipulate to

get their way. Now you had many of you've ever

manipulated to get your way. I'll put my hand up.

It's human nature. Isn't it. Well, I'm gonna get this

because I'm gonna just make it look like this. I'll

triangulate a little bit, I'll get that person talking to

that person. I'll lobby here, and then it'll happen. Hurrah.

I'm a politician. No. Holy Spirit people don't do that.

They're transparent, you know, I say transparent as they can be.

Sometimes it's not God's will for you to share what

you know, but in that setting, through truth, they try

to move God's work forward. Holy Spirit people are correctable people,

and they're in the wrong. Is that right? Okay? But

they stand their ground when they're in the right. That's

the other side of it. Holy Spirit. Fled people don't

gossip to hurt others to get ahead. Right, but you're awful,

Calm now, I see. I told you I was getting

into things here. They don't try to get into other

people's heads to become their judges. Right. The sin of

gossip is placed by Paul and Romans one right alongside

the sin of homosexuality, murder, and other awful practices that

bring the wrath of God. Holy spirit filled people seek

to be in prayer and they're kind people. Have you

ever noticed that when you're praying with someone, you can't

be angry with them. Have you noticed that, Yeah, if

you're praying for someone, it's hard to be angry with them.

They want to live for God, live for others, serve,

make their lives pouring out for the lives of others.

Holy Spirit people are not rebels, but and peacemakers who

never sacrifice principle to make peace though. Holy Spirit field

people can see I sat down and I was just

writing and what came to my mind from the scriptures,

and I had a laundry list here, isn't it awful?

Say no, it's okay, right. Holy Spirit people can defer

their own interests and needs for the good of others

in need. In other words, you want to get something

special for yourself, but you see a brother who can't

feed hisself, maybe they're in crises, and you put the

money for the brother rather than your what. I once

knew a pastor who tried to convince me that the

immoral material of Hollywood put out there with its current

bash of action hero movies and superhero movies, full of

spiritualism and even nudity at times and foul language, is

okay for our young people to watch if we debrief

the meaning of the movie, I'm sorry. And our church manual,

this kind of context not allowed for any Holy spirit

field leader in the church. The New Testament says the

same thing. You don't need the Church Manual. In fact,

I have a suggestion for the Church Manual that they

put the Ten Commandments and the sermon them mount at

the beginning of the Church Manual, you know, and then

we have everything else that follows. Holy spirit filled leaders

return a faithful tithe, and they are grateful to God

for the opportunity to quietly give offerings without talking about

how good a giver they are, for as cause as

they are able. Now, this has been a tough one

that I had to learn the hard way when I

was younger, because you always want to make your ends meet.

How many of you want to go broke keep your

hands down, okay, But I have found that this is

what I do. I'm just going to tell you. I

take the tithe envelope out when I'm doing my bills,

and I don't look at the bills first. I look

at God first, and the tithe is the ten percent

of the increase. Some of you with businesses. It's not

everything that comes through your business. It's the increase that

you have, and that's sometimes thumthing you have to understand

how to calculate. Some people say, well, what about the

gross and the net on your check? Well, I'm going

to be very frank with you. If the government takes

it from you, it's not your increase. Now. I pay

a tithe on my gross, but I'm not here to

put a burden on somebody beyond what the word of

God teaches, and so I hope the treasure doesn't go

after me. But sorry, you got to go buy the

Bible here, okay, help our people out. The bottom line

is when you fill out your tithe and you do

it first, God blesses you. That's what I found. I

have a car with two hundred and eighty six thousand

miles on. If you've seen my car, it used to

squeak a lot. I've got some of that fixed. I'm

planning to drive that car for another one hundred and

fifty thousand miles. Is that okay? I'll call it my

tithe car? All right? God says, you'll pour it out

a blessing on us. Why not get the blessing. I'm

having fun in church today. You got to help me,

Holy Spirit feel people don't insist on controlling finances in

the church when they are not faithful in giving to

the church. Is that true? I was out of church,

not this one far away where I noticed when I

had the Church of business session, certain individuals always talk

about how we must do the finances this way and

that way. And I later learned you didn't give a

nickel the church. See can't. That's not good? Holy Spirit feelled.

Believers aren't more concerned about their ira as they're about

the church's financial stability and the church's future. And well,

what happened for the good of mission of the church

in the spring of the Gospel? Is that true? How

many of you want to retire or go to heaven?

You're pausing too much here? Well, you know, I was thinking,

if I don't get sick, even though I get old,

why retire? If God gives me good health, energy, vigor,

keep at it now. There's nothing wrong with being in retirement,

But you start working for God in retirement. The people

me to Christ had a second wind where they started

a business of soul winning. They lived into their nineties,

they never retired in their minds. Most of all, holy

spirit filled leader will lead by personal example with integrity.

Is that right? They'll be consistent. That doesn't mean they're perfect.

That means they're trying to order their life right. And

you can see it. As a follower of Jesus Christ,

he or she will strive to live like Christ would

live if Jesus walked in their shoes. So a leader

is still a disciple. Let's face it, there's a high

holy spirit bar for being a leader in the Church

of Jesus Christ. Am I right? So we don't lower

the bar we pull. We mentor people into leadership. I

recently heard someone tell me, Pastor Mike, it's our turn

to be leaders. I said, well, leaders are mentored. It's

okay to be a leader if God's called you to leadership.

But what if He's called you to service? What if

he's called you to follow godly leaders? No, I don't

want to do that. I want to be a leader.

Huh huh, I say, the path to being exalted is

being humbled. Just because a person wants to lead does

not mean they need to be a leader. I didn't

ask to be a pastor leader. It came to me

after growth and I need my wife, I need others.

Many of you know doctor John Butler was mentored me

in leadership after Sligo. I needed his wisdom and counsel.

I need Mervin's wisdom and counsel. At this present time,

I don't have all the answers. Our head elder here,

Elder John is a person of principle. He's a person

who is sacrificially given for this church hours on end

to make it happen. Never blows his horn, So I'm

gonna blow for the Lord's sake and say God be

praised for our head Elder here. So when people, if

people should hit his size, our head elder, it hurts

me personally, it hurts our church. A holy spirit filled

leader is a faithful leaver, even if he or she

is a servant in the church. Now, what's wrong with

being a servant who came to serve Jesus did all? Right?

In the early Aventist church, you could not be a

leader in the church. Don't hear this. This may surprise you.

You could not be a leader in the church and

advocate causes that broke the law of God. There was

a book written called a Solemn Appeal in the Early

Avenist Church e when White wrote a right alongside of it.

In that book, the early Aventist Church took its side

against the practice of abortion. Did you know that? It

was the consistent teaching of this church until and it

still is until some started messing with our hospitals in

the seventies, and our roots are strongly committed to protecting

life of the ones recently said to me, Mike, what

about the baby that's born, by the way, if any

baby that's born into this church where a mother should

choose to have their baby instead of aborted, can I

ask you by a vote today, would we help that mother?

Would we help that mother so that she's not abandoned,

she's not discouraged, she doesn't feel like her life's on hold,

but the love of the Church is wrapped around her

and the child. That's what we need to be and

should be as a church. There are many evangelical churches

out there, a number of element evangelical churches who commit

themselves to not just saving babies, but saving mothers with babies.

It's a godly work. The early Church did the same thing.

The Apostolic church was in the business of saving babies.

Exposed babies throughout the Roman world were gathered and raised

in the church. So the early Aventist church took that position.

That may come as news to some of you. So

be careful about which causes you advocating holarized political world

we live in. We should not advocate any political cause

right or left in the church that takes our spiritual

eyesight off of our prophetic calling as a prophetic people.

Is that fair enough? So some people come to me

and say, well, I'm a maga Christian. I says well,

if Jesus Christ is your leader, fine, but don't bring

politics in the church. Others will say well, I'm a

social justice Christian. I says, well, I believe in social justice.

But if you're talking about a political philosophy, don't drag

it into the church. Let's be about saving men and

women for the Gospel, helping people, not virtue signaling on

the either side of the extremes, and be the people

of the Bible. You see, that's what the early Avidist

church it was like. You might find yourself fighting against

God and your zeal for something that God's working out

bless characteristic Number three of the Magnificent Seven is that

they were wise men. Do we need wise life leader

in the church? Okay, now the Book of Accadents, God's

chose men of wisdom who were practical people who were

capable of performing good deeds. I got a series of

verses here. Let's quickly move through them. Exus twenty eight three.

So you shall speak to all who are gifted artisans,

whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom. You

see craft's abilities trades, that they may make errands, garments

to consecrate him, that he may minister to me as

a priest. So skilled craftsmen helped the church and the

priest Exus thirty one to three. And I have filled

him with the Spirit of God in wisdom and understanding

and knowledge and all manner of workmanship. So it's not

just the Bible, it's the HVAC system. It's how to

fix things in the church. It's how to have trades

like the garden we see in the back, that holy

spirit filled gifts for the church. God doesn't want sloppy

work in the church, right does he? He wants holy

spirit filled skilled workers in the church. The young people

of the church need to mentor under hard working conscientious

workers in the church. Now, one thing I appreciate about

Elder Mike Jones here, So Mike Jones mentors young people

with the knowledge of HVAC, of tools of building, of

how to use your hands and develop manhood. I appreciate

that the youth can learn trades in the church by

working in the church with those who are skillful in

so many areas of life. Proverbs ten twenty three. To

do evils is like a sport to a fool. But

a man of understanding has what what's the word wisdom?

A wise person is a teachable person. Proverbs one seven.

The fear of the Lord, that means to love the Lord.

In Deuteronomy ten twelve, the fear of the Lord is

the beginning of knowledge. So when you start a relationship

with God, that's when you really start getting smart. But

fools despise wisdom instruction in the context fools despise a

relationship with God. I don't need God. I'm smart. No,

you know, aren't without the Lord? Got anything? With God,

you can be anything he wants you to be. A

wise person makes the relationship with God primarily as the primary.

It makes the relationship with God's primary as the context

for a life of service. God comes first, and then

I can work for God. Proverbs nine to ten. The

fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and

the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. Now let

me add one more Proverbs twenty verse one, which I wrote,

I had polutionis stick it on the slide. It's not

in my manuscript. And once he gets it up there

and I can't see it here, so I have to

look there. Wine is a mocker. Strong drink is a brawler,

and whoever's led astray by it is what not wise.

So a Bible definition of a fool was someone who drinks.

We learn of God through God's law, the life of

Jesus Christ, and through the lives of others who model

Christ correctly. Friend to know God rightly is to have life.

The wise in God's eyes are those who are humble

and not the sinner of the year universe in their

own eyes. In the Church, they're not focused on self.

There are two essential virtues upon which all virtues are based,

and you can write this down is deduced from the

study of the Bible. The first virtue is humility, and

the second is courage. Now think about the relationship with

those two virtues. Both of these work together. Humility without

courage is not humility. Encourage without humility is unguided zeal

Proverbs fifteen thirty three. The fear of the Lord is

the instruction of wisdom, and before honor is humility. In summary,

the Apostles sought out these three essential characteristics for leadership

in choosing the magnificent seven. Now I would like to

do here. I need your help. I want to quickly

go through those names and show you the meaning of

every one of those persons names. But before we do it,

let's review in concept the two core roles of the Apostles.

Number one, they sought men of good reputation. Actually, no,

excuse me, I got my head. Let me back up, okay.

In summary, the Apostles sought out three essential characteristics for

leadership in choosing the magnificent seven. Let's look at the

three characteristics for these magnificent seven men they chose. Number one,

they sought men of good reputation whose lives were consistent

with their faith and calling. Is that a good thing?

Take a vote here. Number two, they sought holy spirit

filled men characterized by self control and the fruits of

the Holy Spirit in their lives. Is that a good

thing for leadership of the church. Number three? They sought

out men of wisdom who had a relationship of God

and who were humble and courageous men eager to do

the right thing in life, no matter what the fallout

might be. Is that a good thing? Now? If we're

lacking any of these things? Can God help us? Yeah?

If you say, well, I messed up on number two

or three, God will grow you to be humble and

let the Word work for you. The Magnificent Seven were

men of different temperaments and life experiences, but they had

these three essential qualities in common. Do you want to

be a leader in the church, then pray for these

three essential qualities in your life. We should take note

of two primary roles of the Apostles. Look at verse four.

The apostles said, but we will give ourselves continually to prayer.

Give means unselfish, give ourselves continued to prayer and to

the ministry of the Word. A pastor is not lazy

who commits himself to these two primary roles in the church.

Is it a lazy thing for the pastor to study

his Bible two hours a day? Is it? No? How

else can he know his Bible? Well? Is it lazy

for the pastor to be preaching and teaching rather than

doing other things? No? Uh, I can tell you that

when I preach a sermon, I'm whipped. I go home.

Do you know what Diana does? My wife's an extrovert. Okay,

she says, Mike, let's go pick what were those berries

that she had me picked last week? Come on, honey,

I'm just drawn a blank mulberries and we go. There's

mulberry bushes near it. She'd always drag me to to

come a park to get the mulberries, but they aren't

as good as the ones next to our house. And

we've just discovered that we have some mulberry trees right

there near our home that are sweet and wonderful. Next year,

I've got a theory on how to pick mulberry's who

it is. Get this big plastic sheet, you put it

all on the ground, You climb up in the tree

and you shape that baby, and then when they all

fall down, you scoop them up. And she says, I

don't want to do it that way. I want to

get them in my mouth and over my face. So

it's not about the mulberries, it's about the interaction. We

look awful. In fact, we look like vampires walking away

from mulberry bush, you know, look like blood running down

our face. Okay, but I'm tired after I preach and

she but something about being with Diana gets me going

when I can. You know, I'm sorry. I'm recovering. As

a pastor. God wants me to be known primarily as

a man of prayer and a man committed to the

ministry the word of God. In light of this need,

let's look at the Magnificent Seven chosen by the brethren

to work in unity with the Apostles, who affirmed them

by the Layan on his hands, Acts six, five and

Six's read their names quickly and the saying please the

whole multitude. They chose Stephen, a man what does it

say full of faith in the Holy Spirit? And Philip

Prachorus Nicanner, Timmin Parmenis and Nicholas at Proselyte from Antioch,

and whom they set before the Apostles when they had prayed,

they laid hands on them that doesn't mean they beat

them up. It means they consecrated them. Each of these

men have a name that means something very important in

their character. In the Bible, a man's name where a

woman's name is significant. Number one. Stephen was the first

of the Magnificent Seven. Stephen's name means corona in Greek,

and the word for a crown or wreath of victory

comes from his name. Stephen is the one who endured

under the threat of death. He was stoned, he testified

for God full of faith. He wasn't just a servant

the church. He was a witness, and he could teach

and preach too. And Stephen gave witness that he will

have that wreath, that crown of victory, because he finished

to the end. He is the mightiest of the seven.

He's at the first. The second is Philip, No doubt

who Philip, the evangelist who had four lovely daughters in

the faith. Philip's name in Hebrew, not in Hebrew and Greek,

means lover of horses. Anybody loved riding horses. Now, don't

be offended by this. This is true. In the Bible.

Horses are a prophetic and linguistic symbol for women. There's

no amen's there. I won't tell you why. Remember Solomon

said in the Song of Solomon, like a mare of

Pharaoh's court is my bride. Shouldn't we say, oh, it's beautiful? Now?

Why would he say that? Because he was thinking differently

than we do today. Flowing graceful hair, is that a

good thing? I'm on tender ground today. Number two, speedy

and graceful. Isn't that good? Formally? And a horse makes

those beautiful sounds which can draw you closer. That's why

the symbol is there. In chiastic imagery, it's also there.

I've noticed this. Philip, no doubt. Philip the Evangels, had

four lovely daughters and the faith. He loved his little

girls as a good Christian father should. He was mighty

indeed to share his faith with others and his girls,

and as a family they were evangelistic. Philip led the

Ethiopian unit to Christ, and he baptized him. To my knowledge,

besides Ezekiel the prophet or maybe even Elijah, who had

has said he at times to be caught up by

the Spirit, he may be the only person to have

been teleported by the Holy Spirit like star, trek of thing,

beamed here, beamed there, quantum teleportation to the right spot

from Akutas to Ashtodd. If I got that right, God

just transported him. I would love to go to Hawaii

like that. If the Holy Spirit should ever see the need,

let me go for a weekend. Procreus is the third

of the Magnificent seven. His name only appears here in

the Greek New Testament. His name means choir director, perhaps

first of a happy bunch. Now when we get people

up front and they're leading out, shouldn't they look happy?

Shouldn't there songs be joyful up that we wanted to

sing together. Well, you need a Procreus, You need the

first of the chorus, the choir director, to lead out.

So he evidently had music in his DNA. Number four

Nicanner is the fourth of the Magnificent seven. His name

means men of victory. As a Christian leaders, we are

not called to be weak in life. We're called to

be what come on, say it with me, strong, victorious,

not pessimistic. Number five Timan is the fifth of the

Magnificent seven. His name means honor, honor. To lead the church,

you must be a person of honor in the church.

That means you come to church. I mean it's hard

to be honored in the church. You don't even show up.

Living in the slot bucket in your personal life will

not make you a manner a woman of honor in

the church. What you watch, what you do, how you

spend your free time, friend, it matters to God and

in the church. What you stand for under pressure also

matters to the church. An honorable person will not cave

under pressure. They will endure Proverbs A twelve. Before destruction,

the heart of a man is haughty, and before honor

is humility Proverbs twenty one to twenty one. He who

follows righteousness and mercy finds life, righteousness, and honor. Number

six Promenius is the sixth of the Magnificent seven. His

name means to stay by one side. Now the holy

spirit's called a peraclate. It means called along the side

of another. He's the counselor the peraclate. So Promenius's name

means in an essence, loyalty his name. His name means

you don't turn your back on people you are devoted

to in the church. You hang in there, and you minister,

not fleeing the coup when the pressure is on you. Friends,

we need a lot more Parmeniuses in the church who

will hang in there to make a difference with others.

When I come to these children Saba schools, and I

see our leadership there, and Jeb who came into the

church at the World Bank Bible Study, ministering consistently to

our children week after week, with the other leaders there

in that group. And I see Marcia d and I

see Felicia, and Jim and John and others here hanging

in there. Whether they have a hundred in their class

or one. They're like Parmenius, the last of the Magnificent Seven,

is not the least important of the seven. He's just

as important as the rest. The seventh man's name is Nicholas,

like Saint Nick. I've been to Saint Nicholas's tomb in Turkey,

the real Santa Claus. The seventh man's name is Nicholas,

identified in the list as a proselyte from Antioch. Nicholas

name stands apart from the others because he's identified as

a convert to the church. Now think about that, Nicholas

name means victory over the people or victorious people. He

bear his name bears testimony of the fact that he's

not a liability in the church for being a convert

to the church. You're not a second rate believer because

you weren't born into the church. The Church is renewed

by those who join its ranks by conversion and evangelism.

It inspires others to serve God, to renew their lives

who have grown up in the church. We need more

in the church to revitalize it, to challenge third and

fourth generation believers in our church who have grown up

with it and don't even know what the faith is anymore.

So what was the practical outcome of the collaborative choosing

of the Magnificent Seven Acts sixty seven? Then the Word

of God spread and the number of disciples multiplied greatly

in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were

obedient to the faith. As a result of these men

using their gifts for God, the apostles were more effective

as ministers of the gospel. In fact, the whole church

was more effective. They won new thought leaders to the

church from the priesthood, and these converted priests became abeat

of the faith, and they empowered the church with knowledge

and understanding that they could bring into their conversion experience

in these seven. If these seven men had not been

obedient to the faith, they would not have made a

difference at all in the winning of others to the faith.

I asked the question, you desire to be someone great

in the church, then take your lessons from the Magnificent Seven.

The Magnificent Seven modeled their lives after the example of Jesus,

who shared it with his disciples, the true pensive principle

of greatness. And here's where I like the end mark

ten forty two. But Jesus called them to himself and

said to them, you know that those who are considered

rulers over the gentiles lorded over them, and their great

ones exercise authority over them. Yet shall not be so

among you. But whoever desires to become great among you

shall be your servant, and whoever, if you desires to

be first, shall be slave of all. For even the

Son of Man did not come to be served, but

to serve and to give his life a ransom for

the many. The first of the Magnificent Seven was the

first to die for Jesus Christ as the first martyr

in the Christian Church, Stephen, the first of the Seven

full of faith in the Holy Spirit. He has proof

that being mighty means being a mighty humble servant for

others and giving your life for the Church. You're a bother.

We'd do it a little longer today. Thank you for

letting us look inside and realize it's not the purpose

of the Word of God or the Holy Spirit to

put anyone down. Thank you that you love us. Thank

you that you died for us. Thank you that our

sins are covered. Now, Lord, help us to do something

with that. Help us to get up and rise to

our calling as Christians and to find our role in

bringing Christ back to this earth. In Jesus' name, Amen,