14 ”Gospel Gains Through Growing Pains” Acts 6:1-7 | Sunday, May 25, 2025

Acts chapter 6. As you remain standing

Acts 6 · chapter mention

in honor of God's word, we'll we'll read

from Acts chapter 6. Continuing our

Acts 6 · chapter mention

series this morning from the book of

Acts entitled The Empowered Church. And

as we've seen over the last several

chapters, the church has continued to

grow. It has continued to multiply.

Souls has have kept getting saved even

in the face of ramping up persecution.

And so as we come to chapter six, what

we're going to find is that when the

church grows, it can present some

challenges for a growing church. And we

need to know how to deal with them God's

way. And so that's what we'll consider

from the first seven verses of Acts

Acts 6 · chapter mention

chapter 6. I will read our text out

loud. And once we have finished, I will

say, "This is the word of God." And if

you believe it, would you reply and it

is true. Let's read together. Acts

Acts 6 · chapter mention

chapter 6 verse one.

And in those days when the number of the

disciples was multiplied, there arose a

murmuring of the Grecians against the

Hebrews because their widows were

neglected in the daily

ministration. Then the twel called the

multitude of the disciples unto them and

said, "It is not reason that we should

leave the word of God and serve tables.

Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among

you seven men of honest report, full of

the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may

appoint over this business. But we will

give ourselves continually to prayer and

to the ministry of the word. And the

saying pleased the whole multitude. And

they chose Stephen, a man full of faith

and of the Holy Ghost, and Philillip and

Prourus, and Nicar, and Thimon, and

Parminus, and Nicholas, a proite of

Antioch, whom they set before the

apostles. And when they had prayed, they

laid their hands on them. And the word

of God increased, and the number of the

disciples multiplied in Jerusalem

greatly, and a great company of the

priests were obedient to the faith. This

is the word of God. It is true. It is

true. The title of our message this

morning is Gospel Gains through Growing

Pains. Gospel Gains through Growing

Pains. Let's pray. Father, I ask you to

please make your word clear to all of us

today that we would understand your

truth and that we would understand how

it affects our lives. And I pray by the

grace and mercy of Christ and the power

of your Holy Spirit, we will apply its

truth to us personally. It's in Jesus

name we ask these things. Amen. Thank

you for standing in honor of God's word.

You can be seated.

It amazes me how quickly our children

grow. This year, we will become the

parents of a double-digit child for the

first time as Jenna turns 10 this

October. She's grown from a

20in newborn to over four and a half

feet tall with feet that are only a

toad's length shorter than mine.

And she is probably by the time she's

13, she'll probably be taller than her

mom is my guess. Just a few more years.

But for her to grow three feet over the

last decade, she's had to go through

some growing pains. If you're a parent,

you probably remember your kids going

through some growing pains. In the

middle of the night, we would hear her

crying in her room, and we would hear a

knock at our door. And then we would

hear the whimper of that little girl. my

legs

hurt. And so we would gather her up to

our bed. If she couldn't walk, we'd go

down to her room and and we would try to

manage that pain, you know, rub those

muscles, rub those joints and try to

massage it and soothe that pain. If that

didn't work, then we would give her some

medicine to just try to uh manage that

pain. See, growth always comes with

growing pains. and all we can do is our

very best to manage them. But just as

kids experience growing pains, so can

churches. It's pretty simple in ministry

when you are just a baby church of five

to eight people. You come in, you have a

worship service, you talk a little bit,

you've got some setup to do, and then

you go your separate ways. But what

happens is as the church grows and

people get saved and baptized and added

to the church, we too can face some

growing pains in our ministry. As a

nursery grows, nursery workers can feel

overwhelmed and always asking, "We need

more nursery workers." Kids church

teachers can feel like as the kids

church grows, it just kind of becomes

controlled chaos. And we need more

workers. As music ministry grows, some

may not get to sing as frequently as

they did when the church was smaller.

And so that can create some growing

pains. See, when the church is small,

it's pretty easy for you to also get a

hold of your pastor. But then as the

church grows and there's more people

trying to get a hold of the pastor, it's

not always as easy. And sometimes you

can even get to a place where you might

feel

neglected. See, as churches grow, needs

become bigger and broader than any one

person can handle. And what can happen

is that the different growing pains that

a church can face can often stretch the

church very thin and stunt its growth if

we do not learn to deal with them. Not

just well, but

biblically. God has a way that he wants

his church to manage growing pains. And

his goal in us managing those growing

pains is that the gospel would continue

to go forth and more people would get

saved and more people would get added to

the church so more people can go out and

share the gospel in the city and all

around the world. God's goal is for us

to have gospel gains through growing

pains. The question is how how do we

manage growing pains

biblically? Well, that's what God is

showing us here in Acts chapter

Acts 6 · chapter mention

6. This church at Jerusalem was growing

exponentially even into the thousands.

Can you imagine that? The church goes

from about 120, which is a pretty large

church plant, to over 10 and some

believe upwards to 20,000 people in a

matter of the first year. Can you

imagine the growing pains that would

come from that? Well, they also faced

them. But what we notice as we read

through our text is that these growing

pains did not stunt their growth. It's

because they learn to manage them God's

way. Because at the end of our text,

what we find is that the word of God

continues to increase. Disciples

continue to be multiplied greatly and

even some of the priests came to trust

Christ as their

savior. How did they see gospel gains in

their growing pains?

The first thing that Luke does for us in

this text is he identifies for us what

the growing pains were. And then he

shows us how the church dealt with them.

And if we'll follow the same biblical

pattern that this church followed, then

we too can continue seeing gospel gains

as we go through growing pains here in

the years to come. And so let's first

identify what the growing pains were.

This church's rapid growth led to a

situation where a group of widows in

their church was being neglected. It

says in verse number one, "And in those

days when the number of the disciples

was multiplied, there arose a murmuring

of the Grecian against the Hebrews."

Now, who are the Grecian people? Well,

it's not just that they are Greeks. It's

the literal word behind this is the word

Helenist. Hellenism was the adoption of

Greek culture back in the first century

times. And what it is is these

particular Grecians. They were ethnic

Jews. They were Jewish by blood. They

were Jewish by relationship, Jewish by

family. But they grew up abroad after

the dispersion of the Jews. And they had

come to the place where they adopted

Greek language and Greek culture. But at

some point in their lives, because of

their ethnic history, they made their

way back to Jerusalem. Some it would be

for the feast, Passover, and Pentecost,

which had taken place recently. Uh but

others would relocate at the end of

their lives to be to die and be buried

there near Jerusalem. And others would

just relocate back for families sake.

For whatever reason, they came back.

When they did, they heard the gospel of

Jesus Christ and they accepted him as

their personal savior and they were

added to the church of

Jerusalem. The

Hebrews would have been what we might

call Israeli

nationals that they were born in Israel.

They spoke predominantly Hebrew while

they knew Greek. Hebrew was their first

language. They were familiar with the

Hebrew cultural customs, the Hebrew law,

the Hebrew covenants. That was their

life. And so over here you've got the

Hebrew people. And over here you've got

the Grecian people. And normally there

were uh cultural problems between them.

The Hebrews or the the Hebrews often

view the Grecians as sellouts to the

Greek culture.

But now what you have is you have Hebrew

people who have also heard the gospel of

Jesus Christ and they have trusted him

as their savior and they have been

baptized. And now you have two uh uh two

competing world views, two competing

cultures that are now coming together as

one new people in Christ just like God

wanted. But as you can imagine, when

people of different cultural views and

opinions and political views and

opinions come together, that alone is

enough to create some trouble, some

challenges. I mean, think about it.

We're in Boulder, Colorado, and in our

church, we've had people of different

cultures. We have people here from the

south and people here from the north,

and people here from the west, and

people here from the east. And there's

enough besides the accent there of

differences to just maybe create some

challenges. But we've also had people

from Asia. We've had people from Mexico.

We've had Democrats and Republicans,

conservatives, and and liberals in our

church all together. That alone is

enough to cause some strife. And they do

that same strife as well. here in this

very first church. The particular

problem, what this complaint is about,

it says is that the Grecians complained

against the Hebrews because their widows

were neglected in the daily

ministration. This word ministration is

the idea of a table ministry of

providing meals and serving and caring

for them. Now, as we've gone through

Exodus and Leviticus on Thursday nights,

we've seen that God called the Israeli

Israeli people to care for the

fatherless and the widow. He gave them

particular guidelines and laws and

regulations to ensure that widows were

cared for. And so, they felt a a a

biblical responsibility to care for

their widows. Well, what happens is as

you start having Grecians join the

church and Grecian widows getting saved,

they still have the responsibility to

care for their own mothers and their own

widows. But now it's to the neglect of

the Grecian widows. There's not enough

food. There's not enough hands. And the

Grecian sons are not happy about it. And

so the complaints are starting to boil.

And what you can tell here is that there

is a potential for this issue to split

their church up into two groups. Again,

there's a potential for it to stunt

their growth here in Jerusalem.

Something's got to be done about this

growing

pain. Well, the apostles recognize that.

But they also recognize that if they are

the ones personally who step in to help

with this particular ministry, then

another growing pain would develop, one

that could also cause their growth to be

stifled in this situation. And that is

neglecting the word of God. They said in

verse number two, "Then the twel called

the multitude of the disciples unto them

and said,"It is not reason that we

should leave the word of God and serve

tables." He's not understand the

apostles here are not belittling the

need of these Grecian widows.

They recognize that they have a

particular calling and a particular

responsibility from God. And what

they're saying is that while this need

is

important, it is not reason. This is a

word that means it's not acceptable,

it's not pleasing in God's sight that we

would abandon the ministry of the word

in order to take over this

ministry. Because what happens if they

are not giving time to study and

preaching and evangelism and prayer and

everything that is a top priority for

God- called preachers? What happens if

they

stop? People don't hear the

gospel. People don't get saved. The

church stops growing. And so what

they're saying is it's not acceptable in

God's sight for us who are called

primarily to this ministry to stop

serving here and start serving

there. See, growing

pains can have the potential to stifle

church

growth. See, a pastor's primary calling

is to preach the word, to evangelize the

lost, and to pray for God's people. But

growing needs can cause him to abandon

those primary responsibilities in order

to meet other

needs. Not smaller needs, not lesser

needs, important needs that people have

in the care of the church. We're talking

about preparing meals, moving furniture,

cleaning houses. As a church grows, uh,

the chairs, more chairs need to be set

up and more cables need to be run

because there are more singers on the

platform. And so there's there's always

more with a growing church. And then as

a church is able to get its own

building, grass needs to be cut,

classrooms need to be cleaned up, some

walls get scuffed and need to be

painted, some areas need to be

remodeled. And so a lot of times uh and

I'm speaking here from a pastor's

perspective, particularly in a church

plant context, a pastor's mindset can be

something like this. You know, our

members work really hard. They've got

jobs where they're working 40 to 60

hours a week. They've got families.

They've got a lot on their plate. I'm

the one who's who's taken care of and

paid to be at the church full-time. And

so why why bother them? On top of that,

I don't want them to think I'm lazy. I

don't want them to think that I'm

unwilling. And so, instead of saying no,

I'll just go and I'll I'll help them

move. I'll keep setting up. I'll cut the

grass. I'll clean the bathrooms. I'll

paint the

walls. But what suffers the most when a

pastor is serving in these areas is the

ministry of the word. It is study time.

It is preaching. It is evangelism. It is

disciplehip. It is praying. even for the

congregation praying for missionaries

that what we're talking about is the

gospel ministry can suffer for the sake

of table

ministry and to that I want to say this

that a pastor should never arrive at a

place where he thinks he is above any of

these

tasks he should never come to a place

where he is lazy or unwilling to help

but let me say to you the vast majority

Majority of pastors are not lazy and

they are willing to help at times even

perhaps to a fault. And here in lies the

struggle. These are important needs.

They they cannot be

neglected. People need help. People need

care. The church needs to be kept up in

a in a way that's honoring uh to the

Lord. But the question that our text is

asking us today is this.

Is it acceptable in God's sight that the

gospel ministry should be neglected in

favor of table

ministry? And not me, but the apostles

to that question would say,

"No, it's not reason. It's not

acceptable. It's not pleasing. Should

evangelism

suffer? Should preaching suffer? Should

the pastor's prayer life suffer? or

should the pastor's family suffer? And

the answer would be no. So then the

question is, how do we deal with these

growing pains in a way that does not

cause the gospel ministry to suffer nor

for God's people to be

neglected? How do we deal with

this? Well, what the apostles do in

verse three is they instruct the church

to appoint members to share in the work.

It says in verse three, wherefore,

brethren, look ye out among you. That

that means to inspect, examine for a

particular ministry like this that

involves finances and involves food and

involves a lot of delegation and

responsibility. He says that you need to

look out seven men of honest report.

They need to be of a good reputation, of

honesty and integrity. He says they need

to be full of the Holy Ghost and of

wisdom. Wisdom is the idea of skill and

ability to serve in this particular

area. Now, not every area of service in

the church is going to demand a

particular set of qualifications, but

for this particular one, he says, you

need to look out qualified

individuals whom we may appoint over

this

business. And what you see here are the

early seeds of congregational church

policy. church, you nominate people, you

elect them, you bring them to us, and we

will appoint them over this ministry.

And that's what he tells them to do.

Why? If members will share in the work,

the preachers can stay in the word.

Verse four, but we will give ourselves

continually to prayer and to the

ministry of the word.

What does it mean to give yourself

continually to something? What does it

mean if a basketball player continually

gives himself over to the game of

basketball? Does it mean that's all they

do in life? Well, maybe for some. But

what it means is they are spending

several hours a day all throughout the

week studying the game, watching film,

working on their jump shots and their

layups and their three-pointers and

their free throws. They're honing in

their skills of dribbling and passing

the basketball. They are giving

themselves over continually to improve

their skills. And what the apostles say

here is if members will share in the

work of this ministry, then we can stick

to the work of this ministry. We can

continue to study the scripture. We can

continue to develop sermons. We can

continue to be in Solomon's porch

preaching the gospel to people who

desperately need to hear it. We can

continue baptizing. We can continue

discipling. And we can continue to spend

time on our knees in prayer recognizing

we need the power of the spirit to go

forth in this

ministry. If members will share in the

work, preachers can stay in the word.

And so that's what he tells them to do.

But what I want to point out to you is

that this follows a very biblical

pattern throughout

scripture. Remember in our study of

Exodus that when they were out in the

wilderness and the people lined up all

day long from sun up to sun down to come

and have judgment from Moses. and his

father-in-law, Jethro, comes and says,

"What you're doing is not good. You're

going to wear away and the people are

going to wear away. You're going to wear

away physically. The people are going to

feel neglected and they're going to wear

away. You need to appoint men who are

godly,

spiritfilled, and full of wisdom to help

you in this ministry." And what you find

is that in the book of Numbers, he

appoints 70. And later in the book of

Deuteronomy with the new generation, he

appoints another 70. And then when Jesus

was involved in the ministry, he

appointed 70 and sent them out. And now

the apostles are saying after this same

pattern, appoint seven

men. God's plan always has been and

still is today for the people to share

in the work so that the leaders could

stay in the word. is what God is calling

us to do. Well, what happens when

members share in the work and preachers

stay in the word? If we manage growing

pains in a biblical fashion, what will

happen? Well, what we find in our text

here is that managing the growing pains

in this way leads to substantial gospel

gains.

And so if you look at verse uh number uh

five, it says the saying please the

whole

multitude. All the church said yes we

agree with this that that yes these

needs must be met. They are important

but no the gospel ministry should not

suffer. So yes, we will appoint seven

men. And it says they chose Steven, a

man full of faith into the Holy Ghost.

And Philillip and Procarus and Nicer and

Timon and Parminus and Nicholas, a

proite of Antioch. These are all Grecian

individuals. See, apparently there were

Hebrew individuals favoring the Hebrew

widows. And now they appoint all Grecian

individuals so that there is equality

here and diversity to ensure that every

member is taken care

of. They appoint them. But they don't

just appoint them. It says in verse six,

whom they set before the apostles. And

when they had prayed, they nominated

them. They selected seven. They brought

them to the apostles and the whole

church prayed for them. Why? Because

whether you are a

preacher or if you are serving in some

other ministry, you must do so and you

can by the power of prayer and the Holy

Spirit. They prayed for them and then it

says that the apostles laid their hands

on them. This is not some weird mystical

spiritism thing going on here. This is a

way that they showed we are authorizing

them. We are commissioning them. and we

are appointing them to this service.

They appointed members to share in the

work and they stayed in the word and

what happened verse 7. And the word of

God increased and the number of the

disciples multiplied in Jerusalem

greatly and a great company of the

priests were obedient to the faith. the

priests, the ones who were persecuting

the church, the ones who are responsible

for crucifying Jesus, the strongest

enemies and opponents of Jesus started

trusting Christ and being baptized and

added to the church. Why? Because

members shared in the work and preachers

stayed in the word, they continue to see

gospel

gains. And so what we find from this

text is this simple truth. The church

saw gospel gains through growing pains

because members shared in the work and

preachers stayed in the

word. And

so what we realize today is that church

growth still brings some growing pains

and there are still

challenges. But what I want to encourage

you with today is those challenges do

not have to stifle our growth.

They do not have to keep the gospel from

going forward in Boulder. They do not

have to I mean having rowdy kids in

church does not have to keep us from

growing. A and and and things not always

being in place does not have to keep us

from

growing. But whenever there are

problems, we must deal with them God's

way. And if we'll deal with them God's

way, we'll continue to see gospel gains.

Well, how do we deal with them God's

way? Number one, members must share in

the

work. As our church grows, so will our

needs. We will need more help setting

up. We will need nursery workers. We

will need more teachers and helpers and

musicians and singers. We will need

people to organize small groups and

activities and to teach smaller group

classes. We need some who will can

prepare meals for somebody dealing with

a death in the family or for a pregnant

mom who's laid up on bed

rest. They need a church family to step

in and love on them and care for them

and meet those

needs. Some single parents may need help

watching their kids while they go to a

job interview. Or they may need help

packing or moving a piano or moving

furniture. Some will need desperate will

desperately need good friendships. They

will need godly influence is because the

past that they come

from. Where growth abounds, needs

abound. But growing pains are not

problems. They are just challenges.

And sometimes when we don't have all the

kids workers and we have single moms

come and we have kids here that come

from a bo broken background with no dad

in their life and we don't even know

what they've been through earlier in

their lives that maybe has caused some

of the behavior that they have today.

Instead of seeing that child as a

problem we can see them as a need that

must be met.

But God's

solution is not for the pastor and his

family to stretch themselves

thin. It's not acceptable to him that

studying and preaching and evangelism

and w would suffer to meet some of these

other needs or that the pastor's

spiritual tank would be empty and that

his church would be unprayed for. That's

not God's solution.

And listen, God's solution is not for

the pastor's family to suffer either, to

be neglected in the favor of serving

tables. This is why Paul in 1

1 Corinthians 7 · chapter mention

Corinthians chapter 7 said that the best

case scenario for a gospel minister is

to be single because then not needing to

care for your family, you can give

yourself wholeheartedly to these kinds

of ministries and to the gospel

ministry. But what Paul also says is

that if a person is married and that

marriage is not wrong and that it's

better to marry than to burn, but if a

person is married, he is responsible to

his family. The Bible says that a man

does not care for his family is worse

than an

infidel. And so we we must not forget

that a pastor has a family that has

needs and must be cared for and that he

should not be called on to neglect his

family in order to serve tables.

But of course, what is primarily being

spoken of here is the gospel

ministry. God's solution is not that the

gospel ministry would suffer in favor of

table ministry. God's solution is for

reputable,

spiritfilled members to share in this

work. To set up chairs and tables and

microphones, to set up signs, to set up

live stream

equipment, to help people

move, to help people uh with their

personal needs, to prepare meals for

those who are struggling and those who

are grieving.

that the church shares in this type of

work together. And so what this text is

calling you to do is to ask yourself,

are you

willing? Is to ask yourself, are you

spiritfilled? Are you of an honest

report and a good reputation with your

church that when some table ministry

need comes up, does the church look at

you as a person who is skilled and

gifted and spiritual and dependable

enough to help share in that

work? If you're already serving here, I

just thank God for you.

I'm thankful for the way that our church

over the last couple years has stepped

up and we have more people helping us uh

set up now and we have more people

serving in different ministries and kids

ministries and all that's all taken

place really over the last 12 to 14

months churches got involved. I'm so

thankful for that. We have some who lead

singing on Thursday nights now who fill

in reading scriptures and and so we're

doing our best to get people

involved. But what if you're not in a

spiritual place to help? Well, that's

not where God wants you to stay

forever. God wants you to get to a

spiritual place where you can be called

on and depended on and and be skilled to

be able to serve in these particular

areas. And so it might be in your life

that you need to uh you you need to

reinvest in your relationship with God.

That you need to recover those spiritual

disciplines of reading your Bible and

spending time in prayer and fellowship

and communion with God. Tapping into the

power of his spirit so that you can

serve as

well. See to see gospel

gains members must share in the work.

Number two, to see gospel gains.

Preachers must stay in the

word. See, this message is not just for

members. This message presents an

opportunity for pastor like myself to

look introspectively into my own life

and ask, am I carrying out what God

calls me to do in this text?

See, it's easy for preachers to get

drawn away from the most fundamental

responsibilities of their calling.

Preaching, prayer, and

evangelism. The daily care and needs of

the church are always calling. Texts,

phone calls, and emails are always

awaiting

response. Weeds and long grass are

always

abundant. Paint is always getting

scuffed off walls. Sound equipment and

chairs a and and tables always need to

be set up when you're in a church plant

context. And let me make this clear.

Pastors love their church

family. This is what we live for. To see

God work miracles in the lives of

people. To bring transformative change

to their lives in Christ. to see

families grow from barely hanging on to

thriving and helping others who are

barely hanging on. And so we love to

invest. We love to spend time with our

church family, to go on lunches, to make

phone calls and talk on the phone, to

invite people over to our house. We love

all of those things we do.

And so when people need help moving or

they ask for a meeting or they need help

with something else or counsel, pastors

do everything they can to try to clear

their schedule and make that

work. Sometimes a pastor

struggles to focus on these

responsibilities because they love their

people. But then sometimes a pastor can

become too infatuated with material

things.

and get an unaffordable house and

unaffordable

cars. And they're always trying to take

fishing trips, extravagant vacations

when they can't afford it. And what

happens is their church can't afford

them. And so then they've got to get a

secular job. And now they're not just

trying to balance between pastoral

ministry and table ministry and their

family ministry.

Now they're trying to balance the time

with their family and the time in the

word and the time in the ministry and

the time at their job and they're being

pulled in all kinds of different

directions. Sometimes pastors can

neglect the most important

responsibility because they love God's

people. But sometimes it can be because

they love themselves.

And a pastor must be careful that he has

not become so infatuated with himself

and his wants and his desires that he

neglects his calling of

God. See, this is not just a call to

members. It's a call to pastors just

like this

one. to be transparent with you as a

pastor, I can feel this desire to help

with everything that I

can. What suffers most every single

time is the word

ministry, study time, personal

evangelism opportunities, pastoral

prayer times, and even sometimes the

family is what can suffer in favor of

table ministry.

And what I have to come to accept in my

life personally is that what the

apostles would say to me if they were

here today is this is not

right. This is not

acceptable. This is not pleasing to God

that the gospel should be neglected to

surf tables.

And so, while I can personally struggle

with not saying yes to helping, and

while sometimes, let's just be honest,

sometimes as members of a church, I've

been a member of a church before. I'm

still a member of a church. And so, I

know sometimes how we can think pastor

is full-time. Well, all of these table

ministry responsibilities should be his.

I mean, after all, we're paying for him.

We're giving him this time to be able to

do these very things. Sometimes that's

how we can think.

But we must all

understand, accept and live by what God

is saying here that those who are called

to preach, evangelize and establish

churches must prioritize prayer and

study and the preaching of God's word

over every other need that the church

might have.

And let's be honest, sometimes when

you're in a small church, that's really

hard because needs can abound and you

don't have a staff and sometimes you

don't even have the people to go and

help somebody

else. And so that can be uh super

challenging for

us. And so sometimes for pastor that

means sacrificing some

sleep to be able to ensure that the word

is prepared, that people are prayed for.

And so sometimes that may mean a 2:30 in

the morning bedtime on Sunday, Saturday

night, getting ready for

Sunday, but that should not be what

happens regularly in the life of a

pastor. And please understand, I'm not

accusing anyone and I'm not saying this

church does a bad job. I'm saying

sometimes I do a bad job. Sometimes I

don't say no to the right things.

Sometimes I don't say yes to the right

things. We all have responsibility in

this. The apostles had to look at that

congregation of thousands of people and

say this isn't what we should give our

time to. And so you need to look out

members who can share in the work so we

can stick to the

word.

See, I hope you understand as well that

I'm not coming from the perspective that

I'm above these things or too lazy or

unwilling to do them. If you think back

over the last few years, I've done my

best to help with whatever needs we

have. I've helped some of you move, some

of you several

times. Uh we've watched

kids. We have stayed up late at times.

By God's grace, we've tried to do

everything we can to help people. But

God's word says that I too as a pastor

must come to terms with my

calling, what God wants me to prioritize

here in my family and the gospel

ministry.

But this is not to say that the church

family's needs should be uncared for or

neglected. But rather as a pastor, I

have a responsibility to ensure that we

are cultivating a church that is readily

willing and able to step up to serve in

these capacities. That is part of a

pastor's responsibility is to train and

to ask. As I mentioned, there's that

struggle as a pastor because you work 40

hours a week, some of you 60 hours a

week, some of you two jobs, and some of

you have kids and and some of you have

adult children that have problems and

and some of you have school and and

college and all of those things. And

sometimes the pastor, you can just feel

like, man, I shouldn't ask. But what God

is saying is I should ask if it's going

to cause the gospel ministry to

suffer. I've got to be willing to train

able, willing, and gifted people to

delegate matters

to.

Why? Why should members share in the

work and preachers stick to the

word? Let's ask a a deeper theological

question. Why does God want it this way?

It's so that our church can see gospel

gains through growing

pains. It's so that souls can continue

to be saved and baptized and added to

the church so God's work can go forward

and God's kingdom can continue to

expand. And if we will handle growing

pains God's way, we can continue to see

the gospel gains that we desire to see

here in Boulder,

Colorado. And so I want to say to you as

a church, let's do everything we can to

share in the work

together. And so if you're already

serving, great job. Keep serving and

serve with all your heart. Give yourself

to the ministries that God has given

you. If you're teaching a kids class,

don't just prepare at the last second.

No. Be studying earlier that week what

the lesson is so that you can give

yourself to effectively teaching those

kids. If you're a teacher, don't just be

there. Love those kids. Even if they're

my kids, even if they're horrible kids

at times, love them and care for them

and pour yourself into them. Pour

yourselves into single moms.

Ladies, we've had some single moms come

to our church over the years that have

come from very rough

backgrounds, things that would be

unthinkably and unimaginable to

you. And sometimes it's really easy to

get frustrated with out of control

kids. But can I just ask you, when's the

last time that you asked that mom out

for

lunch and said, "Hey, you want to get

together?" and just loved on them and

asked how they're doing and learned a

little bit about them so that you could

understand what some of their struggles

are so that you can minister to them

effectively. That's what we're talking

about. Ramp up your service just like we

ramp up our witness last week. Ramp up

your service. Love people. Serve people.

Share in the work. But if you're here

today and you're not yet serving, you

might just not know where you can

serve. Ask.

ask and we'll find somewhere for you to

serve and share in the work of the

ministry even here at this church. Let

me just speak to you today if you're not

a

Christian from this passage. I want you

to notice God's grace, his abundant

grace. When this church at

Jerusalem had

grown between 10 and

20,000, God was not yet satisfied.

The church didn't reach a certain number

and he said, "Okay, that's enough that I

want to

save." No, he wanted them to deal with

this growing pain this way so that these

preachers could continue to study the

word and be out in the streets preaching

the gospel, proclaiming Christ, sitting

down and having Bible studies with

people so that one more soul could be

saved.

And God wants our church to handle it

this way. No matter how big we are, if

we're 25, or if we get up to 50, 60, or

500 people, God wants members to

continue to share in the work and

preachers to stay in the word so that

you could be

saved because he loves you and wants you

to hear the gospel. You might ask today,

what is the gospel?

Gospel is a word that means good

news. Before you can get to the good

news, you got to understand the bad

news. God has declared that we have all

sinned against him. And therefore, we

all stand condemned before him to face

his eternal

wrath. But God so loved the world that

he gave his only begotten son.

his son Jesus came and suffered and died

on the cross to take the punishment for

our sin to satisfy God's wrath against

you and against

me. And God has declared that if you

simply place all your faith and trust in

Jesus Christ, he will forgive your sin.

He will save your soul and he will give

you eternal life.

Would you trust him

today? Would you believe on the Lord

Jesus Christ and be saved? God is

pursuing

you. Would you respond by trusting

Christ? And church, as we share in the

work and the preacher stays in the word,

we can continue to reach this city for

Christ and see more souls saved and more

lives changed by the power of Jesus.

will see gospel gains through growing

pains if we'll deal with them God's way.

Our father, we come into your presence

today. We are thankful for the guidance

and instruction of your word that helps

us understand how to expand your

kingdom. And I simply pray this morning

that we would follow your word from the

pastor to the children. We would embrace

our responsibility to share in the word

and stay in the word. And I pray today

that if there's anyone here who has not

trusted Jesus as their savior, I pray

that you would make the gospel

abundantly clear to them and they would

respond by trusting in Jesus. It's in

his name I ask these things. Amen.