How to Be a Properly Functioning Church | Acts 6

Good morning, Watermark. How are we doing this morning? Come on. Hey, if this is your first time ever joining us on a Sunday here at Watermark, let me say welcome, and thank you for being here. If we've never met before, my name is Jacob Alger. I have the privilege of serving as the senior director of community here at Watermark. Let me tell you, it is an honor to be with you and open God's Word together as a family this morning.

As we do every single Sunday, before we do that, I want to give you a moment to pause and pray and ask God, "God, would you speak to me this morning?" Would you take a minute and do that? Would you pray for those around you that God would speak clearly to them this morning? Then, lastly, would you please pray for me that God would speak clearly through me to you from his Word this morning?

Father in heaven, that is our prayer this morning. We ask that you would give us eyes to see you, that you would give us ears to hear your voice, and that you would give us minds that could understand and comprehend your truth. Lord, would you open our hearts to do in us and through us whatever you want to for your glory? This is your church. We are your people. This is your Word. So we pray, come, Holy Spirit. Have your way within us. In Christ's name, amen.

Well, back in college during my days at the Dallas Baptist University… Any Patriots in the room? Come on. More than I expected. Still slightly underwhelming compared to anytime TA mentions that school not to be named from College Station. (Yeah, I figured that was going to happen.) The few, the proud, DBU Patriots.

During my time there, I drove a 1997 Lexus LS 400. I loved that car. It was the first car that was ever given to me by my grandpa, and I loved it. However, in college, it eclipsed the 225,000-mile mark, which meant I started to encounter some problems. I'll never forget one night. I was up here at the church late, and I was driving back to campus. I was in the middle lane of 75, going about 70 miles an hour, when all of a sudden, all of the lights on my dashboard lit up. I was like, "Something just went wrong."

Before I could even think about how I was going to respond to that, all of the lights in my car began to grow dimmer and dimmer and dimmer and dimmer. I was thinking to myself, "I am about to die in the middle of 75." So, I began to formulate an exit strategy. I saw the closest exit, so I got over, and I was moving up this exit ramp when I started to hit my gas and realized nothing was happening. I was like, "Okay." Now I'm totally coasting up this hill, praying to the Lord Jesus that I was going to make it up.

I get up the exit ramp, and I see this small church parking lot right off the highway. I think, "God, just help me get there." So, I'm turning this corner and realize I have no power steering. I don't know if you've ever had that experience or not. It's horrible. I am yanking this wheel, desperately hoping I can get into this parking lot. By God's grace, I made it, and my car died. Like, just decided that if it was going to die, it was going to die in a church parking lot. So that's what happened.

Here's why I say that. I found myself that night stranded on the side of 75, not because of some external threat, like crazy drivers on 75. (If that's you, I love you. You need to chill out. Okay?) I didn't find myself stranded because of crazy drivers or an external threat on the highway; I found myself stranded that night because of an internal malfunction.

The reason I start there this morning is because I want to pose this question for us…What if the greatest threat to our church wasn't something external but internal? What if the greatest threat to our church thriving and flourishing for the glory of God was not external pressures or governmental overreach or intensified persecution from the outside? What if it actually came as a result of internal malfunction, not because of something outside of us but because of how we were operating on the inside?

Friends, I pose that question because, as we step back into the book of Acts, what we're going to see in Acts 6 is that the lights on the dashboard of the early church were getting lit up. Up until this point, we've actually watched the church navigate through a variety of external threats, persecution, and opposition, yet by the power of the Holy Spirit, the Word of God has increased, and disciples have continued to multiply. It's what we talked about last week. More than ever, disciples were continuing to be added.

As we step into Acts 6 this morning, we see a different kind of threat arising. What we see in Acts 6 is the threat of internal malfunction, and we're going to see how the early church responds in a way that leads to and results in continued flourishing. So, as we study this passage together this morning, here's my question for us: Is Watermark a properly functioning church or do we have any "check engine" lights going off on our dashboard that, if not properly addressed, might stall us out and hinder the mission of God in our city?

My prayer for our church this morning is that we might learn from the example of the early church in order that we might be a properly functioning, God-glorifying, Spirit-filled, thriving, and flourishing church for the glory of God. If that's going to happen, I think there are two things we see in this passage that we must do if we want to be a properly functioning church. Here they are. First, we have to identify our problems, and secondly, we must all play our proper part.

1. We have to identify our problems. Read with me in Acts 6, starting in verse 1. This is the Word of God. It says, "Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution."

Here in the first verse of Acts 6, we see the church identifying a critical issue. Up until this point, the church had been exploding, but that growth has introduced new difficulties, new complexities, and new problems into their community. Specifically, what's identified in this chapter is that you see Hellenistic widows, which were Greek-speaking Jews, being neglected in the daily distribution. So, a dispute arises between the Hellenists and the Hebrews.

Just in case you don't know what that daily distribution is, that was the church's practical way of meeting and ministering to the needs in the community. I want to remind you of what was true of the early church up until this point. Acts 4:34-35 told us, "There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need."

So, up until Acts, chapter 6, we've seen that the church, even in the midst of growth and expansion, had previously experienced overwhelming unity, generosity, and provision to the point it says there was not a needy person among them. That's absolutely staggering. Yet now, as those numbers have continued to grow, as thousands have been added, as new and different ethnicities are being brought in and included, you see new problems arising. That rapid growth had brought about new complexity, new difficulty, and new problems.

Now, just in case you might be hearing that and thinking to yourself, "Why is this that big of a problem? Like, why is this that big of a threat to the early church thriving and flourishing?" what we have to understand is this was a multifaceted issue. On one hand, you had the neglect of widows, which was an incredibly significant thing within the eyes of God. Even the old covenant people of God, the nation of Israel, were told in the Law… Deuteronomy 27:19 says, "Cursed be anyone who perverts the justice due to the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow."

Fast-forward to the life and ministry of Jesus, and what you're going to find is Jesus perfectly fulfilling the law as he perfectly cared for and ministered to the orphan, the widow, the lame, the sick, and the marginalized. Read more in your New Testament, and what you'll find is verses like James 1:27 that tells us, "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world."

What we see throughout the host of Scriptures is that God unmistakably cares for the oppressed, the vulnerable, and the marginalized. The reality is if the early church was going to be a light in a dark world, if they were going to be a city on a hill that could not be hidden, if they were going to be a witness to the watching world, how they cared for and ministered to these widows was incredibly significant to the witness they were giving in the gospel of Jesus.

Even if that were all that was at play here, that would still be a significant problem, yet it's actually much more than that, because on the other hand, you had the threat to the unity of the church across ethnic lines. This was actually a gospel threat, because what Jesus had already accomplished and purchased for the church was unity even amidst diversity. Jesus was establishing one new family in Christ that was not divided based on gender, ethnicity, or social status.

This is why Paul would say in Galatians 3:28, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." What's his point? What he's not saying is that when you come to know Jesus, suddenly your ethnicity or gender or social status doesn't matter. He's saying that in Christ, what Jesus has accomplished for us is we can be unified even amidst diversity.

Isn't it interesting that those are the same three things…gender, social status, and ethnicity…that our world seems to be so divided on still today. Friends, this is why the gospel of Jesus, the good news he offers to us, speaks a louder and a better word than our culture does. The church was to be a witness in their love for one another of what Jesus had accomplished for us. This dispute that had arisen between the Hellenists and the Hebrews was a threat to that unity within the church. So, this problem they've identified is really significant.

Here's what I think it makes abundantly clear for us. We must never divorce the Great Commission to multiply and make disciples from the Great Commandment to love God and love others. Can I say that one more time? Friends, at Watermark, we must never divorce the Great Commission to multiply from the Great Commandment to love. Growth without accompanying grace is not good. Multiplication without organization can be dangerous.

So, hear me on this. If we are multiplying numerically, yet people within our church and our community are suffering neglect and experiencing need physically or spiritually, we have problems. You need to know this is why membership and community matter so much to us at this church. It's because we are not just concerned about multiplying numerically; we want to be loving.

We want to be grace-filled, ministering to and meeting the needs of those within our church, and membership and community are the avenues that help us to do that the most effectively in a church our size. So, we're not just concerned about multiplication but love. The same had to be true for the early church. So, this problem they've identified needed to be addressed if they were going to be properly functioning and flourishing in their community.

Now, I want you to imagine for just a moment you're a part of the early church. Maybe you're the apostles and this problem surfaces and comes up on your radar. How would you respond? What would you do in response to this problem coming to light? I think how we respond to problems in our lives and in our community is really significant. I think there are typically a couple of different ways we can respond to the identification of problems.

The first would be to avoid. Whenever we avoid problems, we're saying that the needs, the problems, and the burdens of others are an inconvenience and a hindrance to our personal joy and flourishing in life. When we avoid problems, sometimes that can actually look like us getting involved, but only until a certain extent, whenever it begins to ask too much of us, and then we withdraw. We can avoid problems.

The second thing we can do is to accuse. Maybe, whenever we see problems arise in our lives or in our community, we can immediately begin to shift blame to other people, to think to ourselves, "Well, if you had just listened…" or "If you were a little bit more competent…" or "If you had just paid attention, we wouldn't have found ourselves here in the first place." We can accuse.

The third thing we can do is to activate. We can immediately begin to jump to solutions and reach conclusions to try to solve problems as quickly and as effectively as possible while, at times, missing the people in front of us. So, we may activate, but the reality is we listen to people primarily just to respond so we can move on rather than listening to really understand or to care for those who are in front of us. If you're an activator, your ditch might be seeing people as burdens or as projects to be fixed, managed, or solved rather than as people needing to be loved. Which of those might be true of you?

I want to give us a fourth A this morning, as a church family, about how we ought to respond to the surfacing of problems, which would be to ask. That, as we see problems surfacing in our church, we would together ask the Lord, "God, how would you have me respond to that?" Rather than assuming, that we would ask him. The reason I say that is because you need to know, friends, at Watermark we are not a problem-less church. Our problems might look different than they did 2,000 years ago in Acts 6, but the reality is we have areas of our church that are currently experiencing need.

I think about how in our effort to help future generations to follow Jesus and be the church in our kids' ministry, there are times, even as recently as last Sunday in our 11:15 service, where we have had to turn kids away from our kids' ministry due to a lack of volunteers. As we are looking to establish our members into groups where they can be known, loved, cared for, and discipled, there are times where groups have experienced extended waiting periods because we don't have enough Community Group launchers to help establish them and guide them.

Friends, there are times where, as people are seeking healing and recovery in Jesus' name, we have re:gen step-groups that are waiting weeks or even months just to get going because we don't have enough step-group leaders. Y'all, listen to this. We have families with children who have additional needs that are not able to join church on Sundays because we are in need of more leaders in our Additional Care ministry.

As we're seeking to make disciples of every member of our church, only 60 percent of our Community Groups have Community Group shepherds or people who are actively and intentionally investing into the lives of members of our groups to help them abide in Jesus together. Y'all, I could list more. In fact, I even reached out to many different ministries…The Porch, students, re|engage, and others. Every one of them responded that they were in need of more leaders.

My point in saying this is we have to identify some of the problems we're facing in our community so we can begin working together toward addressing them. Before we jump to talking about solutions, I want to remind us this morning of an important truth as a church family: Jesus and his gospel changes how we see and respond to the identification of problems in our lives.

Friends, the good news of the gospel reminds us that Jesus has emphatically solved the greatest problem in our lives. What is true of every one of our stories is while we were made for relationship with God, we became separated from him because of our sin, because of our rebellion, because of our idolatry, to the point that we became spiritually dead in sin, that we were separated from God, deserving of his wrath, deserving of his judgment and condemnation. That's a huge problem.

Yet God, seeing that need, did not stand passively by but sent his own Son Jesus to take on flesh, to live the life we couldn't live, and to die the death that you and I both deserved. He was crucified, tortured, and buried in the grave but didn't stay dead. He rose again three days later, conquering sin, death, and Satan on our behalf so that anyone, anyone even here today, who would place their faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins would receive new life in his name and God would grant you his Holy Spirit to seal you, to sanctify you, to adopt you, and to keep you and transform you until the day he returns, and he's going to make everything new.

Friends, the gospel of Jesus Christ reminds us that he has emphatically solved our greatest problem. If you're here this morning, and you don't know that truth… Maybe you're here this morning, and you're like, "Honestly, the lights on the dashboard of my life are completely lit up right now. Things aren't going well."

Maybe God brought you here this morning to help you to see and identify the greatest problem in your life, which is that you're separated from God because of your sin, yet the good news of Jesus is that he took on your sin for you, so you don't have to pay for it, and that he promises to give you new life in his name. My prayer, if that's anybody here this morning, is that you would receive Jesus' invitation to come and surrender your life to him.

If you're here, specifically if you're a member of our church, and you know Jesus… Friends, we need to be constantly reminded of the reality that Jesus has overwhelmingly and emphatically solved our greatest problem, and that changes how we respond to the identification of problems in our lives and in our circumstances. So, in Christ, rather than seeing problems as burdens to be avoided, we can see them as opportunities to be embraced.

In Christ, rather than seeking for somebody to accuse or shifting blame, we can actually, with a Spirit-led dependence, come together and seek God together for how he desires for us to move toward them. And in Christ, rather than seeing people as burdens or projects to be fixed, managed, or solved, we can see them as people who are made in the image of God, who are worthy of our time, our patience, our devotion, our love, and our sacrifice because of what Jesus has first done for us. Amen?

Friends, the gospel is what not only frees us to identify our problems; it is what enables us to seek the Lord together for how he desires for us to respond to them. That's what we see the early church do here in Acts, chapter 6. Look back with me at the text, starting in verse 2.

"And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, 'It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.'

And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them."

2. We must all play our proper part. What we see the apostles do here in response to this problem is they reach the realization, "We cannot do this ourselves." Notice they don't dismiss the problem, they don't deflect it, they don't ignore it, and they don't become offended by it, but they do realize, "We cannot do this ourselves. If we're going to minister to and meet the needs of our community, we must entrust and empower others to lead with us."

So, what they do is they gather together the full number of the disciples, and they do two things. First, they define their roles. They say, "Listen. We're going to be devoted to the preaching of the Word and to prayer, and you will be devoted to serving tables or to ministering to the needs of the community." So, they define their roles.

The second thing they do is they empower the disciples to be the ones who are going to identify those who would be appointed to this service. Here's why I think that's really helpful. In effect, what they're doing is saying, "Look. The people who are closest to the problem ought to be those who are going to help us to solve it." The apostles are still leading this, but now they're working together as a community toward the solution.

Now, just in case you might hear that and think to yourself, "That actually sounds pretty prideful. It sounds like the apostles are saying they're somehow above serving tables, and they're going to do the holy work of preaching the Word and prayer," you need to know that's actually not what's going on here. What they say is, "It would not be right for us to give up preaching the Word." Literally, they're saying, "It wouldn't be proper for us to do that." They're saying, "We have to play our part, and other people have to play theirs."

So, know this. This was not a matter of pride or privilege; it was a matter of making sure they had the right parts functioning in the right places in the right ways so the ministry of the Word would flourish and so the needs of the community would be met. They needed the right parts functioning in the right places.

I wonder if anybody here this morning has ever had a point in your life where you have come to the realization, "I'm not playing the part I was meant to play right now." For me, this moment happened in seventh grade choir. You need to know the only reason I chose to be in choir was because I had two options. It was either choir or band. I thought to myself, "I can at least fake it in choir if I have to, just to get by."

That worked great for me until the day came in class where our teacher said, "Hey, we've got an upcoming concert, and it's time to audition for solos." For the girls, that was no problem. I mean, there were a lot of girls in the class who were eager, excited, willing, and able to fill that role. When it came time for the guys, not a single dude raised their hand. In what can only be described as a sheer act of mutiny, all of my friends in that class, at the same time, looked at me and said, "Jacob will do it." As an insecure, naive seventh grader who really lacked self-awareness, I was like, "All right. I'll do it."

We were singing the song "Car Wash." Do you know what I'm talking about? Like, "Working at the car wash…" I really shouldn't sing it. I actually tried to find the video of this performance. By the grace of God, I couldn't, because it's helping me preserve a little bit of dignity this morning. If I were to show you that video, here's the conclusion you would reach rather quickly: "Brother, you are out of place. You are not functioning in the right part right now. The right part for you to play is at the very back where you can keep to your lip syncing." That didn't happen.

I tell us that because if we want to be a properly functioning church, y'all, we all have to play our proper part under the direction of our leaders. So, what would that look like for us here at Watermark? I think there are two things we see the apostles do here in the early church that our leaders are deeply committed to here at Watermark.

First, our leaders are devoted to preaching the Word of God and to prayer. A theme Luke traces throughout the book of Acts is the Word of God. You see him highlighting and emphasizing that within the life of the early church, the preaching of the Word of God was incredibly powerful and central to their life and their mission. If we want to be a properly functioning church at Watermark, we must be Bible-revering and gospel-proclaiming.

This is why every single week we gather, we open God's Word and sit under its preaching, because the Word of God is powerful. We're told in the Scriptures that the gospel, the good news of Jesus, is the power of God for any who would believe. That's why whenever we get up here, we're not just trying to teach you tips and tricks and life hacks about how to live a better life. We want you to know God, to enjoy him, and to live a life fully alive on mission with him, because that's what you were made for. That's why we preach the Word and preach Christ and Christ crucified unashamedly.

You need to know preaching isn't easy. It requires diligent effort, prayer, work, and study. The fact that TA, week in and week out… Y'all need to know he labors in prayer and preparation and study to bring the Word to our church. That is an incredible blessing. I owe an apology, honestly, to my pastor back home, because I remember growing up, sitting in pews, thinking to myself, "Dude, it would be awesome to be a pastor. You work one day a week. You get up and talk for 30 minutes, call it good, and go home and watch football. That's awesome." Total ignorance. Preaching is work.

There's a reason TA isn't meeting with every one of our Community Groups and grabbing coffee with every one of our members, and there's a reason I'm not up here preaching every week. If TA were doing that, he'd likely be neglecting the Word, and if I was up here every week, I'd likely be neglecting to, along with our team, effectively meet and minister to the needs of our community. We need leaders who are devoted to preaching the Word and to prayer.

I want you to know our leadership here at this church is deeply committed to prayer. We don't believe prayer is just part of the work of ministry; we believe prayer is the work of ministry. This is something God has been growing me in and helping me to see and to realize that apart from the empowering presence of God and the enjoyment of him in the place of prayer, I am at great risk of missing my way and being ineffective in the work he has called me to do. Our leaders must be committed to preaching the Word and to prayer.

Secondly, our leaders are committed to empowering faithful servants. Since our inception, Watermark has been deeply committed to empowering the members of our church for service. Our elders see it to be their primary responsibility here to equip, to train, to empower, to release, and to deploy faithful members of our church into areas of meaningful service. Ephesians 4 tells us, "And he [Jesus] gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ…"

You need to know Watermark is not a church where we want our members sitting on the sidelines, cheering on the players on the field. We want you, as members of our church, to be the players on the field. Our elders and our staff want to come alongside of you to equip you, to train you, to resource you, and to deploy you to serve with us in the building up of the body of Christ here at Watermark.

I want to just say this. From 10 years of being a member of this church and for the previous seven years of serving on our staff, I truly am blown away and so encouraged by how committed our members are to serving this church. I mean, seriously. Week in and week out, the fact that there are thousands of our members who are selflessly giving of themselves, of their time, of their effort, and of their energy in order to build the body of Christ with us here at Watermark is astounding.

When we have other churches come in for our Church Leaders Conference, do you want to know the primary question we get asked? It's about you. It's about members of our church who are deeply committed to participating with us in the work of ministry. So, I want to say, emphatically, "Thank you." Thank you. Your service to this church… I want you to know Jesus is honored by your service to his bride.

With that said, I do want us to notice something in this text. I want us to see that the early church wasn't just after warm bodies. They weren't just looking for anybody to be appointed to this service. They were looking for those who were of good repute, who were full of the Holy Spirit and of wisdom.

So, here's my question for any member of our church this morning who is already deployed into an area of service. I want to invite you to evaluate with the Lord this morning. Could that be said of your life? Are you deeply known by community? Are there people in our church who would testify to your character and your conduct in Christ?

If you were to apply for a position of service in our church and we called your Community Group, what would they say about you? More importantly, would they be right? Or is there any area of your life that in an effort to protect, to preserve, or to manage your reputation, you've not allowed yourself to be fully known? Are you somebody who with integrity is of good repute?

Secondly, are you full of the Holy Spirit? Is your life bearing spiritual fruit? I want to be really clear what I'm talking about when I say "Spiritual fruit." I'm not talking about ministry activity. I'm not asking whether or not you're serving in five different ministries here. The fruit the Lord calls us to evaluate in the Scriptures is the fruit of the Holy Spirit from Galatians 5.

In other words, are you somebody whose life is consistently…not perfectly, but consistently…marked by love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control? Would your spouse or your kids or your roommates or your coworkers or your employees or your neighbors describe you as somebody who is full of the Holy Spirit?

Lastly, is your life marked by wisdom? Have you ever intentionally devoted yourself to a focused season of growth and training? Have you disciplined yourself for the purpose of godliness? Are you marked by wisdom?

Then, if you're here, and you're a member of our church who's not currently deployed into an area of service here, y'all, I want you to know it's the desire of our elders and our staff that you would be equipped, trained, and deployed to participate with us in ministry. Listen. I want to say this. If you're in a season of caring for elderly parents or are walking through loss or grief or suffering or if you are intentionally devoting yourself to a season of growth and training or if you're in a season where you're pursuing healing and recovery, I'm not talking to you right now.

In fact, this week, as I was praying for our church and was spending time preparing for this sermon, I felt like God put it on my heart to communicate to some people in this room. I want you to know that you are not a utility here. I want you to know at Watermark, we're not just looking to use you to get things done. We love you.

If you have found yourself in any one of those seasons I just described, hear me say it would be our joy, our honor, and our privilege to come alongside of you and to minister to you in the season you're in. We're not looking to wring something out of you to get things done. We care more about your soul being fully alive in Jesus than accomplishing other things. Okay? I believe we're going to get the right things done in the right way with the right people when all of our souls are fully alive in him.

So, I say this not to shame anybody, but if you're a member of our church who is in a good season where you're abiding in Jesus, please hear me say…we need you. We need you. Y'all, this is a family, but it's also a body. The only way we can properly function together is if every single part is functioning properly together.

So, if that's you this week, would you just take a step? Maybe start by having a conversation with your Community Group or visit watermark.org/serve. You can see all of the areas where our church is currently in need of more faithful, Spirit-filled servants, because if we want to be a properly functioning and flourishing church, we must all play our proper part.

Here's the deal. If we do that, I am both excited and expectant for what God might do in our midst because of what we see happen as a result of the apostles doing this in Acts, chapter 6. Look with me at the final verse, verse 7. Notice the result. It says, "And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith."

What we see happen as a result of the church identifying their problems and making sure each part was functioning properly in order to solve them is that the Word of God increased and the number of disciples continued to multiply greatly. Do you want to know what this is making abundantly clear? That the lights on the dashboard of the early church have been fully cleared, the threat of internal malfunction has been thoroughly and adequately handled, and things are humming again.

This week, as I was studying this passage, preparing for this sermon, it struck me that Luke even emphasizes here in verse 7 that many priests became obedient to the faith. Here's why that's significant. This is the first time Luke records in Acts that priests are surrendering to Jesus. Don't miss that. This is a moment when those who had previously been in strongest opposition to the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ are now reaching a point of devotion and surrender at great cost and sacrifice to themselves.

This was an emphatic and triumphant victory in the name of Jesus that even these priests, even these adversaries, are now turning to become obedient to the faith. I love the way John Piper puts it. Listen to this. He says, "What Luke is celebrating is that the triumph over this in-house problem resulted in a new breakthrough in evangelistic power. Now, even priests, who had been so hostile, are responding to the Word of God and obeying the faith. The church had been tested. She had passed the test by caring for the widows and guarding the Word. And God honored this triumph with new power and fruitfulness."

Friends, that is my hope and my prayer for our church: as we abide in Jesus together, as we identify our problems with one another, as we seek the Lord together, asking him how he wants us to move forward, as we all play our proper parts, that God would pour his Spirit out and entrust to us the souls of many others, even those who might be in opposition to the message of Jesus. Amen?

If we're going to be ready for that, I think it means every one of us, every member of this church, must be abiding in Jesus, focused on and deeply committed to, even at great sacrifice to ourselves, making disciples, as we do it all enjoying life together as a family. Let me pray that that would be true for us.

Father in heaven, we thank you that we can call upon you as our Father. Thank you, Jesus, that while you were a son by grace, you have chosen to make us sons by grace, Lord, that we get to belong to your family. Lord, I thank you that your gospel frees us to identify problems in our midst and that you enable us together, as a church family, united by the power of your Holy Spirit, to seek you for how you desire for us to respond to them.

So, Lord, I pray even now, Holy Spirit, as we respond to you, would you lead us to where you want us to go, to how you want to move us together to meet and to minister to the needs of our community so that your Word might continue to flourish and multiply here in our city. Lord, I do pray that if there's anybody here who does not know you, you would stir in their hearts, that they would feel an invitation from you to come. Lord, I pray there would be nothing hindering them from taking a step to becoming obedient to the faith. Lord, would you do that for your glory in our midst? We love you, and we thank you for first loving us. In Jesus' name, amen.