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November 12 - Acts 6 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, it's Sean here. It's Tuesday.
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  It is the 12th of November. Great to have your company as we
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  continue to do what we do, which is read another chapter of God's
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  Word every day. And we are working our way
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  through the book of Acts at the moment and we are up to the 6th
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  chapter of Acts, which is where the church starts to have
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  problems. If you look around your church
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  and you think, Oh my church is just a broken group of people,
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  why isn't life easier in this community?
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  Well, you're not alone here. We see the beginnings of things
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  going wrong and what do people do?
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  Well, the same thing that we do in churches all around the world
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  for the last 2000 years. We come to God and we say God
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  give us wisdom. How do we move forward through
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  this challenging time? And then with God's wisdom, we
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  act and step forward and continue to rumble and stumble
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  our way through this, this thing called Christian community, this
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  thing called church. So let's go back and see this
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  very, very early church and hear how God was moving in them at
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  that time as we read together Acts chapter 6.
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  But as the believers rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings
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  of discontent. The Greek speaking believers
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  complained about the Hebrew speaking believers saying that
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  their widows were being discriminated against in the
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  daily distribution of food. So the 12 called a meeting of
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  all the believers. They said we apostles should
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  spend our time teaching the word of God, not running a food
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  programme. And so brothers, select seven
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  men who are well respected and are full of the spirit and
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  wisdom. We will give them this
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  responsibility. Then we apostles can spend our
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  time in prayer and teaching the Word.
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  Everyone liked this idea, and they chose the following
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  Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, Philip,
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  Prochorus, Naikonor, Timon, Parmanus, and Nicholas of
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  Antioch, an earlier convert to the Jewish faith.
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  These seven were presented to the apostles who prayed for them
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  as they laid their hands on them.
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  So God's message continued to spread.
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  The number of believers greatly increased in Jerusalem, and many
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  of the Jewish priests were converted too.
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  Stephen, a man full of God's grace and power, performed
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  amazing miracles and signs among the people.
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  But one day some men from the synagogue of freed slaves, as it
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  was called, started to debate with him.
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  There were Jews from Cyrene, Alexandria, Sicilia, and the
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  province of Asia. None of them could stand against
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  the wisdom and the spirit with which Stephen spoke.
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  So they persuaded some men to lie about Stephen, saying we
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  heard him blasphemy Moses and even God.
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  This roused the people, the elders and the teachers of
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  religious law. So they arrested Stephen,
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  brought him before the high council.
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  The lying witnesses said this man is always speaking against
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  the Holy Temple and against the law of Moses.
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  We've heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy
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  the temple and change the customs of Moses handed down to
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  us. At this point, everyone in the
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  High Council stared at Stephen because his face became as
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  bright as an angel's. Oh Jesus, that you would be so
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  evident in us, that people would stare at us too, in amazement
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  because there is something so unconventional, so unworldly, so
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  supernatural about our presence that they are drawn to ask what
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  is going on. Ah, for that to happen, the Holy
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  Spirit, we are going to need you to continue your work of
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  transformation so that when the people around us are anxious, we
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  can live in your peace. When the people around us have
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  run out of patience, we can display your patience.
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  When times are difficult, we can continue to be gracious and kind
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  and open. Help us be beacons for your
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  Kingdom priorities and your heart in the world that we live
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  in, just like Stephen was during those days.
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  Ah, we pray all of this in your wonderful name, Jesus, Amen.