Intro to "The Man with the Face of an Angel" (Acts 6:8-15)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/3/2017 8:47 AM

My Worship Time                                        Focus: Intro to “The Man with the Face of an Angel”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 6:8-15

            Message of the verses:  “8 And Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people. 9 But some men from what was called the Synagogue of the Freedmen, including both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and some from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and argued with Stephen. 10 But they were unable to cope with the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. 11 Then they secretly induced men to say, "We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God." 12 And they stirred up the people, the elders and the scribes, and they came up to him and dragged him away and brought him before the Council. 13 They put forward false witnesses who said, "This man incessantly speaks against this holy place and the Law; 14 for we have heard him say that this Nazarene, Jesus, will destroy this place and alter the customs which Moses handed down to us." 15 And fixing their gaze on him, all who were sitting in the Council saw his face like the face of an angel.”

            When we began looking at the book of Acts we stated that the book of Acts could be divided into two parts.  The first part was dominated by the apostle Peter, and then the second part would be dominated by the apostle Paul who when first mentioned in the book of Acts at the end of chapter seven he is introduced as Saul of Tarsus. In the section that we are beginning to look at today we see the beginnings of this break in the book of Acts.  Another way we could break up the different parts of Acts is that of who the preaching of the gospel was given to.  Peter was the apostle to the Jews and primarily ministered in Jerusalem, while Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles and ministered mostly in the Roman Empire outside of Israel.  We will see in chapters 10-11 Peter preaching to the Gentile Cornelius and I believe that this is because Jesus said that Peter had the keys to the kingdom and so Peter opened the door to the Gentiles as seen in chapters 10-11. 

            John MacArthur writes “Bridging the gap between those two giants is Stephen.”  He goes on to write “Stephen was in many ways a forerunner to Paul.  He boldly confronted the synagogues of foreign Jews in Jerusalem, possibly even entering them to debate their members (6:9).  When he entered a new city to minister, Paul would habitually go first to a synagogue (17:2).  Like Paul, Stephen encountered fierce opposition, even to the point of physical persecution (7:54-60; cf. 2 Cor. 11:23-25).  Truly, the mantle of Stephen fell on his Hellenistic countryman Saul of Tarsus.  It is even possible that Paul’s first exposure to the gospel came through Stephen (7:58; 8:1).  His death must have left an indelible impression on Paul.”

            I believe that what we see from the life of Stephen is a man of great character, a man who loved the Lord with all his heart and soul and was not afraid to stand up for the truth of the gospel even though in the end it would cost him his life.  At the end of his life Stephen even stated something very similar to what Jesus said and that is that he asked forgiveness to be given to these men who had killed him. 

            Stephen was a well loved man among the early church in Jerusalem and after his death they grieved loudly “Some devout men buried Stephen, and made loud lamentation over him.”  One has to wonder how much affect Stephen’s life had on Saul of Tarsus and one may wonder if Saul even was later haunted by Stephen’s death.  John MacArthur mentioned that the mantle of Stephen was passed on to Saul, later called Paul and this of course is similar to Elijah passing on his mantle to Elisha as seen in the 2Ki 2:14 “He took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and struck the waters and said, "Where is the LORD, the God of Elijah?" And when he also had struck the waters, they were divided here and there; and Elisha crossed over.”  Elisha wanted a double portion of Elijah’s spirit and he got it and although Saul did not ask for a double portion of Stephen’s spirit he certainly got it.

            The world is divided up between those who are true believers in Jesus Christ and those who are not:  “"He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him’ (John 3:36).”  Believers are living in a world that is controlled by the prince of the power of the air, (although God is in ultimate control), and believers are many times killed for their faith like Stephen was.  Yet believers continue to talk to unbelievers about their need for salvation even though many will not listen.  Just as Stephen was set up and lied about by those evil men in order to have him killed so people today who are speaking the truth are often set up and lied about so they will be punished, but have faith my believing friends and remember that one day “the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words (1 Thess. 4:16-18).

            John MacArthur concludes:  “Acts 6:8-15 presents three further evidences of Stephen’s spiritual nobility:  his character, his courage, and his countenance.”  We will begin to look at these in our next SD.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Character is so very important in the life of a believer, and it is my desire to have good character as I live my life so others can see the difference in my life as opposed to those who are not believers.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Have a good prayer time with the Lord today.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “The pool of Siloam” (John 9:7).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who wanted to take John Mark on the second missionary journey?”

Answer in our next SD.  11/3/2017 9:36 AM

The Results (Acts 6:7)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/2/2017 7:22 AM

My Worship Time                                                                                          Focus:  The Results

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                             Reference:  Acts 6:7

            Message of the verses:  “7 The word of God kept on spreading; and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith.”

            I have to say that I read this verse over in my early days as a believer and did not see in it that many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith in it, but later on it kind of was like a light bulb being turned on so that I could see that there were priests who became believers in Jesus Christ as God was calling some of them to salvation.

            It seems like Luke closes this section, as the subject will change in Acts 6:8, like he has closed other section with the words, or similar words “The Word of God kept on spreading,” and yet there is no number of how many were being saved as there were becoming too many to keep track of as seen in Acts 5:14, but one thing for sure that God is keeping track of how many have come to a saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, even to this day and He will keep on counting until that last person in the Church age is saved so that the Lord Jesus Christ will then come and collect His bride in the clouds and then take all of us to heaven where we will be with the Lord forever more.

            As we look at what happened in these first seven verses of Acts chapter six we have seen that there was a potential for being a church split, but this was avoided by bring organization into the church by selecting men to do a job of overseeing the feeding of the Hellenistic Jewish widows which allowed the apostles to continue to do what they were suppose to do, which was to read and study the Word and to pray and also preach the good news of the gospel and the result was church growth.

            John MacArthur writes about the priests being saved:  “Astonishingly, a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith.’  These were, of course, not the chief priests or members of the Sanhedrin, but a very large number of the rank-and-file priests who ministered in the temple.  Perhaps this dramatic impact of the gospel of the priests accounts for the opposition that soon arose against Stephen.

            “The church today needs organization for the same reasons as the first fellowship.  Pastors must be freed to focus on the preaching of the Word and prayer.  Better organization can help meet the needs of all members and thus avoid conflict.  And a unified, well-taught church will be a powerful witness to the lost world.” 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I know that the pastors have their job to do which has been spelled out in this first section of Acts chapter six, and I as a believer have my job to do as seen from Ephesians 2:10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”  This verse tells me that God has given me good works to do which were planned from eternity past, and it is my job to do these good works, and it is my job to ask the Holy Spirit to show me the good works He has planned for me to do so I know what to do to serve my Lord.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to show me and equip me to do the good works He has planned for me to do.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Ananias” (Acts 9:17).

Today’s Bible question:  “Where did Jesus tell the man born blind to go and wash?”

Answer in our next SD.

11/2/2017 7:46 AM

The Roster (Acts 6:5-6)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/1/2017 9:07 AM

My Worship Time                                                                                             Focus:  The Roster

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                           Reference:  Acts 6:5-6

            Message of the verses:  “5 The statement found approval with the whole congregation; and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch. 6 And these they brought before the apostles; and after praying, they laid their hands on them.”

            The first part of verse five tells us that the congregation approved the suggestion from the apostles and they chose seven men who were appointed to the ministry.  Now as we look at the names of these seven men we see that they all had Greek names suggesting that they were Hellenists, and if this was true then this fit into helping the problem that they were trying to care for.  We have to believe that this was a ploy from Satan to split the church and so this was avoided.

            Steven would play a pivotal role in the spread of the gospel in Jerusalem and we will see later on in Acts that he will be persecuted and killed for the cause of Christ.

            Philip will also play a prominent role in the book of Acts as we will see in chapters 8 and then again in chapter 21 where the text talks about not only him, but his daughters.

            Prochorus and the rest of the five:  John MacArthur writes that nothing definite is known about these remaining five men.  “Some early traditions connect Prochorus with John the apostle, possibly as his amanuensis when he wrote his gospel.  According to those traditions, he later became bishop of Nicomedia and was martyred in Antioch.

            Now as I am preparing my Sunday school lesson for the 2^nd and third chapters of Revelation there was something that came up about Nicolas and I will get to that in a moment.  We see that Nicolas was a proselyte which is a Gentile who was converted to Judaism and that he was from Antioch. 

            Now I want to look at two verses in Revelation chapter two:  “6 ’Yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.”  “15 ’So you also have some who in the same way hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans.”   There are two schools of thought on these verses and one of them says that Nicolas was an apostate teaching wrong things about Christ and thus his teaching turned into the Nicolaitans teaching which nothing certain is actually known about it other than it could have been similar with the teachings of Balaam, and Balaam taught the enemies of Israel to use their women in a sexual way to corrupt the men of Israel.  The other school of thought is that Nicolas was not an apostate and his name was used to teach wrong things to believers as seen in the two passages from Revelation 2.

            Now we want to talk about what the congregation did after choosing these men and that was that they brought them to the apostles and then the apostles laid hands on them and prayed over them.  This is the first occasion in the New Testament of laying on hands signifying the identification and affirmation of the church with these men, and also the support of their new ministry.  This would also be done for Elders, deacons, and all who served the early church as they were ordained in this way.  See Acts 13:3; 1 Timothy 4:14; 5:22; and 2 Timothy 1:6.

            I have to say that I remember when one of our Pastors, who at the time was a youth pastor was ordained and I remember going to this service and some of the retired Pastors and other Pastors laid hands on him and prayed over him.  We had this man, a retired Pastor who prayed over this youth Pastor and to tell you the truth I have heard shorter sermons, but his prayer was wonderful, just very long.

            As mentioned not much is known about some of these men, but this was a crucial role in the foundational history of the church.  The apostle’s priorities were not compromised and also the church avoided a split as the Holy Spirit directed this church to do the right thing.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Remembering the important role of the Holy Spirit in the church and in my life is something that I was reminded this morning, not only from this Spiritual Diary, but also for the one that I posted from Jude this morning.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I desire in my prayer time, to allow the Holy Spirit to direct my prayer time.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “False Christ and false prophets.”

Today’s Bible question:  “Who said ‘Brother Saul, the Lord even Jesus…has sent me that you might receive your sight’?”

Answer in our next SD.

11/1/2017 10:21 AM

PT-2 "Requirement" (Acts 6:3)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/31/2017 10:31 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                           Focus:  PT-2 The Requirement

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 6:3

 

            Message of the verses:  “3 “Therefore, brethren, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task.”

 

            In this section we are reading about the requirements of the men that would be chosen for this task of leadership.  I wrote in our last SD that I would quote from John MacArthur’s commentary on his view of who this passage is speaking about.

 

            “The question arises as to whether these seven can be properly viewed as the first official deacons.  They performed some functions of the later deacons, and forms of the Greek word dikonos (deacon) are used to describe their ministry (vv. 1-2).  Yet to view them in terms of a formal office is anachronistic (out of date).  Of the seven, only Stephen and Philip appear elsewhere in Scripture, but they are never called deacons. Indeed, Stephen’s later ministry was clearly that of an evangelist, as was Philip’s (Acts 21:8).  While Acts later refers to elders (14:23; 20:17), there is no mention of deacons.  That is strange, if the office of deacon began in Acts 6.  Further, all seven had Greek names, implying that they may have been Hellenistic.  It seems unlikely, however, that a permanent order of deacons for the Jerusalem church would include no native Palestinian Jews.

 

            There are important principles in this passage for the continuing life of the church.  Here we see that the congregation is to nominate certain spiritually qualified men to serve, with the final appointment resting with those already in position as teachers and spiritual leaders.  Still, it seems best to see the selection of these seven as the Jerusalem church’s response to a temporary crisis.  It should be noted that the Greek word group from which our English word ‘deacon’ derives denotes service in general.  Diakonos, diakoneo, and diakonia  are used throughout the New Testament in a general, nonspecific way (cf. Luke 4:39; 10:40; 17:8; 22:27; John 2:5, 9; 12:2; Rom. 12:3-4; 15:25; 2 Cor. 8:3-4).  Thus their use in Acts 6 does not imply that the seven held the office of a deacon.  Significantly, when the church at Antioch later sent famine relief to the Jerusalem church, no mention is made of deacons (Acts. 11:29-30).  Instead, the relief was sent to the elders.  Stephen and Philip certainly did not continue long in this role, since both became evangelists.  And persecution would shortly scatter the Jerusalem congregation (Acts. 8:1), ending the ministry of the other five.  God raised them for a brief period of ministry, to handle a crisis.  The continuing unity of the church shows the effectiveness of their ministry. “

 

            As I mentioned in our last SD it has to do with the quality and godliness of people who are in leadership of the local church that is important, more important than what they are called. I also mentioned that the Lord has been using our church for 180 years and so I have to believe there is something about it that causes Him to continue to use it to this day.

 

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Double tongues” (1Timothy 3:8).

 

Today’s Bible question:  “According to Matthew 24, what two classes of persons will show great signs and wonders in their deceptive work?”

 

Answer in our next SD.

 

10/31/2017 10:54 AM

 

The Requirements (Acts 6:3)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/30/2017 10:23 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  The Requirements

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 6:3

 

            Message of the verse:  “3 “Therefore, brethren, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task.”

 

            What we have been talking about are things that came out of the first organizational meeting of the church to solve the problem of making sure the Hellenistic widows were being fed.  We discussed the “reason” in our last four Spiritual Diaries and today we begin to look at the requirements found in Acts 6:3.

 

            We learned in our discussion of Acts 6:4 that it was most important to the church that the apostles needed to continue in their quest of Bible reading and also prayer, but this problem of feeding the Hellenistic Jews remained which is what we are discussing this morning.

 

            How was this problem to be solved?  Well the apostles wanted the congregation to select seven men of good reputation and also full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom to put in charge of this task that was before them.  John MacArthur writes that “The word translated select is from the verb episkeptomai, meaning ‘to oversee or to supervise.’  The congregation was to look over the men who were respected and present their choices to the apostles.  They would make the final decision regarding their appointment to the task, as indicated by the words, ‘whom we may put in charge of this task.’”

 

            Let us now look at five required requirements:  1. The first requirement we see is that they must be men, men who would led the church.  When we look at Titus 2:3-5 we read “3 Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, 4 so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, 5 to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored.”  These verses speak of duties that women are to perform in the church, but leadership belongs to men as Luke writes “seven men.”  As we look through the New Testament we can see prominent women mentioned like Dorcas, Lydia, Phoebe, Priscilla, and Phillip’s daughters.  2.  The phrase “from among you,” is the second requirement.  Church leaders should be in the process of developing good church leaders from the younger men who are in the congregation.  These men must come out of the church congregation as we will see later on in the book of Acts when Paul and his team would go to help in the appointment of leaders in the churches they began.  3.  The men from the congregation must be “of good reputation.”  In Paul’s writing to Timothy and Titus he gives requirements of men who are to be leaders in the church and this certainly is one of them. 4.  The men must be full of the Spirit, as “they must be fully yielded to His control in every area of their lives.”  5.  The final requirement is the men must be wise they must possess wisdom.  Wisdom is one of the attributes of God and so leaders in the church must also possess wisdom in order to lead the church.

 

            Now I realized that once we got to this section in the book of Acts that there would be discussion on whether or not these men were the first deacons who were appointed in the church and I must say that this is a difficult subject to write about.  The churches that I have always gone to since I became a believer have been “Baptist” churches and that term Baptist can mean different things to different people.  Our church and the one that I used to attend to are in the “General Association of Regular Baptist Churches.”  We know that there are other associations associated with Baptist churches like “The Southern Baptist Association.”  The GRABC began in the 1940’s and it began because other Baptist organizations became liberal in their teaching.  Our Church and the church I use to go to have deacons in them while the church that John MacArthur pastors is somewhat different in that they have “Elders” in them.  Now an Elder is another name for Pastor or Bishop, but different than deacons.  His church may indeed have deacons, but the leadership of his church, I do not believe includes deacons like the church I attend does.  John MacArthur has written a book that I have mentioned in an earlier SD entitled “The Master’s Plan for the Church,” and in that book he describes different plans for leadership in the church, different in that some have deacons and others do not.  I read that book probably 10 years ago and one of the things that I remember from it is the following.  MacArthur states that whether your church has deacons or elders in leadership capacity is not the main thing.  The main thing is that the quality of these men must be like what Luke is talking about in the verse we are looking at this morning.  You could have what you think is the right way of having leadership in your church but the men are not like the qualifications we have just discussed and the other way could be true too.  I have to say as I have stated that I believe that the Lord led me first of all to Grace Baptist Church in Westlake, Ohio and the first two pastors and also the deacons we had under these first two pastors were wonderful leaders, but things changed and I had to move to First Baptist Church of Elyria, Ohio.  The first Sunday that I visited First Baptist was the Sunday after the Thursday that their pastor had died.  He had been there for 25 years and the church had grown so much that a new addition had to be built.  First Baptist Church of Elyria, Ohio is 180 years old, as it began around the time of the Civil War.  God has blessed this church over its 180 years of existence and I am very happy to be a part of it.  That first day I went to visit First Baptist it was for me like going from a desert which I had been for the former five years to finding a wonderful refreshing oasis where springs of water could be found along with palm trees and fruit.  It was a wonderful experience.  Some later on the church called its pastor who has been there since 2011 and he reminds me of our second Pastor we had while attending Grace Baptist church, a man who I had great respect for.  Our leadership is made up of five pastors and a large number of deacons of which I believe all fit the things we have been talking about from this verse we are looking at today.  No church is perfect, as I can see from studying the seven churches in Revelation 2-3, but attending a church that has been around for 180 years gives me confidence that God has and my prayer is to continue to bless our church for many years to come, hopefully until the Lord comes.

 

            In our next SD we will look at the quote from John MacArthur’s commentary as he explains his feelings on the subject of deacons.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I want to say that I am thankful for the Lord leading me to First Baptist Church of Elyria.

 

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “430 years” (Exodus 12:40).

 

Today’s Bible question:  “What kind of tongues should deacons not have?”

 

Answer in our next SD.

 

10/30/2017 11:11 AM   

 

PT-4 "The Reason" (Acts 6:1-2, 4)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/29/2017 6:39 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  PT-4 “The Reason”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 6:1-2, 4

 

            Message of the verses: “1 Now at this time while the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint arose on the part of the Hellenistic Jews against the native Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food. 2 So the twelve summoned the congregation of the disciples and said, "It is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables…4 “But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word."”

 

            We have been talking about prayer and Bible study or Prayer and the Word of God.  When unbelievers pick up a Bible and try to understand what they are reading it is impossible for them to completely understand what they read in it because it takes the Holy Spirit to be in a life so that He can help us understand what He wrote, for the Word of God was written by the Holy Spirit using men to communicate exactly what He wanted them to write.  As believers we need to pray before we study the Word of God so that the Spirit of God will open our eyes so we can understand what He wants us to understand.  Sometimes when we pray and read the Word we will see verses that seem to jump off the page to us even though we probably have read them many times before.  Verse four was the verse that spoke to my heart in our study from yesterday’s Spiritual Diary and I was convicted to make renewed effort to speak to the Lord in a more intense way before I read His Word.

 

            We want to look at a section from Acts 20:18b-21 to see that Paul served as an appropriate model of the commitment to the Word to which the ministry demands.  “"You yourselves know, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time, 19 serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials which came upon me through the plots of the Jews; 20 how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house, 21 solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.”  This statement could have only been made because of Paul’s commitment to prayer and the study of God’s Word.

 

            Now as we look at the following verses from 1 Corinthians 9:16-17, and 26-27 we will be able to see how Paul expressed his personal philosophy of ministry:  “16 For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel. 17 For if I do this voluntarily, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me….26 Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; 27 but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.”

 

            John MacArthur concludes “From his dramatic conversation on the Damascus Road to the day a Roman executioner ended his life, Paul gave himself totally to the ministry.  There is no other way.  Every minister of Jesus Christ must give heed to Paul’s exhortation to Timothy:

 

“11 Prescribe and teach these things. 12 Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe. 13 Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching. 14 Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery. 15 Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all.”

 

“The devotion that Paul demanded to his young protégé is the same devotion the Lord Jesus Christ demands of all who serve Him.”

 

Answer from yesterday’s Bible question:  “God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit” (1 John 5:7).

 

Today’s Bible question:  “How many years did the children of Israel sojourn in Egypt?”

 

Answer in our next SD.

 

  10/29/2017 7:05 PM

 

Sick

 I have been under the weather for the last week and that is why there have been no new posts.  Lord willing I will begin doing my blogs tomorrow (12-05-2022).

ken