Saturday March 18th, 2023
Meditate on: Acts 6:3 CSB
« Brothers and sisters, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and wisdom, whom we can appoint to this duty. »
Read: Acts 6:1-7 GNT
1 Some time later, as the number of disciples kept growing, there was a quarrel between the Greek-speaking Jews and the native Jews. The Greek-speaking Jews claimed that their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of funds.
2 So the twelve apostles called the whole group of believers together and said, “It is not right for us to neglect the preaching of God’s word in order to handle finances.
3 So then, friends, choose seven men among you who are known to be full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, and we will put them in charge of this matter.
4 We ourselves, then, will give our full time to prayer and the work of preaching.”
5 The whole group was pleased with the apostles’ proposal, so they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a Gentile from Antioch who had earlier been converted to Judaism.
6 The group presented them to the apostles, who prayed and placed their hands on them.
7 And so the word of God continued to spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem grew larger and larger, and a great number of priests accepted the faith.
Message:
Before any organization recruits employees, the criteria for qualification would have been determined. Similarly, there are qualifications God expects all workers in His vineyard to meet up with.
In Acts 6:1-3, when the first sets of Church workers were to be selected. It was mandatory that they had an honest report filled with the Holy Ghost. This is how the work of God can grow. After Spirit-filled workers had been chosen in Acts 6, verse 7 NLT says:
« So God’s message continued to spread. The number of believers greatly increased in Jerusalem, and many of the Jewish priests were converted, too. »
It is wonderful to work for God but God is not seeking just anyone to work for Him, He is seeking spirit-filled workers.
It is pathetic when someone comes to Church for the first time, willing to surrender to Christ and then he sees his girlfriend or someone who asked him for a bribe in the course of the week among the workers. He then says to himself “If these are the kind of people serving God, then I am not interested.”
How will the word of God increase when even the workers are not living by it?
Every worker in the Ushering, Media, Choir, Sanitation, Prayer team, Follow-up, Protocol, Evangelism, traffic control, and all other departments must be Spirit-filled.
Deuteronomy 34:9 says Joshua was filled with the Spirit of wisdom. He was the Personal Assistant to Moses. Everyone assisting a Pastor to do the work of God must be filled with the Holy Spirit; otherwise they will get him/her into trouble.
In 2 Kings 5:20-27, but for the intervention of the Holy Spirit, Gehazi, the Personal Assistant of Elisha could have put him in trouble. There are Church workers who collect money on behalf of their Pastors without informing them.
It is dangerous to be unfaithful in your service to God.
Just ask Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, as recorded in Leviticus 10:1-3.
Application: God is seeking spirit-filled workers, do you qualify?
Author: Pst Enoch. A. Adeboye.
Edited by Naomie
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