SPEAKER_00: Good morning.
SPEAKER_00: Happy Mother's Day.
SPEAKER_00: At the beginning of the Civil War, Americans believed that most of the conflict would be sorted out very quickly.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, many of them thought it was almost theatrical.
SPEAKER_00: And so people from Washington, D.C., on the first day of the war, the battle at Bull Run, they actually rode out in carriages to watch the battle and they kind of treated it like entertainment.
SPEAKER_00: Some people brought their picnic baskets and their blankets and wine and even opera glasses.
SPEAKER_00: You had politicians and families and reporters.
SPEAKER_00: What they did is they gathered on the nearby hillside expecting to witness a quick Union victory and then return home by dinner.
SPEAKER_00: But what began as a spectacle of entertainment, it quickly turned into chaos.
SPEAKER_00: And as the battle intensified, these inexperienced soldiers on both sides were overwhelmed by the violence and honestly confused at real war.
SPEAKER_00: Cannons fired across the fields and people were torn apart by bullets.
SPEAKER_00: Units collapsed in panic.
SPEAKER_00: And what the spectators thought would be a brief and exciting display, something to enjoy with a glass of wine, quickly became a bloodbath.
SPEAKER_00: When the Confederate forces counterattacked the Union troops, they fled in retreat, and they actually fled straight back toward Washington, crashing into civilians who had come to watch for the entertainment.
SPEAKER_00: Carriages were overturned, crowds were stampeded, the picnic atmosphere quickly dissolved.
SPEAKER_00: By the end of the day, around 5,000 men were dead, wounded, or missing.
SPEAKER_00: The early church that we're reading about in Acts, they understood something that we cannot forget.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom of God advances in the middle of real conflict.
SPEAKER_00: This is not a game.
SPEAKER_00: Nobody in the book of Acts, as we read through it, is treating life or the mission of God casually.
SPEAKER_00: They actually knew following Jesus would cost them something.
SPEAKER_00: In the book of Acts, we've spent a good amount of energy talking about the power and the work of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit changed everything.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit took fearful fishermen and turned them into bold witnesses for Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Took fishermen who were afraid to even acknowledge Jesus to preaching in front of thousands of people, even with the threat of death.
SPEAKER_00: And while the Holy Spirit is the main character in the book of Acts, when we take a step back and we see what he is doing, it's overwhelming.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm just gonna have us like fly through these slides.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna read all of what we see the Holy Spirit doing in the first five chapters, but it's overwhelming.
SPEAKER_00: We see that the Holy Spirit fills the believers for boldness to witness.
SPEAKER_00: We see that the Holy Spirit brings this presence and this power that completely overcomes the early church.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit empowers Peter's preaching.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit produces awe and reverence among the believers.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit works signs and wonders through the apostles.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit, it creates radical generosity among the people of God.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit, it produces a holy fear in the church.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit draws people to faith in Jesus Christ, empowers the apostles even to endure persecution.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit is given to those who obey God.
SPEAKER_00: Now, while all of that is true, and we see on the foreground of the book of Acts, particularly what we've already seen in the first five chapters, we see the punch of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: When you take a step back, anytime you see the Holy Spirit, you will always see a counterpunch from the devil.
SPEAKER_00: Always.
SPEAKER_00: And so as you take that same panoramic view of the first five chapters, you not only see the Holy Spirit is active and working through the early church, but you also see that the devil is also working.
SPEAKER_00: You see that he is working through people.
SPEAKER_00: We saw this at the end of Luke as Satan influenced one of Jesus' own disciples, Judas, to betray him, to oppose the mission of God.
SPEAKER_00: We see that Peter and John are arrested for preaching the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: That people reject them and actually accuse them of being drunk when they speak of the wonders of God.
SPEAKER_00: We see threats that are used in an attempt to silence the church.
SPEAKER_00: We see greed and desire for appearance that corrupt the motives within the church in the story of Ananias and Sapphira.
SPEAKER_00: We see there's a counsel that it's their desire to kill the apostles, to completely remove them.
SPEAKER_00: They're beaten for preaching Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: What we are going to see as we continue to walk through the book of Acts is we're going to see an amplification of the gospel going out.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to see the mission of Jesus leaving Jerusalem, going into Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth, and we're going to see God do amazing things.
SPEAKER_00: And at the same time, we're also going to see lurking in the background a dark and evil force that is opposing the gospel of Jesus Christ, and that opposed the gospel of Jesus Christ in the first century and continues to oppose the gospel of Jesus Christ in the 21st century.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the truth: everywhere where God is moving, Satan is moving.
SPEAKER_00: Everywhere God is advancing, Satan is defending.
SPEAKER_00: Where there is light, there will be darkness.
SPEAKER_00: And so as we turn our attention in the book of Acts and we see the gospel and the mission of Jesus spread, this takes us to a new series within our series that we're calling Unstoppable, The Church on Mission.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to set up this part of the book of Acts actually by going to the book of Revelation.
SPEAKER_00: Let me read you Revelation chapter 12, beginning in verse 10.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 10 says, And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.
SPEAKER_00: And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not even their lives unto death.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, rejoice, O heavens, and ye who dwell in them, but woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to point out a few things about what we just read in Revelation as a way of setting up what we're going to see in the rest of the book of Acts and what we've already seen up until this point.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, the war has already been won.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 11 says, They have conquered him, the devil, by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony.
SPEAKER_00: The war is over.
SPEAKER_00: The devil is finished.
SPEAKER_00: His fate was sealed when Jesus gave his life on the cross.
SPEAKER_00: So we're not fighting a war that hangs in the balance.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus has won, and in the end, Jesus wins.
SPEAKER_00: And so because of that, the church is an unstoppable force whose victory has already been won.
SPEAKER_00: Colossians 2 15 says this, and having disarmed, having disarmed the powers and authorities, he, being Jesus, made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
SPEAKER_00: So the battle is won.
SPEAKER_00: There is nothing for believers to fear.
SPEAKER_00: Number two, this is very important.
SPEAKER_00: The devil is actively dragging as many people to hell with him as he can.
SPEAKER_00: Did you see verse 12?
SPEAKER_00: The devil has come down to you in great wrath because he knows, listen to this, he knows his time is short.
SPEAKER_00: So the war is over, but the daily battles are being waged for the souls of humankind every day.
SPEAKER_00: I heard the phrase this week, another pastor in another part of the country.
SPEAKER_00: He said, We are at a church right now and we are a soul-winning church.
SPEAKER_00: And I went, What does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: He goes, A soul-winning church is a church that looks at all of life as the opportunity to rescue as many souls as possible out of the grip of the devil.
SPEAKER_00: And to be a soul-winning church, every single person in the church has to embrace this mission.
SPEAKER_00: We have to look at the places where God has called us, the gifts he has given us.
SPEAKER_00: We have to push everything into the middle and say, I'm going to use my life to work with God to pull people out of the grasp of the enemy, to win souls.
SPEAKER_00: So I say all of that to say this.
SPEAKER_00: With all of this front of mind, we're beginning this new series in the book of Acts, Unstoppable, The Church on Mission.
SPEAKER_00: And the title for this is perfect because there are going to be moments in the church's history, and guess what?
SPEAKER_00: There's going to be moments in each of our lives where our backs are against the wall, where it looks like we don't have a chance.
SPEAKER_00: It looks like we're surrounded and we're pinned to that wall, and without the help of God, we're in trouble.
SPEAKER_00: But it's in these moments where God shows his great power.
SPEAKER_00: And so what we're going to see is we're going to see amazing examples of what we just learned about in Romans chapter 8.
SPEAKER_00: Romans 8 28 says that God works all things to the good of those who love him according to his purposes.
SPEAKER_00: So even when the devil counterpunches what the Spirit is doing, that just means that God is about to land an uppercut.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: A good boxer, when he throws punches, he will throw a punch in such a way that he will get his opponent to overextend himself, and then what does he do?
SPEAKER_00: That's when he hits him with the uppercut.
SPEAKER_00: And so the whole point of this is God is greater.
SPEAKER_00: Our text this morning is very short, but I believe it's of great importance because it is a very strong warning against one of the ways that the enemy looks to bring his influence.
SPEAKER_00: He's looking to defy the church, not just from people or situations out there.
SPEAKER_00: Guess what?
SPEAKER_00: He's looking to defide the church from inside.
SPEAKER_00: If he can get Christians to fight with one another and to be divisive within the church, oh, that's even better.
SPEAKER_00: And so we have to be aware of our own vulnerabilities because he will come after them.
SPEAKER_00: And so following Jesus is not showing up for war with a picnic basket in our hand and a glass of wine.
SPEAKER_00: It is the recognition that we are in a war.
SPEAKER_00: I love you, mothers.
SPEAKER_00: You might, this might not have been the message you wanted to hear today.
SPEAKER_00: I realize that about 60% of the way through, I'm like, okay.
SPEAKER_00: But we preach through the Bible here.
SPEAKER_00: So this is where the Lord has us.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: God, I thank you for these amazing moms, and I thank you for those watching online.
SPEAKER_00: And I just echo everything Brenda just so beautifully communicated this morning around celebration and lamentation.
SPEAKER_00: And uh God, we pray blessing over the women here today.
SPEAKER_00: We pray blessing over their lives.
SPEAKER_00: God, as a church, uh, I pray for these next few minutes that we would just lock in to what you have to say for us.
SPEAKER_00: That we would recognize, that we would recognize that as a church, what you're doing here and what you're wanting to do here, this is not a tidy little sandbox.
SPEAKER_00: We're inviting, we're inviting the mess onto our campus.
SPEAKER_00: And we're part of that mess.
SPEAKER_00: And so would we be aware of our own vulnerabilities?
SPEAKER_00: Would we be on guard against the attacks of the enemy?
SPEAKER_00: It's in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: All right, Acts chapter 6.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna read the first verse.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna break this down.
SPEAKER_00: There's an issue in this passage.
SPEAKER_00: There's an issue, there's a solution, and then there's a result.
SPEAKER_00: There's an issue within the church, there's a solution for that issue, and then we're gonna see a result of how it's worked out.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 1 of chapter 6.
SPEAKER_00: Now, in these days, when the disciples were increasing in number, so in these days, when the church was growing, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.
SPEAKER_00: Now, we're gonna have to do a little bit of cultural legwork to understand exactly what the issue is here.
SPEAKER_00: First, this issue arose out of something that was happening in the church that was very good.
SPEAKER_00: It is good when the church grows in numbers.
SPEAKER_00: It is good when the gospel goes out.
SPEAKER_00: When Jesus is preached and people respond to the gospel, that is a good thing.
SPEAKER_00: But it also creates problems because where you got people, you got problems, yes.
SPEAKER_00: And so this was a great problem for the early church to have.
SPEAKER_00: And to be honest, this is a problem that we have right now as we're navigating a growing church, it's a great problem to have, but we are actually susceptible to the same issue that the early church was susceptible, and that is as more people are coming to our church, as more people are accessing all of the resources on the bridge and at the bridge, we have to answer questions like how do we care for people well?
SPEAKER_00: How do we make sure that all of the needs are being met and that people are not being ignored?
SPEAKER_00: This was the issue that they were dealing with in the first century.
SPEAKER_00: In particular, there were certain widows who were not being cared for, or at least the perception was that there were certain widows who were not being cared for while other widows were receiving appropriate care.
SPEAKER_00: We're introduced to a word here that we haven't seen in the book of Acts, but if you're familiar with Greco-Roman history, then you've likely heard it.
SPEAKER_00: The word Hellenistic or Hellenism.
SPEAKER_00: And Luke, what he's doing is he's using this word to create a distinction between two kinds of widows that made up the Christian church in the first century.
SPEAKER_00: You had Hellenist widows and you had Hebrew widows.
SPEAKER_00: The Hellenist widows were Jewish believers in the church who spoke Greek as their primary language.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, back to the beginning of this series.
SPEAKER_00: The beginning of the series began in Jerusalem, where you had thousands of people who were gathered in Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost.
SPEAKER_00: Now, many of these people were not from Jerusalem, they were not Hebrew-speaking Jews, but rather because Rome ruled the known world, a lot of these people had been sent out of Jerusalem, and they are living and growing up in places that was occupied by Rome where Greek was the known and spoken language.
SPEAKER_00: And so on the day of Pentecost, when the 120 disciples, when they spoke in all kinds of different languages, some of these Greek-speaking Jews who happened to be in Jerusalem at the time of the Feast of Pentecost, some of these Greek-speaking Jews, they responded to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: They put their faith in Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: So what was the problem?
SPEAKER_00: Well, there was a gap.
SPEAKER_00: There was a gap in the existing system of care that was set up to take care of Greek-speaking widows, or at least that was the complaint that we hear about in verse 1.
SPEAKER_00: But there's more here.
SPEAKER_00: And I think this is worth paying attention for us as a church, but also just in your life.
SPEAKER_00: What I'm about to share, contextually, I'm talking to us about as a church, but in your own family, in your workplace, in your neighborhood, literally, wherever people are involved, this is something for us to listen to.
SPEAKER_00: You see, the word complaint is the Greek word gongissimos, which actually in English it sounds like the word gong, which is interesting.
SPEAKER_00: The word here for complaint, it literally means murmur, murmuring, or muttering.
SPEAKER_00: Further definitions supply us with the understanding that this is a secret debate, a secret displeasure not openly avowed.
SPEAKER_00: Let me say this very clearly.
SPEAKER_00: Widows, orphans, and sojourners.
SPEAKER_00: And so at the top of God's list for who he wants to make sure are cared for in the community, in the society, widows are there.
SPEAKER_00: And so this complaint, if it was true, was worthy and maybe more worthy than any other complaint.
SPEAKER_00: The problem was how this complaint surfaced.
SPEAKER_00: It was misdirected.
SPEAKER_00: This murmuring actually recalls the mummering and the mumbling of the Israelites in the wilderness, complaining about how God was not feeding them well.
SPEAKER_00: And so the complaint that we read about in Acts about these Hellenistic widows, it's well-intentioned, but the way that it came about was not well executed.
SPEAKER_00: You see, you can have a complaint or you can see something that's broken, and you can actually say something about that complaint or that brokenness, and you can be right and wrong at the same time.
SPEAKER_00: You see, as we continue to grow as a church, as we continue to invite hundreds of people onto our campus each week, many who have a lot of needs, this passage is actually really relevant for us right now.
SPEAKER_00: Because there are going to be opportunities, and there are already opportunities for murmuring and complaining.
SPEAKER_00: Many chances to see something that's broken, a system that's not working and to just complain about it.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, we we have systems here at Revived Church that are not optimal.
SPEAKER_00: We have systems here at Revived Church that, to be honest, are broken.
SPEAKER_00: And so we're attempting right now to run a church and to host a shopping center that's filled with nonprofit uh organizations that are coming alongside people in vulnerable situations.
SPEAKER_00: And I'll just be honest with you, it is beautifully complex and beautifully messy.
SPEAKER_00: This is not a clean and tidy operation.
SPEAKER_00: We are in the mud with people.
SPEAKER_00: And it's awesome, right?
SPEAKER_00: I'd rather be in the mud with people getting dirty than in this nice little tidy church that doesn't get involved in the community, that just kind of takes care of ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: Now, here's what I'm not saying, and I want you to hear this very clearly.
SPEAKER_00: What I'm not saying is if you see something broken, just ignore it.
SPEAKER_00: You don't want to bother the leadership.
SPEAKER_00: That's not what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_00: We are always striving for excellence.
SPEAKER_00: We want to make sure that our systems are always growing and our processes are always being approved upon so that we can care for as many people as possible in the best ways that we can.
SPEAKER_00: And so when you see something, say something, but go to the source.
SPEAKER_00: What does it mean to go to the source?
SPEAKER_00: I always think of going to the source as is the person I'm about to tell about this issue part of the problem or part of the solution?
SPEAKER_00: If they're not part of the problem or the solution, then what I'm actually doing is I'm gossiping to this person.
SPEAKER_00: And so I just want to say in our church, gossip and slander has no place.
SPEAKER_00: There is nothing that will wreck what God is doing here more quickly than gossip and slander.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing.
SPEAKER_00: We use this tool as a team here at Revive.
SPEAKER_00: We use a lot of giant tools and they're just amazing.
SPEAKER_00: And this is a tool that we use called Go to the Source.
SPEAKER_00: And it is a really simple tool.
SPEAKER_00: And it's not just a tool that we can use within the church.
SPEAKER_00: This is actually a great tool to use in any of your circles of influence, whether this is in your own family, at your workplace, in any situation that you might have.
SPEAKER_00: And the whole idea is when person one has an issue, or when person one sees something that might be broken, person one always has a choice.
SPEAKER_00: Person one can take the mature route and can go to directly to person number two, who is part of the problem or part of the solution, and bring that grievance or bring that problem or whatever it might be in a way that is direct and in a way that is healthy.
SPEAKER_00: And that is the point of this visual and the point of the tool is that if people go from whatever their issue is to the person that's involved directly, what it does is it eliminates the possibility of gossip.
SPEAKER_00: However, if person number one chooses not to take their problem or their issue issue directly to the source, but instead tries to tell someone else who maybe will be empathetic or apathetic or will join in on whatever it is that they want to talk about, what happens is the people that are involved in That moment can become a conduit, can become actually a source for more gossip and more division.
SPEAKER_00: And so our role in that, and this is where it's really important because uh we have a role, even if we're not person number one in this situation, but person number one is coming to us.
SPEAKER_00: So if person number one comes to you and says, Hey, um, I've got this problem with John at work, he just continues to leave the water cooler empty.
SPEAKER_00: And we were told at the beginning that if we were the last ones to take the water out, then we had to fill it up.
SPEAKER_00: Um, you have a choice in that moment.
SPEAKER_00: Are you going to enter in and say something to the effect of, yeah, John's awful at that?
SPEAKER_00: I always watch him get the last cup and he never fills it.
SPEAKER_00: That would be a conduit of gossip versus a firewall.
SPEAKER_00: A firewall says, back to person number one, hey, have you talked to John about that?
SPEAKER_00: Because I found him to be pretty reasonable when I bring situations like this to him.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, I had an issue with this with him a year ago, and I let him know, and he actually responded by apologizing and saying that next time he would make sure not to be irresponsible in that moment.
SPEAKER_00: You get the tool?
SPEAKER_00: You understand how this works?
SPEAKER_00: This is a tool that not just I'm sharing with us because I think we need to be aware as a church, but this is a tool for everyday life.
SPEAKER_00: Let me give you an example that came up just last week.
SPEAKER_00: In 2025, as a church, we we implemented a membership process here at Revive Church.
SPEAKER_00: And we actually do membership at Revive for this very purpose: to address what's happening in the passage, to make sure that people who are committed to Revive Church who have been through a process are cared for and loved.
SPEAKER_00: And part of that process is a membership interview where one of our pastors or elders actually sits down with prospective members.
SPEAKER_00: And what it does is it gives our leadership an opportunity to get to know people in our church, and it gives us an opportunity just to sit down with prospective members and say, hey, if you're joining Revived Church, here's what's expected of you, and here's what you can expect from us as your leaders.
SPEAKER_00: At the end of those meetings, I always give people an opportunity to share any concerns that they have.
SPEAKER_00: I give the opportunities for people to say, hey, uh, what's broken?
SPEAKER_00: Tell us.
SPEAKER_00: Where's their confusion?
SPEAKER_00: And in this interview, the members spoke up and asked, and they said this, and I thought it was brilliant.
SPEAKER_00: They said, Hey, the bridge is set up to serve people who have the most pressing needs.
SPEAKER_00: But what about those in our church who don't always have kind of needs that are ongoing or immediate?
SPEAKER_00: But what about us who maybe face seasonal issues?
SPEAKER_00: And I said, What a great question.
SPEAKER_00: And what a great opportunity that would have been to complain to others.
SPEAKER_00: What a great opportunity it would have been for them to say to other people that the church really cares about neighbors, but that actually don't care about their own.
SPEAKER_00: But I thought this was a beautiful model of maturity of someone saying, Hey, I've got a question.
SPEAKER_00: Here's been my experience.
SPEAKER_00: Do we have systems in place to make sure that everyone is cared for and not just the loudest or the most immediate needs are met?
SPEAKER_00: And we were able to share that the services in the bridge, and I hope you know this, the services in the bridge are for revive church people.
SPEAKER_00: Our food bank is accessible to revive church people.
SPEAKER_00: Our benevolence fund is accessible to revive church people.
SPEAKER_00: And this is part of the reason why we've set up a mini-flock system here at Revive so that every member has a pastor or an elder that they can bring any kind of issue to at any point.
SPEAKER_00: And so we want to be a church that goes to the source.
SPEAKER_00: When we have an issue with someone, we want to go to that person.
SPEAKER_00: I can tell you what, the enemy would love to divide us from within.
SPEAKER_00: He would love for us to be the conduit for conflict with each other.
SPEAKER_00: And so let's be wise in our interactions with another.
SPEAKER_00: We don't want to give the devil a spot to work with.
SPEAKER_00: He takes a spot, I'm gonna tell you right now, he takes a spot and turns it into a territory.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 2.
SPEAKER_00: And the twelve summon 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.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.
SPEAKER_00: 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 Procorus and Niconor and Timon and Parmenus and Nicholas, a proselyte of Antioch.
SPEAKER_00: These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.
SPEAKER_00: Now I want to just point out real quick if you're in leadership, which everyone in this room, at a minimum, you lead yourself.
SPEAKER_00: But many of you in this room, you're in leadership over other people, people in your household, people at your workplace, people on the HOA board, people, whatever it is that you do.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to point out something in this story, because this is really, really strong leadership modeling from the early apostles, because even though the issue that these widows were not being cared for, even though the issue surfaced in a misdirected way, in a less than ideal way, it didn't mean that the issue wasn't valid.
SPEAKER_00: If indeed there were widows within the early church who were being neglected, this was not a problem that could be ignored.
SPEAKER_00: It had to be solved.
SPEAKER_00: And so I love the response from the apostles here.
SPEAKER_00: The solution was not for the apostles to take on more.
SPEAKER_00: They were resolutely committed to doing the very thing that Jesus commissioned them to do.
SPEAKER_00: Acts chapter 1.8.
SPEAKER_00: What did Jesus commission the apostles to do?
SPEAKER_00: To be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth, to preach the word of God, to pray.
SPEAKER_00: And so, as they received this complaint, the answer was not for them to do more.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, they were resolute in their role.
SPEAKER_00: They were resolute in their gifting.
SPEAKER_00: They were resolute in to do the very thing that Jesus called them to do.
SPEAKER_00: Now, here's where it's very important that I say this.
SPEAKER_00: The apostles were not saying that providing care for the widows was beneath them.
SPEAKER_00: Hear me say that.
SPEAKER_00: They were not saying that providing care for widows was beneath them.
SPEAKER_00: But they were instead understanding that there were things that only they could do, and in order to protect their time to do it, it meant that there had to be leadership beyond themselves.
SPEAKER_00: And so I think we see good leadership in three ways here.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, the apostles, they were uniquely equipped and gifted in this time to preach and pray.
SPEAKER_00: They were with Jesus and they had intimate knowledge of Jesus when he was alive, and so they were committed to doing the things that only they can do.
SPEAKER_00: As leaders, when there are things that only you can do, then those are the things where they are your priority.
SPEAKER_00: Second thing we see is they were unwilling, the leadership was unwilling to allow the church to become stagnant because of a lack of leadership.
SPEAKER_00: Meaning they were committed to delegating leadership.
SPEAKER_00: They were committed to making sure that they were developing other people in order for the church community at large to grow.
SPEAKER_00: And then I love what the apostles did.
SPEAKER_00: They actually invited those who brought the complaint to not just be the ones who brought the complaint, but actually to be part of the solution.
SPEAKER_00: If the Grecian widows were not being cared for, then it made sense that these seven men who all had Greek names were appointed from the Greek Jews, right?
SPEAKER_00: It would make sense to have these Grecian widows served by people who spoke the same language and who could relate to them culturally.
SPEAKER_00: And so now these seven men are widely considered by most scholars as the first deacons to be commissioned in the church.
SPEAKER_00: And there's good reason based on the qualifications that we read about later in the New Testament that this was the case.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm thankful for our deacons here that serve at Revive, but not just our deacons.
SPEAKER_00: There are hundreds of servants here at Revived Church.
SPEAKER_00: I watched it just this week as we hosted a funeral for someone who's not been connected to our church.
SPEAKER_00: Tuesday, as we had a group of senior citizens show up and use our food pantry.
SPEAKER_00: Saturday morning, as Haven's Hope met on our campus and our food bank was open to over 70 families, and as the families were able to drop off their children to be loved and cared for while the parents shopped.
SPEAKER_00: But we need more.
SPEAKER_00: We need actually each person who calls Revived Church their home to actually contribute to the overall health of the church.
SPEAKER_00: We are a growing church with a growing number of needs.
SPEAKER_00: One of our marks as a church, these are the marks of a disciple of Jesus, as we see in Scripture, one of our marks is part to play.
SPEAKER_00: And what that means is that each person at Revived Church has a part to play in the overall health of the church.
SPEAKER_00: And that each part that we play is actually critical for the body to function in the way that God has intended it to function.
SPEAKER_00: Over the last few weeks, we talked about Romans 8.
SPEAKER_00: Romans 8 speaks of the sovereignty of God.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what that means: the sovereignty of God means that God is in full control.
SPEAKER_00: That means if you're sitting in this seat right now at Revived Church or you're watching online, God has placed you here specifically, meaning there is something that God has put in you to be a gift to the church, where the gift to the church, if it's not used, that means that God's church is not functioning in all of the ways that it could be.
SPEAKER_00: Each part is critical to the body functioning.
SPEAKER_00: And so let me ask you a question.
SPEAKER_00: What part are you playing in the overall health of revived church?
SPEAKER_00: Where is it that God might be calling you to be a part of carrying the load of what it means to be his gospel witness and his gospel representation here in Arvada, Colorado?
SPEAKER_00: One of the things that we've worked really hard on, and John Swenson and actually Cam Kenyon before he left staff worked really hard on is a serve portal.
SPEAKER_00: Raise your hand if you've been to the serve portal.
SPEAKER_00: So maybe 10% of people have been to the serve portal.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't say that, there's no shame in that, but an invitation.
SPEAKER_00: If you go onto our website and if you go under our serve portal, what our staff has done is we have spent countless hours looking at every serving opportunity within Revived Church, but also every serving opportunity within the bridge, whether that's cross-purpose or lionheart, whatever it might be.
SPEAKER_00: And what we've tried to do on that serve portal is we've tried to list a menu of options.
SPEAKER_00: And what we've tried to do is to say, hey, we realize people are busy.
SPEAKER_00: We realize that some people can give five hours a week while others can give 30 minutes a month.
SPEAKER_00: And so when you go on that serve portal and you navigate through that serve portal, that's exactly what you see.
SPEAKER_00: You see opportunities to serve on a weekly basis across the hall with our children, which particularly in the second service, if you attend this service and you're not yet plugging in and you have gifts with children, we need you.
SPEAKER_00: Across the hallway, we're we're literally on some Sundays having to close down classrooms because we don't have the volunteers and the leaders that we need.
SPEAKER_00: So if God's put that spark in your heart for children, I want to invite you to consider that.
SPEAKER_00: But look at the serve portal and ask God, God, where do you want me to contribute?
SPEAKER_00: Where would you like me to participate?
SPEAKER_00: What does using my gifts look like in serving this church?
SPEAKER_00: You can click this QR code and just take some time.
SPEAKER_00: Over the next week, I would encourage you to just navigate this page.
SPEAKER_00: It's beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: It's set up in such a way where it's easy to use, and the the bar of entry to service is really low.
SPEAKER_00: Really low.
SPEAKER_00: Let's look at the result.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what y'all are laughing at, but I'm glad you are.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 7.
SPEAKER_00: This is the result.
SPEAKER_00: So we had the problem was the needs of the Grecian widows were not being met, meaning the system was not built in a robust way enough to care for some of the most vulnerable within the church.
SPEAKER_00: And even though the problem came about, or the complaint came about in not the most healthy of ways, the apostles heard the complaint, delegated leadership, and what could have split the church in that moment, actually, you know what happened?
SPEAKER_00: It made the church stronger.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 7.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: Now I get goosebumps reading that.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't just get goosebumps because the church continued to spread in the first century.
SPEAKER_00: Did you hear what Luke said?
SPEAKER_00: Luke said, hey, as a result of the church coming together and being unified, as a result of the church dealing with this issue head on, as a result of the church delegating authority so that others could lead.
SPEAKER_00: Not only did the gospel spread in the first century, but did you see what else was the result?
SPEAKER_00: Priests.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, priests who grew up, who grew up under rabbis, who grew up learning and knowing the Torah, who grew up, you know what their job was in the temple?
SPEAKER_00: Their job in the temple was actually to meet the needs of widows.
SPEAKER_00: Not just that, but orphans and sojourners.
SPEAKER_00: The job of the priest was to be in the temple and obviously to take part in the sacrifice, but also the temple was the place for Jewish people to go when they needed help.
SPEAKER_00: And let me tell you, some of these Jewish priests, they watched.
SPEAKER_00: They watched these early Christians step into these situations with widows and orphans and sojourners, and they said, that's how it's supposed to be done.
SPEAKER_00: They saw a brokenness in their own system.
SPEAKER_00: And they began to follow Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: It's amazing.
SPEAKER_00: The very practitioners of the Jewish faith came to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And so maybe three takeaways from this.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, we as a church, we as a church family, here and in the room and online, we have to be on guard.
SPEAKER_00: We really do.
SPEAKER_00: We have to be on guard.
SPEAKER_00: The enemy is prowling around.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know that?
SPEAKER_00: He's prowling around like a lion, looking to devour.
SPEAKER_00: And this he loves to he loves to create tension and division within the church.
SPEAKER_00: He loves it.
SPEAKER_00: And so this is where we as the church have to be on guard.
SPEAKER_00: We have to be thoughtful and considerate of others, meaning we have to first and foremost assume the best.
SPEAKER_00: I love working with Stephen Henson because he always assumes positive intent.
SPEAKER_00: I don't always assume positive intent if I'm honest.
SPEAKER_00: But he does.
SPEAKER_00: And I think it's a lesson for us that in order, in order to be on guard, we have to assume positive intent, but we also have to recognize when we see something that is negative, we want to be people who are a firewall and not a conduit.
SPEAKER_00: Because the enemy, he is looking for a spot to work.
SPEAKER_00: And so we have a responsibility to be on our guard.
SPEAKER_00: Number two, go to the source.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't mean this just for church, go to the source.
SPEAKER_00: The amount of conflict, not just within the church, but the amount of conflict in our world, in businesses and organizations and neighborhoods.
SPEAKER_00: Like to be honest, if people would just practice going to the source instead of going to Facebook or to next door, you know how many problems would be solved?
SPEAKER_00: You know how many explosive fights would be directed to actually healthy conversations?
SPEAKER_00: And so we want to be, we gotta be, we have to be a people.
SPEAKER_00: As a Jesus people, we have to be a people that model this to the watching world.
SPEAKER_00: We have to.
SPEAKER_00: Number three, spread the load.
SPEAKER_00: As we continue to grow, as we continue to invite hundreds of people on our campus each day, God has given us a big vision.
SPEAKER_00: He's entrusted us with a lot, and it's heavy.
SPEAKER_00: And so I want to challenge you this week when I ask you that question of how am I contributing to the overall health of Revived Church?
SPEAKER_00: If if you're sitting here or watching online, I don't mean for this to be shameful, that's not at all, but I do mean for it to be motivation.
SPEAKER_00: If you can't answer that question, would you spend a little time this week just asking God to show you on that serve portal where you could, where you could use your gifts, where your passions line up with needs?
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Father, I love this church, and I love that you're working in this church in profound ways, and I love how so many people here are so invested.
SPEAKER_00: I look out and I see faces of people that are giving countless hours to our students, pouring their lives and their hearts into our students and relationships.
SPEAKER_00: I think about just being at Lost Coffee yesterday at eight in the morning, and one of our student leaders comes in with a student.
SPEAKER_00: I think about the people who just all throughout the week show up at our food pantry as we receive and rescue food from King Supers and Trader Joe's and Target, the people that just show up and are just doing amazing things.
SPEAKER_00: Our deacons and other servants who are showing up at hospitals and just praying with people.
SPEAKER_00: God, you're doing so much here.
SPEAKER_00: And we we don't want to get in the way of that.
SPEAKER_00: And so, would you help us to be people who are mature in the way that we handle issues?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that we wouldn't even give the devil a spot to operate or to work.
SPEAKER_00: We'd be mindful, thoughtful, careful, loving and kind, but direct when we see things that shouldn't be.
SPEAKER_00: That we would take the onus upon ourselves to go to people that are part of the problem or part of the solution and be direct and be honest.
SPEAKER_00: Let our words be bathed with grace and love.
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna invite our prayer team.
SPEAKER_00: So we have a cross on either side, and so I'm gonna invite our prayer team to just head up to the crosses.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're here this morning and you need prayer, whatever that that might be that's going on in your life, maybe something with your family, could be something with your health.
SPEAKER_00: This is a time where you can just come up to the cross, and one of our prayer team members would love to just pray with you and enter into whatever it is that you're going through.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: If you're able, would you stand as we respond and we're