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Listen - "Deacons of the Early Church " as told by Steve Evans ( 4:36 ) Serving Like Jesus - In the first part, the Disciples' Cross, developed in Module 3 is revisited and expanded in several key areas of ministry (worship, family and stewardship). The second part covers spiritual warfare for the maturing disciple . (Six CDs). Excerpt PRE-STORY DIALOG: All along we've been talking about Jesus. We've had stories about following Jesus. We've had discussions about following Jesus, and what it means for you and me to be following Jesus. What does it mean to be like Jesus, to do like Jesus did, to serve like Jesus? Can you think of some ways that Jesus served others from stories that we've already heard as we've met together? How can we be like Jesus when we think of these stories that we already know? As we think about the cross, and the disciple's cross, and, and the one hand of the cross, and the other side, or the other hand of the cross, of fellowship and reaching out to the world. We've heard that if we bring those together, we have a ministry of service and a ministry of serving, being like Jesus and serving. We have a story today that will illustrate this ministry of serving others. This story comes from the early church where believers, followers of Jesus, really had a lesson, kind of an experience, in how to serve others. The story's found in Acts 6:1-7, and this is the story from God's Word. ACTS 6:1-7: At a time when the number of believers was greatly increasing in the church, there arose a dispute, a problem between those in the Greek community, and those in the Hebrew community. The widows in the Greek community, they claimed, were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food; so they went to the leadership of the church, and the twelve disciples came together and said, “It's not good for us to neglect the ministry of the Word. So you select from among yourselves seven men of good reputation, men who are wise and who are full of the spirit, and we'll put them in charge of this task of seeing there's equal distribution among all of you. And we'll continue to devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word. This solution really pleased the members of the congregation, so they selected seven men to serve: Stephen, Philip, and five others. And they brought these seven men before the apostles, before the leaders of the church. And they laid hands on these seven men and prayed for them and blessed them for this ministry. And at this time the Word of God continued to spread throughout the land, and at this time the number of believers continued to increase in the church and in the city of Jerusalem . And even many, many priests were coming to know Jesus and come to faith. POST STORY DIALOG: Well, that's the end of the story from God's Word. [We] want to think about this story as it relates to serving and serving others. What was the problem in the church in Jerusalem ? And who came up with a solution to this problem? What was the solution? What types of people were selected to be those who were to serve others? How were they set apart for service? Do you think this story means that just those, like these seven, are to serve others? Is serving others something that Jesus would want all of us to do? As we think of this story and what they did in serving others, what was the effect in the community around the city of Jerusalem , and even past that? We know His story. This story tells us that many people came to faith. Could it have been because of their ministry of serving? Is ministering to other people, serving others, something that we must do, that we should do? Let's take opportunities throughout the week, and the days ahead, every day in our life, [to] take opportunities to serve others.Inquiries should be made to info@fjseries.org Additional information may be obtained online at http://FJseries.org or by writing: Mr. Mark Snowden
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