Grace Chapel Bible Ministries
Worship Call 1176 the active Church - 2024/11/07
[MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] Welcome to worship call with Bible teacher Buzz Lawbeck. Buzz is the pastor of Grace Chapel Bible Ministries located in Duncan, South Carolina. This ministry is dedicated to the verse by verse teaching of God's word and discipleship programs aimed at strengthening the faith of God's people. Now here's today's message. So much is said about Peter and how he had failed when he denied the Lord three times and then his further rejection when even after the resurrection thinking that God wasn't going to forgive him or Jesus wasn't going to forgive him that he decided to go fishing. And so much is said about that and so often that's the first thing that people think of when people, when you mention the name the Apostle Peter or the disciple Peter. But let me say that the disciple Peter is much different than the Apostle Peter and he certainly is a wonderful example of that person who is given the Holy Spirit who is transformed by the Word of God and what he has become. And we should not look back and it should be a lesson that we should not look back to where the people were or where a person was, but where Christ had brought them to. Peter is a Peter is a how can you describe he's a warrior for Christ. He stands firm and we see here that he's standing firm for the Lord. This is the fifth day of the week in God's created order the seventh day of the 11th month 2024 year of our Lord and this is another fine day in the Lord. Father in Heaven thank you for this opportunity once again to fellowship in your work. Open our hearts to the words this morning from your scripture that our hearts may receive it as we look at this early church. Let us see it as a model that our church should look like and as believers that we should be walking. And we thank you for all these things in Christ name we pray. Amen. It is we are in Acts 533. Acts 533 they have just been the disciples have been the apostles. I don't know how many of these but it's more than just, Peter and John this time they brought in the full lot. Maybe certainly it was more than just those two but when they brought them in and the Pharisees had already dealt with Jesus. And now they're seeing their authority once again being challenged. And they had to read Jesus and once you did the first murder then what keeps you from continuing in their hearts. And this is what Jesus had said if you're angry with your brother, if you're angry with your brother you've already committed murder. If you've already had murder in your heart that is a root of bitterness that's already formed up in the hearts of these men. But when they heard this they were cut to the quick and what did they hear. They heard once again that Peter and the apostle said no we're not going to stop teaching the Lord. And remember you can't just play the Romans 13 card that we have to obey our governing authorities. We do obey our governing authorities until their authority supersedes the authority of Christ. And we must do. We must. It's an imperative that we are to not be defiant and not be arrogant but be faithful to the Scripture. We don't want to do anything to incite violence and to incite to bring us into any unworthy pressure or stress that we don't need to do. So you obey your worldly masters as Paul says in Ephesians 5 I believe it may be Ephesians 4 and Ephesians 5. You obey your worldly masters as in Romans 13 you obey your worldly masters until again very important until they supersedes the law of God. The law of God says we are to spread the gospel. The law of God said we are to give the light given message. But when they heard and so when they heard this they were cut to the quick and they intended to kill them. Okay so more planning. Again they've done it one time. Nothing stops them from continuing on there. Where does it stop? It's not. But first of all the people stood up in the council and gave orders to put the men outside for a short time. We haven't heard from this man. He has been quietly watching and I would have to pay some respect to him as well. He doesn't he doesn't flaw he knows who he is. He wise probably wiser than the rest of him. He is and he's wise enough to keep his mouth shut and to weigh and to think. He doesn't shoot off his mouth. He doesn't allow his motions to supersede his actions. As far as we know this was an admirable member of the council. We can't just say every member of the council the Sanhedrin was bad people. This was his career choice and he said among them and he quietly watched as things were being played out. And as he was seeing the rage of these people it was finally time for him to stand up and mention this. We see here of Gamelio again in Acts 22 33. When Paul brags, you see this is such a great man that even Paul brags about being his projectee. So today okay. Acts 22 3 says I am a Jew born in Tarsus of Celicia but brought up in this city educated under Gamelio strictly accord to the law of our fathers being zealous for God just as you all are today. Understanding Paul wasn't an unbeliever. He was an unbeliever of Christ of Jesus and he fought and he was zealous. Where did that zealous come from? He was powerfully influenced by Gamelio and brought up under the law. Gamelio was a teacher of the law. Okay so here is this wise man. He stands up. But a Pharisee named Gamelio, a teacher of the law respected by all people stood up in the council and gave orders to put outside for a short time. A recess. You can imagine court okay. Somebody said I request a recess and that's where the court privately go to their chambers. Well in this case they would send the accused out so they could talk amongst themselves. Verse 35 and he said to the men of Israel take care of what you propose to do with these men. Be careful. Think about it okay. That's what he's doing. Think about it. Alright let's calm down. Okay so you've got a voice of reason here. For some time ago through us the Uda's rose up claiming to be somebody and a group of about 400 men joined up with him. But he was killed and all who followed his dispersed and came to nothing. Okay so here he was an individual. He raised up a rebellion against the establishment. And for his efforts he was killed and his movement was brought to a halt. And has a note on here. Acts 8-9. Let's see what we got here. Acts 8-9. And Acts 8-9. Now there was a man named Simon who formerly was practicing magic in the city. It started in people. Okay I don't know why they put that on there but anyway but this man was this man set himself up as a leader. And he led a rebellion. He died and that movement was seized. Okay and then he goes on to next thing. Verse 37. After this Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the census and drew away some people after him. He too perished and all those who followed him were scattered. So in the present case, in the case of this Jesus, this man, this I don't know if Galileo wants to mention his name. But in this case these apostles, what they're doing and the attention is on them. Not on Jesus but on them and what they're doing. So in the present case, I say to you, stay away from these men and let them alone. For it is this plan or action is of men. It will be overthrown. Okay if they concocted this, it's going on. It's going just fizzle out. But if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them or else you may even be found fighting against them. This is something we have to remember. This is what Gamalia was saying. Pick a fight. And this is one thing that we have to remember today. Sometimes we may think that we are doing all that all the right and we may have, and it's called Crusader arrogance. And we may get on our Crusade and we may think that we are doing something admirable for God and it may be against God. And you must be very discerning because what we want to all man, I hear so many people talk about God's will and this is what they did back in the Crusaders day. This is God's will and that's where Crusader arrogance come from. This is God's will so they go out and they would kill and they would conduct all kinds of violence in the name of God. Rather than sitting passively at times and listening for the will of God, they took it upon themselves. So Gamalia are saying, listen, you don't know yet. If these men that hold out the possibility that we might be going against God, if this is the case, very wise counsel here, they took his advice. And after calling the apostles in, they flogged them and ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus and then release them. And then they actually used the name, I don't know what they said, but could be the writer who put this in there. So they wanted to put their last name in this and the punishment was apparently for disobeying them the first time. We told you not to preach in this name, not to be preaching out there or preaching in this name, but you did it anyway, so therefore you're going to have to receive the punishment. And flogging was no thing, and I believe it was, I don't know what it is yet, I could stand corrected. But I believe they could take 39 lashes, no more. I believe there is specific instructions when you're flogging someone. So they took these apostles and beat them, flogged them, and sent them on their way, painful. And for the most part, it would have been a humbling them and sent them on their way after being punished. So they went on their way from the presence of the council, and what were they doing? They were rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for his name. And there are understanding that they understood the thing, this is the early church, and this began to be, we're starting to see the things slowly flare up. We saw so far, look at the progression, we saw the, they've been hauled into the court the first time. Now this is the second time that they're hauled in, this time they are beating, beating, and the flames of persecution start to rise at this point. And we're drawing near to that incident with Stephen, and they, at this point they were excited, they were happy. Such as a passage, even on a certain amount, speaking of persecution, blessed are they who hate you, and do all that kind of things against you because of my name. And there is the endurance there, I've heard that, I've heard from second hand sources that, and they've talked to people from overseas, Robert King was talking about it one time. That he was starting to, from someone from over, I don't know where it was, I think it was Africa, and where there was a lot of persecution going on. And he said they were actually, that people over there actually feel sorry for the people here in the United States because they are not worthy, they haven't been bound worthy enough to suffer as they have suffered. They consider the suffering as a badge of honor to be suffering for the Lord. Some people call it a martyr complex, but I don't see it as loving the Lord, don't think that there's not pain involved. Don't think that there's not, you know, grit in your teeth and you see this stuff coming, but coming going into it, you recognize that you have been bound worthy in such a way that your spiritual life. I think somebody said one time that problem with Christians or a problem with pastors these days that people stop trying to kill them. But remember that the spiritual life and the spiritual life within the church functions better under pressure, pressure of persecution than it does then in the time of peace. And the time of peace, there is a falling away, but when a time of pressure comes, I don't know if the devil ever figured this one out yet. But when pressure, and maybe he has, and this is why we sometimes, I wonder if prosperity is coming from the Lord or from the devil because the prosperity is a bigger challenge seems like to the church and to the spiritual life than anything else. So here we are, they've just got beaten, they're going to be sore for a while, they've got skin torn off their backs, they are in a sorry physical state at this point, but they're rejoicing. Okay, and every day in the temple, and from the house to house, they kept right on teaching the preaching Jesus as the Christ. All right, chapter six, choosing the seven. All right, now we got, okay, the church is before now we're looking at the establishment of the deaconia, the deacons within the church and their position. Now I think every, I think every church should set their deacons down and have them read. I think they ought to write out this passage because the deacons and the deacons, many of the deacons, I know these days, have no idea what being a deacon is. All right, so six. Now at this time, while the disciples were creasing a number, a complaint arose part of the Hellenistic Jews against the native Hebrews because their widows were being overlooked and in the daily serving of food. You have different set, the Jews are the, the Hellenistic Jews were the ones that's bringing the complaint, the Hellenistic Jews are those that are the Jews of Despera, and they are the ones who have been spread about. They, they have been, and they have been inculcated with the Greek culture. That's the Hellenistic Jews. They, they are intertwined with the Greek culture more so than their, their Jewish roots. They grew up, they grew up in the society like today, yet Christians who sometimes they're, they're more connected with the secular world than they are with the church, the church culture. And so you have that here, the Hellenistic Jews are those who are, you might call them Greek Jews, those that are inculcated there. And so, but they are a part of church, they are a part of, and there was a division within that church with the, with the native Hebrews, the, the Jews that, the cultural Jews and these Hellenistic Jews because their widows were being overlooked and daily serving of food. Okay, there was either real or imagined discrimination going on within the church. Sometimes, sometimes you look at this, sometimes it's sour grapes, and it could be here. But on the other hand, maybe it was, let's take care that the daily serving of food. Remember what they were doing earlier, that they were, they were, the church was growing, they were growing financially as people were selling their property, giving to the church and giving to all that was neat. He was in need for the widows. Again, this also shows us that this wasn't a communistic society. It was taking care of those who were in need, not every, not everybody was receiving food from the food bank and stuff, but those that are in need. So we're dealing with the widows here, the widows, the widows of the Hellenistic Jews and the widows of the traditional Jews. So the 12th summoned the congregation, okay, disciples taking the stand here, summoned the congregation of the disciples and said, it is not, not desirable for us to neglect the Word of God in order to serve tables. It's all right to serve tables. They're not talking about demeaning themselves to a lower position, a lower position, considering it as a lower position to serve tables. If that was to be, then so do it. We're going back to Martha. Martha was so busy in the kitchen to serve food for her guests that she was missing the better things which Mary was taken in, sitting at the feet of Jesus, where there was a responsibility for the disciples or for the apostles. They were to study. Their whole foundational is to study and teach. This goes to today, the pastors. The pastor is not the whipping boy, the pastor is not the servant of the church, he is a servant of church, but not in a way that people use him. If your pastor isn't, let's put it this way. If I have a faithful pastor that's studying and presenting the Word and I'm in the hospital or my wife, I don't need, listen, I don't need the pastor to come visit. Listen, you might disagree, that's fine, but it's not the job of my pastor to visit me in the hospital. Now, might the pastor visit you in the hospital? Okay, if he does, that's fine, but not at the expense of setting aside his study. To visit this one, to visit that one, to visit this one, and to spend all of his time going house to house and visiting and the sick and all that, that's the deacon's job. One, it's not just a deacon's job, but it's the members of the church as well, that they will care for the needs of the community, that church community. While the pastor takes care of the bigger need, which is learning and teaching, now these things are not, my pastor growing up, they were thinking that he was not that kind, that he didn't visit, but he certainly did visit. He did visit to sick, and George McDowell, I mean, that was one of the great things that he did was he would visit churches, but a pastor has a deacon's have to make sure that, and the pastor has to make sure that he's not overextending himself to where the word of God is being compromised, or not compromised, but neglected. We want, because it is the pastor that is, it is the pastor who is preparing a sermon, he is teaching, and that takes time, that takes learning. It was Paul who instructed Timothy to study, to show thyself approved, he also told Timothy to teach the word, be ready in and out of season. So the primary, the primary purpose of the pastor is to study, and to deliver the word of God preparing his congregation. And as he prepares a congregation, there are those in the congregation that will care for themselves, that they will visit, that they will do these things that the church has gotten around to expecting the pastor to do. So when, when the, the, the apostle said, you know, listen, you know, it's not good for us to, so the twelve summoned the congregation disciples and said, it is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God. Our highest priority is the word of God, in order to serve the tables, nothing wrong with serving the tables, it's not demeaning. If it's the word's work and it is placed upon you, it's honorable work. But the, the job of the apostles and their highest priority was the word of God. Therefore, brethren, select, select among you, seven men of good reputation, full of the spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task. You see, it wasn't good, and it was important. They didn't just draw some, hey, who wants to do this? Hey, listen, we got this task over here. No, these men had a spiritual life because not only will they serve meals, but they will also, their spiritual, their also will disciple, what have you. So therefore, brethren, select among you, seven men of good reputation, full of the spirit and of wisdom, because as they, as they help the widows, they can also disciple, whom we may put in charge of this task. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the word. I want my pastor to be a student of the word of God. I want my pastor to be as inculcated in the word and strengthened in the word, and he is the spear point of the battle, and he is going to have to be equipped. And the stronger and the more prepared my pastor is, the better he is able to deliver the word of God to me. That's what I want. And as a man, as an able body within a church congregation within assembly, as an able body, the things that I do for others is helping the pastor, taking this burden off my pastor to help others within the congregation. As a deacon, a deacon is not one to make sure the pastor is doing this and doing that, and firing them, maybe don't, or hiring them, no, that's not the deacon's job. The deacon's job is to take care of those things, to take the burden off the pastor, so the pastor can devote himself to the word and to deliver that word, and when he is learned, pass that on to the congregation, thereby edifying the members' hearts within that congregation. Let's close that in prayer. Father in Heaven, thank you for this word today. We pray Heavenly Father God the Holy Spirit will enlighten us to these things, in Christ's name we pray. Amen. All right, it's another fine day. The Lord, keep your armor on, keep fighting a good fight of faith. Lord, Will, and Spirit, God, we're actually praying we're going to be back here in the AM. You can hear this message again, as well as previous lessons, and get notes by visiting us online at www.gchapel.org. www.gchapel.org. www.gchapel.org. [ Silence ]