Can God Use Someone Like Me? | Acts 6:1-7 | Mike Kelsey

Amen. Well, my name is Cheryl, and it is an honor to be here with you singing. Cross Point is a place where we believe that everyone is welcome because nobody's perfect, and with God, anything is possible. We also are a singing church. We are emphasizing the voice of the church this month as we sing together, as we sing together, as we sing together, as we sing together, as we sing together, as we sing together, as we sing together, as we sing together, while we're all around one another, we are reminded of God's goodness. We're reminded of His promises. We're reminded of our faithfulness and His faithfulness. And so we have selectively and intentionally kind of stripped the stage back a bit. We've picked songs that we believe that you know, and we ask you to sing today, whether you're a professional musician or a joyful noisemaker, there is room for you in the house of God today. Amen. So let us sing together. Let us remind each other of God's goodness

and let us lift His praises high because God comes where He's wanted. And we want to encounter you today, Lord. So let's sing, church. In Christ alone, my hope is found. He is my light, my strength, my song. This cornerstone, this solid ground. Firm through the fiercest drought and through the darkest storm. He is my light, my strength, my song. Firm through the fiercest drought and storm. What heights of love, what depths of peace when fears are still, when striving cease. My comforter, my all in all. Here in the love of Christ I stand. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Let's sing, in Christ alone. In Christ alone, who took on flesh the fullness of God in helpless bay. His gifts of love and righteousness scorned by the ones he came to save. Till on that cross, as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied. For every sin on him was laid here in the depth of Christ I live. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. There in the ground his body lay, light of the world by darkness slain. Come on, let's sing. And bursting forth in glorious day, up from the grave he rose again. And as he stands in victory, sin's curse has lost its grip on me. For I am his, and he is mine, bought with the precious blood of Christ. No guilt in life, no fear. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Till final breath, Jesus commands my destiny. No power of hell, no scheme of man can ever love me from his hand. Till he returns or calls me home, here in the power of Christ I'll stay. We're gonna sing what we find in Jesus Christ alone, our strength, our hope, our peace. Sing Christ alone. When darkness falls, I find my peace in Christ alone. I give my life, I give my all, I sing my song to Christ alone. The King of kings, the Lord of lords, all heaven sings to Christ alone. Christ alone. We praise you Jesus. We give you glory. We give you honor. Till he returns or calls me home, here in the power of Christ I'll stand. Here in the power of Christ we stand.

Let's continue to sing. Worship to him. How great the chasm that lay between us. How high the mountain I could not climb. In desperation I turned to heaven and I spoke your name into the night. Then through the darkness your loving kindness tore through the shadows of my soul. Thank you Jesus. The work is finished. The end is written. Yes. Oh Jesus Christ, you're my living hope. Anybody grateful for the hope we have in Jesus today? Come on church. Let us respond through singing together. Sing who could imagine. Who could imagine. Come on. What heart? God of ages. The God of ages. Step down in hope. To wear my sin and bear my shame. I'm thankful. The cross hath spoken. I am forgiven. The King of kings calls me his own. Beautiful Savior, I'm yours forever. Oh Jesus Christ, my living hope. Sing hallelujah. Hallelujah.

Raise no one. Set me free. Hallelujah. Death has lost its grip on me. You have broken every chain. There's salvation in your name. Jesus Christ, my living hope. Sing it again. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Raise no one. Set me free. Hallelujah. Death has lost its grip on me. You have broken every chain. There's salvation in your name. Jesus Christ, my living hope. You're my living hope. Oh, yeah. Then came the morning that sealed the promise. You sing. Everybody began to Out of the silence. Out of the silence. The roaring fire began to No claim. No claim. No claim.

Then came the morning that sealed the promise. Your very audience began to break. Out of the silence. The roaring lion declared the grave has no claim on me. Oh, we are your people. Jesus, yours is the victory. Hallelujah. Praise the one who set me free. Hallelujah. Then I long for you lost your grip. Every chain is broken in the name of Jesus. Jesus Christ, you're my living hope. Sing hallelujah. Hallelujah. Praise the one who set me free. Hallelujah. Then I lost his grip on me. Cause you have broken every chain.

There's salvation in your name. Jesus Christ, my living hope. Tell him he is Jesus Christ, my living hope. Oh, you're our living hope, Jesus. You're our living hope, Jesus. Oh, death couldn't hold you down. No, death couldn't hold you down. Because the victory is yours. Come on anybody, thankful. Because the victory is yours. Come on. Say the victory is yours. Oh God, the victory is yours. Victory is yours. And because you love us and call us your children,

that means the victory is mine. Oh, the victory is mine. Come on, let's claim it. Say the victory is mine. Over sickness, over depression, come on. Say the victory is mine. Because of Jesus, because of Jesus. Oh, the victory is mine. Against the attacks of the evil one. Oh, the victory is mine. Oh, the victory is mine. Oh, the victory is mine. Oh, the victory is mine. Oh, the victory is mine. Oh, the victory

is mine. Oh, the victory is mine. Alleluia, our God reigns Alleluia, our God reigns Alleluia, our God reigns Forever all my days Alleluia, our God reigns Alleluia, our God reigns Forever all my days Alleluia, our God reigns Alleluia, our God reigns Forever all my days Alleluia, our God reigns Alleluia, our God reigns Alleluia, our God reigns Alleluia, our God reigns Alleluia, our God reigns Alleluia, our God reigns Alleluia, our God reigns Alleluia, our God reigns Alleluia, our God reigns Forever all my days Alleluia, our God reigns Alleluia, our God reigns Alleluia, our God reigns Forever all my days Alleluia, our God reigns Alleluia, our God reigns Alleluia, our God reigns Forever all my days Alleluia Forever all my days Alleluia Forever all my days Alleluia and help build your world. Come on, y'all. We can do better now. Everybody doing all right? We're good? My name is Mike, and I am from McLean Bible Church in the D.C. metro area, and it is a joy to be here. It's like my fourth or fifth time being at Crosspoint at this point, and it feels like home. I'm really thankful for all of you joining us, and just a quick shout-out to everybody at all the different campuses around the

Nashville area, everybody watching online, including the ladies at God Behind Bars. It is a joy to be together. I want to just take a minute and acknowledge the leaders here. I mean, so many different leaders here at this church that have been a gift and a blessing to me, but can y'all join me in just thanking God real quick for Pastor Kevin and Ree, who serve this church so faithfully? They've just been such a gift and such a blessing, and I'm really thankful to God for their partnership in the gospel, their friendship. For the first time since I've been here preaching, I'm also excited that my boo, my wife, is here with me as well, Ashley. Can y'all give it up for her, too? It's good to be with you. Crosspoint, y'all are known for your warmth and hospitality. Every single time I come here, man, just the way y'all welcome me, our family, y'all just make us feel at home. And every single year, y'all just raise the bar higher and higher. This year, though, y'all dropped the ball in one area, and it was a little bit frustrating because y'all brought me in after Pastor Laurel Bunker, and that, just the levels of disrespect in doing that. I don't know why you would do that to me, but I love her. I've been following her ministry, and in many ways, her leadership for a very, very long time. And so, man, y'all have had some bangers in this summer. Y'all have had different speakers who have come in, and it's just a joy to be able to jump in and to serve you.

And we're gonna be in the Book of Acts. You know we've been in this series, and right now, Brave & True, looking at the Book of Acts, and we don't want you to just hear the Book of Acts preached on Sunday, but it's important that we just read the Book of Acts on our own. And let me just say this. If you're new to church, or maybe you're exploring Christianity, here's what's gonna happen. At some point, you're like, I wanna read the Bible. And some well-meaning Christian is gonna be like, all right, jump in. You're gonna be like, where? They're gonna be like, start at the beginning. You're gonna start at the beginning. It's gonna be great. God created. You're gonna be like, let's go. Then it's gonna get weird. Then you're gonna wanna give up, right? And so, sometimes, it's not the most helpful thing if you're new to the Bible to start at the beginning. Sometimes, it's helpful to just start with Jesus. Start with Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John, or like we're doing now, jump into how Jesus is moving through his people in the beginning of this thing that we call the church. That's the Book of Acts. And so, we wanna help you to be able to get into the Book of Acts on your own, and we're getting ready to step into a longer portion of the Book of Acts next week. And so, what's gonna happen this week, Monday through Friday, is

some members of the Crosspoint staff are gonna, they've recorded some videos of them just reading portions of the Book of Acts, and you can get them via text every day. And so, if you're already signed up for Crosspoint text messages, I'm signed up. I don't even live in Nashville. I'm signed up for Crosspoint text messages. I know y'all be praying, Tuesday, 11 a.m., whatever it is, but sign up. Information's on the screen, and you'll receive a text message just with a brief video reading a portion of the Book of Acts to give you a moment to slow down and just meditate on God's word and what God might be saying to you. And that's what I wanna do. I just wanna read Acts chapter six, verses one through seven. Just give you a minute to let your heart settle, and then we're gonna dive into it. Let me read Acts chapter six, picking up in verse one. It says, now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. And the twelve summoned the full number of disciples and said, it is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. that we would devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.

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 Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and I don't even know if you say that, but that's because the Lion King, that's how it sounds to me. And Parmenas, and Nicola, I don't even know exactly how to say these words. Preachers should, you should learn how to say these words before you get up in real time realizing you don't know how to pronounce these names. But he's a proselyte of Antioch. And then these they set before the apostles and they prayed and laid their hands on them. 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. Let me give you a minute just between you and God. And I wanna invite you to pray a simple prayer. And here's why. God said, let there be light, there was light. Here's what that tells us. God doesn't just speak through his word, he works through his word. Every single time he speaks, and every single time you hear a sermon accurately preached, right, because some people would just be talking crazy,

but accurately preached, every time you read the word of God, that God has a plan in your life through that word. And so would you just take a moment before we dive in and just say, God, would you speak to me personally through your word? If you're exploring Christianity, maybe you're not even a Christian, just say, God, if you're real, make it make sense to me. Speak to me personally through your word. Take a minute between you and God. Father, we thank you for your word and everything you have planned and prepared for us through your word today. Speak, work by the power of your Holy Spirit. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen, amen. Y'all ready to dive in? Oh, come on, y'all, we gotta wake up. Y'all ready to dive in? All right, good, because I said it before, we were gonna do it anyway, but your participation is preferred. So I gotta be honest, I never wanted to be a pastor, ever. I grew up as a pastor's son, never wanted to be a pastor, never thought I would be a pastor, certainly never wanted to work in a church. That was for several reasons. One, wasn't really particularly following Jesus. That's a whole another story. But the other reason is because I just kinda,

even though I grew up in church, even when I started following Jesus as a college student, I just honestly thought the church was out of touch with the real world and unable to reach my friends. I just thought the church was very out of touch with the questions, the doubts, the experiences, the concerns that real people have in the real world. And so I never wanted to be on staff at a church. Now, to be fair, some of that was my youthful arrogance, to be honest with you, but some of that was just my experience. And if I felt like that as someone who grew up inside the church, then how about people who didn't grow up inside the church? How about people outside the church? You can imagine how people outside the church feel, and some of us don't have to imagine, cause that is us, that was us. Like some of y'all, you came from outside of the church and you felt that way, or we've had friends who feel that way, or we see it in the statistics and on social media that many people struggle with the church because they feel like the church is out of touch with the real world, or there's all kinds of baggage that we bring into our church experiences. And I think Jesus is calling us as the body of Christ to step into that challenge. And I'm not talking about a PR challenge, right? Because the church is always gonna be a little bit weird,

just kind of low key weird and counter-cultural in some ways because we follow Jesus. So we're always gonna be a little bit out of step, but I do think Jesus is calling his church to step in the midst of this perception gap that we have in our culture. And God kind of convinced me through my experiences as I started following Jesus and getting involved and trying to reach my friends, he began to show me that he had a role for me to play in that. And he has a role for you to play in that as well. And you see that here in this passage. Now, I want you to take away from this that God has a role for you to play, but there's some things we gotta deal with because we all bring our own expectations into our experience of the church. And we need scripture to correct those expectations. So there's three things we see, we learn about the church here in Acts chapter six that I wanna point out. The first thing we see in Acts six is growth is healthy. Church growth is healthy. Healthy. Now, I don't even know you, but I already know you rose your eyes a little bit, you know what I mean? Because I'll be honest with you, it is very easy to start to become cynical

about church growth. Soon as I mentioned church growth, we feel a way about it, especially you in Nashville, right? It's like the Christian headquarters of America is in Nashville. And so if you're in Nashville, you're at Bible Belt, if you grew up in church at all, when you hear a pastor talk about church growth, we feel a little bit cynical and you hear it in comments like this, churches are all about numbers. Do we really need to add more worship services or more campuses? Our church is getting too big, there's too many people, it takes too long to get out of the parking lot, right? And I think some of that concern, even some of that skepticism is warranted because we've all heard about and some of us have personally experienced unhealthy church growth, shady church growth. We've all seen it. This is church growth that's driven by the wrong motives, right, just a bigger platform. Church growth that's driven by the wrong focus, right? A quantitative focus rather than a qualitative focus. In other words, we can get so caught up

and focus on the numbers that we forget about the actual people that God wants to reach and that God wants to grow. So there is a unhealthy church growth, but there's a difference between being concerned about unhealthy church growth and being cynical about all church growth. And what we see here in scripture is that Jesus wants his church to grow. He wants his church to grow. You see it here in Acts chapter six. I absolutely love this picture of the early church. Verse one, it says the disciples were increasing in number and then in verse seven, it says, and the word of God continued to increase. So the gospel is spreading and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith. This is not just a one-off in scripture. This is a theme all throughout the book of Acts. Let me remind you of some of the verses that you've already been over throughout this series. Acts chapter two, verse 41. It says, so those who received his word were baptized and they were added that day about 3,000 souls. Chapter two, verse 47, and the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Chapter four, verse four, but many of those who had heard the word believed and the number of the men came to about 5,000. Acts chapter five, verse 14 says, and more than ever, God, I speak that over Nashville, and more than ever, believers were added to the Lord. Multitudes of both men and women so that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats. More and more people are hearing the gospel about Jesus. More and more people, their lives are being transformed by Jesus. More and more people are showing up at the doorstep of the church because they have deep needs and deep longings and they've heard that maybe somehow this Jesus God or the people of Jesus might have something that they need. The church is growing. And the question is, why does Luke keep emphasizing this over and over again? Well, one reason is just historical. The church is experiencing explosive growth and Luke, you remember chapter one, Luke is a historian. He's just documenting the fact of this growth. But the other reason that he keeps emphasizing this growth is theological. And let me explain what I mean. You've already seen this in this sermon series so far, but the early church, they were facing some significant challenges.

They're facing intimidation and opposition from outside the church. They're even facing sin and hypocrisy inside the church. And Satan is doing everything he can possibly do to oppose, to derail, to hinder the spread of the gospel. And as we see here in Acts chapter six, they're about to face a new challenge that they haven't even experienced before as a church. But the picture that you see here is a church that's moving forward against all odds. No matter what you throw at the church, the gospel continues to move forward. It's kind of like Argentina in the World Cup. I'm not trying to trigger nobody. I don't know where allegiances lie, but come on, y'all. How is Messi continuing to do this? Like just in this World Cup alone, multiple matches where they're coming from behind. This latest one against England, I was busy. I was doing stuff. I just had it on in the back. The 85th minute, it's one zero, they're losing. I look up, they scored two goals just in a matter of minutes. And now they're gonna be in the final today. Sidebar, there's a 5.30 service here at Crosspoint. And I was like, listen, I am fully available to preach the whole counsel of God, but I have to also watch the World Cup that comes on today.

So let's pray it doesn't go into extra time. But Argentina just keeps moving forward no matter what you throw at them. This is the picture that Luke is painting, and I think it's why he keeps emphasizing growth. It's not just about the growth, but he's trying to make a real and theological point here. He's trying to show us that Jesus really is who he said he is, that Jesus really is the divine son of God, the Messiah who came to earth in human flesh, who lived a perfectly righteous life, who died for our sins, who actually physically rose from the dead as a demonstration of his supernatural, unstoppable, undeniable power and authority. And if Jesus is who he said he is, then Jesus is doing exactly what he said he was gonna do. And you remember what Jesus said to Peter. He said, on this rock, on the truth of the gospel, I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. And then he tells his disciples in Acts chapter one, after his resurrection, he says, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses, where? In Jerusalem, and in all Judea, the broader metropolitan area, if you will, or broader region, and in Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

And Acts 1.8 is the itinerary for the rest of the book of Acts, where right now in Acts chapter six, the gospel is spreading in Jerusalem, and no matter what you throw at it, the gospel is gonna continue to spread. In Judea, you'll see this as you keep studying Acts, and then eventually in Samaria, and throughout the end of the earth, throughout the whole Roman empire, the gospel is gonna spread, and nothing will be able to stop it. And these early believers were getting a front row seat to the supernatural, unstoppable, undeniable, transformational power of the gospel. They had experienced it in their own life. That they were in the kingdom of darkness, and God opened their eyes, and they saw who Jesus really was, and God had done something transformational and supernatural in their life, and now they were getting able to see the work of the gospel at work in thousands of people throughout their city, to the point that even the Jewish priests were coming to faith and being born again. Listen to me, Jesus wants his church to grow. He wants his church to grow. And I'm not talking about our buildings. I'm not talking about just our budgets.

I'm not talking about our platforms. I'm talking about his church. He wants his church to grow. The number of people who are saved by his grace, he wants that number to grow. You know why? Because that's what he came for. Because that's what he died for. And he told us that when he said he came to seek and save the lost. Luke 15, it makes it clear he is not willing to just settle for the 99 who are already safe with him, but he is compelled to keep going after the one because every number has a name, and every name has a story, and every single story is a story of God's work in progress to lead people to know his greatness and his love. I've shared my story here before growing up in church, not following Jesus, my dream, this is, I don't know how I believe it, my dream in life was to be a party promoter. I wanted to own a club in DC. I basically just wanted to turn my sin into like a professional vocation. That's basically what I want to do. It's just party for a living. I want to be a party promoter. I want to own a club in DC. And then I want to grow that into like a entertainment and then I want to grow that into like a entertainment

like empire. That's what I wanted to do with my life. And then God radically changed my life. Now I share that background because I'm about to share a little bit of a risky story, but I've been here enough times, I think where this story is okay, but I give you that background so you know why this story meant so much to me. So there's a legendary pastor in DC when I was growing up. He used to do all these events around the area to reach the community. He like mediated and brokered like peace treaties with different gangs in the city. And he was just a legendary pastor and he planted a church. When he planted his church, he didn't have anywhere for the church to meet. So the church met in a strip club. I told you, right? I mean, they're not open on Sunday mornings, right? So the church like meets in this establishment for recreational. dancing, and so they meet in this club. The women at the church start a ministry of bringing care packages and sharing the gospel with the women that work in this club. So they show up on Friday night, they show up on Saturday night and minister to these ladies. Now, the finance committee comes to the pastor

and they say, hey, we got a problem. Because dollar bills keep showing up in the offering with glitter on them. Because a lot of these ladies were starting to come to church. And how many of you know, God don't change your life all at once. You know what I mean? So they're coming to church. They're starting to come to know Jesus. They're being baptized. God is in the process of transforming their life. They're starting to get involved as they're being discipled. And I will never forget what this pastor said. This is what he said to his church. He said, listen to me, church. If our offering ever stops having glitter on it, we're off mission. He said, if we ever stop going after the people that Jesus wants to go after, even if it makes other people uncomfortable, even if people don't feel like, well, this person doesn't fit in or they themselves don't feel like they, if we ever stop going after the people that Jesus came to die for and came to reach and came to show his love, then we have gotten off mission. Listen to me, CrossPoint church. Listen, Jesus wants his church to grow.

He wants more people to know about his love, to know about his love. So gospel-driven growth is healthy, but even healthy growth comes with problems. And listen, this is just point number one. I got to move way faster, okay? Here's point number two. Growth is healthy. Point number two is ministry is messy. Come on, do me a favor. Just turn to the person beside you and say, ministry is messy, it's messy. Turn to the other person beside you and just say, and you messy too, if I'm gonna be honest, just to be honest, I don't even know you like that, but I already know. Ministry is messy. And you see it right here in the passage. Verse one in chapter six, it says, now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. Now pause here for a minute. The daily distribution was basically their care program for people in need, and specifically here for widows. And this is an interesting window into what's happening in this context because taking care of widows and orphans

was an important part of Jewish life. You see it all throughout the Old Testament. And normally it was the temple authorities, the leaders at the temple, who would organize the daily distribution. And what most likely happened is, now that these women have become followers of Jesus, they got cut off from the resources of the temple. And so now the early church is trying to figure out how to provide that care. So on one level, they're facing an organizational problem. The church is growing. They're trying to figure out how do I care for these needs? And their systems, right, aren't necessarily built yet to be able to handle all these needs that they're experiencing. On one level, it's an organizational problem. But the deeper issue here is a cultural problem. You see it here. This is the real source of the conflict. Luke mentions two groups, Hellenists and Hebrews. And if you're new to the Bible, let me just explain that briefly. Both of these groups are Jews who have become followers of Jesus, but they have very different cultural backgrounds. And so the Hebrews, this is the more conservative group. They're mostly from Judea, that immediate region around Jerusalem. They're more inclined to preserve Jewish culture,

to speak Aramaic. The Hellenists, this is the more progressive crowd, mostly from the Diaspora, all throughout the Roman Empire. They're more inclined to embrace Greek culture and Greek language to kind of connect with the culture around them. And so there was a long history of tension and suspicion between these two groups. These two groups would have grown up hearing all kinds of things about the other group. And so this is a pre-existing tension and pre-existing suspicions between these two groups. The Hebrews saw the Hellenists as compromisers. The Hellenists saw the Hebrews as narrow-minded fundamentalists. And the problem was the Hebrews were the majority group, and so they had the most influence in the church. And the Hellenists raised a complaint that their widows are being overlooked, that there's inequity in the daily distribution. And we don't know whether this was intentional or not, but whether they intended... intended it or not, the reality was there was inequity in the way those resources were being distributed, which was surfacing the cultural tensions that already existed between them. Listen, here's what's happening, and we see it all throughout the New Testament. The division in the culture is producing division in the church.

The tensions that they already had growing up, the dividing lines that they were already used to, now those divisions are being transferred into the church and it's producing division now in the church between these two groups, and you can understand why. You remember when Jesus said to his disciples, by this they will know, the world will know that you're my disciples, by what? By your love for one another. Now, if it were me, I would have said, by this they will know you're my disciples, by your supernatural miracles, by your profound preaching. But Jesus says, by the way you love one another, that's how people are gonna know you're with me. Here's the question, why was that so revolutionary, to love one another? Here's the answer, because the disciples were not able to control who was included in that one another. So Jesus says to them, you have to love one another. They don't even know who that includes yet. It's kind of like signing up for the random roommate option when you go to college. Brody, that's a risk. You don't know who this other person is, right? This is what's happening in the church. You sign up to follow Jesus, you sign up to be a part of Jesus's family, but you don't get to control who's included in that family,

because Jesus is going out and he's trying to reach people from every nation, tribe, and tongue, people from all kinds of backgrounds. One of our pastors, Eric Saunders, puts it this way. He says, Christian community is more of a hand-me-down than a tailor-made suit. In other words, y'all understand, you walk out the house killing it. Everything fits perfectly for you. But some of us other folks, we remember what it was like to just wear some hand-me-downs. When you're the younger kid, you don't get to pick the style, the size, none of that. Your shirt is just too big, your parents are like, you'll grow into it next year. You're like, mom, but it's the first day of school, though. It's 365 days before I'm gonna grow into this shirt. You don't get to choose it, you just receive it. This is the church, because the gospel is wider than your preferences. The gospel is broader than your comforts. And Jesus is so committed to going after the lost that he's gonna be saving all kinds of people and bringing them into your church family. And as beautiful as that is, as a witness to the world, it also creates real challenges, doesn't it? It creates real challenges, because we come into the church with our own personality flaws, our own biases, our own trauma and assumptions,

and then we all add all of that together, and we call it Crosspoint Church. I'm not coming for Crosspoint, I just know every church has issues. We come in, right? Different racial backgrounds. And it's all sweet, it's all love, when you just look around and you kind of see it's sprinkling the diversity, but then when something blows up in the culture, and that tension shows up in the church. Different politics, different personalities. Some of us are just weird. I say us, us. Different church backgrounds and expectations for how church should function. Healthy churches are not churches without problems. Healthy churches are churches that address those problems in healthy, God-honoring ways. And the early church faced organizational problems and deeply entrenched cultural problems, and all of that surfaced a leadership problem, which is why they respond the way they do in verse three and verse two, and this sets up our last point here. Growth is healthy, ministry is messy, but here's the last point. You are necessary. You are necessary for the mission that God wants to accomplish.

Let me explain what I mean here. Look at verse two again. It says in the 12, summon the full number of the disciples, and say, it is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Now pause there for a minute because I already know what you think because I'm gonna be honest with myself. This is giving heavy VIP vibes right here. This is giving like, I'm a pastor, I'm too spiritual to be out here getting my hands dirty with all the common folk. Like it's giving those vibes. That's not what's happening here at all. That's not what we see here. Here's what's happening. The apostles are not saying they're too good to do certain things. The apostles are saying they're not good enough to do everything. They can't do everything. Yes, they're apostles. Yes, they're receiving direct revelation from God. Yes, God is using them to do all of these supernatural miracles, and yet they are still finite human beings. They are not God. They too have limitations, and they're acknowledging the fact

that they have those limitations, and if all ministry depends on them, then the church will never fulfill its mission. That's what they're saying. They're saying, I'm clear on what God has specifically called me to do. God has gifted and wired me to preach the gospel and intercede on behalf of the church, and as this church is growing, I will be playing myself and selling the church shorts if I just try to do everything, but there are other people whom God has gifted in different ways, and so the apostles acknowledge their limitations, and they begin to raise up more leaders, but here's the reality, y'all. Ministry is messy, and listen to me. Messy leaders just make everything messier, and so they provide some qualifications. You see it here in verse three. It says, therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men who have a good reputation, full of the spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty, but we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word, and then you see that list of names of people that they appoint to serve in what many people believe are like the first deacons of the church. Now, I want you to notice,

they don't just pick random people. They choose people who are known for having solid character. That's what it means to be full of the spirit. It's not full of supernatural power for supernatural miracles. No one's talking about they actually are submitted to the Holy Spirit in their character. They have solid character, and they have the appropriate competency, full of the spirit and of wisdom. They have practical competency to actually do the job. Now, I'm gonna just say this about church, y'all. Sometimes we be like here when it comes to character, but competency, and this is why, this is why we be doing worship team auditions, okay? I'm not, I'm just saying, because people would just be like, Jesus is calling me to sing. I am not disagreeing with you at all. I'm just saying not everybody's called to hear you sing. God, right? So that's why me and you, we sing out there, right, as a part of the congregation, and there's other people who have the microphones, okay? There's a competency right up here, character and competency. But I want you to see something else that's important to pick up, and you may miss it if you don't understand the context, and then we'll land.

Remember the problem they're trying to solve. The Hellenists, it's the people with the more Greek background, are complaining because they're being overlooked by the Hebrews. The people with the more Greek background are complaining because they're being overlooked. And here's what's interesting. When you read that list of seven leaders that they chose, all of them are Greek names. The population in their church, Greek background that are struggling, the leaders that they chose have Greek names. It seems like, it seems like, they are being intentional to choose leaders with not only the right character and competency, but also leaders with the right chemistry to connect with the people that they're gonna be serving. Listen, even their cultural background was something God wanted to use in order to minister to other people. Here's why I point this out. Listen to me, because there is something about you. There are some things about you, some things about how God has wired you, and the gifts and the passions that he's given you. There's something about the experiences and the expertise that God has given you. There's something about the pain that you experienced in your past

that you never thought could have been redemptive in any way. There is something about you that God wants to use to reach people that, listen to me, I will never be able to reach, that Pastor Kevin will never be able to reach, that you've been specifically wired. Scripture says in Ephesians 2, you are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works that he prepared in advance for you to walk in. While you spend all this time doubting yourself and doubting whether or not. not God could use you. The whole time, God has created you and wired you and he's been molding you and preparing you for the ministry that he's given you. And it doesn't mean you ever have to be on a stage or it doesn't mean you ever have to preach, but that's the point that God raises up all kinds of people to serve in all kinds of ways, to advance the mission that he has for the world. You are necessary for the work God wants to accomplish in the lives of the people in this city. You are necessary for the work God wants to accomplish. You, you are necessary. Now, don't get it confused. God don't need you. He does not need you. It's like take your kid to work day. Not bringing my kid to work

because he's gonna add anything of value to my work. He's not contributing anything productive to the work that I have to do. No, I bring him to work, not because I need him, I bring him to work so that he enjoys the experience of getting to work with his dad. God does not need you. He does not need me. This is one of the ways we know he's so good, that he still chooses to use broken you and broken me. With all of our flaws, but also with all of our giftings and our experience and our expertise, he invites us to participate in his work so that we get the joy, the unimaginable joy of getting a front row seat to the work that he wants to do. Not just around us, but this is what blows my mind. Even in this moment as I preach to you, that we get a front row seat to seeing the work he wants to do through us. So God does not need you, but I ain't gonna lie, we do. The church does, the people around you do need what God has put inside of you. And listen to me, listen to me. There is ministry at this church, far beyond this church, that does not even exist yet because you've been sitting on the sideline. Just stuck in the shame of your past, stuck in doubts about your own capabilities, allowing your life to just be filled with all these other things, even good things.

And the whole time there's this life and calling that God has for you that you are missing out on. And let me say this to you very, very clearly, because I want you to see it. I want you to just think about this fact that these brothers that were called in Acts chapter six, they didn't know what God was calling them into. They just signed up to help with a distribution program to some widows. And the first two names, Stephen and Philip, they go on, and we know this in scripture and in church tradition, to be some of the most legendary church leaders in the history of the church. You'll read more about it as you read through the book of Acts. They did not know that. They signed up to help some widows. How could they have known that signing up to just serve in that one simple way would lead them to becoming some of the greatest preachers and evangelists and leaders in the history of the church? They had no idea. It was one simple step of surrender. It was one act of faith. It was one moment of saying, God, I am willing and I am available to be used by you, even if it's just a small way. And here's my point. Listen to me, listen to me. You have not even been introduced yet

to the version of you that God is calling you to be. Listen to me. You have not even been introduced yet to the version of you that God has called you to be. That process starts with you just giving God a very simple yes. And for some of you, it's a yes for the first time to say, I realize I'm a sinner and I need a savior. Jesus is that savior. He died for me. He rose from the grave. And Jesus, I'm asking you to save me and to lead my life. For some of you, it's that simple yes. And for others of you, you've given God that yes, but you haven't given him a yes with the rest of your life, with your money, with your expertise, with your time. And God is, listen, I'm not trying to just recruit you to serve at CrossPoint. I'm inviting you. I'm inviting you to step into the calling that you may not even be aware of. And it starts with a simple yes to God. God. Everything I have, man, I wanna make it available to you. Whoever you want me to reach, whoever you want me to serve, however you want me to participate and contribute, God, I am willing. Here's my yes, here's my yes. And so as you process that,

I just wanna pray over you that God would stir in you new passion, new gifts, a new willingness to step into the life and the calling that God is inviting you into. And it might start super small and super simple, but you have no idea. You have no idea what God is inviting you into. Let me pray for us. Father, we thank you for your goodness. God, it never ceases to amaze me how stubborn your goodness and your grace is, that you are more patient with us than we are with ourselves. And so, Lord, I do pray, God, that you would stir hearts, that you would give wisdom and clarity about what the next step looks like. And I pray that you would raise up men and women, young men and women, to know you, to know your love, and to be used by you in ways that they could not have possibly imagined. And God, I pray that you would unleash your power, that you would unleash the gospel, that you would unleash the good news of your grace and your mercy to people here in this city and far from this city, all for your glory. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.