Takeaway: Verse 6
These seven were presented to the apostles, who prayed for them as they laid their hands on them.
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Transcription:
Welcome to The Bible for Busy People. I’m Erica Parkerson. This is the place where we meet up to read half a chapter of God’s word together and remember how loved we are. Jesus extends an amazing invitation to us in the Bible. He says, “Come to me and I WILL give you rest.” This is us RSVPing: Yes!! to that invitation. So take a deep breath, and let’s get started.
Today’s episode is called, “Hands-On Prayer”. We’re about to dive into Acts chapter six, but before that, let’s just pray, let’s give this time to Jesus. Father, we come to you in the name of Jesus. You are the same yesterday, today, and forever. Every time we open your word, we remember how very good you are. And so would you just let your goodness stick to us today like glue. Let us feel it, let us sense it all day long, and tomorrow, and the next day, and forever. Thank you, Jesus, for being with us, it amazes us that you hang out with us and we are so grateful. We just pause and soak that in right now. It feels so good to be still in the presence of the living God. He is with us; you are with us Lord. We thank you, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Okay. So, Luke is the author of the book of Acts. He’s a doctor and a very gifted writer, I kind of see him as a reporter. So here we go, let’s dive right into chapter six and see what Luke has to share with us today. “But as the believers rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent.” I feel like wherever you have humans, there’s gonna be discontent. “The Greek speaking believers complained about the Hebrew speaking believers, saying that their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food. So the Twelve,” the apostles “called a meeting of all of the believers. They said, ‘We apostles should spend our time teaching the word of God, not running a food program. And so brothers, select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will give them this responsibility. Then we apostles can spend our time in prayer and teaching the word.’ Everyone liked this idea.”
Okay, how great is that? This shows you how like-minded they were, these people who were part of the early church. “Everyone liked this idea, and they chose the following: Stephen,” oh, we’re gonna be getting to know him pretty soon here. “a man full of faith in the Holy Spirit, Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas of Antioch, an earlier convert to the Jewish faith. These seven were presented to the apostles,” I love this part “who prayed for them as they laid their hands on them.” There’s our takeaway verse, verse six, “who prayed for them as they laid their hands on them. So God’s message continued to spread.” I like to say it’s spread like butter. Yes. “The number of believers greatly increased in Jerusalem and many of the Jewish priests were converted too.”
I love this chapter so much. We just read the first half of Acts chapter six, because there’s something very, very powerful about hands-on prayer. Have you ever experienced it? Let me tell you about a time that I experienced it. I was about to make a major move. I was gonna move from Virginia to South Carolina and I was so excited, and yet so sad to leave the precious friends and sisters in Christ that I’d made in Virginia. And I was a part of a group called Tuesday Strong. And the reason was because, you might guess this, we met on Tuesday nights. And so, at our final meeting, I remember sitting at Vicky’s kitchen table and these precious women gathered around me and each of them stretched out their arms over me. Some of them had their hands on my shoulders. Some of them had a hand on my head. I have a picture on my phone of the love that I felt in that moment, because thank God, somebody captured it. Somebody in the group took the photo. It was as if God’s arms were wrapped around me in that moment. I felt commissioned, in my heart I knew I was following God’s call to a new place to live, but still it was so scary. I felt these girls were commissioning me. He was working through them. There is something very special about hands on prayer, and I encourage you the next time you’re in a situation where it’s appropriate, try it. It feels so, so good. It really, God is love, and we are his children, and it’s a way of extending his love to the people we care about so much. All right, can’t wait till next time. We’re gonna keep rolling in Acts chapter six.
Thank you so much for listening to the Bible for Busy People. If you need prayer or you’re ready to go a little deeper in your faith, we’ve posted some resources for you in our show notes. We’d love for you to share this podcast with a friend and leave us a review. It helps us reach even more people with the hope of Jesus. This podcast is part of Purposely, a podcast network designed with practical podcasts to help you find and live in God’s purpose for your life. Find more podcasts that will recharge you at onpurposely.com.
