Out Of The Blue! Series

OUT OF THE BLUE!

Acts 6:1-7

INTRODUCTION

Move over ‘Rob Tucker Challenge’ – make room for the ‘Dave Lansdown Off-road Comp’. You see yesterday I had the privilege of not only taking out the coveted prize, but also inaugurating what will be THE annual Off-road comp! Some of you may know the saying – ‘A well worn path is not necessarily the right path’ – well I can tell you if you want excitement and adventure get off the well worn. ‘Ask the Lansdown brothers.’ You may cop a bit of flack on the way - make sure you’ve got a healthy self esteem!

I decided on Friday night to drive around part of the perimeter of lake Fyans in order to be better placed for the ‘Tucker Challenge’. In doing so I intentionally (of course) decided to traverse a spot where there was much water – it only appeared that that wasn’t the case! Anyway to cut a long story short I got the 4WD bogged to the axels. And when my ‘friends’ heard about it – all they could do was hang it on me. None of these guys had understood that I had intentionally provided their entertainment for the weekend.

The next day, after trying heaps to get this vehicle out – ‘Grampians Towing’ just had to have a piece of the action! And to add insult to injury, the local coper just had to come and put in his two bobs worth! ‘Oh you didn’t!’, was all he could say laughing his head off in utter disbelief.

‘Where’s this leading?’ you may ask! Now that’s a very good question.

Maybe our reading will help provide the answer. Noel could you please come forward and read Acts 6:1-7 to us. Thank you.

(READ ACTS 6:1-7)

Did that help?

Well by the end I’m sure we’ll see the connection!

Looking at verse 1, would you say that we are reading about a situation in which God and His people are at work? Why?

(ALLOW RESPONSES)

Yes, we are hearing about the Lord’s work here. We know it’s His work because,

1. PEOPLE WERE BEING ‘BORN AGAIN’

Verse 1 says, ‘In those days when the number of disciples was increasing…’

In other words the church was growing. These believers were involved in God’s work. The Holy Spirit was at work in and through them. Fruit was being born.

It is God’s plan and purpose that His Church should be constantly increasing. It should be growing, progressing and expanding. After all, Jesus Himself said, He came to seek out and to rescue those who so desperately need Him – and don’t we all desperately need Him! And as the church, His body in this community – we should be seeking out and pointing people to the one who can rescue them. And people should be coming to Christ.

Do you agree we should be doing God’s work – Kingdom work?!

Remember last week how we had the word painting of the blue and yellow. We pictured the screen to be a beautiful crisp, fresh, tranquil, life invigorating almost transparent blue and in the blue, about the size of a 5 cent piece is a bright, dazzling yellow spot. The blue represented eternity – all that is of lasting value – all that lasts beyond the here and now, and the yellow represented the temporal – the here and now stuff that has no bearing on eternity. And remember how we noted that there is something desperately wrong with the image we have just seen because the yellow could not even be seen in the light of eternity – that’s how insignificant it is! Yet we spend so much time focussing on things in the yellow!

Now there’s been much discussion since that picture was brought before us. A number of people have made mention of it. In fact we had the Jacksons and the McPhersons around for lunch and ended up talking about what is blue and what is yellow. And it became evident that trying to make the distinction can be quite a challenge.

So due to popular demand – we will focus some attention on the blue and yellow.

In verse 1 of Acts 6 we have this, ‘In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.’

We’ve already noted that part of this verse proclaims that work WAS being done for God, ‘In those days when the number of disciples was increasing…’ But what about the second part of the verse, ‘the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.’

Were these comments part of the blue or not?!