Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  Day 40

February 9;   Acts 6:4;   95/260(VI);   ‘Every Part is Vital’ 

Acts 6:4 but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word."

The church was growing and there were natural needs (feeding widows) as well as spiritual needs.  This is always the case in a local church.  The situation was brought before the disciples and they, knowing their responsibility was to pray and teach the Word, chose seven men of the congregation to take care of this natural need.  These seven men were Spirit filled and full of wisdom.  Every believer in a church should be baptized in the Holy Spirit, due to the fact that in meeting natural needs there will always be other things in the lives of people that require the power of the Holy Spirit and knowledge of the Word of God.  Natural needs and spiritual needs go hand in hand.  What was more important, the responsibility of the disciples or these seven men?  The answer is neither and both.  By meeting natural needs, you have your best opportunity to then minister to the spiritual needs of those helped.  The result of each doing their part was that the church grew dynamically.  You can and should put a ‘spiritual spin’ on everything you do.  For example as the widows were fed, those seven men should have been praying for the opportunity to share the scriptures with these widows or to pray for any need they may have had. Praying for the ones you help in the natural and sharing the Word with them based on circumstances they are in is how the natural and the spiritual compliment each other.  How valuable every believer is.  As we each do our part, each part helping to make up the whole of the local church, that local church will be able to minister to people regardless of their need.