The Complication with Multiplication
Robert Walker
Acts 6:1-7
Bruce Larson, in his book "Wind and Fire," points out some interesting facts about Sandhill Cranes:
He says: These large birds, which fly great distances across continents, have three remarkable qualities. First, they rotate leadership. No one bird stays out in front all the time. Second, they choose leaders who can handle turbulence. And third, all during the time one bird is leading, the rest are honking their affirmation and encouragements.
That's not a bad model for the church. Certainly we need leaders who can handle turbulence and who are aware that leadership ought to be shared.
But most of all, we need a church where we are all sounding off encouragements to our leaders. **
To that I would like to add a fourth thing. These Sandhill Cranes also do something else, without which they would all be lost. They all follow the God given direction that he placed within them, their instinct. The reason they can lead is because of their ability to follow.
Sandhill Cranes don't have a choice in whether or not they follow the directions God gives them. He stamps it into them by instinct. But for we to whom God has trusted his greatest treasures, there is a choice in the matter. God doesn't drag us, he calls us.
The one thing that characterized the first century church was the members were walking in the fear of the Lord. The church had been purified by the fervor of Divine judgment.
Sin had been purged out. (Acts 5:6-10)
The fervor of their hearts, and the fortitude of the Spirit of God within them, made that Early Church a company of people who had to be "reckoned with" by those around.
In the sixth chapter of Acts there is much to teach us regarding church life and administration in our day. The Church of Christ had to face two foes in the Acts of the Apostles: the enemy of sin rising within to express itself and the enemy of religion without. But the power of God and the wisdo ...
Robert Walker
Acts 6:1-7
Bruce Larson, in his book "Wind and Fire," points out some interesting facts about Sandhill Cranes:
He says: These large birds, which fly great distances across continents, have three remarkable qualities. First, they rotate leadership. No one bird stays out in front all the time. Second, they choose leaders who can handle turbulence. And third, all during the time one bird is leading, the rest are honking their affirmation and encouragements.
That's not a bad model for the church. Certainly we need leaders who can handle turbulence and who are aware that leadership ought to be shared.
But most of all, we need a church where we are all sounding off encouragements to our leaders. **
To that I would like to add a fourth thing. These Sandhill Cranes also do something else, without which they would all be lost. They all follow the God given direction that he placed within them, their instinct. The reason they can lead is because of their ability to follow.
Sandhill Cranes don't have a choice in whether or not they follow the directions God gives them. He stamps it into them by instinct. But for we to whom God has trusted his greatest treasures, there is a choice in the matter. God doesn't drag us, he calls us.
The one thing that characterized the first century church was the members were walking in the fear of the Lord. The church had been purified by the fervor of Divine judgment.
Sin had been purged out. (Acts 5:6-10)
The fervor of their hearts, and the fortitude of the Spirit of God within them, made that Early Church a company of people who had to be "reckoned with" by those around.
In the sixth chapter of Acts there is much to teach us regarding church life and administration in our day. The Church of Christ had to face two foes in the Acts of the Apostles: the enemy of sin rising within to express itself and the enemy of religion without. But the power of God and the wisdo ...
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