Can a Deacon Deac? (3 of 4)
Series: Making the Church Go
Jeff Strite
Acts 6:1-7
OPEN: Back in 1964 Leicester Hemingway (the little brother of author Ernest Hemingway) made a decision. He was tired of following the rules of human governments and so he decided create his own kingdom. He built an 8 by 30 foot floating bamboo platform 7 miles off the coast of Jamaica and anchored it to the ocean floor with a Ford engine block.
Hemingway bragged to reporters: ''I can stand on the platform, walk around on it and salute the flag…all of which I do periodically. There are no taxes here, because taxes are for people not smart enough to start their own countries.''
But apparently, Hemingway wasn't smart enough to keep his country together. Part of the country was destroyed by fishermen in search of scrap wood; the rest sank in a storm.
APPLY: There are several possible lessons to be learned from this story, but the one that appeals to me is this: if you want things done YOUR way… start your own kingdom.
And that's just what God did.
With the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus God established the Kingdom we know of as the church and He set it up just the way He wanted it run.
According to what we can see out of Scripture, the local church was set up to be taken care of by at least 3 types of servants:
· Preachers (like myself)
· Elders (like Jim, Dave and Don)
· And Deacons (presently, Wayne, Charlie, and Dave B.)
As I've pointed out in the last couple of sermons, the responsibilities of the 1st two are clear
· The job of the Preacher is to preach and teach
· The job of the Elders is to pastor/shepherd the flock
But when it comes to the deacons --many churches struggle with what to do with them. And part of the reason for this is that the Bible is a little vague about what deacons do.
You see, the word Deacon comes from the Greek ''Diakonos''.
And Diakonos simply means ''servant''.
Many times in Scripture, the word applies to the genera ...
Series: Making the Church Go
Jeff Strite
Acts 6:1-7
OPEN: Back in 1964 Leicester Hemingway (the little brother of author Ernest Hemingway) made a decision. He was tired of following the rules of human governments and so he decided create his own kingdom. He built an 8 by 30 foot floating bamboo platform 7 miles off the coast of Jamaica and anchored it to the ocean floor with a Ford engine block.
Hemingway bragged to reporters: ''I can stand on the platform, walk around on it and salute the flag…all of which I do periodically. There are no taxes here, because taxes are for people not smart enough to start their own countries.''
But apparently, Hemingway wasn't smart enough to keep his country together. Part of the country was destroyed by fishermen in search of scrap wood; the rest sank in a storm.
APPLY: There are several possible lessons to be learned from this story, but the one that appeals to me is this: if you want things done YOUR way… start your own kingdom.
And that's just what God did.
With the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus God established the Kingdom we know of as the church and He set it up just the way He wanted it run.
According to what we can see out of Scripture, the local church was set up to be taken care of by at least 3 types of servants:
· Preachers (like myself)
· Elders (like Jim, Dave and Don)
· And Deacons (presently, Wayne, Charlie, and Dave B.)
As I've pointed out in the last couple of sermons, the responsibilities of the 1st two are clear
· The job of the Preacher is to preach and teach
· The job of the Elders is to pastor/shepherd the flock
But when it comes to the deacons --many churches struggle with what to do with them. And part of the reason for this is that the Bible is a little vague about what deacons do.
You see, the word Deacon comes from the Greek ''Diakonos''.
And Diakonos simply means ''servant''.
Many times in Scripture, the word applies to the genera ...
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