The Missing Ingredient...
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· 205 viewsMPP : We are all called to be involved in God’s work (NB – Confirmation Sunday)
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Sermon Title : The missing ingredient….
Occasion : English Sanctuary Service
Location : Paya Lebar Methodist Sanctuary
MPP : We are all called to be involved in God’s work (NB – Confirmation Sunday)
<Pray>
Good morning/afternoon,
One afternoon, a few months ago, while trying to do some work in office,
I was feeling rather sleepy so I decided to make myself a cup of coffee…
So, I brought my tumbler to the pantry,
Filled it up with the right amount of hot water,
Put the cover back on,
When back to my office,
And went back to my work, while sipping my coffee…
And because my tumbler was reasonably big,
And because I decided to prolong my enjoyment of my coffee by slowing nursing it…
I took a long while to finish my afternoon coffee…
But you know what?
I felt that something was off that day…
I didn’t feel the effects of the coffee that afternoon at all…
But I decided not to pay much attention to it…
I mean usually after a while,
I would feel a bit of boost of energy after maybe half an hour…
Enough to carry me through the rest of the afternoon…
But not that particular afternoon…
But I convinced myself that I must be extra sleepy that afternoon…
But then… something else was off that afternoon…
My coffee tasted extra diluted…
And I convinced myself that I must have added too much water…
I decided not to pay much attention to it and continued to struggle through my work…
<pause>
Then suddenly it hit me…
I mentally retraced my steps…
I took my tumbler,
Went to the pantry,
Added the hot water,
Covered it,
Went back to my office…
And went back to do my work…
My worse fears were realised…
I gingerly opened the cover and saw this… <pic>
That’s right… I forgot to add the coffee powder…
So, I was basically drinking plain hot water the whole afternoon…
No wonder, it tasted diluted…
no wonder it didn’t have any effect in making me more alert…
My coffee was missing a critical ingredient…
Coffee!
And you know friends, after laughing at myself that afternoon,
And sharing with a few people in office about my blunder,
Then it occurred to me…
It was such an appropriate illustration to bring out what I’m trying to share with you this morning…
Which is that you are all critical ingredients in God’s work…
I mean, without the coffee powder,
The beverage is plain, not as effective in keeping me alert…
would still be drinkable and doesn’t cause me harm…
With when I add coffee powder to it,
That made the difference…
Without your participation,
God will probably be able to find some other way to fulfil His work…
But God chose to use us, His people, His creation, His Church
To fulfil His work…
And with us, we are able to make the difference in this world…
What an awesome privilege!
And this reflection is based on a rather familiar segment of the bible,
Taken from the book of Act, chapter 6 verses 1 to 7,
which some Bibles entitle “The Choosing of the Seven”
<pause>
This segment reveals to us what the early church was like in the first century,
And I hope to bring out some points that are relevant to us this morning/afternoon…
And I thought that this is especially appropriate considering that we just ended our Annual Conference a few days ago when all the pastors in TRAC had been appointed to our various churches,
And that today, we are confirming new members into our local church family…
And what is the link, I hope it will become clearer as we journey through the sermon together…
But for now, I think it’s appropriate for us to read God’s words together…
So join me as we read from New Revised Standard Version of the Bible,
the book of Acts, chapter 6 staring from verse 1…
Now during those days, when the disciples were increasing in number, the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food. And the twelve called together the whole community of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should neglect the word of God in order to wait on tables. Therefore, friends, select from among yourselves seven men of good standing, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this task, while we, for our part, will devote ourselves to prayer and to serving the word.” What they said pleased the whole community, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, together with Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. They had these men stand before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.
The word of God continued to spread; the number of the disciples increased greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.
“Now during those days, when the disciples were increasing in number, the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food. And the twelve called together the whole community of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should neglect the word of God in order to wait on tables. Therefore, friends, select from among yourselves seven men of good standing, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this task, while we, for our part, will devote ourselves to prayer and to serving the word.”
What they said pleased the whole community, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, together with Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. They had these men stand before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them. The word of God continued to spread; the number of the disciples increased greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.” (, NRSV)
This is the word of the Lord…
Now, in this passage,
There are two main groups of people here…
The first group is what the translators of the NRSV calls the Hellenists and the second group, the Hebrews…
And between them, there seems to be a very superficial administrative issue…
The problem of the distribution of food to the Hellenistic widows…
It seems like a very petty issue that can be easily solved right?
What is it such a big problem?
Well, to understand what’s going on here,
We need to look a little bit about the history of Israel…
The land where Israel is now geographically,
Is a place that had seen many wars over the years,
Because it is pretty much at the crossroad between two major fertile grounds in the middle east…
This arch is called the fertile crescent because that’s where things are able to grow…
Both, watered by rivers…
There are two parts, here in the Mesopotamia area, the land is watered by these two rivers,
Tigris and the Euphrates, which supports many empires here…
And over here, we have the Nile River supporting many empires here in the Northern horn of Africa…
Whenever empires in either place wants to fight with the other empire, Israel is literally caught in between…
Therefore, in the history of Israel, even though Joshua led the people into the promised land in probably the 15th Century BC,
And they became a Kingdom under King Saul in the 11th Century BC,
It was quite short-lived as the kingdom was broken into two main kingdoms,
As was prophesised by Ahijah in which records the word of the Lord to Jeroboam,
He then said to Jeroboam: Take for yourself ten pieces; for thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, “See, I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon, and will give you ten tribes. One tribe will remain his, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city that I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel.
“… “See, I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon, and will give you ten tribes. One tribe will remain his, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city that I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel.”
(, NRSV)
And this came to past in 930BC as is recorded for us in ,
With the Northern Kingdom, sometimes referred to as Israel, or even Samaria because Samaria was there…
was ruled by series of bad kings,
who led the people of Israel astray…
This is true even for the very first king of the Northern Kingdom,
Jeroboam who was recorded in to have made two golden calves with the specific purpose to prevent the people of Israel to go and worship God…
which you can see from this chart and because of that the Assyrians invaded and captured the capital city of Samaria and the people of Israel were exiled in 722BC…
They were dispersed all over the Assyrian empire, and few ever returned from their exile…
Without a community and without a place for worship, and without a worship culture,
they were led to them turning away from worship of God,
or combining worship of god with elements of other religions…
As for the Southern Kingdom, sometimes called Judah,
they were doing slightly better, being able to hold on for more than another 100 years…
and while they were holding on,
they still had the Temple of God that Solomon built and they had some good kings that continued to point the people of Judah to Yahweh…
and even though Judah fell in 586BC under the hands of another empire… Babylonian Empire…
rather than being dispersed, unlike the Northern Kingdom,
all of them were deported as a large group, leaving only the poorest behind..
this, we read in
“He carried away all Jerusalem, all the officials, all the warriors, ten thousand captives, all the artisans and the smiths; no one remained, except the poorest people of the land.” (, NRSV)
So, even though the people were deported, they were still together as a community…
And probably were even able to worship God…
Remember that
King Nebuchadnezzar who was the King of Babylon actually praised God…
This we read in which says
“Then Nebuchadnezzar said, “Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants!” (, NIV)
While this sounds good…
But there is a problem here…
Because of this, there is a deep sense of elitism among the people of the Southern Kingdom…
They thought that the people from the Northern Kingdom were inferior to them…
And rejected them…
Even though they were actually of the same lineage and some of them despite having been through the exile by the Assyrians,
Continued to be faithful to God…
Some of them are of course the Samaritans,
which Robert Anderson tells us that describes them as a possible sect that is geographically located “near Mount Gerizim,
possibly descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh (which are among the tribes of the Northern Kingdom and believe they preserve the original Mosaic religion”[1]
and interestingly thought that “the Jerusalem temple and priesthood were illegitimate.”[2]
This was of course exhibited in the very familiar encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman near Jacob’s well in …
Then in the year 539BC, the Persians were the new ruler over the region,
And the good that came out of it was that the Israelites were allowed to return to their home land…
But the Jewish returned with an increased desire to keep the law of God,
Understanding that the reason for their deportation was because they disobeyed God…
So when they came back,
There was renewed religious rigor,
And there was a renewed sense of separation of themselves from those who lived in the surrounding mountains…
And the prohibition of mixed marriages…
And hence the deepened separation from their Samaritan relatives…
Then in 332BC, Alexander the Great changed the whole landscape once again, for when he conquered the entire region,
He brought with him, the Greek infrastructure, values and lifestyle…
And hence the region started to be filled with theatres, gymnasiums, schools and public baths…
More significantly, Greek began to overtake Aramaic and Hebrew as the predominant language for the land…
There was thus a concern that the Greek or Hellenistic way of life was eroding the traditional Jewish culture and
Jews beginning to use Greek as the common language no longer understood their Hebrew scriptures anymore…
But some of the Jews, a group called the Hasidims,
remembered the exile and were afraid that it would happen again…
Held on to the Jewish and Herbraic culture and language…
Criticised Jews who took on the Hellensitic lifestyle,
This was captured in writings in the second century AD that said
“He took delight in establishing a gymnasium right under the citadel, and he induced the noblest of the young men to wear the Greek hat. There was such an extreme of Hellenization and increase in the adoption of foreign ways… Despising the sanctuary and neglecting the sacrifices, they hurried to take part in the unlawful proceedings in the wrestling arena after the signal for the discus-throwing,” (, NRSV)
This continued even during the time the Romans took over the land in 63 BC
So, my point in bringing you through the history of Israel from the united Kingdom until the time of Jesus,
Was that there was deep-seated historical baggage and mistrust between different groups even from the same ethnic group…
And there are three main groups…
The Samaritans,
the Hellenists which some complained against the Hebrews…
So in today’s passage, when we read about how the Hellenists were complaining about the Hebrews,
We need to take note of two things…
1. One is that the Hellenists and the Hebrews are not two ethnically different people…
Both groups of people were actually Jews…
Just that they had taken on different lifestyles and culture
In fact, the New International Version calls them Hellenistic Jews and Hebaric Jews respectively…
“… the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews …” (, NIV)
The New Living Translation is even clearer, calling them “Greek-speaking believers” and “Hebrew-speaking believers”
“…The Greek-speaking believers complained about the Hebrew-speaking believers… (, NLT)
But you know what?
It is the New International Reader’s Version that was the most clear,
Calling them “The Jews who followed Greek practices” and “the Jews who followed only Jewish practices” respectively…
“…The Jews who followed Greek practices complained against the Jews who followed only Jewish practices...” (, NIrV)
They were basically family that followed different cultural practices…
2. The second point is that even though they were family, ethnically the same, they had very deep-seated animosity against one another…
In other words, the point of contention was not simply a superficial issue of food distribution…
It was a hatred that spans for many generations…
In this case, started at least 300 over years before this incident in Acts…
In fact, it is something that started so long ago,
I suspect that the two groups don’t even know why they are upset with each other…
And the food distribution issue was just a tip of the ice-berg…
It’s just like when you have some sort of prejudice against someone perhaps in your office or home…
No matter what the person does, you would be irritated…
The way the person walks into your room,
the way the person talks,
the dressing the person has….
You would find it irritating…
But if someone you already like does the same thing,
Perhaps your children or grandchildren…
Of your girlfriend or boyfriend
You will find it so cute… or endearing…
I mean they don’t even need to do anything…
They just stand there and you find them cute already…
But if someone you don’t like stands there,
They don’t need to do anything,
You already find it irritating…
And I know this to be true because there’s once when I was going home…
I overheard a little boy complaining to his father…
Saying “I don’t know why da-yi is so angry with me today… I didn’t do anything?!”
To which the father replied…
“aiyah… you don’t have to do anything… you appear… and she will be angry already”
So this was the case in our passage today…
The Hebrew-speaking and Greek-speaking Jews didn’t like each other…
And even though they were now believers,
They still didn’t like each other…
And don’t get me wrong…
There was indeed a problem that was legitimate and needed to be solved…
But there was a deeper issue that needed to be solved…
The food distribution was just a presenting problem…
There was a deeper problem of division in the early church…
But you know what?
It was God’s idea to reverse this division…
And I think it was God’s idea to use this incident to continue the reconciliatory process that God started through Jesus…
We know that reconciliation for all was God’s idea for we read in the writings of Paul that says in
“For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.” (, NIV)
And the idea of reconciliation is not just vertically to God,
And I’m sure you’ve been exposed to this triangle of relation before…
As we draw closer to God, we are drawn closer to each other…
So as we are reconciled to God,
We need to be reconciled to each other as well…
Otherwise, there will always be an obstacle to how close you can be to God…
That’s why in Jesus said
23 “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.
And we know that we need to continue this work of reconciliation and are empowered and able to do so because Jesus tells us in
“Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these…” (, NIV)
And if you think about it, it is true…
Reconciliation is indeed a miracle and if you think about it further…
The Gospel of God is indeed the Good News of God’s reconciliatory plan with creation that had been separated from God because of sin…
So, in other words, the ministry of reconciliation is something that is very much innate in our DNA as Christians…
It should be part and parcel of our lives and our natural instincts…
And coming back to our passage for today,
We note that most of the 7 people chosen for the food distribution ministry 6 had Greek names…
Stephen, Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas
Meaning they were Greek-speaking Jews or Grecian Jews…
And remembering that almsgiving to the widows was something that was previously done exclusively by the Herbraic Jews,
as part of their continuation of the practices of synagogues…
This process of including the Greek-speaking Jews in the ministry of the distribution of food…
Was brilliant because it allowed the Greek-speaking Jews to be part of the life of the new church…
It allowed a new sense of unity to be born…
Because by doing so, with the Herbaic Jews allowing the Grecian Jews to be involved in this ministry
And for the Grecian Jews to be willing to be part of the ministry meant that they were now on equal status,
Recognising that each other were now legitimate co-worshippers of one common God…
Friends, listen to these verses…
“This proposal pleased the whole group (both the Grecian and the Hebraic Jews). They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.” (, NIV)
And
“So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.” (, NIV)
And remember that the criteria to be chosen was
“…to be full of the Spirit and wisdom…” (, NIV)
Church, let’s pause here for a moment…
<slow down>
With the willingness of the Grecian and Hebraic Jews to work together in ministry,
They have effectively overturned a deep-seated divide among the Jews for more than 400 years…
And if you consider the fact that after that, the number of disciples increased rapidly,
and even the priests of the old temple that was so tied to the old ways of doing became obedient to the faith,
recognizing Jesus as the risen Lord and savior…
I’m sure you will begin to appreciate the amazing work that we can all do to contribute to continued work of God
Who told us that we are going to do even greater things than Him when he was physically on earth…
We are the missing ingredient that will continue to amazing work that our Lord Jesus Christ had started…
And our participation will be used by God to reconcile the world to Him…
To break down age-old, generational divisions…
To break down long standing barriers…
For by being obedient and being willing to die to ourselves and be willing to be part of the work, we can break down obstacles and unite the world to God…
And this reconciliatory work begins with us…
With us recognizing that we are part of the missing ingredient that can be used by God to reconcile people in your unique situations and your sphere of influence into a wonderful relationship with God and each other…
And hence the first point I have today from today’s passage is:
1. Be willing to be the missing ingredient to bring reconciliation in your sphere of influence!
1. Be willing to be the missing ingredient to bring reconciliation in your sphere of influence!
And how does that look like in your every day?
It can be as simple as smiling at that unsmiling co-worker of yours and start with a how are you…
And even if you don’t get a favorable reply or even so much as a nod,
Don’t be discouraged…
I know it feels silly and perhaps embarrassing to be ignored…
Do not give up…
God is counting on you to make the difference wherever you are and to bring reconciliation in your sphere of influence…
There are many stories of how people have come to God because of the people who are willing to be kind and smile and give in…
Even when they feel silly…
So be willing to be used by God to tear down long-standing unhappiness in your situations…
Be willing to initiate the path to reconciliation and be willing to tear down divisive obstacles wherever you are…
And you might be like the 7 who brings a change in the spiritual atmosphere causing many to come to know God because of your willingness to humble before God…
Be the missing ingredient to bring about positive change wherever you are!
So that’s for the area in your immediate sphere of influence…
What about being part of something bigger?
How about helping the church to fulfil our mandate as given by Jesus before he ascended in which is an imperative call… a command so to speak for all of us to
“…go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. …”” (, NIV)
Who is it for?
We know in verse 16 that this conversation was directed to the disciples which is designated by the phrase μαθηταὶ (mathetai)
“Then the eleven disciples (μαθηταὶ)went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go.” (, NIV)
And guess what…
In , the same word was used here for all the believers…
“In those days when the number of disciples (μαθητῶν)was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.” (, NIV)
And again in verse 7
“So the word of God spread. The number of disciples (μαθητῶν)in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.” (, NIV)
So this command is for all believers in the church of God…
What does this command means?
Well, first it is directed to all of us to do something to someone…
And who is the someone?
And looking at this verse, the words “all nations” here is the Greek phrase “πάντα τὰ ἔθνη” (panta ta ethne) literally meaning all ethnicity…
Which means everybody on earth…
And what are we to go?
It says here, we are to make them disciples, baptise them and teach them to obey God…
But how are we to do that?
Some of us may say…
Aiyoh I’m so old already… I can’t even sit properly how to travel to another country and teach people there?
Better leave it to the full-time missionaries…
Or alamak I’m so young, don’t have much working experience, how to teach others?
Better leave it to the pastors lah… they are theologically trained…
Or perhaps some of you are thinking,
I’m not a pastor how to baptise other people?
Better leave it to the professionals lah… the pastors…
Well, if you think that way,
I guess you’re not alone…
Someone in the United States did a survey with the congregation and asked the congregation what needs to be done in church,
And of this list,
What should be done by the pastors and how much time they should spend on each activity…
So they listed
Prayer at the church: 14 hours
Sermon preparation: 18 hours
Outreach and evangelism: 10 hours
Counseling: 10 hours
Hospital and home visits: 15 hours
Administrative functions: 18 hours
Community involvement: 5 hours
Conference activity: 5 hours
Church meetings: 5 hours
Worship services/preaching: 4 hours
Other: 10 hours
And when they collated the numbers, the people who did the survey was shocked…
It was 114 hours/week[3]
What was clear is that there is lots of work that needs to be done by us, a church,
and it cannot be carried by the full-time staff and pastors alone…
we all need to be involved
and all of us are gifted in our various ways,
and perhaps not all of us are made to baptise, to teach, to make disciples in a church setting…
but all of us can be involved in the work of God in a church…
you may not be able to travel overseas for short-term missions trips,
but you can be help out in the outreach to bring cheer to our community by being part of the outreach ministry…
you may not be able to be part of the outreach ministry because of physical ailments,
but you can pray for both these ministries…
or perhaps you are good at singing or dancing or playing the musical instruments…
that can be your way to help usher people into a sacred time with God…
and even if you can’t serve in our worship services,
you can serve in those manner in small groups…
or perhaps you are good at writing articles to bless others,
or at video editing or using the camera…
which you can serve in HIS media ministry…
or if you like to cook, or have time on your side,
you can help by bringing cheer to someone in the hospital or just walk alongside someone or a family who is going through a difficult time…
there are so many ministries in our church alone that you can serve in and make a difference…
Just look at the back of the bulletin…
Every ministry is an opportunity for you to participate in and help make a difference…
and, if we revisit our few verses today,
you will find something rather interesting…
the Greek word for distribution here is the word διακονίᾳ
“In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution (διακονίᾳ)of food.” (, NIV)
Is the same word used for the word ministry
“and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry (διακονίᾳ) of the word.”” (, NIV)
Which means that both the ministry of the distribution of the food as well as the teaching of the word are both essential to the work of God…
And we know that because of the Grecian Jews willingness to step up and serve in the ministry of the daily distribution that the apostles were able to continue in what they were called to do…
All of us are called to serve in different areas in different seasons of your lives…
And your willingness to step up to serve in your area that you are gifted in will free up others to be able to serve in their areas of giftings…
So my next point is:
2. Be willing to be the missing ingredient in church fulfilling your calling by exercising your giftings and freeing others to exercise theirs.
2. Be willing to be the missing ingredient in church fulfilling your calling by exercising your giftings and freeing others to exercise theirs.
And this we saw in the early church in the passage that we read today that as the people were willing to serve in their various capacities,
the church continued to grow not just numerically,
but also in terms of their depth of relationship with God…
and this is clear when you look at the passage once again and notice the presence of this word πλήρης (pleres) in different forms…
“In those days when the number of disciples was increasing (πληθυνόντων), the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. So the Twelve gathered all (πλῆθος) the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full (πλήρης)of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.” This proposal pleased the whole group (πλήθους). They chose Stephen, a man full (πλήρης)of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them. So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly (ἐπληθύνετο), and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.” (, NIV)
This word does not just represent numerical increase…
But has this nuance of abundance… being filled…
And πλήρης (pleres) that what you get as you serve in the area that you are most suited for,
That you are called for…
That you will continue to grow, just like muscles that are being developed,
You will draw closer to God…
And πλήρης (pleres) that’s what you get when the church is aligned to the will of God…
And everyone is in the place that they are called to and everyone is serving out of the empowerment of God…
There will be such an energy that nobody can deny and ignore…
We will be like a light that is placed on a lampstand…
We will be a city on a hill that everybody can see and nobody can deny that our God is King of Kings and Lord of Lords
Because there will be such an abundance in the presence and spirit of the Lord
That everybody who passes by will be drawn to him because of our faithful service…
And that is what we’re called to do as a church…
And that’s what Jesus meant in the Great Commission…
All of us playing our part to make disciples of all nations, baptising, teaching them in the name of Jesus…
So friends, don’t be the missing anymore…
Be the essential ingredient to be used by God to bring
Reconciliation in your respect spheres of influence, bringing the peace of God wherever you go…
And be the essential ingredient in church, doing your part in the work of God through the church
So that together we can bring the word of God to the world and winning the world back to God! Amen!
[1] Robert T. Anderson, “Samaritans,” ed. David Noel Freedman, Allen C. Myers, and Astrid B. Beck, Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 2000), 1159.
[2] Brian Maiers, “Samaritans,” ed. John D. Barry et al., The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).
[3] https://thomrainer.com/2013/07/how-many-hours-must-a-pastor-work-to-satisfy-the-congregation/