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JUNE 24
which he spoke. Then they secretly induced
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men to say, “We have heard him speak blas-
phemous words against Moses and God.”
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6:7 One of Luke’s periodic statements summa- And they stirred up the people, the elders,
rizing the growth of the church and the and the scribes; and they came upon him,
spread of the gospel (2:41,47; 4:4; 5:14; 9:31; seized him, and brought him to the council.
12:24; 13:49; 16:5; 19:20). great many of the 13 They also set up false witnesses who said,
priests. The conversion of large numbers of “This man does not cease to speak blasphe-
priests may account for the vicious opposition mous words against this holy place and the
that arose against Stephen. law; for we have heard him say that this Je-
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sus of Nazareth will destroy this place and
6:8 wonders and signs. Acts 4:30; 5:12; 14:3; change the customs which Moses delivered to
15:12. Wonders is the amazement people us.” And all who sat in the council, looking
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experience when witnessing supernatural steadfastly at him, saw his face as the face of
works (miracles). Signs point to the power of an angel.
God behind miracles—marvels have no value
unless they point to God and His truth. Such
works were often done by the Holy Spirit
through the apostles (5:12–16) and their asso- 6:15 face of an angel. Pure,calm, unruffled
ciates (6:8) to authenticate them as the mes- composure, reflecting the presence of God
sengers of God’s truth (2 Cor.12:12;Heb.2:3,4). (Ex. 34:29–35).

DAY 23: How did the apostles deal with the first major problem within the church?
By Acts 6:1 the church could have reached over 20,000 men and women. At that time “there
arose a complaint against the Hebrews by the Hellenists.”Hebrews were the native Jewish popula-
tion of Palestine; Hellenists were Jews from the Diaspora. The Hellenists’ absorption of aspects of
Greek culture made them suspect to the Palestinian Jews. The Hellenists believed their widows
were not receiving an adequate share of the food the church provided for their care (1 Tim.5:3–16).
The apostles considered the problem and said they could not “leave the word of God and
serve tables”(v. 2).The word translated “tables”can refer to tables used in monetary matters (Matt.
21:12; Mark 11:15; John 2:15),as well as those used for serving meals.To be involved either in finan-
cial matters or in serving meals would take the 12 away from their first priority.Prayer and the min-
istry of the word (v. 2) define the highest priorities of church leaders (v. 4).
Rather,they told the church to pick out “seven men”to take care of it (v.3).These were not dea-
cons in terms of the later church office (1 Tim. 3:8–13), although they performed some of the same
duties. Stephen and Philip (the only ones of the 7 mentioned elsewhere in Scripture) clearly were
evangelists, not deacons. Acts later mentions elders (14:23; 20:17), but not deacons.
The 7 men chosen by the church all had Greek names, implying they were all Hellenists. The
church, in a display of love and unity, may have chosen them to rectify the apparent imbalance
involving the Hellenistic widows.The apostles “prayed…laid hands on them” (v. 6).This expression
was used of Jesus when He healed and sometimes indicated being taken prisoner. In the Old
Testament, offerers of sacrifices laid their hands on the animal as an expression of identification
(Lev.8:14,18,22; Heb.6:2).But in the symbolic sense,it signified the affirmation,support,and identi-
fication with someone and his ministry (see 1 Tim. 4:14; 5:22; 2 Tim. 1:6; Num. 27:23).

God said to you, ‘You shall shepherd My people
JUNE 24 Israel, and be ruler over My people Israel.’ ”
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Therefore all the elders of Israel came to the
king at Hebron, and David made a covenant
with them at Hebron before the LORD. And they
1 Chronicles 11:1–12:40
anointed David king over Israel, according to
Then all Israel came together to David at the word of the LORD by Samuel.
11 Hebron, saying, “Indeed we are your bone 4 And David and all Israel went to Jerusalem,
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and your flesh. Also, in time past, even when which is Jebus, where the Jebusites were, the
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Saul was king, you were the one who led Israel inhabitants of the land. But the inhabitants of
out and brought them in; and the LORD your Jebus said to David, “You shall not come in
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