OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL
DATE: SUNDAY 29TH MARCH 2020.
THEME: WORKERS IN THE LORD’S VINEYARD.
MEMORISE:
Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. Acts 6:3
READ: Acts 6:1-7
1And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration.
2 Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables.
3 Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.
4 But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.
5 And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch:
6 Whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them.
7 And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.
MESSAGE
Before any organization recruits employees, the criteria for qualification would have been determined. Similarly, there are qualifications God expects all workers in His vineyard to meet up with. In Acts 6:1-3, when the first sets of Church workers were to be selected. It was mandatory that they had an honest report filled with the Holy Ghost. This is how the work of God can grow. After Spirit-filled workers had been chosen in Acts 6, verse 7 says:
“And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.”
It is wonderful to work for God but God is not seeking just anyone to work for Him, He is seeking spirit-filled workers. It is pathetic when someone comes to Church for the first time, willing to surrender to Christ and then he sights his girlfriend or someone who asked him for a bribe in the course of the week amongst the workers. He then says to himself “If these are the kind of people serving God, then I am not interested.”
How will the word of God increase when even the workers are not living by it?
Every worker in the Ushering, Media, Choir, Sanitation, Prayer team, Follow-up, Protocol, Evangelism, traffic control, and all other departments must be Spirit-filled. Deuteronomy 34:9 says Joshua was filled with the Spirit of wisdom. He was the Personal Assistant to Moses. Everyone assisting a Pastor to do the work of God must be filled with the Holy Spirit; otherwise they will get him/her into trouble. In 2 Kings 5:20-27, but for the intervention of the Holy Spirit, Gehazi, the Personal Assistant of Elisha could have put him in trouble. There are Church workers who collect money on behalf of their Pastors without informing them. It is dangerous to be unfaithful in your service to god. Just ask Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, as recorded in Leviticus 10:1-3.
REFLECTION:
God is seeking spirit-filled workers, do you qualify?
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Judges 1-2
AUTHOR: PASTOR E. A. ADEBOYE
HYMN 8: HAVE YOU BEEN TO JESUS.
1. Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing pow’r?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Are you fully trusting in His grace this hour?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
o Refrain:
Are you washed in the blood,
In the soul-cleansing blood of the Lamb?
Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
2. Are you walking daily by the Savior’s side?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Do you rest each moment in the Crucified?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
3. When the Bridegroom cometh will your robes be white?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Will your soul be ready for the mansions bright,
And be washed in the blood of the Lamb?
4. Lay aside the garments that are stained with sin,
And be washed in the blood of the Lamb;
There’s a fountain flowing for the soul unclean,
Oh, be washed in the blood of the Lamb!
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