3 Day Bible Reading Plan - “See the Transformation Beyond Serving Tables”
“Sometimes, we hesitate to serve because we miss seeing the impact and spiritual transformation that can come from it. Holding babies and parking cars may feel insignificant, but these things help foster an environment for life change. When you hold a baby for a young family for an hour and a half during our services, you foster an uninterrupted spiritual conversation between those parents and God. In our services, we are focused on hosting a personal and passionate conversation between you and God.” - Pastor Paul Crandell, 8/18/24
Day 1
Featured Verse: Acts 6:1-2 - “It is Not Right That We Should Give Up Preaching…to Serve Tables”
Cross References:
1 Timothy 5:3 - “Honor Widows Who Are Truly Widows”
What does it mean to be “truly widows”? How would you honor women such as this?
Isaiah 1:17 - “Plead the Widow’s Cause”
God wants His children to become advocates for the weak ones who have no one else to fight for them. What are some ways you might plead the widow’s cause?
Deuteronomy 10:18 - “He Executes Justice For the…Widow”
One of the biggest themes of the Bible is that God Himself takes care of the orphan, the widow, and the sojourner. These are the weakest members of society, those with no parents, no spiritual head, and nowhere to call home. How might the Body of Christ fulfill these specific needs?
“The widow—the desolate and destitute, the mourning widow indeed, she who is in every sense a widow and has no one to whom to look for aid—she always has a claim on the Church. Not merely is she to be honored by a simple exhibition of respect, but she is to be assisted and supported out of the alms of the faithful.” - Charles Ellicott
“Give a respect to such as have lost their husbands…and do not only pay them a due respect, but afford them a maintenance.” - Matthew Poole
Day 2
Featured Verse: Acts 6:3-7 - “Pick Out From Among You Seven Men of Good Repute”
Cross References:
Acts 6:8 - “Stephen, Full of Grace and Power, Was Doing Great Wonders”
Knowing Stephen was full of the Holy Spirit, what kind of man do you think he was? How might you seek to be the same?
Acts 8:35 - “Philip Opened His Mouth…and Told Him the Good News About Jesus”
Philip saw an opportunity as the Ethiopian eunuch read the scroll of Isaiah and offered to help him understand it. What are some ways you might help someone better understand the good news about Jesus?
Acts 16:5 - “The Churches Were Strengthened in the Faith”
Serving one another in various ways helps knit a body of believers together in love. This also helps to strengthen faith as service and discipleship go hand-in-hand. What are some ways you can serve to help grow your own love for the brethren?
“Stephen had but a very small amount of the clear Christian knowledge that you and I have, but he was leagues ahead of most Christian people in regard to this, that he was ‘filled with the Holy Spirit.’ Brethren, you can have as much of that Spirit as you want. It is my own fault if my Christian life is not what the Christian lives of some of us, I doubt not, are.” - Alexander Maclaren
Day 3
Featured Verse: Acts 4:34-35 - “There Was Not a Needy Person Among Them”
Cross References:
2 Corinthians 8:14 - “Your Abundance…Should Supply Their Need”
The church is meant to help fill one another’s needs. How can you use your abundance to fill a need?
2 Corinthians 9:6 - “Whoever Sows Bountifully Will Also Reap Bountifully”
The inverse of this is also true: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. This principle is not to get something out of your giving, but that God promises to bless you abundantly when you give abundantly. What are some ways you might reap bountifully after sowing bountifully?
Luke 6:38 - “With the Measure You Use it Will Be Measured Back to You”
Those who are stingy with blessings will not be much blessed by God. But those who give with abandon will have that same measure poured back out upon them. Those who meet a need for another shall have their own needs met. Knowing this, how might you be more generous with serving and giving of your time and resources?
“O that we could receive a vehement panting and longing after the perfect dedication of ourselves unto our Lord and Master! Then we would make our everyday toil to be lustrous with the glory of holiness. Then we would burn like seraphs whilst we toiled here below as common men. Then we would teach, and preach, and pray, and work, and give with such a spirit and such a divine unction, that the world would wonder from whence we came, and where we had learned these sacred arts. It is this cheerfulness, this heartiness, this whole-heartedness, this intenseness, this fire of the soul, which God loves. O that we may have it! O may we get it, for such doers and such givers God loves.” - Charles Spurgeon