Title: The One Who Refreshes the Church
Content The person who refreshes the church
* Word: 1 Corinthians 16:15-18
(15) Brethren, know that the house of Stephanas is the firstfruits of Achaia, and that he has decided to serve the saints.
As you know, I urge you
(16) Be in subjection to all who labor and work with them.
(17) I rejoice in the coming of Stephanas, Pedenathus, and Achaicus, that they may not be enough for you.
I have supplemented
(18) They have refreshed your hearts with me; therefore, know these people.
There are many names of people in the Bible.
Those names are not the flashy names that roared an era and shook the world.
They were people who honestly devoted themselves to the kingdom of God as if they melted the hard ground like the warm sunlight of a spring day and breathed life into the dried up trees.
God used them for the kingdom of God and to light the world through the church, and they were willing to give themselves and all that they had to God.
Because it was the highest value of their lives.
I. Through whom does God establish the church?
There is one person that Paul, the great apostle, would like to introduce and introduce today.
He was Stephen of the Corinthian church. He was the first evangelist in the area of Achaia.
It was fruit. The Apostle Paul introduces us now because Stephen
did you want to?
First, Stephen was a man determined to serve the saints (verse 15).
Soon, he was a spontaneous and dedicated person. Turn your home into a place to worship God
He was a person who gave, fed many saints, and helped the sick and the poor.
I didn't do it because I was lazy. A person who cancels or postpones when he/she is busy with his/her work
It wasn't. Also, I wasn't the only one who had to do it.
If anyone had done this already, it must have been Stephen.
Second, Stephen was a hard worker (verse 16).
The meaning of “toil” (κοπι?ω) is “to become tired,” “to become weak,” or “to become exhausted.”
He was tired and exhausted from caring for the church and the saints.
What makes us feel tired? Stephana did not work because she deserved to be famous among many people in a large church.
If you were a person who felt that the time, devotion, and material provided for the Lord was wasted, thousands of years would have passed.
It would not have been recorded in the successive Bibles.
Third, Stephen was a person who made up for the lack of other saints (verse 17).
We served with love and encouragement that other members of the Corinthian church could not do.
He was a person who helped the Apostle Paul to fulfill his ministry and filled the Apostle Paul's shortcomings.
There is a nickname given to such Stephen. It was the “Refresh Man.” “He refreshed the heart” (verse 18) means “to refresh,” “to rest,” or “to rest.” Stephana was like an oxygen person who “cools the heart.” He was a person who invigorates the Apostle Paul and the Corinthian church members and gives them rest.
The Bible commands church workers like Stephen to “be in subjection.” When such a person goes ahead and works in faith, we must obey, follow, and empower them.
And he says, “You know.” It's about acknowledging and encouraging.
God clearly knows their names.
It wasn't because he had a lot of wealth.
It wasn't because he was a good-looking, powerful man.
It was because he was the one who founded the church with voluntary devotion.
Let us become the second Stephana whose name is written in God's reward book in this age, giving ourselves for God and the church, becoming devoted workers and disciples, and refreshing the Lord.
* Meditation
1. What did the Holy Spirit make you realize through Stephana?
2. Do you know someone who refreshes the saints and people like Stephana?
3. If I become Stephana and refresh the church and others, what will people do?