day no. 14,908 continued... don't sleep on the preach

Acts 6:1-7
Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. 2 And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. 3 Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. 4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” 5 And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. 6 These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.

7 And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.

1) the Word of God increased!
2) the number of disciples multiplied greatly!
3) many became obedient to the faith!

Q: Why?

The disciples believed in the power of preaching. The episode that immediately precedes this summary statement in vs. 7 is that of bread distribution and widows and practical, boots on the ground, person on person, hands and feet ministry. 

The disciples in that episode acknowledged the value of addressing the situation by assigning 7 honorable men to take it on as their responsibility, but they did not take it upon themselves personally. They proclaimed that their primary responsibility was to preach.

So they committed themselves to that and the Word of God increased (not surprisingly) but also disciples were multiplied... greatly! It is easy to assume that disciples are made more or less by one on one interactions, but here we see that God used preachers preaching to produce an increase in Biblical awareness and a great multiplication of disciples who were obedient to the faith they were being won.

All that to say... don't sleep on preaching.

Especially when it comes to making disciples. The early church was built upon the Word of God and bold men daring to declare what God had said and done and what ought to be done by us in response. Disciples are not made exclusively in one on one sessions. They are made by sitting next to each other, under the authoritative Word preached by men committed to it as a primary means of making disciples.