Sermon Notes
- Big Idea: There is no small calling: every believer has a calling, and the church needs each one.
Opening
- Conrad began with his own jobs: summer camp counselor, swim instructor, pool facility inspector, and about 15 years in church and pastoral ministry.
- Whatever our work history or employment status, each of us has a calling. A calling and a job can overlap, but they are not the same thing.
- Main thesis: "There is no such thing as a small calling. There's only your calling and your calling and my calling and our calling."
01 · Acts 6:1
1. The Problem in the Early Church
- More disciples brought more needs. A complaint arose because the Greek-speaking widows were being neglected in the daily food distribution.
- Hellenists and Hebrews: Greek-speaking Jews with a Greek culture, and Hebrews who probably spoke mostly Aramaic.
- The gospel is exponential: The gospel keeps expanding to new circles and cultures. Conrad tied this to the series' teaching on identifying and engaging your circle.
- The gospel is practical: The gospel meets physical needs as well as spiritual ones. When the people with Jesus were hungry, he gave them food.
02 · Acts 6:2–6
2. The Two Callings: The Twelve and the Seven
- The Twelve: Called to preach, teach and proclaim, as the angel told them in Acts 5:20 and as they did every day in Acts 5:42. They would not give up that work to serve tables.
- The Seven: The text does not use the word "called," but they were picked out, appointed and chosen for a specific task: caring for the overlooked widows.
- Conrad warned against comparison, which he called an almost "toxic disease." He said, "when it comes to calling, we should never compare."
- Quoting Gordon T. Smith's book Courage and Calling, Conrad said a calling is not mainly an occupation but "our engagement with the world in response to God." It may or may not come with a paycheck.
- He quoted Martin Luther King Jr. on the street sweeper who sweeps so well that heaven and earth stop to notice: whatever the calling, do it well.
03 · Acts 6:3–6
3. General vs. Specific Calling
- General calling: Given to every Christian: love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and be conformed into the image of Jesus Christ.
- The qualities asked of the Seven, "Good repute, full of the Spirit, and wise," are a general call. Conrad noted they read nothing like a job description.
- Specific calling: Unique to each person and time: Jonah sent to Nineveh, Abraham leaving his land, Esther protecting the Jews in Media and Persia.
- The seven names are all Greek. Conrad suggested the Seven were chosen because they were close to the problem and would likely know the widows and their culture.
04 · Acts 6:3–6
4. How to Discern Your Calling
- Conrad said the passage does not tell us how to discern a specific calling. He offered his own counsel and invited the church to test it: "Be attentive."
- Be attentive to your background, skills and talents, temperament, the brokenness you see around you, your reputation, community, environment, life experiences and traumas.
- Most of all, be attentive to the Lord Jesus Christ, who gives gifts to his church for the equipping of the saints.
- Moses: His Hebrew birth, his upbringing in Pharaoh's household and his years in the wilderness all fit his call to lead God's people out of Egypt.
- As we ask these questions, threads of need and purpose begin to show.
05 · Acts 6:7
5. The Result and the Body
- The word of God kept increasing, the number of disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and many priests became obedient to the faith.
- The church grew in spite of conflict from outside and complaints from inside, because each group stepped into its part.
- "Our calling makes a contribution, but it's not comprehensive." We need each other.
- 1 Corinthians 12: the body does not consist of one member but of many; there are many parts, yet one body.
- Every believer: "Every believer is a minister with a ministry." Every believer is called with a calling and is a servant with a service.
Closing
- General: Encourage one another to love and good deeds, and keep pursuing Jesus Christ together.
- Specific: Be attentive to how God has wired you, whether or not your calling comes with a paycheck, and talk with pastors, neighbors, friends and family about it.
- The church's mission is to know Jesus and make him known: generally by pursuing Christ, and specifically by living out the way God has designed and called each person to be.
Scripture quotations marked ESV are from the ESV Bible, © 2001 by Crossway. Text Edition: 2025. Used by permission. Permissions. Prepared for this small group from the July 12, 2026 sermon; questions and applications are editorial study material.