"Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, [Jesus] went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He pray-
ed. . . . 'But we [the apostles] will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.' "
Both our Lord Jesus Christ, and (later) His apostles put their priority on prayer and the preaching of the Word [gospel] of God. Everything else in the ministry would have to be either done by others (viz. the deacons, as in Acts 6); or it would simply have to wait until a con-
venient time.
After Christ rose from prayer, He announced that for the purpose of preaching He had come forth (Mk. 1:38). The same thing could be said of the apostles. While others served the tables, they served up the meal of the preached gospel of grace in the Lord Jesus Christ.
[Puritan quote of the day: "When the times are troublesome, [a] good conscience makes it calm. If the conscience is clear, so what if the days are cloudy?" --Thomas Watson, in, "The Art of Divine Content-
ment"]
