Acts 8:4
Pentecost came, the promise of Christ was delivered, the Church was started, and the Spirit moved and worked and many came to the Lord. At first those new Believers continued to move safely around town, even attending the Temple to have their own times of prayer and teaching in the name of Christ. These "true Jews" enjoyed their new life in Jesus, but those days were short lived. Stephen was arrested and preached a fiery sermon to his captors, enraging them to the point of martyrdom. That day "a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem" broke out; "Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison."
As persecution began, not only did those first Christians find themselves no longer welcome among friends in the Temple, they also found a cold shoulder among their own families and were eventually "scattered" away from their homeland. The preaching of the Gospel caused this antagonism, and those doing the proclamation were only energized the more.
These scattered believers lived out what Paul would later describe in 2 Corinthians 4:8-12. They left Jerusalem--life as they knew it--for a place unknown; but their place unknown became their mission field. Even detestable places, such as Samaria (Acts 8:5)!
Now, that doesn't seem like the hand of God upon His newly devoted followers, does it? It sure does! In fact, because of this persecution and subsequent scattering, Jesus' followers became witnesses not only in Jerusalem, but "in all Judea and Samaria" and eventually "to the end of the earth." The persecution was God's plan for the fulfillment of Acts 1:8! It was all part of God's soveriegn plan. The providence of God brought it about.
What kind of sovereign complications has God built into your life for the purpose of propogating His fame? What is your mission field? How are you living the Gospel in the midst of that opportunity?
