05 Acts – the Holy Spirit’s Work

By Richard

In Acts 5, Peter and the Apostles appear before the religious leads in Jerusalem. They speak about Jesus’ death and resurrection and place as Saviour. They remind the religious leaders that they were “witnesses” of what had taken place. Then they add this important statement.

“The Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him, corroborates every detail” (Acts 5:32).

It reminded me that I can live for Jesus and preach about his reality, but in order for people to believe they need the Holy Spirit to do a confirming work in their hearts. We need to be praying that the Holy Spirit corroborates the realities of our witness for Jesus.

04 Acts – Salvation

By Richard

Peter makes a bold statement in Acts 4 that, “Salvation comes no other way, no other name has been or will be given to us by which e can be saved only this one [Jesus]” (Acts 4: 12, the Message)

I don’t know what you think about what Peter is saying. But, if we think about it, no other religion claims that their leader was God. The Apostles claimed that Jesus was God and that his death and resurrection substantiate this claim. Then, in the context, they are before the people explaining the healing of a man whose been crippled for 40 years. The healings of Jesus give further evidence to his deity and that he’s alive and well and powerfully at work.

Without the resurrection Jesus would just be another man in a long line of prophets. The resurrection makes him God. If Jesus is God then Peter’s comment makes sense. Ultimately the only way to God is through God himself, and Jesus, who is God, provides that access. Other religions are like signs along the way that point us to God, but Jesus is the both the journey and the destination.

03 Acts – Listen to Jesus

By Richard

At the end of the Acts chapter 2 Peter reminds the crowds of a great Old Testament prophecy that, “God [would] raise up for you a prophet just like [Moses] from your family. Listen to every word he speaks to you!” (Acts 3:23, the Message).

He’s reminding the people that Moses prophesied about Jesus. Moses’ message was that we should listen to Jesus… to his every word.

It’s a challenge to me to ask myself if I am really listening to Jesus’ words. If you are wondering where to begin with listening to Jesus words a good place to start would be to read through the Gospels. We have a whole blog of Gospel thoughts. Click “GospelGossip” on the right hand side of this blog to access more than 400 thoughts on the four Gospels.

02 Acts – The Miracles

By Richard

We recently talked at Mountainview about the place of the miraculous in helping us trust Jesus, but how, since the Enlightenment (starting in the 18th Century), there have been significant doubts raised about the supernatural and rational suggestions proposed. However, if we get rid of the miraculous we’re not left with much Jesus. In Acts 2, Peter reminds the crowds, “Jesus the Nazarene, a man thoroughly accredited by God to you – the miracles and wonders and signs that God did through him are common knowledge!” (Acts 2:22, the Message)

The miraculous helps us trust Jesus. If we get rid of the supernatural in the bible then we are not left with much Jesus and we’re not left with much bible too. Why not believe them and allow them to confirm to you that Jesus really is from God.

P.S. This might be of interest.

I was reading this week in Time magazine about the problems associated with giving sight back to people born blind. About 25% of the brain’s power goes into processing images and between the ages of 0-6 the brain is developing the pathways necessary to process those images. Sometimes modern medicine has been able to restore sight to those born blind. However, if the sight is restored after the critical first 6 years the brain has difficulty processing images and it takes years for even a minimal function of sight to be restored. When we read of Jesus giving sight back to adults born blind there’s more than just the ability to receive sight going on – there is a huge restoration of the brains ability. In Acts 2 when we read of the cripple immediately walking there is more than just the healing per se. Muscle and balance and so many things must be restored for a man who’s been crippled for decades to immediately get up and jump around! There’s more to the miracles than meets the eye!

01 Acts – Politics

By Richard

I found it interesting that in Acts 1 the disciples are still thinking very political. Just before Jesus leaves for heaven the disciples ask him the big question, “Are you going to restore the kingdom of Israel now?” (Acts 1:6, the Message). They are interested if Jesus is going to restore the political fortunes of Israel and make their nation once more into a great empire. The disciples thinking and desires make a wonderful backdrop for the rest of Acts, and the surprise of how God would shortly break through their nationalistic thinking and reveal to them an even greater plan to save the Gentiles too. I t would not be long before they would be thinking, “Kingdom of God” and “Christ’s holy church” …not “Kingdom of Israel”.

01 Acts - The Message

by Richard

I’m starting to read Acts in Eugene Peterson’s Message version. The different ways that he phrases things adds richness to my understanding of Acts.

For example, in Acts 1 Jesus commissions his disciples to be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth. He returns to heaven. Two angels show up and tell the disciples, “Jesus will come [back] as certainly - as mysteriously – as he left” (Acts 1:11, the Message). The disciples return to Jerusalem and agreed together that, “They were in this [following Jesus thing] for good.”

The Christian faith is not based on what I can get out of it, or dependent on how it turns out long the way. Sort of like marriage, it is a commitment to love and follow Christ…in health and in sickness…on the mountaintop and in the valley…when you are awake and when you are sleeping.

Will you agree with me to be in this Jesus movement, “for good?”

28 Acts – Rome-ward Bound

By Richard

Acts 28, the final chapter of Acts, records Paul’s journey from the Island of Malta, where they had been shipwrecked and spent the winter, to Rome. This chapter is a great testimony to the early church and their passion to spread the Gospel. We read that along the way, “They found some brothers” and spent a week with them. As they draw near Rome, people from the Roman church come as far as the Forum of Appius (100 Km South of Rome) and the Three Taverns (75 Kms South of Rome) to meet Paul and travel back to Rome with him. In Rome Paul lived under house arrest, but used the opportunity to speak to all who came to see him about, “the Kingdom of God…and the Lord Jesus Christ”.

As promised God had brought Paul to Rome and Acts ends with this reminder that the Gospel had spread to the centre of the Roman Empire.

27 Acts – The Storm

By Richard

I believe that every section of Scripture is there because God wanted it there. But, as we mentioned in a previous post, we might not always be able to get some profound meaning out of every word and verse. In many sections of the Bible God is working slowly through the narrative, and we only understand the meaning from the bigger picture. These last chapters of Acts are just such an example

In Acts 27, Luke, the writer of Acts, joins Paul for the journey to Rome (notice the “we” used throughout this section). Luke describes their journey by boat past Cyprus and onto Crete. The winter is approaching and against Paul’s advice they try to make Phoenix on the western end of Crete. As they set out for Phoenix a storm blows up and they are driven westwards for 14 days across the Mediterranean and eventually get shipwrecked on Malta (south of Sicily).

Historically, Luke offers us the most detailed account of sailing from its day. It ought to remind us that Luke is a careful and detailed observer of life. Luke is a phenomenal historian. It should challenge us to trust that what we find written in the rest of Acts and his Gospel has been carefully researched, observed, and recorded.

The narrative also reminds me of God’s presence in the midst of the storm. God did not spare Paul the ordeal of enduring 14 days in a winter storm and a shipwreck in Malta, but he did encourage Paul in the midst of the storm with a promise that he would keep Paul safe. And with the encouragement that Paul received he was able to comfort and encourage the other 275 men on board.

The narrative reminds me also that the Christian faith is not just spiritual. There is a practical side to it too. The ship is about to be wrecked. We find Paul encouraging people to eat (so that they would have the strength to swim to shore). God promised to save them, but that did not mean they should not show some common sense along the way.

26 Acts – Sharing Your Story

By Richard

In this Chapter Paul gives his story to King Agrippa.

He was a zealous Pharisee Jew, who at one time did all he could to oppose the Christian faith. He had even imprisoned and put to death believers. On a Christian hunting trip to Damascus Jesus had appeared to him in a bright light and told him that instead of a destroyer of the faith he was being appointed as a servant of a Gospel, particularly to the Gentiles. And Paul tells Agrippa that he had gone about completing the task that he had been assigned to do, starting right away in Damascus and then in Jerusalem and then to all of the Gentiles. His prayer was that all who heard him would come to Christ.

Now our story may not be as elaborate as Paul’s, but I pray that when called upon we are ready to simply share our story with Christ to others. I pray that we might be praying that as we share our story it might help others to come to faith in Jesus.

25 Acts – The Centrality of the Resurrection

By Richard

In Acts 25 Paul is on trial before the new governor Festus. Again we find Jews at his trial who dearly want to have Paul taken back to Jerusalem to stand trial there (we are told that there is actually a plot underfoot to kill him along the way). Paul knowing their plan appeals to Caesar and so as a Roman citizen he must now go to Rome to stand trial.

Shortly afterwards we read that King Agrippa comes to pay is respects to the Festus, the new Governor. They speak about Paul and Festus admits that he is confused. The reality was that the Jews did not have any substantive charges against Paul…except he says, they, “Had some points of dispute with him about their own religion and about a dead man named Jesus, who Paul claimed was alive” (Acts 25:19).

I find it interesting that one of the key disputes that they had with Paul was the resurrection. The resurrection was one of the main messages of the early church. The resurrection was not something that the church made up in the first 300 years of the Christian faith (as plenty of people have claimed). It was the teaching upon which the church was founded.

In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul says that he received a teaching of “first importance” as follows.

“Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures…he was buried…he as raised on the third day according to the Scriptures and he appeared to Peter and then to the twelve {and then he appeared to more than 5000 of the brothers at the same time…Then he appeared to James [and] then to all of the Apostles.” (Parts of 1 Corinthians 15:3-8)

This teaching in 1 Corinthians 15 appears something like a creed – a fixed statement of faith. New Testament scholars believe Paul was taught this simple creed when he visited the Apostles in Jerusalem following his conversion (Acts 9:27). They believe that this was a fixed statement of belief that was circulating in the church as early as 3 years after the resurrection. The church did not make up the resurrection of Jesus over the following centuries it was founded on the resurrection.

As we approach Easter this year I hope that we will discover the centrality of the resurrection in our own lives.

24 Acts – Jesus the High Point

By Richard

Paul is on trial before the Governor Felix. The Jews accuse him of being a troublemaker among Jews all over the world. When Paul speaks, his defence is that he is still a Jew that believes everything in the Law and Prophets. However, he admits that he now worships the God of the Old Testament as a follower of the Way.

I recently read and article by NT Wright who spoke about how we commonly try to view Jesus though the lens of the God of the Old Testament. Rather, he said that we should look at God the other way round, and view the God of the Old Testament through the lens of Jesus.

This is kind of what Paul is saying. He’s still a Jew and he still believes everything the Jews do. The only difference is that Jesus has become the highest point in his faith and in the Scriptures, from which everything else must gain it’s perspective.

23 Acts – Surviving Life’s Storms

By Richard

In Acts 23 Paul appears before the Sanhedrin, which ends up in such a heated debate about the resurrection that the Roman commander, “Was afraid Paul would be torn to pieces by them” (Acts 23:10). The Jews plot to kill Paul. The Roman authorities catching wind of the plan then whisk Paul off to Caesarea where he was to appear before the Governor Felix.

Reading this section I was wondering why God didn’t seem to be saying as much to me as normal. Was it me? Was it a St John’s “dark night of the soul”-mini-experience? Then it suddenly struck me that the last few chapters of Acts are a big story and sometimes with narrative the voice of God is found more in the whole story than verse by verse. That’s when it hit me!

Acts 23 is filled with confusion and riots and attempts to kill Paul. It’s into the middle of all this confusion that Jesus appears to Paul and says, “Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem so you must also testify in Rome” (Acts 23:11). These verses of comfort begin with the words, “The Lord stood near Paul”.

Jesus was not taking Paul out of turmoil, but reminding him that in the midst of turmoil and confusion his presence was there and his plan was prevailing. It was a reminder to me that rather than purely focusing on getting out of life’s storms and into calmer waters we should work on finding the presence of Jesus and his calming voice in the midst of the storm.

As we continue with Acts and some long sections of narrative we will find this theme of Jesus being there and at work through some difficult events in Paul’s life.

22 Acts - Moonlighting for God

By Richard

In Acts 22 Paul gives his testimony before the crowd in Jerusalem. He focuses on how Christ met him on the road to Damascus, called him through Ananias to be a witness and, later, sent him to be a witness to the Gentiles. It left me praying that God would meet and send people to live and speak for him throughout Spain. In a sense all of us at Mountainview are working two jobs. Beyond our regular jobs we are moonlighting for God, as we live out life and speak out his words.

21 Acts – Following Jesus

By Richard

Paul is on his way to Jerusalem and various believers through the power of the Holy Spirit prophecy that Paul will be bound and handed over to the Gentiles. The church tries to persuade him not to go. But Paul compelled by the Holy Spirit says, “I am ready to be bound and to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord.” Today at Mountainview we’ll be looking at what it means to deny ourselves and follow Jesus. I’m not sure how I would have responded if I was Paul. But, he reminds me that following Jesus is a call to put Christ even before my very life.

20 Acts – the Ephesian Elders

By Richard

In Acts 20, Paul is heading back to Jerusalem and we find him at the port of Miletus. Paul sends for the elders in the Ephesian church, who come and meet him at the port. Paul knows that this will be the last time he will see these leaders and I find it interesting, as a pastor of a church, to observe what Paul says to these leaders:

1. He reminds them that he was an example. “You know how I lived the whole time I was with you” (20:18 and 35). Leaders must be examples.

2. He reminds them of his humility. “I served the Lord with great humility” (20:19). Leaders must be humble.

3. He preached the complete message of God. “I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you” (Acts 20:20 & 27). As leaders we must not hesitate to preach the whole message of God. We want to be helpful not simply seeking a watered down harmony,

4. He was lead by the Spirit. “Compelled by the Holy Spirit” (20:22). As leaders we need to be led by God’s Spirit and cultivating a deep spirituality.

5. He was thorough in his teaching. We read that he taught them, “publicly and from house to house” (20:21&31). As leaders we have to work hard at making sure we present the complete message of God in a public and personal way.

6. He was a servant of Christ. “I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me 0- the task of testifying to the Gospel of God’s grace” (20:24). His focus was to serve Christ, by completing the task he’s been assigned...and he would not stop, even in the face of death. As leaders we are called to serve Jesus and not ourselves.

May God make us into leaders like Paul.

20 Acts – Luke Joins the Team

By Richard

In Acts 20 Paul is joined by Luke, the writer of the Gospel bearing his name and the book of Acts. If we pay careful attention the account changes from the third person (he/they) to the first person (we/us). Luke was an eyewitness to many of the events in Acts and scholars believe that as he travelled with Paul and met the other New Testament characters he started to compile their stories and write his Gospel. Luke’s Gospel was written early and based on eye witness accounts.

19 Acts – The Power of the Gospel

By Richard

Acts 19 is comprised in 2 sections with a big contrast. The first section is about Christ’s ministry through Paul in Ephesus and the way the word of God spread powerfully and changed lives. The second section is about the riot (caused by the craftsmen who were making silver shrines to the goddess Artemis and worried about the way that the spread of the Gospel was leading to lost business). Gods word spread in amazing way in Ephesus and if we compare this account to Ephesian 6, it does seem that that God’s word was pushing back the forces of evil that held many in that city. Sometimes the reactions we cause are because we are doing things right and being a light in a dark place.

18 Acts – Priscilla and Aquila

By Richard

In Acts 18 we find Paul leaving Athens and arriving in Corinth, where he stays for 18 months. In Corinth he meets Priscilla and Aquila, fellow tentmakers and Jews that were expelled from Rome by Claudius.

We discover that Priscilla and Aquila are volunteers that make a profound contribution to the early church. Priscilla and Aquila eventually move with Paul to Ephesus. Paul leaves them in Ephesus when he returns to Antioch to report back to the church there. While Paul is gone they meet Apollos, a powerful debater of faith and they take Apollos under their wings and explain to him in greater detail the message about Jesus before sending him off to be a blessing to the church in Achaia.

Later Paul arrives back in Ephesus, from where he writes a letter to the church in Corinth that includes a greeting from Priscilla and Aquila. Later in his letter to the church in Rome (Romans) he speaks about the huge contribution that Priscilla and Aquila had made to the Gentile church (Romans 16:3-4).

Priscilla and Aquila remind me that we don’t have to be an Apostle or pastor or powerful public speaker to make a significant contribution to God’s work. Thinking about Priscilla and Aquila reminded me that there are many unsung heroes in the church, and as a leader I need to recognise and thank God for the contributions of these volunteers. Priscilla and Aquila remind me to be observant for the untapped potential that resides in Mountainview. In our highly mobile community we should be sending equipped lay people around the world to make massive contributions to the Kingdom of God.

17 Acts – The Berean’s

By Richard

In Acts 17, Luke tells us that the Berean’s were of noble character. When Paul went into the synagogue in Berea and spoke with them about Jesus Christ, we read that, “They received the message with great eagerness and examined the scriptures every day to see if what Paul was saying was true.” (Acts 17: 11)

The Berean’s challenge me. They had an eagerness for God and his word. They were hungry to know more about God in their gatherings and in their private devotions.

17 Acts – The Synagogues

By Richard

We read in Acts 17 that, “As his custom was, Paul went into the synagogues…he reasoned with them from the scriptures, explaining and proving that Christ had to rise from the dead [and that] Jesus…is the Christ” (Acts 17: 2&3).

Paul had a strategy. He would go first to the Synagogues and speak to them about Jesus. It’s interesting also that the death and resurrection of Christ is central to his message. I wonder if we keep it central enough to our message?

16 Acts – God is Leading His Church

By Richard

Acts 16: 6-40 give us some more pointers of the place God was playing to establish his church. This was no wise human strategy. God was leading and his servants were responding. Beyond simply “God”, there is recognition in the chapter of the Trinity working together to establish the church.

They were kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching in the province of Asia (Acts 16:7)

They tried to enter Bithynia but Jesus said, “No”. (Acts 16:8)

God called them in a vision to go to Macedonia and preach to the people there (Acts 16:8-10)

God (the Trinity) was leading and his servants were responding. Wherever they were sent, be it to different provinces and cities, be it to the Synagogues, the marketplace or to jail, they preached the Gospel…and there were some who responded and gave their lives to Christ.

16 Acts – Growth

By Richard

In Acts 16:5 we have the often repeated phrase in Acts, “The churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers” (Acts 16:5, NIV).

The church is meant to grow qualitatively and quantitatively. The church is supposed to grow deeper in Christ and wider in its outreach. People finding Christ and growing up in Christ is an expected outcome from a healthy church.

Acts 15 – Amazing Grace

By Richard

In Acts 15 we read that some of the Pharisaic believers were demanding that Gentile believers be circumcised. The chapter records the gathering of the church leaders in Jerusalem to decide whether the growing number of Gentile believers should indeed be circumcised. It records their decision and the writing of a letter to be sent to all of the churches regarding the decision.

Peter explains that it was God who had broken though the cultural barrier and led him to speak to the Gentiles about the Gospel. Peter explains that it was God who had clearly shown that he accepted the uncircumcised Gentiles by giving them the Holy Spirit. He reminds us all that we are saved, “Through the grace of our Lord Jesus [not circumcision!]” (Acts 15: 11)

The church decided that they will only require a few things of the Gentile church. “To abstain from food polluted to idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood.” (Acts 15:20).

I have just been reading an article about the century old antagonisms between the Sunni and Shiite Muslims. The article described how today in Baghdad cheers go up in the Mosques as they hear the sounds of bombs and death in the neighbourhoods of the rival followers. Reading Acts we can miss the deep hatreds that had been around for hundreds of years and fail to appreciate the amazing grace of Christ that broke through these cultural chasms and united Jews and Gentiles as real brothers and sisters. Realising that it was a matter of grace the directives of church for the Gentiles were very minimal. There was really only one moral issue – sexual immorality. The other 3 were things that were particularly offensive to Jews and over time have been dropped.

Hopefully we will hear the sounds of amazing grace loudly and clearly through this chapter.

14 Acts – Signs and Wonders

By Richard

In Acts 14 we read that and Saul (Paul) and Barnabus spoke the word of God and the truth of what they were speaking was confirmed by their ability through the power of God to perform signs and wonders.

I don’t know how this makes you feel, but it gave me a hunger for God to confirm his word, somehow, some way, in the lives of my unbelieving friends. Perhaps it won’t be as dramatic as a healing but hopefully there will be a growing number of stories at Mountainview of how God has provided, comforted, guided, protected, revealed his presence…Hopefully these stories will flood out into the local community as a testimony to the living God and the accuracy of his message.

13 Acts - Going Missionary

By Richard

In Acts 13 the church goes missionary. Jesus leads the charge. Through his Holy Spirit he calls Saul and Barnabus to take the message beyond the local region. The church commissions them and sends them off to Cyprus. In Cyprus they are given power from God to strike Elymas a magician blind. This leads to the conversion of the Proconsul. They preach to the Jews in the Synagogues and to the Gentiles in the marketplace and many believe. God is working to establish his church across the Mediterranean basin.

Mission is at the heart of the book of Acts and I believe it should be at the heart of our passions too.

12 Acts - Moving Ahead

By Richard

In Acts 12 God is at work to overcome obstacles to the establishment of his church. Peter securely imprisoned is set free by an angel. Herod, who’s trying to destroy the church gets struck down dead in his pride. The chapter ends with the declaration that despite attempts to extinguish the early church, “The word of the Lord continued to increase and spread.” (Acts 12: 24)

It’s comforting for me in Spain, where so much seems to work against the church (materialism, apathy, disbelief…) that God is at work to overcome all of these obstacles. I want to encourage us all to believe for, pray for, and work towards, the spread of the Gospel in Spain.

11 Acts – To the Entire World

By Richard

Acts 11 reminds us that God was at work to break beyond Judaism and bring the good news to the Gentiles.

Peter gives an explanation of his visit to the home of Cornelius and speaks of how the Holy Spirit fell on Cornelius’ whole household. We read that the believers in Jerusalem end up praising God because he has granted new life to the Gentiles.

Separately, in Antioch, there’s a revival going on among the Greeks living there. Barnabus is sent to encourage the believers in that city and through his faith, life and the Holy Spirit many more believe. Eventually he goes off to Tarsus and gets Saul (Paul) to join him and together they teach and strengthen this new Gentile church for a whole year.

The Gentile church in Antioch is where Christianity is first named – the locals call these Greek believers “Christians”. The Gentile church in turn sends blessings back to the Jews. They send help to their Jewish brothers back in Jerusalem during a time of famine.

More than just historical, this is a profound chapter of God moving his servants to propel the Gospel beyond the Jews to the Gentiles. I am struck by the power of God. I am struck by the way that the disciples responded and adapted to the work God was doing. I am grateful for Acts chapter 11, for it reminds me that it was thanks to God and the early church that the Gospel blessings burst out into the entire world. All those who follow Christ, Christians, need to have gratefulness for the work of Saul and Barnabus in Antioch, to strengthen the church there, for it is after their work and the Gentile church they established that we are named.

10 Acts – Christ in Control

By Richard

Throughout Acts chapter 10 it is clear that it’s Christ who is in control and building his church. An angel appears to Cornelius in a vision, saying that he should send for Peter who had something to tell him. When his servants arrive a few days later to get Peter, Peter has just had a vision from God about nothing that God has made being unclean. He gets the message and accompanies the servants to the Gentile's home. Then when he preaches the Holy Spirit falls mid-sermon (he hadn’t even got to the ministry bit at the end). Christ is building his church.

All I could pray at the end of this chapter was that Christ would go before us in power to establish Mountainview and his church in Spain.

10 Acts – Friendship Evangelism

by Richard

We read in Acts 10 that Cornelius gathered “his relatives and close friends” to hear Peter speak about the good news. It reminded me that we need to be making close friendships and praying for natural opportunities for them to hear he message of salvation, through deeds and words of ourselves and others.

09 Acts – Acts of Jesus

By Richard

Ananias received a vision for Christ to go and lay his hands on Saul. The Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel.” (Acts 9: 15)

There is a strong sense here of how Jesus is building his church. The Gospel had spread through persecution (Acts 8) and there were disciples as far away as Damascus. Saul, persecutor of the church, is zapped by Jesus and is soon proclaiming to the Jews in Damascus, and then a little later in Jerusalem, that Jesus is the Christ.

Christ is at work through Peter who is performing many signs and wonders in his name. We go onto read that the church enjoys a time of peace and is strengthened by the Holy Spirit and it grows. Jesus is powerfully at work to build his church.

In a time when so many have grown cold to the church (both those who don’t believe and many church attenders) we need to call out for Jesus to build his church powerfully. We need to call out for some more Acts of Jesus in Madrid.

08 Acts – Persecution and Preaching

By Richard

Persecution breaks out in Jerusalem and we read, “All the [believers] except the Apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria... [and ] those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went” (Acts 8: 1&4)

In Acts 8 persecution becomes a means for the fulfilment of Jesus’ words from the beginning of Acts, about the good news being preached first in Jerusalem, then in Judea and Samaria and then to the ends of the earth.

Philip preaches in Samaria and many believe. Phillip preaches to the Ethiopian Eunuch who believes, is baptised and presumably takes the message to Africa.

Phillip then preaches his way to Caesarea.

On top of that, and we have to assume this is the case, the persecution sends the pilgrims, who were converted in Acts 2, back home. The Gospel message, like a ripe dandelion head is blown by the persecution of these new Christians, towards every compass point, all over the known world.