The Church Persecuted and Scattered

 Meditations on The Acts of the Apostles

February 9, 2021

The Church Persecuted and Scattered

But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.

Acts 8:3

Read: Acts 7:54-8:3        

In Stephen we see that the followers of Jesus had quickly incorporated the ways of their Master. Stephen prayed for and forgave those who persecuted him. Very early the Church set the day after Christmas to commemorate St. Stephen as a reminder that God’s gift of new life arrived in a very dangerous world.

God took the evil of the martyrdom of Stephen and used it for good as the men and women of Christ disbursed from Jerusalem and began to spread the Good News all over the land. Our Christian church was born and thrived even though Saul was dragging out both men and women to put them into prison for spreading the Good News of Jesus.

My Takeaway: We too are living in a dangerous and hostile world. Many religious leaders today are trying to avoid the Saul’s of our time and accommodate the doctrines of the church to the world’s culture. I pray that God will, by His grace, strengthen me that I may be as courageous as the men and women who spread the Good News of Jesus, even in the shadow of Stephen’s martyrdom. Will you join me in this prayer?

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2021 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.