Scatter and Share

Today we read Job 3 & 4 and Acts 8 & 9.

Persecution hit the church.   Saul is one of the leaders in the persecution of those that are sharing the Gospel. The Roman government doesn't like them.   The religious leaders don't like them.  They all want to silence the Gospel message.  The persecution becomes so strong that the people scatter.  Christians that were centralized in Jerusalem spread to other parts of the known world.  Notice what happened when  they did. Acts 8.3- Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.

The reality is that one of the greatest events that led to the spreading of the Gospel message to so much of the world was the persecution that the church was facing. The church scattered but they broadcasted the Gospel everywhere they went.

We live in a day when people resent the Gospel message.  The 'Jesus only' mode of Christianity makes it sound exclusive and binding.  It is, however, exclusive and binding, and that is the way that Jesus explained it as well (John 14.6).  People will not like it.  Alienation, ostracizing, and even persecution could come.   Whatever may come, just make sure that as you scatter, you scatter sharing Jesus.  I believe the church had her greatest days of growth in the first century, partially due to the persecution she suffered.  I KNOW her growth came because Christians, wherever they went, whatever happened to them, spread the love, message, and joy of Jesus with who God put them in contact with.

May we do the same...whatever may come.