Acts: Go & Be Chapters 1-9Sample

What is this passage saying?

Following the death of Stephen, the Church begins to spread out to the surrounding countries. Before this point in the story, the church had not moved past Jerusalem. Saul was there to approve of the death of Stephen and to lead further persecution on the rest of the believers. God is using the persecution to get His message out to the world. God is working miracles through His disciples and you begin to see the Church grow in Judea and Samaria. This is when we are first introduced to Saul, one of the main authors of the New Testament inspired by The Holy Spirit, before his conversion to Paul. He is leading the efforts in trying to stop the church, personally dragging men and women to prison. Even during all this chaos, God was moving through Philip. This is the first time in the book of Acts that we see the gospel being preached to non-Jewish people.

What is this passage teaching?

Is God using this difficultly in your life to further spread the gospel? We see the move of God through the scattering of His Church during great times of trouble. We are all faced with hardship and trouble in our lives, but is God trying to use you to take the Word where it hasn’t been yet? Philip didn’t just take it to those who were like him. Through this opportunity of persecution, he preaches to the Samaritans, a people group who were half Jewish and would have been looked down on by society.

How do I respond?

Preach the gospel to everyone, no matter their background or race.