Psalm 8:1 A great wave of persecution began that day, sweeping over the church in Jerusalem; and all the believers except the apostles were scattered through the regions of Judea and Samaria. 2 (Some devout men came and buried Stephen with great mourning.) 3 But Saul was going everywhere to destroy the church. He went from house to house, dragging out both men and women to throw them into prison.
4 But the believers who were scattered preached the Good News about Jesus wherever they went.
This describes events shortly after Stephen (1st Christian martyr) was stoned to death, the account of which is found in Acts 7.
It does make ya wonder that the persecution was used by God to get His new Christian followers off their butts & out into the world. There are accounts earlier in Acts about how they had sold their earthly goods, had their money held in common with everyone else, & were basically waiting for Jesus to return.
God wasn't gonna have any of that.
So there was persecution, so they headed for the hills.
The result?
The people who ran off to get away from Saul's persecution ended up telling people about Jesus, & spreading the gospel.
Hmmmmmmm...
Sometimes we bellyache when things aren't going just peachy keen.
Maybe God's using tough times to get us off our butts & spread the gospel.
Just a thought...
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