from 1:8 to 8:1

• Acts 8:1 (NLT)

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In Acts 1:8, we get the incredible promise and mission to be Jesus' witness at home and abroad. This is the mission statement for followers of Christ (the church), but if we are not careful we study the statement and never do what the statement says.

Acts 8:1 gives followers of Christ the opportunity to live out the mission. And the catalyst for the launch in the world abroad is persecution. After the killing of Stephen, the religious leaders begin an offensive against the followers of Christ. Saul spearheads the operation.

Some thoughts ...

- persecution leads to great works of God (the gospel got out of Jerusalem and began spreading to Judea and Samaria).

- persecution is to be expected ("Remember this: servants don't get better treatment than their master. If they beat on me, they will certainly beat on you..." JOHN 15:20)

- following Jesus is not going to be easy or comfortable, but it is going to be an incredible adventure, life changing, and will take us places we never thought we could be.

- the persecution we face is never bigger than the God we serve ("We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed." 2 CORINTHIANS 4:9)

- what followers of Christ need is not deliverance FROM persecution, what we need is victory THROUGH persecution. we need a conviction for our mission (Acts 1:8) that only comes through persecution (Acts 8:1).

So here is my challenge today ... If I believe Acts 1:8, then I have to be willing to live Acts 8:1.

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