Acts 8

I continue to be impressed by the early church. As seen in acts 8:1-3, they were obviously affected by the stoning of Stephen:

And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. 2 Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. 3 But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.

You might think the natural reaction would be to go into hiding. After all, first Jesus and now one of his followers have been killed. But, instead, notice verse 4:

Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.

Because of this persecution, we see that the Good News starts to spread throughout Judea, whereas before the disciples were only hanging out in the temple. God has effectively taken something awful and through the disciples faithfulness turned it into something good.

This is a theme we will see emphasized even more in the ministry of Paul. I need to remember, where I see persecution, God sees opportunity.