Welcome to the Lansdale Life Church podcast.
If you're seeking a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, this podcast is for you.
Thank you for joining us today.
So if you could turn to Acts chapter 8. We're just looking at four verses today.
It was a pleasure having Tevin up here last week. Did you like that?
Having my son-in-law Tevin. Yeah, he's such a blessing and a great man of God.
Always enjoy when he's in town. He said, hey, can you spare a sermon while you're up here?
And I love also when you can just say we're up to this part in scripture.
Do you mind just grabbing the next part? And people are in the word all the time and used to
marinating in the word and being able to translate it to others.
They can do that. They could just pick right up and continue on.
So today we're going to look at pivoting with God's plans as we look at this pivotal moment
in church history when the church expands from Jerusalem to around the world.
It all starts here. This is an amazing time.
So let's pray and thank the Lord for teaching us here today in the word.
So Father God, we thank you that your spirit is here.
Lord, we welcome your spirit right now
to come upon us.
Lord God, we thank you for your word.
That your spirit knows exactly what to do with your word.
And we ask you, Lord, to do something that is unnatural but is very normal for you,
that you would impute new revelation and illumination into our hearts and minds about
your character, about your will, so that we can leave here more transformed in your image.
We love you. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.
So, you know, we have the greatest life on earth, don't we, when you think about it?
I mean, we're new creations, right? That means that we walk this earth as almost like hybrids,
okay? I'm not saying we're God. We're not God. But we have the spirit of God dwelling in us.
We are the temples of the Holy Spirit. The power of God is in and upon us.
Even the enemy has to flee from us. When we know whose we are, we walk in that identity
in Jesus Christ. We have an amazing life, don't we? I mean, we are more than conquerors. Amen.
I mean, we can do anything. We just sang that nothing is impossible for the Lord, right?
And yet, is every day a great day for you in the earthly realm, you know? I could vouch that this
year hasn't been the greatest for me in an earthly mindset, a lot of things, you know? But still,
we are more than conquerors, regardless of what this world dishes out, right? We are always more
than conquerors. And in this world, we encounter a lot of tragedy, a lot of crisis,
a lot of trials. I mean, you know, you look around the world, there's so many heinous things that
humanity is doing upon others. And the news cycle you just can't keep up with,
there's a lot of rough things happening. And yet, the Lord is moving in all of it.
And sometimes in those big crises moments, suddenly God wants us to shift and to pivot
and change the way we're doing things, to adjust to what God wants us to do in the midst of that.
You know, I was thinking about, for some reason, I was thinking about how we got drawn into World
War II. I mean, that was a catastrophe, that was a tragedy, wasn't it? I mean, Japan bombs Pearl
Harbor, and we were trying to stay out of it as long as we could, but all of a sudden, tragedy.
And it changed the whole course, really, of humanity. We entered into the world. A lot of
times, that's what happens. You change directions because tragedy happens, and you just adjust.
You know, so many things are that way. Even, you know, you watch the news, the Strait of
Day. You know, I mean, is gas going up or down? I don't know. You know, we're just adjusting to
Iran's adjustments every single day. We're pivoting, you know? But that's in the natural
realm. But really, in the individual sense, you know, things happen to us too, don't they?
You know, tragedies, crisis, trials. It's normal living down here. It really is, right? I mean,
everyone goes through things. You know, as you know, Tevin was preaching just this past Sunday,
and on Tuesday, his older brother died while riding a bicycle in Lake Tahoe. A man who was
a collegiate athlete, who was in tremendous shape, was riding his, you know, he rides all the time.
He's like a triathlon guy. He's riding with his father, and all of a sudden, he becomes light-headed.
We have a picture of him up there, if you could put that picture. There he is, six, seven.
I mean, he's a stud. Only 32 years old, Tevin's brother. And there he is, holding my grandson
coast, and holding Kingston's hand at a wedding they were at just this past year, right? But,
you know, just tragedy, just like that. You know, it's like, we're not meant for this kind
of tragedy in this world, and yet, we suffer it all the time, right? And, you know, I appreciate
your prayers. I put them on the prayer app for WhatsApp, and for the Lucas family, you know? But
you just don't know. I mean, the loss of loved ones, I mean, I would say that's
a tragedy, isn't it? That's a family crisis when those things happen.
Yeah. Sickness, when you get a diagnosis that, you know, no, I don't want this. You know,
I don't want this. This isn't what I want, you know? Or relational breakdowns, family breakdowns,
relationships corroding, you know? And you just, you know, how do we fix this? You know,
it's trials, it's crisis, you know? And then also, on a good note, you know, new opportunities.
God wants us to pivot to all of it, because when they happen, we know one thing, that Christ is in
the crisis. Amen. Christ is in the crisis. It doesn't matter what's happening. And you know what?
There's a strategy in the tragedy. God gave me that this morning. I'm like, I like that. Lord,
thank you. There really is a strategy. God's strategy is in everything, right? He already
knows what he wants to do. And all we have to do is say, Lord, how do I pivot to these
circumstances, you know? Whatever they are, whatever trials that are coming our way,
we have to pivot, because God has a strategy. He always has a plan, you know?
God works all things together to work for those who are called, who, according to his purpose,
and who love him. Amen. You know, he's always, he's always working things to his advantage
and using us to get there. Isn't that amazing? And what we're going to look at today is actually
something that church is going to go through. A crisis, a tragedy, persecution.
And it's, it's severe. You know, we, we read last week how Stephen, the first martyr was stoned
to death. You know, I've never seen a stoning and I never want to, you know? I mean, it's bad
enough seeing YouTube clips here and there and people getting shot, you know? And it's like,
well, I don't want to see that again. But a stoning has to be a gruesome thing. And imagine
being, you know, saints and, and friends of Stephen and seeing him just impaled with boulders.
His head crushed. I mean, sorry to get graphic, but that's what it must have looked like, right?
And they're seeing their friend that respected Stephen that everybody loves suddenly.
Really? Like, this is, how can this happen to him? And then what we're going to read is
suddenly there's this big wave of persecution. And you know, meanwhile, they're thinking like,
wait a minute, like everything was going so good. Yeah, there was some, there was some setbacks.
A couple of them got arrested. A couple of them got beaten. But by and large,
a church is blowing up in Jerusalem. Things are going awesome, right? And thousands and
thousands and thousands of people are getting saved, healed, delivered from demons. It was
just like, wow, like the sky's the limit for God. This is awesome. And suddenly this, like,
how can the enemy win? Like, how can this be? And you know, if I was in their human nature,
I might think, all right, did something go wrong, Lord? Like, did we do something? You know,
are you still with us here? Because it's suddenly like, this isn't the way it's supposed to go.
But you know what? God has a plan all the time, all the time. And he's going to use this crisis to
expand the church around the world. You know, when this happens here, we're about two to
four years into the church existing in Jerusalem, and they're still staying in Jerusalem. I can't
blame them. You know, when things are working well, you don't want to leave, right? And,
but you know, he told, in fact, in Acts chapter one, verse eight, he said,
but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses to
me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. See, he said, you're
going to be doing this. But two to four years later, there they are still in Jerusalem,
staying course with what they've always done. This is, we're just going to stick with what works.
And you know, a lot of times God has to allow something. I don't think he ordains it,
but he allows it to happen so that we adjust, we pivot to what God wants us to do. You know,
a lot of times we need that shock to say, all right, Lord, all right, all right, all right.
What now? We have to change the way we're doing things. And that's what we're going
to read about here today in Acts chapter eight. So let's dive in.
Now, Saul was consenting to his death. At that time, a great persecution arose against the church,
which was at Jerusalem. And they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea
and Sumeria. Isn't that interesting? Exactly what Jesus said to do. Except the apostles
and devout men carried Stephen to his burial and made great lamentation over him.
As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house and dragging off men and women,
committing them to prison. In verse four, therefore those who were scattered went everywhere,
preaching the word. So I wanted to start with, in verse three, Saul, he made havoc,
made havoc. We could put that slide up. Those two words are actually one word in Greek.
I love, I love Greek and Hebrew just to, you know, it's not boring when you grasp that
meaning of that word, you're thinking, now I get it. Now I really get the essence of it.
But it means to stigmatize, to dishonor, to defile, to treat shamefully,
or with injury, to ravage, devastate or ruin. So we say, oh, that's like havoc. We just think
confusion. No, this is devastation. This is, this is bringing shame upon the church. This is
significant. And what's interesting is it's only found once in your Bible, that word. And it's right
there in this pivotal moment when the church is just going to go boom and scatter throughout
the world. I mean, the gospel is just going to lead Jerusalem and keep on going like a tsunami
wave, right? It's going to take over the planet, but it had to start with a crisis. But Christ is
in the crisis, isn't he? God has a strategy and a tragedy. Am I overusing that yet? If I do,
just say, just give me a little sign, Jim, okay? Enough. But really, I mean, this is,
this is what's happening, you know? It's, it's really a heinous thing, what he's doing.
And you know, we need to make a little distinction between normal trials, which I started off with,
you know, death of loved ones, sicknesses, diagnosis, you know, war, all these things.
Those are just planetary sufferings. You know, there's words for that, okay? In fact, it's
Passo, it's like, it's just suffering of all kinds, okay? And then there's also another word,
fallipsis, which is tribulation. And all those things can connect with a lot of different kinds
of suffering. And Jesus said in John 16 33, that in this world, these things I've spoken to you,
that in me, in me, you may find peace. In the world, you will have tribulation. But be of good
cheer, I have overcome the world. And this tribulation is really kind of an umbrella term.
It includes persecution, but it also includes other kinds of suffering, right? In fact, it includes
describing childbirth, tribulation, you know, that, that pain, the suffering through childbirth,
actually in the same chapter Jesus brings up in 16 21 about how, you know, a woman goes through
birth, knowing that there's joy at the other end of this suffering. It also explains the suffering
of orphans and widows. So it's a normal term for to explain a lot of things. And Jesus is talking
about all tribulation, we can find peace in him. A lot of times we label things that we're going
through on being persecuted. Well, maybe it's just tribulation. I mean, we all go through stuff,
saved or not saved, born again, or not born again. This world has a lot of suffering to
dish out, doesn't it? But we can all find peace in Jesus Christ. But Paul said to Timothy,
you know what? But persecution, everyone is going to endure anyone who wants to live a Godly life
will suffer persecution. He said this in second Timothy 3 12. Yes, all who desire to live a Godly
live Godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. That's a different word. It's very specific
to sharing the gospel persecution. I know I want to live a Godly life, but I don't necessarily want
persecution. Well, eventually, somehow somewhere, it's going to go hand in hand. You know, right
now we have an administration that's friendly to Christians for now. But who knows what's coming
down the pike, right? We don't know. I mean, this world we we heard about other countries,
I was speaking to a guy from who he lives in California. Now he's a pastor of two Assyrian
churches. He's from Iran. And he stuck it out as long as he could. And I ran as a pastor,
but the persecution was getting so bad that he came to California. Now he's a pastor of two
churches and preaching the gospel to probably fellow Iranians. But you know, that's persecution
he endured. A lot of us haven't endured that kind of persecution. You know, and so to make a
distinction, like you can get laid off from your job, right? And it could be because you're a bad
worker. No one here, but like, this is a hypothetical. Okay. Let's just pretend. Okay.
You just, you did a bad job. Okay. And so they say, yeah, we just don't need you in that position
right now. Sorry, Jim. No, Jim, it's not you. It's me, Chris. Yeah. You know, just, yeah.
That position has been ended. All right. He's gone. Let's go fill that position. Right. Because
you could lose your job because you're just not good at it. Okay. You could lose your job
because the company's not doing well. Okay. And they're laying off. Okay. That's tribulation.
But you could be laid off because your boss just doesn't like you.
They're of a different spirit and they don't like all this Christ joy that you try to sprinkle
everywhere you go. And they loathe you because of that, right? Because there's a spirit of the
anti-Christ and that's why they don't like you. And you can be laid off for that reason or fired.
Okay. And I know some of you who work in big companies have to be careful that
politically correctness, because your bosses can be part of some other, you know, spiritual
phenomena. And they just don't like the Christ who's in you. That's persecution. So that's where
the differences are. But we know who's behind all persecution. Now we're in a fallen world. So we
just, this is a fallen world. So we all endure tribulation, but the devil is behind all
persecution. You know that we have an enemy. In fact, uh, Ephesians 6, 12 says we wrestle not
against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness
of this age and against spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places. You know what?
None of those things you can see. You can't see any of those four categories, but you can see
people manifesting those four categories. Can't you? Because when the spirit of the AntiChrist
hijacks a person or people and everyone really has been until they come to Christ,
there's an agenda behind the AntiChrist. So all persecution, the devil is behind it, right?
I have some examples. I just want to show a few verses. Um, if you could put up that collage
of Revelation 2, 10, 1 Thessalonians 2, 17, 18, and Acts 13, 8 to 10. Do not fear any of those things.
This is Jesus speaking to the churches. Do not fear any of these things which you are about to
suffer. Indeed, the devil, who? The devil is about to throw some of you into prison
that you may be tested. So the devil is behind persecution. We wanted to come to you. He's
writing to the Thessalonians, but Satan hindered us. The devil's behind the persecution. And finally,
Paul rebukes Elemis while he's in Cyprus as a man influenced by Satan, you son of the devil.
Will you not cease to be perverting the straight ways of the Lord? You see,
persecution is the devil is behind it. Why? Because he hates the saints because he hates
Christ. Jesus promised, you know, in this world, you know, you will have troubles,
but also the world will hate you because it hates me and you are of me. We are Christians
named after Christ, right? So the enemy hates us because he hates Jesus. So it's important for
us to understand that and grasp that because, you know, I'd rather realize that the enemy,
the Lord has already defeated. Okay. And we are more than conquerors against him.
Greater is he who is in us than he who is in the world. And you know, you know,
they're talking about the AntiChrist. So we have a greater spirit dwelling in us
who is greater than any demonic spirit on this planet or in the heavenlies or everywhere else.
Right. Because we have the Holy Spirit in and upon us.
And the Lord, the devil might be behind it, but guess who's above it?
Right. Jesus Christ. You can even see that beautiful picture we saw last week.
Jesus is being stoned. I mean, Steven is being stoned to death
and he looked up and who did he see standing at the right hand of the father?
Jesus Christ. I mean, wow. Like Jesus is usually seated. He stood up for this.
He stood up saying, just hang in there right here. Precious to the Lord is the death of his
saints. He's like saying, I'm here. Like, I got you. What you're about to do will have
rippling effects throughout humanity's history. This is an epic moment, Steven.
Just hang tough because great things will come as a result of your martyrdom.
And so one being the spread of the church all around the world, the gospel spreading
throughout the world. And so we see this great thing. So Satan is behind all of it.
But greater is he who is in us than he was in the world. I'm just going to look quickly
at four different categories of people that we see here in the midst of this crisis.
First of all, Paul. Saul was a young man, probably under 40 in his 30s.
He was very well educated at the feet of Gamaliel, who was like the most respected
scribe and teacher, right? And Paul was religious, zealous. He was on fire, right?
He was on this trajectory upward politically among the religious leaders of the Jews.
And they all love Paul and they give more and more power. You know, power corrupts, you know,
they give more and more power, a license to do basically whatever he wanted.
And so we see that he was making havoc throughout Jerusalem, dragging people out of their houses,
you know, not even afraid that the Romans might say, wait a minute, what are you doing here?
Like, we don't want the responsibility of this. No, Paul was just doing it.
He was that zealous. And yet, you know what was happening during this whole time?
As Paul was watching Stephen saying, do not hold this sin against them. I mean,
imagine that he's watching someone being stoned and he's hearing them forgive them.
You know, it reminds me of Erika Kirk, when she forgave Tyler Robinson. I forgive that young man.
I mean, that's mind boggling. It really is, you know, I mean, to just, wow, I mean,
forgiving, when you hear forgiveness, something heinous happens and you see people just say,
I forgive them almost immediately. It's like, wow, there's a believer. Only a believer can do
to forgive like that. You know, just publicly forgive. And yet there Paul, or saw at the moment,
is hearing that. You have to know that stuck to him. Like, wow, we're killing this guy.
And yet he's forgiving us. Like, that must have resonated in his mind over and over again.
And when he finally got saved, this very moment of time, Stephen being stoned, him wreaking havoc
on the early church, dragging people out, all of this, when he finally got saved in Damascus,
it all started rushing back. Imagine the guilt and shame, but then the great grace
just filling your mind thinking, like, God, you can forgive this? Like, wow, like, how? How can you
possibly forgive me? And he went on to write about it throughout his ministry. The first letter he
wrote to the Galatians in Galatians 1 13. He said, for you have heard of my former conduct in
Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it. And then about
eight years later, he wrote to the church of Corinth in 1 Corinthians. And he said, for I
am the least of the apostles who are not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the
church of God. But by the grace of God, I am what I am. They didn't love to be able to say that,
you know, he should have said, I was what I was because he knows what he is now. He's a born again
believer, but we can't dive into the grammar of that. But I am what I am. And his grace toward me
was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God,
which was in me. So eight years later, he's still writing about it. And then years after that,
he's writing to Timothy in his first letter to Timothy, 1 Timothy 1.
And he says, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into
the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. Now, I just want to stop there a second, because,
you know, a lot of people, in my view, use Paul in this verse, these verses, and Romans seven
to excuse sin in their life. Does anyone know what I'm talking about? Okay. They say, well,
even Paul was always like a Jekyll and Hyde wrapped up in his sin. And then like, he finally gets out
of it. And then he's back in like, that's not Paul. You got the wrong guy. Okay. He knew exactly
who he was in Christ. He wasn't always overwhelmed like some schizophrenic saint that he's totally
wrapped up in all of his sin. Then he finally gets a little clearer. And now he's like, oh,
finally fine. Oh no, I'm getting pulled back in again. Here I go again. No, that's not Paul. Okay.
And we don't have time to explain all that. But what this word says for whom I am first,
that's the word. It's not greatest. It's first, protos. However, for this reason, I obtain mercy
that in me first, Jesus Christ might show all long suffering as a pattern to those who are going
to believe on him for everlasting life. Think about this. Saul was like the worst of the worst.
That's why he was chosen to confound anyone else to say, you think you're too far gone?
No, you're not. The criminal on the cross wasn't too far gone to be saved. He only had moments or
hours left to live. He was saved. You know, if you're like a lot of people resist God,
because they think, yeah, but all that shame of my past, all that guilt, no, no, no,
he could save Paul. He could save you. He could save anyone. You know, his grace is always greater
than any sins that we have. We're the ones that keep trying to resurrect skeletons in the closet.
He doesn't, you know, he doesn't raise those dry bones back to life. You know,
he's rendered them dead. So should we, right? Because we are new in Jesus Christ and Paul
is fully aware of that. By the way, Romans six, seven, eight, you read seven alone. It sounds like
he's a schizophrenic use. You read six and eight. It all makes sense. Okay. Because eight says, no, no,
Paul knows exactly who he is in Jesus Christ. And so that's the first group of people is
conversion, you know, is like in a midst of trials and tribulations, people are converted.
People are transformed. You know, you hear this again and again in all kinds of countries
where people are just suddenly spiritually repent and realize the treachery that they cause.
You know, I was thinking about this. I remember, you remember the story of John Newton,
John Newton. Some of you're like, no, okay. But you probably heard of him. But so he was,
he grew up in London back in 1725. He was born. But anyway, so he was, he was a son of a merchant
sailor, captain, whatever a guy who's always out on the sea, delivering goods, making lots of money.
Right. And his mom taught him about the Bible and about God. She was a born again believer
and trained him up in the Lord until the age of six. Then she died of tuberculosis.
And so now his father came back off the sea, got remarried, and they sent little John away to a
boarding school. And while he's in the boarding school, kind of left his faith behind. That's
back out on the sea. He went out on the sea with his dad to be a merchant on the ocean.
And so he sailed with his father. So his skills of sailing and everything developed and so forth.
And then he was drafted into the Britain's Navy and he hated it. He didn't like it. He was a real,
like, you know, just a rough guy and just hated that. And so he tried to go AWOL several times
until he was flogged and dishonorably discharged. And then finally his life just kept spiraling and
spiraling into a more and more just debauchery. You know, he said he loved the sin. He loved the
curse. He loved to draw other people into sin. He just loved it. You know, he just made a mockery
out of God. All of the seed that was planted by his mom, he just left it behind. Right.
And so one day he actually became a transporter of slaves from Africa up to Britain. And so
he joined this and he was on this ship and he sailed ships from Africa to Britain,
delivering human slaves to Britain. And one time he was traveling in the Atlantic on the,
it's called the transatlantic route, that this huge storm came and it was so massive.
And the ship was just like gaining water and he was just so traumatized. And he was like,
we're all going to die. He was sure of it. And he just was so overwhelmed with fear.
He just called out to God and he just fell on his knees and prayed and shouted and cried and
he says, Lord, I'll change. I'll come back. And with that, the seas rested. I don't know how long it
took, but he knew this is a miracle. Okay. And suddenly the ship was at peace in the ocean.
And he realized God just did a miracle. I belong to him. He gave his life to Jesus on that ship.
And with that, he got back to Britain. He not only left the slavery trade,
he joined the abolition movement to free the slaves in Britain. And not only that,
but he became a pastor at a church and started preaching the gospel.
And not only that, but he wrote 280 hymns. One of them is amazing grace.
You know, that song now is going to sing today, but I don't know,
my voice isn't going to handle it. So who wants to lead us, but we could do a little, a little verse.
But now I was blind, but now I see.
Wow. Wow. Amen. Right? Imagine that being the worst of the worst.
And now fighting for the very people you persecuted in slavery. That was Paul.
He was transformed. Once he came to the Lord and all of these things in the midst of persecution
became his mantra, became his springboard into greatness for the kingdom of God.
Another group I just wanted to mention in this are the apostles.
You notice everyone scattered from Jerusalem, but the apostles stayed put.
You know, I thought about that. It's not like everybody left Jerusalem. There needs to be a
remnant that stays there. And Jerusalem became like the headquarters, the home base, if you will.
And Peter, James, John, the brother of Jesus, James, he actually became kind of like the head
administrator of the church, even though he was an unbeliever when Jesus was doing his ministry.
And they, in a sense, they held the fort. They were like the pillars because, you know,
there's still people getting saved in Jerusalem and people still went back to report to Jerusalem.
And I just think about that, like how, you know, in the midst of God doing something great,
we can't all go in the same direction, right? There needs to be people to maintain stability
in every environment. Think about this, Turkey, right? Turkey was where the seven churches
that Jesus wrote to in Revelation. And it's now 90, what percent Muslim.
Because something happened, right? You know, we need to realize that when God's moving,
there needs to be someone to stay behind and say, no, I'm going to stand firm.
I will hold the fort. I will be the pillar of the kingdom of God here in this place.
And that's what those apostles did. They said, yeah, it's going to get
nastier and nastier here in Jerusalem. But someone has to stay and make a representation
of the kingdom of God. And they stay. That takes some bravery. And the next group of people
were who? The people who buried Stephen. You think, well, what's that all about?
Well, you know, they treated his body with respect and honor. They carried the legacy, you know.
And I just really think that's so important to realize that those who have gone before us
and were martyred. And, you know, when I go to we were in South Korea one time on a mission
trip, and we went to that funeral of the cemetery of all the martyrs and those who gave their life
to share the gospel to South Korea, because they used to be like barbarians. You know,
the first Christians in South Korea were literally executed like immediately. So as they got to the
shore, they were killed. You know, and now is one of the greatest mission sending countries in
the world, South Korea. And there they had this this cemetery of just all these different families
who died on the mission field in South Korea, and they were paid honor and tribute. You know,
it's important for us to honor the legacy of the kingdom of God, to just honor these people
like we just did even for John Newton. Just say, you know what? I belong to that same tribe.
You know, I think it's awesome. You know, Charlie Kirk, what you know, this trial that's going on,
I think is refreshing all of our memories about Charlie Kirk, because, you know,
he represented the kingdom. Not everybody loved everything he said, but he represented Jesus
Christ to the best of his ability. And it's important for us to just honor that and say,
you know what? I'm part of that tribe, you know, to honor people who share the gospel fearlessly,
being unashamed, right? And then finally, the last group of people are those who went.
They went and shared the gospel. And notice, verse three says they were all, or verse two,
or one of them was saying, they're all scattered from Jerusalem. It sounds like they're running
away. They're not running away to hide. They're running away to plant seed. They're running away
to share the gospel. That's what we, you know, there's going to be some that go, some that stay.
There's going to be all kinds of pivoting going on, depending on what God has called you to do
as the worship team comes forward and leads us out with some worship.
You know, what is God calling us in the midst of this time? Like right now, persecution is a hard
thing to pull heartstrings towards right now because we're not experiencing a whole
lot of persecution right now in this country, but go other places. That's what I love about
when Bill Devlin comes to share with what's going on in Nigeria and other parts of the world that
he goes to. And then we can realize that we don't have a clue here, but we could still be praying
for them and be unashamed of their message, their testimony, and realize that the same
thing that's happened to them can one day happen to us. It happened in Canada. That's pretty darn
close, right? Persecution right in Canada. Who would have thought that 10 years ago? Well, 15 years ago.
And yet it's happening. It's happening and it can happen here again. But the important
thing is for us to realize things aren't happening to us. Okay. It's a persecution,
but Christ is in the crisis. There's a strategy in the tragedy art that's the last time.
But, but really God has a plan and we are part of his plan. And so we don't have to be frazzled and
oh my gosh, what's going to happen? I don't know. You know, it's like, no, all right, God,
this looks pretty nasty. This looks pretty dangerous. What do you want from me
to do in this moment to make you shine, make you shine bright?
You know, I just want to share one more verse that, you know, Jesus talked about the seed,
the four soils. He looked at the soil that fell on the wayside, the path.
The third one was the seed that fell on thorny soil. It was choked out,
riches and distractions of life. But the second one, which is considered
probably not those who are saved, but it's still a warning, a fresh reminder. He says,
but he who received the seed on stony places. This is he who hears the word and immediately
receives it with joy. Yet he has no root in himself, but in doors only for a while
for when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.
We don't want to stumble. We don't want to stumble. In fact, so often we see around the world when
persecution rises, when the enemy brings a great flood, he is greater than the flood.
He empowers the saints to rise up and stand for Jesus Christ. You know, in the early
church, he used to write letters to the early church to say, listen, don't willingly go and
have yourself martyred. Okay, you don't have to tell me that twice. I promise I won't. Right?
No, keep escaping until they finally trap you. Then go out in glory.
And you know, they said those early saints would run into the lion's den. Imagine that
they're running at the lion's like, what am I doing here? Is this person same? No,
they're filled with the Holy Spirit. People burned at the stake, willingly singing
because the power of God was in and upon them. You know, we don't have to worry when we go
through trials. I believe if we're right with the Lord, if we're rooted in the love of God,
the width, the length, the height, the depth of the love of God, we're deeply rooted in him.
We won't wither when the sun rises. We will, we will rise and we will bear so much fruit
because we are rooted in the Lord's love. Amen. Let's pray. Father God, we love you
and we thank you, Lord, that we are more than conquerors. We are new creations. We are a mighty,
mighty army, a holy nation, a royal priesthood, Lord God. We are the children of light and we put on
the armor of light. Lord God, the world needs us to shed your light on it, Lord God. Lord, empower
us with boldness, with courage and confidence and discernment and yet gentleness and meekness to know
how to interact with this lost and dark world. We thank you and we love you in Jesus' name. Amen.
Thanks for joining us at Lansdale Life Church as we praise God and discuss His Word.
Don't forget to join us for worship live Sunday mornings at 10 a.m. Eastern on YouTube.
Be blessed and have a great day!