Title: Philip's Gospel Ministry
Contents
Philip's Gospel
Acts 8:1-13
This is the story of deacon Oh Myung-shin of Janggae Church in Shincheon, Hwanghae Province. He was beaten countless times by his husband because he believed in Jesus and went to church. I kept praying for you. One day, his husband came home drunk and went to find his wife, who had gone to a revival meeting. In the darkened chapel, he grabbed the hair of the woman he thought was his wife and came out and beat him. After falling down screaming, I saw that the woman was not his wife, but the head of the house. Terrified, he begged for his life. The butler, who was the head of the house, said that if he did two things, he would not be sent to prison. In the future, he was told not to hit the five deacons and to go to church. So, from the next day, he believed in Jesus and left the church and became a deacon. The answer to the prayer of the deacon was that the wife of the head of the village was beaten, and the husband was saved. Prayer changes things. The salvation of one soul is achieved through those who take up the cross for others.
We learned of Stephen's martyrdom last time. Stephen's death had four consequences.
As recorded in verse 1 (1), it was an opportunity to change Saul into Paul.
(2) Stephen's death brought persecution. Martyrdom should have brought good results, but on the contrary it brought bad effects. When we believe in Jesus, we are very sincere and loyal, and a Christian suddenly dies, so sometimes the family does not believe in Jesus.
Why does God give such great suffering to those who believe well? It is to bless that family more and use it as an instrument of greater faith.
(3) As persecution came through the death of Stephen, it resulted in scattering.
The question arises as to whether God does not gather his beloved people but scatters them.
Why? They scatter because they don't go, and when people settle down, they settle down.
That is why God scattered Abraham from Ur of the Chaldeans.
It is because you know better than anyone that it is an environment in which faith cannot grow when you are there.
After the Korean War, there were many trials and tribulations, so many emigrated to foreign countries. And many churches were built there. I didn't know it at the time, but it was God's providence and plan.
(4) Because they had to be scattered, they gave up Jerusalem and went to each region.
Here we find a reason to take a good look at the Bible. Acts 1:4 tells us not to leave Jerusalem.
Wait for the promise of the Father, which I have heard
You said. However, if we do not know the will of God to allow persecution to come through the martyrdom of Stephen and to scatter the saints, we misunderstand the Bible.
Think about it. At first, 120 people in the upper room gathered in Mark to pray, and after receiving the Holy Spirit, a miracle happened.
As Peter preached, three people were baptized a day, and later, the number increased to 5,000, and the church grew vigorously.
Perhaps the believers at that time thought that it was God's will to do church work here rather than go elsewhere to preach the gospel.
And it's good here. There must have been many who thought of settling here now.
So, God who planned the world mission eventually scatters the church members in Jerusalem, and it is God who wants the gospel to be spread not only to Jerusalem, Judah, and Samaria, but also to the ends of the earth.
Dear saints,
Look again at verse 1, verse 8.
Chapter 7 deals with the history of Jerusalem. And Judea and Samaria begins in chapter 8.
Let's go back to today's text and pay attention to verse 1.
It speaks of the worst state of persecution and scattering. Our God is a master of reversal.
Speaking of baseball, he is the one who loses the game until the end of the 8th, then goes to the bottom of the 9th and hits a home run.
God is the one who makes the worst of our conditions the best.
He is the one who comes to us when we are in despair and is discouraged and turns it into hope.
He is the one who comes and turns us into blessings when we are giving up and getting frustrated.
We are failures, suffering, and persecution, but God is the one who turns them into glory and a beginning for the future.
see verse 2
Suddenly, the story of Stephen's funeral appears.
At that time, not only were there bad people, but there were also godly and good people.
Stephen's story is now over. The important thing is that everyone dies at least once in life.
But the important thing is how he lived and died. It is about how much that person lived and died while fulfilling the will of God.
Things did not change after Stephen died. On the contrary, in verse 3, the persecution is more severe than in the past.
I'm talking
If you look at it here, the saints at that time must have prayed fervently after hearing the news of Stephen. But the situation is not changing. On the contrary, the persecutors are persecuting even more severely.
Even today, when hardship or persecution comes, we pray for the environment to change, but there are cases where it does not change. God's will is that our beliefs change rather than the circumstances change. God is more interested in how we change than in how things change. That is why God's thoughts and our thoughts are different.
God wants people to change, but humans want systems and circumstances to change.
I hope you realize the truth that things change when you change.
If we believe that bad circumstances change when we change, then our prayers should pray for me to change.
Greetings. When I change, the environment also changes.