Tabor Baptist Church

Introduction

• A watershed moment in the life of the early church
• Not just apostles being persecuted but men & women of the church
• Reading: Acts 8:1-8
• Sometimes in life things can look very bleak
• Can we imagine what it must have been like?
• It was a terrible time for the Church
• Yet God was mightily at work in one of the worse moments of the Church
• The Gospel was to spread beyond Jerusalem
• Philip was sent to Samaria and there was great joy throughout the city
• We may not have faced persecution but we have faced moments of difficulty
• Has God not often been at work during these times?
• A watershed moment
• Till chapter 8 the Church has been confined to Jerusalem
• The gospel was to go out in ever increasing circles
• That had not happened until this stage - the preaching had not yet gone beyond Jerusalem
• God would use persecution to ensure the Gospel would spread
• Saul
• We see his wickedness
• He was fanatical for the cause
• Maybe this was the beginning of God stirring him up [to his salvation]
• Overview:
• From Saul to Paul - Sinner to Saint
• From Persecution to Proclamation
• From Jerusalem to Samaria

From Saul to Paul - Sinner to Saint

• Saul was present at Stephen's death
• He was holding his clothes
• He would have heard Stephen's words and prayer
• 8:1
• Moreover Paul caused havoc of the church
• He put them in prison
• He was after the Christians
• He couldn't stand them and wanted to stamp out the Gospel message
• A great change was wrought in Paul
• God showed wonderful mercy to Saul
• God used this for His glory
• Even a change of name - but he praised God and always gave his testimony
• Acts 22:3-5
• Acts 22:14-14
• 1 Tim 1:13
• What about us?
• Our past may have not been like Saul's ...
• ... but we all have a past
• Gal 2:20 - have we been crucified with Christ?
• Can we say "It is no longer I that live, but Christ that lives in me"?
• Can we say 'Jesus Christ has loved me and given His life for me?'
• Example of Stephen James from Prison Ministries

From Persecution to Proclamation

• A great persecution arose (v1)
• God permitted this
• They were scattered
• It was a day of mourning
• For Stephen (v2)
• Do we mourn great believers?
• The church felt it keenly
• God had other plans
• 'Unless a grain of wheat dies'
• Quote: The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church
• Preaching (v4) - not a church like preaching, but the word in the Greek means a quiet speaking, 'gossiping the gospel'
• Acts 11:19 - speaks of where the Gospel reached
• Satan had overplayed his hand
• He stirs up people against the Church of Jesus Christ ...
• ... but God used this for the expansion of the kingdom
• 2 Cor 4:7-12
• Acts 8 is so encouraging
• It tells us of great persecution but a great proclamation
• It tells us of a great persecutor (Saul) but a great salvation

From Jerusalem to Samaria

• 1:1 - the Church is to spread
• The Church spreads to Samaria
• Was it wrong for them to scatter?
• The apostles stayed
• But it was wrong for others to run away
• Jesus advised people to flee in persecution
• The Gospel had spread from Jerusalem to Samaria
• We are now going to focus on Samaria
• Samaria was not a great place in the eyes of the Jews
• Jesus had deliberately gone to Samaria (the woman at the well in Syca)
• The harvest would come later - John 4
• Philip went to Samaria to preach to them (v5)
• One man only
• Propelled by the Holy Spirit
• We don't know the details
• The power of the Gospel goes forth, miracles are performed
• God begins to work in the Samaritans
• Philip does wonderful works
• Many are converted and there is much joy in the city
• Are we prepared to go to unlikely places?
• Think of Nineveh
• Think of Samaria
• An unmistakable work of God
• A pattern: the preaching in the power of the Holy Spirit authenticated by many works and miracles
• Samaria, then to Cornelius, then to the disciples of John the Baptist (Acts 19:1-7)
• It rarely happens today
• God can smooth a pass and give success
• These were apostolic days
• Consider what Philip had been doing previously - deaconal responsibility
• He was gifted with evangelism
• Do we have other gifts?
• We don't here much of Philip after Acts 8 (yes he will speak to the Ethiopian eunuch)
• There was great joy in Samaria (v8)
• They have heard of the Saviour
• They have found the forgiveness of sins
• Christianity is/should be characterised by joy
• We have every reason to rejoice
• Let us not lose our first love

Closing Remarks