Persecuted But Still Preaching - Daily Devotional Janaury 8th, 2009

Bible Reading Plan - Genesis 8, Matthew 8, Ezra 8, Acts 8

Persecuted But Still Preaching

All of us are called to share our faith with others no matter if we are a preacher or not. Sure when we hear the word preach we simply think of the guy up on stage on a Sunday morning but this simply is not the case. Preaching is just simply sharing the good news about Jesus Christ and all the wonderful things He has done with other people. Although we are all called to do this as Christ followers many of us do not because of the persecution we feel from others or the fear of it.

Acts 8 is an extremely challenging yet encouraging portion of scripture for us today. Look here at Acts 8:1b-4, "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. Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison. Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word". The Christians are experiencing great persecution not like what you and I might experience today. They are being dragged to prison or even stoned to death. You and I might be ridiculed, called names or be told to shut up but here in the U.S. we are not being dragged out of our homes or killed for preaching our faith (at least not yet).

When we read through the book of Acts we often think of the disciples as the ones that were doing the preaching but it says the church excluding the disciples were scattered about and then later in verse 4 it says those who were scattered (not the disciples) were going about preaching the word. In the face of persecution (prison & death) these believers continued to preach the word because they knew of the redeeming power of Jesus Christ. This challenges me today because how often do we not share our faith with others because of what they might think or because we might get in trouble with the boss. How many times do I as a pastor experience resistance from people or even spiritually as we plant his church and want to give up? To be honest more often than I want to admit but today I am filled with hope and encouragement that if these Christ followers in Acts can face death and prison but still preach then I can face my forms of persecution but still be preaching!!!!

I have learned that resistance and persecution usually means you are headed in the right direction. So today as you think about all of the wonderful things God has done for you, tell the world about it. After all we can be persecuted but still be preaching.

Tomorrows Bible Reading - Genesis 9, Matthew 9, Ezra 9, Acts 9

Dream Big
Ben