Upon this Rock

The first days of the church.

The Church is being Persecuted Now what?

Acts 8:1b-8

Me:

I will turn the power off.

a. The crazy things that have happened to me

i. We are not normal

ii. The number reason is that you haven’t been shackled by tradition

iii. I think it is great

We:

Post Christian American

a. The pandemic has had a major impact on the church

i. Many traditional churches have suffered

ii. Pastors being fired to churches closing their doors

iii. People have learned that they can sit at home and have church.

iv. Rule #9 - You use what you got not what you hoped for.

b. There is another factor

i. The church was once highly thought of.

ii. A pillar of the community

iii. It’s not that way anymore

iv. There is outright hostility, or we are ignored

v. This doesn’t rise to the level of persecution of the first church

vi. But there are some principles

God:

Persecution Scatters the Believers

Believer are thrown in prison

Acts 8:1–3 NLT

1 Saul was one of the witnesses, and he agreed completely with the killing of Stephen. A great wave of persecution began that day, sweeping over the church in Jerusalem; and all the believers except the apostles were scattered through the regions of Judea and Samaria. 2 (Some devout men came and buried Stephen with great mourning.) 3 But Saul was going everywhere to destroy the church. He went from house to house, dragging out both men and women to throw them into prison.

b. A great wave of persecution

i. We are protected by the constitution

ii. As long we as we mind our own business

iii. There are groups that are trying to harm us.

iv. “But Saul was going everywhere to destroy the church”

v. It happened then it’s happening now

We have to decide

i. Do we hide?

ii. This is the strategy of many churches

iii. Title: “The Church is being Persecuted” “Now what?”

v. Look at the next passage

You – Action:

Great Joy

They preached the word.

Acts 8:4–8 NLT

4 But the believers who were scattered preached the Good News about Jesus wherever they went. 5 Philip, for example, went to the city of Samaria and told the people there about the Messiah. 6 Crowds listened intently to Philip because they were eager to hear his message and see the miraculous signs he did. 7 Many evil spirits were cast out, screaming as they left their victims. And many who had been paralyzed or lame were healed. 8 So there was great joy in that city.

Now is the time

i. There has never been a better opportunity

ii. We have the wonderful, good news

iii. People may be home watching

iv. It is just one tool to use not to begrudge

1. The missing ingredient is fellowship

2. We need each other

v. I have made the decision to lean into that.

1. In the coming weeks I will be producing lots of online content

2. I’m also considering one on one training

“So, there was great joy in that city.”

i. The opportunity is ours

ii. Hard times = great growth

Just imagine:

Gospel Driven

a. It’s the foundation of all we do.

i. You do need to look very far to see human suffering

ii. They are trapped

iii. There is only one way to freedom

Jesus

v. It doesn’t matter what the program is.

vi. If we are not talking about the good news we are wasting our time.

vii. Make it about Jesus

Just Imagine

b. The impact on this town

i. Don’t squander this opportunity