God At Work Everywhere – Scattered Part 2

Since our entire church family was scattered to our homes during this coronavirus lockdown and we began joining God in what he has been doing on a global scale, live streaming our services and ramping up our social media presence, we have had people viewing our online content from Rwanda, Australia, South Africa, America, Germany, The United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Poland, Malaysia, Vietnam, Spain, India, Zambia, Canada, Kenya, Denmark, Zimbabwe, Holland, Bangladesh, Brazil, Indonesia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Philippines, Iraq, Thailand, Italy, Mexico, Japan, South Korea, Egypt, Nepal, France, Russia, Singapore, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Morocco,Cambodia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Greece, Kuwait, Taiwan, Ukraine, Ireland, Oman, Romania, Qatar, Algeria, Hong Kong, Georgia, Kazakhstan as well as all overthe UK!

NONE OF THIS WAS PLANNED BY US BUT GOD HAS USED A SERIES OF EVENTS NONE OF US WOULD HAVE WISHED FOR TO BRING ABOUT AN OPPORTUNITY NONE OF US WOULD EVER WANT TO HAVE TURNED DOWN.

When the Holy Spirit of God lives inside you, you will find that you are empowered toshare good news of great joy with all people. Don’t just take my word for it. One of the early disciples of Jesus was a man named Luke who wrote an account of the life and ministry of Jesus but also wrote about the acts of the apostles of the early Christian church. In the very first chapter of the book of Acts, Luke reminds us of the words of Jesus to his disciples:

Acts Chapter 1 Verse 88

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be mywitnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’

Notice that the catalyst for the sudden growth of the church was the coming of God’sHoly Spirit, not into a building but onto God’s people and into their hearts. Notice also the twofold promise Jesus gave his disciples that the Holy Spirit would empowerhis people and would use them as witnesses all over the world! That is the promise spoken about in the first chapter of Acts but it’s a promise that would be met with significant resistance. In Acts chapter seven, we see that the church has still not advanced beyond the city, having faced opposition from zealous Jews. Persecution began with a man named Stephen who spoke boldly about his faith in Jesus. Stephen who spoke boldly about his faith in Jesus, reminding his opponents that:

  • Abraham was not born a Jew and yet God came to him
  • Abraham was a hero of faith because of his willingness to go wherever God’s Spirit led him to go
  • The people of Israel resisted the Holy Spirit who spoke to them through Moses and commanded them to go to the land they were being called to
  • This resistance had consistently been demonstrated by Israel’s ancestors’ persecution of prophets

Stephen also makes mention of the fact that God does not dwell in temples made by human hands, a direct challenge to the Jewish animosity towards their neighbours inSamaria who had a rival temple on Mount Gerizim and were considered heretics for not accepting that the centre of their faith was the temple in Jerusalem.

Stephen’s speech produces two different reactions in two different groups of people:

  1. Zealous Jewish leaders like Saul started persecuting Christians
  2. Christians spoke boldly about Jesus wherever they went.

Did God order their persecution? No, Saul did. Did God know they would be scattered by this evil persecution? Absolutely. Did God use what was meant for evil to bring about good? Yes! Did God use the most qualified evangelists to spread the good news? No.

The sharing of good news with all people everywhere is not a task for the few but themany, not just the trained but the equipped and empowered and not just in our churches but in our communities, our counties, our country and our world!

You have your own account of Jesus to tell and you go to places and speak to people I don’t. Some of you watching live in countries I may never travel to and speak languages I may never learn. Maybe God has been calling you to do something new or to go somewhere new and you’ve been resisting him, convinced that you’re not the right person to fulfill the plan he’s talking to you about. It’s time for you to surrender and step out of your comfort zone.

Listen to the full talk on our podcast below…

Share This Post

Recent Posts