After Stephen

Each month VOM produces "The Jesus Freaks Minute," a daily radio-PSA that shares the stories of the persecuted church with Christian radio listeners all over the United States and around the world. Here's the script for one of the spots that will air next month, a spot entitled After Stephen:

[SOURCE:] Acts 7 & 8

[LYRICS:]  What will people think when they hear that I’m a Jesus Freak.  What will people do when they find that it’s true?

[MICHAEL TAIT:]  Hey, this is Michael Tait with truth every Jesus Freak should hear from The Voice of the Martyrs.

[TODD:]  Acts, chapter seven, records the Stoning of Stephen and his final words, “Lord, do no hold this sin against them.”  What happened then?  Did the first martyrdom of a believer cause the new church to collapse?

Persecution swept through Jerusalem.  The apostles witnessed Saul dragging Christians off to jail while most of the other godly men scattered across Judea and Samaria.

But they didn’t hide.  They spoke boldly.  Preaching the word wherever they went. Proving once again that what man intends for evil, God intends for good.  

[YOUR TURN:] Is there a time in your life where God took something that seemed bad and turned it into something that was for your good and for the good of His Kingdom? Share your experience in the comments section to this post.

Comments

[Kitty M.]

God does something like that every day in my life, sometimes small, sometimes large. He is so good and faithful. He bring life out of death!

"Death cannot hold the resurrection life,
The life of God eternal manifest;
’Tis uncreated, indestructible,
’Tis Christ Himself, unconqu’rable, expressed!

Death cannot hold the resurrection life,
Though all its force against it may combine;
Death only gives it opportunity
To show the boundless pow’r of life divine.

Death cannot hold the resurrection life,
The more interred, the more it multiplies;
All kinds of suff’ring only help it grow
And fruits of life abundant realize!"

[Joe Sanders]

I was blackballed at work and eventually forced out yet God gave me a better job. another situation, my wife was attacked for her faith and eventually forced out of her job but in it the Lord helped us to see him better and grow in the suffering.