Acts 8:2Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. 3But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison.
Philip in Samaria
4Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. 5Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there. 6When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said. 7With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed. 8So there was great joy in that city.
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Do you remember 2001? If you were too young to remember please stay tuned in. I remember it because fear embraced the nation. The economy was spiraling out of control and then terror hit which caused everything to really crash.
The company I worked for decided to lay off staff and many jobs were on the line. We nervously waited to hear our fate. Everyone was distracted that week. Toward the end of the week I got a tip to call around to people in the company who could use my skills.
On Friday I found a person who wanted my skills but we had to make a decision to move from the Midwest to the west coast. After a very brief prayer and a shorter conversation with my wife we decided to move. They said to me, "Get on a plane, you start Monday."
Wow! What have I done? Our lives changed that quickly. We were no longer Midwesterners but west coast dwellers. The entire country had a different attitude. Many stories like mine happened around that time. Unfortunately, some were not quite as happy. Many jobs and lives were lost and people had their lives changed in other ways.
BUT GOD had a reason for our move. We connected with a church that served multiple communities including Mexico. We went on many day trip "missions trips" to Mexico serving churches and people in need.
Believe me, I never would have thought I would be doing that. In fact if everything stayed the same, I would never had move to the west coast and I would have been content to make enough money to retire and die leaving my kids wealthy.
GOD shook up the nation then as HE is now. HE is now scattering people just like we see in Acts. Then Christianity was growing by leaps and bounds. People were getting more and more bold about speaking about CHRIST. The religious leaders weren’t having it.
They wanted to remain in control so they spread persecution to anyone who proclaimed the message that the CHRIST had come and had already saved mankind. The people were scattered but the message was now being preached with more power than before.
- GOD has a "purpose for trouble" that I cannot understand.
- GOD has a "plan for me" if I'm open to going where HE wants me to go.
- GOD can see a need for my skills, I have to be open to using them for HIS purpose.
- GOD uses turmoil to do some greater things in everyone’s life.
I see that the gospel was spread further and faster when turmoil hit the church. Many people feared their very lives, yet they still preached the GREAT NEWS about JESUS. HE has done the same thing in my life and continues to scatter HIS people.
I have spoken to many people who have lost their jobs or moved to another city to remain in the workforce. Their content lives were tossed upside down and now they find themselves in a new place they have never been before.
"GOD where are you?", they scream!
- GOD says "In the middle of trouble, I AM here with Peace."
- GOD says "I love you and I love the people I'M delivering you to."
- GOD says "I AM in control of this situation, please have faith to let ME do MY work."
- GOD says "I AM."
My problem is that I believe I know how my life should go. As I said before, I thought my purpose was to make a lot of money in the Midwest and retire. I never thought I would move to the west coast. I never thought I would move back to the Midwest. I don't know where HE will lead me next.
Wherever GOD leads me I will go with HIS message on my lips.
- Why are you in your situation?
- Are you being persecuted on your job?
- Are you out of work?
- Why has GOD picked you to be in this situation?
- Have you told one person about HIS GRACE, MERCY and LOVE recently?
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