Doug Van Meter - 25 March 2012
Gospel Progress (Acts 8:1-25)
In this chapter we read that persecution, under the management of Saul of Tarsus, came upon the church in Jerusalem, and that it was so intense that “they were all scattered.” But as someone has said, the devil overplayed his hand because the net effect of the persecution was further progress of the gospel, the harvesting of more souls and, no doubt, the planting of more churches. As Bengel comments, “the wind increases the flame.”1 This is often how it is. In the words of an early church father, the blood of martyrs is the seed of the church. Perhaps there is no better example of this than what we have before us in Acts 8. Our goal in this study is to consider the first 25 verses of this chapter. We will do so under two major headings. May we be encouraged to persevere in the Great Commission regardless of the problems and troubles that we face along the way.
From Series: "Acts Exposition"
This series comprises the sermons preached at BBC during an exposition of the book of Acts.