8:1-4
Did God cause the persecution to get the church "off its backside" and on with the plan (1:8)? Or did God take the opportunity created by evil and use it expand the church?
Frankly, we are not given the answer. Either way, we see God is in control and the church is an unstoppable force. (Matthew 16:18).
At this point in the book, we need to ask, "What can stop a church from succeeding?" The church started in extraordinary circumstances, the Sanhedrin has tried to stop it a couple of times, inside problems threatened it (Ananias and the Grecian widow problem), and now murderers threaten it; but each threat only makes it stronger.
Nothing can stop Christ's church. There are rough spots, but they can be used either as friction to slow us or as traction to speed us up.
3 comments:
Well put. It would be a refreshing change to deal with "real" problems insteade of the petty things that go on in many churches. Do you think your application applies to these situations as well?
yes. The key is not the problem, but how we handle it. And, of course, any problem which has the potential to slow the church is a BIG problem.
I agree any problem has the potential to either uplift or damage the church.If we turn to God for the answers we grow not only as a body, but as individuals.But when we turn to our own desires and not our God.We can damage our faith severly, and the body of believers around us .
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