This last Sunday, our church in Anaheim, California was privileged to welcome the preaching of our denomination’s Chief Executive Office Dr. Willie Nolte again. He opened his sermon with the natural living example of how so many plants, designed and created by God, have this amazing ability to spread, grow and adapt within their environment. Succulents and vines can have a piece cut or drop off and wherever it lands or is transplanted, it will take root and, by design, grow. There is a saying that is applicable to us that says, “Bloom where you’re planted”. The natural response of Believers and Followers of Jesus Christ when they move from place to place, no matter where they find themselves or the circumstances that they find themselves, there is a nature response, activity and lifestyle that we see in Acts, chapter 8.
Acts 8:1-8 “On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. But Saul began to destroy the church.
Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison. Those who had been scattered preached the Word of God wherever they went. Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there. When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said. For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. So there was great joy in that city.”
2020 A.D. (the term anno Domini (AD) is used to label or number years in the Julian
and Gregorian calendars. The term anno Domini is Medieval Latin and means "in the year of the Lord") started with great expectations, plans, schedules and activities, but suddenly and unexpectedly came to a catastrophic crash by a series of disastrous chain of events for all of us. This type of drastic change of circumstance (bad, different and not before experienced) is what Acts 8:1-8 is about. This wide-spread persecution was a surprise. By-and-large, the first years of the Christian church had been going pretty well. In Chapters 2,4, and 6 you read that the Christians found great favor with the people of the land; they were preaching and thousand were believing and being baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. The Christians were teaching and the church was growing, becoming part of the body of Believers in the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
The sudden persecution that led to the Christians being scattered then was a surprise, but should it have been unexpected? What we have here is the unfolding of God’s “big plan” of what God has for the Christian church. The “Big Picture” for the church, we have given to us by the Lord Jesus before He ascended to Heaven and is recorded in Act 1:8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” The “Big Picture” of the church was that it was always going to leave Jerusalem and spread out until, eventually, the entire world would hear the Gospel (the Good News) of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. This sudden persecution was the unfolding of that plan and process.
Fast forward a couple thousand years to today, we the Christian church around the globe is the continuation of the unfolding of God’s “Big Plan”. It started right there in Acts chapter 8 and it has not stopped since; the expansion of the Gospel continues even today. What if we think of the “2020 BOOM” reality and look at this catastrophic crash by a series of disastrous chain of events through the lens of the first believers in Christ did? All of a sudden, they were displaced, their world had changed, they faced hardship and had never gone through that before. What did they do? Whatever they did Dr. Nolte suggests would be good for today’s Christians to do as well. Why? Because we are a continuation of God’s Big Plan and Picture.
Let's continue Dr. Nolte's message on God's Big Plan and Picture in the next post.
In Christ, Brian
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