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I am using readings from the 49 Week Bible Challenge as the basis for these devotions. I encourage you to join me in this discipline. Today’s readings are Acts 8; 1 Kings 8; 13; 18.
Acts 8:1-8
And Saul approved of [Stephen’s] execution.
And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. 2 Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. 3 But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.
4 Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. 5 Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ. 6 And the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip, when they heard him and saw the signs that he did. 7 For unclean spirits, crying out with a loud voice, came out of many who had them, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. 8 So there was much joy in that city.
I learned from my homiletics professor the skill of thematic preaching. You engage the hearer in the theme. Each major point flows from the theme. If there is an “A” for a major point, you musts have a “B.” And if a 1, then a 2. Those rules were a great help for me in my earliest years of ministry. It is a clear way of organizing a sermon and an easy way for people to listen. We learned not to scatter the message by making divergent points.
There are other ways to organize a message about Jesus. But they should not be scattered, distracting people’s attention.
Tell that, however, to the people who were scattered by the “great persecution” that broke out against the church. They were scattered. But God used that scattering to advance the message of the Gospel. “Those who were scattered went about preaching the word,” Luke records. God can use even persecution and disruption to spread the gospel.
When I was a kid, I enjoyed blowing the seeds off the heads of ripe dandelion blossoms. The white seeds would fly into the wind. I had no idea that I was actually spreading the growth of a pesky weed.
I wonder whether Satan had any idea that the vitriol he stirred up against the message of Jesus would come back on him. The persecution incited proclamation. That’s how truth works. It will not be silenced. It will not be quashed.
Where have you been scattered? Where has injustice sent you? Is there someone there who needs to hear the message of Jesus? Have you been scattered so that you can scatter the message of Jesus?
David Bahn - Reflections 
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