Friday after Jubilate, 4/30/99

Acts 8: 1b--4
On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at
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 men and women and put them in prison.  Those who had been scattered
preached the word wherever they went.
        NIV

In the name of the One Who causes the Gospel to be spread throughout the
World, amen.

Salt of the earth!  That is what you are.  But if the salt stays in the
shaker, it doesn't do much good.  The Church in Jerusalem had grown quite
large.  It was salt in the shaker, and it needed to get out into the
world to preserve it.  So God picked up the shaker by the hand of Saul
and began to shake.  The salt went everywhere, and everywhere it went it
did the work of preserving through the Gospel.  

We've been looking at being joyful while bearing our cross.  Look at the
people of our text.  They had great joy under the cross.  They were
persecuted and scattered, but in joy they preached the Gospel everywhere
they went.  The attitude they carried is the attitude that Jesus carried.
 It was the attitude that St. Steven showed when he cried out right
before he died, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them."

When you are persecuted, remember that Jesus uses that to win souls. 
Whether or not you are scattered abroad, you are a witness even to those
who persecute you.  It has often been said that the blood of the martyrs
is the seed of the church.  Even if the persecution is not so bad that it
results in your death, it still speaks volumes when you continue to hold
the true faith and witness under persecution.  May the Lord accomplish
many and great things through you, to the glory of His holy name!  Amen.

Prayer:
Dear Lord Jesus, keep us from being merely so much salt in the shaker. 
You died for the world, help us to reach out to the world.  By your Holy
Spirit, put your words into our mouths so that many people that you died
for hear Gospel from us.  May this be our honor and our glory, that we
have been found worthy to speak your word to others, amen.