According to Jesus’ own plan, His followers will experience circumstances of protection and persecution for His name’s sake; and each and every instance is actually an opportunity to bear witness to the hope we now have in Him.

It is not uncommon for followers of Jesus to have false accusations made against them on account of Jesus Christ and even to be misrepresented in the courts as harmful to society, yet God is able to make the things of this world serve His own purpose.

God has provided the opportunity as well as the clear conscience for Christians to bear witness to the resurrection of Christ; Jesus will comfort us and encourage us for the task, and the Holy Spirit will sovereignly control the circumstances to complete the mission of delivering this testimony.

Every follower of Christ has an eternally significant story to tell and a deep sympathy for their unbelieving hearers. Their story tells of the glory of Jesus, the weight of their sin, their experience of familial love, their water baptism, and their bold witness to those who might believe.

As Paul returns to Jerusalem, he demonstrates to the early churches and to us that confidence in Christ and His kingdom gives a deep sense of purpose, conviction, will pay any price, and inspires others.

Jesus Christ the Good Shepherd has purchased His flock for Himself with His own blood so that we now have a right perspective toward God, toward His Church, toward the Lost, and toward Ourselves.

Luke gives us in the Book of Acts a fast-paced account of the Gospel spreading throughout the known world. From time to time we see in greater detail how this movement creates a people marked by exhortation, generosity, perseverence, hospitality, and even new life. We also see the origins of some of the practices of the early and present-day church.

As the Good News of who Jesus is and what He has done is shared, Effectiveness and Persecution usually go hand in hand; since an effective church is a bold church loyal to Jesus above all, and a bold church is often a church made strong through suffering.

The proclamation and belief in the Gospel has always travelled alongside powerful and miraculous spiritual signs, and it always exposes that which is false in order that the life-giving Word of the Lord might multiply and the name of Jesus might be held in highest regard.

Now that we are in Christ, we not only believe differently, we also behave differently. This often means letting go of old ways of thinking and acting that have no ability to give life and growing in our understanding of the Gospel such that the Good News of Jesus is carried on by His people.