Being Full

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

BEING FULL

Acts 8:1-8

8:1 And Saul was there, giving approval to his death. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. 2 Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. 3 But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison. 4 Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. 5 Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there. 6 When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said. 7 With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed. 8 So there was great joy in that city.

NIV

We are being introduced to Saul, as during the moment the men of the Sanhedrin were stoning Stephen, we are told that the witnesses laid their outer garments at the feet of Saul. We did not go into detail about why they did this, but it was within the law that those who testified against someone had to start the execution of stoning, and then the rest would join in. This was done so to prevent false witnesses, but that did not matter in this case; they all wanted Stephen stoned. He was still full of the Spirit and gave up his spirit, just like Jesus did. Now Saul gave his approval for the death of Stephen, and he began to persecute the church. The universal church has been persecuted throughout the world within our lifetime, but there were times when the church persecuted people who lived in opposition to its rules. The persecution of anyone proves that evil can live within. But our lesson today is our introduction of Philip, as well as all those who were scattered. They preached the word wherever they went. Because the Apostles remained in Jerusalem, those who preached the word were simply Jesus' followers. They may have been people who were in the crowds that followed him wherever he went, or new believers who heard Peter's sermon on that Day of Pentecost. Nevertheless, they preached the word of God wherever they went. That could be our lesson: that no matter our place in life, our education, training, talents, or skills, we should all be preaching the word of God wherever we go. There is something else we should note, and it concerns Philip. He was one of the apostles who stayed in Jerusalem; however, we are told he went into a city in Samaria and proclaimed Christ there. Philip was full of the Spirit and the power of God because he performed miraculous signs, and when the people saw what he did, they paid close attention to what he said. We wonder how many people would pay close attention to what we say if we were given the power to perform miraculous signs, or if evil spirits would shriek in our presence, and people would be healed. We wonder: if we were to have the power of God, be full of the Spirit, and proclaim the word of God, would we be anything like Philip, or anything like Jesus? Let us first be filled with the Spirit and the power of God, and he will do the rest. He will do the work in us and through us.