This passage outlines the early years of the making of the apostle Paul into a minister of the gospel.²In our previous text (Acts 9:1 – 19) we saw how God took a blood-thirsty terrorist and began turning him into a blood-bought evangelist when he encountered Jesus, the sovereign Savior of sinners, on the road to Damascus.

The story of Saul’s conversion is probably one of the most startling and simultaneously encouraging stories in the entire Bible. It is startling because in this story, God executes his eternal plan of redemption in the life of a man who went from being a blood – thirsty terrorist to a blood – bought evangelist. The hunter and persecutor of early Christians became a radically transformed apostle of Jesus Christ as the Hound of Heaven (God himself) hunted this hunter down on the road to Damascus.²

In this passage Luke records how the church gets scattered by persecution (vv. 1 – 3), how Philip proclaims the gospel in Samaria (vv. 4 – 8), how Simon the magician tries to buy the Spirit’s power (vv. 9 – 24), and how the apostles continue preaching the gospel throughout Samaria (v. 25).

Before we dive into the story of the church’s first martyr, Stephen, I want to take a few moments to address last week’s text and sermon from Acts 6:1 – 7. Most preachers struggle with wondering if their sermons are faithful, effective, and helpful. I am not immune to those feelings or questions at all. I do not typically walk away from preaching a sermon feeling like Jesus is fist bumping me on the way out of the pulpit, but I do typically find some joy in preaching and some assurance that the Lord helps me to be faithful to his Word and his people.

Unresolved conflict is often at the center of broken relationships. This is why the legal term “unreconcilable differences” is typically used in divorce court to describe the nature of the dissolution of a marriage.

One of the things you begin to pick up on as you study the Bible, is that Satan will stop at nothing to derail the church from her God given gospel responsibility. Church history is full of story after story of so – called religious leaders being used as instruments of Satan rather than being used as instruments of truth and grace. There are more than enough modern-day examples of church leaders absolutely failing in their God – given responsibility to not only proclaim the gospel but to adorn the gospel with their lives and their ministries.

At first glance, this passage seems a little harsh. A husband and wife sell some stuff and give some of the proceeds to the church while secretly keeping the rest of those proceeds for themselves.

How would you describe a healthy church? We typically evaluate the effectiveness, the viability, or the health of a church based upon its buildings, its programs, its preaching, its worship music, or the friendliness of its people.