Live Free with Josh Howerton - Scattered for a Purpose // Acts 8:1-3

Episode Date: November 19, 2024

What happens when God moves us out of our comfort zones? Today, we see how the early church was propelled from familiar surroundings in Jerusalem into challenging territories due to persecution. Though scattered, believers found new ways to spread the message of Jesus, showing us that God often uses our discomfort for greater purposes. Just as He called them out, He calls us to impact lives around us beyond our safe places. Let’s keep our hearts open to God’s leading today, ready to follow wherever He calls.   For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's Word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit. Church slash daily drive. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, what is up? Welcome to the Daily Drive, where we download a little of God's Word into our hearts every day. My name is Bro, and thanks for hanging with us today. We're walking through a book called The Book of Acts, and it's the history of how the Church of Jesus got started.

And it is such an inspiring read. Man, it's full of drama and adventure and characters and unexpected twist and turns. It just makes me grateful that you and I get to be on the same ride of faith in 2024. Yesterday we met the first Christian martyr, a good man named Stephen, a guy that was chosen to take care of widows and manage the benevolous ministry of the church, and it describes him as full of grace and power. And as he boldly talks about Jesus, man, it gets him in trouble with the religious leaders who hated Jesus. And they do the same thing they did to Jesus. They arrest him, get some folks to lie about him, they have a quick, phony trial, they charge him with blasphemy, they stir up a mob, and they execute him. Stephen dies with peace, and they continue to live with fury.

So at the end of the story yesterday, we meet a young guy named Saul. He's working like the coat check of the execution and applauding what's going on. And Saul would really seize this moment to crank up the persecution of the followers of Jesus. It says this in the beginning of chapter 8. Saul was one of the witnesses, and he agreed completely with the killing of Stephen. A great wave of persecution began that day. sweeping over the church in Jerusalem. And all the believers except the apostles were scattered

throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria. Some devout men came and buried Stephen with great mourning, but Saul was going everywhere to destroy the church. He went from house to house, dragging out both men and women that throw them into prison. Now the stoning of Stephen was tragically sad, and the heat of persecution that all the believers were starting to experience was also extremely troubling.

We read back in chapter two and chapter four how they were all together. They were united and heart and mind. They were meeting needs. They were thriving. They were growing. They were making a real difference in Jerusalem. And now things are radically changing. Did you catch how it said they were now scattered?

The stoning of Stephen. Like this event from just out of the blue. It changes everything. You know what? I'm sure that you've experienced that before. I certainly have. Life is just cruising along, and then there's an accident, maybe you get a phone call, or your health couldn't be better, you feel great, you're going for your annual checkup, and they tell you you, you got cancer, or you sleep great, and then you wake up one morning, there's a note on the kitchen table saying, I'm no longer in love with you, I'm leaving, and I'm not coming back. Or it's a beautiful fall day, and you watch a plane fly across the blue sky into the World Trade Center.

In a moment, literally, out of the blue, everything changes. So one day the church is thriving, and you're going to be. Jerusalem. They're enjoying the favor of all the people, it says. And the next, they're on the run for their lives. Life can change in an instant. But as always the case, God uses something bad to bring about something good. Do you remember how in the very beginning in Acts chapter 1, Jesus told them, You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth? And so far, they were only in Jerusalem. Again, it says in chapter 2, they were enjoying the goodwill and the favor of all the people, and the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Things could not be better. They were comfortable in Jerusalem. It was home. It was the birthplace of the church. This new community, unlike anything else, they love their small groups. Generosity was flown, and all kinds of needs were getting met. I'm sure they wanted to stay there forever. They loved it there.

I mean, who really wants to go to places like Samaria anyway? But Stephen is killed, and Saul and others crank up the heat, and now all of a sudden, guess where they are? All over Judea and Samaria. They are scattered to the places Jesus had asked them to go. And we'll learn more about this later, but ironically, in an amazing redemptive twist, Jesus would choose this guy Saul to take the good news to the ends of the earth.

And now so many more people would know about the love of Jesus and God's desire to bring everyone home. God uses something horribly bad to make His grace known to those who desperately need it. And gang, he still does that. I can remember preaching a sermon one time where I asked, What's the most dangerous thing you have in your house? And people responded with a gun or an eye for a fireplace or a swimming pool or a gas stove. One guy even shouted out Oreos. and then I unveiled a prop that I had on stage.

And I said, I believe that this is the most dangerous thing in my house. And it was a lazy boy recliner. And I talked about settling into your comfort zone, refusing to take risk and how you can kind of get apathetic and stop noticing needs around you and stop looking for opportunities to help other people, not really interested in what might be out there. You like things predictable and safe.

You're just kind of snug in your comfy chair. Life is good in the chair. It's safe in the chair. And you might just stay there forever. Right after I preached that message, out of the blue, a few weeks later, God called me out of the chair. I mean, I was content. I was supremely happy and comfortable. Even felt like I was making a difference with my life living in my hometown. I loved the church with all my heart that I was serving.

I just built a new Forever house. Life could not have been much better. And God asked me to get out of the chair and moved to a place that needed someone who had been through transition before and come and help lead. And he told me it's going to be hard. You're going to be lonely at times. You're going to be away from family. You're going to have to sell your house and find new friends and navigate a new city. You're even going to have to buy a new winter coat and a snow shovel. And we felt so scattered. But now looking back how God intersected our lives with unexpected people, who became lifelong friends, all the amazing stories of radical life change, and we got to watch how he began to spread the good news of his love,

the places we didn't even know existed. Churches got planted, people got launched in the ministry, and honestly, it was nothing like my comfy life back in the chair, but I am so glad he shook me out of it. And I don't know, maybe God is asking you to get out of the chair, to take a risk, to walk by faith, to move out of your comfort zone and spread the good news to new neighborhoods and new schools and new cities and making new friends and seeing new people come to know Jesus. I certainly don't know what he's asking you to do, but I do know that the chair is the most dangerous thing in your house. The early church, because of the stoning of Stephen, got thrown out of the chair, and it was hard, and it was scary, and it was lonely, and it was new, and it was different,

but they walked by faith. And as a result, the good news reached all the way to the daily drive. See you back here tomorrow. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays and Sundays. For more information about all the digital ministries of Lake Point, visit lakepoint.combe. Also, if this podcast was helpful to you, would you be sure to rate, review, and share this podcast to help get the word out.