Persecution and ministering

Isn't it amazing that Saul, only a short while after having persecuted the church, could then minister to the very people who he had first persecuted?  I'm thinking of today's reading in Acts 11:19-30.  This passage begins with "Now those who had been scattered by the persecution in connection with Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch..."  and later this passage reads "Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch...".
I've highlighted some key words here.  Saul had been intensely involved in the persecution of Stephen and his fellow Christians.  Then those who had been persecuted went to Antioch, and then Barnabas and Saul go to Antioch as well, staying there for a whole year doing ministry in Jesus' name.  Isn't that incredible!  That transformation is what can happen when God gets involved in our work and we allow him to be the force behind our ministry.  Saul had a lot of trust to build up with the people he was ministering to, as they had firsthand experience with who he had been before he himself became a believer.
If you think you can't follow through on the mission God has given you, think of this Barnabas/Saul story.  If God worked in the heart of Saul and the hearts of his audience to be able to bond together and learn from each other, God can work in your situation as well.

Stephen the martyr

This is a picture of Stephen being martyred (a bit ahead of today's scripture reading).  I can see how the Sanhedrin (court of Jewish judges) were up in arms over Stephen and his testimony before them.  Here was a Greek Jew, having grown up outside of Palestine, teaching these judges about Jewish history and how it points to Jesus being the Christ.  It's always a bit humiliating (if we let it) when we claim to be experts on a topic, but someone else comes along and provides a different point of view that holds up under scrutiny.  There are a number of ways that we could react.  We could get angry, like the Sanhedrin, and shun this person and his new ideas (or go to the extreme and actually kill him...), or we could lose our pride and, with a humble spirit, listen to what they have to say.  I think we know what the better option is - conducting ourselves with integrity and humility.  So, let's go out and do it!