Encouragement Heading Your Way! =)

Hello dear readers! I have several things to share with you! And it's all from the Bible! =)

Have you read Acts 7:54-8:1? It is the part where Stephen was brutally beaten by the high priests and all the other high ranking people, for God! Stephen was a real brave man, knowing that saying something about God may cause him his life, he still took that opportunity to get his point to them!

(Now, If you read Acts 8:1, it writes "And Saul was there, giving approval to his death." Wait a minute and hold on a second! This "Saul" character mentioned here helped kill Stephen! What happened!? Well, Saul was a real scary person! For he would go to other countries to persecute Christians! And he's really good at doing it! However, Saul later changed his name and cleaned up his act, thanks to a run-in with the resurrected Jesus! You probably know him better as Paul, the guy who wrote most of the New Testament! This means that no matter how bad you screwed up in your life, or how bad you messed things up, God gives you a restart! And you can count on that!) =)

Continuing from Acts 8:1-4, it tells that the churches at Jerusalem were persecuted and they scattered everywhere!

(To be honest, it looks like something real bad and nasty happened there! People were getting prisoned, and churches were being destroyed! You might think that this part of the story is really bad and nasty, and nothing good is happening! You might even wonder if God is even controlling the situation? However, here's something to think about! Here's an example of how God can make something good from something bad! The "bad" in this case is the persecution that the Christians in Jerusalem endured! They were going through a real tough time at this point of time, all for God! The amazing thing is that it scattered believers everywhere, spreading the Good News and starting new churches all over the ancient world!) =)

Now, from Acts 8:4-25, it is the story where a boastful sorcerer named Simon, got attracted to the power of God! Before he saw God's power, he was doing magic tricks, and making people think that he is a god! People were in awe with his magical tricks, but not for long! When Philip came along proclaiming the message of Jesus and authenticating his message with spectacular healings and mind-blowing exorcisms, Simon could only watch in amazement! Simon's powers and tricks, which were no doubt demonic in origin, was actually pretty impressive, but nothing compared to what Philip was doing! In fact, when Simon saw evidence of God's power in Philip, he confessed faith in Jesus! And guess what? Simon actually offered money to Peter, so that he could have the same ability!

(One thing that Simon learned from the apostle Peter, is that God's power is NOT FOR SALE! It cannot be bought even with gold or the riches of this world! In fact, it is a gift! A gift given to those whose hearts are made right by God! Simon also learned that Christian ministry is not about being flashy and BIG, making a name for yourself and getting rich off the crowds! Nope! The real purpose of God's ministry is to glorify God, specifically through the changed lives of people who come ot know Him! Whenever you see "Christian" ministers who play to the crowd, always talking about money, preaching or singing in showy ways and drawing undue attentions to themselves, you can be sure that you are watching something that does not honor God!) =)