Acts 8: When Persecution Spreads the Gospel

In this Daily Hope devotional, Pastor John S. Dickerson walks through Acts 8, where intense persecution breaks out against the early church—yet God uses it to advance the gospel. After Stephen becomes one of the first Christian martyrs, believers are scattered from Jerusalem into Judea and Samaria, fulfilling Jesus’ mission to take the gospel to the world. What looked like disaster became divine strategy. Even as Saul violently opposed the church, God was already preparing to transform him into the Apostle Paul. This message reminds us that faithfulness matters more than outcomes, God can redeem even the darkest moments, and no enemy is beyond the reach of Jesus.