All People

The early church is experiencing incredible growth. 5,000+ people have come to faith in Jesus and sell their possessions to give the money away. The church is exploding, and people are growing in their newfound faith. But the church is nearly exclusive to Jerusalem and the Jewish people. Then a prominent church leader is martyred. Officials begin knocking down doors and dragging Jesus-followers to prison. Fear sets in and people flee the city. As they leave, they take their faith and love for Jesus outside the Jerusalem walls and into the world.

This week, we see God’s heart is for everybody and anybody as the church scatters and spreads the good news of Jesus into all the world. The early church didn’t choose to go through pain and persecution, but God used this great pain to draw even more people into a relationship with him. Over the next four weeks, we will lean in and listen to God’s heart for all people through the stories of the early church. We will see how God expands their hearts to match his and how he can do the same for us today.