Overcoming Obstacles
In Acts 8, we find the church under pressure, scattered by persecution, and facing new hurdles at every turn. But as Pastor David Rose shows, God isn’t threatened by obstacles. Instead, He works through them: using hardship to spread the gospel, using unlikely people to share His truth, and meeting searching hearts right where they are. What could it look like if we surrendered every circumstance, even our hardest ones, for His glory?
Key Takeaways
- God knows the church will face persecution. (Acts 8:1-3)
- God uses His people wherever they go. (Acts 8:4-8)
- God authenticates faith over time. (Acts 8:9-25)
- God works in unusual (Acts 8:26-40)
- Go where God sends. Do what God says.
- Share what God does. Watch how God works.
Further Study
- How does the scattering of believers in Acts 8:1 compare with Christ’s promise in John 16:33, where He says, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world”? Considering places today where Christians are under pressure, how can persecution serve not only as a trial but as a means for God to advance the gospel (cf. Philippians 1:12-14)? In seasons where your faith brings pushback or hardship, how does the reality of Christ’s victory change your response? For fear, for courage, or for witness?
- Simon the Sorcerer believed and was baptized, yet Peter confronts his heart’s motives in Acts 8:18-23. How does this passage, together with James 2:19 and Matthew 7:21-23 (“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom…”), warn us that genuine faith involves a transformed heart, not mere outward profession? Have you ever seen your faith acting more like a transaction than a relationship with Christ? Take a minute to prayerfully consider, then journal your response.
- Take a minute to read Acts 8:30-35. Now Picture Philip with the Ethiopian reading from Isaiah 53 in Acts 8:30-35, and how Paul later wrote in Romans 10:14-17 that “faith comes by hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” How does this encounter show the need for Scripture, the Spirit, and a faithful person to explain Christ to searching hearts? Is there someone in your life who needs you to walk alongside them, helping them understand, as Philip did? Are you hungry for understanding or resting in what you already know? How could the gospel-centeredness of all Scripture reshape how you read and share God’s Word?
The Gospel
If you have questions about what it means to be a Christian, we would love to talk with you about it.
Reach outThe Gospel isn’t a set of good instructions or a path to self-improvement. It’s the good news that God has taken action on our behalf through Jesus Christ. Sometimes people expect that following Jesus will make life easy or comfortable, but as Pastor David said, the message of Christianity isn’t “come to Jesus and He’ll make you rich or take away all your problems.” Instead, it’s that we’re spiritually dead in our sins and only Jesus can make us alive.
The story of Acts 8 shows how the early church faced rejection, misunderstanding, even violence, but through it all, the Gospel spread and lives were changed. That’s because at the very heart of Christianity is what Christ has already done: He lived perfectly, loved deeply, suffered and died on a cross for our sins, and rose again, breaking the power of death for everyone who will trust Him. This isn’t something we buy or earn. In fact, Peter told Simon, “May your silver be destroyed with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money.” The gift is just that: a gift.
The Gospel is for outsiders like the Ethiopian official. It’s for unlikely people like Saul, who persecuted the church. And it’s for those who have questions and baggage. It is for the weary and the proud, the religious and the irreligious. No obstacle, no personal history, cultural background, or past failure can keep Christ out. Like Pastor David said, “God is not helpless among the ruins. God’s love is still at work.” The power of the Gospel is that what we cannot do, God has done.
To receive this gift, we don’t merely give mental assent. We turn from trusting ourselves and believe that Jesus is Lord, Savior, and Redeemer. And when we do, the Spirit of God comes to live in us and marks us as His own. The Gospel isn’t good news because it takes away every trouble, but because it promises forgiveness, new life, and lasting hope through Christ Jesus, even in the hard places. That’s why Acts 8 ends with “there was great joy in that city.” The joy of knowing Christ, no matter what.