The Church of Christ was born from the pains of persecution. Today, the Church is thriving in the grace and inspiration of the Holy Spirit despite the severity of sin and the suppressive governance in some parts of the world.

Good News still needs to be proclaimed across the places where people gather and pass by. Many members of our society are lost and depressed, but if the Good News is kept exclusively in church, they will not hear it. The Good News cannot be kept in jail or bottled up in us because of fear. God’s Word tells us, “Where the Spirit of God is, there is freedom,” (2 Corinthians 3:17)! We are free to tell others that there is freedom and deliverance in Christ! I have always tried to stand my ground when I feel that my freedom is threatened, because I know that the price was hefty that Jesus paid! (1 Corinthians 6:20).

In the early Church, the apostles were filled with power and did many miraculous signs and wonders among the people; people experienced it all (Acts 5:12-16). Modern Christians also have a mission to testify about the saving grace and to point people to the Messiah. The enemy is always attacking the plan of God for human salvation. Jesus asks Saul, the persecutor of the church, “Saul, why are you persecuting me?” Jesus is the one we are following; He is feeling the persecution.

The Sadducees became very jealous and grabbed the apostles and put them in jail (Acts 5:17-18). God’s divine plan progressed amid the opposition. God sent an angel to free the incarcerated apostles for the mission at hand. You also have been liberated in Christ to proclaim the Good News to others, so that the saving grace may be experienced by the lost.

Good News sets free those bound by sin. God is glorified when a person is released from chains of darkness and has their name written in the Book of Life (Luke 10:20). The apostles could not keep the words of life to themselves. Even after the Sadducees had kept them in prison, the angel came to let them go and stand in the Temple area and declare the saving grace news to the public.

Beloved, when opposition rises, we ought to stand and obey the Lord (Acts 5:29). The apostles were brave and determined. They did not lay charges of unfair religious treatment because Jesus Christ had been rejected (John 1:11). We are to keep planting the incorruptible seed (1 Peter 1:23), and the Holy Spirit will germinate it in hearts to be convicted. In times of oppression, many people believed in the Lord, and many men and women were added to the group of believers. Hallelujah! This verse is so encouraging. People do respond!

Beloved, just go and stand in a public area, tell the people about this new life!

By Christopher Thetswe, Bible League International staff, South Africa