This is part 12 of "The After Party," our series at Fusion Christian Church on the book of Acts. Follow along as we explore what happened to the church after Jesus ascended to heaven. In this sermon, Pastor Zac teaches that God can turn and use evil situations for good purposes.

God can turn it for good.

The bible is full of stories where God takes a terrible situation and flips it around for the good of his people. Acts chapter eight is one of those stories. The church began to face its first real wave of persecution following Stephen's death, scattering the believers. As it happened, this scattering forced Christians to carry the gospel outside of Jerusalem. The result was that people in neighboring cities began to hear the good news and Jesus' kingdom began to spread. We see that God can turn things around for good, but what are some ways in which he does it?

God turns grief into joy.

When we picked up our story in Acts 8, we saw a church that was mourning the loss of Stephen, one of its leaders. By the time we reach the end of the passage, however, we see great joy in Samaria because of the gospel being brought there. Just like the early church, modern Christians are not immune to sorrow. The promise of God is that sorrow is not the final word, and that when we enter his presence there will be fullness of joy.

God turns opposition into open doors.

We have already seen that God arranged for the gospel to be preached because of the scattering of believers. God does the same sort of thing now. Often we complain about any opposition we face, but if we remain patient, we may see God work wonders. Make it up in your mind to wait on God and trust that he will be faithful through our trials!