Acts 8 & 9
This is the historical account of some of the first steps of the nascent church.
Stephen is arrested, preaches to the whole council, and they stopped their ears and ran upon him with one accord (7:57), they dragged him out of the city and stoned him to death.
And Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death (8:1).
Persecution scatters the new Jewish church.
Philip went to Samaria and dealt with Simon the Sorcerer (who may not have had a genuine conversion). When Peter and John came to check out Philip's new "congregation," they laid on hands to confer the Holy Spirit onto them.
Then Philip talks to the Ethiopian and baptizes him, then is found in Azotus, from which he preaches his way to Caesarea.
Meanwhile, Paul goes all the way to Damascus (150 miles) to arrest the Christians there, and encounters Jesus on the way.
Having been blinded by the intense light of the vision, God sends Ananias to him, and "something like scales" fall from his eyes (sounds kind of like opaque contact lenses!).
He immediately begins to preach powerfully, and confounds the Jews in Damascus, who are confused at his turn-around to preach Jesus instead of arrest His followers. So they plan to kill him, and Saul is let down from the city wall in a basket, and returns to Jerusalem.
Back in Jerusalem, Barnabas "introduces" him to the Apostles, but then they have a problem with plots there to kill him, too, and they send him home to Tarsus. He's just too hot to handle.
Saul of Tarsus is probably the most passionate man in the Bible! (Other than Jesus, Himself.) His personality is very powerful, and his character is one of sweeping action. He went from severely persecuting Jesus' followers to effectively convincing of Jesus' Divinity and Messiahship.
So when Saul was gone, the new church finally had rest. And it grew.
Peter went to Lydda, where he heals a paralytic, Aeneas, and is sent for from Joppa; to go there and raise Tabatha (Dorcas) from the dead!
Everything these Apostles and disciples are doing is the work of furthering and promoting the Kingdom of God by increasing the population that are its citizens.
And God is still today increasing His Kingdom population, His family. Jesus has not yet returned because not every person who is recorded in the census rolls has been drawn into it yet.
That's our job, to be His witnesses, sharing with those who are in our circles, our little worlds, what He has done for us and can also do for them. Then when we go out from our Jerusalem to our Judea, then to our Samaria, and out into all the World, we will run, hand-in-hand with our Savior, spreading His Love and Grace to every creature, among every Nation, every tribe, every language; until His house is full and every seat at His Table is filled!
Then He will return to call us out (the Rapture), and follow Him down through the clouds as He fights the Battle of Armegeddon and sets up His Kingdom here on this Earth. Then we will "sit with Him on His Throne" as His kings and queens to govern in righteousness and judgment, and this World wil have its Golden Age!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
