After seeing how God advanced the gospel through the removal of a king in Acts 12, we need to ask ourselves: In what area do you doubt the power of the gospel? It could be the conversion of someone who has remained hostile or even indifferent to the truth of Christ. Or maybe it’s the growing prevalence of false teaching, which attaches itself to the name of Christ and tempts you to become disillusioned with the call of Christ to follow Him through the narrow gate. Therefore, you find yourself wondering, how can the gospel prevail when the gate is so narrow and road is so hard and there are so few who find it? Lastly, perhaps it’s the moral downgrade of our society that causes much anxiety and fear, which leads to a consuming worry about what is going to happen and the kind of world our kids and grandkids will grow up in.
After what we have learned today and even thus far in the book of Acts, can God not advance the gospel in and despite those situations? Remember the disciples’ question in Mark 10:26 And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?” 27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”
Even if we don’t see gospel fruit, we can align ourselves with Job’s renewed perspective on God after his trials and wrestling with the Almighty–2 “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.”