"And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria... Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word."

Have you ever watched a farmer plant his field? He doesn't carefully place each seed in a perfect little pot. No, he scatters those seeds all across the field, sometimes in what looks like a pretty rough way. From the seed's perspective, being scattered probably doesn't feel like a good thing. But the farmer knows something the seed doesn't: scattering is the path to an incredible harvest.

That's exactly what happened to the early church. Stephen, one of God's faithful servants, was murdered for preaching the truth. It looked like a disaster. It looked like the enemy was winning. But God had a different plan.

The Greek word for "scattered" in Acts 8 is the same word farmers used for sowing seed. So when persecution scattered the believers, they weren't just running away - they were being planted all across the region. And everywhere they landed, they started growing and producing fruit.

Here's the incredible thing about God's kingdom: it actually multiplies under pressure. Just like a farmer who knows that seeds grow best when they're buried in dark soil, God knows that His church grows strongest when it faces opposition.

Think about it - if Stephen hadn't been killed, would Philip have ever left Jerusalem to preach in Samaria? If the believers had stayed comfortable and safe in their familiar church, would the gospel have spread to the ends of the earth? Sometimes God allows the very thing that seems like it would destroy us because He knows it's the only way to multiply us.

This is why we don't need to be afraid when our culture becomes hostile to Christianity. We don't need to panic when people mock our faith or when following Jesus costs us something. Because every time someone tries to crush the church, they're actually just scattering more seeds.

One early church leader said it perfectly: "The blood of the martyrs becomes the seed of the church." Every time God's people suffer for their faith, it produces more believers, not fewer. Every time someone tries to silence the gospel, it ends up spreading even faster.

But here's what's crucial: when the believers were scattered, they didn't just talk about Stephen. They didn't spend all their time focusing on the messenger who died. Acts 8:5 says Philip "proclaimed to them the Christ." The name that deserves to be lifted up isn't the name of any human servant - it's always the name of Jesus.

So right now, when it feels like everything is falling apart, remember this incredible truth: God is still sovereign, and He's still multiplying His kingdom. What looks like scattering might actually be sowing.