All right, all right, join the Journey family, friends, and guests. You're listening to Join the Journey

podcast with your host, Emma, daughter. Thanks for joining. Today, we're reading Acts 5 and 6,

answering the question, what does the Apostles' courage in the face of persecution teach us about God's

unstoppable mission.

Now, I want you to think, have you ever noticed how weeds push up through the cracks on the

sidewalk? You can spray them, stomp on them, even pave over them. But somehow, they just keep

growing. Their persistence feels unstoppable. Recently, I went on a trip with some friends,

and I left my car at my friend's house, parked in the driveway. And the part of the driveway that I

parked on was paved with bricks rather than asphalt or concrete. And I noticed there were a few

little sprouts springing up through the spaces in between the bricks, but nothing crazy.

It was hardly noticeable.

Well, apparently, the landscaping maintenance crew was coming to the house while we were on our trip.

They'd come a few weeks prior and sprayed all the weeds that were popping up between the bricks with the chemicals.

But since they still had kept growing, the landscapers had to come back to try to get rid of them again.

The only problem was my car was prohibiting them from taking care of all the little sprouts that were growing underneath the car.

So, when we came back from vacation, a full-blown prairie had seemed to have grown under my car.

Despite my car shielding those little sprouts from getting the necessary sunlight or rainwater,

they still kept growing. And that's a silly but small picture of what we see in Acts 5 and 6, because no matter how much the religious leaders tried to stop the apostles, the gospel kept breaking through.

And when problems popped up inside the church, God raised up faithful servants so the mission wouldn't stall.

The message of Jesus is like that. It can't be stamped out,

and it keeps spreading, even in the most unlikely places. And if we don't grasp what Acts 5 and 6 is

showing us, we risk living lives as if God's mission depends on our comfort or convenience. We'll get

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