I have been thinking about the message that was preached recently at Relate Church by Timothy Brown.  We are going through the book of Philippians and the message caused me to start thinking about Paul having joy while in the Roman prison. Paul talked about how his time in prison served as an opportunity for the gospel to be preached. He basically was imprisoned for preaching the gospel and used this opportunity to preach to the prisoners and the guards. Its not like they could go anywhere so Paul took advantage of this. This caused me to realize that in the grand scheme of things the gospel ultimately cannot be stopped! Throughout history tyrants, governments, many many have tried to stop it but have ultimately failed. People today want to stop the gospel but will not ever succeed because it is the power of salvation to everyone who believes. At times it may can be slowed down but will never be defeated. The worst anyone can ever do to us is kill us and history shows that will only inspire believers even more to share and it will spread even more. In fact throughout history whenever followers of Jesus are being persecuted is when the church really explodes in growth. I heard a quote once that said: “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” When things are okay is when we tend to become comfortable and complacent’ However, when persecution abounds is when the church really thrives.