Do you have a balanced diet of Scripture? Just as we cook an entrée and a side of vegetables to create a well-rounded meal, we ought to be balanced in how we read the Word of God.
Acts is a book of transitions. One of the biggest of these transitions is the inclusion of non-Jews in God's plan of salvation. Not only did God bring salvation to both Jews and Gentiles, but He made them one body together in Christ.
We are a new creation in Christ. Nevertheless, the old power of sin still wages war against the Spirit within us. We are in a soul-forming process by which the Spirit puts to death in us the deeds of the flesh. It is vital, therefore, that we remind ourselves who we are as fruit-bearers in the Spirit.
There’s a strange unease in not having a sense of identity. But the problem is that we derive our identity from all the wrong places. We need something rich and profound. We need love, joy, and peace. Such things we can only find by placing our identity in Jesus Christ.
No one asks for persecution. But God in His wisdom has made it so that when anyone persecutes His Church, it is like taking seed and scattering it so that it goes everywhere.