Passage Read: Acts 4-5
Meditation Verses: 5:40-42
Thought
The apostles were arrested and commanded multiple times not to speak or teach about Jesus, but the Sanhedrin was afraid to do anything more than flog them. They had boldness to continue preaching in public, in the temple courts and from house to house. They were even told by an angel to preach in the temple after he released them from jail. God was protecting them, but also encouraging them to keep provoking the leaders by their continued preaching. Of course, it wasn't specifically to provoke them, but to allow more seekers of God to know the true way of salvation, and secondarily as a testimony against those who resisted the message. Things would change when people started getting killed, but that level of persecution is also what scattered people and carried the Gospel farther afield.
Application
Preaching the Gospel publicly is primarily for two reasons: so that those who are seeking salvation might find it, and so that those who resist the truth might have a testimony on record (in their own hearts!) against themselves. It needs to be a public message, preached near where people seek salvation and as many other places as possible. Especially when there is no threat to life, the message needs to be proclaimed in public. Even when there is danger, some still need the courage to preach it publicly. The rest should consider moving elsewhere, where there is no such threat yet, and there proclaim the Gospel freely and broadly, knowing full well it will eventually antagonize people and turn those communities against the message and messengers and followers. The safety and security of believers is God's responsibility, not the evangelist's; and He wants His people proclaiming the Gospel even though it will lead to all of them getting into trouble, even those who didn't preach. A city or town or village needs to hear the Gospel until they're unwilling to hear it any more. There will be pockets of believers left behind in most places the Gospel goes, to endure through trial, but when relief comes, so too should public proclamation resume! If a community completely purges the believers from their midst, those who scattered with evangelistic fervor will be able to send preaching teams through again in the future. I cannot consider building or preserving a life in the here and now as of greater importance than proclaiming the Gospel far and wide and loud. I cannot be quiet for the sake of those believers who just want to "live and let live."