Acts 8:1-4 (NLT)
1 Saul was one of the official witnesses at the killing of Stephen. A great wave of persecution began that day, sweeping over the church in Jerusalem, and all the believers except the apostles fled into Judea and Samaria. 2(Some godly men came and buried Stephen with loud weeping.) 3Saul was going everywhere to devastate the church. He went from house to house, dragging out both men and women to throw them into jail. 4But the believers who had fled Jerusalem went everywhere preaching the Good News about Jesus.

Saul, who later became the Apostle Paul, witnessed Stephen being stoned to death. It was a beginning of the persecution of the church with Saul leading the way. Saul personally went house to house throwing those in jail who had come to believe in Jesus. But it caused the Good News to spread as believers fled to other areas and Christianity began to grow.

Amazing how a single man so bent on the destruction of the Christian church became one of the greatest contributors to the church. Paul’s words on Christ are well known to many. Many of his words were penned while chained in prison because of his belief in Christ. This man changed from someone ready to destroy the church to someone ready to build and preserve the church. It all happened because Jesus Christ entered his life one day. Do you believe change can take place in your life? It can if you allow Christ to work in your life. Colossians 1:6 says, “This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is changing lives everywhere, just as it changed yours that very first day you heard and understood the truth about God's great kindness to sinners.” Pray that Christ would change your life and renew it each day. Pray that He would make you into the person you need to be, not a person after your desires, but after His desires.