True believers are more like Jesus after troubles.
God's people have always burned brighter after beatings. The Old Testament prophets did. The New Testament saints did.
The apostles were imprisoned. Three thousand were converted! Our problem today is that we want great evangelistic results without the inconvenience of upsetting the religious status quo.
Stephen's glowing testimony led to the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. And Saul evangelized the known world! But Stephen burned while he was beaten -- beaten to death. We want to shine but we don't want to die.
Why is it that the oil that burns brightest comes from the olive that has been beaten the most?
- The beating of the olive reduced the olive from coarse fibre and fatty tissue to the simple essence of its life. Too many church members have not yet been refined and reduced to pure, Christian extract. They are still carrying a lot of excess carnal fibre along with them. God permits some of the beatings of life for the sake of holy subtractions.
- The beating changed the form of the olive from a solid to a liquid; from a rigid, unbending structure, to a fluid, willing to assume whatever shape its container dictated. God allows life to give us other beatings for the sake of holy sensitivity and holy flexibility.
Other very important scripture passages to read.
Acts 7:51-60 and
Acts 16:16-29 
