Flourishing in Persecution
Flourishing in Persecution
Sermon Summary:
In this powerful exploration of the Beatitudes, we delve deep into Jesus’ teachings on persecution and the true meaning of happiness. The final Beatitude, ‘Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,’ challenges us to consider the cost of our faith. We’re reminded of the early apostles and countless martyrs throughout history who gave their lives for the gospel. This isn’t just ancient history – even today, Christians face persecution worldwide. But Jesus calls us to respond with joy and gladness, maintaining an eternal perspective. As we reflect on these truths, we’re challenged to live differently in our world – to be salt and light, preserving goodness and illuminating darkness. How can we embody these teachings in our daily lives, even when faced with opposition? This message invites us to examine our hearts and consider how we might flourish, even in the midst of persecution.
Sermon Points:
The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.
-Tertullian
The earth has been filled with the blood of the martyrs as with seed, and from that seed have sprung the crops of the church. They have asserted Christ’s cause more effectively when dead than when they were alive. They assert it today, they preach him today; their tongues are silent, their deeds echo round the world. They were arrested, bound, imprisoned, brought to trial, tortured, burned at the stake, stoned to death, run through, fed to wild beasts. In all their kinds of death they were jeered at as worthless, but “precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.”
-St. Augustine
2 Corinthians 11-12
PRONOUNCEMENT: Persecution (to be chased, pursued, hunted down to harm) will be experienced by followers of Jesus. Theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
POSTURE: The message from Jesus becomes very personal in verse 11 when He uses the pronoun “you.” His followers can expect to experience persecution, false accusations, and mistreatment. Our posture is to one of humility in rejoicing and gladness.
PERSPECTIVE: As Christians, we must cultivate an eternal perspective (“great is your reward in heaven”) in the face of persecution and trial.
PURPOSE: Jesus shares the goal of “beatitude living” in Matthew 5:13-16. We are to be salt and light to our world so that God will be glorified through us!
Key Takeaways:
- Persecution is a reality for many Christians throughout history and today
- Jesus teaches believers to rejoice in the face of persecution
- Christians are called to respond to mistreatment with humility and gladness
- An eternal perspective is crucial when facing trials and persecution
- Believers are called to be salt and light in the world, living differently from the surrounding culture
- The ultimate goal of Christian living is to glorify God
Scripture References:
- Matthew 5:1-16 (with focus on verses 10-12)
Stories:
- The martyrdom of early apostles like James, Peter, and Paul
- The story of Praxedis and Pudentiana, two sisters in Rome who honored Christian martyrs
- Recent martyrdom of 70 Christians in the Democratic Republic of Congo
- Remembrance of Clint Dobson, murdered at a mission church in North Arlington
- Mentions of various Christian martyrs throughout history, including Jim Elliott, Maximilian Kolbe, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Sermon Transcript
And everybody said amen, right?
Thank you, choir, orchestra.
And how about our worship ministry just writing a new hymn for us to go along with the Beatitudes?
Isn’t that awesome?
So thank you all for that.
Incredible.
Well, as you know, at our church, we’ve launched this theme for 2025, Flourishing Together, rooted in Christ.
And we have begun this several-year journey where
We are going to be learning together about flourishing.
Today, we’re bringing this series to a conclusion.
And so Wednesday night, we launch our next theme, and that is the theme for the Lenten Easter season.
And our theme is going to be the real story.
And we’re going to use the Gospel of Matthew to guide us through the life testimony, the witness of Jesus.
And so we launch that Wednesday night, and we hope you’ll be here for that. our Ash Wednesday service.
Today, we’re going to finish up this theme for the winter, which is happiness is.
And we’ve been learning together about happiness and using the Beatitudes to guide our conversation and help cultivate our theological understanding of what happiness really means in the Scripture.
So with that said, today, let’s look at the final Beatitudes.
Some people view these as two Beatitudes.
Most scholars connect them together.
And I’ve entitled the message, Flourishing in Persecution.
And the core passage is in Matthew 5, verses 10 through 12.
But I want us to look at all the Beatitudes as we finish this series today.
So if you’ll look at Matthew 5, if you have your copy of the New Testament with you, I invite you to look at that.
And also if you’re able to stand along with me as we honor the Lord Jesus in the reading of the gospel.
So Matthew 5, verse 1.
Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and he sat down.
His disciples came to him and he began to teach them.
Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.
Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Thank you.
You may be seated.
I’m going to ask our deacons and ministers to come forward who are going to assist us in celebrating the Lord’s Supper today.
As you find your way here, you know that today, anytime we…
Come to this table.
Let me just remind you just a couple of practical things.
Here in a moment, our deacons will distribute the elements throughout the congregation.
And when the tray passes in front of you, you’ll notice that the cups are double stacked.
There’s a cup that has bread and a cup that has juice just stacked one on top of the other.
And if you’ll just take one of those stacks, and then I’ll give you instructions. about how to receive and partake the elements.
In the middle of the tray, there are some gluten-free options for you as well if you need to use those.
And we celebrate the Lord’s Supper together as the people of God, not just the members of First Baptist.
So if you know the Lord Jesus and you have given your life to him, you’ve been baptized in your church, then we invite you to participate with us today.
As I said here in a moment, we are going to spend some time in verses 10 through 12. where Jesus speaks a direct word to the persecuted.
And just a… somewhat of a somber word from Jesus, prophetic word actually from Jesus, as he reflected upon the future of his disciples.
But it’s also something Jesus would know about.
Jesus himself is going to experience some of what he shares with these disciples.
He’s going to be insulted, falsely accused.
People are going to say all manner of evil against him.
And then ultimately, you know, he’s going to offer up his life as a sacrifice for our sins.
And so he will pay that ultimate price in his human flesh so that you and I might experience the gift of eternal life.
And so today, as we gather around these tables, as we receive these elements, I want us to reflect upon the cost of our salvation.
The fact that even though it’s freely offered to us through the grace of God, it is incredibly worthy of our respect and today our worship.
Because the sacrifice that made it possible is the sacrifice of the Son of God.
So we believe that this bread symbolizes his body.
We believe this juice symbolizes his blood. and it’s not lost upon us, that that’s what it costs in order for us to experience what sometimes we take for granted every day.
And so today, let’s be reminded of what the Lord has done for us through his own sacrifice on our behalf.
So with that said, let me pray for us, and our deacons will share these elements, and then I will guide us through partaking of them.
Let’s pray.
Well, Father, today we are reminded of the cost of our salvation, the sacrifice of Jesus.
The fact that he experienced the derision and the judgment in his day of people who misunderstood who he was.
People who actually ultimately would take his life from him.
But we also know, Lord, that he actually freely offered up his life.
It truly wasn’t taken from him in the sense that he gave it.
And it is through his death on the cross. that we now have experienced the opportunity to have our own sins forgiven so that we might understand what it means to live purposefully on this earth, helping to establish and extend your kingdom, and so that we might live forever.
So we pray your blessings now on this bread, on this juice, and upon us as we receive it.
May we be reminded today. of the love that you have demonstrated for us so tangibly, so personally, through the witness, the testimony, the life, and the sacrifice of your son.
And so we pray those blessings now in Jesus’ name.
Amen.
God bless you, brother.
Love you, man.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Amen.
The Bible tells us that on that final evening of the earthly life of Jesus, he gathered his disciples around him for the celebration of the Passover, and he celebrated this meal with them.
Historically now, it’s been known as the Lord’s Supper, as he established it to be celebrated by his followers until his return.
In fact, the Apostle Paul will tell us that every time we eat this bread and drink this cup, we’re proclaiming the Lord’s death. until he comes.
So for us, this bread symbolizes the very body of our Lord in which he lived the perfect life and made the sacrifice for us.
Take and eat.
The Bible says Jesus also took the cup and he said, this is my blood of the new covenant.
Drink it.
And all God’s people said, amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Thank you, gentlemen.
Well, I think about this sermon that Jesus preached, this record in Matthew 5, and these apostles who were there to hear it.
And the fact that both Matthew and Luke, to some degree, record this message for us.
And I wonder how many times they reflected back on it. through the years as their lives unfolded.
Here’s what we know about the apostles.
The apostles demonstrated their willingness to die for their faith.
You know, we don’t know every detail about every apostle’s life.
We don’t know that.
Here’s what we do know.
There are enough records from antiquity that record numerous things about the apostles.
We don’t have one single instance from antiquity that any one of these apostles recanted their faith.
Obviously, Judas Iscariot will take his own life, but none of the apostles were recorded in any place in the history of Christianity recanting their faith.
In fact, traditions tell us that almost all of them gave their lives for the gospel.
And we don’t know everything.
I’ve been reading through and studying a dissertation that Sean McDowell wrote at Southern Seminary back in 2014 for his Ph.D. degree.
And basically his research that he has provided in this academic document is a study of the evaluation of the death of all the apostles.
How many of them were actually martyrs for their faith?
We don’t know everything, but we know a good bit about these men.
For example, the Apostle James.
His story is actually recorded in the book of Acts.
James, the brother of John, Acts 12.
Tells us that Herod put him to death with the sword.
So he’s the first Christian apostle martyr, if you will, who gave his life for the gospel.
We know that there’s a powerful story that we believe has enough historical verification about Simon Peter.
Some of us just got back from Rome, and when you go to Rome, one of the things you always do, most Christians would do, is you visit the largest church in Christendom.
The largest church in Christendom is St.
Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican.
But there’s another church in Rome that’s named for Simon Peter that actually is more of a favorite of mine, and that is the Basilica of San Pietro in Vincoli.
In English, that would be St.
Peter in chains.
I have a photo that I took there just the other day.
I’ll show it to you.
It’s at the very front of the church.
If you can see inside this urn, you’ll see these chains.
And as the story goes, these are ancient chains.
The pastor of the church at Rome claimed that he actually had the chains that were around Simon Peter when he was placed in the Mamertine prison.
And he held on to them and passed them from one pastor to the next.
And then also the empress, Eudoxia, when she was on her pilgrimage to Rome, she brought a gift to the pastor of the church at Rome.
And she claimed that she had the chains that were passed down from Christians in Jerusalem. when Peter was in prison in Jerusalem.
The pastor around AD 400, the pastor of the church at Rome, his name was Leo, he was comparing those two chains, and according to his story, when he did, they linked together.
Now, we’re not really sure.
We weren’t there to corroborate that story.
But here’s what we know.
Those sets of chains have been on display in Rome since about A.D.
420 or so.
And here’s what I would say.
Whether those are the chains or not, I would say… we know that Peter did offer up his life for the gospel.
And if you want to look at a representation, a symbol for Simon Peter, often it’s keys because of the text in Matthew 16 where Jesus talks about the keys of the kingdom.
I would say these chains are a more appropriate symbol for Simon Peter. because we believe he offered up his life for the gospel, martyred in the hands of Nero in Rome, crucified upside down in Nero’s circus, experiencing the derision, if you will, of the Roman emperor.
Then also, while we were in Rome, we always go visit another church in Rome, a very famous church in Rome, St.
Paul’s.
St.
Paul’s church is outside the walls of Rome.
And the reason for that is we believe Paul was martyred on the Ostian Way outside of the walls of Rome.
Paul was a Roman citizen, so he could not be crucified.
And so, believe it or not, the Romans thought a more humane way to kill someone was to behead them because it was a much quicker death than crucifixion.
So we believe Paul was beheaded out on the Ostian Way, and a church has been built over his tomb.
As I said, St.
Paul’s outside the walls.
There’s another photo that I’ve taken there, and there’s the chains.
If you can see way at the front, just beyond the tomb of St.
Paul, there’s a
A chain also contained a little urn there, and the Roman church believes those are the chains that were used to imprison Paul at the Mamertine prison at the end of his life.
Again, we don’t know about those chains, but I would tell you it’s just a reminder to us that these men and these early Christians who heard the teachings of Jesus, many of them were persecuted for their faith and
And there were many of them who gave their lives for the gospel.
Powerful testimony for the gospel.
Tertullian, the church father from Carthage, supposedly said the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.
You’ve heard that phrase mentioned many times if you’ve studied church history.
St.
Augustine put it like this.
He said the earth has been filled with the blood of the martyrs as with seed.
And from that seed have sprung the crops of the church.
They’ve asserted Christ’s cause more effectively when dead than when they were alive.
They assert it today.
They preach him today.
Their tongues are silent.
Their deeds echo around the world.
They were arrested, bound, imprisoned, brought to trial, tortured, burned at the stake, stoned to death, run through, fed to wild beasts.
In all their kinds of death, they were jeered at as worthless.
But precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.
Augustine’s take on the powerful witness of the martyrs of the church.
Well, if you study Christian history, the story of martyrdom is an incredible story.
We know that there have been many who have given up their lives for the gospel.
You know, the Apostle Paul talked about
What happened to him?
If you’ve ever read Paul’s writings, you know that occasionally he’ll mention it.
Let me just read to you a passage where Paul talks about his own personal journey regarding persecution.
In 2 Corinthians 11, Paul says this, “…whatever anyone else dares to boast about, I’m speaking as a fool, I also dare to boast about.”
Are they Hebrews?
So am I. Are they Israelites?
So am I. Are they Abraham’s descendants?
So am I. Are they servants of Christ?
I’m out of my mind to talk like this.
I am more.
I’ve worked much harder.
I’ve been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely.
I’ve been exposed to death again and again.
Five times I received from the Jews the 40 lashes minus one.
Three times I was beaten with rods.
Once I was pelted with stones.
Three times I was shipwrecked.
I spent a night and a day in the open sea.
I’ve been constantly on the move.
I’ve been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles, in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea, and in danger from false believers.
I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep.
I have known hunger and thirst and I’ve often gone without food.
I’ve been cold and naked and besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for the churches.
Who is weak and I do not feel weak?
Who is led into sin and I do not inwardly turn?
If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.
So Paul shares his own autobiography and his story is filled with with persecution, with suffering.
Well, you know, historically through the centuries, Christians have suffered.
When we were in Rome this year, we went to a church we’ve never been to before.
And I think I’ve done 19 tours of Rome now.
And I’ve never actually been in this church.
But there’s a story in Rome about Praxedis and Pudentiana.
There’s two sisters.
And in the early days of persecution in Rome, according to the records that we have there, these two sisters, it bothered them when they saw Christians martyred in Rome and no one cleaned up after them.
And so they began to collect their blood with sponges, according to the story.
And they took the blood and drained it in the well there next to their home.
And so today there are two churches that are actually in Rome.
One of them stands over where that well was, and there’s actually a porphyry stone over the top of that well to let us know the blood of the martyrs was placed here in Rome by these faithful women who then ultimately were martyred themselves.
It’s very humbling, is it not?
And just to remind you, it’s still happening.
You know, we think that these stories are ancient stories.
But just a couple of weeks ago, we read this story about these 70 Christians who were beheaded in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where they were trapped by these extremists.
And they were kidnapped, forced inside a Protestant church just two weeks ago.
And then all 70 of them lost their lives simply because of their faith in Christ.
I think also, I’m not sure if you’ve checked your calendar, but those of us who know, know tomorrow, March the 3rd, marks 14 years since Clint Dobson was murdered tragically at our mission church in North Arlington.
And we will be reminded again tomorrow of Clint’s life and his testimony, his witness, which lives on after him.
And we will honor him and his family tomorrow with our prayers and our thoughts.
You know, we just don’t talk much about it.
You know, when you look at the Beatitudes, this one is the hardest one to me.
You kind of make your way through, man, blessed are the pure in heart.
Even when you mourn, you know, blessed are the meek, blessed are the peacemakers.
And then you come to this one.
And this one is a challenging one.
And it’s challenging on several levels because here in the West,
The reason this particular beatitude doesn’t get much press is because we don’t know much about it.
We don’t know much about persecution.
We know a little bit, perhaps, about insults.
We know a little bit about false accusations.
And I’m not minimizing those.
But this one here is just a little bit challenging for us.
But I want us to at least hear it today because it’s something Jesus said.
It’s something that was on Jesus’ mind, on his heart.
He puts it in this sermon for a reason.
And I think we at least need to acknowledge it.
So let’s just walk through it real quickly.
First of all, there’s a pronouncement from Jesus.
Persecution, that word in Greek, it means to be chased down.
It means to be pursued or hunted down with the intention of harming someone.
That’s going to be experienced by the followers of Jesus, according to Jesus.
Jesus says this, theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
As a matter of fact, he says, blessed are the persecuted.
Now, Jesus is going to talk about persecution numerous times.
And then he, of course, is going to offer up his own life.
But I want you to notice what Jesus says if you still have your Bibles open.
He says, blessed are those who are persecuted because of their righteousness, because of their right living.
In other words, because they’re obeying the Sermon on the Mount.
Jesus later in Matthew’s gospel, you get to the end of Matthew’s gospel, he’ll tell his followers in Matthew 24, they’re going to hand you over to the authorities and you’re going to be persecuted.
Paul, at the end of his life, writing 2 Timothy, says this in 2 Timothy 3, verse 12.
Everyone who wants to live a godly life will be persecuted, Paul says.
Well, he’s speaking from personal experience.
And he’s writing from prison.
So, Paul embodied the reality of this particular beatitude.
The point is…
There are going to be some Christians who are going to be called upon to pay the ultimate price for their faith.
I don’t fully understand it.
I just know it to be true.
You know what Jesus says about them?
The kingdom of heaven is theirs.
Is that okay with us?
To honor them?
You know, there have just been so many of them, y’all, people that have inspired us.
Jim Elliott, many of y’all are familiar with his story.
He was a missionary in Ecuador and gave his life in 1956.
Maximilian Kolbe that Polish priest in Auschwitz when the Gestapo and the Nazis were putting these Jewish men to death and one of them cried out for his family and this Catholic priest stepped up and said my life for his and so instead of that Jewish man being put to death this Catholic priest gave his life for the gospel
There are so many of those stories throughout Christian history.
But Jesus does something else in this text.
It’s more than just his pronouncement about persecution.
I want you to notice what happens in verse 11.
Again, if you still have your Bibles open.
Here’s a word about posture.
The message from Jesus becomes very personal in verse 11.
I don’t know if you noticed it or not.
He uses the pronoun you.
His followers can expect to experience all kinds of persecution.
False accusations, mistreatment.
What is the posture of the Christian who’s being mistreated?
Well, Jesus says it’s humility and rejoicing and gladness.
Notice what happens.
The pronoun, look at verse 10.
Blessed are those.
Look at verse 11.
Blessed are you.
I can almost see a finger pointing.
Can you?
Blessed are you.
When this happens to you, false accusations, mistreatment, persecution in your personal life.
Well, Christians face this kind of persecution.
Some of you, even within the sound of my voice, maybe this has happened to you at your workplace because of a stand you’ve taken for the gospel.
Maybe in relationships or in communities.
The point is, if you and I choose to live a righteous life, we need to understand that not everybody is going to stand up and applaud it.
They’re just not.
Not everybody is going to agree with Christians trying to live Christianly.
Sometimes you find yourself swimming upstream in a culture.
More challenging in some context than others.
But when it happens to us, what are we supposed to do?
We’re supposed to get mad and get even.
Right?
Because that’s what we’re good at.
I’ve told y’all before, it’s okay to get mad.
It’s just not okay to stay mad.
And so, when it happens to us, Jesus says, rejoice.
Be exceedingly glad, he says.
In other words, be happy.
All those words belong in the same domain.
He says we’re to respond differently.
As a matter of fact, in this very sermon, Jesus is going to give us instructions.
He’s going to say, sometimes things are going to happen to you.
Don’t retaliate.
Don’t harbor revenge.
Trust God.
Keep following me.
Live differently than this world.
In fact, he says, don’t contribute to a cycle of hatred and vengeance.
Because once you get in the cycle of hatred and vengeance, how do you get out?
How do you get out of it?
Because once you enter into it, it’s vicious.
It’s challenging.
Last month, across America, we celebrated Black History Month.
The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said one time, darkness cannot drive out darkness.
Only light can do that.
And then he said this, hate cannot drive out hate.
Only love can do that.
That sounds like an application of the Sermon on the Mount to me.
And then notice there’s a word about perspective in this text.
Jesus moves beyond just our posture.
As Christians, we have to have an eternal perspective.
Notice what Jesus says in this text.
Look at verse 12.
Great is your reward in heaven, he says.
In the face of persecution and trial, we have to be reminded we don’t live just for this world.
This world is not all there is.
We have an eternal perspective, and God is paying attention.
You know, I’ve lived long enough to learn that justice is not always served in this world.
But here’s what I want you to know.
It will be served, though.
It will be.
Because I can promise you, God Almighty is paying attention.
And even though in this world things may not play out always as we would wish…
But we don’t live just for this world.
In fact, let me just show you in the next couple of verses the purpose for all of this, if I may.
The purpose, Jesus shares the goal of beatitude living in Matthew 5, 13 through 16.
We’re to be salt and light in our world so that God will be glorified.
Listen, if you still have your Bibles, look at verse 13.
After Jesus shares these beatitudes, closing with the harshest one. when you’re persecuted, reviled, insulted, he says this, because now, if you live this way, look at verse 13, you are the salt of the earth.
If the salt loses its saltiness, in other words, if we don’t live this way, how can it be made salty again?
It’s no longer good for anything.
Throw it out.
Look at verse 14.
You are the light of the world.
A town built on a hill can’t be hidden.
Look at verse 16.
Let your light shine before others that they’ll see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
So y’all,
What’s supposed to happen?
You and I are supposed to just live differently.
That’s really the point of the Beatitudes.
We don’t live like the world lives.
We have a different kind of life.
We’re to live according to the teachings of Jesus.
That means we’re going to add flavor to this world like salt does.
We’re going to create thirst like salt does.
We’re going to preserve the good like salt does.
We’re going to be a healing agent.
We’re going to be a light in the world because that’s who he’s called us to be.
And right now, y’all, we have a world that needs salt and light.
We have a world that is so divided, so polarized, so judgmental, and so angry, and so right all the time.
Nobody’s wrong.
Isn’t that fascinating?
Let me tell you something.
Everybody can’t be right.
They just can’t be because their opinions are so far away from each other.
Everybody can’t be right, and every once in a while, you just might be wrong.
You just might be.
Entertain that possibility.
I think about it every day.
I might be wrong about this.
Good Lord, just say that in the mirror and get used to hearing yourself say it.
I might be wrong about this.
You know, my world needs salt and light.
It needs people who live differently, who act differently, who talk differently. so that they will see our Father and glorify Him.
Wow.
May God be on display through us.
Here’s what I want us to do this morning.
I want to take just a minute and think about all these martyrs.
What if we could just parade them through today?
What would we do?
There goes James, Simon Peter, Paul the Apostle.
These two sisters that I mentioned, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Jim Elliot.
What would we do?
Can I ask us to do this as we have an invitation?
What if right now we just imagine we see them all?
Can we just stand in their honor today?
Can you do that?
Let’s just stand in their honor.
These men and women who poured out their lives shed their blood so that you and I might experience what we experience.
Can we just take a second and reflect on them and in our hearts be grateful?
And let’s just pray.
We’re going to have an invitation. for you, but let’s pray.
Can you take a second and just pray for the persecuted church right now?
Let’s thank God for Stephen and James and Peter and Paul and, like I said, all these martyrs.
Thank you, Lord.
What about those that are being persecuted right now?
Let’s pray for them, our brothers and sisters.
They’re in North Korea.
They’re in Somalia.
They’re in Yemen.
They’re in Libya.
They’re in Eritrea.
They’re in Pakistan.
They’re in Iran.
They’re in the Ukraine.
They’re in Afghanistan.
They’re in India.
They’re in Myanmar.
They’re in Saudi Arabia.
They’re in Nigeria.
They’re in the Congo.
They’re in the Sudan.
Unfortunately, the list goes on and on.
Pray for them right now.
Pray for them to be strong.
When you read their testimonies, they usually don’t ask us to pray for them to be delivered.
They want to be faithful.
So Lord, thank you.
Faithful men and women who’ve modeled something for us to be emulated.
Sacrifice, commitment, faithfulness.
And right now for our brothers and sisters in Christ who labor in the troubled places on this planet, we stand in the gap right now on their behalf, asking you, Lord, to be gracious to them.
And may one day when it’s all said and done,
May we truly celebrate what has been said and done in your name.
And we pray in your name, amen.
This morning, I want to give you a chance to respond.
If God’s leading you to join the church, give your life to him, come do that.
We’ve got folks here at the front that will receive you.
Maybe it’s a time for you to come before the Lord and continue praying for those in the troubled places of the world.
Let’s do that as well while we sing here.
My faith has found a resting place, not in device nor creed.
I trust the ever-living one is what