Transcript: Christian Persecution and the Power of God's Unshakeable Word

The title of our message today is called persecution follows the truth. We are living in a time or an age where nothing seems very stable, not only in the United States of America, but all around the world. The economy is shaky, and many people have been laid off their jobs, and doors to many businesses have been closed. The moral decline in the United States is at an all-time high. Unwed mothers' statistics are the highest they have ever been. And the latest report on divorce says that 70% of Americans believe divorce is morally acceptable, according to a Gallup poll taken last year, that is in 2008. Leading the world, America is number one in the divorce rate and Puerto Rico is second. homosexuality and gay lifestyles and marriages are endorsed by more and more states in America abortion approval is on the upswing at the same rate we see more and more involvement in the way of the occult in movies, television, books and music this evil thread of saint and the devil doesn't stop at the curious teenager or the older generation but it has filtered down to the very young in cartoons, books, movies and games. We see young children making gestures with their hands like they are putting hexes and curses on their siblings, parents and anyone they are angry with. Sensitivity to the kindnesses that used to be in the way of courteous manners like thank you or no thank you or please or respect for the elderly and so on are far and few between these days. We have seen an increase in vehicles going down the road with satanic signs and emblems, with the symbols of death, skull and bones, and advertising the fact that they are a witch or a warlock, and blatant and blaring music ranting about rebellion, death and hatred. Those versed in the knowledge of the Bible know where this darkness leads and the fateful end of those who do not repent of their heinous, abominable sins and accept the free gift of life everlasting through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Savior. In the news recently, there was a pastor in California who was holding a Bible study in his home. A local authority from the county came to his home and demanded that he and his wife stop holding these Bible studies based on the fact that they would say, Amen, praise the Lord, and raise their hands in worship. the official representing the county said it was illegal for them to be holding the Bible studies and that if they continued they would be fined $1,000 our rights and freedoms of speech as Christians are being stolen right in front of our faces and our present government leadership is threatening prison sentence awaits us if we speak about homosexuality and gay lifestyles Dear saint, these are condemned by the word of God. How can we keep our mouths shut and be silent when God Almighty, the maker of the heavens and the earth, says, This is evil. Today, good is now being called evil, and evil is called good. God, the author of life, decrees that there is a judgment, a woe, A sentence for those who are wise in their own eyes and call evil good. Isaiah 5.20 In Isaiah 5.20 The word declares woe to those who call evil good and good evil. Who put darkness for light and light for darkness. Who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes. and prudent and shrewd in their own sight. Woe to those who are mighty heroes at drinking wine and men of strength and mixing alcoholic drinks. 23. Who justify and acquit the guilty for bribes, but take away the rights of the innocent and the righteous from them. Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours the stubble and as the dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root shall be like rottenness and their blossoms shall go up like fine dust, because they have rejected and cast away the law and the teaching of the Lord of hosts, and have not believed, but have treated scornfully and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. May I tell you that there are those in the body of Jesus Christ who have endorsed abortion, and I am speaking of well-known ministers who have endorsed and approved of present leadership in government, who have built a platform on these evil and present agendas, God says, Woe be unto you who call evil good. These pastors and ministers have joined together in a partnership with the promoters of those who choose to kill innocent little unborn babies who are the Lord Jesus Christ's inheritance. and I say to you who do you think you are? A woe is a sentence of deep sorrow of grief, of distress and affliction Woes were pronounced on those in scripture who in the Old Testament betrayed God's righteous standards and in the New Testament were those who betrayed his son Jesus Christ and the word of God that Jesus brought to the earth as a spokesman for his father in heaven Murder is defined by Nelson's Bible Dictionary as the unlawful killing of one person by another, especially with premeditated malice. Abortion is always premeditated, and it is illegal in the eyes of the author of life who is the one true and living God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. for a believer to agree with something so heinous and contrary to God's word is to actually partner with Satan the devil and his evil world since Satan is the author of death and the grave and is the one who comes to steal, kill and destroy the world has its judgment already but can I tell you this kind of betrayal for the so-called professors of the faith and especially for those who call themselves minister of the gospel in the church of Jesus Christ, is a great and horrendous crime, and eternal damnation in the darkest and deepest punishments of hell's fire for eternity await them. All this to be heard and seen. All this so that your ministry might be acknowledged and noticed, so that you might be able to write another book and or fill more seats in your congregation? All of this for mammon or money? Jesus Christ pronounced a woe on the man who would betray him. Judas Iscariot, the very one who shared Christ's communion table with him and the one who held the money bag and helped himself to it whenever his lustful passion and greed for more stirred his insatiable appetite. Let's see what the all-knowing and all-wise God said about him, and as a warning for all those with the same kind of betraying heart, because they really did not have a deep and sincere love for their Savior. In Matthew 14, verse 18, And while they were at the table eating, Jesus says, Surely I say to you One of you will betray me One who is eating here with me And they began to show that they were sad and hurt And say to him one after another Is it I? Or is it not I? Is it? He replied to them It is one of the twelve apostles Who is dipping bread into the same dish with me For the Son of Man is going as it stands written concerning him but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would have been good, profitable, and wholesome for that man if he had never been born. Unless there is a deep and bitter repentance for these people who have trespassed against the righteous decrees and laws of God Almighty and His Son Jesus Christ, they will be likened to a Judas Iscariot, or a Balaam's greed, or Korah's rebellion. Dear Church, God sets the standards of righteousness for all people to live by but the world chooses not to conform nor to obey God's authoritative laws which determine and govern the way man shall live and this is why we must speak out this is why we must not be silent the world must hear the truth there is only one authoritative standard It is holy and upright living in accordance with God's ways of righteousness. God's character is the definition and source of all righteousness. And so because of this, then man's righteousness is defined in terms of God's holy standard or yardstick. And this yardstick measures and defines man's relationship with God and man. And this measuring stick also defines man's righteous actions which will promote peace and well-being of human beings in their relationships with one another. May I tell you that homosexuality, gay lifestyles and gay marriages and abortion does not fit into God's holy standards of righteousness. after Cain and Abel's parents committed high treason by disobeying God's command not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil then it was sometime later that Cain murdered his brother Abel this is a very sobering verse in Hebrews 6.4 which states for it is impossible to restore and bring again to repentance those who have been once for all enlightened who have consciously tasted the heavenly gift and have become sharers of the Holy Spirit. Verse 5, and have felt how good the word of God is and the mighty powers of the age and the world to come. If they then deviate from the faith and turn away from their allegiance, it is impossible to bring them back to repentance for, because while as long as they nailed up on the cross the Son of God afresh, as far as they are concerned and are holding him up to contempt and shame and public disgrace. It is always a sure thing to note that when a professor of the faith deviates from the path, they begin to show signs of betrayal, of perversion, of error and apostasy. They become blinded to the truth and the artificial tastes of the carnal reason begin to take charge and their senses now lead and guide them saying, if it sounds good, tastes good, looks good, smells good, it is good. This certainly shows us that the highest form of holiness and righteousness offends man's love for his own sin. God's laws and ways, or we could say his plumb line of perfection, becomes distasteful and much hated and these rebellious renegades, although now deceived, believe that they are right and begin to call evil good and good evil. It is an easy thing now to accuse and persecute those who speak the truth of God in love in order to bring correction and possible insight to the error of their ways. It was King David who said, Lord I am hungry and thirsty for your justice It was also David Who shows us in Psalms 15 verse 1 Who will dwell on the high places with God Psalms 15 verse 1 Lord who shall dwell in your tabernacle Who shall dwell on your holy hill He who walks and lives uprightly and blamelessly who works righteousness and justice and speaks and thinks the truth in his heart. He does not slander with his tongue, nor does evil to his friend, nor take up a reproach against his neighbor, in whose eyes a vile person is despised but he who honors those who fear the Lord who revere and worship him who swear to his own hurt and does not change Jesus Christ came for vile sinners, and we were all sinners in the eyes of God until we acknowledged our sins, repented of them, and were saved by the grace of our Savior. justice is the desire to be corrected and measured and perfected in order to mature into the fullness of Christ justice is God's method of correction and the word tells us that God corrects and disciplines every son he receives this correction if it is received purifies, refines our lives and brings about true holiness or perfection in Christ God through his inspired words through Paul shows the necessity and importance of this perfection or better called maturity in Ephesians 4 verse 11 Ephesians 4 verse 11 And his gifts were varied He himself appointed and gave men to us some to be apostles, special messengers some prophets, inspired preachers and expounders some evangelists, preachers of the gospel traveling missionaries, some pastors shepherds of his flocks and teachers. His intention was the perfecting and the full equipping of his saints, his consecrated people, that they should do the work of ministry towards building up Christ's body, the church. Verse 13, that it might develop until we all attain oneness in the faith and in the comprehension of the full and accurate knowledge of the Son of God that we might arrive at really mature manhood, the completeness of personality, which is nothing less than the standard height of Christ's own perfection, the measuring of the statute of the fullness of Christ and the completeness found in him. Verse 14, So then we may no longer be children, tossed like ships to and fro between chants, gusts of teaching and wavering with every changing wind of doctrine, the prey of the cunning and cleverness of unscrupulous men, gamblers engaged in every shifting form of trickery, inventing errors to mislead. Rather, let our lives lovingly express truth in all things, speaking truly, dealing truly, living truly. Enfolded in love, let us grow up in every way and in all things into Him who is the Head, even Christ the Messiah, the Anointed One. For because of him, the whole body, the church, in all of its various parts, closely joined and firmly knitted together by the joints and ligaments with which it is supplied, when each part, with power adapted to its need, is working properly in all of its function, grows to full maturity, building itself up in love. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! But if we do not allow the justice or the correction and reproof of the Lord to purify us while today is called today, we will remain in the place of being offended at the truth when it comes to us and will actually become accusers of the brethren and haters of God. Jesus in his pronouncement of woes to the Pharisees in Luke 11.42 is the same judgment that will befall those who refuse to change. The Pharisees or pretenders of the faith were the very ones who killed Jesus Christ because his gospel offended them and convicted them of their sin. He was the Messiah who was prophesied to come and bring freedom to the captives, but rather than repent, they killed him. They persecuted the righteous saints of God Who were approved of God To take the gospel tidings The good news of salvation To all the world Read with me please Luke 11 verse 42 Luke 11 42 But woe to you Pharisees For you tithe mint and rue And every little herb But disregard and neglect justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done without leaving the others undone. Woe to you Pharisees, for you love the best seats in the synagogue and you love to be greeted and bowed down to in public marketplaces. Woe to you, for you are like graves which are not marked or seen and men walk all over them without being aware of it and are ceremonially defiled. One of the experts in the Mosaic Law answered him saying teacher you reproach and outrage and affront even us but he said to them woe to you the lawyers also for you load men with oppressive burdens hard to bear and you do not personally even gently touch the burdens with one of your fingers woe to you for you are rebuilding and repairing the tombs of the prophet whom your fathers killed and destroyed verse 48 so you bear witness and give your full approval and consent to the deeds of your father for they actually killed them and you rebuild and repair monuments to them. For this reason also the wisdom of God said, I will send them prophets and apostles. Some of them will be put to death and be persecuted. Jesus says, if they hated me, they will hate you. the world hates the truth of the gospel because it brings conviction that sin is evil and is condemned by God this is why the atheists and God haters are trying to write everything out in our nation's government and national monuments that speak of in God we trust or the Ten Commandments or the symbol of the cross our world today is offended at the cross of Jesus Christ Jesus actually annulled the covenant of death and the agreement that we had with Satan the devil when we accepted him as our Lord and Savior. Isaiah 28, verse 16 declares, Therefore thus says the Lord God, Behold, I am laying in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone of a sure foundation. He who believes and trusts in and adheres to that stone will not be ashamed or give way or hastened away in sudden panic. Verse 17. I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plummet. And hail will sweep away the refuge of lies and waters will overwhelm the hiding place, the shelter. And your covenant with death shall be annulled. And your agreement with Sheol, the place of the dead, shall not stand. when the overwhelming scourge passes through, then you will be trodden down by it. How unfortunate it is today that many reject Jesus' teaching which His heavenly Father had given Him to bring to the earth and declare to all that He was indeed God's answer and atonement for our sin and eternal salvation. Salvation by the cross, by our crucified Christ, was and still is a stumbling block and offense to many. How unfortunate that so many hate and loathe a message and an act of love that was meant to set them free of the prisons that confine them and keep them from enjoying true peace, joy, and love. We can see that this offense of the cross is shown in the way of actual persecution of believers but most often by slandering believers, mocking them and calling them old-fashioned, foolish, weak-minded, conceited and self-righteous. Offense of the cross is also shown by great and horrendous persecution of Christian believers who are tortured and unmercifully beaten and thrown into prison for their testimony of Jesus. Persecution for righteousness sake is defined by the hatred and affliction That follows the witness and the holy lives of God's people in a hostile world The New Testament teaches that God's people will suffer persecution Jesus taught that God's prophets always face persecution And his disciples should expect the same In Matthew 10.22 Jesus said You will be hated by all for my name's sake But he who endures to the end Will be saved from spiritual disease and death in the world to come And when they persecute you in that one town That is pursue you in a manner that would injure you And cause you to suffer because of your belief Flee to another town For I tell you You will not have gone through all the towns of Israel Before the Son of Man comes the world and the pretenders of the faith or those who just use Christ's name for their own greedy purposes call true Christians crazy weak minded and needing Jesus as a Savior and Lord and say it's like needing a crutch to lean on and as a futile and empty religion we get what we ask for when we speak about the gospel and confess the truth knowing that it courts danger and brings upon ourselves the hatred and animosity of the whole world. They say, is this not foolishness? Apostle Paul did not mind the hatred of the world coming to him in his day. It made him all the more bolder to confess Jesus Christ. And the hatred of the world, in Paul's estimation, was prophesying well for the future growth and success of the truth, which always prospered best in the times of persecution. And when the offense of the cross ceases, when the anger and rage of the enemies of the cross lessens, and when everything is quiet, it is a sign that the devil is the doorkeeper of the church and that the pure word of God has been lost. Prophet Isaiah says in Isaiah 38, verse 17, Behold, it was for my peace that I had intense bitterness. But you have loved back my life from the pit of corruption and nothingness, for you have cast all my sins behind your back. For Sheol, the place of the dead, cannot confess and reach out the hand to you. Death cannot praise and rejoice in you. They who go down to the pit cannot hope for your faithfulness to your promises. the living shall thank and praise you as I do this day the father shall make known to the children your faithfulness and truth and the Lord is ready to save to deliver me therefore I will sing my songs with my stringed instruments all the days of our lives in the house of the Lord well prophet Isaiah says in verse 17 behold it was for my peace that I had intense bitterness He says, Yes, now I see it was all good for me to undergo this bitterness. For you have lovingly delivered me from death and you have forgiven all my sin. For dead men cannot praise you. They cannot be filled with hope and joy and your peace, O God. Well, Apostle Paul looks with suspicion upon a doctrine or a gospel that does not provoke antagonism. it was not too long ago that we had hate mail on our website from a man who had an antichrist spirit and who ranted at the messages that I was teaching and we felt that there was an undertone of a threat when in one part of his blistering and haranguing letter he said Patricia just shut your mouth and get a life while you still have life well we did not bother to respond to his letter but instead we prayed for his soul that the Lord God would have mercy upon him and open his eyes to the truth in his word King David petitioned the Lord for his mercy and for deliverance from his enemies when he said Lord I believed your truth and I spoke it out and now I am greatly afflicted for it Psalms 116 verse 1 Go there with me please Psalms 116 verse 1 I love the Lord because he has heard my voice and my supplications because he has inclined his ear to me therefore I will call upon him as long as I live The pains of death surround me and the pains of Sheol laid hold me and I found trouble and sorrow and then I called upon the name of the Lord O Lord, I implore you, deliver my soul. Gracious is the Lord and righteous. Yes, our God is merciful. The Lord preserves the simple. I was brought low and he saved me. Return to your rest, O my soul, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. For you have delivered my soul from death my eyes from tears and my feet from falling I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living Verse 10 I believed therefore I spoke I am greatly afflicted Persecution always follows on the heels of the word of God as David had experienced. He said, I believe, therefore I was greatly afflicted. David is referring to his faith when he says, Lord, I believe and therefore I have spoken. And Apostle Paul referred to these very words of David in 2 Corinthians 4.13 as he was speaking of the persecution that he himself and the others face daily. 2 Corinthians 4.13 Yet we have the same spirit of faith as he who wrote, I have believed and therefore have I spoken. We too believe and therefore we speak Assured that he who raised up the Lord Jesus Will raise us up also with Jesus And bring us along with you into his presence Verse 15 For all these things are taking place for your sake So that the more grace, divine favor and spiritual blessing Extends to more and more people And multiplies through the many And more thanksgiving may increase and redound To the glory of God Verse 16, Therefore we do not become discouraged, utterly spiritless, exhausted, and wearied out through fear. Though our outer man is progressively decaying and wasting away, yet our inner self is being progressively renewed day after day. Verse 17, for our light and momentary affliction, the slight distress of this passing hour is ever more and more abundantly preparing and producing and achieving for us an everlasting weight of glory, beyond all measure excessively surpassing all comparisons and calculations, a vast and transcendent glory and blessedness never to cease. since we consider and look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are visible are temporal, brief and fleeting but the things that are invisible are deathless and everlasting. Praise God. Praise the Lord. Paul was referring to himself and his fellow ministers of the gospel who although they suffered for Christ's sake They were not ashamed to own him and make him known. King David believed the very being and providence and promise of God, particularly the assurance God had given to him by prophet Samuel, that he would exchange his shepherd's rod for the kingly scepter. And this would be after a great deal of hardship with Saul pursuing him and seeking to kill him so that he would not inherit the throne. and it must be noted here with these two great men that is King David and Apostle Paul that they believed with all of their hearts and confessed with their mouths for the glory of God the encouragement of others to the evidence of their own sincerity that those who live in the hope of the kingdom of glory must neither be afraid nor ashamed of their obligation to Jesus Christ who purchased it for them. We have an obligation to our Lord and must never be silent as to the wonderful gospel of truth and freedom found only in Jesus Christ that he will set men and women free those who will receive it. Paul says in Romans 10 verse 9 because if you acknowledge and confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and in your heart believe that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart a person believes, and so is justified, and with the mouth he confesses and confirms his salvation. The scripture says, No man who believes in him will ever be put to shame or disappointed. Verse 12, No one, for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek. The same Lord is Lord over all of us, and he generously bestows his riches upon all who call upon him in faith. All over the world today, Christians are accused and slandered without mercy. Murderers and thieves receive better treatment than Christians. The world, which is Satan's system, regards true Christians as the worst offenders for whom no punishment can be too severe. the world and its antichrist spirit hates Christians with an amazing brutality and without qualm commits them to the most shameful deaths congratulating itself that it has delivered God and the cause of peace a noble service by ridding the world of the undeserved presence of Christians and Jews there is an account of a woman named Christiana Oluwassin who on March 21st, 2007, looked forward to the ending of that school day. That's because the Christian teacher was to leave the government high school in Gombe, a city in northern Nigeria, be reunited with her husband, Femi. But first things first, she had to give her female students their final exam. The exam would test the student's knowledge of Islam. to prevent cheating she collected the book bags of each student and brought them to the front of the class one of the students began to cry she told the class that there was a Quran in her bag and by touching the bag the Christian teacher had desecrated the Quran inside it tears turned to outrage and anger and soon the class was shouting Aluha Akbar which means God is great they began threatening the teacher A fellow teacher rushed Christiana to the principal's office, and the official locked the school teacher in the bathroom to get her away from what was now an angry mob. But outside, the anger was growing. Radical Muslims who lived nearby heard the commotion and ran to the school. Eventually, a mob of Muslim extremists dragged Christiana out of the school and clubbed her to death and then burned her body. Another account tells of a 10-year-old Hun Joo who was different Few Northern Korean children know about God But Hun Joo believed in God and trusted him Hun Joo's parents were Christian They shared their faith with their daughter Even though they knew they might be punished if officials found out The country's leaders want people to honor them, not God Hoon Joo's parents wanted her to know about Jesus in spite of the obstacles, and they prayed that God would use her to change North Korea. One day, Hoon Joo's aunt, Miss Kim, came to her home for a visit. But the house was empty. The family had vanished. A friend later told Miss Kim what had happened. Hoon Joo's teacher at school had asked her, How did you get such good grades on your test today? By the grace of God, Hun Jun answered. The teacher was angry. She dragged Hun Jun out of the classroom, and then her family disappeared. No doubt, the government took them away, and no one has heard from them since. There's an account that tells about a man whom God instructed to speak out about his faith. Latif was born and raised in a Coptic Christian family. He became a quiet Christian. In Egypt, where proselytizing is illegal, Latif rarely shared his faith. Then in 1994, he says he heard God's voice compelling him to tell others about Christ. That is when he zealously began sharing the gospel with Muslims in his upper Egyptian village. Soon after, Latif was arrested and jailed. When released, he returned to evangelizing. He was put back in jail. This had gone on for the last 14 years with Latif's most recent arrest and release occurred in 2008. Often when Latif is arrested, he undergoes extreme torture. During one arrest in 1996, an Egyptian state security officer punched him in the mouth and broke two of his teeth. He shouted, don't talk about Christ, don't preach, don't evangelize, recalled Latif. He said, this dog will no longer talk about Jesus. Once he was locked in a toilet stall where guards urinated on him. Repeated electric shocks injured his feet and his lower abdomen was sliced so severely with the knife his intestines spilled out. Guards allowed jailed Muslim soldiers to extinguish their lit cigarettes on Latif's arm and shoulder. But Latif could not remain silent. Even in prison he shared Christ. On one occasion, while he was in jail, incarcerated Muslims asked Latif to lead prayers from the Quran. They assumed he was part of a conservative Islamic group, the Muslim Brotherhood. Latif agreed, but he prayed using Bible verses. He was able to do this for four months. Many Muslims do not know what is in the Quran. They only know what the Muslim teachers have told them. One inmate even told him how Lateef's prayers were the first time he ever heard prayers that were real. When Lateef was caught evangelizing in prison, he was tortured. Once he was tied to a ladder with ropes and the ladder was turned upside down, Lateef said. Three security offers beat me all over my body with wooden sticks and said I was a kafir, an unbeliever, and deserved the beatings. I prayed for my persecutors because they did not know Jesus. I ask God to reveal the truth to them. Lateef says God has allowed his repeated imprisonment and torture in order to be glorified. I am like garbage. The glory is for the Lord only. The Lord said they will hate me without reason, but I cannot stop talking about him, Lateef says. I do not share these stories with you to play on your emotions or to cause you to feel inferior in your walk with your Savior or to intimidate or to shame you. But how many of us need a wake-up call in the body of Christ today as to the persecution that comes to true believers in Jesus Christ when they live what they believe and share the faith with those around them? Dear believer in Christ, we are not to let such treatment and threats cause us to stumble in our faithfulness to Jesus. As long as we experience such persecutions, we know all is well with the gospel. Jesus told his followers and held out this same comfort to them when he spoke in Matthew 5.11 and said, Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven. for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Many of us will never experience the persecution that our precious brothers and sisters go through in these nations that we have just heard about today. But may I tell you that the move in this nation as well as other nations with the infiltration of radical Muslims whose belief is that if you do not believe in the Koran, you should die. we as the church must not come short of this joy that Jesus is speaking about when we are persecuted for righteousness sake Jesus says rejoice and be glad for great is your reward in heaven we cannot compromise to be at peace with anyone unless they agree and consent to the truth in God's word God's word is found only in Holy Scripture and is the ultimate authority in all source of truth truth is the conformity to fact or actuality it is faithfulness to the original standard truth is a fundamental moral and personal quality found only in God God proclaims in Exodus 34 verse 6 that he is merciful and gracious that he is long suffering and abounding in goodness and truth he is a God of love and not a God of hatred he is a God of truth that means he is without any injustice altogether truth is a moral and personal characteristic of God Isaiah 65 verse 16 declares and so shall it be that he who invokes a blessing on himself in the land shall do so by saying may the God of truth and fidelity the Amen bless me and he who takes an oath in the land shall swear by the God of truth and faithfulness to his promises because the former troubles are forgotten and because they are hidden from my eyes. Because of his perfect will God has to speak and act in truth he cannot lie. and so it is for we the church of the living God we must step out and speak the truth and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ and suffer the persecution that comes along with the territory because the gospel alone declares the mercy, love and glory of God Almighty who is the creator of all things. People need to hear about Jesus and the love that he has for them. And because of our sharing the gospel, It stirs up the devil and his cohorts because the truth shines the light on who Satan really is. Those who preach and teach and evangelize the gospel of Jesus Christ should not be surprised or offended when all hell breaks loose. Jesus says rejoice because ultimately it is a joyous indication that all is well with the gospel of the cross. Hallelujah Hallelujah As missionaries in a nation That is a territory of the United States of America We lived in a very dark part of the island Where there was a great satanic stronghold We learned that there were as many churches As there were satanic covens in this town The persecution that we experienced came in the way of having our utilities shut off for months at a time. Witches and warlocks coming on the property to plant their curses and incantations against us, gunfire and to intimidate us into leaving the property where we lived and held our Bible study, prayer meetings and services. We endured the slandering gossip from those who were said to be brothers and sisters in Christ. But oh God forbid that the offense of the cross should ever be removed. If the offense of who Christ is, what he did, and what he has provided were to be removed or watered down, Satan and his followers would have the advantage. Jesus Christ came and spoke about men's sin and said that we must repent of our evil ways and accept his blood sacrifice in order to have eternal life. And the world does not want to hear about their sin because they are happy with it. So when we talk about abortion, homosexuality, adultery, fornication, Satanism, false religions which are Satan's inventions and systems and speak about the truth from God's word, we will be persecuted all around. You see, dear church, we have not received a gospel from man, but a gospel from the very mouth and heart of God. 2 Timothy 3.16 declares, Every scripture is God-breathed, given by His inspiration and profitable for instruction, for reproof and conviction of sin, for correction of error and discipline in obedience, and for training in righteousness and holy living in conformity to God's will in thought, purpose and action so that the man of God may be complete and proficient well fitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work. We must continue to receive the truth in the only way in which it was designed and purposed that we would receive it and that is by the divine inspiration of faith. The gospel of the cross brings offense to those who hear it. We must not change the truth to fit what carnal minds want to hear. Jesus didn't, and He is our example. He was crucified for speaking the truth. It is the truth that offends and causes stumbling and brings on persecution, but it is also the truth that will set men free. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! It is the truth that will save, and we too must admit that we were once offended by the message of the cross but now find it to be the very joy and life and hope of our hearts and souls. We find that we cannot help but speak of the one who saved us and set us free. We cannot help but give offense to those who do hate the cross by virtue of our Christian way of life that is the way we believe how we live and act and by what we say. many Christians who profess they are believers never cause offense to those who are godless without Christ they do not live any differently than the godless nor do they speak about the one who hung on the cross and died for them it must be because they are not truly crucified with Christ they have no real trust or faith in their Savior nor any true knowledge of him to share with anyone Apostle Paul declares in Romans 9.33 As it is written, Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone that will make men stumble, a rock that will make them fall. But he who believes in him, who adheres to and trusts on him, shall not be put to shame nor disappointed in his expectations. Dear one, the love for your Savior will inspire and awaken voluntary self-sacrifice within your heart and soul to surrender your whole entire life to him. You will not stumble over what he commands you to do. You too will, with longing in your heart as you grow in him, will desire to see others come to the cross freely without guilt or offense and accept the beautiful sacrifice of love, one for them, two, by our precious Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 2 Timothy 3.12 says, You, however, know all about my teachings, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance persecutions and sufferings what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch and Iconium and Lystra the persecutions I endured yet the Lord rescued me from all of them indeed all who delight in piety and are determined to live a devoted and godly life in Christ Jesus will be met with persecution will be made to suffer because of their religious stand but wicked men and imposters will go from bad to worse deceiving and leading astray and others being deceived and led astray themselves. We as Christians today cannot just go to church once or twice a week and think that we have done our duty. We do not belong to a social club, but we belong to the family of God who is called a family of love. The love of Jesus Christ in your heart and the holy gratitude of what He did for you cannot remain locked up in your heart and be a selfish spiritual picnic just for yourself. Opportunity for Christians to bear witness exists every day whether or not there is persecution. If we lack faith and trust in stepping out and sharing Christ, then we fear the opposition that may come. But when we walk by faith and not by sight, We will see the many and wonderful opportunities to share Jesus' precious sacrifice. Then we will not see the walls, but we'll see opportunities. Today, all across our nation, Christians are being tested in their faith. What will our children and grandchildren learn from us? The key in sharing Christ and withstanding any persecution that comes along is being grateful for the gift of salvation that you have personally received. When this true and genuine in your own heart and life, God will plug in a passion and zeal to see other souls saved and redeemed from Satan's hold and bondage. Remember that God allows and permits Christians to be despised, rejected and hated by the world so that we are set free and cleansed from its pollution so that we may grow in holiness. Revelation 18, verse 4 declares, Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, Come out from her, my people, so that you may not share in her sins, neither participate in her plagues, for her iniquities, her crimes and transgressions are piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her wickedness and her crimes and calls them up for settlement. as we are truly cleansed from the world's plagues and crimes we are filled with the love of God and for the unsaved we must love those who do not love God we cannot in this process of reaching the lost conform ourselves to their standards just to reach them and have their approval and acceptance this is always disastrous many use the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 9.19 to justify their far out evangelism approaches to reaching the lost. 1 Corinthians 9.19 Paul says, Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone to win as many as possible. To the Jews I become like a Jew to win the Jews. To those under the law I become like one under the law, although myself I'm not under the law, so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law, I become like one not having the law, though I am not free from God's law, but am under Christ's law, so as to win those not having the law. Verse 22. To the weak I become weak to win the weak. I have become all things to all men, so that by all possible means I might save some. I do this for the sake of the gospel that I may share in its blessings. Now, Paul did not compromise the truth. He did not tattoo himself, nor use vile and gross language from his pulpit because it is relevant for our times, nor did he become a fornicator or an adulterer. But Paul humbled himself to go into their camps under the power of the Holy Spirit who was upon him and leading him in his message. The Spirit of the Lord stirred the minds of the hearers and their hearts to be persuaded that the gospel of truth that Paul was delivering was of God. May we all be wise and grow into the maturity of the prayer that Paul prayed in Ephesians 1.16 that was inspired by the Holy Spirit of God and shows the very heart, will, and mind of God for every believer in Jesus Christ. Ephesians 1.16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers. For I always pray to God, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, that he may grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation, of insight into mysteries and secrets in the deep and intimate knowledge of Him by having the eyes of your heart flooded with light so that you can know and understand the hope to which He has called you and how rich is His glorious inheritance in the saints, His set-apart ones. I would like to pray with those of you who desire to step out of your comfort zone and places of confinement where you have grown to be a silent Christian afraid to share your faith, your Savior, Jesus Christ, with those around you. Let us bow our heads, please. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, our precious Lord and Savior, we come to the throne of grace and mercy today, repenting of our sins of complacency, our neglect and indifference, our disinterest, our coldness and aloofness to sharing the greatest message, the joyous good news of salvation found only in Jesus Christ, our Messiah, who you have sent to rescue your people from the captivity of Satan and the devil. Lord, I repent of having fear and intimidation of facing persecution or unfavorable responses in my testimony of Jesus. I now understand that if I do not walk by faith, then I fear opposition that may come. Father make me bold and strong in the power of your Holy Spirit and forgive me for my weaknesses make me an ambassador of truth and a representative of the Christian way of life that you are pleased to call your very own Holy Spirit I pray that you will fill my mouth with the words of truth and pour out your love as I witness my Savior to the hurting and dying around me inspire their hearts to receive the precious, life-saving, joy-filled gospel of glad tidings as they hear it since eternity awaits them. Lord, I pray that you will make me a brave witness for Christ, who is not afraid to give a public witness for Jesus, even in the most difficult times, so that I may share your love. Father, please deliver me from all fear, I pray. In the name of Jesus, Amen. Thank you.