Real Life Community Church Richmond, KY
Real Life Community Church, is a church located in Richmond, Kentucky. Our fellowship is comprised of authentic followers of Jesus Christ who aim to glorify God in all that we do. We have a desire to reach our community, meeting both the physical and spiritual needs of those who are hurting.What to Expect in a Service Our Sunday Morning services include a time of dynamic, blended worship. We have a full praise band, consisting of real Christ-followers who are committed to worshiping God, not just through song, but in every area of their lives. Each service will include a relevant, Bible-based message, that will inspire and challenge those who hear it. Come casually or formally dressed… however you are most comfortable. We hope to see you soon!
Real Life Community Church Richmond, KY
Acts | Part 8 | The Costs and Rewards of Faithfulness to Jesus
What happens when doing exactly what Jesus commanded leads to beatings, imprisonment, and threats to your life? In Acts 5:17-42, we discover the apostles experiencing precisely this scenario—faithfully preaching the gospel, experiencing miraculous success, and then facing brutal opposition from jealous religious authorities.
The high priest and Sadducees arrest the apostles out of jealousy, but God miraculously frees them through an angel. Instead of hiding, they immediately return to the temple to continue teaching. When arrested again and reminded they were forbidden to preach about Jesus, Peter boldly declares, "We must obey God rather than men." This fearless response nearly gets them killed until Gamaliel, a respected Pharisee, intervenes with wise counsel: "If this plan is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them."
Even after being beaten and warned again, the apostles leave "rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name." Their response challenges our expectations of the Christian life. Contrary to popular teaching, faithfulness doesn't guarantee comfort—it often invites opposition. As Paul wrote, "All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted."
This passage offers profound insights on responding to persecution: maintain unwavering faithfulness, love your enemies rather than retaliating, and recognize the powerful outcomes of persecution—an unstoppable church, unexpected joy, evangelistic impact, and eternal glory. As Paul describes it, our "light momentary affliction" is preparing for us "an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison."
Are you prepared for opposition? Have you embraced Jesus' call to take up your cross? True discipleship means counting Christ as infinitely greater than anything we might surrender—even our comfort, reputation, or life itself.
So I'm in Acts, chapter 5, verse 17 through 42, and, as is our custom, we stand for the reading of the Word. But the high priest rose up and all who were with him, that is, the party of the Sadducees, and, filled with jealousy, they arrested the apostles, put them in the public prison. But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out and said go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life. And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach. Now, when the high priest came and those who were with him, they called together the council, all the senate of the people of Israel and sent to the prison to have them brought. But when the officers came, they did not find them in the prison. So they returned and reported. We found the prison securely locked and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them, we found no one inside Verse 24.
Speaker 1:Now, when the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these things, they were greatly perplexed about them, wondering what this would come to. And someone came and told them Look, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people. Then the captain with the officers went and brought them, but not by force, for they were afraid of being stoned by the people. And when they had brought them, they set them before the council and the high priest questioned them, saying we strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us. But Peter and the apostles answered we must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as leader and savior to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him. When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them.
Speaker 1:But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in honor by all the people, stood up and gave orders to put the men outside for a little while and he said to them Men of Israel, take care of what you are about to do with these men. For before these days, judas rose up claiming to be somebody, and a number of men about 400, joined him. He was killed and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. After him, judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away some of the people after him. He too perished and all who followed him were scattered.
Speaker 1:So in the present case, I tell you keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail, but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God. So they took his advice and when they called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus and let them go. Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus.
Speaker 2:Amen, the word of God for the people of God. All right you may be seated, all right. Faithfulness to jesus does not equate to a life without suffering. You know I've had through the years. Many people come to me, christians, and they say, listen, I'm doing everything I know to do, I'm praying every day, reading the Bible, serving in ministry, giving of my finances, sharing the gospel, and yet I'm experiencing problems and difficulties. And they'll say something like what have I done to deserve this? My question is, while being sympathetic, who told you that when you become a Christian, that you're not going to deal with any trouble anymore? I know that message is out there, but it's erroneous and it leaves people jaded when trouble comes their way.
Speaker 2:All of us, as Christians, we are still affected, though we believe, to be sure, in divine healing. We have sickness, right. We're impacted by that. All of us lose loved ones. They die and each of us, should the Lord tarry, will do so as well. We're impacted by natural disasters, tornadoes and hurricanes and tsunamis. Let me just say it like this Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come. So we all experience those things. But in addition to those kinds of issues and sufferings, christians go through a unique form of suffering, namely persecution for the name of Christ, persecution for the name of Christ.
Speaker 2:So we're on this journey through the book of Acts and in Acts, chapter 1, verse 8, we find what I believe is the theme verse and it serves as an outline for the entire book. Remember what Jesus says. He says when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will be my, what, my witnesses, in Jerusalem, in all of Judea, samaria and to the other most parts of the earth. And that's exactly what happens. And what we've seen so far in the book of Acts Is that the apostles are faithful to do this and, as people are being saved, they are faithful to the call of God. Is that the apostles are faithful to do this? And, as people are being saved, they are faithful to the call of God in their life. Thousands of Christians now, at this point, faithful to God. So, as a matter of fact, you know we started today in chapter 5, verse 17.
Speaker 2:If you just go to the previous text, what you're going to see is that God was blessing the church. The apostles were faithful, the church was see is that God was blessing the church. The apostles were faithful, the church was faithful and God was blessing the church. Luke tells us that you know, miracles were happening, demons were being cast out, multitudes being healed, and it says the church was growing. In other words, more people were coming to salvation than ever. That's a successful church, amen, god is blessing it. So Luke kind of celebrates that.
Speaker 2:But I want you to look at our beginning verse today, verse 17. And what is the first word? But I'm going to see how mature you guys are this morning, but anytime you're serving the Lord and God's blessing upon is upon you, there's always going to be a but. Sometimes, you know and that's the same for a church Sometimes in the church things are going well, things are growing, and we've got to prepare for this. Somebody within the church is the but. All right, there's always a but, and what happens in our text is things are going great, everybody's being faithful, but, and what we find is that the apostles, apostles, in the midst of their faithfulness, experience tremendous persecution because they are preaching the gospel, doing exactly what Jesus has told them to do. Now the question is, is this relevant to us today? This is a question I've addressed a couple of other times.
Speaker 2:But are American Christians persecuted? Well, I'm reluctant to say yes because, comparatively to what other Christians around the world for instance the 70 who were killed by beheaded just a few weeks ago by Muslim extremists in Congo Like, compared to them, okay, it's almost absurd to call what we go through suffering, but or persecution. I am going to call it persecution and the reason I'm going to call it that is because I think the Bible does. In 2 Timothy 3.12, paul writes these words Indeed, all, everybody say all, all who desire to live a godly life, and I sure hope that you, in Christ Jesus, will be persecuted If you don't. So well, let's say this what's persecution look like for us? It's being mocked, it's being hated Some of you have lost jobs because of your Christian convictions. It's being ostracized, it's being falsely accused of being a bigot or an elitist. What have you? And while that's not torture, physical torture, while it's not losing your life for the sake of Christ, it's not nothing Like. We're always living counter-cultural and, by the way, things are getting worse by the day in our country as far as the way people respond to us. And so could it be I hope not, god forbid, but could it be that one day we're going to go through greater persecution. It seems like that is certainly a possibility.
Speaker 2:All will experience persecution. Let me say this according to Paul's words in 2 Timothy 3.12, if you claim to be a Christian and you aren't experiencing some level of persecution, one of two things is happening in your life. Number one you call yourself a Christian, but you're a hypocrite and you're not living a godly life. All who desire to live a godly life will be persecuted. Or you're a moralist because it says all who desire to live a godly life will be persecuted, or you're a moralist because it says all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. So you might just be trying to live a good life, so to speak, like a lot of people, but that's moralism if it's done apart from Christ. But if you are in Christ and you want to proclaim Christ and you want to live in a way that's congruent with Christ's word, then you will be persecuted on some level.
Speaker 2:And so let's begin by looking at the reasons for persecution, and the first is this it's found in verses 17 and 18. And it is jealousy, or you could say pride, verse 17,. The high priest rose up. Now think of this. The apostles are teaching the people and miracles are being done. The high priest rose up and all who were with him that is the party of the Sadducees and, filled with jealousy, they arrested the apostles and put them in prison. They see these miracles happening, a power that they do not have and understand.
Speaker 2:The Sadducees, these are the aristocrats right. These are wealthy people. These are wealthy people amongst the Jewish people. They willed a great amount of political, social and religious power within the temple, amongst Jerusalem. Now they love the power, they love prestige and if something good, if a profound teaching is going to to come, if, if some um display of power is going to happen, it ought to be done through them, or so they think. And now you've got these simple galileans and they are teaching the people in a profound way, preaching circles around the Sadducees and the high priest, and they're doing all these great miracles in the name of Jesus.
Speaker 2:And it causes jealousy instead of rejoicing. It causes jealousy and you know people in the world might be jealous of you because you claim to know God, you claim to be close to God and if you walk in the power of God, people could be jealous. Instead of repenting and coming to Christ themselves, they could be antagonistic towards you. But there's another reason for persecution and that is conviction. We're going to jump ahead just a bit to verses 27 through 31.
Speaker 2:And it says when they had brought them the apostles, they sent them before the council this is the Sanhedrin who was responsible for crucifying Jesus. And the high priest questioned them, the apostles, saying this we strictly charge you not to teach in this name, the name of Jesus. Yet here you have, filled Jerusalem with your teachings and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us. Did you get that? You intend to bring this man's blood upon us? And Peter and the apostles answered we must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed, boy. They didn't mince words, did they? You killed him, god's Messiah Boy. That's convicting, is it not?
Speaker 2:You know John says this. He says that when Jesus came he was the light, but people rejected the light because they loved the darkness. See God's presence. Christ's word in his essence convicts people of sin. And we are, by the power of the spirit. We are temples of God's spirit, which means we take the presence of God with us, as John said, I believe, in chapter 16, that rivers of living water will flow from us. That's God presence.
Speaker 2:And you ever notice that when you're witnessing to somebody who's living in sin, you don't even have to sometimes say anything about their sin, and they're just uncomfortable around you because you've got the light of Christ within you. Jesus said in Matthew 5, you are the light of the world. Well, why light of the world? Well, why Because Christ, by His Spirit, is in you. Some people know they're sinners and they welcome the conviction that leads them to repentance. But others don't have that humility and it's an offensive message. And so, again, they persecute believers for that reason. They persecute believers for that reason. But there's another reason for persecution that I must point out and that comes from, or there are many places in the New Testament I could turn to, but particularly I want to think through Ephesians, chapter 6, beginning in verse 12, or we'll just look at verse 12.
Speaker 2:And Paul there, you might remember, says we do not wrestle against what Flesh and blood, but against rulers, against authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places. In other words, when people come at you for your faith, you know what they are. They're puppets for the enemy. Your enemy is not necessarily those people. You have an adversary, the devil, who's going about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. So Paul challenges us to put on the full spiritual armor that we may withstand these spiritual forces.
Speaker 2:Why would the devil come against a church that God is blessing? I'll tell you why. Because it's a threat. I mean, if we're a church walking in power and a church walking in faithfulness, like the apostles beloved by God's grace, we can turn Richmond and the world upside down. If 12 men can do it, a church of 100 can do it. Amen, the devil's threatened by a faithful church. See, he doesn't care about a church, whether it's 100 or 10,000 people, if the church is there to entertain the folk, not preaching the whole counsel of God. If the church is not being faithful, the devil's not threatened by that. And he's not threatened, by the way, by a Christian who says one thing and does another. Actually, he's quite pleased with you. When you come to church on Sunday and live like hell Monday through Saturday, come on somebody. You see the devil is threatened by us and he'll come against us so hard. Have you ever noticed that sometimes, the more you try to serve God, the more things seem to go wrong. You ever notice that? Now, sometimes that's coincidental. I don't see the devil behind every, you know, behind every bush, so to speak. But I will say this that the devil's not omnipresent like God is, and so I think he precisely, very intentionally, attacks those who are most faithful to God. Amen, all right, so that's the reasons for persecution.
Speaker 2:Number two is what should our response be to persecution? What should our response be to persecution? You know, if you're doing exactly what Jesus tells you to do and something like this happens, you're arrested, you're beaten, as they are later in this text. Some of us might say you know Lord, why would you treat me this way? I'm just trying to do what you've told me to do, right? Do the apostles complain? No. Do they question God and his goodness? No. How do we respond? Let me tell you first. We respond with continued faithfulness and loyalty to the Lord. Jesus Christ, blessed be your name. As we sang, you give and you take away. Jesus Christ, blessed be your name. As we sang, you give and you take away. And in every situation, my heart would choose to say Lord, blessed be your name. The psalmist said I will bless the Lord. When. Sometimes, I will bless the Lord. When things are going well Now, I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
Speaker 2:So look at verses 18 to 21. They arrested the apostles, they put them in a public prison, but during the night, an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors, brought them out. It's like, oh great, and this is awesome, we can get away. But then listen to what the angel says. Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of life, in other words, the words of Jesus. And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach. Now think of this. You've been arrested for your faith. God, by his grace and power, brings you out. And then you're like okay, lord, where do I go? Where do I hide? And he's like actually go back to the place that you were arrested and just keep preaching Jesus. What Is that not crazy? And how would you respond? Well, how do the apostles respond? Watch this 21,.
Speaker 2:When they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and they just began to teach. We were arrested, we were set out. Jesus told us through the angel that we're to keep preaching. What are we going to do At daybreak? We're not going to wait. We're not going to take a day off, we're just going to keep being faithful. Oh, we need some people that, through every danger, toil and stare, will just continue to sing. Oh, he's given me amazing grace. I'm just going to keep serving Him, amen, amen.
Speaker 2:You know perseverance and suffering. You know what it is. It's a sign of true, genuine faith and salvation. It's a sign of true, genuine faith and salvation. In Matthew, chapter 13, jesus gives this parable of the sower and the seeds and he says you know, one of the things he teaches there is that some people will believe for a while, they'll claim to believe the gospel, but when persecution comes, they will fall away. The gospel hasn't really taken root. Because they're fine, they want Jesus as Savior, and when things are going good, they're great. Man, I'll serve Jesus. But when hardship comes, particularly persecution, man, I'm out. Persecution is a sign. Jesus talks a lot. The Bible talks a lot about persevering to the end. That's the sign of ultimate and true salvation.
Speaker 2:So how do we respond? One with continued faithfulness. Number two we respond with love, not retaliation. Number two we respond with love, not retaliation. You know, throughout the text you never get the idea that the apostles are militant towards these people. They're candid, they speak the truth, which we're called to do. But if you notice, when they're brought before the Sanhedrin, this is after they've come out of prison and the temple guard comes to get them, to bring them to the Sanhedrin. This council, the senate there in Jerusalem, it says that they did not bring them by force, which implies that the disciples did not. The apostles didn't resist and you know the church is thousands of members strong at this point and what they didn't do is start a revolt where they said you know, they didn't send one of the apostles out and say, hey, listen, go, start an army and come back and just wipe these fools out. No, what did they do to them? They just continued to preach the word of life to them, calling them to repentance for their great sin beloved, that's love. That's love.
Speaker 2:On a february, the 23rd AD, 155 Romans killed a man by the name of Polycarp, who was the Bishop of Smyrna. Polycarp is known and remembered for his courage. One of the governors threatened early on to burn him at the stake and he said that fire will soon go out. I'd rather that than the fires of eternal hell. It just set me ablaze. Pretty crazy. He was willing to ultimately go to his death and he refused to renounce Christ. He was courageous and we should celebrate that. But there's something else about Polycarp that we should celebrate and remember, and that is his kindness.
Speaker 2:It's an interesting story that Polycarp heard that he was going to be arrested and so he fled to the country, to this little villa, knowing that his arrest was inevitable. But he fled to this little villa so that he could just pray, and he prayed not just for himself but for the whole persecuted church. What a guy. And it didn't stop there. The soldiers found a farmhand, tortured him until he gave up Polycarp's location. And when the soldiers approached the house, polycarp was tipped off and he could have gone through the window and escaped, but he didn't. He just stayed again, knowing his arrest was inevitable. And then he did something just remarkable. You know what he did. The soldiers came in and he commanded the house help. He said give them. It was late at night, they had traveled a long way. Give them whatever they want to eat or drink before we go, in other words, before they lead me to my death.
Speaker 2:Talk about loving your enemies. How would we do that? Is that not how Christ has loved us? That while we were yet sinners, christ gave His life for us? Amen, amen. Pretty phenomenal, you know when you suffer. Pretty phenomenal, you know when you suffer.
Speaker 2:What the Bible teaches is that we should suffer for the right reasons. What's interesting in this text is that the apostles do not give the council a justifiable reason for persecuting them. In 1 Peter 2.20, peter writes this For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure, but if, when you do good and suffer for it, if you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God? This is a gracious thing in the sight of God. In other words, you can't be mean and cynical and critical and then call what happens to you persecution. I'll just give you an example.
Speaker 2:Let's say that you are a. Let's say you have an undependable employee who's always gossiping about everybody else in the office. They show up late, they leave early, do the bare minimum of work Just horrible, calling in sick when they're not sick, and then they're fired. They cannot claim that they were fired because they just love Jesus so much. No, they're fired because they're a horrible employee. And so what Jesus is saying is don't or Peter is saying there is don't give people a valid, justifiable reason to be mean to you. Don't go slam people on Facebook. Don't be rude and cynical, mean, negative. Don't be a bad employee, don't be a bad friend. No, he said, if you're going to suffer, the kind of suffering we're called to is unjust suffering, where the reason you're suffering is because you love people so much, you give them the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's pleasing to God. So there it is. That's how we respond to persecution.
Speaker 2:Finally, this is the good news I want you to consider the results of persecution. The results of persecution Number one is an unstoppable church. An unstoppable church. Now, while preaching in the temple, after being released from prison, the temple guard again they come, they find the disciples and they take them before again the Sanhedrin, this council of men again responsible for crucifying Jesus. And the council begins to inquire why is it, apostles, that you are preaching and teaching Jesus when we strictly forbade you to do so? And in verse 29, peter just says we must obey God rather than men. Well, he didn't mince words, did he? And the council's response is this Peter goes on to say again yeah, you crucified. His blood is on your hands, jesus' blood. But the council's response is found in verse 33.
Speaker 2:Luke tells us that they were enraged and wanted to kill the apostles, but then something happens. As they're ready to take their lives, something happens. This respected, well-known teacher, gamaliel, spoke up imploring the council not to put the apostles to death. Now this is profound, and let's read. This is so good. He talks about formal revolts that didn't go anywhere because they weren't of God. But watch what he says in verse.
Speaker 2:Let's go to verse 38. He says so in the present case. I tell you, keep away from these men and just let them alone, for if this plan or undertaking is of man, it will fail. But watch this If it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. Isn't that great? It's so great. Listen, we all want to be part of a winning team. Amen. We want to be fans of a winning team. It's March, which means it's a month of madness, amen.
Speaker 2:And here's the thing we all you know, as we fill out our brackets and do all those things, there are certain teams we expect to win, but anything can happen. We cannot predict every game. We can't predict any game. All right now I'm going to hurt your feelings for a minute, but who would have thought Alabama would beat us by what? 29 points? Is that right? But then who would have thought that Florida would turn around and beat Alabama by 22 points? Who saw that coming? And the point is this we can have a great team and we've had in Kentucky many great teams through the years but do injuries not frustrate you to the core? You have an injury or just one bad game in the in the. I don't like single elimination tournaments, but one bad game and you're out. The lowest seed can beat the top seed. See, my point is this is we can't predict the outcome of any organization.
Speaker 2:You can buy stock that looks really good and not know what it's going to do the next day, but there's one entity that we know the end Right. That is the church, and a persecuted church it is. Or a faithful church is a persecuted church. But hear me, a persecuted church who's still faithful to christ is an unstoppable church. Beloved jesus said I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. So I've got great news for you today. If you are a faithful man, a woman of god. If you are truly in the Lord Jesus Christ, you're on a winning team. Amen. The devil himself is but a defeated foe. Hallelujah. If God be for us, who can be against us? What's the worst they can do? Kill us. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, amen, hallelujah. So the first benefit, first benefit of persecution it's an unstoppable church. The second is this persecution leads to unstoppable joy. Look at verses 40 through 42. Oh, I love this.
Speaker 2:And when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and they charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus and let them go. Now. They just got a beating. They were just in prison and watch. Here's their response. 41. Then they left the presence of the council, complaining, depressed, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name of Jesus. And every day they went to the temple and from house to house, and they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus. When we grasp the beauty and the wonder and the glory of Christ, the supremacy of Christ, we will understand what it means to belong to him and how honorable it is to be so identified with Him that we are persecuted for His namesake. Oh, my goodness.
Speaker 2:Paul said you know, paul lost everything right. And he said this I count it all, but loss according to what I've gained in Christ, jesus, christ is sufficient. If you have Christ, you have reason to rejoice. Paul why, in prison, said in Philippians 4, rejoice in the Lord at all times. And again I say rejoice. What could we rejoice? How could we rejoice in persecution? Well, there's a great verse and I left it out of my notes, but 2 Corinthians 4. Well, you know what? I'm going to go there in just a minute. Okay, so persecution leads to unspeakable joy.
Speaker 2:Number three persecution leads to the eternal good of other people. This is it's worth every bit of torment, it's worth death. If somebody's life can be a change, can be changed for all of eternity. In Matthew 25, verse 46, jesus says he's talking about the final judgment and he's contrasting the righteous, those in Christ, with the unrighteous, those who have rejected Christ. And he's contrasting the righteous, those in Christ, with the unrighteous, those who have rejected Christ. And he says and these will go away into eternal punishment. That's, the unrighteous, these will go away. To what? Eternal punishment? But the righteous, into eternal life. And do you know what? Our willingness to be persecuted for the sake of the gospel, that's what leads people. That's what leads people from an eternity of hell to an eternity of life.
Speaker 2:You know, there's a verse in Revelation 12, 11 that says and this is so misquoted, misinterpreted we overcome by what? Remember that verse the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. And so we overcome by the blood of the Lamb. That's our only chance of salvation, and that's true. And then people take the part, the word of our testimony, and they say see, what you need to do is share your testimony with somebody. Tell them how you came to Jesus, tell them what God has done for you. Now, is that a good thing to do? Yes and amen. But that's not what the verse is talking about. And all you have to you don't even have to go to the next verse, just read the rest of it. We overcome by the blood of the Lamb, the word of our testimony, and here's the testimony that we love not our lives, even unto death. Oh, anybody can say Jesus is the Christ, I'm going to serve Jesus. But when a knife is put to your throat and you are threatened to be beheaded for your faith and you still say Jesus is Lord. Oh, what a witness. What a witness. It's worth every ounce of persecution if your persecutor can know Jesus. Finally, persecution leads to our eternal glory. So now let's go to 2 Corinthians 4, verses 16 and 18. Did we put that in there? Oh, we did. Hey, paul.
Speaker 2:This is Paul writing to the church at Corinth. He's talking about suffering. He's been shipwrecked, snake bitten, left for dead, imprisoned, stoned, abandoned and so on. And here's what he says we do not lose heart. How many would lose heart if all that happened to you? Maybe he says our outer self is wasting away. Anybody feel that this morning but our inner self is being renewed day by day.
Speaker 2:For this light, momentary affliction. Light, momentary, snake, bitten, shipwrecked, left for dead, stoned, imprisoned, abandoned. How can you call that light and momentary? Well, it is when you compare it to the eternal weight of glory, beyond all comparison, as we look to the things that, not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen, for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. I love that.
Speaker 2:Can you go back one slide? Watch this your affliction. It's not neutral in eternal glory. Watch this, your affliction as you persevere. You know what it's doing. It is actually preparing for you eternal glory. Let me just say it like this I'm so sorry what some of you are going through, but it's not useless, it's not meaningless. If you'll just continue to trust Jesus, it will prepare for you an eternal way to glory beyond comparison.
Speaker 2:In the end, he says we don't look to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen, for the things that are seen are temporary, they're transient, but the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are temporary, they're transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. So I want to say it like this Get this okay, I'm almost done here. Christian suffering is temporary. Christian glory is eternal. It's worth it. Oh, it's worth it.
Speaker 2:So, in closing, what do you do with this? Well, I would tell you first to prepare yourself, prepare your mind for persecution, because things could get worse for us here in America as Christians, and realize that, just because things are going wrong in your life or because people are coming against you, that God's love is not failing in your life. His love is steadfast. And I would say to you just change the way you think about persecution. Rejoice in it, not because it's comfortable, but because it's working for God's glory and your good. If you're not suffering persecution on any level, you might just test this morning the genuineness of your faith.
Speaker 2:Paul said make your election sure. You know, following Jesus, it involves bearing your cross. Jesus said in Luke 14, 27,. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Well, you don't hear that from a lot of TV preachers, do you? Cannot be my disciple. Well, you don't hear that from a lot of TV preachers, do you? What's the message that is so popular today that people are flocking to? Well, come to Jesus and all your wildest dreams will come true. Come to Jesus and you'll never be sick again. Come to Jesus, you'll never be poor. Okay, how's that working? It's working for them, because everybody's giving them their money and they get the best doctors and all the food they want and all the money they want, and so on and so forth. Jesus said if you're not willing to take your cross, pastor Jerry, you're not worthy to be my disciple.
Speaker 2:The cross, it's a symbol of death and sacrifice and suffering. You know when we are in just a moment. We're going to end this sermon with baptisms. It's so great. Which is a symbol when you're dunked under the water. It's a symbol of being buried with Christ and then raised to the newness of life. We are buried with Christ.
Speaker 2:It's as Paul said, it's no longer I who live, but Christ in me. He said. I've been crucified with Christ. My desires, my dreams, everything that I've chased after my comfort, I've given it to Christ. And not just given it to Christ, not just laid it down at Christ's feet, but I've gladly done it. I've gladly done it. It's an honor to suffer for His name. Being a Christian does not mean that it will cost you your life, but it means you're willing. You're willing to follow Christ. If it does cost you your life, it may just get you laughed at, it may get you beheaded. But to be a Christian this is what baptism represents is to say Jesus, you are infinitely greater than anything I could give up. Take it all, take my life, you're worth it.