Persecution Will Come
Acts • Sermon • Submitted
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· 56 viewsAs the church, persecution will always come. How will we handle it?
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
In ancient Rome, crowds by the tens of thousands would gather in the Colosseum to watch as Christians were torn apart by wild animals. Paul Rader, commenting on his visit to this famous landmark, said, "I stood uncovered to the heavens above, where He sits for whom they gladly died, and asked myself, 'Would I, could I, die for Him tonight to get this gospel to the ends of the earth?'" Rader continued, "I prayed most fervently in that Roman arena for the spirit of a martyr, and for the working of the Holy Spirit in my heart, as He worked in Paul's heart when He brought him on his handcuffed way to Rome." Those early Christians "lived on the threshold of heaven, within a heartbeat of home, no possessions to hold them back."
Rader asked a question of himself that most Christians ask themselves - can I, will I stay faithful under persecution. If I were being fed to wild animals, could I look at the sky and say as our three hero’s from Daniel say
17 If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king.
18 But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”
We have just gotten done and seen the first Christian Martyr in scripture.
Stephen had
defended himself
told the Sanhedrin of their father’s sin
Acts 7:52 (ESV) — 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One...
And told them of their own sin
Acts 7:52 (ESV) — 52 ... whom you have now betrayed and murdered,
For that, they became angry, drug Stephen outside the city walls, and stoned him to death where we are told that Stephen sees Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father.
We’re told that
Acts 7:58 (ESV) — 58 ... And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.
Saul, who will become one of the greatest missionaries ever - the man we know as the Apostle Paul.
He not only was a leader but we see this morning
Acts 8:1 (ESV) — 1 And Saul approved of his execution...
But we see that persecution does not just stop at Stephen
Acts 8:1 (ESV) — 1...And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem...
Persecution - Not a Surprise
Persecution - Not a Surprise
Should the early church have been surprised by persecution?
Should we be surprised when we fall under persecution?
Jesus Himself warned His disciples
John 15:20 (ESV) — 20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you...
and He also tells us during the Sermon on the Mount
11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
Before you start thinking - well, that is just the people who followed Jesus in that day...
12 Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,
Indeed, scripture tells us over and over - if you follow Jesus as Lord and Savior - you will be persecuted in some way.
Persecution started quickly in Acts
In Acts 4, Peter and John are arrested and brought before the council and told not to teach in the name of Jesus
19 But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge,
20 for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”
In Acts 5, we see the Apostles arrested, freed in the night, brought before the council again, and beaten.
And now Stephen has been killed in chapter 7
What does the persecution bring?
A Spreading of the Word
A Spreading of the Word
Acts 8:1 (ESV) — 1 ... And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.
You see, while the church was growing in Jerusalem, it had not left Jerusalem
18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”
7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
They and we are commanded to spread the words to the end of the Earth...
But I wasn’t called
not like Moses at the burning bush
not like Gideon
A study was taken a few years ago - does the church really care about taking the word to the world...
The study came back saying that the evidence is statistically insignificant to prove that premise.
How can they say that?
As Christians as whole, we give about 2% of our income to Christian causes
Out of that 2%, 5% leaves the country
95% stays here, we spend it on ourselves
Out of the 5% that leaves the country, 1% goes to those who have little or no access to the Gospel
But how can that be? In this world that has internet, and tv, or at least books? Isn’t the Bible the most printed book in the world?
Out of 17,409 people groups in the world (7.84 Billion), 7,402 people groups are still unreached (3.27 Billion)
Persecution brings out movement in God’s people...
Persecution started in Jerusalem and the church spread (except the Apostles) to Judea and Samaria.
It goes to Antioch
It spreads to Rome where Paul finds a church before he even gets there
After the church leaves Jerusalem, we see in verse 2
2 Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him.
Devout men
Not the church, they left
But most likely non-Christian Jews
Who did not agree with the execution
So, we see some who do not believe but do not condone the actions
3 But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.
Ravaging
Made havoc (NKJV)
Destroy (NIV)
In the Greek - the word means literally to destroy both to destroy physically and to oppress
Paul’s own words
9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
13 For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it.
And again, we see...
4 Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.
We’ve talked about this before - not preaching in a professional sense but a proclaiming of the word
Look what Jesus has done for me
I once was lost but now am found
I once was blind but now I see
And he does not do it just for me, but He has done it for you as well
Does the World Need the Gospel?
Does the World Need the Gospel?
A preacher/missionary from Ireland by the name of Andrew Scott tells 2 stories
In the middle of Africa, going through a village he saw a woman selling pyramids of tomatoes all dressed in a beautiful multicolored dress. Next to her was a little girl about 8 years old, in a polk-a-dot dress, beautiful smile. He looked her in the eye and they waved at one another.
His guide leaned over and somberly told him, in this area of Africa, by the time a little girl has reached the age of ten she has been molested by a relative or someone she knows.
We live in a world where slaves are still being taken and used or drugs or in the sex trade. These are people who have no hope - both those being taken and the takers.
The World Needs the Gospel
At another time, he was in the middle east in a city of 6 million people.
He was on top of one of the tallest building as the sirens went off announcing the time of prayer.
His host in that city tells him, “Out of the 6 million people in this city, we know of not one person who follows Jesus.”
Separated from God, 6 million people with no hope.
The World Needs the Gospel
Will we be the ones faithful to Christ or will it take persecution for us to spread the word?