Counting Persecution as a Privilege
Preaching the gospel to his church almost got him assassinated. But Tilahun and his wife, Meseret, view this persecution as a privilege.
Preaching the gospel to his church almost got him assassinated. But Tilahun and his wife, Meseret, view this persecution as a privilege.
Our natural reaction to persecution is anger, but Jesus calls us to love and serve our enemies.
God grants His ordinary disciples the privilege of being involved in His work. It’s not fame but faithfulness that God calls us to. Even a small, unknown person can be used by God in magnificent ways.
No one asks for persecution. But God in His wisdom has made it so that when anyone persecutes His Church, it is like taking seed and scattering it so that it goes everywhere.
Like Stephen, we must understand that for us who trust in Jesus, death is the doorway to the Kingdom of God. It is a coronation ceremony.
The proper response to this danger of false teaching is to grow up into maturity in Christ. Like Jesus, Peter warns that false teachers will be known by their fruit. The sensual lives they lead show they do not really take the teachings of Jesus to heart. The best way, then, to avoid the dangers of false teaching, is to grow in an experiential knowledge of Jesus. When we increase in godliness, blamelessness, and steadfastness, we demonstrate by the fruit of our lives that we belong to Christ.
This couple, who suffered at the hands of fellow church members in Ethiopia, offer a model of steadfast trust and devotion amidst extreme persecution.
It was hard enough for early Christians after most of the apostles died. Less than 40 years after Jesus’ ascension, Jerusalem was leveled and the temple was destroyed. John writes to these persecuted Christians of the things to come.
The world hated Jesus and put him to death. We should not be surprised then if as followers of Jesus we are scorned.
After Pentecost it was time for the apostles to take the Gospel beyond Judea into Samaria, and eventually into the ends of the earth. Now that the disciples had seen the risen Lord and received power through the Holy Spirit, they couldn’t stop from sharing the Good News.
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