Sermons

Self Identify: “Persecution”

03-08-2020 • Dr. Steve Washburn

When we experience persecution for following Jesus, it is the badge of belonging to Christ.

Self-Identify: “PERSECUTED”

As Christ followers, persecution is always going to follow us.

(1 Pt 4:12-19) Dear friends when the fiery ordeal arises among you to test you, don’t be surprised by it, as if something unusual were happening to you. Instead, as you share in the sufferings of the Messiah rejoice, so that you may also rejoice with great joy at the revelation of His glory. If you are ridiculed for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. None of you, however, should suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a meddler. But if anyone suffers as a Christian, he should not be ashamed, but should glorify God with that name. For the time has come for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who disobey the gospel of God? And if the righteous is saved with difficulty, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner? So those who suffer according to God’s will should, in doing good, entrust themselves to a faithful Creator.

1. Persecution ENGULFS Us

A. Peter was crucified on a cross upside down.
B. The other apostles were executed for being followers.
C. Hundreds of followers were fed to the lions in the Roman Colosseum.
D. Christ followers are being harshly persecuted all over the world today.
      (12) Dear Friends, when the fiery ordeal arises among you to test you, don’t be surprised by it, as if something unusual were happening to you.
E. We are all going to be persecuted for following Christ.
  1) Disapproval
  2) Ridicule
  3) Pressure to conform
  4) Loss of opportunities
  5) Economic punishment
  6) Shunning
  7) Alienation from community
  8) Loss of employment
  9) Loss of property
 10) Physical abuse
 11) Mob Violence
 12) Harassment by officials
 13) Kidnapping
 14) Forced labor
 15) Imprisonment
 16) Physical torture
 17) Murder/execution

2. Persecution TESTS Us

(12) Dear friends, when the fiery ordeal arises among you to TEST YOU…
A. Persecution does NOT test us to see we if we pass or fail.
B. Persecution is a trial intended to make us stronger.

3. Persecution BLESSES Us

(13-14) As you share in the sufferings of the Messiah rejoice, so that you may also rejoice with great joy at the revelation of His gory. If you are ridiculed for the name of Christ, YOU ARE BLESSED, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.
(16) If anyone suffers as a Christian, he should not be ashamed, but should glorify God with that name.
(19) So those who suffer according to God’s will should, in doing good, entrust themselves to a faithful Creator.
A. In the midst of persecution, God blesses us.
B. But you are in control, are you? God is!

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