the persecuted church
It’s kind of crazy how The Lord allowed me to listen to a sermon this morning that directly related to a tragedy that took place later today. That’s nothing but a God thing for sure.
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This morning, I got to listen to an incredible speaker who spoke some insanely truthful words of Jesus over myself and those present during the service. The title of his sermon was “The Persecuted Church.” He gave us some crazy devastating numbers of all of the people in the Middle East who have lost their lives due to their love for Jesus. He quoted lines of people who have been in situations where their own family was taken away because of their religion. He told stories of those whose lives were saved because of the power of our Savior. He used these experiences to share with us that we shouldn’t take the opportunity we are given to spread the love of Jesus for granted because there are people across the country (and in our own) who are being persecuted for worshiping the one who called them His. Even though those who are being persecuted because of their faith might not be people we know, they are STILL our family because if one person suffers in the body of Christ, we ALL suffer. We are a family. God’s family. And just because there are people suffering whose names we may not know by heart, those people are still apart of The Lord’s kingdom and we are all aiming for the same goal in life: to live a life like Jesus.
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My heart breaks for every person in Texas. My heart breaks for every person in the Middle East. My heart breaks for every single person who is being publicly persecuted for saying the name Jesus. But my friends, we can’t just stand back with broken hearts, we have to DO something. We can’t live a Christian life unless we’re the ones who are being persecuted or the ones who are praying for those who are being persecuted. The gates of hell canNOT prevail against the church of Jesus Christ, and it is our job to stand up, as the family of Jesus, and to not be afraid to say His name. It is our job to take the opportunity we so often take for granted and to proclaim the name of The Lord! Make His name known! The Gospel is SO much more powerful than we give it credit for, and the time is NOW to fix that.
