The Reality of Persecution

Thursday 8th October, 2020

Topic: The Reality of Persecution

Main Test: Matthew 10:22 "And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved".

In Matthew 10:22 what Jesus was saying, is a spiritual reality. That when you are a Christian, when you are a real Christian, when you stand for the truth, expect that there will be people who will not like you. If everybody likes you everywhere you go something may be wrong with your Christianity. Genuine Christianity does not tolerate unrighteousness, does not tolerate sexual immorality, does not tolerate stealing.

There are certain things you will not tolerate when you are properly a Christian.

So, when you are practicing true Christianity you are going to find yourself in someplace where you will be hated.

Many times people who don't want to be hated, they compromise but Jesus was the One who said you shall be hated. If you are a Christian and get to where people are not born again and you not living like them, they will hate you! If they hate you, it is part of the reality of being a true Christian.

It is he that endures to the end that will be saved. It means that some people will be hated but they won't endure it. They will change the ground. Is not everybody who says I am born again that will be saved. But the ones who endure to the end will be saved.

Vs23 You need to understand that there will be persecution. People will persecute for being a Christian, they will persecute you for being truthful (I have personally suffered persecution for being truthful even when I was in Ghana, thank God I didn't change grounds).

You may be working somewhere were you doing everything right, you are too straight for them, they want you to be doing something wrong but you refuse, they will persecute you. Persecution is not a problem, they persecuted Jesus, they will persecute you. A servant is not greater than the master.

Your spiritual faith is strengthened through hardness. Some will give up when they are being persecuted, they join the unbelievers or the unbelieving Christians. There are categories of Christians. The believing Christians and the unbelieving Christians.

You will also face temptations. When someone is posted to a new place and people know that he is a righteous Christian they will hate him but when he is a compromising Christian, everybody will like him. You will be tempted with many temptations. The reality of Christianity is that there will be temptations.

James 1:13-14

God does not tempt us. Temptations come from within. The thing inside your heart is what is pushing you, is not God.

Help me Lord to stand by faith

Lord strengthen me, help my faith to be strong.

When am tempted to be angry, give me the grace to say NO, when am tempted to fall, help me to stand, give me the grace to overcome all forms of temptations.

The word hate is harsh so some people will not say they hate you but they will say I don't like you.

Psalms 106:10 "He saved them from the hand that hated them; He redeemed them from the hand of the enemy."

Lord, deliver me from anyone that hates me, from anyone that hates my ora, save me from anything that opposes my greatness.

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