Revelation 2:8-11 (Smyrna, Conquer Your Fear, Jeff Kliewer)

Conquering Fear by Seeing the Risen Christ

Who knows us, who died and rose and is able also to resurrect the dead, to bring us to where he is. No fear in the face of death. Oh death, where is your sting? We live in a scary world, don't we? With things like the the Wuhan virus, coronavirus, things like this can come upon the world anytime.

Helicopter crashes, tragedies, terrible things can happen at any moment and it is scary. Particularly frightening is the persecution of Christians in countries mostly not America but to some degree happening here.

The ten most persecuted countries in the world are as follows. For Christians, number one, North Korea. In North Korea, Christians are thrown into work camps when discovered and it's by the thousands.

So the the most persecution of Christians happens in North Korea. After that is Afghanistan, then Somalia, Libya, Pakistan, Eritrea, Sudan, Yemen, Iran and India. Around the world on a daily basis, Christians are persecuted for the sake of the name of Jesus.

9 ,488 churches or Christian buildings were attacked last year. Usually not resulting in death, usually it was defaming the building or breaking out windows. I remember when I was a missionary for 10 days in Turkey, we went to churches and all of the churches had thick concrete pilings in front of the building.

Why? To stop a car from ramming through the front or a truck. This was a measure that needed to be taken. That's an average of 25 church buildings attacked on a daily basis somewhere in the world. This is every day.

Of course, worse than that is the imprisonment of Christians. According to Open Doors also, 3 ,711 Christians were detained without trial, arrested and imprisoned last year. Almost 4 ,000. And according to Open Doors, they have tracked 2 ,983 martyrs within the last year.

Christians killed explicitly for their faith in Jesus. Think about that. That means every day eight Christians are martyred for the sake of the name, on average. In China, 114 Christians were arrested.

In Iran, Christians are thrown into jail. Open Doors says that a continuation of the Iranian government's attempt to crush the growing house church movement is underway. They're trying to stop a movement, to crush a movement.

Remember that word crush for later. 1 Peter 3 .6 refers to women who are like Sarah if they do good and do not fear what is frightening. Think about those words for a moment. We're told not to fear what is frightening.

When you look at the world around us with viruses and all kinds of tragedies and imminent death possible for all of us at any point in time, isn't it frightening? Well, it is. When you look up at the stars and consider how small and fragile is the planet on which we live, and yet it sustains life.

And when you look at your own body and the organs of your body that all must continue to function in order for you to stay alive, the prospect of that is frightening. And yet the command is do not fear what is frightening.

The answer to fear is not to bury your head in the sand and pretend that frightening things are not frightening. Rather, the answer is to trust in Jesus. To get a glimpse of Jesus. And that's what we've been doing from the book of Revelation.

Turn with me. While we were reading these words just two weeks ago in Revelation chapter 1 verses 14 and following a description of Jesus, while we were doing Bible study and looking to Jesus, we had a brother in the faith, Pastor LeJuan, who was detained by Boko Haram.

Captured. A video was filmed and while we were here just two weeks ago they took him out into a forest and forced him to either recant his faith in Jesus Christ or else die. He chose martyrdom before recounting, recanting his faith.

He would not recant his faith. He was killed for the sake of the gospel in Nigeria just two weeks ago. Fear is conquered not by pretending that dangers are not frightening, but by trusting in Jesus. How did he stay strong in those moments?

How do we as Christians overcome our fear? Because if we're honest, fear, anxiety, worry plays too big a part in our Christian lives. Very often we make decisions and we think about things based on fear rather than faith.

What Pastor LeJuan saw in that forest before dying was a clear glimpse of Jesus and he saw Jesus as being worthy of death. Pastor LeJuan was able to say with Paul, for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain.

Turn with me now to Revelation chapter 2. We're studying verses 8 to 11. I know it's been a bit of a pessimistic start to the message, but there's a reason for that. We come now to the church in Smyrna where persecution is coming upon a faithful church.

This is one of two churches among the seven that receive no rebuke from the Lord. Only commendation, only approval, only joy. So let's read these words. Revelation 2, 8 through 11. And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write, the words of the first and the last who died and came to life, I know your tribulation and your poverty, but you are rich.

And the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison that you may be tested.

And for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.

So in verse 8 we see that the second church addressed in Revelation, we're traveling north now. The first one was Ephesus in Turkey. Now we're moving north and we come to the next church along that postal route along the Roman roads.

We have Smyrna. To the church in Smyrna. What was Smyrna like? Well, Smyrna was a beautiful city. In fact, many ancient historians have said that Smyrna was the most beautiful of all the cities in the Asian province.

Now Asia refers to modern-day Turkey as we have it today. It was beautiful. In fact, it was called the crown of Asia. The word Smyrna means myrrh. Where do you remember myrrh from in the Bible? The three wise men or the many wise men who come with three gifts, they bring gold and frankincense and myrrh.

They bring Smyrna to the Lord. Same word in the Greek. It is the modern-day city of Izmir. Beautiful city to this day and still to this day there remains a faithful remnant of Christians. If you remember from last week, Ephesus was warned if they do not repent of being lukewarm, God was going to snatch their lampstand away.

And today it is so that Ephesus is nothing but ruins and a tourist attraction. But Smyrna has remained to this day and to this day there are many Christians there. In fact, you'll remember one of their names, the founder of Izmir Resurrection Church, Andrew Brunson, who was so effective for the gospel in recent years that he was thrown in prison.

And our country petitioned for his release and finally he was released. So we thank God for that. He is a faithful brother from North Carolina who moved to Izmir. You know, I once had it in my heart that I was going to go to Izmir.

Smyrna, that was the city I had targeted to go to. At Dallas Seminary when I took missions courses, I did studies on the country of Turkey and pinpointed Smyrna as the place to go. A cosmopolitan city, more open to Western ideas, beautiful city on the coast, which that sounded pretty cool.

So I thought Izmir would be the place, but the Lord directed me otherwise. He directed me not to Turkey, although I did go there for a period of time. He directed me to inner-city Philadelphia to preach the gospel and then to the suburbs of New Jersey.

But I still have a little place in my heart for Izmir, Turkey. And I wonder if maybe there's somebody sitting here today that might be called to become a missionary where Brunson was and where he'll probably be again.

To Turkey, 99 Muslim, yet enough freedom where people can preach the gospel. So this is what we're talking about, the city of Izmir, Smyrna. The name means myrrh and I want you to understand that myrrh is a fragrance, but it's used primarily in the ancient world for anointing dead bodies.

And in order for that beautiful fragrance to come out, they had to crush the myrrh in that bark of that tree to bring out the fragrance and make anointing happen for a dead body. And so it is that when Jesus was visited by the wise men, they brought gold, frankincense, and myrrh because from the very beginning, our Savior was born to die.

And likewise, when we come to Smyrna, it's fitting that we can understand that myrrh represents the city because here it is that martyrdom takes place. Lives are laid down for the gospel. In Psalm 116, the Lord says, precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his faithful servants.

Faithful unto death. This is a church that receives no rebuke. Why did they receive no rebuke? They were faithful. I think they were refined by fire and not, it's kind of hard to tell what comes first, the cart or the horse in this case, the chicken or the egg.

Is it the suffering that refined them or is it their refined faith that produced suffering? I think the two go hand in hand because when a church is on fire for the Lord, not lukewarm, not losing their first love, on fire for the Lord and not capitulating to culture, this church burning with the gospel, preaching Christ on the street corners, in the markets, wherever they go, this church is a threat and this church will be persecuted.

And when that persecution comes, that persecution according to 1st Peter is like a refiner's fire. Under persecution, Christians thrive and the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. When the state comes down with their Roman authority, remember last week we talked about how Ephesus was a highway.

Well, it was also called by Christians the highway of the martyrs. There were martyrs coming from Smyrna, being taken through Ephesus, put on ships, and brought to Rome to be thrown into the Colosseum.

You would think this would stamp out Christianity in Smyrna, but the opposite is true. It refined the church. It brought them to a place of holiness. Those who suffer are done with sin. Sometimes it's our comfort that allows us to fall into greater comfort and indulging the flesh, but when your life is on the line and you're praying for your kids and your wives and your aunts and your uncles, the pastor of your church who's being arrested and thrown in prison, you're on your knees and it makes you strong.

Persecution and faithfulness go hand in hand, and we in America, we've got to be careful, don't we? We've been so blessed and we don't deride that. We love that because according to, is it 1st Timothy chapter 2, we're to pray for kings and governors and authority so that it will go well with us and we can lead peaceful lives in the land.

We don't ask for persecution. We ask for peace and we thank God for the kind of blessing that we're under, but we must recognize that in this peace in this comfort, we must be careful not to become lethargic.

The church at Smyrna was not lethargic. They were passionate, and so we get past the first word of our study, Smyrna, move on to the words of the first and the last. Here's my big idea today, that our fear of things in this world dissipates when we see Jesus, and in the text we have a glimpse of Him in ways that we need to see Him.

So the first thing is that He is first and the last. What does that mean? It means that He exists as God. Before Abraham was born, I am. I am the living water. I am the bread of life. I am the way, the truth, and the life.

I am the resurrection and the life. When they come to arrest Him, what do they say? We're looking for Jesus of Nazareth. His answer is two words, ego eimi. I am. He is, He has eternal existence, so we need to recognize that Jesus exists.

That's a good starting point, right? Hebrews 11 says that God rewards those who believe that He exists. It's a good starting point to believe that He's real, but I think here's what happens in our life.

We believe He exists when we're in moments like this, don't we? We're looking in the text. We're seeing Him here. The Spirit is drawing us. I think demons are kind of kicked out of this place because there's so much of the Spirit here, and on a Sunday morning we believe He exists, but sometimes in the course of our week we live as if He doesn't exist.

Our fear is an indication. We don't realize that the I am now dwells in us, and the same Spirit that rose Him from the dead now lives in us. He exists and He has spoken. Notice, it's the words of the first and the last.

He exists and He has spoken. That is the starting point of our worldview. There is a God and He's spoken, and so that's how we know things. The culture at large in which we live does not have that presupposition, so they arrive at very different conclusions, but we believe that Jesus exists and He spoke, so we live by His words.

Second, the second way that we need to see Him is as the one who died and rose. He exists and He spoke. Jesus died and He rose. Oh, this does a number on fear, doesn't it? The greatest fear that each person ought to have is the fear of God.

The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. Most people don't fear God by some human trick. People have found a way to convince themselves not to fear God. He's not to be feared, but Jesus said the exact opposite.

Do not fear those who can merely kill your body. You ever gone into a dark building at night or out into a dark parking lot or a stairwell dimly lit late at night? Don't you fear those who could kill the body?

Well, that's natural, that feeling inside of you, self-preservation, but Jesus says don't fear those who can merely kill your body. Fear the one who, after killing the body, can throw your soul in hell.

That's the one to fear. And yet, we know Jesus as the not only the first and the last, but the one who died and rose. In His dying, according to Ephesians 1 .7, you have it in your notes, in Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses.

And this perfect love casts out the fear of hell. The greatest fear that each of us should naturally have is satisfied in the blood of Jesus. Because He died and rose, our sins are forgiven. Having faith in Him, you need not fear hell.

Romans 4 .25 says, the one who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. We are declared righteous. It's a legal declaration, a forensic declaration where God has already said righteous.

Not based on how well we're going to perform from this moment forward, but based on the merits of Jesus Christ that in His dying and rising, He has satisfied the punishment of our sins. The wrath of God is propitiated, turned away, and we are declared righteous.

And so this death and resurrection takes away our fear of God's judgment. So see Jesus as the one who sets us free from fear, because He died that we would not be afraid. Third, we now move into verse 9.

I know your tribulation and your poverty, but you are rich. And the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Evidently what's happening is there are Jewish people who are persecuting the Christian Church.

Many of the Christians are Jewish by ethnicity, but have come to believe that Christ is the Messiah of the Jews. And those who reject the Messiahship of Jesus are persecuting these baby Christians. They act religious.

They have letters from Jerusalem to throw in prison, and even stone to death those who would blaspheme by claiming the name of Christ. They look religious, but in fact they are a synagogue of Satan. The power behind them is not God, but is demonic in nature, and that's why they're killing people.

I know your tribulation and your poverty. The third picture of Jesus that I would like you to see is the Jesus who knows. Moms can identify with this. When your kid skins his knee and is crying, saying, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it stings, it stings.

This little child, a mom will hold that child and say, I know, I know, I know. And somehow when the child hears I know, it's calming. It makes a difference. When Jesus came to the tomb of Lazarus, who had been dead for four days, Jesus knew what he was going to do.

Martha and Mary were hurting. They were crying, Lord, if you had been here. And just because he knows what he's going to do, you would think, well, he's not going to be too worried. But that's not how Jesus responds to Mary and Martha, is it?

He knows in the sense that he feels with them. And one of the most beautiful verses in the Bible, also important for its brevity, you guys all know where I'm going. Jesus wept. Two stunning words. Short sentence, but think of the meaning of that.

He knows. He weeps when you're hurting, when you're afraid. Recognize that God has you in that place. Jesus sees that and he knows and he feels what you're feeling. He knows and everything that you have is a gift from him.

He knows and he cares and he gives. Turn with me quickly to 2nd Corinthians chapter 8 verse 9. The church in Smyrna was not only running for their lives, but they were being shut out financially. Can you imagine if you're a shoemaker, a cobbler, are there any cobblers left?

I remember somebody the other day saying, I need a cobbler. And I thought, I don't think that's still a thing. Are there still cobblers that fix shoes? Well, let's say you're a cobbler in Smyrna and nobody will come to your business because you're a Christian.

How do you make money? Well, you don't. There's only so many shoes to fix in the Christian community. And so they're poor. They're physically, materially poor. The believers in Smyrna are shut out economically, but 2nd Corinthians chapter 8 verse 9 says, sword drill, you guys got it?

All right, I'm finally here. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. And it's a sad thing if a prosperity teacher makes that richness a material blessing.

You'll have a plane, you'll have cars, you'll have money, you'll have health, you'll have wealth. If someone says that, they're missing the point. No, the poverty that we have is a spiritual poverty, can be a material poverty, but Jesus had everything in heaven, worshipped by angels.

He humbled himself and became obedient, taking the form of a servant. Served us how? By dying for our sins and made us rich. How? By giving us salvation, eternal life, forgiveness of sin, redemption, the indwelling of the Spirit, all the gifts of the Holy Spirit, everything we need for life and godliness, every good and perfect gift.

These are spiritual blessings in Christ. All of these things are given through the death of Jesus. He made us rich. So this church in Smyrna, they might be poor, but I love the parenthetical usage in the ESV.

Just to say, I know you're poor materially, but you're rich. You are rich. He's not even talking about the coming inheritance, which for believers is amazing. As sons of God, we inherit with Christ and the streets that we're gonna walk on will literally be made of gold.

We'll learn about that in the end of Revelation. But even now, you are rich. He gives you everything you need. Psalm 34 talks about that. He'll give you everything. You're already rich. Back to Revelation for the fourth point.

Here's the heaviest one theologically, but I think the most necessary for most people in this room. So I'm gonna try to clear up a misunderstanding, theologically speaking. Chapter 2, verse 10, do not fear what you are about to suffer.

Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. First thing to notice, there is a command.

The command is, do not fear. There's a ministry in just outside of Philadelphia, West Philadelphia, called CCEF. It's a counseling ministry, Christian Counseling Education Foundation, something like that.

Wonderful ministry, but they allow us pastors to come in ever so often, and they have one of their their trained counselors teach us in counseling. And one of the guys, his name was Ed Welch, taught us that throughout the Bible, when you see these commands not to fear, there's never a context of punishment, but there's the pastoral fatherly concern that you not be afraid.

In other words, do not fear here is not a threat that if you're afraid, or you struggle with anxiety, or you worry, he's really angry with you. No. The context here is a father speaking to his son. A son about to go through some trial, some tribulation, saying, don't be afraid.

Don't be afraid. It is a command of love and goodwill. It is encouraging. Now there are times when fear can become the antithesis of faith, as when the Israelites did not go into the promised land for fear of the giants in the land, and became disobedient with that decision, and so they were punished for that disobedience.

But here, the picture is a command not to be afraid that's motivated by love, like a father wanting something better for you. Because when you take fear, it short-circuits your life. So many things that you could be doing for the kingdom of God are short-circuited by fear.

So afraid of some potential thing that might happen, that you don't step out in faith to do the better part. Wasn't Martha motivated by fear of how she'd look when she was running around the house trying to prepare everything and just make it perfect when Mary chose the better part, to sit at the feet of Jesus and listen and learn.

Fear keeps us from that. So Jesus commands. But there's something I want to point out here in the text I think is a misunderstanding amongst many Christians. You see in this text that Jesus foreknows, right?

Doesn't He foreknow? Look at the text. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Future tense, right? So foreknowledge. Here's my question to you. How does Jesus foreknow? How does He foreknow? And there's a popular teaching within evangelicalism, it's just been part of preaching for many years, that Jesus foreknows by looking down a corridor of history and seeing how things unfold.

And so He has learned foreknowledge. That's not the case. We'll look at it biblically in just a moment. First I want you to see the instrumentation of the devil in this verse. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison.

Question, is the omnipotent God able to stop this if He chooses to do that? 100%, absolutely. Sometimes we have this dualistic worldview that you have good and evil, Star Wars, two forces equal and opposite, and you hope the good side wins.

That is not the biblical picture of God. In the beginning was the Word. Genesis 1 -1, in the beginning, God. Infinite God. All-powerful God. He wields Satan according to his purposes. Satan doesn't know this, by the way.

The arrogant fool that he is rose up against God and thought that he could overthrow God and take his place on the throne. And sadly, many people in our society also believe that they are autonomous beings.

A self-law, autonomy, powerful enough to control their own destiny. Truly in control. The devil's not in control here. He is about to throw some of them in prison that they may be tested and for ten days you will have tribulation.

Be faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life. Now, follow this. How does God foreknow? 1st Peter chapter 1 verse 1 and 2 says that we are elect exiles. God has elected us to be exiles in the world.

Spread out in Cappadocia. And this is according to the foreknowledge of God. Now, many people will say, well, if that's the case, then God looked down the corridor of history and saw that we would be elect exiles.

Cast off and rejected. Not the case. Foreknowledge in 1st Peter, if you follow the use of that term, it appears again in chapter 1 verse 20 where the Son of God is foreknown. Now, the Father does not learn that the Son would be the Son.

He's known him from all eternity. He foreknows because he is the God who decrees what will come to happen according to his definite plan. Now, that should cause some of your carnal sinful natures to balk.

Pastor Jeff, what did you just say? He has a definite plan? That doesn't work with Jeff's idea of how things function, but is it biblical? Acts chapter 2 verse 23. We've only got a couple more verses to go to.

Acts chapter 2 verse 23, the other use of foreknowledge in the New Testament. The context of Jesus being attested by miracles, as the people of Israel know. Verse 23, this Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.

You crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. So, lawless men governing their own will, they have a creaturely will. They're doing what they want to do. Romans, they want to get paid. Pontius Pilate, he wants to keep peace in the land.

The Jewish people, they want to continue their religious traditions and be done away with this troublemaker in Israel. Each person doing what their lawless hands want to do, they crucify him. That is true.

That's real. There's a creaturely will. People are doing what they want, but compatible with that is this teaching that God has a definite plan. Foreknowledge is not him learning. The cross is not plan B.

The fall of man in the garden did not take him by surprise. He put that tree there. He allowed the serpent to come and tempt Adam and Eve. Understand, he has a definite plan. His plan A includes the fall of man.

It includes the instrumentation of this wily serpent. It includes every sin that I've ever committed, and it includes the definite plan that his son would be crucified in my place and rise on the third day.

And it includes that on the last day, in the separating of sheep and goats, he will be glorified and shown righteous in his mercy to sinners like me, and he'll be glorified in his justice to those that are reprobate.

His righteousness will be displayed in judgment, and his righteousness and love will be displayed in mercy. All of this is because he is at the center of the universe. This is his definite plan that's being worked out, and I tell you this because it's the most transforming thing that happened to me in the last ten years, theologically speaking.

I don't believe any longer that when I suffer it's because I'm a victim. Yes, there's human instrumentation. Somebody might be doing me dirty. I might be suffering for my own mistakes, but when suffering comes into my life, when I'm attacked or when something bad happens, and I'm not saying I'm always gonna be good at this, so don't hear that.

I'm just saying the theological change that happened in me is recognizing that nothing is happening to me apart from what he planned to happen to me for my sanctification, to conform me into the image of the Son.

See, this decree that he has is good. It's that tapestry illustration that we talked about. From this side of the tapestry, we see the yarn, and it just looks like a mess because we don't know what he's doing, but one day we'll see the other side of the tapestry.

We'll see the beauty of his design, his plan, his thelema is the theological word, his will that he has decreed. So we're almost done. Back in Revelation 2, answer. He foreknows because he decreed it.

He tells us that explicitly. Psalm 33. The counsel of man he frustrates, but he decrees everything that comes to pass. He tells us that explicitly. Ephesians 111. He works out all things in conformity with the purpose of his will.

All things, including the death of Jesus, including human willfulness and sin. So when these Christians are about to undergo suffering, he's not taken by surprise. He's not troubled. He feels with them.

He knows with them, but he's telling them what's gonna happen ahead of time. In other words, it too comes from his hand. Job had to learn this lesson to accept not just the good and the pleasant from God, but also the pain.

All these things come from his hand for a purpose and for our good. Romans 828. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison. You're gonna be tested.

You'll have tribulation. Be faithful unto death. Yes, some of them will be martyred. That's the implication. And lastly, he resurrects the dead and he rewards the faithful servant. Look at verse 11. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death. How can you say that? Yeah, there'll be physical pain and dying, but what did Jesus say when resurrecting Lazarus? I am the resurrection and the life.

He who believes in me, though he die, yet he will live. And he goes on to say that by believing, he will never die. That eternal life, that indwelling spirit never leaves. You're passing through death.

After church today, we're gonna go to a funeral. One of our missionary colleagues, when we were in the city, passed away. But she didn't pass into nothingness. She passed into life. She passed into life, into glory.

She had eternal life and she enjoys it fully now. No longer through a dark glass, but face-to-face. So in closing, how do we take this picture of Jesus? We look at him and let it cast your fear away.

You're not going to be able to talk yourself out of your fear. You might have an anxiety problem. In fact, some of the things that we call an anxiety disorder is completely ordered. It totally makes sense that you're afraid.

Yes, this world is ridiculously scary. Anything can happen at any moment and you have zero control over it, but God. Turn your eyes to Jesus. See his sovereign plan. It changes everything. This Pastor Luan Andimi I mentioned earlier.

By God's grace, the captors, Boko Haram, filmed a video with him because they were trying to get two million dollars for his ransom. You know what Andimi said in that video? Here's some of his last words.

We have them written for us. It was on video. By the grace of God, I will be together with my wife and my children and my colleagues. If the opportunity has not been granted, maybe it is God's will. What is he saying?

If they don't let me go back to my wife and kids and church, I'll trust it's God's will. There's a man willing to die. It's not the words of fear. It's the words of faith. He doesn't ask for it, but neither does he recant.

He did not recant. Brothers and sisters, if it ever comes to this, what would you do? Don't recant. If there's ever a person who puts you in that position, whether you've gone as a missionary to some land where this is more common, or heaven forbid it happens here, would you deny the faith?

Never. He's more valuable than life. He is life. He takes you right through the veil of death. There's nothing to fear in this life. Would you forsake the gold and frankincense of America and take the myrrh of suffering?

Would you be crushed so that the fragrance of your love for him would ascend to the throne? Are you willing to suffer and count it a gift, count it as joy according to Peter? Paul put it this way in Philippians.

He says it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him but also to suffer for him. That is why when the Apostles were beaten, they left that place bruised and bleeding and rejoicing because they had been counted worthy to suffer for the sake of his name.

Let's take from Smyrna this lesson, from myrrh, that the fragrance of our love for him arises even when we're crushed, should God choose to crush us. He might crush one with cancer and another with Parkinson's and another with martyrdom, but whatever purpose he has in our suffering, he is working even that together for our good and one day we will see the tapestry of why he did what he did.

It wasn't haphazard and it was meaningful. He had a plan, a definite plan from the beginning for anything that you and I endure. Let's pray. Father, I'm thankful for this land you've given us in this peace, but right now my heart goes out to the family of Pastor LeJuan.

And Lord, I think about John Laskin's Bible study when Christian said we should download the app, Pray Today by Voice of the Martyrs. Remembering that now, Lord, I ask that you would remind us, those of us who have smartphones, to download the Voice of the Martyr app, Pray Today, and on a daily basis pray for our brothers and sisters who are being persecuted around the world.

Eight per day, giving up their lives for your name. Oh Lord, we call to you that you would be merciful to them, to their families. Be with them in that fire. Let them be faithful until the end. Deliver them from the evil one.

We pray that your gospel would go forward around the world. We think especially now of places like North Korea and Iran. Lord God, that your gospel would go where the church is trampled underfoot and yet rises in strength.

We pray, Lord God, that the gospel would spread to every nation and even so, Lord, come. We pray that this Great Commission would be finished and that you would come and take us to be with you forever.

That you would wipe away every tear, take us to that place where death is no more. And Lord, I pray that this church would not be marked by any fear. Turn our eyes to Jesus. According to Romans 8, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

Help us to believe that, not to cower in fear and anxiety and worry, but Lord you are a trust in you, it's in your name.