Jesus' Manual on Persecution Part II Matthew 10:16-25

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Last week, we began the sermon from Matthew 10, verses 16 -25, titled,
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Jesus' Manual on Persecution. At this time, I encourage you to turn there with me,
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Matthew 10, verses 16 -25. And if you're using a red
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Bible in the pews, it's on page 969. And I want us to begin by reading this text again, these sobering words from the
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Lord Jesus Christ. Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.
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So be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues.
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And you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake to bear witness before them and the
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Gentiles. When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour.
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For it is not you who speak, but the spirit of your father speaking through you. Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child.
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And children will rise against parents and have them put to death. And you will be hated by all for my name's sake.
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But the one who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next.
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For truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the
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Son of Man comes. A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master.
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It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house
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Belzebul, how much more will they malign those of his own household?"
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And here's our big idea. Prepare yourself for inevitable mistreatment from the world.
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Prepare yourself for inevitable mistreatment from the world. As I said one
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Sunday ago, this text is very relevant to our time as American Christians living in the 21st century.
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In the history of our country, we're not used to facing opposition from the government.
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But the events of the last several years, and especially the last year, things have changed.
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So this text in Matthew, we should feel it some. Or I almost feel like five, 10 years ago, you wouldn't feel this like you feel today until you actually see it for yourself.
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So last week, we saw three instructions that are there to prepare ourselves for inevitable mistreatment from the world.
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That Jesus says, every believer will face. Remember, the Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 3 .12, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
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Not might be, but you will be persecuted. So here are the three instructions we saw last
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Sunday. You are living among hostile people. They hate you because they hate
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Jesus. And the third instruction is that we are to live wisely and righteously with opposition lurking.
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Here's our fourth instruction. We're going to see four, five, six, and seven today. Here's the fourth instruction.
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Your sincere faith is shown through enduring trouble. By the way, your outline is in the bulletin if you'd like to look there.
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Your sincere faith is shown through enduring trouble. Let's read what Jesus says about our witness through persecution in verse 22.
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He says, you will be hated by all for my name's sake, but the one who endures to the end will be saved.
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Here, Jesus highlights the importance of endurance in the face of persecution.
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This describes an important doctrine of the Christian faith, and that is the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints.
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What the perseverance of the saints teaches is that all who are genuinely believers will remain believers all the way to the end.
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So anybody who's been given the Holy Spirit at the beginning, at conversion, cannot lose your salvation.
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God will bring you to the finish line. Ephesians chapter 1, verses 13 and 14 says, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation and believed in him were sealed with the promised
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Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it.
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So once you receive the Spirit, you don't lose the Spirit. Jesus also says in John chapter 10, verses 27 and 28, my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
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I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. But there's a flip side to this, because there's people who are in the
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Christian community who do not remain Christians. The one who does not persevere was never saved in the first place.
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This is what the Bible teaches. The apostle John describes this opposite experience of the apostate who falls away in 1
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John 2 .19. He wrote, they went out from us, but they were not of us.
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For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.
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If you are His, you will always be His, and this will show in your life.
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Those who do not endure to the end show they were never truly His. This is the clear teaching of the Bible.
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Perseverance, however, it's a team effort between the Holy Spirit and you. God gives us certain means of grace that keep us in the faith.
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These are Bible reading, prayer, Christian fellowship.
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The Lord's Supper is another one that we took part in today, one where you examine yourself when you come together.
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The Holy Spirit works through all of these means of grace to bring us all the way to the finish line.
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These means of grace prepare you to endure the trials of life because you will face trials in life, and you may be facing a severe trial right now.
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In this context, Jesus is saying that genuine believers will be able to endure opposition.
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You'll be able to endure persecution specifically. As the
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Holy Spirit works in your life, He prepares you for this. As I've shared before, 16th century, or I should say that 17th century
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Puritans used to say, when seas are calm, mend your sails because something's around the corner.
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Something's coming your way. When seas are calm, mend your sails. You will face opposition from the government or from other unbelievers.
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It's not an if, it's a when. And if you haven't experienced it yet, you will.
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So you have to prepare yourself. During these times, the Holy Spirit prepares you.
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I believe the Holy Spirit is preparing our church right now. It's interesting, the timing of what we're going through.
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We're going through Matthew. And look where we find ourselves. God providentially leads us here.
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So this preparation is what makes you ready to face it when it comes. As the Holy Spirit prepares you and sustains you through it, you will endure.
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And this is why Jesus is able to say, the one who endures to the end will be saved. True believers do not live for this world.
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They are willing to be mocked, inconvenienced, or even harmed physically if it means being faithful to Christ.
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A true believer not only lives for Christ, but is willing to die for Christ if that were his will for you.
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You can see how Christianity is not a cherry on the top of your life.
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Jesus must be everything to you. If he is everything to you, then you're real.
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And if he's not, you're not. And you won't be ready when persecution comes.
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In the parable of the sower, when the seeds are planted, the one who continues to grow even in the face of adversity is the fourth seed.
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But there's one seed that when adversity comes, it just withers away. When time of testing came.
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So that is the fifth instruction. That he prepares you to face it and you will endure if you are real.
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Here's the fifth instruction. He designs for you to proclaim his lordship.
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So the Lord will be glorified through the opposition that we face. Let's look at this in verse 18.
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Now, Jesus is talking to his disciples, but we know that he has in mind all of his disciples, including
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Eureka Baptist. But obviously, in the immediate context, he's talking about what the experience will be for his disciples.
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He told them earlier in verse 17 that they will flog you in their synagogues. He's talking about the
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Jewish leaders who oppose him. And because they oppose Jesus, they oppose his followers.
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Then as we just read, they will be brought before kings and governors. And the reason they will be brought before them is because of Jesus.
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The Jews hated Jesus because he was not the messiah of their imagination. He also did not compliment the outward obedience of the
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Jews. In fact, he called them out in ways that were highly offensive to them.
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He called them hypocrites, whitewashed tombs, sons of hell, to name a few.
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It was inevitable that this sharp rhetoric was going to get
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Jesus in trouble. The fact that Jesus called them out and they did not receive his teaching meant that the
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Jewish leadership largely rejected him. There's a few who embrace
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Christ, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, but most of them outright rejected him.
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And by rejecting him, they rejected God. What Jesus said about himself and what he said about them sent the
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Jewish leaders into a frenzy. And they plotted to kill him. And of course, we know how the story goes.
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He was crucified. But we know how wonderful the story is though, right?
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That Jesus died on the cross for our sins. God used that to bring us salvation. He was raised gloriously from the dead.
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And what Jesus did is he sent his followers out to share the gospel everywhere they went to all the nations of the earth.
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But their first mission was to share the gospel to the Jews. And what Acts explains is that the disciples' mission was a very difficult one to the nation of Israel, his own people.
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There were some Jews who believed, but most rejected Jesus. as the Messiah and Savior of the world.
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So the common Israelites and the leadership largely rejected him. This Messiah they long awaited for.
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He comes on the scene and they say, we don't want him. What Jesus is telling his disciples is that their experience would be similar to his.
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In verse 17, he tells them that they would be delivered over to courts and be flogged in synagogues.
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And as we see in the Apostle Paul's ministry, he first preached to the Jews, but then after that, he brings it to the
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Gentiles. What Jesus tells the disciples in verse 18 is that they would stand before governors and kings.
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Eventually, we know the church history records that Peter and Paul are martyred under the reign of Nero by a
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Gentile ruler. The Apostle Peter, who would have been among the ones listening to Jesus say this, he was also martyred, as I mentioned, by Nero.
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And the other disciples also were martyred, except for John, of course.
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He was exiled to Patmos. Think about, as they're listening to Jesus, we need to put ourselves in their shoes here.
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Think of how much they would have trembled, thinking, this is our future? We're going to go through this?
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Now, we live in a world where most of the governing authorities over us are unbelievers. Now, some, by God's common grace, rule with righteousness and justice, but others do not.
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Christians are a serious threat to these people because they don't want any authority over them.
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To say that we bow only to Christ is offensive to some governing leaders.
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Think about what's happening in North Korea right now. It has for many years. To say that Jesus is
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Lord to King Jong -un would probably get you killed. And last week,
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I mentioned that opposing the secular agenda in America, that functions like a religion, may get you in trouble.
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In America right now, it may not get you killed, but you may be harassed or silenced, as we have seen.
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If you speak God's truth against the lies of the secular agenda, that may very well find you in hot water.
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In fact, we had a pastor in Osceola, not too far from here, who just got in trouble because he spoke out against something.
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It's going to happen. There's no way to avoid it. So do we buckle in fear and run away with our tails between our legs?
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Or do we say something? And do it with gentleness and respect, yes.
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But we still need to say something. And as I said last week, you will be called all kinds of things that you are not.
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This is what happened to the early Christians. But as followers of Christ, we must not compromise our convictions in the public square.
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We should be willing and ready to boldly proclaim Jesus as Lord to the surrounding world. There is no one on earth that is above him, and every knee will bow to him one day.
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As Philippians 2, 10, and 11 says, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is
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Lord to the glory of God the Father. People should know we are Christians for both our character and our proclamation.
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We need to speak the gospel. We need to tell people who Jesus is, what he has done on our behalf.
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It's been popular in recent years to say, live like Jesus, and if necessary, use words.
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Maybe you've heard that. But my concern about that quote is that we can be comfortable never using words.
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We need to proclaim Christ. Even if there's opposition.
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It's even harder today than it was 10, 15, 20 years ago. But we need to do it.
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I remember when I was in college, we had a chapel speaker. This was a Christian college. He preached at our chapel.
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And what he said was, he says, we just need to hum the tune. We just need to hum the tune, which means live the
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Christian life, and people will ask you about your Christian faith, and then you can share the gospel.
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And I was thinking, well, yes, some of the time it works that way. But what if they don't ask?
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We need to speak. So the question we need to ask ourselves is this.
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Do people know that you are a Christian? The second question is, do people know who
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Jesus is and what he has done? He went to the cross. He rose from the dead.
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And nobody can be indifferent to that news. Do people know this news about what
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Christ has done on our behalf? We are to proclaim
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Christ as Lord and Savior, and there is no other who holds these titles. In a world where people say you can believe whatever you want, it's becoming more and more popular.
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Even in a place like St. Croix Falls in Polk County. It's been this way a long time in the cities, but it's reached out here more and more.
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We must boldly proclaim Jesus as Lord before our unbelieving friends, family, and even to the ones it is most daunting, like those in authority over us who could tag us with a hate crime for saying something that is deemed offensive by the unbelieving world.
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So prepare yourself for inevitable mistreatment from the world. And the fifth instruction is that he designs for you to proclaim his
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Lordship. Here's the fifth instruction from the
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Lord Jesus. He says, The Holy Spirit will give you the words to say. Let's look at this in verses 19 and 20.
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When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say.
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For what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the
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Spirit of your Father speaking through you. The Lord tells us to rely on him in everything, including what we are to say.
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In the previous point, we learned that we are to speak God's truth boldly in the face of opposition.
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Here we are told that the Holy Spirit will guide us in our words. The whole
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Christian life is one where we are called to do everything in God's power, including how we speak.
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As the Apostle Paul wrote in Colossians chapter 1 verses 28 and 29, Now, while we are to do everything in the
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Spirit's power all the time, Jesus highlights here the special importance of carrying this out when we face opposition.
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And the moment will come where we are to speak when we are facing this opposition. Jesus tells us that the
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Holy Spirit will help us with what to say. Now, this doesn't mean that we do no work here.
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When we talk about the Spirit's work, we always have a part to play. We need to build strong convictions through these means of grace.
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Bible reading, prayer, sitting under the preaching of the Word, and living out what
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God teaches us. When we do this, God's Word comes out of our mouth and transforms our life with power.
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Are we people who are full of the Spirit, where His power is noticeable, where it's pulsing out of us?
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That's what God designs a Christian to be. Jesus tells us that He will help us, that the
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Holy Spirit will help us. And when this happens, God's Word comes out of our mouth and transforms our life with power.
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The great 19th century British preacher Charles Spurgeon, he was called the Prince of Preachers, he loved
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John Bunyan, who lived two centuries before him in the 17th century. John Bunyan was a
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Christian pastor who was jailed for preaching the Gospel. And they said, if you keep preaching the
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Gospel, you're going to go to jail. Guess what? He kept preaching, they sent him to jail.
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But he didn't waste his time there because he wrote The Pilgrim's Progress, which is the second most sold
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English book in the history of the world. It's only behind this book. Pilgrim's Progress is number two.
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And Spurgeon read this book all the time. We went through Pilgrim's Progress last year as a
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Sunday school class, and Barb told us that Spurgeon read
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Pilgrim's Progress every single year, cover to cover. He read it about a hundred times at least.
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And this is what Spurgeon said of Bunyan. Read anything of his, and you will see that it is almost like reading the
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Bible itself. He had read it till his very soul was saturated with Scripture.
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And though his writings are charmingly full of poetry, yet he cannot give us his
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Pilgrim's Progress without continually making us feel and say, why, this man is a living
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Bible. Prick him anywhere, his blood is biblion. The very essence of the
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Bible flows from him. He cannot speak without quoting a text, for his very soul is full of the
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Word of God. Then he tells his church, which was the tabernacle in London, Spurgeon said,
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I commend his example to you, beloved. John Bunyan, as I mentioned, he was put in prison and he could not help but speak the
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Word of God to people. And they told him, you can have freedom. He said, I don't care. I'm going to speak the
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Word of God. And he did, and he got himself in serious trouble. But we can see how, just like the Apostle Paul, thrown in prison, okay, well, let's write and let's be a blessing to the world.
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And that's what he did. He spoke the truth of God's Word before the authorities, and it cost him.
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Like Bunyan and so many others, so many other faithful people down through the ages, we need to saturate ourselves with the
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Bible so that we are prepared to speak before others. Like I said, it may be before common people who oppose you, or it may be before those in authority who can fire you or fine you or put you in prison.
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It may be your boss at work where you think, I can't say anything. And if I do, I'm going to be in trouble.
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You may be put in a position where you have to compromise your faith, but you will not compromise because of your faithfulness to Christ.
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You know that He's going to take care of you. May we hear the words of the
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Apostle Peter who echoes the words of Jesus in 1 Peter 3 .15. But in your hearts, honor
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Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that you have.
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Yet do it with gentleness and respect. That's our model right there.
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Never compromise. Speak the truth boldly, but do it with gentleness and respect.
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As we prepare, the Holy Spirit will give us the words to say when the opposition comes.
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So are we preparing? Ask yourself that. Are we preparing? Prepare yourself for inevitable mistreatment from the world.
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And the sixth instruction is that the Holy Spirit will give you the words to say. And here's the seventh and final instruction from Christ.
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He tells us, Do not let resistance dissuade you from continuing. We'll see this in verse 23.
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When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next. For truly I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the
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Son of Man comes. So Jesus tells us here that as you go, you will face persecution.
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But as you do, as you face this opposition, you need to continue. We have already seen this in Matthew where Jesus tells
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His disciples to share the gospel of the kingdom if you are welcomed. He says if it's receptive, keep doing it.
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If it's not, then don't. We saw this recently in verses 11 -15 of this chapter.
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In Matthew 7 -6, Jesus said something similar. He said, Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.
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So if you are met with resistance, if people give you a cold shoulder, mock you, slander you, or even harm you physically, move on to the next person.
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If you were to get fired from a job because of your faith in Christ, move on to the next job. I'm not saying try to get fired, but you might be put in a situation where if you have to compromise your faith, then you have to stand with Christ.
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He will take care of you. And it is true that we will face resistance.
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And to face resistance as a Christian is not a bad thing. It does not mean the
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Christian faith is false. Again, I mentioned the parable of the sower. People face hardship for being a
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Christian, and then they say, well, I don't want to follow this then. And then they jump ship.
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It's not a bad thing to face opposition. And this is my concern about some churches out there who treat
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Christianity like it is the cherry on top of your life. Right? You're not ready to face this.
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And there's a lot of churches who are just denying that there even is persecution going on out there.
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Because they're not built to prepare disciples to face it. I mean, to be honest.
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And it is true that everything that happens to you is for your good, but sometimes this means pain. Sometimes this means opposition.
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Romans 8 .28 is still true. And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good.
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Sometimes it's a blessed time in life. Other times, it's hardship. We are warned by Jesus and many others in the
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New Testament that this will come, and when it does, we should not be surprised. This is why Peter writes in 1
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Peter 4, verses 12 -14, Do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you.
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It's something strange happening to you. But you are blessed when it comes upon you.
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I mentioned last week, there's a pastor in Canada right now. His name is James Coates.
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Please pray for him. He's in prison right now. Solitary confinement.
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Because their church is meeting on Sundays, and the government has told them they can't meet.
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He's in prison right now. This is Canada. It's not some far off place. We're not far from Canada at all.
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And I'm thinking to this man, he's blessed. God's hand is upon him. And we should pray for him as he's there.
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Pray for his family as he's there. He probably had no idea when he was in seminary, that he'd be in solitary confinement for preaching the gospel when they're told you can't do it.
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This is why it's important that we understand what it means to be a Christian. In this life, you will have trials. And some of those trials are opposition from the unbelieving world.
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Now it's interesting what Jesus says to the disciples. He says, You will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the
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Son of Man comes. What does this mean? As the disciples may have been off the scene for almost 2 ,000 years, and Christ still hasn't come back.
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What do they mean by this? There are four possible interpretations. One is that the coming is referring to Christ's resurrection.
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He is sending them out and they will not have gone through all the towns when Jesus is raised from the dead. The second interpretation is that the coming is describing
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Pentecost. Remember, the Holy Spirit comes after the resurrection.
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After Jesus ascended to heaven, the disciples waited for the Spirit to come upon them. And when he did, and so when he says here,
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You have not gone through all the towns of Israel, he's referring to the Pentecost event. The third view says that the disciples will not have gone through all the towns of Israel until 70
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AD. That's the year when the Romans destroyed the temple in Jerusalem.
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The fourth and final option is referring to the second coming of Christ. So they will not have gone through all the towns of Israel until the
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Son of Man comes and it's referring to his second coming. This is the view that I take because whenever Jesus talks about his coming, he usually is referring to his second coming.
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There is one exception in Matthew 16 -28 where he tells his disciples that a few of them would see him coming in glory at his coming, and that's referring to the
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Mount of Transfiguration when he was glorified before them. But in this passage, our text, what
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Jesus is describing is the call to faithfulness for his disciples.
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They are to go from town to town and this pattern of continuing in the face of persecution is to be followed until Christ returns.
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The disciples would not finish the task of reaching all the towns, indicating that they would start the work and others would continue after them, taking the gospel to the whole world.
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In fact, in the future, Jesus knew that there would be a great gathering of Israelites at the end of the age that would be saved.
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The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 11 -26 that all Israel will be saved.
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He's talking about this mass conversion of Israelites. A hardening has come over them right now, but there's this mass conversion coming in the future.
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And this is what the Apostle Paul did during his ministry as the book of Acts records. He went from town to town, being beaten in many of them.
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And when he knew that his effectiveness had run its course, he would move on to the next town.
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And this is the model. Go to those who are receptive. People who aren't receptive, move on to those who will be receptive to the gospel.
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And this may happen to you. You may receive so much opposition that it is time to move on with the gospel to someone else who will listen.
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And if the opposition is too strong there, then you are to go on to the next place. So we continue the mission of the disciples.
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They started it. They went to all the towns. They proclaimed the gospel. And this is to be done until Christ breaks through the sky and comes to this earth gloriously.
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So to summarize this sermon that's taken two Sundays to get through. Aren't you glad we took two
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Sundays? Prepare yourself for inevitable mistreatment from the world.
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And what we've seen is seven instructions from Jesus. This is why
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I called this sermon Jesus' Manual on Persecution. We could almost say
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Jesus' Manual on Persecution Readiness. First, you are living among hostile people.
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He doesn't want us to be confused about that. You are living among hostile people. Not everybody, okay? But many are.
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Second is that they hate you because they hate Jesus. We might wonder, well, why do they hate us? Well, that's why.
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They hated Him first. They will hate you. Third is that we are to live wisely with opposition lurking.
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Fourth, wisely and righteously that is. Fourth is that your sincere faith is shown through enduring trouble.
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Fifth, He designs for you to proclaim His Lordship. And sixth is that the
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Holy Spirit will give you the words to say. And seventh and lastly, do not let resistance dissuade you from continuing.
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Keep going. As you share the Gospel. Now, I want to close by saying something about the
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Apostle Paul. Paul is maybe the greatest model next to the
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Lord Jesus on how to live this way. How to press forward knowing that persecution will come.
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In the midst of his sufferings, he said in 2 Corinthians 6, verse 10 that he was sorrowful from his trials including his persecution, yet always rejoicing.
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Isn't that incredible? So this isn't a life of misery. So in the midst of the pain, there's this fullness of joy that he carried with him.
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This is what we need to remember. It's not like you are suffering and nothing good will come from it.
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Because there's joy as you go through it. And think of the joy in the future.
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Because this is only temporary. Romans 8 .18 promises that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
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A day is coming when the experience of Psalm 16 .11 will be the experience of every believer.
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In Your presence there is fullness of joy. At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. That's the promise for believers.
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This is why we go through this. We're not going through this without a reward. There's joy waiting for us.
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And there's joy in the midst of it because Christ is always with you as you go through it. So I know this two -week sermon has been intense.
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Jesus gives a grim report about what our life sometimes will be like in this world as Christians.
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And the closer we follow Jesus, the more opposition we will face. As 2
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Timothy 3 .12 says, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
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And as we live godly lives, we should expect to see opposition. And my old pastor used to say, we might not experience a raised fist.
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It might be a raised eyebrow. It might be mild, but it's going to be something.
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And so we need to prepare ourselves for that. Now next Sunday, as we continue our sermon series through Matthew, Jesus is going to tell us how we should view our persecutors.
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And we are going to learn we should not fear them. At this time, let's bow our heads in prayer.
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Father in Heaven, as I mentioned a week ago, this almost sounds like alarmism.
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Especially if we're not experiencing anything right now. We might think, my experience isn't this.
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Everybody likes me. But Lord, we know the words of the
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Lord Jesus are true. And all we need to do is look at history to see the truth of his words, to see all the hardship that believers have faced.
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And even in the present, Lord, believers face hardship. And we should expect to see that in our own lives.
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As we walk faithfully with you, we should expect to see that. Lord, this is the path of joy.
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We must always remember that. It's the path of joy.
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It's the best path. It's the only path that leads to life. It's the narrow path. Help us to remember that so that when we do face some kind of opposition, we would feel your hand upon us, realizing that we are blessed.
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Prepare us, Lord. May we all grow strong in you. In Jesus' name,