christian persecution

James 5:1-6 ESV “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up...

Persecuting Jesus’ Followers Acts 9:1-2 ESV “But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to...

Psalms 42:1-2 ESV “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?” Do you know that this is what our relationship with God should be like? We should thirst for our Lord like we...

Psalms 94:3-7 ESV “O Lord, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked exult? They pour out their arrogant words; all the evildoers boast. They crush your people, O Lord, and afflict your heritage. They kill the widow and the sojourner, and murder the fatherless; and...

Psalms 94:16-19 ESV “Who rises up for me against the wicked? Who stands up for me against evildoers? If the Lord had not been my help, my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence. When I thought, ‘My foot slips,’ your steadfast love, O Lord, held me up. When the cares of my...

Romans 8:31-39 ESV “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies...

Peter and John were under arrest for preaching about Jesus Christ and his gospel. The rulers in the temple of God took counsel against them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. “But Peter and John answered them, ‘Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen...

They Will Lead Many Astray Matthew 24:3-8 ESV As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. For...

The Day of Pentecost was past, the church (the body of Christ) was growing in numbers, and the apostles were preaching the gospel and healing the sick and afflicted in the name of Jesus Christ. But they were also facing much opposition from the same people who opposed Jesus Christ. Rulers in...

Matthew 5:10-12 ESV “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in...

Convinced of the Holy Spirit In Acts 21, we read how Paul was convinced of the Holy Spirit that he should go to Jerusalem, even knowing that he may be imprisoned there or even die there for the name of the Lord Jesus. And Paul was arrested there, and he was bound with chains, and the crowds...

I am reading this morning in Acts 21. To set the background for what follows, I will share a verse from Acts 19 and one from Acts 20: “Now after these events Paul resolved in the Spirit to pass through Macedonia and Achaia and go to Jerusalem, saying, ‘After I have been there, I must also see...

I am reading in Acts 17 (ESV). Paul was in Thessalonica at the Jewish synagogue reasoning with the Jews regarding Jesus Christ, their Messiah, telling them that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead. And some of the Jews were persuaded to believe in Jesus. But the...

Isaiah 62:1-3 ESV “For Zion's sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not be quiet, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a burning torch. The nations shall see your righteousness, and all the kings your glory, and you shall be...

Matthew 10:24-25 ESV “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. 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 Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household.” We...

Philippians 1:15-18 ESV “Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my...

Matthew 10:34-36 ESV [Jesus Christ said:] “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's...

Acts 8:1 ESV “And Saul approved of his execution.” Saul (later called the Apostle Paul) approved of the execution of Stephen, who was a man of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom – a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit. For, some people hated Stephen, and so they plotted evil...

Acts 4:1-4 ESV “And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they arrested them and put them in custody...

2 Corinthians 1:3-5 ESV “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God...