Sermon

Remember Them that are in Bonds

Carryduff Free Presbyterian Church

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  1. Amen. Well, turn with me tonight in

  2. your Bible to the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 13.

    Hebrews 13 chapter mention

  3. It's good to see you. Good to welcome you all in the

  4. Lord's name. Good to hear the rustling of the

  5. paper. Good to have a few friends in

  6. from Ballymena. Remember years ago St there?

  7. I can't remember who but someone stopped me and asked me what do

  8. you call a meal? Tea bag?

  9. I was thinking Tatley and Pyjama.

  10. And what's the name of that other one they make in Belfast?

  11. Thompson's Tea. No Hebrews.

  12. Hebrews. Hebrews 13.

  13. Let's read the Word of God where chapter 13 we're going to read

  14. from verse one and we'll read right through to the verse 15.

  15. Let brotherly love continue. Be not forgetful to entertain

  16. strangers, for thereby some of entertained angels unawares.

  17. Remember them that are in bonds as bound with them, and them

  18. which suffer adversity as being yourselves also in the body.

  19. Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled.

  20. But whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.

  21. Let your conversation be without covetousness, and be content

  22. with such things as you have. For he have said, I will never

  23. leave thee, nor forsake thee, so that we may boldly say, The Lord

  24. is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.

  25. Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken

  26. unto you the word of God, whose faith follow, considering the

  27. end of their conversation. Jesus Christ the same yesterday

  28. and today, and forever. Be not carried about with divers

  29. and strange doctrines, for it is a good thing that the heart be

  30. established with grace, not with meats which have not profited

  31. them that have been occupied therein.

  32. We have an altar, for off they have no right to eat which serve

  33. the Tabernacle. For the bodies of those beasts

  34. whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for

  35. sin are burned without the camp. Where for Jesus also, that He

  36. might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without

  37. the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto

  38. Him without the camp, bearing His reproach for He.

  39. Or have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come by Him.

  40. Therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God

  41. continually. That is the fruit of our lips

  42. giving thanks to His name. We'll end the reading there at

  43. verse 15, and we pray God will stand with His own approval and

  44. blessing, this reading of His own precious and infallible

  45. Word. Now, today, on Remembrance

  46. Sunday 2025, the United Kingdom paused in a still silence.

  47. Across cities, towns, villages, churches and even fields,

  48. thousands gathered to stand in solidarity and silence to

  49. remember our glorious dead of World War One, World War 2, and

  50. all such subsequent conflicts around the world.

  51. Together we united in common gratitude, respect and

  52. reflection to remember those that gave their everything so we

  53. could enjoy our cherished freedoms.

  54. Now, I believe that the act of remembrance that we observed

  55. this morning, and other churches as well, is deeply personal.

  56. I believe that behind every puppy lies a story.

  57. The same is true for every book and display.

  58. We thank those who brought stuff and for the beautiful displays

  59. this year. Take a look round before you go

  60. home. Every pamphlet here, every medal

  61. here, it points to something. There's a story behind it.

  62. We're thinking about a family member who who died in the war,

  63. a comrade who was missing in action, presumed dead, and Ian

  64. carved onto a stone memorial or a cenotaph somewhere.

  65. Each name, you see, is an individual life, and every

  66. individual life has their own story, the the history of their

  67. life, the day of their birth, the life that they live, the day

  68. of their death. And those individuals, many of

  69. them are now gone, but they're not forgotten.

  70. The act of remembrance is also deeply powerful.

  71. You see, it's a national collective act.

  72. It's the country's way of saying a big thank you to all who died

  73. for your service and your sacrifice.

  74. It's a big thank you in memory of our glorious dead.

  75. It's a big thank you to all who fought and survived and bear in

  76. their minds and in their bodies even physical scars and mental

  77. scars. To this day, I believe the act

  78. of remembrance is also something that's very precious.

  79. It's the right thing to do. And as I've told you often, it's

  80. the biblical thing to do because the Bible resorts to remember

  81. 210 * 51 times. On top of that, it brings in the

  82. word remembrance. One of the things we're to

  83. remember is remember the battle. And of course we remember the

  84. the greatest battle of all, especially the Battle of the

  85. Cross. Jesus Christ emerged victorious

  86. over death, sin, hail, and the devil.

  87. But the Remembrance Act is not just a deeply personal thing,

  88. deeply powerful and deeply precious, but it's also a deeply

  89. painful thing. You see, today, thankfully, the

  90. guns are silent in the Western Front.

  91. But as we have stood in solidarity and silence, we have

  92. thought of the human cost. How many died in World War One?

  93. Hello to high estimate 15,000,000 to 40 million.

  94. How many died in World War? 270 to 85,000,000, 21 to

  95. 25,000,000 were military and some 50 to 60 million were

  96. civilians, men, women and children.

  97. Not just painful in terms of death numbers, but think of

  98. those who came home from the war injured, maimed for life.

  99. Their life was changed forever. I often think as well of those

  100. prisoners of war, Do you know that according to National

  101. Archives, the British Exhibitionary Force, there was

  102. something like 191,652 prisoners of war?

  103. And if we were to add in the total of all sides in the

  104. conflict, including the Germans, the PO WS would estimate to be

  105. about 4 million. Now I want you to think with me

  106. of the Royal Ulster Constabulary.

  107. There's a beautiful uniform outside in the ports you can

  108. look at coming in the 1st of June 1922 to the 4th of

  109. November, 201. 319 officers were murdered, 10,000 were injured.

  110. 370 individual officers received a gallantry award, 712 for

  111. distinguished service. Something like 1183 were forced

  112. to move from their family homes and some were also abducted and

  113. they became prisoners of the enemy and cruelly tortured and

  114. eventually murdered and some were buried and their remains

  115. have never been found. You look at Hebrews 13 for a

  116. moment. Look with me at verse 3.

  117. Listen to this verse. Remember them that are in bonds

  118. as bound with them, and them which suffer adversity as being

  119. yourselves also in the body. What is that verse telling us?

  120. I believe it's saying this, and this is what it's said to me in

  121. the week that has gone past. Remember the prisoners.

  122. We are commanded here in Hebrews 13, verse 3 to remember the

    Hebrews 13:3

  123. prisoners. Out of the 210 things in the

  124. Bible we are to remember, here's one of them.

  125. We're to remember the prisoners in Hebrews 13.

  126. We are given some very practical commands.

  127. Hebrews 13, I should point out, remember rests in Hebrews

    Hebrews 1 chapter mention

  128. chapters 1 to 12. Hebrews 1 to 12 was largely

  129. doctrinal. What follows the end is by way

  130. of duty, and that's the usual pattern in the New Testament.

  131. First doctrine, end duty. And if you just focus on

  132. doctrine without duty, you'll discover that knowledge puffs

  133. you up. And we have many professing

  134. Christians sadly puffed up with just mere knowledge today.

  135. On the other hand, to engage in duty to the neglect of doctrine

  136. makes you like a solid biblical foundation.

  137. And here in this chapter, after the doctrinal section, we've got

  138. some practical duties and the main command.

  139. Here's in verse one. Let brotherly love continue, and

  140. some Wednesday night will preach again on that subject.

  141. And this leads to two very specific things.

  142. One, show hospitality, be not forgetful to entertain

  143. strangers, for thereby some of entertained angels unawares.

  144. And then the other specific command is remember the

  145. prisoners. Remember them that are in bones

  146. as bound with them, and them which suffer adversity as being

  147. yourselves also in the body. That's what I want to think

  148. about now. Remember the prisoners.

  149. I want you to think of three things.

  150. One, let's think of the people that are mentioned.

  151. It says remember them that are in bonds as bound with them and

  152. then which suffer adversity as being yourselves also in the

  153. body. Underline the word in bones and

  154. we'll ask ourselves who are these people?

  155. And the simple answer is they are Christians who have been

  156. imprisoned for their faith. They've been arrested, they've

  157. been detained and they've been put into, we'll call it a 1st

  158. century jailhouse. Now remember, the Bible is a

  159. first century book and you've got to always see it and sense

  160. it in the 1st century context. And if we were to examine the

  161. book of Acts, we would discover multiple references there to

  162. persecution of the church. Remember what we read in Acts

    Acts 4 chapter mention

  163. chapter 4? And the men that came out of the

  164. temple, Peter and John, remember upon their arrest they were told

  165. this, but that it spread no further.

  166. Acts 417 among the people, let us straightly threaten them that

  167. they speak henceforth to no man in this name.

  168. And they called them and commanded them not to speak at

  169. all, nor teach in the name of Jesus.

  170. You see, that was a form of persecution, wasn't it?

  171. And then we come to Acts chapter 8, and we read in verse 4, in

    Acts 8 chapter mention

  172. Acts 8 and verse 4, verse 3. And As for Saul, he made havoc

  173. of the church, entering into every house and healing men and

  174. women, committed them to prison. Therefore, they that were

  175. scattered abroad went everywhere, preaching the word

  176. right. You go right through the book of

  177. Acts, and it's not my intention to do that, but just to show you

  178. when we come to Acts 12 to give the action of Herod, James was

  179. beheaded. Peter was put into prison.

  180. And then further on then about Paul's arrest and imprisonment

  181. and eventually making all the journey to Rome.

  182. You see, there was persecution. This is what I'm trying to tell

  183. you. In the early church, people were

  184. arrested, people were put into prison, and people were being

  185. sentenced to death. You've got to think of prisoners

  186. in the 1st century, and according to Wikipedia, the

  187. early Christians were heavily persecuted throughout the Roman

  188. Empire right up to the 3rd or 4th century.

  189. There was 10 periods of Christian persecution.

  190. Nero AD 54 to 68. The Mission, AD 81 to 96.

  191. Trajan, AD 98 to 117. Here's the fourth period of

  192. persecution. Antonius Pius Marcus Aurelius

  193. Antonius, 138 AD to 180 AD. The 5th was Severus AD 193 to

  194. 2:11. The next was Maximus 235 to 238,

  195. then followed him was Desius 249 to 251.

  196. The eighth period was Valerian 253 to 260, and then the 9th was

  197. Aurelian 274 to 287. Did you know that during this

  198. man's reign, 6666 men from the T Band Legion, they were

  199. butchered, put to death, They refused to March over the Alps

  200. and kill the Christians. They were Christians themselves,

  201. and because they refused, they were put to death under

  202. Euryalians, the Empire's orders. 6666 men of the T Band Legion.

  203. And the 10th, of course, was Diocletian to 9, two to three O

  204. 4. Did you know that Diocletian

  205. issued 4 edicts against the Christians?

  206. Here's the first one. Christian churches were to be

  207. closed and destroyed. Bibles were to be burned.

  208. Christians of possession of power were to lose that honour.

  209. Christians were to be put to death. 2nd edict involved the

  210. imprisonment and torture of the leaders of the church.

  211. The third edict had to do with the leaders of the Christian

  212. Church. If they refused to sacrifice to

  213. idols, threw them into prison and let them suffer cruelty and

  214. torture. The 4th edict all Christians who

  215. refused to sacrifice to the Empire were to be put to death.

  216. Now you can read all about that in the Fox's Book of Martyrs.

  217. And then we'll add into that over the centuries the

  218. persecution of the Waldensians and the Abogenzies and the

  219. Huguenots in France. And then we think about the

  220. Ulster Plantation in 1641 where where 100,000 Protestants were

  221. murdered. And then we think about the

  222. Covenanters and the killing times in Scotland.

  223. And then we think about the English reformers and the

  224. persecution there right up to the 18th century.

  225. Let's come into the 21st century, you know, according to

  226. World Watch List 2025, 50 countries where Christians face

  227. the most extreme persecution, where Christians are legitimate

  228. targets of violence wherever they're found.

  229. Men, women, boys and children, Girls, let me name them, some of

  230. them, Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Somalia,

  231. Afghanistan, Yemen, Laos, China, Pakistan, Vietnam, Libya, Cuba,

  232. North Korea, India, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Kuwait, Indonesia,

  233. Bangladesh. At this present time, some 310

  234. million Christians face a very high and extreme level of

  235. persecution. One in seven Christians

  236. worldwide, one in five in Africa, two in five in Asia.

  237. Last year, in 2024, according to Open Doors, 4476 Christians were

  238. murdered, 7679 churches were destroyed, many other Christian

  239. properties have been attacked, and 4744 pastors and church

  240. leaders have been imprisoned. And for the past 100 years, some

  241. 2000 Christians have been martyred for their faith in our

  242. world. Do you know that tonight

  243. something like 66 governments around the world have restricted

  244. religious freedom when it comes to Bible believing Christianity,

  245. 66 governments throughout the world are actively persecuting

  246. the Christian and if we add it all up, not just those who have

  247. an high extreme possibility of. Receiving a level of

  248. persecution. But if we add in even some low

  249. levels of persecution, then the total adds up to 380 million

  250. Christians worldwide. 380 million Christians worldwide

  251. suffer some form some level of persecution and discrimination

  252. for their faith. Now let that sink in.

  253. Let me repeat that 380 million of our brothers and sisters in

  254. Christ are being persecuted across our world tonight.

  255. And here's a call in the 1st century penned by the Apostle

  256. Paul. But we have a duty for the

  257. Church. And what's he telling us by way

  258. of a commandment? This is not optional.

  259. This is obligatory. Remember then that Arnn Borns is

  260. bound with them and then which suffer adversity as being

  261. yourselves also in the body. It's a call to remember those

  262. that are chained and those that are being cruelly treated in the

  263. prison house. It's interesting that we read in

  264. the Gospel, the Gospel of Matthew, in Matthew chapter 25

    Matthew 25 chapter mention

  265. and verse 35. This is what the Lord Jesus

  266. said, For I wasn't hungered and you gave me meat.

  267. I was thirsty and you gave me drink.

  268. I was a stranger, and you took me in naked and you clothed me.

  269. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison, and she came

  270. unto me. Then shall the righteous answer

  271. him, saying, Lord, when we saw thee in hungered and fed thee,

  272. or thirsty, and give thee drink, when so we thee a stranger, and

  273. took thee inner naked and clothed thee.

  274. Or when so we thee sick or in president came unto thee?

  275. And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto

  276. you, In as much as you've done it unto one of the least of

  277. these, my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

  278. You know there's a story told of a pastor.

  279. Don't think he was here and carried off for in Belfast even,

  280. but he was preaching one night in Mark chapter 4 verses 35

    Mark 4:35

  281. right through to verse 41 and he was preaching about the storm in

  282. the Sea of Galilee and he was waxing elegant and he remarked

  283. Jesus steals the storm in our lives.

  284. You're going through a storm now Jesus can steal your storm.

  285. Maybe you're suffering loneliness or maybe it's some

  286. illness or maybe it's a misunderstanding or maybe it's

  287. some sort of hardship or opposition or persecution.

  288. Jesus can deliver you from every one of these storms.

  289. Good preaching passionate. One man stood up in the

  290. congregation, an old man. He was of Middle Eastern

  291. descent, and he shouted up, and this is what he said.

  292. I quote, my dear brother, if you have been persecuted like I

  293. have, you would really know the meaning of this passage.

  294. It is not that Jesus takes the storm away, but that you don't

  295. need to fear the storm you face if the Lord Jesus is with you in

  296. the boat. And he sat down.

  297. There was silence in the congregation.

  298. See the little chorus that we learnt in Colerie and in my day

  299. with the Reverend White was there with Christ in the vessel.

  300. You can smile at the storm. With Christ in the vessel.

  301. Is Christ in your vessel, your life?

  302. You know something of his companionship, you've been

  303. converted to Christ and he comes and comforts you.

  304. He counsels you, he cares for you.

  305. See, that old man had a valuable insight.

  306. So I I asked tonight, do you know Christ?

  307. Do you love him? Are you trusting in him as Lord

  308. and Saviour? The people that are mentioned,

  309. those in bonds, I want you to think secondly.

  310. Oh, the procedure that is highlighted, if you go back to

  311. our text, it says remember. Now underline the word remember.

  312. This is a command. I want you to feel the force of

  313. this command. See, what does it mean?

  314. A general precept would be, well, it means to recall to

  315. mind, to think about the prisoners in the jailhouse.

  316. It means that it includes that. But I want to tell you it's it's

  317. much more than that. This is a very specific command.

  318. It means not only to recall to mind and think about the

  319. prisoner, but to also get into the habit of calling to mind the

  320. persecution of the prisoner and those suffering adversity.

  321. Literally the word remember means not just to recall to

  322. mind, but make it your habit to remember.

  323. Why did Paul write this? Was it because that the church

  324. had neglected to do this? Was it because the church had

  325. forgotten the prisoners and those that were suffering

  326. adversity? What he's really saying is

  327. remember the prisoner, those suffering affliction and not

  328. only bring that to your mind, but didn't get into the mental

  329. habit. Let this mental habit

  330. characterise your love. You see, remember has the idea

  331. and the concept of keeping something in your mind and it's

  332. more than just a a mere mental action.

  333. It's getting into the habit of not forgetting.

  334. It's a bit like remember 1690 or remember, as I love to say, the

  335. Alamo, not when you recall that to mind, but to act upon it, to

  336. make it your daily mental habit to be concerned and care for the

  337. prisoner who's been persecuted for his faith and those that are

  338. suffering affliction. Recall the prisoner for your his

  339. faith to your mind and as a result, be willing to respond in

  340. an appropriate manner. You see, the Hebrews that Paul

  341. was writing to had experienced great persecution.

  342. The local church had experienced a lot of painful suffering.

  343. If you want a record of that, look at Hebrews chapter 10 and

    Hebrews 10 chapter mention

  344. it says there in the verse 32. But call to remembrance.

  345. Remembrance The former days in which, after ye were

  346. illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions, partly

  347. whilst we were made a gazing stop, both by reproaches and

  348. afflictions, and partly whilst ye became companions of them

  349. that were so used. For ye had compassion of me and

  350. my borns, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing

  351. in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring

  352. substance. He encouraged them in verse 35

  353. of Hebrews 10. Cast not away your confidence.

  354. You see, Paul knew where the prisoners were.

  355. Paul could name them. In fact, he did name one of them

  356. one of the church leaders by the name of Timothy.

  357. Did you know Timothy was imprisoned for his faith?

  358. It says there in the book of Hebrews 13 verse 23.

    Hebrews 13:23

  359. Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty with whom, if

  360. he comes shortly, I will see you.

  361. Timothy was known for his shyness.

  362. He was known for his weakness bodily, but even he, as pastor

  363. of the church at Ephesus, ended up in prison.

  364. Now let me just point out very quickly, there's no such thing

  365. as prisons in the 1st century funded by the taxpayer or

  366. Majesty's government. They had no such thing as been

  367. given gift of clothes or food or medicine or any reading or

  368. writing material that was dependent on the family, that

  369. was dependent on friends and supporters.

  370. And friends and supporters not only had to think about the

  371. prisoner, but rise to a level of care and compassion that

  372. resulted in loving action. And that's what he means by the

  373. word remember. Make sure you get into the habit

  374. of not only thinking about them, but but mentally acting upon

  375. that information. Not just remember them and

  376. recall them to mine, but become concerned enough to act.

  377. You know that at one time, during the persecutions of those

  378. 10 persecutions that I've mentioned, the pastor was put in

  379. prison along with the church leaders.

  380. The church people did everything that they could to secure the

  381. release. They offered money, a large sum.

  382. They visited the judge, they wrote letters and they

  383. protested, and they were all denied.

  384. And everyone in the congregation decided that they would take

  385. turns when going to the prison. And at night they slept outside

  386. the cell door of the jailhouse out of loving concern for the

  387. pastor and for the church leaders.

  388. Of course, that kind of love is mocked Now.

  389. Not everyone was in prison. Thousands of others were

  390. mistreated. And that's what he goes on to

  391. tell us. If you look with me at verse 3,

  392. it says and them which suffer adversity as being yourselves

  393. also in the body, they suffered adversity.

  394. What did they suffer for the sake of Christ and the gospel?

  395. Let me illustrate. They come home from church and

  396. their home was looted and ransacked and all their

  397. possessions were gone, and there were soldiers standing outside.

  398. Many of them, when they were in worship, had the service

  399. interrupted by the soldiers coming in to stop the service.

  400. See, we think of persecution today.

  401. We think of low levels of persecution and this is bad.

  402. Of course, people ordered to put away their Bibles either in the

  403. open air or in the park. I I'm thinking of one pastor, a

  404. pastor Mick Fleming, who has a Bible verse John 3 and 16 in the

  405. camper van. He was approached there on the

  406. 27th of October just recently by a police officer and told that

  407. that text of scripture could be considered hate speech and he

  408. could be up on a hate crime charge and he better take it off

  409. his van now. He's a pastor, he works with the

  410. homeless, he's involved in charity.

  411. The police have been contacted in a place called Burnley and

  412. they have said, oh, the officer was just acting in an advisory

  413. capacity. See, that's the type of thing

  414. that's going on. People are told in the open air

  415. to stop praying outside abortion clinics.

  416. People are told to stop preaching in the open air

  417. because someone's offended and it's hate speech.

  418. That's why I'm back down at City Hall and trying to hold an open

  419. air there. Courthouses in America, school

  420. houses have been ordered to take down the 10 commandments.

  421. And that's all a form of persecution.

  422. But listen to me carefully. Vast majorities of Christians in

  423. the Western world know little about the terrible persecutions

  424. of Christians in places like Nigeria.

  425. Did you know that thousands of Christian villages in plateaus

  426. of Kaduna, in Benue, in Tarabe State, lion ruins, do you know

  427. that whole families have been murdered, fathers, mothers and

  428. children? Churches have been razed to the

  429. ground, mass graves have been dug.

  430. You see the the war in Nigeria, you, you'll not hear this in the

  431. news. It's, it's not merely banditry.

  432. It's not a farmer's conflict. I want to tell you what it is.

  433. It's a systematic extermination of the Christians and it's

  434. designed to break with this resistance and it's designed to

  435. ethnic cleanse areas of Christian influence and to clear

  436. land for the advancement of Islam.

  437. Since the year 2009, almost 70,000 Christians have been

  438. murdered. Did you know that 8000 were

  439. murdered? 2023 to 2024 and I stood in this

  440. pulpit in October in 2025 and told you that 2000 had just been

  441. murdered in one day or 24 hour, 48 hour period.

  442. And who's doing the killing? The murdering Boko Haram aligned

  443. with ISIS, faluni militia groups.

  444. And you know what it is? It's a corporate genocide and

  445. the world is silent. You're not hearing it in BBC,

  446. you're not hearing it in the ATV and we have to ask why.

  447. I want to tell you it's not just about the killings, it's about

  448. the kidnappings. Young girls, teenagers, taken

  449. from their parents, sold into slavery, turned into slaves for

  450. the pleasure of wicked men. The Democratic Republic of

  451. Congo, there's fifteen such kidnappings per day.

  452. It's a tool of fear, and the Western world has a machinery of

  453. silence. The BBC conductor videos about

  454. Donald Trump, but they can't declare the truth about what's

  455. happening in Nigeria or Sudan or any other place.

  456. Do you know that in Sudan, in late October 2025, a teaching

  457. hospital in Khartoum was attacked.

  458. Dozens of incubators became coffins for newborns.

  459. A week long siege. They cut off the power supply to

  460. the hospital. Soldiers in that hospital were

  461. murdered in their bed, along with nurses and the elderly and

  462. the babies. The death toll in Sudan of the

  463. civil war which against another genocide, 400,000 mostly

  464. Christians, kidnappings, deaths, The thrift of aid that's coming

  465. into the country. You're giving your money and

  466. aid's been supplied and they're stealing it to sell it.

  467. The closure of churches, beheadings, limbs Hacked Off 4

  468. and 5 little boys and girls in Malaysia in 2009.

  469. Two thousand Muslim militants targeted Christian villages.

  470. Pregnant ladies were murdered, pastors were murdered,

  471. kidnappings. It was wanton murder.

  472. There wasn't a word. Did you hear it in 2009?

  473. Do you know that in India a pastor was attending a

  474. conference, some missionary society, I believe it was.

  475. His name was Pastor Graham Stains.

  476. Hope I pronounced it right. His six year old son.

  477. They were outside the conference venue and for some reason, don't

  478. ask me why, maybe it was shooting money, maybe they

  479. couldn't find accommodation, but they were sleeping in their car.

  480. You know, the Islamists came along and they set it alight,

  481. burnt them to death. I want to tell you, I know time

  482. has gone, but it makes us uncomfortable.

  483. It makes me uncomfortable telling you, but I've got to

  484. tell you we have to discover there's a cost of following

  485. Christ. And as I've said, the vast

  486. majority in the Western world, in the Christian Church, myself

  487. included, know so little about what's going on in the world.

  488. We've become indifferent. We've become anaesthetized and

  489. apathetic. It's not that long ago in

  490. Indonesia, the beheaded 3 little girls at 6:30 in the morning

  491. with their Bible heading to a Christian School.

  492. And why did they behead them? Because they had a Bible.

  493. If you were coming down the killing your road and told if

  494. you carry that Bible down the road and it's seen you're going

  495. to be beheaded, I wonder what you would do?

  496. What would I do belonging to a Christian School?

  497. Do you know, they took the heads of those girls and they found

  498. them near a police station and they had a written warning in

  499. one of the heads targeting hundreds of other Christian

  500. teenagers. And you know who's funding

  501. radical Islam and radical amounts throughout the Middle

  502. East and in England and in America, And I'll tell you,

  503. Saudi Arabia, you know that in parts of East Africa, Christians

  504. are forced to go to Muslim schools because the government

  505. refused to let them have their own Christian School.

  506. And they have to learn surreal law and they have to learn to

  507. read the Koran. See, here's a command to

  508. identify with the prisoner. This is the procedure.

  509. We have to think about it. I pray that the Lord will help

  510. us. One final thing, our time has

  511. really gone and you've been so patient.

  512. The programme to be employed. Notice these words it says here

  513. in the text has bound with them and then which suffer adversity

  514. has been bound yourselves also in the body.

  515. What can we do? We identify with these folks.

  516. We can pray. Pray for the church leaders.

  517. Pray for the people. Pray for the protection of

  518. church property. Pray for faithful pastors.

  519. Pray for the born again believers to have safety and,

  520. and, and have strength. Pray for those Christian

  521. families who are under pressure to convert to Islam.

  522. Protest. Amen.

  523. Cathy. Lobby the government.

  524. Write a letter, sign a petition. Put something into the press.

  525. Contact international bodies. What can I do?

  526. Preach the gospel. Be faithful to the great truths

  527. found in Christ. Christ was born for sinners.

  528. Christ lived the sinless life for sinners.

  529. Christ died in atoning death for sinners.

  530. Christ called sinners to repentance and faith.

  531. Christ arose bodily from the dead and defeated sin and hell

  532. in the grave. Christ is coming.

  533. We're living in light of the trumpet.

  534. The Bible says to whom the sun sets free, he shall be free

  535. indeed. The end of World War One, World

  536. War 2, they let the prisoners of warless.

  537. Let's pray for the release of the prisoners held fast in

  538. bondage to the devil. And we can also practise our

  539. faith. We can give, we've already given

  540. some money for the pencil cases and there's about 100 maybe in

  541. 50 of them. Now it'll go out to the land of

  542. the Philippines. We could follow open doors.

  543. I I just got brother Mark to help me to go into their website

  544. stay informed and updated Voice of the martyrs international

  545. Christian concern. We can identify with God's

  546. people and as I close tonight identify with the Saviour.

  547. Look at this verse as we finish it says in verse 20.

  548. Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead.

  549. Our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep through

  550. the blood of the everlasting covenant, think of him who's the

  551. shepherd of the sheep. Think of what he did, how he

  552. suffered for us without the gate.

  553. A perfect substitute, surety, sin, bearer, sin offering,

  554. sacrifice and Saviour. Remember, we're all sinners.

  555. You're a Sinner tonight if you're not saved, you've all a

  556. soul more important than anything that this world can

  557. buy. And you need a saviour tonight

  558. and there is a saviour Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and you

  559. can be saved if you come and repentance and faith in Christ.

  560. We thank God for our freedoms, but what about the gospel?

  561. Freedom has the sunset you free, you say?

  562. I want to tell you young people tonight, many of you are not

  563. here. The church is not boring.

  564. I want to tell you, people have tell me that the church means

  565. nothing and stands for nothing. Well I want to tell you this

  566. church is different. We're going to practise what we

  567. preach. We're going to pray and protest

  568. God helping us. This is the programme I believe

  569. to be employed as we remember the prisoners.

  570. May the Lord take these few thoughts and bless them to our

  571. hearts.