Learn, live, tell That's a Disciple | Jason Martin

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Let me get into the world. So I am drawing

towards the last lap of the be Attitudes. So when

I was looking back at the sermons that I have preached,

I started the Berattitudes in March. Wow, So March and

now is September. Six months. It took me six months

to get through the Berattitudes, Okay, so let me let

me just go through it first. So the first slide, right,

it is why we're going through the Berattitudes is because

we wanted to learn how it is like to be

a disciple, or what it is like to be a disciple.

So I just wanted to y'all might be sick of

this light ready, But if you're sick of this light

means it has digested in. So to be a disciple

is to someone who learns from Jesus, who lives like

Jesus and tells others about Jesus. That's what a disciple is,

all right. And the word be Attitudes, all the Berattitudes

starts with the word blessed. Right, So the next light

is what is blessed? What is blessed. Blessed is a

deep joy from walking God's way. Okay, So if we

are following the beratitudes, people will look at us and

say that, wow, you are there is something different about you.

Even through you're going through storms, even through you're going

through so many challenges, there is so much joy in

your face. There's so much joy in your mannerisms, in

your language, in how you interact with others. Right, so,

and and the moving from that next light. So the beatitudes,

the first four was emptying ourselves of our sin nature.

We have to empty ourselves of our sin nature first.

So to empty ourselves of our pride, we have to

empty ourselves or surrender our lack because we know we

have a lot of lack. Right, whether we are mourning

because of a loss, we are mourning because of a

missed opportunity. Stuff like that, we surrendered to God. And

we also surrender our strength because sometimes our strength is

the one that is holding us back from trusting God. Right.

And once we empty ourselves, we will become hungry. Okay,

you empty yourself from all the things of the world,

you will become hungry. And when you hunger, we are

supposed to hunger and turst for righteousness. Right, and when

you are hunger, when you're filled with righteousness, how will

we behave next line, the next force beattitudes, teaches us

what happens when we are filled with righteousness, when we

hunger and tell us for righteousness, we will be merciful,

we will be pure in heart, we will become peacemakers.

So these are the ones, and today will be covering.

Is this blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake?

For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. How many of

y'all are very excited for this? No, right same. I

was in the same boat. So I'm telling you. When

I knew I had to prepare this, I was like, hey,

maybe I should just skip this and go to the

next one. And you know, the next one is like

salid light, and then you can go through the whole

other stuff, you know. So this was going through my

mind for at least two weeks. I'm like, how am

I going to preach this? Then during Monday, we were

having family devotion with our kids, saying that I'm telling Jesse,

can I just skip this one to preach? Because to

be honest, I do not like the idea of persecution, right,

I do not like the idea of persecution. And how

can I be blessed when I'm persecuted? You know? So

I had this struggle, and this struggle was the It

happened all the way until Thursday. Okay, so I'm telling

you my journey today. Today's smaller crowd. So I thought, okay,

let's let me just share what my journey was. So

on Thursday, I went to attend a conference. It was

a Christian conference, all right, and there were nine thousand

other people there, right, nine thousand other people. There were

a thousand kids. And while I was attending a conference,

you go to the conference, right, it's like super I

mean the lights, the sound, the worship, it was like fantastic, right,

like international standard kind of conference. But while I was there,

I was like, I cannot worship because I was convicted,

and saying that, hey, so what's the big deal of

attending a conference? Are you willing to be persecuted? Not

like God, you want me to let me let it go? No,

it's like, so what you're in this conference? You it's

so easy to worship with lights and sounds. It's so

easy to worship with nine thousand other Christians and I couldn't.

I couldn't tap in because I went there to receive,

but I couldn't tap in. I was like, the God

is convicting me in a Christian conference about how I

should respond in a Christian conference, because when you go

to a Christian conference or you go to somewhere which

has a lot of lights, sound, I mean excellent worship,

all right, I mean it was great, but God was

doing something in me, you know, and he says that, hey,

it's easy to do this when all things are good.

And that's when I was convicted. Right, so as convicted. Okay,

I'm still going to preach this, but I don't know how.

And then along the way, so many things happened throughout

this week. You know, if you heard the assassination in us,

you hear and then I heard many other stories during

the conference. So I'm I'm telling you right, during the conference,

you have top speakers there, You had top speakers from

all over the world there and the way they so

I went there to also learn how to communicate because

I didn't receive the word. I wanted to see how

do they Because God has given us talents and we

have to use our talents and we have to sharpen

our talents so that we can further God's skin them.

So I wanted to understand how they communicated as well.

But what I caught most there weren't from the speakers.

What I caught most there were actually missed from the

missionaries that were sharing. And I was like, wow, you know,

but I will share a bit more later. But I

just wanted to tell you that while preparing for this,

it is it was a challenge for me. And then

when I say I want to escape it right, you

know what God say? God told me. So God speaks

to me in the same way that I'm speaking to

your lives, like straight up or ask you question. He's like, hey,

you say you wanted to learn how to be a disciple,

but you don't want to pay the price because you

have learned all and the last thing is the cost

of discipleship. You want hte knowledge, you want.

All the.

Right things, but you're not willing to pay the price.

You have a loaded gun, but you're not willing to shoot,

you know, in terms of it. And then I was

convicted as like wow, so this is the cost of discipleship.

The cost of discipleship is willing to be persecuted for

righteousness sick. You know, when I started this whole sermon series,

I started with the question what is the difference between

a disciple and a Christian? And this is the difference.

This is the difference. A disciple is someone who is

willing to be persecuted for righteousness sick, and a Christian

is supposed to be because that's what the first disciples

were they will call little christ Christians and they were persecuted.

But in this day and age, are we willing to

be persecuted for righteousness sake? So let me That's why

I say, right now, let me take you on my

journey and how I came from a place of being scared.

Like during period time, you know, we said that we're

singing about Jesus overcoming our fear, and then I appreciate

I shed the word that perfect love cast out all fear.

So this sermon, I'm asking God to take over and

show us how we can move from a place of

fear to a place of victory and to become a

disciple of Christ. Right. So the title of today's sermon

is this the cost of discipleship. So how many of

us wanted to be a disciple? See stop reading, because

if not, we are just fans. Fans don't pay the price.

Fans are fair weathered, you know. But disciples pay the price. Okay,

So I wanted to let's go into scripture. So Matthew

chapter five. Next sl Yes, So Matthew chapter five. Blessed

are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theas

is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are you when they

revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil

against you falsely for my sake, Rejoice and be exceedingly glad,

for great is your reward in heaven. For so they

persecuted the prophets who were before you. Okay, so you

can see this is from the New King James. Now

let me read to you from the message. Thanks slide.

You're blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. Is

your commitment to God solid enough to provoke persecution? The

persecution drives you deeper into God's kindom. Not only that,

count yourselves blessed every time people put you down, or

throw you out, or speak lies about you to discredit me.

What it means is that truth is too close for comfort,

and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens.

Give a cheer, even for though they don't like it,

I do, and all Heaven applauds. And know that you

are in good company. My profits and witnesses have always

gotten into this kind of trouble. Can you see? This

translation puts it in laymen terms and says there you

are blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution, and

the persecution drives you deeper into God's kingdom. Right. So

there's a few definitions which I wanted to bring across.

It is a blessed are those who are persecuted for

righteousness sake? Right? So what is righteousness? So I wanted

to put it into a way that I could understand.

So this is my definition. Okay, it's not biblical or

stuff like that, but it's a definition that I can

understand in Okay. Next, so righteousness loving what God loves

and living like it shows that is what the righteousness is.

We love what God loves and not only that we

live it out. And when we do that, the Bible

says we will be persecuted, you know, and I mean,

why would the world want to persecute you when you're

doing what God wants you to do? And you know

what God wants you to do is what is good.

But you saw in the Message version right, when they

do that, it makes people feel uncomfortable if they are

not following what God asked them to follow. So remember

this definition righteousness, loving what God loves and living like

it shows. So then what is the definition of persecution?

So so one thing that come out with the definition

of persecution. We are so used to it persecution and stuff,

but what actually is persecution? Next, it's pressure to break

your spirit and capture your soul. That is what persecution is.

They are there to see do you really believe what

you say? Do you really believe what you believe in?

I will push you until you break and say that, hey,

I tell you don't really believe. That is what persecution is.

Why is there persecution? It's because people are trying to

convince you that what you believe in is wrong and

you have to adopt their way of believing. And that

is what persecution is. It happens in every place, right,

you know, it happens whether in a communist country or not.

If you don't adopt communism, they will persecute you until

you adopt communism. So they are changing the way. They

are breaking your spirit, and then they still your soul.

When it comes to Christianity, that's what it is because

the moment you adopt whatever the world wants you to adopt,

it means you are discarding God. You cannot love both

God and memony. You only can serve one master. So

persecution is telling you, asking you you really believe what

you say you believe in, and I'm going to test

you and push you to the brink until you break

and see whether what is it going to take for

you to break? Okay, so it sounds scary, but when

you put it in this context, then suddenly it says that, Hey,

I want to live. I want to love like love

the things that God loves. I want to live out

what God lives and live it out. And I'm not

going to break no matter how much people push me,

because this is what I believe in and I know

that God has. I want eternal life in God. So

if you give in to persecution, it means you lose

your soul, you know. So I wanted to look at

the how the disciples responded to persecution, because they were disciples,

and we want to learn from disciples. Right, So next light,

So how did the disciples respond to persecution? How did

the disciples respond to persecution? Reading from Acts chapter and

now I say to you, keep away from this man

and let them alone. So this was the Pharisees and

the san Hendrien. After Peter and Peter and John went

to the temple and they healed the laymen, right. And

then so the Pharisees were not happy that Peter was

preaching about Jesus, so they caught them. And then the

Pharisees were discussing among themselves. So this is what they

were saying. And now I say to you, keep away

from this man and let them alone. For if this

plan of this is the work of men, it will

come to nothing. But it is of God, and you

cannot overthrow it lest you even be found to fight

against God. And they agreed with him. And when they

had called the apostles and beaten them, they commanded that

they could not speak in the name of Jesus and

let them go. So how did they respond. They departed

from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were

counted worthy to suffer the shame for his name, And

daily in the temple in every house they did not

cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ. This is

how they responded. You know, right, there's one word there

which would if we were in the same position, we

will not reach worse forty one? What is the word there?

Before worse forty one? We might have dropped off? Which

word beaten? Sometimes we forget that the disciples were beaten.

They were beaten for doing what God asked them to do.

And after that they departed from the presence of the council,

rejoicing that they could be counted worthy to suffer the

shame for His name. Have you ever experienced this kind

of joy where we stood up for someone, or you

stood up for something and you were persecuted for it,

and then you went out rejoicing. Think about it? Have you? So?

I wanted to I was thinking, So I was thinking,

and actually you got that there was one How many

of y'all were at the Bussey rally or any of

those rallies you know at that time, right you that

was the cause that you were believing for, or that

you may or may not have been there, but you

know people who were there, and people were willing to

go out above and beyond in the face of armored trucks,

in the face of tear gas, in the face of

what because of what they believe in. And when they

were attacked at that time, they rejoiced. They rejoiced because

they are worthy to suffer the shape of that cause

what more earth? What more ears? You know, when when

the people are persecuted, right, and they were suffering for

all those rallies, you know, some of them brought their

kids in the hot sun, in the stuff like that.

And then it's I mean, I'm not saying whether it's

right or wrong, but I'm just saying people have that

in them on if they really believe in something, they

will be willing to pay the price and go. And

they counted a joy to suffer for it. So it's

not even in the biblical but in the natural sense

as well. Right, and next Slight is another example. So

I think this is Act sixteen. It's a typo. But

at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns

to God and the prisoners were listening to them, and

suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations

of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors

were opened, and everyone's chains were loosed. And the keeper

of the prison, awakening from sleep and seeing the prison

doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword

and was about to kill himself, but Paul called with

a loud voice, saying, do yourself no harm, for we

are all here next line. Then he called for the

light ran in fell down before Paul and Silence, and

he brought them out, said and said, sir, what must

I do to be saved? So they said, believe on

the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you

and your household. Then they spoke the word of the

Lord to them and to all who were in his house.

Paul and Silas were disciples. They were thrown into prison

for doing what is righteous. You know what they did.

They freed a girl from demonic possession. They freed a

girl who was possessed by a demon, and because of

that they are thrown into prison. They did that because

they love what God loves, and they lived it out.

And because of that they were thrown into prison. Do

you think it's fair. I don't think it's fair. And

how did they respond. They didn't say going to prison

and say God's not real, God is not fair. I

did what God told me to do, and I ended

up in prison. At midnight, they were singing songs of worship.

This is the purest form of worship when you are persecuted,

when you are thrown into prison. It's not when there's

lights and sound, but it's when Paul and silence in prison.

And when they did that, you know who are they around.

They are around other prisoners who are hell captive. So

guess what you got, audience pun in the captive audience,

they got no choice, but they listened to you. And

in that place they brought salvation. So what the enemy

meant for evil, God turned it around for good. It

is because how the disciples handled persecution. They went down

to it full of joy. They were always worshiping, and

they continue the work even in prison. You know, the

jailer most likely is the same guy who beat them

up and put them in stocks. But then the jailer

came and asked, what must I do to be saved?

And do they think. They say, hey, I don't want

to see your face in heaven. You should go to hell.

They didn't. They said, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,

and you and your family will be saved. And because

of that, not only the jailor was saved, the whole

family was saved and baptized. And that can only come

because they were living righteously. Right. So there are three

seas they want to bring across that we can pick

up from the Disciples. So the first see is conviction.

If we want to live out like the Disciples in

the Book of Acts, and we want to live we

want to overcome fear, we want to overcome fear of

persecution and live righteously as God intended. Regardless, there are

three seas that we need to adopt from the Book

of Acts. The first one is conviction. Why do you

think the Disciples could, even when they were bitter, even

when they are thrown in prison, still hold on to God,

still have that fullness of joy, still worship. They could

do it because they had a strong conviction in God.

They believe that God is my God, and I will

do what he tells me to do. I'm not going

to fear anyone else. So let's look at some verses

so x chapter four again. So it's Peter. Peter, filled

with the Holy Spirit, said to them, rulers of the

people and elders of Israel, if this day we are

judged for a good deed done to a helpless man,

by what means he has been made well? Then let

it be known to you that to all the people

of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazaden,

whom you have crucified, whom God raised from the dead

by him, this man stands here before you. This is

the stone which was rejected by you builders, which has

become the chief cornerstone. Nor is there salvation in any

other For there is no other name under Heaven given

among men by which we may be saved. So you

can see right Peter, when questioned why are you doing this?

Instead of getting scared, he started preaching and telling them

this is I'm doing this because of what I believe in.

My conviction is very clear. Let it be known to

all of you and to all the people of Israel,

that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom

you have crucified whom God has raised from the dead

by him, this man stands here before you. Hold he

was so convicted, he was so convicted. This was the

same Peter who denied Jesus three times. But this is

a different Peter, Peter full of conviction, who, in the

face of judgment of men, he could preach next line.

So they called them and commanded them not to speak

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

But Peter and John answered and said to them, whether

it is a right in the sight of God to

listen to you more than to God? You judge, For

we cannot speak the things which we have se seen

and heard. So are you going to listen to God

or men? When we are being persecuted and people are

telling us renounce Christ? If not be persecuted, are we

going to listen to men or God? If we do

not have a strong conviction in God, we will give

in to men. Because this, Peter and John, they were

facing persecution for doing what is right, for leaving righteously,

for healing and helping a man, and because of that

they face this. Whether it is right in the sight

of God to listen to you more than to God,

you judge, So when we are facing persecution, we have

to check ourselves. God. Should I listen to you more

or too? Men? There's the first thing. So I wanted

to share a story. So there is there's someone in

our church that some of you all might you know,

someone you all may not know. So she she is

a friend of ours, Jason and myself. She is really

really rich, okay, like really really really super rich, like

probably plays polo with the with the royal family in UK,

you know that that level of rich. But she accepted Christ.

She accepted Christ, and because of that, her father started

threatening her renounce Jesus, stop going to church, stuff like it.

But she stood firm. She's like, I'm still going. This

is Jesus. I believe in Jesus. Her father threw her

out of her house and then she came and stayed

with us. You know, she's like, she's a multi millionaire.

It's a multi million So she came to stay with us,

stay with us. Right then, at that time, we have

two cars. One is a super broken down like our

old Proton Satria, which was like yeah, then Jess was

using it. The girls short distances at that time, so

he said he he got this card because the dad

took everything away from her everything, So he said he

he got this car. If you want to use then

She's like, okay, no problem. So she used that car

and but her driver right will still tell her be

had cause like like you know, and then like one

day the car broke down. So then she told us,

we're like so sorry, like so embarrassed her, so like

what the hell? But then the car breakdown, But she

stood firm. She stood firm. She everything was taken away

from her, everything to a point where she is like

driving a broken down car, and I mean from being

that rich to having everything in the world. In that sense,

she gave it all up because she had conviction. She

had conviction, and right now up till today, she's in

our chair. Still, she's still in our church. She's still

going strong. And I think last time when she met us,

then she still brought up the car, which was like,

I mean, we can still laugh about it. But when

I look at her, I'm like, wow, how many of

us would give up Jesus for less? Yeah, for less?

But she gave up everything, her social status, her money, everything,

she didn't I think she didn't have I mean they

drew back all her accounts, her credit cards, everything, and

she was staying with us because she was thrown out

of the house. But because of that, God blessed her

and she stood firm and right now she is still

making a difference in the marketplace. Her convictions are so strong.

So that's just one of the encourages that these are

real stories that happening around us. There's another story y'all

may know. We all know doctor Lyingling, you know doctor Vino,

doctor Lynling previously there when in our church. So doctor Lynling,

she came from a Buddhist family and uh, the parents

were super against her becoming Ritin. So we were at

that time they're going to get married, and the whole

family threatened. The whole family again very rich threatened, we're

not going to support your wedding. We're not going to

show up at your wedding if you do. But then

she decided that, hey, this is my conviction. I'm still

going to go go forward, and she went forward with

the wedding. It was smaller scale, the venue was done

in our church, the dinner was done in our church.

But she was willing to do it because of her

convictions and right now the family is reconsuled. You know,

if at that point she gave in, do you think

her family has any chance of coming to no Christ?

Because still be like, huh, you gave it up just

for your wedding, So why is your girl? So why

do I need your God? But right now they are reconciled,

and right now it's only a matter of time when

they come to know Jesus because they see that the

God that Lingling believes in is a God that I

need when I'm in trouble. Right, So there's conviction. Next

one courage. So courage is something that the disciples had,

and courage as this soldier right this picture and this soldier.

When you go to war, you cannot have fear. If

you are a soldier and you are at war, you

must turn off your emotions on you just follow the commander.

You know, if the soldiers have doubter, the moment they

have doubt and they freeze, they will die. That is

how risky it is to be in war. When you

are in war, and we are in a spiritual battle

right now, you need all of us need the courage

to move forward. So let me see some verses next night. Right,

So he says here again Acts chapter four. You know,

after they were beaten stuff like that, Now Lord look

on their threats. So these were their disciples and the

believers praying out to God. And he said, now, Lord,

look under your threats, and grantee your servants that with

all boldness, they may speak your word by stretching out

your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may

be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.

And they had prayed, and the place where they assembled

together was shaken, and they were all filled with the

Holy Spirit. And they spoke the word of God with boldness.

Where they scared. They were scared. But what did they

do when they were scared? They looked to God. They

cast all their cares on Him, and the Holy Spirit

came upon them and filled them with boldness. And this

is only Asks chapter four. You know that all the

way to Revelations, that boldness continued the New Testament, Acts

chapter four. This is x chapter four. That same boldness

went all the way and is still going right now

all across the world. The Holy Spirit will fill us

with the boldness and the courage to go forward. So

next slide Ephicients, chapter six. When we have courage, Finally,

my bredren be strong in the Lord and in the

power of his mind. Put on the whole armor of God,

that you may be able to stand against the walls

of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh

and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers

of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of

wickedness in the heavenly paces. Therefore, take up the whole

armor of God, that you may be able to withstand

in the evil day. Having done all to stand, we

have to stand strong, not on our own strength, but

with the armor of God filled with the Holy Spirit.

That is the only way. Why did I have a

fear of persecution? Because I was depending on my own strength.

I'll be thinking what will I do? What will how

will I be feeling? But if I put on the

whole armor of God and I say, Holy Spirit, I'm afraid.

Fill me with the Holy Spirit, give me the courage

to do what you want me to do. From Peter

in the Gospels to Peter in the Book of Acts,

that's the transformation that will happen. The Holy Spirit will

give us courage. So I'm not asking us to come

out with courage on ourselves. The Holy Spirit will come

upon us and give us courage. Next one again, ephicient sex,

continuing stand therefore, having girded your waste with truth, having

put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shot your

feet with preparation of the Gospel of peace. Above all,

taking the shield of faith with which you are able

to quench all fiery darts of the wicked one, and

take the helmet of salvation and the sought of the Spirit,

which is the Word of God. Praying always with supplication

in the spirit. We need to have continuous prayer and

supplication in the spirit. We need to be filled with

the Holy Spirit. You know what fear does. Fear is

us focusing on the world instead of God. But perfect

love casts out all fear. So you want, if you

are fearing, focus on God, focus on his love, and

then the perfect Love will cast out all fear. Praying

always with prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful

to this and with all perseverance and supplication for all

the saints and for me, that the utterance may be

given to Him, that I may open my mouth to

boldly make known the mysteries of the Gospel, so which

I am an ambassador in chains, that in it I

may speak boldly as I ought to speak. This was

Paul while he was in chains, and he still said

he's continuously asking the Spirit to give him boldness to preach.

And when the Spirit does that, it's no longer our flesh.

Suddenly you'll be like, wow, why this guy is so bold?

Where do these people get that boldness? It's from the Spirit.

And next time on Philippians one. For I know that

this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer

and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according

to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I

shall be ashamed with all boldness as always so now

also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by

life or by death. For me, to live is Christ

and to die is Gain. When you come to a

point when you no longer fear death, nothing will stop you.

You know, I was. I was just there was a

time right you all know, Jerome, Right, there was a

time right when I was really scared. Because Jerome had

no fear. I couldn't do anything when he had no fear.

I have no control over him. I cannot discipline him,

I cannot tell him what to do. He had no

fear at all. He had no fear of death, he

had no fear of punishment, he had no fear of anything.

And because of that, he did whatever he wanted to do.

So can you imagine I want to come to a

place where I have no fear, so I can do

what God tells me to do and I have no

fear of death. It's like, you know, there's one missionary

you're saying. He says that Jesus says that you no

harm will come against you. So is Jesus lying? Why

so many missionaries dying or stuff like it? Then you

know what he said. If the worst they can do

to you is push you clo to be with Jesus,

what's the problem. That's the worst they can do. That

is actually putting you in the arms of Jesus. That's

his perspective. So why do you fear? Why do you fear?

That's why Paul says, for me to live is Christ,

to die is gain. And when we have that kind

of conviction, it gives us that kind of courage and

boldness to step forth and say no matter what. That's

how Shadrack, Mischaku and Abanigal did in the fire. That's

how Daniel responded in the lions then, and that's how

we should respond, is that we have to check our convictions.

Do we really believe that Jesus Christ is Lord is

my God? I have the courage, and I wanted to

give another example. So I when for a mission trip

quite some time ago. This was in Turlimao in Camerons.

So if if any of y'all went there, you know

that this is a village there. So in that village,

if you had to hike in, it's eight hours. So

how I know is because the motorbikes forgot to come

and pick us up and we had to hide in

eight hours with a bag of rice for Christmas or

stuff like. So it took us eight hours to hike in.

When you reach the village, train it's it's in the

middle of jungle. Half the village has electricity, half desent.

You know why because half of the village. He told them,

if you want electricity, convert to the majority faith and

then you will get electricity. And half of them said no,

I want to be bold and I want to stand

up for my faith and they don't have electricity. Now

I'm there like I'm the missionary. You guys are like

preaching to me. I'm like, for electricity. Can any of

us give up electricity for Christ? That's what they did,

and they are so convicted. And when they when we

went there to share the word with them, I was like, man,

I think you all need to preach. You all need

to tell me what it is to stand up for

the gospel, to pay the price. The cost of discipleship.

For them, the cost of discipleship was electricity. And you

know your neighbor next door is watching Estro two. They

got extro there. But this the other neighbor, they got candled. Stuff.

Is because they didn't give in to Theah convictions. I mean,

they stand firm with their convictions. And finally, the last one,

the last see is compassion driven by passion. So the

disciples had convictions. With that conviction, they had the courage

to move forward. But with that courage came compassion because

they wanted to spread the love of God to everyone

that all may know, that all may know. Because they

didn't want anyone to go to hell. So let's see

a few verses believed. But let us love one another.

For love is of God. And everyone who loves is

born of God and knows God. He who does not

love does not know God. For God is love. In

this the love of God was manifested towards us. That

God has sent his only begoden son into the world

that we might live through him. And this is love.

That not that, not that we loved God, but He

loved us and sent his son to be the proprietation

for our sins. Believed. If God so loved us, we

also ought to love one another. And how do you

measure love. You have to measure love the same way

Jesus measured love. Father, forgive them, for they do not

know what they were doing. That's what he did on

the cross for those who persecuted him. He was feel

with compassion for those who are torturing him, and that's

what the disciples did. So next also first John four,

love has been perfected among us in this that we

may have boldness. When you have love, you have bondness,

you have conviction, you have courage, you have compassion. It

has bondness. In the day of judgment. Because as he is,

so we are in this world. There is no fear

in love, but perfect love cast out all fears. Perfect

love cast out all fears. That's how they How did

the disciples do what they did. They didn't have fear

because they had no place for fear. All they had

was love. But if we allow fear to come into

our lives, love will be squeezed out. Because what is fear?

Self preservation. I need to take care of myself. Love

is loving one another. Fear contradicts love. You know in

you all know right? If you the pandemic, the toilet

roll braids eggs, what was driven the sales of those fear?

It's not love, it's fear. If you're driven by love,

you would buy and pass it out to other people

instead of hoiding. But this is how the disciples responded.

They responded in love. But he who fears has not

been made perfect in love. We love him because he

first loved us. If someone says I love God and

hates his brother, he is a liar. It's simple as that.

For he who does not love his brother, whom he

has seen, how can he love God whom he has

not seen? In this commandment we have from him that

he who loves God must also love his brother also.

And next line, love your enemies, Do good and lend,

hoping for nothing in return, and your reward will be great,

and you will be the sons of the Most High,

For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. Therefore,

be merciful, just as your father is also merciful. Right,

love your enemies. We tell our kids these, love your enemies.

But can we do that? It's tough, It's really tough.

So there was a there was this quote that was

shared by an atheist. All right, next line, this is

said by an atheist. I don't respect people who don't posolize.

If you believe there's a heaven and hell and people

could be going to hell, how much do you have

to hate somebody to not tell them? Partlatize is evangelized,

Parsilartize is just saying that telling someone else that Jesus

loves you. And this eightiest says, if you Christians really

believe that the only way to Jesus' the only way

to heaven is true Jesus, and if not, you're going

to hell. How much do you have to hate somebody

not to tell them that's crazy, right, So you say, oh,

I don't offend them, but actually you don't love them enough.

Instead of offending. Your offense is fear, your own fear

of being shut down, but your love you will do

it regardless. So even as I draw to us a

close right, there is right now. We are living in

a time where persecution is real. And whether you like

it or not, whether you choose to follow this bealitude

or not, it is still going to happen. But again,

how we respond to it is our choice. And I'm here.

That's why I say I hear being obedient to what

God has told me to share, because I want all

of us to live righteously and to at the end

of our race this God will tell us well done,

my good and faithful seven. So I wanted to share

a video. Everything completely goes away. How do you want

to be remembered?

If I die, everything just goes away.

How would you if you could be associated with one thing,

how would you want to be remembered.

I want to be I want to be remembered for

for courage from my faith. That would be the most important,

most important thing is my faith. Christ is not just

grice focused, he's simultaneously truth focused. He goes up to

the woman who had a career in selling herself for

sex and said, sin no more. Now imagine today how

much trouble you would get in if you would go

up to somebody and say, stop sinning out. You're being

too judgmental. No, no, you're actually being christ Like. One

of the reasons we're living through a constitutional crisis is

that we no longer have a Christian nation, but we

have a Christian form of government, and they're incompatible. So

you cannot have liberty if you do not have a

Christian population. I have thirty seconds left to live. I'm

dying from gunshot wound. But what would you actually want

to tell me if I have thirty seconds left to live? Boy,

you got thirty seconds. In thirty seconds, you're about to

meet eternal judgment and there's only one way that you

can get bailed out of that. That's not all the

good things you did or the moral scorecard. It's whether

or not you have Jesus Christ is your Lord and savior,

and that's the only thing that's going to matter. And

so you got ten seconds left. They're dying from a

gunshot wound. And then you asked a question, who is

Jesus Christ? And the answer to that singular question, who

is Jesus Christ, is the most important question for everyone

in the audience, Not how much money you have, not

how much good stuff you do. It is who is

Jesus Christ. You might say, oh, Jesus was, you know,

a teller of good tales, or Jesus was a good person,

or Jesus was an historical figure.

None of that's going to cut it.

It's whether or not you repent and you ask Christ

to come in as your lord and savior. That's the

only thing that will save you from eternal death.

All right, So y'all know who that is, right? So

it's Charlie Kirk right. And he was gone down, he

was gonne down and one of the reasons. So I'm

not here to talk politics. I'm not here to say

who is right, who is wrong? But what I knew

he shared the truth and he shared his faith boldly.

And you know all the questions if one thing that

you want to be remembered for is he wanted to

be remembered for his faith. Unless a seed falls to

the ground and dies, it will not bear much fruit.

And it just so happened. I mean, looking at it

right when God asked me to share this and I

was struggling with this, and then after that this happened

and I saw all these videos and all this stuff. Right,

suddenly a boldness came within me. If I don't stand

up for God, if I don't stand up for what's right,

then who's gonna Because the devil is out to still

kill and destroy, and we need to stand up for

what is right. We need to stand up and be

Christ in the world today. Righteousness is loving what God

loves and living it out. When you do that, you

will not fear any persecution, because greater is he who

is in me than he who is in the world.

So my last point is this, what made the disciples

respond so boldly? What made the disciples respond so boldly?

So X Chapter one, verse eight. But you shall receive

power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and

you shall by me be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea,

in Samaria, and to the ends of the year. X

one eighth has to happen before X eight one. You

know what's X eight one? Next line X eight one.

Now Saul was consenting to his death. At that time

a great persecution arose against the Church which was at Jerusalem,

and they all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria,

except the apostles and devout men carried Stephen to his

burial and made great lamentation over him. As for Saul,

he made havoc of the church, entering every house, dragging

off men and women, committing them to prison. X has

to happen so that when persecution comes, the Church will

not be destroyed, but instead grow exponentially. The church when

far and wide, when beyond Jerusalem in Acts eight one,

but only could be done so because every single one

of them was filled with the power of the Holy Spirit.

We hope you've been blessed by this message. For more

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this week is going to be a good week. I

hit for you. God bless