We're glad again to have you all here this morning. We've been studying the Beatitudes in Matthew chapter 5 on Sunday morning and today we're going to close up our series or sum up the series I guess it is in our study of the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount and And I wanted to, again, read the entire Beatitude passage to you. And we're going to focus this morning on verses 10 through 12. But we're going to start in verse number 3 of Matthew 5 and read down through verse number 12 this morning. If you have your Bible with you, I advise you to open along. Otherwise, it'll be here on the slide behind me in just a moment. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad. For great is your reward in where saints in heaven for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you and everybody said Thank you father for this time this morning. I pray that you'll open our hearts to the truth of your word this morning help us to have a better understanding of what your word says and lord as we Gain and glean some understanding this morning. Give us a desire to want to apply these truths to our own individual walk with you. Father, we do want you to be high and lifted up this morning. We want to exalt you with all that we are and all that we can here this morning in the sense of worship, in the sense of adoration, in the sense of being in awe of who you are and what you've done. We thank you for Jesus and for Calvary's cross and for the salvation that was afforded through that unspeakable gift. And Father, we do thank you so much for what it's done in our lives. And Father, we thank you for what Christ is still yet going to do. And Father, we do pray this morning that there'd be anybody in our midst today who has never accepted Christ and never trusted him by faith to be their personal Lord and Savior, that Father, you would show them their need for salvation today and that today would be The rejoicing day of salvation for them and father again Just quiet our hearts now as we look into your word help us to worship you help us to get something from this Day that we can use in our walk with you. We ask these things in Jesus name everybody said amen I believe there's an underlying theme in the Beatitudes that we probably need to really uncover and rediscover a little bit this morning so that this last portion I just read to you about persecution makes sense. Because when you think about the the idea of persecution It's not something that we want to go after or that we want to ask for in our lives But it does happen and Christians are persecuted. We'll talk about that a little bit later but what they're being persecuted for is for righteousness sake And I do believe that righteousness is the underlying theme of the Beatitudes. It's talking about in the beginning, we have blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are they that mourn. Those are the ones who have come to the realization and the personal recognition that they do not have their own righteousness and they need to have the righteousness of Christ upon their lives or imputed upon their souls so they can go forward and to be saved and to begin to enjoy the fruit and the blessing of Christianity and all that it is to exist as a Christian and all that it is to know Jesus and all those different sorts of things that the package of salvation has to offer and to afford every child of God. And then the next five Beatitudes, we've covered every one of those so far on Sunday mornings, are the different aspects of how we both seek and then reflect Christ's righteousness from within us. We know that at salvation it's not an outer work, it's not us doing something, Christ did it all and we simply by faith accept the gift of salvation. We are given this beautiful manifold gift of grace and it's amazing what happens down in the depth of our soul when that grace is realized and when the soul is ignited we become partakers of the divine nature. But we begin to reflect that grace, that work of grace in us, and that work of grace in us also is Christ's righteousness, I'm careful to say this, on display. And not that we're making a show of ourselves, but there's a new creature, a new heart, a new hope, a new Everything about us a new home and all everything about that is so we're starting to get these attitudes that that change our behavior Is adjusted by christ righteousness and we're we're we're kind of working this bandit life thing here as it talks about In Matthew chapter 5, attitudes change, character changes, how the heart processes life changes. You know, we start to take maybe a biblical worldview or a Christian worldview and learning some things about ourselves that need to be adjusted or need to be changed or sometimes they need to be just outright dismissed from our lives. Amen, saints? You know, but this idea about persecution is like, you know, I can see blessed are the meek and I can see blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness are blessed of the peacemakers, you know, we can we get all of that. It's it comes almost easy to us. But when the Bible says no when Jesus says blessed are they which are persecuted It's like that's kind of hard for us to fathom. It's hard for us to process that kind of thought and that kind of teaching. But that's what's being told here. That's what's being taught to us here in the word of God. And you know, the Bible does say this. It's a promise. It's a promise of God that if you live a godly Christian life, you will suffer persecution. It says in Timothy 3, verse 12, All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution We'll talk about what persecution is here in just a moment But you know this is a black and white promise here And it's got a lot of a lot of teeth to it a lot of meat here in just this these few words of the Bible it's not maybe And it's not some. It's not, well, maybe you'll suffer persecution or just some will, but it says all, all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. You know, and I don't know about you, I get really excited about God's promises, but not this one. It's like I'm not looking for that. I'm not you know asking for that I'm not praying to be persecuted all different things But but it's a promise that it will come to us in the Christian life now I do believe this that in America. We've had it pretty good for the the 250 years of our existence and things of that nature. And even before that, when freedom of religion came to our shores many, many years ago, we've had it pretty good here in America. We haven't seen any really widespread or heat or white hot, excuse me, persecution on our shores, but it could come. Do you understand that? It could come. And so, I believe this though, what I've been teaching you for the Beatitudes, is how God or Christ is equipping you and equipping me to face whatever persecution might come our way in the future. That being poor in spirit, mourning over sin, being meek, and again, hungering after righteousness, and being a peacemaker, and being of pure heart, and go on and on this morning. I don't want to exhaust it right now, but I believe that if you are living that beatitude style of life as a Christian, that persecution will come, but you also have everything needed and necessary by the power of Christ and by the equipping of God's Word to face whatever might come your way. Again, I'm not saying that anything's coming anytime soon, but I'm saying that it could come, and because it could come, we should be prepared if it does come. We should be prepared if it does come. Again, this persecution comes as a direct assault on living a righteous life. Look at this. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake it's it's coming as a result of being a Righteous person and a righteous one is a redeemed one a regenerate one one who has put their faith and trust in Christ And I'm not going to go through all the of the ins and outs and details of Christ imputed Righteousness it would take way too long and be way too much for this morning's thought but but we have that and on our souls at salvation and it comes from us in behavior and attitude and thought and things of this nature. And if you begin to live out this righteous life and you begin to behave, let's just put this word, differently than the rest of the world around you, you're going to kind of stand out. It's going to be like that sore thumb that sticks out. You're going to stand out in the crowd. It just means to be different. What's the word I want to say? Going against the current of culture or going against even societal norms. Make sense? And so we're going to stand out that way and in that way. And because of that, people are going to say, wow, there's Mark Hoffer. He's different than we are. He thinks differently. He acts differently. Not saying I'm perfect. Trust me on that. But differently. And so because of that, people are going to start watching, and they're going to start investigating, well, why does this person act differently? Amen? What am I looking at here? I've got to find these different verses. They're not labeled for some reason on my screen today. But anyway, this is from 1 Peter 2 and verse 9, how when God looks down on his people, He has a word for them or a description that says they're peculiar people here in 1 Peter 2, verse number 9. But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, and holy nation, a peculiar people. How many of you know this? There's a lot of peculiar people. Right? We think about the peculiar as being odd or being, you know, outside the box or one of these things is not like the other. Remember that? But peculiar really means this. It means a purchased possession. We've been purchased by the great God of heaven, somebody say amen. When Christ paid for our debt on Calvary's cross, He did pay for everyone's debt, didn't He? But not everybody has cashed in on that promise, not everybody has come to Christ for salvation. And so when you come to Christ for salvation, you become a part of that remnant, we'll call it that this morning, that remnant, that body of believers that is a purchased possession. You know, now that you are in Christ, now you belong to Jesus, right? Now you belong to Jesus. I wrote a little poem here, a little rhyme, not a poem, a rhyme. I am out of darkness into light, walking by faith and not by sight. That's a lot of changes that took place in my life. But you think about those truths, and boy, here we are in a church setting this morning. Many many believers assembled this morning have Christ as their Savior have personal testimonies And when I say things like yeah, I was in darkness and out of light you say amen me, too Or I walk by faith now and not so much by by sight. Amen me, too But the world doesn't see it that way They have a hard time comprehending, they have a hard time grasping that. Lost people don't understand that. They are still in darkness, watch this saints, and walking by sight. Think about that oxymoron of a thought right there. They're still in darkness and trying to walk by sight. They don't even know what they stumble at, somebody say amen. They're really clueless on these things, but they've developed their own way that their own trends that their ways of thinking and on and on and on and so as Christians we have a New source in Christ, and we are on a new course the way of God the way of God the will of God Bounded by the Word of God so far so good So, again, the world doesn't really comprehend that. They don't understand it. Proverbs 29, 27 puts it like this. An unjust man is an abomination to the just. But look at the second thought of the converse thought here. And he that is upright in the way is abomination to the wicked. So they don't understand. They can't comprehend. It doesn't make sense to them. I remember when I resigned from Motorola, and it was a good job, and good money, and good benefits. I mean, everything that you would want in a job, it was. And they said, what are you going to do? I said, well, I'm going to go to Bible college and be a preacher. They're like, what? And the one guy said, I just don't want to see you in jail. That's what he told me. So he's had that kind of opinion about preachers. But you understand that. They couldn't comprehend why I would leave a good job and good pay and great benefits. And everything was just, I mean, nothing was going wrong and things of that nature. But by faith, I believe that God had called me to preach. And by faith, I pursued my studies to be a preacher. Make sense? It makes sense to you because you're saved, but the world doesn't see it that way. They say, wow, that's kind of weird, but I hope you have some convictions, and I hope you have some real things to stand on when it comes to those different things. Christ in you, the hope of glory, has his children on a course of righteousness. A course of righteousness. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake. Persecuted for righteousness' sake. Because I think our existence in America has been really pretty easy. I mean, pretty easygoing overall. We can worship when we want to, and we can worship how we want to in this country. And we have those freedoms, and we're so thankful for them. But because it's been relatively easy thus far, we're quick to label anything that would seemingly violate a Christian liberty as persecution. We're real quick to jump on that. I'm going to give you a couple real life examples. A lot of you know I was in the Navy. I served on a submarine for four years out of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. We had very strict rules. I worked in the engine room, nuclear reactor back there. They had very strict rules as to what could be brought in and not brought into the engine room. You weren't allowed to bring any of your own personal reading material. No Sports Illustrated, no Reader's Digest, not a novel by so-and-so. Not even a Bible was allowed to be in the engine room. Okay? Well, I was there. I witnessed it with my own two eyes and my own two ears. I was where we were at somewhere out on deployment and one of the guys was sitting at his station and he was reading the Bible. And the supervisor came by and said, you're not allowed to have any personal reading material in the engine room. And the guy says, but it's a Bible. He says, I don't make the rules, I just enforce them. And he said, why are you persecuting me? Right? He wasn't being persecuted. He was breaking the rules. He was breaking the rules. And so he said, well, and it got a little bit interesting. He said, well, I can show you persecution, but you know, one of those things in a humorous way. But he said, just put it away and don't bring it back here again. I was working for Motorola, like I said a moment ago, and I worked night shift. It was a different environment than day shift was. There was a lot of things that went on, nothing crazy, but a lot of conversations and a little bit more looser, more lax than the day shift was. One of the guys I worked with was asking me about you know, my walk with the Lord and what church I went to. And, you know, he was talking about maybe going and trying this church or that brand, whatever it was. And so he started asking me questions. And when he asked me questions, I took that as an open door to witness to him. You know, and I wasn't mean, you know that I'm not mean, but I just told him my testimony. I told him what Christ had done for me, how thankful I was, and where he had brought me to at that point in my life, you know, and everything. And so, he was kind of listening, but he kind of got that, he kind of got a look of anger in his eyes. And I thought, oh, he's mad at me. I wonder where this is going to go. Well, he didn't say anything, but the next day, I got the message on my email that I had to stay over my shift until HR opened up, because human resources wanted to see me. They wanted to see me. And so I went over, and you know, you have your head down, and you know it's not going to be good, because human resources are mean people. Somebody say amen. I say that we have two of them in our church, that's why I said it like that. So, you know, and I went in there and said, sit down, Mark, sit down, Mr. Hoffer. And so they began to take out the company's bylaws and policies and handbook and everything. And they said, this is what you've done here. And what you've done is you offended one of your coworkers. And by doing that, you have thereby created a hostile work environment. And they said, this is your spoken warning. Next time it's a written warning, and third time you'll be dismissed, terminated. I wasn't being persecuted. I was breaking company policy. And I was being punished for violating company policy because I was not being paid to witness on the clock. Say amen. If it was on my lunchtime and you know when I was punched out, that's fine. But because I was on the clock, I violated company policy. So it wasn't persecution, I was being punished for breaking company policy. You understand what I'm saying here? The word persecute, it's interesting. It means to pursue. It means to chase. It means to run down. to pursue, to chase, to run down. In Christian history, if you want to know about persecution and read about it, there are books that have been written, and they're hard to read. I mean, it's hard to swallow Fox's book of martyrs, Cross and Crown. You can look at other church history books. You can read about the Inquisition when the religious were persecuting the born again. During the Spanish Inquisition, 300,000 to 400,000 Christians were killed by those who called themselves religious. In their beliefs and in their dogma, but anyway Persecution their people have been imprisoned. They've been tortured Named you know murdered for for their faith You know in a lot of times when you go back and you read what they were doing they weren't trying to incite violence They weren't trying to cause an uproar or a or a a riot They were just being peacemakers like like like Christ taught about last Sunday morning. They were just being peacemakers But the people were rejecting the peace they were trying to bring and trying to make and because of that Persecution ensued and the violence was it was gut-wrenching if you if you want to read those books I just caution you they're very graphic and very hard to swallow you can read things even in our current day in our current age and Like, The Voice of the Martyrs has a magazine, they talk about persecuted Christians across the globe. It's not as bad as it used to be, but still today, about 4,000 people per year are killed for their Christian faith. About 300,000 Christians per year lose their homes and their jobs over their Christian faith. North Korea is one of the big offenders. Nigeria, another big offender. Most of your Arab nations also will persecute Christians just for being Christians. And a peculiar Christian, a peculiar believer, a committed believer has a bullseye on their life. They're constantly being watched. People are always looking for an opportunity to dig in and to make an attack. That's just human nature being human nature. It's just human nature being human nature. Christ went on to say this, it's not just being persecuted for the sake of righteousness, but look at this, blessed are ye when men shall revile you. And persecute you, look at this here, and shall say all manner of evil against you house saints, falsely, for my sake. Persecution will oftentimes be robed in a lie. cloaked in a lie where there is no truth at all to what that person is saying against you. It's just false accusations, right? And you know that Christ was accused falsely time and time again. You know when Christ was performing miracles, there were people who accused him of working miracles from the power of Satan. You know, when he got crucified, there were people who were hired. They were hired liars to come and to witness and testify that Christ did blaspheme against the Father and all those different things. And so, you understand, if they're going to lie about Jesus, they're going to lie also about the followers of Jesus, because Christ did say this, the disciple is not above his master. Whenever false accusations come, and they will come, you know, whenever they come, I have a verse of scripture I always go to that's become my solace and my shelter for false accusations. And they do come. When you're in the ministry, when you're a Bible preacher, you've got a target on your back. You know and even people who are almost quote of like faith have attacked me over the years And and I never have understood it I don't have problems with these men, but they somehow have a problem with me. I I don't know what it is I don't understand why they have to do that, but they do and I'm not gonna say who they are I'm sure not going to sling mud at them this morning somebody say man. That's not gracious. It's not godly. It's not Christian living But I always go to this verse in Job chapter number 19 Because jobe also had to deal with a lot of false accusations You know jobe had that Tom was talking about jobe was born all the trials that jobe had Endured and then his quote friends came along and what good friends. They were they said, you know There's got to be some kind of hidden sin in your life jobe I don't want to tell why this would happen anybody else and or you know, maybe you didn't do this Maybe you did that and so God's judging you to bring in these things and jobe just look at him said this and now behold My witness is in where Saints it's in heaven and my record is on high and I use that to be my solace in my shelter when false accusations come because God knows the truth about me and God knows the truth about you and So when persecution comes that way with false accusations and folks lying about you, don't get all wrought up and bent out of shape about it. Just understand this, that that's just the way of the world. They're looking for a reason. They're looking for a way in so they can make another attack on your life. Don't even give them the time of day. Somebody say amen. Tell them about Jesus. Tell them about Jesus and that he can save their ever-living soul. Amen, saints. The world is a little bit sneaky, I believe. in its view and treatment of Jesus. Let me put it this way. The world's a little bit sneaky about its view and treatment of Jesus. We're coming into December, and I know December 25th is the day on the calendar that we call Christmas Day. We don't know what day Christ was really born on. We don't know that, but I'm just saying Christmas Day is the day on the calendar. And the world likes the idea of Christmas Day. they don't mind the story of uh... a baby being born in bethlehem lying in a manger they don't mind that at all the retail world loves it the travel industry revels in it it's their big payday uh... of the year you know you'll even hear people who don't know christ at all singing christmas carols like this morning we sang joy to the world not truly a christmas carol but you know I don't want to pop your balloon this morning, but anyway, you know, it's about the second coming, it really is, but anyway, you got that, and then Stephen played a Christmas hymn a little bit ago, and angels we have heard on high, come let us adore him, worship the king, O come Emmanuel, we can go on and on and on this morning, and you'll hear people who don't even know Christ joining in chorus during this time of the year. But, they even like the idea of miracles. People are looking for a miracle sometimes. You know, they're quick to call a miracle when they see a miracle and things of that nature. And people will even, people who don't know Jesus love to quote Jesus. Their favorite quote is, judge not that you be not judged. And they don't even know what it means, but they love to quote it. That's okay. But start talking about Jesus that has called sinners to repentance and to have an account before the great God of heaven, and to be responsible for their sin, then they're no longer interested. Or the Jesus that calls evil evil and wicked wicked, no thank you, not for me. Or the Jesus that must be believed on, In order for salvation to happen, nope. Please don't bother me again with the message of the gospel. So they like Jesus to a certain point, but when it comes to the real Christ of the Bible, they're not too interested. Amen, saints. But here's the thing. Here's the reality. If Christ is your Savior, you ought to stand next to your Savior. If Christ is your Savior, you ought to stand up with Him. You ought to stand for Him. Persecution will come in various ways, and I can't name them all. Like Job, personal insult, an assault on his character. Persecution will come that way. People laughed Christ to scorn on more than one occasion in the Bible. They mocked him and, you know, made him to be something that he wasn't. Even at Calvary's Cross, all that that went on. You know, there might be physical suffering as a part of persecution. I mentioned some things. Imprisonment. being beaten. We'll see that a little bit later this morning. Even death, I mean, the physical suffering could come to the point of death. And again, 5,000 or so a year are killed for their faith, 300,000 or so a year lose their homes or their occupation because of their faith, things of that nature. We have to have the right kind of heart and the right kind of attitude about, what's the word I say, persecution, in understanding it will come. It's a natural part of the process of being a committed follower of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He said, the blessing of being persecuted for the sake of righteousness is this, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. We serve King Jesus. He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. One day, I don't know it might be soon. I don't know we will rule and reign with him. Can I have any men, please? You know, so that's talk about the king of heaven there a little bit on the outside looking in but this kingdom of heaven also really is a manner of life and approach to life and the way that I like to look at it is is to look at it in the realm of human society and look at the different levels of human society and what Kingdom of Heaven kind of living and thinking looks like. Let me give you a couple of examples. If you were to, Paul called out in the book of Acts the lowest of below. He called them lewd fellows of the baser sort. They didn't have any kind of morals at all. They had, well, they had upside down mixed up morals. They were the kind of people that would call good evil and evil good. In our society, we would say those are the ones who, and there's not too many, thankfully, but there's enough, those are the ones who reward a good deed with evil. You know anything you do is going to be there's an ulterior motive attached to it There there there's a distrust and a mistrust placed in it and so when you do something good They're going to reward that good with evil and again That's not a bunch, but it's enough to to get your attention, and you do know that exists. Don't you Saints? That's the world around us But but the majority of the world and I'm going to say that the majority of the world lives like this good for good Evil for evil. I remember we moved from Indiana to Ohio in the middle of first grade. And when I got to my new school in Ohio, we were all issued school rulers, you know, just the 12-inch ruler. But for the first time in my life, I saw the golden rule. And it said, do unto others as you would have others do unto you. That's the golden rule kind of stuff. You do good to me, I do good to you. You do bad to me, I do bad to you. That's human nature, and we see that a lot. And again, that's the bulk of our society. That's the majority of people that you rub elbows with and knock shoulders with most of your days out there in the world that you live in. You wrong me, and the gloves are coming off, buddy. Come on. Yeah. But Kingdom of Heaven level thinking and acting and responsibility looks like this. And this is where, this is tough. This is gonna push your button for a second, but just hang on. Kingdom of Heaven thinking does this. I will return good for evil. Do you know how hard that is? Do you know that is not within human nature to do that? It's going to have to be supernatural. Again, it's going to be Christ in you, the hope of glory. There's a good text over in Romans 12 and verse 20. We don't fully understand this custom, but I'll try to explain to you the best I can. Romans 12, verse 20, and I want you to look at the words very carefully. Therefore, if thine what? Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him. Don't you, would you agree it would be easier to feed a friend or a loved one? Amen? Or maybe even feed their spouse if she's acting right? You gotta spread a little bit out here. Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him. I never thought about that before. This is kingdom of heaven level thinking. If he thirsts, if your enemy, if he thirsts, give him drink. Once again, what's the result? Now watch this. You're not going to understand it completely, but just watch this. For in so doing, thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. That does not mean the fires are going to be on his head and burn him down to a cinder. Okay? It means this, that you did something to him or to her that was totally unexpected, outside the realm of common human thought. So that's a picture that you're seeing here. It's going to get their attention. It's going to show them that you're being different. You're acting peculiar. You're acting in an unexpected, excuse me, but yet in a pleasant manner. A lot of times we act unexpected, but in a wrong manner. Somebody say amen. But this is an unexpected action, but it's pleasant. I was hungry and you fed me even though you don't like me. I was thirsty and you gave me to drink even though you don't trust me. That was completely unexpected and pleasant in its manner. And you say, well, I don't know if I can muster that from my life or the way that I am right now. Well, you can if you'll start to put the Beatitudes into practice in your Christian existence. Blessed are the poor in spirit. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God. Everything is there for us to do. Everything is there for us to have kingdom of heaven level thinking and behavior in our lives. We just need to learn to live it out. You need to learn to live it out. We're almost done, you're doing great this morning. Verse number 12, rejoice Be exceeding glad that you were persecuted that you were revival that people said false things about you rejoice and be exceeding glad For great is your reward where saints in heaven for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you rejoice and be exceeding glad I love the word picture here it means to jump skip and leap for joy By the time you were there, Quailwood, I can't remember what hole it was on the back nine. I had a 40-foot putt that had to go about 30 feet in the fringe of the green. And then it had to take almost a 90 to go into the hole. And you were there, and Brother Justin Smith was there, who's a very good golfer. Amen? And I said, he looked at me like, what do you think? I said, I think I'm going to make this. You know, and I know that Tom probably didn't think I was going to make it, but he was there too, rooting me on, and I made it. And I went, woohoo! Okay, watch this. Over a dumb putt. That means nothing for eternity. But I could leap for joy and jump and skip. Come on. Yeah. Yeah. How am I going to do this though? How am I going to jump for joy and leap and skip under the heavy hand of persecution? That's a whole different realm, isn't it? That's kingdom of heaven kind of thinking. It's a switch that comes on. It's the divine nature working in your heart and soul that you can't fully explain, but you have just begun to acclimate it and to make it a part of your Christian life. Peter and John, in the book of Acts, They healed a man at the gate of the temple. He had been lame on his feet for years and years and years. They healed this man. He was walking. He was leaping for joy. Peter and John went before the council. The council was not pleased with this man being healed. They were not pleased with Peter and John preaching Christ and him crucified. And, you know, they got a stern talking to, but also got a good beating. Peter and John got beaten for giving the gospel and for sharing their faith and for the outpouring of grace they saw on this lame man who was healed at the beautiful gate. And the council came into agreement at the end of Acts chapter 5 in verse 40 it says this And to him they agreed and when they had called the Apostles and what? beaten them They commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus and let them go and they departed Peter and John departed from the president of the council and rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. And not only that, they didn't stop preaching Jesus. Look at this. And daily in the temple and in every house they ceased not to teach and to preach Jesus Christ. Do you know why? Because he's the answer for the soul of mankind. He's the only way to heaven. He's the only gate that can open the path to eternal life. You have to come to God on God's terms. And God's term is this, you must come to me through my son. And my son has a name, it's Jesus. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For so persecuted the prophets which were before you you may not get any kind of reward here You may not get an attaboy or or an attagirl at any time In your christian life, and you might suffer a lot of things for the name of christ But I want you to know this morning and I have some some biblical backing here that great will be your reward in heaven There's going to be crowns given to the believer that will be cast at the Savior's feet, the crown of life, the crown of rejoicing, the crown of persevering, the crown of glory. What will be given to believers, they will cast them at the feet of our Savior, the Lamb of God who lighteth and inhabiteth all eternity. There's going to be an inheritance to claim that is, you know, threefold, incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you. And then lastly, there'll be words of affirmation and words of blessing that will come from the Savior's lips to your ears. Well done, thou good and faithful servant. That should be enough. That should be enough. Crowns, inheritance, I don't know about those things, but I do know this, I really want to hear well done. Thou good and faithful servant that will make it worth it all Amen, we're gonna have a time of response this morning if number one if you don't know Christ as your Savior I'm inviting you to come during this time and let us take the Bible and show you great truth about salvation I know it's kind of weird you preach on persecution. I want to get saved I It's better the alternative it is it is because hell's a horrible place of torments and others just on Secondly, you know if God is speaking to you about something in your heart or in your life that you need you would need to address Please address it during this time. Talk to him. He wants to hear from his child. Amen and I know other folks want to come this morning. We've got a family that would like to join with our membership here at Liberty Baptist Church. So however God is working in your heart this morning, I pray that you would step out and come during this time. We're going to go to the Lord in prayer. Father, we thank you for this time. Thank you for the Word of God and how it speaks to us. Lord, we learned a lesson today that maybe isn't so pleasant to hear, but it's good to know. that you've given us all the tools and the equipping we need to handle the persecution and the things that might come into our life, simply because we are believers in the Lord and Savior Christ Jesus. Father, help to strengthen us and to continue to edify our faith and to cause us to continue to draw closer to you, to stand with you. Father again, I do pray if there'd be somebody here today who does not know you that today Would be their day of salvation and father just continue to work in the way You've already touched hearts this morning spoken to them. We ask these things in Jesus name. Amen We're gonna sing when we see Christ this morning. I invite you to come if God has Told you you need to come ready to talk to him here this morning at Liberty Baptist Church number 216 so I'll stand when we see Christ it will be worth it all I No. ♪ To murmur and despair ♪ But Christ will soon appear ♪ To cast his pride away ♪ All tears forever over ♪ In God's eternal day ♪ It will be When we sing Jesus, life's trials will seem so small. When we sing Christ, while glans of misery fades, all sorrow will erase. the rain, till we see Christ. Sometimes the day is hard, with not a ray of light, with No human help in sight But there is one in heaven Who knows our deepest care Let Jesus solve your problems Just go to Him in prayer will be worth it all. When we see Jesus, life's trials will seem so small. When we see Christ, one glimpse of His embrace, all sorrow will erase. Well, excited to present to you this morning Rob and Teresa Teachout coming to join Liberty Baptist Church. We're excited about that. in the scriptural way. They're going to be part-time up here in Prescott and part-time down in the valley. And so their home church down there is Elliott Road Baptist Church, also where John and Holly Jackson came to us from a year or so ago. So very glad to have them. If you're excited, say amen. Make sure you welcome them to our church family. I'm going to have Roger Vogel in closing prayer, please.