The Unseen Blessing: How Persecution Reveals the Kingdom

[00:00:01] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]
[00:00:01] Don't care to make it, it's a breaking.
[00:00:11] Wait patiently, God will provide.
[00:01:28] Come and see, I called the bank, my ballot, my surprise, in shot.
[00:01:49] Brother, I need just, you gave not one.
[00:01:59] Open up, I'm at the probe, prefer remote.
[00:02:11] These ten fit my specifications, so I apply, so I talk to God.
[00:02:23] finally then came a thought but can it be i swear he said refresh your browser when i did still zero well now he needs to know i trusted him and he didn't show so i pray again
[00:02:52] The wisdom of all you So pass in peace Zero God, where are you?
[00:03:02] Are you not here?
[00:03:05] I thought you were So I had no fear But my faith walked out And took you away Now I've got no one I climbed in bed Too late that night Too proud to bend Too tired to fight
[00:03:28] The tears snuck up and drenched my pillow But apologies, zero The morning came with a quiet soul

[00:03:42] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:03:42] Bethesda, there's no house on Mercy Street You might get lost in the company of angels Ignore where the storm's tied around You gotta try for something Friends of Story Hill, we are so glad to have you here with us today.

[00:13:47] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_11]
[00:13:47] Whether this is your first time as a visitor being here or you were here the first days that we opened the doors of this here fine church, we are glad that you're here.
[00:13:57] And wherever you are on your spiritual journey as well, we hope and pray that this would be a safe space to ask hard questions, to, gosh, what else? To grow and be changed by the gospel
[00:14:16] of Jesus, made clear through his Holy Spirit, and to worship the creator of all things. So we're just glad that you're here with us, and if you would join me in this call to worship reading together,
[00:14:28] if you would speak it with me all who thirst come to the water come all who are weary come all who yearn for forgiveness the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ has washed over us and our gracious and holy God beckons and
[00:14:47] blesses us drink deeply of these living waters glory to you O Lord glory to you

[00:14:58] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:14:58] I think he wants to connect with us too, huh?

[00:15:53] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_11]
[00:15:53] Yeah?

[00:15:55] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:15:55] Blessed are those who were persecuted

[00:18:34] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[00:18:34] because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
[00:18:41] When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him.
[00:18:48] But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.
[00:18:58] Look, he said, I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.
[00:19:06] At this they covered their ears and yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, dragged him out of the city, and began to stone him.
[00:19:18] Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.
[00:19:23] While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
[00:19:30] Then he fell on his knees and cried out, Lord, do not hold this sin against them.
[00:19:36] When he had said this, he fell asleep.
[00:19:39] And Saul approved of their killing him.
[00:19:43] On that day, a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.

[00:19:54] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:19:54] Lord, we pray this morning that you would receive the position of our hearts as worship, Lord.

[00:23:38] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_11]
[00:23:38] Whatever we come in with, Lord, as you told us to do, we offer it before you, and we trust you to meet us in the middle of all of us.
[00:23:48] Lord, for your glory and our good, we come in the name of Jesus. Amen.

[00:23:52] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:23:52] you may have a seat good morning Story Hill my name is Amy Sylvester and we are so glad that you are here I am so excited to if you haven't yet met my friend here this is Brittany Bible everyone say hi her and her wonderful
[00:24:11] family been with us worshiping for quite a while now but you came on staff in November and so she's gonna share a little bit of ways you can get community get connected to the community here at Story Hill.

[00:24:26] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:24:26] Hi, everyone.
[00:24:28] Hi.
[00:24:29] My name is Brittany, like Amy said, and I am the operations coordinator at Story Hill.
[00:24:35] That means I work with our wonderful hospitality teams, our parking, greeters, and coffee bar teams.
[00:24:42] If anyone's looking for a way to say a fresh yes in 2026, we are hoping to grow the parking team.
[00:24:47] I know it's raining outside today, but we are hoping to grow the parking team.
[00:24:53] Today, I actually want to talk to you about the way that Story Hill so beautifully is always trying to make room for one more person.
[00:25:02] Like Amy said, I'm new on staff and newer to Story Hill, but I'm actually very new.
[00:25:08] My family were very new to living in North Carolina.
[00:25:11] We actually moved here last June, in June of 2025.
[00:25:15] and before we left Maryland, the prayer on my heart was that we would find a church in large part so that we could find community. I have two little boys and we've been so grateful for that
[00:25:28] community we found at Story Hill. We actually got to experience in the fall what it was like to be that one more person. Our community group, our community group leaders, when we weren't going home on Thanksgiving they invited us to have dinner with their extended family
[00:25:47] and we got to do that we had our Thanksgiving meal at their family table and it was really meaningful other people in our community group they invited us on their Christmas tree outing to go get Christmas trees we
[00:26:00] didn't get to do that but it was just the invitation alone that felt so meaningful so it really felt like God went before us in placing us with this community group fun fact we're about to grow but currently we are eight adults
[00:26:14] and six little children all little boys all five and under so it's quite a quite an adventure when we're together another way that you can get connected outside of community groups outside of our Sunday morning gatherings is through
[00:26:31] events that we have at Story Hill we are going to have a special event coming up and I want to invite all of the ladies Story Hill ladies we're going to host women's a women's event if gathering if you've ever heard if you've ever heard
[00:26:43] of if gathering we're gonna do the local version of that that gathering is all about seeing God move in smaller spaces and churches and living rooms so we would love for you to come on Saturday February 28 there is a QR code it's from
[00:26:58] 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. we will meet in our youth room upstairs for a morning of worship teaching and prayer and there will be coffee at the event so if you're new here this is your first day if you've been coming here since the elementary
[00:27:17] school we would love for you to join us and you can invite that one more person or bring along two friends if you would like so if you want to get registered for that for that event you can click on that QR code so and that's all I have

[00:27:29] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:27:29] for you today so thank you Brittany we would love to see you ladies there and in light of Brittany's story turn to your neighbor and find out where your

[00:27:44] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]
[00:27:44] neighbor is from well today that's so good to hear with any hope they'll still be there after the service who knows some of you must be from places with really long names that must be it good morning everyone good morning how are we all doing
[00:29:49] good morning everyone thank you matt my name is katie macturk and i'm the assistant pastor for college and for missions here at story hill and whether you are cautious about jesus curious about jesus or committed to jesus this is a safe place for you to heal to grow and to engage
[00:30:13] and as long as you don't have it all together you'll fit right in and i hope you also know that at story hill we really value god stories stories of how god is at work in our lives and
[00:30:22] the lives of those around us and so we're actually going to start our sermon today with a god story so please join me in welcoming christian pinto to share his god story

[00:30:37] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:30:37] good morning everyone and this is my god story my name is christian pinto i am from bolivia a country in South America, my gut story began when I was very young, around five or six years old, when my parents passed away.
[00:30:55] At that age, I didn't truly understand what had happened in my life, but I was really living with the consequences.
[00:31:04] I began to notice changes in my life and to ask questions about what was happening around me.
[00:31:10] After my parents passed away, I had to move with one uncle, then with others, and eventually ended up living with relatives who regularly attend church.
[00:31:24] In a way, this brought me peace, not because I understood who Jesus was, but because I remembered that I had once gone to church with my parents.
[00:31:34] I suppose that memory comforted me and gave me the sense that the church was a good and safe place. After a couple years living with my relatives, the government decided I should live in an orphanage and that is how I ended up at a Christian
[00:31:56] home, the Bolivia Life Center. It was also there where I first met people from story here. Continuing to attend church kept me bringing peace into my life. I won't say that unconsciously. I connected the memory of my parents with the church, which made me feel
[00:32:16] closer to them. In that home, there were missionaries who spoke with different accents or even different languages, which caught my attention. When I asked them who they were and what they were doing, their response was usually the same. They were Christians and wanted to share
[00:32:35] the love of Jesus. That seems good to me. So I tried to learn more. However, after some years, I realized that I was not truly a follower of Jesus. Rather, I liked the idea of Christianity
[00:32:50] and connected it with the memory of my parents. When I gave myself the opportunity to truly know who God is, I realized that I was trying to fill the absence of my parents with that idea.
[00:33:04] Discovering this was painful, but also necessary. I had to surrender that desire to God and allow him to be one who helped me move forward, who encouraged me in moments of loneliness and in the absence of a parental figure. Since then, I have felt greater peace in my life. I trust that
[00:33:30] he is in control, and I see his blessings in my life, even when they look different than I would have imagined, even though at times it is difficult for me to see it that way. I choose to hold on
[00:33:47] to trust in his faithfulness and love. Thank you.

[00:33:53] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]
[00:33:53] great job that was wonderful thank you so much chris for sharing chris chris is actually on staff here as our missions assistant and so i'm fortunate to get to work with him in missions and
[00:34:13] it is truly a gift to witness the gifts and skills that he brings not only to our church family but to some of our mission partners that he regularly serves with well before we begin our sermon today
[00:34:27] i want to take a brief opportunity to brief moment to tell you about a new opportunity called the table the table is a short time of prayer of scripture reading and of communion each Sunday at 8 45 a.m. in the youth room and this was actually started
[00:34:43] by some of our college students they walked here in the rain this morning to help make this happen so we're really grateful for their leadership and it's something that we're trying out throughout the Sundays in Lent Lent
[00:34:53] starts this Wednesday and it's the period leading up to Easter in which Christians reflect on the death and the resurrection of Jesus at least some Christians do and so if coming to the table would be meaningful to you for for
[00:35:08] any reason then I invite you to join us well today we are wrapping up our sermon series called blessed blessed is a sermon series we've been doing where we focus each week on one specific beatitude the beatitudes are a series of
[00:35:25] statements that Jesus makes and each statement or each beatitude connects a promise of God's kingdom to a virtue of God's kingdom and so we are going to start our series our sermon today by reading those beatitudes one last time
[00:35:44] all together so will you join me in reading the beatitudes all right blessed Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
[00:35:55] Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
[00:36:00] Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
[00:36:04] Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
[00:36:10] Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
[00:36:14] Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
[00:36:19] are the peacemakers for they will be called children of god blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness for theirs is the kingdom of heaven amazing and we're also inviting each one of you to consider memorizing one or two of the beatitudes that most connect with you and
[00:36:40] so i hope you'll be able to do that with us as well and today we're focusing on the last beatitude blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of
[00:36:52] heaven. And I feel like I should just start by saying, you know, I'm really glad I received the easy beatitude. I think this week I officially became a coffee drinker, if that tells you anything about what it was like trying to understand this verse fully. Certainly some
[00:37:09] of the beatitudes are easier than others to see how it's a blessing to have that virtue.
[00:37:14] This one is admittedly a little bit harder.
[00:37:17] This one reminds us the Beatitudes turn our world upside down so that we realize there is blessing and goodness and things that our world tells us can never be good or blessed.
[00:37:28] And so like in Chris's God story, we realize sometimes blessing looks different than we expect.
[00:37:35] So let's figure out what this means.
[00:37:37] Let's talk about it.
[00:37:38] First, what does righteousness mean?
[00:37:41] Well, if you remember Michael's sermon from a few weeks ago about blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, then you'll remember that righteousness means to have a right relationship with God and to have that rightness overflow
[00:37:54] into all areas of life. So someone may be persecuted because of their belief in Jesus, meaning they have a right relationship with God through Jesus, or because of the righteous choices or lifestyle that result from that rightness overflowing into all areas of life. And what
[00:38:15] about persecution? Well, persecution is active opposition to followers of Jesus that results from their allegiance to Jesus. Persecution encompasses actions spanning the full range of hostility and can be physical, psychological, or social. I got some of that definition from
[00:38:34] Voice of the Martyrs. Voice of the Martyrs serves persecuted Christians in the world's most difficult and dangerous places to follow Jesus. And we may tend to think of persecution as something that happens to martyrs like Stephen in the story we read earlier. And so I'll give you a few examples
[00:38:53] that maybe will help demonstrate the range that persecution encompasses. So for example, if you regularly give away your money to the poor and someone who doesn't follow Jesus insults you as foolish and wasteful for doing so, that would be persecution. Or maybe you're fired from your job
[00:39:12] because you refuse to go along with extortion as a standard business practice. That would also be persecution. Or you check in on a friend at Davidson College who has broken the honor code and another friend sees the two of you together and starts telling everyone that you've cheated
[00:39:27] on your test too. Well, that would be persecution for showing mercy to someone. And in defining persecution i think it's also important to say what persecution is not persecution would not be someone just not liking that i'm a follower of jesus and if i share the good news of what jesus
[00:39:46] has done with someone and they choose not to believe it they reject it that's not persecution either but in both those instances if they then slander me for being a follower of jesus well then that would be persecution but if i hurt someone by calling them bad names and they call
[00:40:02] me a hypocritical christian that is not persecution we're going to talk more later about the second half of the verse theirs is the kingdom of heaven so we will file that part away for now but right
[00:40:14] after our beatitude comes two more verses let's read what they say this is matthew 5 11 and 12.
[00:40:21] blessed are you when people insult you persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me rejoice and be glad because great is your reward in heaven for in the same
[00:40:33] way they persecuted the prophets who were before you now when i was a kid in church i was pretty confused why this didn't count as a ninth beatitude it certainly felt like that to me
[00:40:47] maybe pastors can't count though i don't know except for michael because he was a math major at davidson so he's good there but now current me would be able to tell confused younger me that
[00:40:58] these verses aren't considered a ninth beatitude because they are an elaboration of the eighth one they just explain it further. But these verses do support the idea that persecution is broader than what we might think of and does include things like falsely saying evil against someone,
[00:41:16] also known as slander or insults, etc. They also make it clear that righteousness equates to allegiance with Jesus because Jesus elaborates by saying, blessed are you when people insult you, etc because of me so this eighth beatitude gets a little more explanation than the others and
[00:41:37] I think it's worth noting another way in which this one is different see most of the beatitudes describe a virtue to aim for and in this one we do aim for righteousness but we don't aim for
[00:41:49] persecution persecution is something that will happen because of following Jesus that will happen at some point the bible is up front about that but persecution is not our north star righteousness is and so when persecution becomes our goal we can end up with a persecution complex where we
[00:42:08] irrationally think that everyone is persecuting us all the time do we see the difference now to really get a sense of the meaning and the heart behind this beatitude we're going to take a look
[00:42:21] at how it first played out in the story of one of jesus's earliest followers stephen who was also the first Christian martyr. It's not actually the first time it played out. I didn't mean to say
[00:42:32] that part, but first Christian martyr, Stephen. So this part of Stephen's story that we're going to look at is in Acts chapter 7, verses 54 to 81, which Teresa read for us earlier. The book of Acts
[00:42:45] recounts the story of the early church in the years after Jesus's resurrection. And Stephen is first mentioned in Acts as a man who was chosen, along with others, to help with the daily distribution of food to Christian widows. And Stephen was also a gifted orator who would share
[00:43:02] the good news of Jesus with his fellow Jews, some of whom would argue and debate with him, as was commonly done in their public forums. But the Bible says they were not able to stand against
[00:43:13] Stephen's wisdom. You can read more about Stephen in Acts 6 and 7. But Stephen's success as an of order, created enemies for him, and so certain people persuaded others to lie and to claim that
[00:43:29] Stephen has said blasphemous things. So they're falsely accusing him like our Matthew verses talked about. Stephen then gives a speech to these people in which he summarizes God's faithful dealings with the nation of Israel, and he accuses the Jewish men before him, who he saw as an
[00:43:48] extension of that nation of rejecting Jesus, God's promised righteous one, or Messiah. And our passage starts right after Stephen has made this accusation. So let's dive in. Verse 54. When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. The Sanhedrin was the
[00:44:12] supreme Jewish council in Jerusalem, and when they heard Stephen's speech, they gnashed their teeth.
[00:44:20] Gnashing your teeth can sound a little funny, but it is an expression of rage.
[00:44:25] So what does Stephen do?
[00:44:26] Well, verse 55.
[00:44:29] But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.
[00:44:37] Look, he said, I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.
[00:44:44] Wow.
[00:44:46] Stephen sees a truly glorious sight.
[00:44:49] he sees heaven open and he sees the glory of God and he sees the son of man standing at the right hand of God son of man is a term Jesus used to describe himself well why doesn't he see God you
[00:45:02] might wonder it would be too much for a person to see God and so he sees God's glory instead Stephen sees while on earth a sight that most Christians will only see in heaven and when the Bible says there that he looked up to heaven the Greek word there means looked
[00:45:19] intently are stared. Stephen has his eyes fixed on Jesus while others are furious at him and are falsely accusing him. So how do his accusers respond? Verse 57, at this they covered their ears and yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, dragged him out of the city,
[00:45:41] and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. Stephen's accusers are very mad to hear this vision. Stephen has just offended them by claiming, ooh, sorry, that there could be someone, Jesus, who could share God's unique
[00:46:00] place in heaven. Beforehand, they had falsely claimed that Stephen was blaspheming, but now in their minds, they have heard something truly blasphemous. And when it says they all rushed at him, one of the Greek words behind that phrase means with one mind or purpose. So this is a mob
[00:46:17] mentality at work. They even lay their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul so that their arms are free to stone him. Now, it's helpful to understand the religious and cultural and legal
[00:46:32] background here, and according to the Old Testament, the first part of the Bible, which the Jewish people in our story here lived by, the punishment for blasphemy against God is stoning. However, at this point in time, the Jewish people are ruled by the Romans, and so the Sanhedrin, and definitely a
[00:46:50] mob would have lacked the legal authority to execute anyone. Unfortunately though, mob violence was a common part of life throughout the ancient world, not just in Jerusalem here. And so even though it's illegal to do so, they stone Stephen. And a scene like this might seem extreme or maybe
[00:47:11] even irrelevant to us today, but is very much a reality that persecuted Christians face in other parts of our world. Verse 59, while they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Then he fell on his knees and cried out, Lord, do not hold this sin against
[00:47:33] them. When he had said this, he fell asleep. So how does Stephen respond to the intense violence he's experiencing? Stephen prays. He prays, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit, and Lord, do not hold this sin against them, both of which are very similar to prayers that Jesus prayed on the
[00:47:53] cross himself. He follows Jesus even to the end, and then he fell asleep and died. And unlike a lot of euphemisms, I don't think that saying he fell asleep is meant to gloss over the tragedy as if
[00:48:07] it's not that bad that people just brutally murdered Stephen. Falling asleep is just a common term the Bible uses to describe the death of believers because it emphasizes the hope of resurrection, since one day all who follow Jesus will wake up from death into eternal life. And
[00:48:26] then our last verse, Acts 8.1, And Saul approved of their killing him. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. So who is this Saul guy? This is the same person who kept their coats while they
[00:48:49] stone Stephen. And if he's just the coke guy, he's probably not important. But look at the rest of the verse. A famous quote from the early church father Tertullian says that the blood of the
[00:49:01] martyrs is the seed of the church. We see that idea on display here because the ripple effect of Stephen's death is that the church is scattered, which enables them to share the gospel with people
[00:49:12] all around the known ancient world. So what do we learn from the story of Stephen about Jesus's words, blessed are those who hunger and, no, wrong beatitude. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Well, three points today. First one,
[00:49:33] when persecuted, we see the kingdom of heaven more clearly. When persecuted, we see the kingdom of heaven more clearly. The second half of our beatitude promises that those persecuted for righteousness are blessed because the kingdom of heaven is theirs. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven
[00:49:52] means that the kingdom of heaven belongs to them. And if the kingdom belongs to you, you also belong to it. You have a place in it. So when we see the kingdom of heaven more clearly, we see the blessing
[00:50:04] of the kingdom and of belonging in it. But where is that blessing in the brutal death of someone like Stephen. We revisit now verses 55 and 56 from our passage. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit,
[00:50:20] looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.
[00:50:26] Look, he said, I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. When Stephen has this amazing and mind-blowing vision of God, he sees the kingdom of heaven more clearly. He sees,
[00:50:40] for example, the full glory of the kingdom of heaven more clearly. The glory of God is the infinite beauty and radiance of God's perfection. And there are many aspects to God's glory that are present in the kingdom of heaven, but one is the eternal nature of this kingdom.
[00:50:58] Stephen has found something that will outlast all the kingdoms of this world, which fade away.
[00:51:04] Stephen sees the kingdom of heaven that will endure when all else disappears, including his own life. It's like the fog of this world lifts and you see where you really are and where you really belong and what matters most in this life because it will outlast this life. Stephen also
[00:51:24] sees the king of the kingdom of heaven more clearly. He sees Jesus and who he is, a king, glorious and standing at the right hand of God. The kingdom is where the king is and Stephen knows
[00:51:37] he has a place with that king. When we see clearly the king of the kingdom of heaven, Jesus in all his beauty and worthiness, we realize we have found a king who is worth following into battle
[00:51:50] even if it leads to death. We have found a king worth dying for. Persecution or the threat of it can force this kind of clarity. It's like the pieces click into place and you realize what's
[00:52:05] most important and the choice you're going to make because of that. Now, I know we won't always physically see the kingdom of heaven like Stephen did, but we can ask God to help us see his kingdom
[00:52:18] more clearly with the eyes of our heart so that this clear view affects how we live our lives and the choices we make. And certainly, persecution is not the only way to see the kingdom of heaven
[00:52:31] more clearly. One of the other Beatitudes, of course, is about how the kingdom of heaven belongs to those who are poor in spirit, and I know that helps them see the kingdom more clearly too.
[00:52:41] Persecution is just one of the fires in which faith is refined and purified. So we know that when we're persecuted, we see the kingdom of heaven more clearly. And the question that really fascinated me when studying these passages was how we find the strength to endure persecution.
[00:53:04] What do we hold on to when we're faced with a choice, if given a moment of choice, to choose the righteousness that we know may result in persecution. There is certainly so much strength to be found in the promise, theirs is the kingdom of heaven. But I wanted to drill down even further
[00:53:20] into that. So point number two, we find the strength to endure persecution in Jesus who will never abandon us. We find the strength to endure persecution in Jesus who will never abandon us.
[00:53:36] To understand this point, we'll first look at 2 Corinthians 4, 8 through 10, and then back at Stephen. Here are those verses. We are hard-pressed on every side, but not crushed, perplexed, but not in despair, persecuted, but not abandoned, struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around
[00:53:56] in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.
[00:54:02] 2 Corinthians 4, 8 through 10. So though believers may experience so many different hardships, including persecution those hardships will not ultimately take them down. Christians who are persecuted are never abandoned because Jesus is always with them. When verse 10 says the life of
[00:54:22] Jesus may also be revealed in our body it's referring to how Jesus lives within each believer through the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit. And so if you are a follower of Jesus or if today
[00:54:33] or in the future you become a follower of Jesus, Jesus is so close to you that he lives with you always by his spirit, and therefore he will never abandon you. And another reason that Jesus will
[00:54:46] never abandon us is that Jesus himself walked the path of persecution before us. He was persecuted by his enemies and crucified on the cross. And on the cross, Jesus was temporarily abandoned by God his father because he took on the sins that we had committed, which then separated him from God.
[00:55:06] but the good news is that three days later Jesus rose from the grave and left our sins behind and now he offers to each one of us the chance to have a restored relationship with God and to belong with him forever and so because
[00:55:23] Jesus was abandoned we will never be abandoned by him so blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness for the king of the kingdom of heaven will never abandon them and we know that Stephen found strength to endure
[00:55:38] persecution in Jesus. It would have been easy to focus on the fact that his own people were furious at him and were rejecting him. But instead, Stephen was full of the Holy Spirit, so he had
[00:55:50] Jesus living inside him. He also saw God and Jesus and the kingdom in his persecution. And this gave him the strength to surrender his life and his spirit to Jesus by praying, Lord Jesus, receive
[00:56:04] my spirit and he he knew that jesus would be faithful to him and was jesus faithful to answer his prayer and receive him well it's interesting to note that stephen sees jesus standing at the
[00:56:18] right hand of god because normally the bible describes jesus as sitting at the right hand of god because his redemptive work on the cross is finished however one of the reasons though we think as to why stephen saw jesus standing is that jesus stood up to welcome his persecuted
[00:56:36] child home even in something like death which could feel like the ultimate example of being left alone stephen knows that jesus will never abandon him when martin luther king jr was facing threats against his life during the bus boycott he faced a moment of deep doubt and discouragement
[00:57:01] one night at midnight here's some of what he told the lord in prayer that night lord i am here taking a stand for what i believe is right but lord i must confess that i'm weak now i'm
[00:57:14] faltering i'm losing my courage and i can't let the people see me like this because if they see me weak and losing my courage they will begin to get weak i am at the end of my powers i have
[00:57:25] nothing left i've come to the point where i can't face it alone then dr king said it seemed as though i could hear the quiet assurance of an inner voice saying martin luther stand up for righteousness
[00:57:39] stand up for justice stand up for truth and lo i will be with you even until the end of the world dr king said about this experience i tell you i've seen the lightning flash i've heard the thunder
[00:57:53] roar but i heard the voice of jesus stay saying still to fight on he promised never to leave me alone at that moment i experienced the presence of the divine as i had never experienced him before
[00:58:10] jesus's presence with dr king gave him the strength to endure so we have seen that when persecuted we see the kingdom of heaven more clearly and that we find the strength to endure persecution in jesus who will never abandon us but is there something practical that we can hold on
[00:58:30] to in the face of persecution or is there a practice that will help us stay in touch with jesus well point number three pray for those who persecute us pray for those who persecute us
[00:58:45] stephen shows us once more how to do this in verse 60 then he fell on his knees and cried out lord do not hold this sin against them and when he had said this he fell asleep in showing mercy to his
[00:59:01] persecutors, Stephen is following the example of Jesus, as we mentioned earlier, and he's obeying the commands of Jesus. Jesus actually tells his followers to do this later in the Sermon on the Mount, the same sermon that our Beatitudes are part of. In Matthew 5.44, Jesus says,
[00:59:20] but I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. And that's exactly what Stephen does. Stephen sees the kingdom of heaven clearly, and he knows that Jesus will not abandon him. So he prays for one more person, as we often say here. Actually, he prays for multiple to enter
[00:59:39] the kingdom through the forgiveness of sins. And there was one specific person that he prayed for whose name is mentioned. Saul. Do you remember Saul? The coat guy who approved of Stephen being killed? Well, later this man Saul had a remarkable experience with Jesus in which Jesus turned his
[01:00:01] whole life upside down and that very same saul who approved of stephen's death and went on to persecute the church after coming to know jesus he became a man named paul who is one of the apostles
[01:00:15] founded many churches and wrote much of our new testament that we have today listen to the god story that people told about saul turned paul you see it here the man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy. That's from Galatians 1
[01:00:37] 23. God answered Stephen's prayer. And I know it's easy to hate those who persecute us, but Jesus wants us to love them and to pray for them. Because who knows, he may just use your witness and your
[01:00:53] prayers to bring another person to come to know him. We may never know what God will do in a person's life, so pray for them. I also want all of you to know as well that if you've ever
[01:01:07] persecuted a follower of Jesus or persecuted someone for another reason, there is mercy and forgiveness available to you as well. So in our sermon today, we've examined the meaning of Jesus' beatitude. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of
[01:01:27] heaven. And we've looked at the virtue and the promise that it contains. We have learned that when persecuted, we see the kingdom of heaven more clearly. We find the strength to endure persecution in Jesus, who will never abandon us. And in the midst of our persecution, we pray for
[01:01:44] those who persecute us. And to bring it full circle, I think it's worth noting that being persecuted for righteousness is a natural possible outcome of adopting the virtues of the previous seven Beatitudes. For example, in Stephen's life, he was a peacemaker who tried to help his fellow
[01:02:04] Israelites find peace with God by sharing the good news of Jesus with them. He was also pure in heart and saw God, yes, in the sense that he saw him physically, but he also recognized that Jesus
[01:02:17] was worth dying for. And he was merciful by asking God to forgive his persecutors. So living out the virtues of the kingdom can lead to persecution, but don't lose heart. The kingdom of heaven is
[01:02:32] yours, and Jesus will never abandon you. While preparing for this sermon, I was encouraged by the example of Pastor Ara Tarozian. Pastor Ara fled Iran years ago after he was imprisoned and tortured for smuggling Bibles. He came to the U.S. and he became a citizen, and he now pastors
[01:02:56] a congregation in Los Angeles of primarily Iranian Christians, including some people who were previously persecuted in Iran and are now legal asylum seekers in the U.S. because of that.
[01:03:12] And so when some of them were thrown in jail last summer, Pastor Ara faithfully advocated for their release while inviting fellow Christians to join him in prayer for them. I was moved by his support
[01:03:24] of those persecuted for righteousness and his invitation to the Capital C Church to join him in prayer. So here's the takeaway for you. Inspired by Jesus's promise, blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Take time this week to pray
[01:03:45] for those who persecute you, or to pray for those who are persecuted. And will you join me now in prayer? I will give you a moment to talk to the Lord about what we've shared, and then I will pray
[01:04:02] for all of us. Lord, you tell us that blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. But I know that can be really hard to believe and to trust
[01:04:29] that it is true. And so help us to remember that you will never abandon us and that you can even use persecution to help us see you and your kingdom more clearly. Help us to have the love
[01:04:43] for others to pray for them even when they are hurting us. And I ask as well that you would be more believable and more beautiful to the eyes of our heart so that we are strengthened to follow
[01:04:54] you anywhere, even if it leads to persecution. And I would like to join with Pastor Ara and others to pray for our brothers and sisters around the world who are persecuted for following you.
[01:05:07] I pray you'd give them the grace and the strength to endure for your glory and for their good, that we might see one more person enter your kingdom and your family. And we pray all of this
[01:05:20] in the name of your son, Jesus.
[01:05:22] Amen.

[01:05:26] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_11]
[01:05:26] Will you stand with us as we respond with our voices and our offerings?

[01:06:26] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[01:06:26] Listen.
[01:12:09] Questions.
[01:12:11] Souls are restless.
[01:12:13] Always our prayer room is open right upstairs

[01:15:32] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]
[01:15:32] if you'd like someone to pray with you and for you, maybe about a burden you're carrying or a joy that you are celebrating.
[01:15:40] And now receive these words from Romans 8 as a benediction.
[01:15:45] Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
[01:15:48] Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
[01:15:55] No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Jesus who loved us.
[01:16:00] For I am convinced that nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
[01:16:08] Amen. Go in peace.