{"id":1738,"date":"2022-05-01T16:49:09","date_gmt":"2022-05-01T21:49:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/?p=1738"},"modified":"2022-05-01T16:49:09","modified_gmt":"2022-05-01T21:49:09","slug":"christians-who-endure-troubles-and-sufferings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/2022\/05\/01\/christians-who-endure-troubles-and-sufferings\/","title":{"rendered":"Christians who Endure Troubles and Sufferings"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
\u201cTherefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word.<\/strong>\u201d
Acts 8:4 <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Stephen preached Jesus from the Old Testament\nto the religious leaders, but instead of receiving the truths he taught, they\nrejected those Words and killed him. He was the first person who was killed\nbecause he believed in, and preached, Jesus. It was at the time of his death\nthat we were also introduced to one of the religious men present at Stephen\u2019s\ndeath \u2013 a young man named Saul. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time\nthere was a great persecution against the church which was at <\/strong>Jerusalem<\/strong>;\nand they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of <\/strong>Judaea<\/strong>\nand <\/strong>Samaria<\/strong>, except\nthe apostles<\/strong>\u201d (Acts 8:1). Recognize that this incident was the catalyst for\na great persecution against the church. After learning of Stephen\u2019s death,\npeople became afraid. Because of this fear, many of the people scattered\nabroad. Did you notice to whom the persecution was initially directed? The\nchurch. And they scattered abroad. The people of the church who scattered were\nnew Believers. They had just believed upon Jesus a short time before, and they\nwere just beginning to learn and grow in this new life. These new Believers\nwere encouraged to continue, \u201cstedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and\nfellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers<\/strong>\u201d (Acts 2:42). When Stephen was killed, many fled Jerusalem.\nWhat did the Apostles do? They stayed in Jerusalem.\nIt would be later that the persecution would come directly to them. They stayed\nin Jerusalem, available, where the\npeople could find them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some people remained in Jerusalem,\nmourning the death of Stephen. Because \u201cSaul was consenting unto his death,<\/strong>\u201d\nread his response to this new \u201cchurch\u201d that was being formulated. \u201cAs for\nSaul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men\nand women committed them<\/em> to prison<\/strong>\u201d (Acts 8:3). We read that Saul \u201cmade\nhavock<\/strong>\u201d of the church. Made havock<\/strong>\nmeans \u201cdestruction; to ravage, waste; to\ndisgrace as by insult; treat with indignity; injure or destroy<\/em>.\u201d Saul\nentered into houses and took men and women to prison \u2013 all because they\nbelonged to the church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is something very important that Christians today can\nlearn from this event. Who is the enemy of a Christian? \u201cBe sober, be vigilant; because your\nadversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may\ndevour<\/strong>\u201d (1 Peter 5:8). The devil (Satan) is the enemy. We can read\nfrom this verse that he attacks and wants to destroy Christians. Our adversary,\nthe devil, will attack all Christians. And he uses people to do his job.\nRemember that in the early establishment of the church, the first persecution\nwas directed at one (Stephen) who was vocal, teaching Jesus aloud to the\nreligious leaders. Stephen was physically silenced. Next, the persecution was\nagainst the church. This was all new. They had just experienced the most\nwonderful event in their lives. They had believed in Jesus, who had died for\ntheir sin paying their debt. They had experienced what we can now read in the\nfollowing verse: \u201cTherefore if any\nman be<\/em> in Christ, he is<\/em> a new creature: old things are passed\naway; behold, all things are become new<\/strong>\u201d (2 Corinthians 5:17). I am sure that they had not expected\nthis great persecution! We can read of a warning that was later written to the\nleaders of the church: \u201cFor I know\nthis, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not\nsparing the flock<\/strong>\u201d (Acts 20:29).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is easy to see an event, like the death of Stephen, as\ntragic. And it was! He was a great man of God who did much good for the church\nin his short ministry. In addition, the persecution of the church was a\nterrible event, for people were imprisoned because they believed in Jesus. However,\nin hindsight, we can see much good that came from the martyrdom of Stephen and\nthe persecution of the early church. The church that was in Jerusalem\nbegan to scatter abroad \u2013 throughout Judea and Samaria.\nDo you remember what Jesus wanted the Believers to do? \u201c\u2026 And ye shall be witnesses unto me both in <\/strong>Jerusalem<\/strong>, and in all <\/strong>Judaea<\/strong>, and in <\/strong>Samaria<\/strong>, and unto the uttermost part of the earth<\/strong>\u201d (Acts\n1:8b). Thus far, the church was growing in Jerusalem.\nOnce this started, the people began to scatter. \u201cTherefore they that were\nscattered abroad went every where preaching the word<\/strong>\u201d (Acts 8:4). As they\nscattered abroad, they began to spread the Gospel message everywhere, all\nbecause of the persecution that came after the tragic death of Stephen. Where\ndid they go? The persecuted church \u201c\u2026 all scattered abroad throughout the\nregions of <\/strong>Judaea<\/strong> and <\/strong>Samaria<\/strong>\n\u2026<\/strong>\u201d (Acts 8:1b). Now that persecution had begun, God\u2019s Word was spreading\nspecifically into the areas into which God had told His people to spread the\nGospel message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read some encouraging Words that Christians need to understand if, or when, we face persecution: \u201c10. Therefore I endure all things for the elect’s sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. 11. It is<\/em> a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him<\/em>, we shall also live with him<\/em>: 12. If we suffer, we shall also reign with him<\/em>: if we deny him<\/em>, he also will deny us<\/strong>\u201d (2 Timothy 2:9-12). Did you notice why Christians are to understand why we must endure troubles and sufferings? So that people could \u201cobtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus.<\/strong>\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you live a Christian life enduring, so others may obtain the salvation, which is in Christ Jesus?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stephen preached Jesus from the Old Testament to the religious leaders, but instead of receiving the truths he taught, they rejected those Words and killed him. He was the first person who was killed because he believed in, and preached, Jesus. It was at the time of his death that we were also introduced to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[318],"tags":[682,230,236,14,843,921,801,651,185,920,440,304],"class_list":["post-1738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-picture-with-verse-and-blog","tag-adversary","tag-church","tag-doctrine","tag-fellowship","tag-killed","tag-persecution","tag-preaching","tag-prison","tag-saul","tag-scattered","tag-stephen","tag-word"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1738"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1738\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1740,"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1738\/revisions\/1740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}