Luke 21:12-19 NKJV
“12But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons. You will be brought before kings and rulers for My name’s sake. 13But it will turn out for you as an occasion for testimony. 14Therefore settle it in your hearts not to meditate beforehand on what you will answer; 15for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist. 16You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. 17And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. 18But not a hair of your head shall be lost. 19By your patience possess your souls.”
If our faith in Jesus Christ is genuine God-persuaded and God-gifted
faith, empowered by God, and led by the Spirit, it should result in us denying
self, dying to sin, and walking in obedience to God’s commands in the power of
God, as a matter of life practice (not necessarily resulting in absolute
perfection). Therefore, sin should no longer have mastery over our lives. Jesus
should now be Lord and Master of our lives. And we should be living holy lives,
pleasing to God, in his service, sharing the gospel with others.
And if we are living it, and walking it, and not just
talking it, we will not likely be voted “most popular” among the people. We
will most likely not have huge followings on the internet or large numbers of
responders. But we could have a large number of viewers, especially if the
viewers are people from other nations or in areas of the country in our own
nations where people want to be taught the truth, and where they want to hear
the full gospel message and not the lies which are spreading so rapidly these
days.
But if we are walking in the ways of the Lord, following his
leading in our lives, doing the things he has called us to do, and if we are
sharing the gospel of Christ that Jesus and his New Testament apostles taught,
in the correct biblical context, we should not be surprised if we end up being
hated, rejected, cast aside as unwanted, rebuked, ignored, and generally forgotten
or persecuted or treated with contempt, even by others who call themselves
Christians, and by pastors and elders and deacons of “churches,” too.
I have, over my lifetime, faced many such situations as
this, because of my faith in Jesus Christ, and because of my walk of obedience
to my Lord, and because I refused to compromise with the world of big business,
and I refused to teach a watered down gospel, and I refused to be party to
lying, cheating, and manipulating other people. But I spoke the truth of God’s
word, and I exposed the fruitless deeds of darkness, and I called sin what it
is, and I called people to repentance and did not coddle people in their sin.
And it cost me friendships, fellowships, respect, honor, value
and popularity. And it hurt my reputation. And I was falsely accused of what I
did not do and I was attacked for speaking truth. And because I was following
Jesus and not their false gospel and marketing, I was invited to leave certain
institutional “churches” which were under the power of marketing schemes and
business models they were following and were putting into practice, which
included altering the gospel message to make it less offensive to the ungodly.
My Story: The Church Under Fire (edited)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LWcasDfyC8mMbKpydGAph29-gcJfopmC/view?usp=sharing
But it did indeed turn out as an occasion for testimony. For
then God called me to write down what he teaches me from his word each day and
to post these writings on the internet so that a herald could “Run With It,”
the title of my blog. And that is what I have been doing mostly daily for the
past 22 years, led by the Spirit. I just study the Scriptures and write what I
am learning and then I post them on the internet wherever I will be received. I
do not self-promote nor do I charge anyone. I just share what God gives me.
And I leave the results to God, that he will get these
writings to the people he wants to read or to hear them, and that he will use
them to minister his love and grace to others. For love and grace are never
permission to keep living in sin and in disobedience to our Lord. The love of
God sent Jesus to die so we would die to sin and obey his commands. And his
grace trains us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled,
upright, and godly lives while we await our Lord’s return – all glory to God!
[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts
26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans
8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1
Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians
5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14;
Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24;
1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation
3:1-22]
The following is a secular song but with a message that
encourages us to not give up the fight when we are called upon to have to walk
through the storms of life because of our faith and our testimonies for Jesus
Christ and for his gospel. For if we are following Jesus, we’ll never walk alone.
Amen!
By Oscar Hammerstein II / Richard
Rodgers
When you walk through a storm
Hold your head up high
And don't be afraid of the dark
At the end of a storm
There's a golden sky
And the sweet silver song of a lark
Walk on through the wind
Walk on through the rain
Though your dreams be tossed and blown
Walk on, walk on
With hope in your heart
And you'll never walk alone
You'll never walk alone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7du-RHGrJrA
Caution: This link may contain ads
An Occasion for Testimony
An Original Work / May 17, 2026
No comments:
Post a Comment