“Emboldened To Make a Difference”

Persecuted for Christ part 3 of 3

Rev 3 & Selected

Many years ago, when communism still held the Soviet Union in its iron clench, a little group of Christians met behind closed doors in the underground. This was a secret meeting, a secret church service.
Suddenly, the doors burst open, and 2 soldiers appeared with sub-machine guns. They shouted, “To all those who are willing to renounce Jesus Christ: You’ve got 5 minutes to leave! Everyone who remains will be shot immediately.”

As you can imagine, every Christian in that place began to search their heart, and ask themselves, Am I willing to die for Jesus Christ right now, today?
A few got up and left, ashamedly, quietly, they left with heads hung low. Most of the people stayed. As the last one left, a soldier shouted, is that it? He held up his gun and repeated, anyone else? Another man rose and ran out. The soldiers locked the doors, and turned toward the people…
…they laid down their guns…and said, “Brothers and Sisters, we too are Christians. We do not want to worship the Lord with anyone who is not willing to die for Him! Now that the half-hearted have gone, let’s have church!” What a service they had together that day!

 

Part I     The “Early” Church

Part II    The “Middle Age” Church                          

Part III   Today’s “Postmodern” Church                 

“Postmodern” – a philosophical shift with regards to the nature of truth… Is Truth Relative or Absolute?

To help describe what Postmodern (emergent) Church looks like…

On August 25th, 2008 emerging church author Donald Miller (author of Blue Like Jazz) gave the closing prayer at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado. The following quote by Miller reveals much about his spiritual core values: “For me, the beginning of sharing my faith with people began by throwing out Christianity and embracing Christian spirituality, a nonpolitical mysterious system that can be experienced but not explained (p. 115).” When Miller says that 'Christian spirituality' cannot be explained, he means that solid, unchangeable biblical doctrine and theology do not exist. When Miller says 'Christian spirituality' can only be 'experienced,' this is referring to mysticism."

We will be looking at the final three churches of Revelation… and Christian persecution today…

Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

Review:

·         The “Heroes’ of faith” passed the baton to us…

·         As persecution increases, Christians & the Church grows…

·         The Seven Churches represents church history prophetically…

·         The church in Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira…

I don’t have time to give much review, so fill out request to get a FREE CD of last two week’s messages…

V.  Church in Sardis “Escaping Ones” 1500-1750AD Rev 3:1-6

·         Invention of the Gutenberg Press – Printing the Bible

·         Priest/Theology Professor Martin Luther sparks reformation in 1517

	Nailed 95 theses on the door in Wittenberg in 1517…
	Main tenets… “the just shall live by faith”, total depravity of man, authority of God’s Word

·         Beehive of activity but with “dead orthodoxy”… state church Lutherans Germany / Anglicans England

 

VI.  Church in Philadelphia “Brotherly Love” 1750-Rapture Rev 3:7-13

	Right doctrine, right living… God opens “doors of opportunity” v7
	Called the missionary church, revivals, great awakenings… John Wesley, Jonathon Edwards, William Carey, Robert Moffat – American Bible Society, Adoniram Judson, George Muller, Robert Urray M’Cheyne, David Livingston, Hudson Taylor – China Inland Mission, Charles Spurgeon, William Booth – Salvation Army, DL Moody…. hundreds of missions, organizations, church denominations…
	Evangelism, missions, Bible teaching, growing healthy churches

 

I consider Cross Creek as part of the church in Philadelphia… Look at this promise!

	The church is Raptured… prior to the seven year tribulation period
	Are you ready?  Has your sins been forgiven through the blood of Jesus?

 

Revelation 3:10 Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth.

 

 

VII.  Church in Laodicea “People’s Rights” 1910-Tribulation Rev 3:14-22

·         Self-righteous, self-sufficient, self-deceived… left behind…

·         Materialistic, compromising, lukewarm, nauseating… Jesus wants to puke!

·         Jesus stands “outside” His church knocking, seeking entrance… secularized the church…

 

Revelation 3:17-18 ¹⁷ You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. ¹⁸ I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.

 

This very last church, Jesus counsels them to be refined in the fire… why? 

·         They are so find with themselves, rich, increased with goods, have need of nothing…

·         This church was unable to see their true spiritual condition… Jesus said they were…

·         Wretched (afflicted), pitiful (unhappy), poor (spiritually), blind (self-deceived), naked (exposed)

·         Postmodern, rich, carnal, backslidden, proud, deceived…  This sounds like the church today…

 

How about your faith and your lifestyle?

If you are arrested for being a Christian, at your trial will there be enough evidence to convict you?

 

“Gold Refined in the Fire”…

John 15:20b “… If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.”

 

·         Estimated more Christians were martyred in the 20^th century than all the prior 1900 yrs

·         Documented 26 million cases of martyrdom in this century alone

·         Today, Christians are the most persecuted group in the world. (Estimated 150,000/year are killed)

·         Socialism… Communism… Russia, China, North Korea, India, Islam…

·         Greater persecution is coming to America… there’s an “antichrist” spirit that is prevalent  & growing

 

We hear a lot of talk today in the media… about America’s slide toward Socialism… in light of persecution…

	Stalin in the USSR slaughtered an estimated 62 million people… many were Christians
	Mao Zedong in People’s Republic of China was responsible for 49 M ranges over 70M deaths… many Christians

·         Hitler in Left wing/Socialist Germany killed 6M Jews… 7M Christians… many others

 

·         We’re hearing phrases such as, “We’re going to Remake America”, “America is broke, we’re going to fix it…”, “Redistribution of the wealth…”, “take from the wealthy and give to the poor”… 

·         We currently have 32 Czars (FDR called then “dictators”) to rule America with an iron fist and a hammer and sickle… running the Gov’t with questionable authority & tactics

 

We are witnessing persecution and unprecedented events globally… Financial crisis, pandemics, energy problems, leadership vacuum, disintegration of family values, increasing sinfulness, rejection of truth, one worldism, advanced technologies, Islam’s rise, Israel, spiritual lethargy …

 

	Christian Solidarity International’s Global reports indicate that over 150,000 Christians were martyred last year, chiefly outside of the United States. However, statistics are changing: persecution of Christians is on the increase in the United States. What's happening to bring about this change?
	Strip God from our educational institutions; begin training children the secular way… we see "Isolation of, and discrimination against Christians growing almost geometrically" says Don McAlvany in The Midnight Herald. "This is the way it started in Germany against the Jews. As they became more isolated and marginalized by the Nazi propaganda machine, as popular hatred and prejudice against the Jews increased among the German people, wholesale persecution followed.
	Could this be where the growing anti-Christian consensus in America is taking us?" Tolerance of anti-Christian attitudes in the United States is escalating.
	The entertainment industry and syndicated media increasingly vilify Christians as sewer rats, vultures, and simple-minded social ingrates.  The FBI and the Clinton White House brand fundamentalist Christian groups as hate mongers and potential terrorists. The Council of Religious Leaders of Metropolitan Chicago warns that plans by Southern Baptists to hold a convention in the Windy City next year might foment "hate crimes" against minorities, causing some Christians to fear that speaking openly about their religious beliefs will soon be considered a crime. All this, while Christianity itself is often a target of hate-crime violence.
	Social scientists claim this generation's inability to define absolutes, and a growing pattern of anti-Christian behavior, may ultimately result in the collapse of the American superstructure
	On April 7, 2009 the Administrations Department of Homeland Security issued an Intelligence and Analysis Assessment on Rightwing Extremism.  They targeted Retired military, Pro-life people, pro-family (oppose gay marriage), conservative politically, hunter, Christian… because they have a tendency toward being a militia member on the verge of overthrowing your government.  We’re considered by this administration as a right wing extremist, considered a threat to America, put them on a watch list.

The stage is set for the Return of Christ…

Luke 21:28 “When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."

Luke 21:34-36 ³⁴ "Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. ³⁵ For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. ³⁶ Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man."

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.  Jim Elliot 1949, (missionary to Ecuador, killed Jan 8, 1956)

Written in Africa by a man imprisoned for his faith who was later martyred:

“The dye has been cast. The decision has been made. I have stepped over the line. I won’t look back, let up, slow down, or back away. My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, my future secure. I’m done with low living, sight walking, small planning colorless dreams, tamed visions, mundane talking, cheap living and dwarfed goals: I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, positions, promotions, or popularity. I don’t have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded or rewarded. I now live by faith, lean on His presence, walk with patience, live by prayer and labor with power. My face is set, my goal is Heaven, my road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions are few, my Guide is reliable, my mission clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of adversary, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity or meander in the maze of mediocrity. I won’t give up, shut up, let up, until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, and spoken up for the cause of Christ. I am a disciple of the lord Jesus Christ.”

·         Be Ready to Meet Jesus

·         Be Developing the Mind of Christ

·         Be Emboldened to Make a Difference