The Cost of Following      
   Part 4 of 4

   On this side of the cross, opposition continues. Faced with utter defeat, the devil's only recourse is to oppose the gospel, and deceive, attack and discourage those already believing in Christ.

   The original disciples suffered abuse and imprisonment by the very people who should have known Scripture. Jesus warns of this in Matthew 10.

   While the disciples spread the Word, most of them - scholars think - were martyred. Another follower with Holy Spirit wisdom and miraculous power, Stephen, was falsely accused and stoned to death. 

   The disciple John alone survived in exile on Patmos, where the Lord gave him a supernatural, apocalyptic revelation.   

   God himself converted Saul, a persecutor of Christians, and gave him the name Paul. He provided much of the New Testament, while experiencing: 
 

 "glory and dishonor... bad report and good report... 

genuine yet regarded as imposters... dying yet living on... 

beaten, not killed... sorrowful, yet rejoicing... 

poor, yet making many rich... 

having nothing, yet possessing everything." 

   
   Much trouble. Eternal victory.  

   Paul's faith upset his former colleagues. He ended up in a Roman prison where he wrote four of his letters. It is believed he was executed, probably during the reign of young Nero. 

   Leaders in the earliest centuries (popes, etc.) were martyred, causing the church to seek safety in the world's kingdoms. Understandable, but tragic. 

   Jesus describes the cost of following in Matthew 8 and Luke 14.

   Despite all danger, Jesus calls followers in faith to resemble, "little children... for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." We are to "receive the kingdom of God like a little child." (Matthew 19; Luke 18) 

   Meet me tomorrow for worship? 

       Jimmy