“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you . . .…
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:5, ESV) Jeremiah, the Old Testament prophet with the longest book, won no popularity awards during his forty years of ministry. Few, if…
But the Lord said to him [Ananias], “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” (Acts 9:15-16, ESV) Have…
After they had Peter and John stand before them, they began to question them: “By what power or in what name have you done this?” (Acts 4:7 CSB) Following the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, the number of believers in Jerusalem grew daily. But so did the opposition.…
For which I [Paul] suffer trouble as an evildoer, even to the point of chains; but the word of God is not chained. (II Timothy 2:9, NKJV) The apostle Paul sat in a prison cell, and not for the first time. As he penned a letter to Timothy, his beloved friend…
“Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word.” (Acts 8:4) Have you ever thought how glorious it would feel to be part of the early church after their Day of Pentecost experience? Imagine the joy! The fellowship! The miracles! The persecution! Oops. Persecution? That’s not exactly what…
“And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name” (Acts 5:41). The early church enjoyed a glorious beginning on the Day of Pentecost, and thousands were filled with God’s Spirit. The early church faced great difficulties and was…