Facing Persecution
๐ช๐๐ฅ๐ ๐จ๐ฃ
โข Is there a time in your life when you received advice or a warning that helped you avoid a major setback? Share what happened.ย
โข How do you typically respond when others disagree with or oppose your opinions or actions?
โข Have you ever felt like giving up on something important? What made you decide to push through or persevere instead?
๐ช๐ข๐ฅ๐
โ๐๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ด ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ, ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ. ๐๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฅ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐ด ๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ; ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฅ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฅ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ด ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ. ๐๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ: โ๐ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐จ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฎ๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ.โ ๐๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ๐ค๐ถ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ฆ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ๐ค๐ถ๐ต๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ. ๐๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ต ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ด.โย ๐๐ข๐๐ก ๐ญ๐ฑ:๐ญ๐ดโ๐ฎ๐ฌ
(Read also ๐๐ข๐๐ก ๐ญ๐ฑ:๐ฎ๐ญโ๐ญ๐ฒ:๐ฐ.)
Jesus tells His followers that the persecution they will endure is a result of the worldโs rejection of the truth He speaks, and in the midst of this, He is calling them to stand firm, keeping His word and continuing to serve Him in the face of hardship. The call to serve Christ is not without cost, but it is a life that produces eternal fruit and fulfills Godโs purpose in the world. Today, we will look at what Jesus said about the persecution His followers would face.
๐ญ. ๐ช๐ฒ ๐๐ถ๐น๐น ๐ฏ๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฎ๐ธ๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐.ย
๐๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ: โ๐ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐จ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฎ๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ.โ ๐๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ๐ค๐ถ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ฆ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ๐ค๐ถ๐ต๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ. ๐๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ต ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ด.โย ๐๐ข๐๐ก ๐ญ๐ฑ:๐ฎ๐ฌ
As His followers, we can expect to face the same treatment Jesus received. Just as He was persecuted by the world, we too can expect persecution. The world can reject our message in the same way that it rejected Christ. Persecution in the name of Christ is part of living out His truth and serves as a reminder that we are sharing in His mission. Share about a time when you experienced persecution because of your faith. How did you persevere?ย
๐ฎ. ย ๐ช๐ฒ ๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐น๐ ๐ฆ๐ฝ๐ถ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ ๐๐ถ๐๐ต ๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ ๐๐ถ๐๐ป๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐ต๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐.
โ๐๐ถ๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฑ๐ช๐ณ๐ช๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ต๐ฉ, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด, ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ.โ ๐๐ข๐๐ก ๐ญ๐ฑ:๐ฎ๐ฒโ๐ฎ๐ณ
This is the hope we can hold on to: We will never be alone in our journey of faith. The Holy Spirit is always with us, helping us testify to His truth, providing strength, wisdom, and courage to proclaim the gospel. With the Spiritโs presence and guidance, we are equipped and empowered to boldly share Christโs message with the world, even in the midst of persecution. How did you experience the power of the Holy Spirit as you testify about Christ?
๐ฏ. ๐ช๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ฒ ๐บ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐.
โ๐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ฅ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ธ๐ข๐บ.โย ๐๐ข๐๐ก ๐ญ๐ฒ:๐ญ
By forewarning His disciples, Jesus is telling us that He is not taken by surprise when we experience persecution and trials. This truth will prevent us from being discouraged to the point of falling away from the mission He has called us to. Share a time when it was more bearable for you to go through hardship because you knew ahead of time that it would happen. How did you prepare for it?ย
๐๐ฃ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐๐ง๐๐ข๐ก
โข Ask God to show you the things that are hindering you from sharing your faith with those around you. Pray that you will be steadfast in your faith even when you face persecution and hardship.
โข Meditate on James 1:2โ4. Write what the Holy Spirit reveals to you about how you are to respond whenever your faith is tested.
โข Commit to pray for people you know who are facing persecution. Pray that they will be strong in the power of the Holy Spirit and that they will be surrounded by a community of believers who will continue to spur their faith.ย
๐ฃ๐ฅ๐๐ฌ๐๐ฅ
โข Thank God for sending the Holy Spirit who strengthens you as you bear witness for Christ. Pray that you will be bold in testifying about Jesus knowing that the Holy Spirit is with you.ย
โข Ask God for the grace to persevere in the midst of trials and persecution. Pray that you will experience the reality and power of God as you continue to follow Jesus even when it is difficult.
โข Pray for the people who have ridiculed, mocked, or persecuted you in the past. Ask God to give you His heart for them and pray for an opportunity to extend kindness and be a witness for Jesus this week.ย