0.000000 10.000000 To you live pre-recorded from the trustworthy podcast studio, it's Mary Beth.
10.000000 13.000000 Yes, it is. And it's Sarah.
13.000000 18.000000 Hello, there, listeners. We thought we would switch it up a little bit today.
18.000000 22.000000 We always expect the unexpected around here at Trustworthy.
22.000000 27.000000 That's right. And we are going to be talking about some heavy subjects today.
27.000000 32.000000 So we thought we would start out in a lighthearted manner.
32.000000 41.000000 Not to make light of this is not to make light of the subject matter, but just to encourage our hearts.
41.000000 47.000000 Mary Beth, we have talked about precious faith in our last episode.
47.000000 52.000000 And while we were researching that and discussing it,
52.000000 57.000000 this topic about martyrdom came up.
57.000000 62.000000 Yeah, it's not surprising, if you really think about it,
62.000000 67.000000 that if you carry that thought through of how precious our faith is,
67.000000 73.000000 that it should be valuable enough to us that we should be willing to die for it.
73.000000 76.000000 And there are so many who have come before us who have.
76.000000 82.000000 Yes, and we were encouraged to pursue this topic also by the him that we had chosen,
82.000000 86.000000 which we thought going into the episode was faith of our fathers.
86.000000 90.000000 But as we found out, was faith of our martyrs.
90.000000 100.000000 So we are going to just spend a little time today talking about some folks who were willing to die for the faith.
100.000000 105.000000 And I think the first one.
105.000000 110.000000 Well, actually, before we get into this, I want to make a disclaimer.
110.000000 120.000000 If you have small children listening with you or you are faint of heart.
120.000000 124.000000 Just just know that some of this conversation may get a little.
124.000000 134.000000 It's a little graphic, just in its description of what has happened to so many of our early Christians.
134.000000 137.000000 Well, with that.
137.000000 141.000000 Sarah, why did we want to talk more about martyrs?
141.000000 146.000000 Each of us immediately had some people that came to mind.
146.000000 149.000000 For me, I think I'm going to answer my own question first.
149.000000 151.000000 Why did I want to talk about it?
151.000000 154.000000 Why did you want to talk about martyrs?
154.000000 156.000000 Thanks for setting me up, Sarah.
156.000000 158.000000 No problem.
158.000000 161.000000 There is.
161.000000 169.000000 Much to be learned from those who came before us just in history and in scripture and all those things.
169.000000 174.000000 But as we're talking about this season.
174.000000 180.000000 How does that impact our own discipleship and what can we learn from people who.
180.000000 183.000000 When faced with.
183.000000 185.000000 The option.
185.000000 187.000000 Sometimes to.
187.000000 191.000000 You know, just as Peter denied Jesus as we talked about.
191.000000 196.000000 Some people were given the question and chose to stand firm in this precious faith.
196.000000 197.000000 What can that teach us?
197.000000 200.000000 And so that's where my curiosity was going is.
200.000000 203.000000 It meant enough to them.
203.000000 206.000000 To be willing to die for it.
206.000000 209.000000 What should I learn from that?
209.000000 210.000000 What about you, Sarah?
210.000000 215.000000 Why did you want to talk about this?
215.000000 220.000000 This may seem like a simple and try answer, but it's where the research led us.
220.000000 227.000000 I mean, when we were just as I mentioned earlier, you know, when we came across the lyrics for the song and started thinking about the martyrs and.
227.000000 235.000000 And I always sort of thought about the martyrs as this thing that happened in the past and sort of behind this hazy veil of history and.
235.000000 238.000000 Oh, yes.
238.000000 243.000000 And martyrs mere was a book that grew up with in the and a Baptist men and a tradition and.
243.000000 248.000000 Yeah, there's there's Fox's book of martyrs and you know, all these things that you like, oh, did you ever read that?
248.000000 249.000000 That's crazy.
249.000000 251.000000 You know, did you see those crazy pictures?
251.000000 255.000000 You know, it was just like, oh, this is stuff that happened a long time ago.
255.000000 257.000000 But.
257.000000 259.000000 It's not in the past.
259.000000 260.000000 It's happening right now.
260.000000 274.000000 Because we are recording this, we just just found out yesterday the day before that there were some Christians that were martyred for their faith, some in Ethiopia, some in Jordan.
274.000000 278.000000 And I'm sure more that are going unreported.
278.000000 283.000000 Yeah, we often in the United States.
283.000000 291.000000 There's a lot of isolation from a lot of that reality because of the amazing freedoms and protections and rights we have here.
291.000000 295.000000 But it is still happening and.
295.000000 301.000000 Also worth mentioning the international day of prayer for the persecuted church.
301.000000 307.000000 When this episode airs will have just happened on the first Sunday in November, I think every year.
307.000000 311.000000 And so just a timely reminder that.
311.000000 315.000000 Martyrdom is not something that happened thousands of years ago.
315.000000 319.000000 I mean, it did happen thousands of years ago, but it did not end thousands of years ago.
319.000000 323.000000 It is still happening in our world today.
323.000000 327.000000 And so let's learn, let's learn about some of those people.
327.000000 331.000000 What, what about their life and death.
331.000000 335.000000 shows how precious their faith was to them.
335.000000 345.000000 Yeah, so just as a piece of information, we will include some links to both martyrs mirror and foxes book of martyrs.
345.000000 351.000000 This was where we started our research for these folks that were going to be discussing.
351.000000 363.000000 And I want to just take a brief moment and talk about.
363.000000 375.000000 The manner of death of almost all of Christ 12 apostles, I guess with the exception of John, although he did not.
375.000000 385.000000 John, even though he technically died in his old age, I think he was around 80, you know, just a natural death.
385.000000 389.000000 He suffered a lot of trials during his life.
389.000000 395.000000 I think at one point, he was even put into like that of boiling oil, but was miraculously delivered from it.
395.000000 403.000000 So it's yeah, there are well documented accounts of the deaths of the early apostles.
403.000000 407.000000 And as I said, I, you know, martyrs mirror was what I, I used.
407.000000 413.000000 I think we, it's common, you know, this can be more common knowledge about Peter.
413.000000 419.000000 I think we discussed that last time that he was crucified, but he requested to be crucified upside down.
419.000000 424.000000 Because he did not consider himself worthy to be crucified in the same manner as Christ.
424.000000 436.000000 Many Christians were crucified in Rome, the.
436.000000 439.000000 I struggle for a word to use.
439.000000 445.000000 I guess entertainment is appropriate.
445.000000 459.000000 I'm not feeling the elite class as, as maybe folks have already known from, you know, watching movies, like gladiator, whatever, but they loved blood sport.
459.000000 462.000000 And that was their favorite thing.
462.000000 470.000000 So under Nero, the Christians were severely persecuted and.
470.000000 473.000000 Despicable things were done.
473.000000 485.000000 They would put the hides of animals on the Christians and then set wild beasts to, you know, devour them.
485.000000 487.000000 Of course, they would crucify them.
487.000000 490.000000 They would beat them to death with rods.
490.000000 496.000000 They would put them on iron stools over hot fires.
496.000000 521.000000 They, in one particularly sadistic manner of death, they would wrap the living bodies of the Christians in wax and oil treated parchment and set them up and light them on fire for candles for their entertainment to light their entertainment.
521.000000 528.000000 Yeah, there's a lot more detail in some of these accounts.
528.000000 531.000000 It is very, very difficult to read.
531.000000 543.000000 And as I said, Mary Beth, I often thought of these martyrs as this sort of existed behind some veil of reading some of these accounts of how people were tortured for their faith.
543.000000 558.000000 It was very difficult. And I'm sure that Christians were not the only one, you know, not the only people group that were tortured in such a manner, but they were certainly targeted.
558.000000 561.000000 Yeah.
561.000000 575.000000 We were talking before we started recording about both of us have actually been to Rome and just you get such a sense of the reality of how those things probably happened and
575.000000 590.000000 just the way the city is, is was designed for it like what Sarah saying that a lot of it was entertainment, dominance, mockery of anything that was not the Roman Empire.
590.000000 593.000000 And its leaders.
593.000000 612.000000 And, you know, we're not Catholic, but it is pretty remarkable that the Vatican and everything surrounding it was built on the place where St. Peter, you know, is buried in Rome.
612.000000 621.000000 All of those things that there is their glimpses of redemption, even today from all of that that happened.
621.000000 628.000000 But Sarah, you had.
628.000000 635.000000 Sarah, I think there were specific, there's a specific family you came across when you were looking up what had happened in Rome, do you want to tell us about that?
635.000000 662.000000 But I just want to go back to one thing. Yes, Marybeth, it was certainly a surreal experience to be in Rome, beautiful city and there's a real, I don't know what the word is, sense of connection and place to be in the place where so many founders and father, you know, the fathers of our faith.
662.000000 673.000000 Faith of our fathers, right? We're physically walking and of course, you know, as we know being being killed, but in the colosseum.
673.000000 680.000000 It is, it is a structure that is falling down. It's a huge structure needs constant maintenance.
680.000000 691.000000 But when you were there, you were sharing with me that when you were there, you learned that it's actually local church that is actually collecting funds to keep up this.
691.000000 708.000000 Well, the place of so much bloodshed, but as a memorial to those who gave their lives and you were surprised and I think happy to see a very large cross erected in the colosseum.
708.000000 724.000000 Yeah, that's right. It's, it has been there, apparently for much longer than I realize, and I was telling Sarah that I was a little bit frustrated. Our tour guide did not point it out. So I raised my hand and made her do so.
724.000000 736.000000 But apparently I look this up. There was first a large cross erected in the center of the arena in 1750 to dedicate the amphitheater to Christian martyrs.
736.000000 746.000000 It went back and forth Italian authorities removed it in 1874. It came back in 1926 and that's where it's been now for a hundred years.
746.000000 768.000000 It's just a, it's a, it's a living and active history that is still very much a part of the global Christian church and what has experienced and that there is now this redemptive mark of honoring and truth telling about what really happened there.
768.000000 777.000000 It's, it's hard to describe without being there in person. And I'm very grateful that I've been able to go see it. Yeah. Yeah.
777.000000 787.000000 So back to first century Rome. We are in AD 164.
787.000000 796.000000 Wait a minute. Is that second century Rome? Yes. Okay. So back to second century Rome.
796.000000 807.000000 There was a woman named Felicitas and she was a widow. The record shows she had seven sons and they were a house church unto themselves.
807.000000 822.000000 So she and her seven sons, I'm assuming they had families, but she apparently was very well regarded in Rome and the record shows that she actually converted many people to Christ.
822.000000 834.000000 But many women and that her sons were able to convert many men. So it sounds like this family was really, you know, really furthering the kingdom of God.
834.000000 837.000000 So hold on for a second.
837.000000 843.000000 I have to find out where my, where do I find my bookmarks hold on.
843.000000 858.000000 I'm in the 14th, 1400s. Okay. There we go. All right.
858.000000 867.000000 Okay. I had been copying and pasting all of this into this document and I'm like, no, I'm not going to do that.
867.000000 880.000000 The woman Felicitas, along with her seven sons, they were denounced to the emperor and the emperor decided that he was going to, this was emperor Antonius.
880.000000 886.000000 He had resumed the persecution of the Christians that has started under Trajan for those of you that know Roman history.
886.000000 894.000000 Anyway, he put this guy named Publius, who was the magistrate in charge of this family and said, you know, you deal with these heretics, whatever.
894.000000 902.000000 So Publius first brought Felicitas and her seven sons into his home in secret to question them.
902.000000 910.000000 Yeah. And this to me would be indicative of the fact that she would probably a member of the ruling class.
910.000000 918.000000 Her husband had probably either been a member of the Senate or maybe like a high ranking, you know, Centaur, I have no idea.
918.000000 930.000000 That soldier maybe or something or officer. A known family. Yeah, because you wouldn't just bring any, you know, he went out of his way to try to save face or save the shame for her.
930.000000 939.000000 So I find that interesting. But anyway, he brings the family into his house and they, let's see.
939.000000 954.000000 He brings the entire family into his house and he entreated her and like promises and said, please, you know, renounce your faith and when she wouldn't, he said, you know, if you don't, I'm going to kill you basically.
954.000000 972.000000 And she said, and this was her response, which I really love this. She said, I am neither moved by thy flatteries and entreaties nor am I intimidated by thy threats.
972.000000 981.000000 For I experience in my heart the working of the Holy Ghost, which gives me a living power and prepares me for the conflict of suffering.
981.000000 989.000000 To endure all that thou mayest lay upon me for the confession of my faith.
989.000000 993.000000 That's awesome.
993.000000 1021.000000 When this is quoting from martyr's mirror, when Publius could not move the mother from her steadfast purpose, he said to her very well, if it seems pleasant to the to die, die alone, but have pity and a mother's compassion for thy sons and command them to ransom their own lives at least by sacrificing and command them to ransom their own lives at least by sacrificing to the gods.
1021.000000 1025.000000 And this is the part that I love and it makes me cry.
1025.000000 1042.000000 Thereupon, Felicitas said to the judge, thy compassion is pure wickedness and thy admonition is nothing but cruelty for if my sons should sacrifice to the gods they would not ransom their lives.
1042.000000 1054.000000 But sell them to the hellish fiend whose slaves, yea, whose serfs in soul and body they would become and be reserved by him in chains of darkness forever lasting fire.
1055.000000 1082.000000 Then, turning away from the judge to her sons, she said, "Remain steadfast in the faith and in the confession of Christ for Christ and his saints are waiting for you. Behold, heaven is open before you, therefore fight valiantly for your souls and show that you are faithful in the love of Christ.
1082.000000 1087.000000 Wherewith he loves you and you him."
1087.000000 1099.000000 That is a woman who is convinced of who Jesus is to her, right?
1099.000000 1114.000000 That neither life nor death could ever separate her from the love of Christ. So, as we might imagine, he has all of her seven sons tortured and killed in front of her in various manners.
1114.000000 1122.000000 And then she is killed in the end.
1122.000000 1130.000000 So, is her child, yea.
1130.000000 1144.000000 Reminds me of my mom used to have this line, I think she learned it from campus crusade, that if you really have to address who Jesus was,
1144.000000 1151.000000 he is either a liar, a lunatic or Lord.
1151.000000 1165.000000 And I mean, Felicitas was pretty convinced, right? So, she doesn't seem to be out of her mind, willing to not budge an inch.
1165.000000 1175.000000 And the world would call her, well, they did, you know, they killed her.
1175.000000 1191.000000 The world would call her crazy. I mean, in today's world, she would be considered, I don't know, separated from her children for child abuse of letting them be killed because they wouldn't just like, you know, worship.
1191.000000 1197.000000 You know, the Roman gods, I mean, it's, it's so hard for me.
1197.000000 1203.000000 And I'm assuming a lot of us listening to even grasp, like, what this must have been like.
1203.000000 1211.000000 But after having read the account of, you know, the first century martyrs that, you know, the Christians martyred, this was a common occurrence.
1211.000000 1231.000000 I mean, I was even wondering if her husband had been martyred already, you know, I don't know, you know, because it was such, like I said, all the apostles ended up dying by either burning or crucifixion or, you know, somewhere more, you know, some are worse.
1231.000000 1240.000000 I don't think, I just, I just don't think that I could handle that, like I just don't.
1240.000000 1246.000000 And yet what happened to the church, it continued to grow.
1246.000000 1247.000000 It grew.
1247.000000 1258.000000 This did not dissuade followers of Jesus from knowing him and knowing the truth and wanting others to know it.
1258.000000 1270.000000 You think about politically, how people try to stop a revolution or, you know, what Rome did, they were trying to get rid of everyone who was speaking against the empire.
1270.000000 1271.000000 It didn't work.
1271.000000 1273.000000 The Roman Empire fell.
1273.000000 1279.000000 The Church of Jesus is still going strong.
1279.000000 1281.000000 Spoiler.
1281.000000 1287.000000 Yep. Spoiler alert.
1287.000000 1294.651791 Well, let's jump forward a few hundred years.
1294.651791 1302.132880 All right. Okay. All right. Okay. All right. So one of my, the stories that I thought of right away was the story of Dirk Williams.
1302.132880 1309.791202 So this was a man in Holland, Asperen was the name of the town, apparently, he was taken captive. And he was, oh my gosh, severe tyranny from the papus.
1309.791202 1316.826848 It should be called out anyway. Okay. All right. So anyway. Yeah. So Dirk Williams. So he was captured and jailed because of his faith. And he actually was able to, he was able to escape.
1316.826848 1325.617143 And he was able to escape. And he was being pursued by a thief catcher. They, they say, I don't know, I guess somebody was, you know, going to take him back to jail.
1325.617143 1343.013424 And there it was cold at that time of year. And he was running across. So this is Holland, of course. So he's running across some sort of body of water. One can only assume, you know, a canal. I have no idea. Anyway, he ran over some thin ice and made it across.
1343.013424 1356.440091 But then the person following him broke through the ice. And when Dirk Williams realized that this man was going to die in this cold water, actually went back and pulled him out and saved his life.
1356.440091 1375.971610 And the person who the thief catcher was going to let the guy go, but the burger master was like, nope. So then again, he was present and ended up being burnt to death. So.
1375.971610 1388.971610 But anyway, that's one of the, the stories that I remember well is that even knowing that he was facing death and it was.
1388.971610 1403.971610 It was a cold day when they were burning him and like it just, it took a really long time. And so it's just to think about that is just like so hard like that trial. And, and in your mind, like, wouldn't you be like, I saved that guy's life like.
1403.971610 1422.971610 But what a testament, what a testament to how Jesus gave everything and served his apostles and so many people on the earth, like he washed Judas feet.
1422.971610 1448.971610 And he said about the, was it the Roman soldiers, forgiven they know not what they do. Yeah. I think that is the wisdom that the Holy Spirit gives to these martyrs in these situations that they can see things in a way that those who are persecuting and killing them cannot.
1448.971610 1458.971610 And for example, in this Dirk Williams story, this thief catcher who clearly had it, you know, didn't want to capture the guy again after the guy saved his life.
1458.971610 1467.971610 But he didn't have the final say. I just wonder like what happened to him? Did he come to faith? You know, was he like, oh.
1467.971610 1483.971610 It's a, I hope so. I hope so too. It's sobering story. Yeah. Certainly Felicitas and her sons were instrumental in bringing many to the Lord.
1483.971610 1488.971610 All right, Mary bath. We're going to keep moving through history.
1488.971610 1509.971610 That's right. Fast forward now to Nazi Germany in the 1930s. We have talked about Dietrich Bonhoeffer before. So some of you may be very familiar with him. But if you're not, he was German, who I was reading up on him when he was 12 years old told his parents he wanted to be a theologian.
1509.971610 1531.971610 He did. So he went to seminary, studied, was preaching, writing books. When Hitler came to power, Bonhoeffer had the foresight to say, okay, the Nazi party has changed the church so that it's allegiance is given to the Nazi party.
1531.971610 1545.971610 Bonhoeffer believed that Germany would survive the Nazi regime and continue on after it. And he said, we need to start the next church now so that it is set up for when the Nazi party is no longer in power.
1545.971610 1552.971610 So much foresight and wisdom and faith there for him. So it was called the confessing church, which confessed allegiance to Christ.
1552.971610 1570.971610 So he and some seminary friends started that church in the midst of the Nazi regime in Germany. Long story short, he went to the United States, came back, was part of a plot to overthrow Hitler.
1570.971610 1587.971610 Any of you are familiar with Valkyrie. There's a movie about it. There's lots of documentation of this. Obviously, if you know history failed attempt to overthrow Hitler, but he was arrested, sent to a concentration camp, ended up being executed by the Nazis.
1587.971610 1611.971610 In the midst of this basically decade of when the Nazis took over when he helped start this really underground new church, he wrote a book called Life Together, which I commend to you that really was for this church and and how they were to live as disciples of Christ and live out this faith.
1611.971610 1625.971610 He also wrote something called the cost of discipleship, which he knew very well living in this era. And there's even documentation on the day he was executed, he was still preaching sermons.
1625.971610 1648.971610 I found this, just his concept of he just had this ability to like we're just talking about like we're just talking about see the bigger picture, and he had this to say about death.
1648.971610 1665.971610 Death is grace, the greatest gift of grace that God gives to people who believe in him. Death is mild, death is sweet and gentle, it beckons to us with heavenly power, if we only realize that it is the gateway to our homeland.
1665.971610 1683.971610 And he also had this to say there was discussion going on about Easter, he was frustrated about it, and this is what he had to say about that, we're paying more attention to dying than to death, we're concerned to get over the act or more concerned to get over the act of dying than to overcome death.
1683.971610 1698.971610 Socrates mastered the art of dying. Christ overcame death as the last enemy. There is a real difference between the two things. The one is within the scope of human possibilities, the other means resurrection.
1698.971610 1721.971610 So he always had that eternal perspective in mind, and then on that day that they executed him.
1721.971610 1743.971610 The day that they executed him, he was hanged in concentration camp. It's recorded that as they prepared him for his death, he preached a final sermon in his words by retold by a captured royal air force pilot, whereas this is for me the end, the beginning of life.
1743.971610 1765.971610 And just not to be held back by this world. And he knew that early on, before he even knew he was going to be put to death, it reminds me of what Felicitas said to her sons or said to Publius about her sons is that like, why would I have them.
1765.971610 1779.971610 If they renounced our faith, they would just be eternal damnation, like, why would I want my child to go through that. Yeah. She knew he knew.
1779.971610 1784.971610 Well, thank you for sharing, sharing that.
1784.971610 1790.971610 And it just goes back to what we were talking.
1790.971610 1819.971610 It goes back to what we were talking about last week is not only is the faith precious because people are paying with the cost of their lives, but it's precious because they believe in it and they proclaim it and they understand that there's a real difference not only in where you go after you die.
1819.971610 1824.971610 But also in living life now. Yeah.
1824.971610 1831.971610 Yeah, or at the time that they were alive.
1831.971610 1838.971610 Yeah, it's that I mean, it goes back to the passage from first Peter one.
1838.971610 1847.971610 When your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor in the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.
1847.971610 1861.971610 That it's both the day to day living now and it's the hope of the future glory, you know, that both are how we are to live.
1861.971610 1866.971610 Because I mean, I know we're talking about terrible awful things that happen people.
1866.971610 1871.971610 But it's also really encouraging because death is not the end for us.
1871.971610 1879.971610 Like Bonhoeffer said, you know, we don't have to fear like what's what's the worst they can do to us, right?
1879.971610 1884.971610 Send us to be with God. Yeah, great. Bring it on. Yeah.
1884.971610 1900.971610 And I think of again, you know, faith as that verb and as the noun, like it is the way that we live out our life and light of those promises, as we were talking about last week.
1900.971610 1912.971610 I mean, clearly, this is an active base for these folks that willingly gave themselves over to death because of it.
1912.971610 1920.971610 And it's the very talk about the very foundation of your life.
1920.971610 1933.971610 Well, weighty topic for sure, but, but so much, I think so much encouragement, Mary Beth, so much encouragement and gratitude.
1933.971610 1948.971610 And my part, I think the one thing that has come through for me and studying this more is how grateful I am to be born in the place and time that I've been born.
1948.971610 1963.971610 I remember in 2015, when there were a group of Egyptian Coptic Christians who were beheaded by ISIS on video for the world to see.
1963.971610 1970.971610 Still claiming and praising the name of Jesus as the beheadings were happening.
1970.971610 1985.971610 That our pastor where I was in church at the time, my pastor was sharing that the prayer requests coming from that part of the world from Christian pastors was not once.
1985.971610 1999.971610 ease our suffering, remove this from us. The prayer was always for perseverance and again, like as Americans, we don't, we don't get that.
1999.971610 2005.971610 I don't, I don't get that on a day to day living my life level.
2005.971610 2016.971610 My prayer is often remove this hard thing from my life. Yeah, you know, I think change my circumstance. Yes, yes, that's typically that's always our prayer.
2016.971610 2026.971610 We don't put more money in my bank account some way, remove this illness, you know, make it so that this situation goes away, all these things.
2026.971610 2041.971610 And do we how often do we pray for the perseverance and the divine help that that we have available to us make me stood fast in my faith.
2041.971610 2053.971610 Why is that not more my prayer? Right, right, you know, through his divine power has given us everything we need to live a godly life, which yeah, why are we not asking for that?
2053.971610 2062.971610 I mean, and just goes back, I think to James, you know, I love, I love James, I'm just going to briefly read something that I know is so familiar to us.
2062.971610 2074.971610 I'm going to read it in the NLT. James one, two, dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.
2074.971610 2088.971610 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete needing nothing.
2088.971610 2097.971610 Endurance perseverance.
2097.971610 2123.971610 I'm just going to share James one, two in the NIV, consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance, let perseverance finish its work in you so you may be mature and complete not lacking anything.
2123.971610 2134.971610 It reminds me in Romans 6, there is discussion of suffering.
2134.971610 2140.971610 And as a slight caveat to this discussion we're having.
2140.971610 2156.971610 We're not masochists, we do not rejoice in the disgusting brutality that Christians have faced through the ages. So I just want to I just want to put that in there that we're not glorifying the suffering for suffering sake.
2156.971610 2165.971610 It is more the recognition that this world has fallen and there will be suffering.
2165.971610 2174.971610What's that say about us. What does that say about our faith? What does that say about Christ? And what is God doing through it?
2174.971610 2189.971610 Yeah, it just reminds me when Jesus said to Paul, I will show him how much he must suffer for my sake. Yeah, I said about Paul.
2207.971610 2214.971610 And again, I just want to bring this around to our ham that we had last time.
2214.971610 2220.971610 You know, how our hearts beat high with joy whenever we hear that glorious word.
2220.971610 2230.971610 And it's the words of Christ, the promise that he said, you know, I'm leaving for a little while, but I will return.
2230.971610 2235.971610 And you know, in this world, you will have trouble, but take hard, I've overcome the world.
2235.971610 2244.971610 And, you know, if you abide in me and I, you know, if you abide in me, then you are also part of the Father.
2244.971610 2249.971610 Like it's just there's so many things, so many promises.
2249.971610 2257.971610 And I think that yes, these people are written into history, right, that we've talked about today.
2257.971610 2275.971610 These people publicly lived and died for Christ in such a way as to make a big difference and bring many to the faith, but dear listeners, we don't have to go through such.
2275.971610 2290.971610 The macabre trials, you know, we don't have to go through such crazy difficult things in our life to feel the weight of persecution or to feel the trials that are in life.
2290.971610 2301.971610 But it does not excuse us from living for Christ and from telling the world about Christ.
2301.971610 2324.971610 I think if there's one or the big learning, I think that I could take away from this Mary Beth, this research is that just because my name's not going to go down in history, just because I may not have to go through some crazy trial and fiery death.
2324.971610 2338.971610 I still must be faithful, live for Christ, and tell other people about it.
2338.971610 2356.971610 And whether or not we are put to death for our faith, the same value of that faith that Felicitas had, it's worth the same to us.
2356.971610 2373.971610 And life on this side of eternity may look different for each of us, but the common thread there is we know that this faith that these promises that God has made to us will be fulfilled.
2373.971610 2375.971610 Come with me.
2375.971610 2377.971610 Yes.
2377.971610 2406.971610 In this life or the next, Hebrews 12, one, see Hebrews 12, starting with first one, therefore since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders.
2406.971610 2415.971610 And the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance, the race marked out for us.
2415.971610 2431.971610 Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfector of faith, for the joy set before him he endured the cross, squaring at shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
2431.971610 2441.971610 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
2441.971610 2451.644735 I am Sarah, and I am Mary Beth, and this is trustworthy. And this is trustworthy.