Red Letter Living - Part Four - SOMETHING WORTH SUFFERING FOR

SOMETHING WORTH SUFFERING FOR
Red Letter Living - Part Four
Matthew 5:10-12
February 9, 2025
5:10 "Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven.
11 Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of
evil against you because of me.
12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven,
for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” - Matthew 5:10-12 NIV
One of Jesus’ outstanding qualities was His (sheer honesty).
“He did not come to make life easy, but to make men great.” - C. S. Lewis
3 AREAS CHRISTIANITY TENDS TO DISRUPT OUR LIVES:
1. Christianity may disrupt your (work).
2. Christianity will disrupt your social life.
3. Christianity often will disrupt your (family life).
10:34 “Don’t imagine that I came to bring peace to the earth! I came not to bring peace, but a
sword.
35 ‘I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a
daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
36 Your enemies will be right in your own household.’” - Matthew 10:34-36 NIV
THE BLESSINGS OF SUFFERING
1. Suffering persecution is a chance to prove our (loyalty to Christ).
2. Suffering persecution puts us in the company of past great saints.
3. Suffering persecution allows us to share in the “(great occasion).”
4. Suffering persecution makes it (easier for) those who follow.
5. Suffering persecution brings us closer to Jesus.
Persecution is inevitable because when the Church truly is the Church, it
functions as the conscience of the nation and of society.
“It is unlikely that death awaits us because of our loyalty to the Christian faith…. Christ still
needs his witnesses; he needs those who are prepared, not so much to die for him, as to live
for him.” - William Barclay