The First Outbreak of Persecution Against the Church - Part 1

All right, well let's take our Bible. Let's turn to Acts chapter 4. Please turn in your Bible to Acts chapter 4. Now tonight we move into a new chapter and our study here and we move into a new chapter in the history, in the story of the church here in Jerusalem. Now let's look at what we have seen so far and let's take a look at where we are going. In Acts chapter 2 we saw that the promised person of the Holy Spirit was poured out on that tiny group of believers that was about 120 or so. We know that it's the day of Pentecost and the results was that the church was truly born.

But we saw that there were three results from the signs and wonders that came out of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. First of all, Peter stepped up and preached the first sermon recorded in the book of Acts and then second about 3,000 souls were saved. The text says they were baptized and added to the number the church and then third that tiny infant church at Jerusalem suddenly became the large infant church in Jerusalem. Now today I thought about a tremendous and much needed lesson this right here. A church can be large and still be in its infancy and in its immaturity. Size does not dictate those things.

A church can be large and still be in its infancy and in its immaturity. That's what we have here. The church in Jerusalem was still in its infancy but a church can be small and certainly be a very mature church. One of my favorite is the Philippian church. They were very small, scholars tell us, especially compared to the size of the Jerusalem church right here, but they were very very mature. Then in the end of chapter 2, we saw the first broad description of the church. But then in chapter 3, Acts chapter 3, we saw the first miracle performed in the book of Acts and when I say miracle, I mean a miracle of healing.

God through Peter and John healed the lame beggar there at the temple gate called beautiful. And there were three results from the healing of the man who had been laying since birth. But to see these three results, we have to get on into chapter 4. But first Peter stepped forward and he preached the second recorded sermon in the book of Acts. And then second, many more were saved and added to the number of the believers there in the church. And then third, persecution broke out against the church. Now there's a lesson here. Throughout the book of Acts, we will learn that persecution has many positive effects on the church.

Now there are some negative ones, but we're going to see there are many positive effects on the church. Persecution always proves the church, proves as in proves who they are and what they are. Persecution, it purifies the church. Persecution matures the church and at times persecution multiplies the church. Well then at the end of chapter 4, we see the second broad description of the church there in Jerusalem. So you can see that we have before us a new chapter in the history, in the story of the birth and the development of the church. Now what is that new chapter? Persecution. Persecution.

The first outbreak of persecution against the Christians there in Jerusalem and against the church there in Jerusalem. Now before we really get into the verses, we must understand something here. In the west, we live in the west and particularly in our country, we rarely if ever face real persecution. And especially those of us who live in the south where Christianity is so widely accepted. So true Christian persecution is foreign to us in our lives and in our experience. It is foreign to us. But throughout church history, at times the churches face great and brutal persecution.

And if we study church history at all, we will see when and how persecution is broken out and the results both good and bad. I will give you an example. The story of a man named Richard Wombaran. In the story of his life, we can get a glimpse of the great persecution that broke out against the church during the 1950s and beyond in the eastern block countries that were aligned with the Soviet Union during the Cold War years.

Now more specifically, in the story of Richard Wombaran, we get a glimpse of the persecution of the church that took place in Romania under the cruel rule of Nicolae Ceausescu, who was one of the most cruel and oppressive communist dictators in modern history. The persecution and the demonic cruelty the communists inflicted on the church and believers during Ceausescu's reign is hard to imagine. And if you have a weak stomach, you don't want to read it or hear about it. Now you could read about Richard Wombaran and the persecution of the church I mentioned in a book titled "Tortured for Christ." It's a good read. I have a copy somewhere.

I will try to find it if you need to borrow it. "Tortured for Christ." As a matter of fact, there was a documentary, a movie made by that title that would be good for you to listen to or watch. Now I don't recommend watching that with your children. And I would encourage you to do some reading here. You can go online and find some testimonies and sermons by Richard Wombaran. I would even encourage you to maybe pick up a church history work or listen to some church history. Why? Because understanding church history really helps us live better in our day and in our time. Now what's my point here?

Because of God's providence in our lives, we have not experienced true persecution. So persecution is foreign to us and we will find that it is hard for us to relate. Now think about it. If I preach Christ from this pulpit and out of this church openly, if we share the gospel with the lost in the public, what will be the reaction to the public? What will be the reaction to the government leaders that we live under? The responses will be positive. Someone might say they disagree with you. Someone might say they don't like what's being preached here, but we will not endure persecution.

Well in Peter and John's day we will see that when they publicly preach the gospel, they risk being violently killed quickly and legally with no public pushback or complaint. And they had no recourse available to them like we do in our day other than turning to God for protection and deliverance. Now this is a big lesson for us. In all circumstances in life, what is our best recourse? The turn to God. We will see that in persecution in the book of Acts, they only can go to God. They can only go to God in prayer and trust in Him. And many times we fail to see that God in turning to God for our help and not to man is the best thing we can do.

So tonight we move into a new chapter, chapter four, but we move into a new chapter in the story in the history of the New Testament church and that is persecution. Actually specifically verses 1 to 31 are all about this outbreak of persecution, how Peter and John reacted, how the church reacted, how they responded to this particular case of persecution. But tonight we're going to get started in these verses. I want to read verses 1 to 12. So let's read them together and I would encourage you to maybe read the rest of the verses on your own. I encourage you to study on your own. Be good for you to do that.

Verse 1, "As they were speaking to the people," this is Peter and John, "the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. But many of those who had heard the word believed in the number of the men who came to be about five thousand.

On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander and all who were of the high priestly family. And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, 'By what power or by what name did you do this?' Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, 'Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by him this man is standing before you well." That would be healed.

"This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders which has become the cornerstone, and there is salvation and no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." Now from verses 1 to 7, tonight I want to make two observations and then next week we're really just going to pick up with where we left off and go on down to verse 12 and we will make four observations in total there. But tonight, first, we will look out the outbreak of this persecution. That's in verses 1 to 4. And then second, we will look at the interrogation of Peter and John by the religious leaders. So let's get started.

This is what I call the outbreak of persecution verses 1 to 4, the outbreak of persecution. Let's read the verses again, then you'll see the outbreak. "As they," that's Peter and John, "were speaking to the people, that's all the crowd who had gathered there, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead, and they arrested them, put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening.

But many of those who had heard the word believed and the number of the men came to about 5,000." Now here we can see a great deal of overlap from the events of chapter 3. This is really simply a continuation of all of these events. But before we get into the specifics, let's make sure we see the big picture. After the lame beggar was healed and as he was clinging on to Peter and John, Peter began to preach Christ and the gospel to the crowd of Jews that had gathered around them from all of the commotion. And here we see Peter still speaking to the people, still preaching, and the commotion of this healing.

And Peter's preaching was so great that this attracted the attention of the religious leaders that were there at the temple at the time. So we have this man who all knew who had been lame since birth, he was leaping around and praising God because he had been healed, and he was clinging to holding on to Peter and John as they were walking into Solomon's portico. So there was a lot of a commotion there. Then we have a crowd of Jews gathering around to see this healed man, for they knew who he was. So there's more commotion there as the crowd gathers. Then we have Peter preaching Jesus and the gospel directly to this great crowd.

So that adds to the commotion. "Therefore the temple guards and the priests on duty, as well as the Sadducees, came to see what was happening, and as we will see, they were not happy at all." So let's see what happened here. Let's look at this outbreak of persecution. First notice the annoyance of the religious leaders. The English standard uses that word, and we see that in verses 1 to 2. Now let's take a look at who these religious leaders were. The priests were the normal or ordinary priests who were there at the temple, and they were responsible for the sacrifices and the services there at the temple.

But then the captain of the temple, the legacy standard Bible, the New American says the captain of the temple guard, they can be seen as the temple police. The temple guards were Levites who were a type of police force that literally kept the law and kept order there at the temple. And then the Sadducees, they were one of the four Jewish sects or parties that made up Judaism in their day. They were the more liberal and secular of the four religious parties, and they really were rivals to the Pharisees in the Essenes and the Zealots. But although they were a small group, they were very very influential religiously and politically.

Now what is my point here? Some scholars go a lot deeper in describing these religious leaders, but what is my point? These were not all of the religious leaders, as we will see, but some of the religious leaders who were there at the temple. But notice how they reacted to these things. The text says they came upon them, and language scholars tell us that this speaks of a coming upon these people and these events suddenly, and at times with hostile intentions. The language scholar A.T. Robertson says this speaks of a bursting upon them suddenly, and with a hostile attitude. The text also says that they were greatly annoyed.

The new American says greatly disturbed, and this speaks of being worked up. This speaks of being indignant, even angry. So notice the reaction of the priests, the temple police, you could call them temple guards, and some of the Sadducees. They quickly descended on the situation with a hostile attitude and a hostile approach, and they were greatly disturbed. They were angry at what was happening here. But why? Was it because of the healing? Was it because of the crowd that they had gathered? Why were they angry? Why were they reacting this way?

Well, verse 2 tells us it was because they were preaching Jesus, and more specifically, they were preaching the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. So notice why they were so worked up. Y'all know what that phrase means? Worked up. First, they had all taken part in the public execution of Jesus. We know that. In their eyes, Jesus was seen as a false teacher and a blasphemer. So these are the ones who had put Jesus to death, obviously, in connection with the Romans. But then second, Peter was accusing them of the death of Christ Jesus.

He was using the personal pronoun "you," and he was making it known to all that were there that they were guilty of killing not just Jesus, but the promised Messiah of God. And then third, Peter was preaching that Jesus had resurrected from the dead. And if you know anything about the Sadducees, you know that the Sadducees in their teaching, they didn't believe in the resurrection, whereas the Pharisees did. But let's keep going on. There was much more than enraged the leaders. Fourth, later on in the verses, we will see that Peter and John were unschooled, ordinary men.

They were not educated according to the ways of the religious leaders and through the schools of the religious leaders. So they were horribly mortified. These religious leaders were angered. They were enraged that they were teaching the people when they had not been given the authority to do so. Albert Barnes says of these things, and I'm quoting, "They did not grieve because they thought it was public calamity, but because it interfered with their authority and opposed their doctrine." Barnes goes on to say, "They," that's the religious leaders, "were offended that the unlearned Galileans in no way connected with their priestly office and unauthorized by them should presume to set themselves up as religious teachers.

They claimed the right to watch over the interests of the people and to declare who was authorized to instruct the nation." So these religious leaders were annoyed, but it was more. They were angered, and they swiftly descended upon Peter and John with the attitude of violence and the potential for violence if need be. But then second, notice the arrest of Peter and John. Now it doesn't say it, but I wonder if they arrested the healed beggar too, because he's in the middle of all these things.

But we see their arrest in verse 3, but here we clearly see that the religious leaders arrested Peter and John, and they put them in custody until the next day because it was already evening. I like one thing that John MacArthur pointed out here. He says that Peter's sermon must have been longer than it recorded in chapter 3. That is because he started his sermon soon after the ninth hour, but at the time of their arrest it was late in the evening. So it's obvious that Peter preached much longer, and he gave much more information in his preaching than Luke records in Acts chapter 3. But the point here is that Peter and John were arrested.

They were put into custody. They were not given any choice here, and as a matter of fact they would have not been read their Miranda rights. They didn't have rights like we do today, and right now some of you are thinking, "What are Miranda rights? We'll go look that up." But then third, we see the salvation of many souls on that day. That's seen in verse 4. Now let's go back to verses 1 to 4. I want us to read them again and notice what is happening here. Verses 1 to 4. As they, Peter and John, were speaking to the people. We've seen that they spoke longer than we see in chapter 3.

The priest and the temple and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came upon them. We see how they did. Greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they arrested them and put them into custody until the next day for it was already the evening. But many of those who had heard the word, that's what was preached, believed, and the number of the men came to about 5,000. That would be 5,000 in the church. So notice what we have here. Here we see that through these events and through the preaching, many souls were saved and added to the number of believers.

The text says that the number of believers grew to about 5,000. Notice it specifies men. So that means that about 120 or so who were praying and waiting on the Lord, I believe there in the upper room, at the day of Pentecost that exploded to 3,000. Then we see that it grew even more. So this means that the church grew by thousands as a result. Again, and notice what we have. First we see specific recorded church growth. Somehow, some way, they knew how many had come to faith in Christ and were added to the church. This is tangible record keeping. But then second, we will see this.

This is the last time a number like this is given in the book of Acts. I ran across this somewhere in my study, but one scholar said that the church grew too fast and too far to keep up with specific numbers like this because soon we're going to see that persecution caused the church to multiply. But notice what we have here in verses 1 to 4. While Peter was preaching, the verse says they were preaching, so we have Peter and John.

But while Peter and John were preaching to this great crowd, the religious leaders, the temple police, they swooped in and they quickly with a hostile and violent attitude and intent, and they arrested Peter and John for preaching Jesus as the promised Messiah and that he had been resurrected from the dead. So here in verses 1 to 4, we have the outbreak of persecution against the church there at Jerusalem. And we also have a great harvest of souls and great, great church growth.

Now, at this time, I want to take a little more time than I normally do in what I would call the application part of the message, but I want to point out seven lessons from these verses. Now, this came from some Warren Wearsby teaching that I couldn't get away from. I've really shortened it and I've kind of added some to it. Some of you have Warren Wearsby's material and you may run across this. But seven lessons, some of these we've touched on, some of these are new. Number one, here we see that God is long suffering. That word or phrase means patient.

God is long suffering, very, very patient with sinners, even wicked and vile sinners, even sinners that we would say, "God, go get them." Wearsby points out that the Jewish religious leaders here have been rejecting Jesus since the ministry of John the Baptist. Think about it. They had been denying lots of light. They had been denying lots of revelation concerning Jesus as the promised Messiah for a long time and from many, many teachers and leaders. Think about that. They had been rejecting a lot of light. Now, there's a lesson here. If we're not careful, we can become impatient with lost sinners.

If our Lord is patient and long suffering with lost sinners, we should be too. Many times we can get to the point where we look at lost sinners and their sin grieves us, their rebellion grieves us, and if we're not careful we can have an attitude. "God, would you just get them?" That's not the attitude in heart we see here. And so if we're going to be Christ-like, God-like, we must be patient and long suffering with lost sinners. And even wicked and vile lost sinners, think about it. These were the very people who crucified our Lord. Number two, the second lesson.

A true gospel witness involves the good news of the gospel and the bad news of the gospel. I've already touched on this several times, but it needs to be repeated. We need to understand and hold on to the fact that there can be no repentance of sin unless the sinner is made to see their sin in their sinfulness. And that is just what Peter did in the face of these religious leaders. We haven't gotten to these verses in dividing them yet, but he looked at the religious leaders and said, "You are guilty. You did these things." So the bad news of the gospel must be preached. A person can never be saved until they are preached lost.

Now, ultimately, they are made to see their lostness by the power in the work of the Spirit. And again, I come back to this regularly. Make sure in your personal witness that you are not afraid to point out the bad news personally. I'm thankful that when someone in my family began to witness to me, they looked at me and they said, "You." This is what's wrong with you. You are a sinner. And I reacted in a very hostile way, in a horrible way, a sinful way. I told this story one time about how when my family member witnessed to me, I cursed him.

One of the families that's here tonight said that they went home and had to explain what it meant to their son that the pastor had cursed. And I apologize and they said, "Well, he doesn't know what that means. He just knows it's bad." Number three, and this one's really good now, the way to reach the masses is by helping the individual sinner. The way that we reach the masses is by helping the individual sinner. Peter and John ministered to the individual sinner, the lame beggar, and through helping the individual sinner, then they were able to minister to and make a difference in a great crowd. And what do we see?

A great crowd did come to faith in Christ. Simply the crowd was ministered to, to, and from what God did through the lame beggar. So we see great success with the crowd through the great success of the one. And one of our downfalls, being American Christians is we can be prone to big events. We can be prone to think that we have to have these big events to minister to the great crowds. Can God use those? Yes. But we fail to see that God works in the ordinary, the day to day. And a lot of times we overlook the individual in favor of the crowd where God wants us to focus on the individual and then let God take care of the crowd.

And this is what we do. We reach the masses one at a time. Number four, the best defense of the truth and the Christian life is a changed life. The best defense of the truth and the gospel and the word of God and the Christian faith is a changed life. The hill beggar was exhibit A. I mean he wouldn't go away. I mean he was attached to Peter and John through all of this. And he was Peter's defense exhibit A of the resurrection. Simply the religious leaders who rejected Jesus here, they had to do so with the proof that the message and the person of Jesus was real and right in front of them in the lame beggar.

The healed lame beggar was a living example of the saving power and resurrection of Jesus. In Luke Church our testimonies must be the greatest defense for the truth of God's word and the gospel and the church. If we don't have testimonies, living testimonies, that the word of God is true, the gospel is true, and the church is true and legitimate from our personal lives then we're nothing but a bunch of hypocrites. I've told this story but I need to repeat it. Years ago I was involved in a church that went through a big big power struggle. It was really sad, really difficult. And that power struggle really broke out.

A lot of people left, turned into a lot of division in the life of the church. And several years later I was in a work environment with lost people. And one of the men asked me if I had been on staff at that church and I said yes. And a man perked up and said, "Oh I know what went on there." And he began to describe what happened at that church. And I had been in those meetings. It was as if he was there. And he scoffed at the church and the work of the church. And what we need to see here is this. The best defense of the truth and the gospel in the Christian life and the church is the changed life and that must be seen in us.

And then the fifth lesson here. When God blesses his work, Satan is sure to show up and oppose the work so as to stop the work and silence the work and that would be the witness of the gospel. And Warren Wiersby says that Satan often uses religious people to do so. Think about who swooped in here to oppose Peter and John and what was happening here. Those were supposed to be God's people. Simply Satan energized the religious leaders to try to stop Peter and John in the work of the church. And the lesson here is this. Wiersby says it. The same crowd that opposed the ministry of Jesus also opposed the work of the apostles.

And that same kind of opposition happens today. Religious leaders a lot of times will oppose the work of the church when God's blessing it. And then number six, the sixth lesson. This one's good. God has promised to bless the use of his word. So we must be faithful to witness using his word. And what is commonly called the great high priestly prayer, we see that in John 17, Jesus prayed that the witness of his people would be successful. Simply God has promised that he would bless his work and that he would build his church and he would use his word. And this blessing is not a hope so. He doesn't hope that he'll bless his word.

He's promised that he would bless his word and his work. And so we should have, and this is a phrase I've been using a lot lately, we should have a mighty expectation for the growth of the church, the progress of the gospel, and the work of the gospel and the church going forward even in the face of great trouble and persecution. I mentioned that the West and especially Americans have not really faced persecution.

Well one of the arrogant things that American Christians can do is when churches and countries are closed on from the world and face persecution, when that wall is broken down, Americans feel like they need to go in and help the church. And a lot of times when they go in to help, they find that what's behind there is a thriving church. That went on when the Soviet Union collapsed. Number seven, the last lesson here, the name of Jesus Christ still has power. Now we do not perform apostolic miracles.

We've already dealt with that, but as believers today, we still have the power and the authority of Jesus and the name of Jesus as found in His word. Simply the name of Jesus and the work of Jesus still has power. We are Baptists, we are not Charismatics, we are not Pentecostals, but we still believe in the person in the work of the Spirit. We may not have apostolic power, but we see apostolic evangelistic power through His work and His word. And there's a lesson here. His power, the power of His word, and the power of the gospel, and the power of the name of Jesus still goes forward. So we should have a mighty expectation.

So the outbreak of persecution on this church, and I know that's been quite a lot there. So our second major point here, number two, the interrogation of Peter and John by the religious leaders. We see this in verses five to seven. The interrogation of Peter and John by the religious leaders. Let's read verses five to seven. We know they've been arrested and put into custody and on the next day, their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem. Now notice the list gets specific. With Annas, the high priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and all who were of the high priestly family.

And when they had set them in the midst, that would be before them, they inquired, by what power and by what name did you do this? Now what we have here will be much shorter than what we studied in verses one to four, but the most important thing to see is that Peter and John were interrogated by a list of particular religious leaders, and I would say the entire religious establishment. The next day, after their arrest, Peter and John had to appear before the Sanhedrin scholars tell us to give an account of these things. And notice who interrogated them besides the rulers, besides the elders and the scribes.

First there was Annas, the high priest. Now this is the same Annas that the Lord Jesus stood before, before his crucifixion, the same man. Second, there was Caiaphas. Now he was the son-in-law of Annas, and he was the one who presided over the trial of Jesus. Then there's John and Alexander. We really don't know anything about them, but then fourth, we have all who were in the family of the high priests. This would have been the men who were descendants of the high priests. Now what is the point here? Peter and John were interrogated by, they were put on trial by the entire religious system in all of the religious leadership.

And notice what they asked them. Listen to the verse in the Amplified. And by what sort of power, or in what name, that is by what kind of authority, did you do this healing? Now what's the point of their question? In their time, in their culture, and in their religion, the religion of Judaism, a name represented authority. Let me repeat that. A name represented authority. So in interrogating them and questioning them in this way, they were actually accusing them of religious rebellion.

That is because as the gatekeepers of Judaism, the gatekeepers of the work of God, and gatekeepers of the people of God, they had not given any authority to Peter and John to do these things. So in their questioning, in their interrogation, they were not asking for answers as much as they were accusing them of rebellion against God. You see, it was an authority issue. So notice what we see here in verses five to seven. The religious leaders were interrogating Peter and John, and they were not interested in hearing their response as much as setting them straight. Because think about it. They knew all that had taken place with Jesus.

They knew who these men were. They knew who was doing all this preaching. Simply they were declaring them to be rebels against God, and everything that they saw that God stood for. Now what should we learn from this in our day and time? The same attitude, the same response can come from churches and church leaders today. When a pastor or a church dares to make changes to the quote-unquote "establishment," people and church leaders can ask the same question and make the same accusation. I'll give you an example.

In our reforms back when we were nola baptist church, and then in our moving and renaming and reconstituting as Grace Life Church, some had the very same attitude as these religious leaders. Who do you think you are? I don't have time to go into too many of the details, but when we moved and left our old building, there was a process and a time where we handed that building back over to the association that we were a part of. But there was a lady who got on social media and blasted us. Two lessons here. Please don't go on social media and blast people. And second, if people go on social media and blast us, don't respond.

But she went on social media to blast us. She didn't know all of the details. She didn't know half the details or even 90 percent of what was going on, but in her blast she was basically saying, "Who do y'all think you are? You don't have the right and the authority to do that." Now I will open up a little bit of a can of worms with this next example. When we moved, we chose not to affiliate with the Southern Baptist Convention. Now I'm not mad at the Southern Baptist Convention. I have many friends who are Southern Baptist. I'm thankful for Southern Baptist. I'm not mad. I want God to bless the Southern Baptist Convention.

If Paul can rejoice that those who were against him and wrong were preaching the gospel out of jealousy, if Paul can rejoice in that, then we should rejoice in all churches who reach somebody. But when we chose not to affiliate, there were some that had this attitude of, "Who do you think you are? By what authority do you make that kind of a change?" So the point I'm trying to make is we can see that attitude, that same kind of an attitude from this religious leaders and people today. So the interrogation of Peter and John by the religious leadership and the religious and the religious establishment.

Now right here I want to pause in the verses. Next week we're really just going to pick up where we left off. But notice what we have here. Verses 1 to 31 are all about the outbreak of the first persecution against the infant church in Jerusalem. And we're going to see how Peter and John reacted, how the church reacted, and what God did through all of those things. Now the title of the message is rather simple. The first outbreak of persecution against the church, part one. The first outbreak of persecution against the church, part one. Now I want to close by asking four rhetorical questions. Ponder over these questions.

Think on these questions. Question number one. Is it wrong that we live in a place and in a time where we do not experience persecution? Is it wrong that we have been born in America? Is it wrong that we are filthy rich compared to most people in the world? Is it wrong that as a church we have money and possessions where the church in North Korea doesn't have those things? Is it wrong that we live in a place in a time where we do not experience persecution and privation like a lot of churches in the world? Think about it. There are Christians in North Korea who face persecution. What about Christians in the Middle East? We don't face that.

And if you are in a position where you meet any Christians like that or come into contact with them in such a way, you're going to see a stark contrast. Second question. If persecution is good for the church, should we do anything to bring it about? If persecution is good for the church, should we do something to bring it about persecution? You know there are some people that do that. They kind of have a martyr complex. Third question. What should the church do? What should we do while we are not experiencing persecution? I want to answer that question.

If we don't experience persecution, if we have freedom and we're blessed, it's an opportunity. It's an opportunity. It's an opportunity to go. It's an opportunity to do. We're free. As a matter of fact, if you study the church in England during the great prosperity of the British Empire, on the backs of the British Empire and colonialism went the gospel all over the British Empire. The fourth question. How should we react to brothers and sisters churches that we know or who we may come into contact with that do face and could face persecution? How should we react? So let me pray because we have covered quite a lot.

And let's pray and commit these things.