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PERSECUTION LEADS TO JOY

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  Acts 8:1-8 On Sunday January 8 th , 1956, on the shore of a lonely river deep in the Ecuadorian jungle, five missionaries were brutally murdered by primitive Acua Indians. News of the massacre shocked the world. To some, their death seemed a senseless tragedy. Many decried the promising missionaries cut short, the five young wives grieving of their husbands, the children left fatherless.   How does one find joy in that?   At first glance, Stephen’s death may seem pointless, here is a man with a promising career cut so short.  Stephen, was a powerhouse for the gospel, a incredible preacher, with a deep knowledge of the Old Testament… snuffed out by evil men .  And you say, “Persecution leads to joy, that is a pretty crazy  thing to say that persecution leads to joy.  We never associate joy with persecution, pain, or suffering.  We call those terrible times; events we wish we could forget; because we look at things from a self-centered...
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DYING WELL

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  Acts 6:8-15; 7:1-60 Dying well as a follower of Christ means facing the end of life with peace, trust, and active hope.   Dying well means having eternity stapled over our eyes to see that death isn’t the end but the beginning.  Dying well is not allowing this fallen world to discourage, or dictate, your life away from seeing the glory in redemption that is found in Christ alone.  Dying well is seeing Christ in the midst of the suffering and the storms of life; it’s seeing Christ in the chaos.   This hope is anchored in the belief that Jesus conquered death and opened the door to eternal life.   I love what John MacArthur said in a sermon, “For those of us who are Christians there is no fear of death. Death is an entrance into the presence of the Lord. We have no fear of what is coming after death, only joy and anticipation. Even when I die, I will not be abandoned, but I will go through death into the path of eternal life, eternal joy, et...
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