Sermons on Persecution:

Jesus Wants To Give Us Heavenly Happiness (Part 3)

Contributed by Rick Crandall on Apr 7, 2014

Jesus teaches us here that true happiness: 1. comes from having a pure heart (vs. 8). 2. comes from being a peacemaker (vs. 9). 3. can even come from being persecuted (vs. 10-12).

Jesus Wants to Give Us Heavenly Happiness (Part 3) Matthew 5:8-12 Sermon by Rick Crandall Grayson Baptist Church - March 6, 2013 *Tonight we will take another look at the happiness the Lord wants all of us to have, remembering that the word "blessed" here in the Sermon on the Mount means "happy." ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 5:8-12

Denomination: Baptist

Growth Through Oppression

Contributed by Dr. Ronald Shultz on May 3, 2014

Are you really ready for radical growth?

Exodus 1:8-12 8 Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. 9 And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we: 10 Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there ...read more

Scripture: Exodus 1:8-12

Denomination: Baptist

A Steadfast Church

Contributed by Douglas Phillips on Sep 14, 2015

The church needs to stand up and be counted on in this dark world.

A STEADFAST CHURCH ACTS 7:54 – ACTS 8:4 AS I WAS PREPARING FOR TODAYS MESSAGE I CAME ACROSS AN ILLUSTRATION THAT I FOUND TO BE QUITE INTERESTING, AND APPROPRIATE FOR TODAY’S WORLD. A MAN WHO WAS TAKING A TOUR OF MILITARY CHAPELS, SAID THAT ONE PROBLEM THEY WERE FACING WAS HAVING A ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

Suffering For The Sake Of The Savior Series

Contributed by Kevin L. Jones on Oct 18, 2015

Why must we suffer for doing what is right?

Suffering For The Sake Of The Savior I Peter 3:13-22 Back in April Noman Masih, a 14-year-old Pakistani boy was burned alive by a group of Muslim youths, he later died from his injuries. Noman was targeted because he admitted that he was a Christian. Before he died he said "I have neither enemies, ...read more

Scripture: 1 Peter 3:18-22

Denomination: Baptist

Suffering: Why? Series

Contributed by Bob Faulkner on Oct 19, 2015

One man's attempt to unravel the Scriptural reasons for suffering, especially the suffering of the people of God. Not an easy task.

SUFFERING, per the BIBLE Another man’s attempt to figure it out… It’s not as easy as we are led to believe. We get sick and right away someone tells us we are being judged of God. Maybe. Another person gets sick, and he is told there is no spiritual significance to the illness. ...read more

Scripture: Job 1:21

Denomination: Assembly Of God

"Team Extreme" Series

Contributed by Kendall Hicks on Apr 25, 2016

The idea for this series came from a series of the same name that is offered free by Life.Church. You can find it at open.church. There you will find videos, transcripts, outlines, and graphics. This message is loosely based on the life.church series.

INTRO: For the last few weeks, we’ve been a series on the family called “Bless This Home.” During this time, we have taken a few of Jesus’ beatitudes from Matthew 5 and have applied them to our families. You’ll remember that we defined BLESSED as having a much ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 5:10-16

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Handling Ridicule Series

Contributed by Paul Clemente on Jan 12, 2015

there will always be people trying to ridicule God and Christianity; how should christians respond?

We return to our study of 1 Samuel in the Old Testament. The Israelites wanted a king to rule over them just like other nations. Although God was not pleased with this, God chose a king to teach God’s Chosen People Israel a lesson; and of course, God has preserved His Word for us to learn ...read more

Scripture: 1 Samuel 11:1-15

Denomination: Independent/Bible

Responding To Ridicule

Contributed by Jerry Shirley on Sep 18, 2010

When reason fails, some turn to ridicule. They choose laughter over logic. Should the Christian respond? If so, how? Link inc. to formatted text, audio/video, PowerPoint.

Responding to Ridicule Nehemiah 4:1-3 http://gbcdecatur.org/sermons/Responding2Ridicule.html Sanballat has always lived in every time, and taken form in every church. He and others like him believe if God's kingdom is built up it will hurt their cause. They don't want to see it happen. They ...read more

Scripture: Nehemiah 4:1-3

Denomination: Baptist

Trusting God In An Unjust World Series

Contributed by Freddy Fritz on Sep 19, 2010

In today's lesson we learn that we can trust God even though the world is filled with injustice.

Scripture We like stories with happy endings. Whether the story is in a book or movie or even in real life, we like stories with happy endings. Sometimes, however, stories don’t have happy endings. Sometimes stories have sad endings. And although we prefer stories with happy endings to ...read more

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

The Enemy Within The Gates

Contributed by Christopher Holdsworth on Dec 25, 2013

The need to continue to devote ourselves to prayerful preaching.

THE ENEMY WITHIN THE GATES! Acts 5:1-16; Acts 6:1-7. There was opposition to the gospel from the very beginning of the post-Pentecostal phase of the life of the church. After all, Jesus warned us that if there were those who hated Him, there would also be those who hate us, His followers (John ...read more

Scripture: Acts 5:1-16, Acts 6:1-7

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

When Bad Things Happen To Good People

Contributed by Derrick Tuper on May 2, 2011

Pastor Lee Strobel commissioned a national survey and asked people what question they’d ask if they could only ask God one thing. The Number One response was: “Why is there suffering in the world?” Why does God allow the righteous to suffer? I mean, I’m

WHEN BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE INTRODUCTION: Pastor Lee Strobel commissioned a national survey and asked people what question they’d ask if they could only ask God one thing. The Number One response was: “Why is there suffering in the world?” Why does God allow the ...read more

Scripture: Romans 5:3-4

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

Unto The Church In Smyrna, Write Series

Contributed by Mark A. Barber on Sep 13, 2013

The church made perfect by suffering

Unto the Church in Smyrna, Write Revelation 2:8-11 Introduction Last week, we examined the letter the Lord directed John to send to Ephesus. This week we will examine the letter sent to Smyrna. As we will see, the situation in Smyrna was quite different than that of Ephesus. Jesus addresses ...read more

Scripture: Revelation 2:8-11

Denomination: Independent/Bible

Working With The Lord's Help Series

Contributed by Jason Smith on Sep 15, 2013

It should never surprise us when we do the Lord's work and people react with anger, ridicule, and rejection. Nehemiah gives us a great example of how we need to respond when the enemies of God oppose His work.

In this lesson, I would like to look at the leadership of Nehemiah through the hardship and opposition that the people went through. They had opposition from outside and discouragement from inside, yet they got the job done. It should never surprise us when we do the Lord's work and people react ...read more

Scripture: Nehemiah 4:1-20

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

An Outline For Acts 6:8-15

Contributed by Jonathan Spurlock on Jul 30, 2021

Stephen was a willing worker for the Church in the days of the Apostles. There were some people, including religious leaders, who didn't like him and made plans to do something to him.

An Outline for Acts 6:8-15 Introduction: Stephen was one of the original seven men chosen to assist the apostles (see Acts 6:1-7). He was able to more than just assist in distribution of food, as he performed “great wonders and miracles among the people” and even engaged in dialogue with members ...read more

Scripture: Acts 6:8-15

Denomination: Baptist

Why Are Christians Hated By The World? Series

Contributed by Jim Butcher on Aug 27, 2021

Jesus warned His disciples that they would be hated by the world. Why? And how do we respond?

WHAT DOES THE WORLD THINK OF JESUS? It hates Him. - John 15:18, 21, 22, 23, 24. 1. It’s easy to think of Jesus as a Mr. Rogers’ kind of guy and not think about the fact that they killed Him. He was not eminently likeable. - He called His enemies “vipers” and the “blind leading the blind.” - ...read more

Scripture: John 15:18-25

Denomination: Baptist