Blessed Are The Persecuted

Hashtag blessed. Anybody, you know what I'm talking about on Facebook or Instagram and maybe you see a post, it's like somebody takes a selfie or a picture and they share something like this, it's like a toes in the sand or the summer vacation picture with the family and excuse my AI generated photos. And it's like woke up to this view, you know, too blessed to be stressed, hashtag blessed. Or maybe it's the picture of the new house and car and it's like I can't believe this is my life, it's really just like a subtle flex, you know, it's like hashtag blessed. Maybe at the new job you get the promotion, hard work pays off, new season, new year, new me, hashtag blessed. Or maybe it's like the engaged or the new married couple and I'm not knocking any of this, but you're like I get to wake up next to you for the rest of my life. We'll see if you're saying that a couple months. Hashtag, I'm kidding, blessed. It's interesting, I have never in my life seen anybody post a picture of being rejected for their faith or fired from a job or after losing friends and losing coworkers or people because of your convictions and what you stand for and say, just lost my job, just lost my friends, hashtag blessed. Why is that the case? Because oftentimes we do not associate opposition

and persecution with our understanding of what it means to be blessed, amen? But Jesus does. Persecution is the exclamation point at the end of the beatitudes. We're gonna walk through them this morning. Jesus is working through this list in the beatitudes. In verse three, he says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit. "Blessed are those who mourn the meek "and those who hunger for righteousness, the merciful, "the pure and hard." He goes down this list, the peacemakers. I heard one theologian say, the beatitudes are much like a surgeon preparing a body for heart surgery. Each cut gets deeper and deeper and closer to the heart. This one's the last cut. Says this in verse 10, "Blessed are those who are persecuted "because of righteousness. "For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. "Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you "and falsely say all kinds of evil against you "because of me rejoice and be glad. "Because great is your reward in heaven "for in the same way they persecuted the prophets "who were before you." I find it really interesting, as I've studied this this week, that Jesus spent one verse each on all the beatitudes. One, two, three, four, five, six, and seven, and he gets to the last one and the last beatitude. Beatitude number eight gets three verses.

I think Jesus knew this one would be hard to receive. I think he would be, he would be the understanding that this would be kind of hard to understand in our context. I wanna address a lie that many people submit to, that a life without adversity, a life without opposition, a life without persecution must mean that I'm on the right track. Hear me please today, church. On Mother's Day, it's like the joy of the Lord you strength. Father's Day, it's like you're gonna be persecuted, all right? (congregation laughing) Sorry. Honestly, there are entire belief systems, doctrines and denominations that will teach this false understanding that if you're sick and if you're persecuted, if you're in pain, if you have trials, if you are in opposition, maybe you've heard this, that you must not be, you must have sin in your life to tend. Or you must be praying wrong. Or you must have something that's wrong in your life. I wanna suggest to you this morning, what if you're actually doing something right? Let's look at the word of God. Because what I've learned is that the closer you get to Jesus, the more that your life begins to look like his. I don't know if you remember or not, but the guy that we worship died, he did. John 1633, it says, this Jesus,

he says, I've said these things to you that in me you may have peace in the world, you will have trouble. Tell your neighbor, say you will have trouble. Tell the other one, say you are most definitely gonna have some trouble, all right? (congregation laughing) It's always funny 'cause like you hear, people really take advantage of that. It says, "But take heart, I've overcome the world." Psalm 34, 19, many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers them of all. James 1, it says, "Count it all joy in my brothers "when you meet trials of various kinds. "For you know that the testing of your faith "produces perseverance. "Some of you this morning, you need to be reminded "that God's plan is greater than ours, "that God's thoughts are greater than ours, "that his ways are greater than our ways." Romans 8.28 reminds us, and we know that those who love God, all things work together for good for those that are called according to his purpose. James 1, 12, "Blessed is the man who remains "stead fast under trial. "For when he has stood the test, "he will receive a crown of life, "which God has promised to those who love him." So back to the beatitude, blessed are those who are persecuted

because of righteousness. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. I don't know about you, but I've never seen that one on the fridge, at the house. I've never seen it on the tea towels. I've never seen somebody get that like the tattooed, blessed are persecuted. It's not really in the memory verses for the kids, but I can tell you the longer that I've set with this beatitude and the longer that I have followed Christ, the more that I've realized, you do not reap the fruit of the eighth beatitude unless you truly live out one through seven. One through seven, these are completely countercultural to the world that we live in. Jesus gives us these things. He says, "Blessed are you when you are poor in spirit. "This means you stop living for the world's approval." And you stop living for people's approval. When you mourn over sin, you no longer laugh at what the world celebrates. When you are make you refuse to fight against what the world's weapons, when you hunger and thirst for righteousness church, you begin to make choices that the world is not going to understand. When you show mercy, this is countercultural, you disrupt the culture of revenge and getting even. When you are pure in heart, you will refuse what other people accept.

And when you become a peacemaker, you wanna stand out, be a peacemaker. You may step into conflicts where people would rather remain divided, but you are bringing solution. It's the peace of God that transcends all understanding. Listen, the beatitudes begin with our need for Jesus and the beatitudes ends with our willingness to suffer for him. When you truly live out one through seven, you will experience the fruit of number eight and there is no better person in scripture other than Jesus Christ himself than this man named Stephen. Everybody say Stephen. Stephen in the book of Acts, we're gonna talk about his life here in a second, but today at this point, if you're like, "You know what, Seth, sounds good, sounds..." None of this sounds appealing. None of this sounds comfortable. I don't desire any of this opposition and trials and persecution. Who wants to sign up for that? Listen, if you do not want any of that in your life, be lukewarm. Don't clip this and post this, all right? Be lukewarm. Stand for nothing. Have a liquid backbone.

Ride the fence in life. And you won't face persecution. You will not face opposition because the world does not persecute those that look like itself. But here may Paul promises Timothy in second Timothy. He says, indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus, look at this, will be persecuted. So let's get a working definition, persecution or Christian persecution. It is any opposition due to following Jesus, following his ways, following his word. Opposition because we have chosen to live a life like Jesus, to love like Jesus, to stand for what Jesus stands for, no matter what the cost. I want you to take note of this. Persecution is not only a willingness to die for Jesus, it is a willingness to live for him as well. There's a question I want you to filter all of this through today and it is this question, do I love my own life more than I love Jesus? Do I love my own life more than I love Jesus? It is true in many places in the world that following Jesus publicly will cost you everything. It'll cost you your life. 388 million Christians endure very high levels of persecution and discrimination. In 2025, just last year, approximately 6,000 Christians were killed for their faith. Africa is known to be one of the main locations where there is violence against Christians. North Korea, it is dangerous and life-threatening to even own a physical Bible. There are over 400,000 Christians that live in North Korea that practice their faith in secrecy.

Because if they were discovered, their entire families could be executed worldwide. There are hundreds of thousands that are forced to flee their homes, being displaced, losing their families, kidnapped, arrested, abused, sexual violence. And all of this is the norm for many people on the other side of the globe that say, "I'm going to follow Jesus, I'm going to submit to the way of Jesus they know they're signing up for this." In China, 70 million Christians worship in homes, and they are hidden in what is known as underground churches in secrecy. These statistics represent real people, real families, real conflicts, and real communities, and they are being torn apart for their faith in Jesus. Just this last week, myself and some of our elders, we sat down with a missionary here locally who serves in a very dangerous part of the world. In a few weeks, we are going to be supporting this missionary and investing in what they're doing. I've got to be as vague as possible because of the location they serve, it is that dangerous. And as I am listening to the words of this person speak, I am thinking, "Listen, I could never look in the eyes of a Christian martyr, someone who dies for their faith, someone across the world who's being persecuted, like all of the things I just said, and say, "You know what? Yeah, I could totally relate." Yeah, man, I understand. I get it. I get what you're going through. The truth is this, we cannot relate, church. We can't. But what we do is we serve the same Jesus, amen? We serve the same God. We have given our life to the same Jesus. We worship the same Jesus, and when you follow this Jesus of the Bible, it will cost you something.

It will cost you something. And if you're like, "Well, Seth, I've been following Jesus for years, and it hasn't, nothing's changed. It hasn't cost me anything. Hear me. I don't mean to break the bad news to you. You are not following Jesus. You may be following something else that you've made up in your mind, but you've got to lay some things beside and behind. You've got to drop off some stuff. You've got to change the way that you live, and repent of your sin. Everything is different. Not everything is perfect, but everything is different. Persecution in the West looks way different. Here we may be persecuted and lose comfort in relationships and reputation and maybe an opportunity. You may lose some friendships. You may lose some people. You may be misunderstood and mislabeled and mocked and falsely accused. In your workplace, you may lose influence. You may lose clients and income. You may not get the promotion that you deserve because you refuse to do something that's against the standards of God's Word, amen, but it's worth it every time. It's not like that persecution, but it is persecution. It will cost you something. There will be a time in your life where you know that God is saying, "You need to speak up." And instead of staying silent, you're going to say what needs to be said because it has to be said. It's going to cost you something.

Listen, what a blessing it is to endure momentary affliction so that I could experience the fullness of God. So that's what persecution is. I want to be really clear about what persecution is not. Persecution is not when someone takes your parking spot or your seat at church. We got cameras. I'm just saying. persecution is not when someone says, "Happy holidays instead of Merry Christmas." You're like, "Ah." They know I'm a Christian. Like, come on, man. It's not when you're in Chick-fil-A and they forget to say, "My pleasure," or get your Chick-fil-A sauce like the 50 that you wanted, right? Persecution is not when you go through Starbucks and they gave you four pumps of caramel instead of seven. That's not persecution. You've all done things like this. That's called First World Problems. Amen. All right. Recently, I got my driver's license suspended. Confess and be healed. All right. Wow. Maybe I saw you in court. I did see three people in court. (congregation laughing) Just to throw this out there, don't say hey Pastor Seth at the court. (congregation laughing)

That's not the, I'm like, this, like I don't know you, I ain't never seen you. I'm about to take this podium, I'm nervous. I'm gonna end up on court conduct or fake little mug shots, like I'm nervous, you know? I was driving, I did a hospital visit and I'm just, I got taken, and I'm coming south and I'm on my way to Central Arkansas. I was running late for meetings and so I'm on Google Maps. It's on my little magnet on my dash and I'm putting in the address to figure out how fast I have to drive to Central Arkansas. And you know, there's cameras over the interstate right there and they will take pictures of you and there's a line of police officers. Sorry if I'm right now at the police officers. On the other side and you're gonna get pulled over. You know, you do the crime, you do the time. And so I'm like, he says, you're gonna have to go to court and I'm like, oh my goodness, this is embarrassing. We just announced in Elsie Bentonville and oh yeah, the pastor is in jail, you know? And I was like, I was telling Kendra. I was like, babe, I'm so nervous, I'm gonna go to jail. She's like, but it's, that's okay. You can write letters like Paul did, it's gonna be great. You know, like my wife said that to me. I'm like, what is wrong with you? And so I get there and I get this hefty fine.

They need to put that towards NIL for football in Jesus name. And so everybody there is for the same reason. And then he says, you're gonna have your license suspended for 30 days. And I'm like, this is terrible. It's embarrassing. I had to give away my license. And I got this suspended license. And I'm like, I'm a criminal, I'm like, what is going on? And so the next day after my court date, we have family vacation. And those that know me and Kendra well, you know, we fight over a couple things in our marriage. And number one on that list is when one of us drives. (congregation laughing) And so I'm like, this is persecution. (congregation laughing) And it gets worse. We get back from that trip. I'm the coach of my son's baseball team. He's seven. All right, it's Coach Pitch. And I could not drive my own son to his own game. Less than a half mile from my house. I had to call our youth pastor, Pastor Mason. It's like, hey, man, man, to please don't tell anybody, like, I need you to pick me up, take me insane to this game. I felt like a little kid. Zane's in the backseat.

Daddy, why is Uncle Mason driving us everywhere? My daddy's got to send some work text. Mason's like, that's what got you into this predicament, okay? Listen, how foolish would it be for me to have something like that that was my fault and be like, you know what, Satan's really working overtime? Like the enemy's really out trying to get me, no, what if it's like, just stay off of your phone when you're in the car? And all God's people said, amen, okay, are we on the same page? Persecution is not suffering the consequences of your bad decision-making, all right? That's called life, that's called sewing and reaping. You plant onions, you get onions, you plant apples, you get an apple tree, and when you make bad decisions, you go reap the fruit of it. Sewing and reaping Stephen, this God teaches us a lot about real persecution. The Bible tells us that Stephen was a man full of faith. He was full of the Holy Spirit. He was full of wisdom and grace and power. His life presents us with a question I pray that you would take personal today, and it's this, what is inside of you? Like what's inside of you? What are you full of? You know the old saying, when you get squeezed, what is inside of you, well, what? You'll come out.

You squeeze lemon juice, you squeeze oranges, you get orange juice. My prayer is that when a Christian at New Life Church and the Arkansas get squeezed, people would see the fruit of the Spirit, that they would see a little bit of Jesus. They would see some of what we're talking about today. Listen, whatever you feel yourself with when no one is watching, will eventually come out of you in public when you endure opposition. How many of you will agree? If you've lived for Jesus at any amount of your life, there's gonna be a moment that you get squeezed. And there's gonna be a moment that everybody else is watching how you respond. Persecution does not create your character, it just simply reveals it. Stephen gets squeezed, faith comes out, grace comes out, wisdom comes out, truth comes out. I want us to unpack this persecution often meets us on the road of obedience. I want you to see this. On the road of obedience. Now Stephen acts chapter six verse eight, a man full of God's grace and power performed great wonders and signs among the people and opposition arose right after he was obedient in the middle of obeying God. Opposition presented itself.

that the spirit gave him as he spoke. And then they secretly persuaded some men to say, we have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God. Listen, I'm from Jacksonville. That's what we say. We say they're drinking a bunch of hate rate. Okay, that's what we would say. And so they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and they brought him before the Sanhedrin. And they produced false witnesses who testified, this fellow never stopped speaking against the holy place and against the law. For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses as handed down to us. Listen, have you ever noticed this one pause? The enemy is not wasting time opposing people who are not trying to build the kingdom of God. I'll say it this way, when you get saved, the target does not get smaller on your back. It gets bigger. Because now you are going on the narrow road and you are going the way of God and you have a set of biblical standards and values. That's when life brings opposition. I want you to remember this, Stephen did not encounter resistance

because he abandoned his assignment. He encountered resistance while carrying it out right in the middle of it. Many people assume this though. Like this is difficult so God must not be in this. Now listen, some things are difficult because you just are making a bad decision, you know. But some things are difficult and God is right in the middle of it. It's hard, it's tough. One theologian said difficulty is not the evidence of God's absence. It is the environment in which God develops your endurance, your perseverance in your character. Listen, so many people keep score the wrong way. They get to the end of their life and their school boards are loaded full of points and only to realize they've kept score the wrong way the entire time. The world keeps score like this. I'm healthy points. I'm wealthy points. Like success points, I got the position. More points, I've got possessions. More points, bigger platforms and more notoriety and more followers. I got points and extra points and bonus points. Bigger, better, faster, stronger, more, more, more, more. All the points. Awesome.

None of it matters. None of it goes with you. Jesus keeps score differently. Lay down your life. Points. Pick up your cross. Points. Die to yourself. Points. Show mercy. Forgive the one who hurts you. Be the first to serve. Preach the gospel to all nations. Live a life worthy of the call. Endure opposition. Endure persecution. Points, points, points, points, points. Man, I would hate for us to get to the end of this life realizing I have been keeping score the wrong way this entire time. Would you write this down? Persecution. God. (audience laughing) Wow. (audience laughing) Persecution reveals what has been developed within us. My heart skipped a few beats. I thought it was happening, ma'am. (audience laughing)

I was waiting for the trumpet. See ya. (laughing) Some of y'all be like, I'll be keeping score the wrong way. (audience laughing) Oh, man, that's so good. That's good. I don't laugh if my own jokes. That's funny. Act six. (laughing) Oh, man. How do you come back from that? (audience laughing) Oh, they saw that his face was that like the face of an angel. I just started sweating so bad. (audience laughing) They were filled with anger, but Stephen was clearly filled with the spirit of God. How can someone remain peaceful while being falsely accused? Look at this. The strength that Stephen displayed publicly had been developed privately. Like he didn't get squeezed in this moment and have it all figured out. No, he had been doing this stuff privately. Before the accusations ever came, he was full of faith. Before the trial, he was full of wisdom.

Before the stones were thrown, he was full of grace. He was ready. Listen, you cannot predict when persecution will come, but you can control how you will respond when it does. And as a follower of Jesus, he's saying, "This is a promise. It is going to come." Persecution does not give us permission to abandon truth or grace. Listen, Stephen is brought before the religious leaders, and this is what they ask him. And then Stephen preaches one of the longest sermons recorded in the Bible. It's 60 verses, I'm not gonna read it all, you're welcome. He quotes over a thousand years of history. Have y'all ever heard somebody say, like, you know, long story short, and then they tell the full story? I just started saying long story long, and I'll just give it all, I'll just let it rip, you know. Stephen is given the whole story. He goes from Abraham to Joseph, and Moses, and David, and the temple, and then he confronts them with the truth. And I'm convinced if he wouldn't have done this part, he probably wouldn't have got killed. But this is what he says, verse 51. He says, "You stiff-necked people. "Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. "You are just like your fathers and your ancestors. "You always resist the Holy Spirit. "Was there ever a prophet your ancestors "did not persecute?

"They even killed those who predicted the coming "of the righteous one, and now you've betrayed "and you've murdered him." He says, "You who have received the law "that was given through the angels, "but have not obeyed it." Stephen was not afraid to tell the truth. That's my kind of dude right there. He did not shy away from the truth, but he also did not shy away from grace. It was truth and grace. He chose both. This can teach us some lessons today. Please hear me, when opposition arises, I want you to resist two temptations. The first one is the temptation to compromise. This is what it looks like, to compromise. You think to yourself, I'm just gonna remain quiet because if I don't want anybody to be upset with me, if I actually say what I believe, I'm gonna stay silent because I don't wanna ruffle any feathers. Hear me, Christians, hear me, please. Your silence is saying a lot more than you think it is. The next is the temptation of cruelty, so it's compromised, but there's a temptation to be cruel. If they attack me, I'm getting them back. They hit me, I'm hitting them back. They come at me, I'm gonna come right back, but Stephen shows us there's another way to respond.

Church, please hear my heart. Do not allow someone else's immaturity and someone else's hatred to define how you represent Christ. It is an opportunity. Opposition is an opportunity to represent Jesus. Listen, fighting evil with evil does nothing, but fighting evil with good does a lot. Listen, when people turn against you, Stephen chose us to turn our eyes to Jesus. Acts seven, verse 54, it says when the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious, they gnashed their teeth, that's like a, ugh. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, look at this, he looked up to heaven and he saw the glory of God. So when opposition came, I'm gonna fix, I'm gonna fix my eyes on Jesus. Stephen teaches us like when people lie about me, I'm gonna fix my eyes on heaven. When people are getting ready to persecute and hurt you, I'm gonna fix my eyes on heaven. I pray that we could learn from this today. Let's do what the author of Hebrews says in chapter 12, let us run with perseverance, fixing our eyes on Jesus so that you will not grow weary and you will not lose heart. Listen, all throughout scripture in the New Testament, you can see Jesus is found sitting at the right hand of the Father. This jumped off the page on Friday morning, I was sitting with the kids, we were having some Bible time

and they were interrupting my quiet time, it's the best. And Mark and Colossians, Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the Father. In Romans, Jesus is found interceding at the right hand of the Father, in Ephesians, Jesus is seated in heavenly places, in Hebrews over and over and over and over again, after completing the work, Jesus would sit down, but in Acts chapter seven, look at this, this is cool to me. And Jesus is standing at the right hand of God, go with this says, look, he said, I see heaven open in the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. Jesus is standing in many theologians believe it was almost as if Jesus was giving a standing ovation for what Stephen was going through. It's almost like he was standing up and he was like, hey, congratulations, your life now looks a lot like mine. Listen, persecution does not stop God's plan, it only propels it, it only pushes it forward. Look at this scripture at this, they covered their ears yelling at the top of their voices and they all rushed at him, dragging him out of the city because they were too big of cowards to do it in the city and they began to stone him. Look at this, I want you to feel the pain in this moment. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. Everybody say Saul. In chapter eight, it tells us that Saul approved of Stephen's death.

He watched every single rock hit Stephen. He heard Stephen call upon the name of the Lord. He heard Stephen pray the famous prayer that matches the one of Jesus on the cross. And while they were stoning him, the Bible says, Stephen prayed Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And then he fell on his knees and he cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." I can tell you this right now. Somebody's hitting me with rocks. I ain't praying for nobody. I was a pitcher, they're about to catch one, you know? Says, "Don't hold the sin against them." When he said this, he fell asleep, he died. Saul probably believed that he was watching Stephen's ministry end, but what he did not know is he was witnessing the gospel about to gain full speed and full momentum because the blood of the martyrs are the seed of the church. Acts, chapter eight, if you continue, I encourage you to read eight, chapter eight, nine and 10 this week, you'll take some laps around your house, I promise. It says, "Great persecution broke out against the church "and believers were scattered throughout Judea and Sumeria." Listen, you may read that and think to yourself, man, this is bad, this is terrible, there's persecution, they're scattering everywhere, but what they did not know, what Saul did not know is that he was actually fulfilling a part

of the Great Commission because right before in Acts, chapter one, Jesus, he reappears and he's telling the disciples his last words to the disciple, "Go unto all the earth, Judea and Sumeria "and preach the gospel." You know what happens in chapter eight? The Great Commission is set forth. They start preaching the word of God, people are getting saved, people are getting healed, sickness is being driven out. Listen, Stephen's death did not stop the mission, it accelerated it. Hear me, Christian, please, you're enduring opposition, you're enduring persecution, do not grow weary, do not lose hearts because at the proper time you will reap a harvest if you don't give up. It's doing something, even when you can't see it. So back to this guy, he's standing there, they're laying the coats at his feet, his name's Saul, which later we would know as the apostle, what? Paul, this is crazy to me that in chapter seven, he's killing Stephen and in chapter nine, he's radically saved. In chapter seven, he is approving of every rock that is hitting him, but in chapter nine, his life has changed forever. The Bible says that suddenly a light struck him from heaven. He fell to the ground and he heard a voice and it said, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" Everybody say, suddenly.

In one moment, Jesus did what everyone else thought was impossible. And I am saying that because there are people in this room, myself included and we have labeled people as unreachable, we have labeled them and you're too far gone. You've said too much, you've done too much. Two chapters before he was killing Stephen and in chapter nine, he's about to begin to preach the gospel. He's about to begin to write letters to the churches that we would still reference to this day. Oh, come on, God is really, really good at showing grace. Amen? So stop limiting his grace. Stop trying to pre-decide who gets it and who doesn't. This story tells us the gospel is powerful enough to save the persecuted and the persecutor. The one who's getting hit with rocks and the one who's throwing them. The Jew and the Gentile. The thief and the one who's being stolen from. The abuser and the one who's being abused. That is the beauty of the gospel message. This is it. Many theologians believe when Saul who became Paul walked into heaven that he was being cheered on by the ones that he killed. And I'm convinced I can't prove this. He got to heaven, I bet Stephen gave him a chest bump and was like, we got some stuff to talk about. Listen, this is the good news of Jesus Christ

that he did not come for those that are perfect. He came for the sick. Listen, a doctor does not come for people who've got it all together. He comes for those that are sick. The rebel and the righteous, the angry and the addicted, the immoral, the person who thinks they've got their life together, the liar, the adulterer, the persecuted and the persecuted. I always wonder, as I read this story, how many rocks did it take to kill Steven? Like, I know it's a weird question to ask. Can you imagine how many rocks it would take to kill a person? Was it 15? Is it 40? Is it a couple hundred? I don't know the answer, but what I do know is that with each rock that he felt in every moment of pain that he felt he was thinking I'm closer to Jesus now more than ever before. I'm closer to eternity with my Creator now than ever before. Steven was stoned to death. Jesus was also beaten and murdered. Steven was falsely accused and he was mocked and Jesus endured the same type of treatment. As Steven is being stoned, he praised this prayer. He says, "Lord, do not hold it against him," which is very similar to Jesus being hung on the cross

and he says, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." I find it really hard to grasp and honestly, it frustrated me this week that this whole story of persecution, it ends with forgiveness. Like, it would be better if it ended with like this great charge to go and go preach the gospel and go do all this awesome stuff. That's all great. And many of us are more willing to go do all that than just being willing to forgive the person who hurt us. Has anybody ever been there before? He's showing, listen, if you've been persecuted, if there's been opposition, if somebody has inflicted pain on your life, listen, I believe we need to ask ourselves this morning. Am I willing to forgive the one who has hurt me? Am I willing to forgive the one who persecuted me? Am I willing to forgive the one who inflicted pain on my life? I wanna remind you, persecution is not just a willingness to die for Jesus, it is a willingness to live for Him as well. One of the biggest ways to live for Christ is to model forgiveness to the world around us. To forgive those who hurt you, to forgive those who persecute you two years ago. Some of you have heard this, I had a moment that marked my life.

I didn't share this at the last service, man. I was sitting in our room, Kendra and I are sitting there. It's like 11 o'clock at night. And my son, Zane, who at the time was, I think he was five years old, he comes into the bedroom, he sits on the foot of the bed, and he's like, I got a question for you. I'm like, it's too late for questions, you know? Go to bed. And I didn't say that, that's what I'm thinking. And he says, I wanna ask you, he said, "Dad, why do you call your dad Steve?" So that's a weird question to get from a five year old. Why do you call your dad Steve? And I was like, I know this is really hard to explain, but daddy has two dads. And he's like, what? I have a dad who you've never met, and there's a reason you've never met him, and you may never meet him, and then there's my stepdad who stepped in, and he's an incredible man. I love him dearly, so thankful for Steve. First person I reached out to this morning. He said, "Well, what about your dad? "What am I ever gonna meet your dad?" And those that are in my store, my dad was in prison,

majority of my life. My first assignment is a Christ fall, where I get saved on a Friday night, Sunday morning, I'm picking dad up from the police. From the bus station in Little Rock. My first assignment was to forgive him, and that's all great, but man, it has taken my entire walk with God, the last 14 years to pull this bitterness out of my heart. So I'm sitting there and I was like, "Well, you know, I've been really thinking "about how to process this with my son, Zane." I said, "Hey, son, I know you don't understand this, "but my dad is really sick." Man, I've endured a lot of pain from my dad, son, you wouldn't understand, but he's just really sick, and that's all you need to know, and this is what my son says. My son says, "But dad, aren't we supposed to pray "for sick people?" And I'm like, "Shut up, you know, like, who are you?" Like, "Tom Boli's pray for sick people." I said, "Yeah, buddy, we pray for sick people." It's just really hard for dad, because he's really hurt me. And he said, "Well, dad, Tom Boli's forgive people." And at this time, I'm like, "Get out of my room." And this is what he crawls his little, dry me hands up to our bed. He grabs my hands.

He says, "Let's pray for your dad right now. "What's his name?" I'm like, "What is happening?" I'm looking at Kendra. She's like, "You hurt the man." And so, man, you would think this would be so easy. I'm a pastor, I've been following Jesus for 14 years. I am sobbing in my bed. Complete, I didn't pray. I just sat there in silence in 30 seconds, going by and saying, "Says dad, are you not gonna pray?" And I said, "You pray." - Amen, I began praying for my dad. And God began to do a work in my heart. And I was reminded of that day that I said yes to Jesus and my first assignment as a follower of Christ, being the hardest thing that I would ever do in my life. The guy who walked out, the guy who hurt me, the guy who was beating up on me and Ricky and just all of the stuff. I love him and I forgive him. And I had this moment where I realized, you know, God's gracious for him too. Man, I'm sorry, guys. If you would, just close your eyes so you don't have to look at me. (congregation laughing) Man. - Hey, thank you guys for watching that video. I wanna invite you over to our Instagram and our Facebook

and I'll see Fayetteville. You can find more information about our church there. Also newlifechurch.tv. You can see all the churches across the state of Arkansas. What God is doing through New Life Church. We also wanna pray for you. If you have a prayer request, if there's any way that we can pray with you, there is a digital connect card that you can fill out by texting F-A-Y-F-A to 88,000. We would love to pray for you, meet you where you're at. We hope this encouraged you. Be sure to subscribe, share this with a friend, and we will see you next time.