Please, when you turn with me and your Bibles to the Book of Acts, Acts 4, we come now to the 4th chapter, and we are going to continue to see the exalted Christ, a resurrected Lord, doing His work from heaven through His apostles and through His church, of spreading the gospel and of adding to the new covenant church. Therefore actually continues the scene that we saw two weeks ago in chapter 3. In the first 10 verses of chapter 3, we saw this great apostolic sign, the first miracle of the book of Acts, the apostles do. It was the sign that the Messiah had come, the lame leap for joy, and we know from Isaiah 535, that is one of the signs of the Messiah's coming. And then after that sign was given, this cripple was healed by Peter in the name of Jesus, goes a apostolic word, another one of those sermons that we are finding through the book of Acts. Peter's third sermon, and like his sermons, they exalt Christ and they convict sinners and they quote scripture, and they call the nation of Israel to their Messiah. And now in chapter 4, the leaders of the nation, the nation that the apostolic preaching has been calling them to, the leaders of this nation, come on the scene. And up until this point, there has been smooth sailing for the church. People have liked what they've heard, they have listened to the apostles in the preaching of the gospel, and they have found, the church has found favor with God and man. And the church was growing and things were going well, but now comes on the first persecution, the first time to see the glorious river of peace flow through God's people even in trial. And I want you to listen, as I read the first 22 verses to you, I want you to listen for how Luke, the writer of Acts, brings together the name of Jesus. We'll find that emphasis upon the name of Jesus six times in these 22 verses. We'll find it as they ask, by what name did you do this great miracle? We'll find it twice in verse 10, as Peter says, it was by Jesus' name that this cripple was healed. We'll find it in verse 12 in that great statement that there's no other name in all of the earth, all that's under heaven, whereby men must be saved. And then we'll find it in 17 and 18 as well as they warn the apostles not to speak in this name any longer. The focus is upon the power, the name, the authority, the person and work of Jesus. And what it is doing to change lives that Luke wants us to draw our attention to. Hear the word of the Lord from Acts chapter 4, beginning with verse 1. The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the sad disease came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. They seized Peter and John and because it was evening they put them in jail until the next day. But many who heard the message believed and the number of men grew to about 5,000. The next day the rulers, elders and teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. And this, the high priest was there and so was Caiaphas, John, Alexander and the other men of the high priest's family. They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them. By what power or what name did you do this? Then Peter filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, rulers and elders of the people. If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, then know this, you and everyone else in Israel. It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified for whom God raised from the dead that this man stands before you completely healed. He is the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone. Salvation is found in no one else for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were ungold ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. And since they could see the man who had been skilled standing there with them, there was nothing they could say. So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrian and then conferred together. What are we going to do with these men, they asked? Everybody living in Jerusalem knows they have done an outstanding miracle, and we cannot deny it. To stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn these men to speak no longer to anyone in this name. Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard. After further threats, they let them go. They could not decide how to punish them because all the people were praising God for what had happened, for the man who was miraculously healed was over forty years old. On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had sent to them. So ends the reading of God's Word, let's go to Him, let's go to prayer and ask Him to open our eyes this morning. Father we know that there is nothing we can do for ourselves to really change ourselves. We really don't have that power. We know that you can do that though, and that you have said in your Word that you will change us by your Word, Lord we want to sit humbly before you. We want to exercise faith. We want you to open ourselves up to that very transforming Word. And we ask that you would do that in our lives, that we would hear like we have not heard anything this week. In a different way we would hear not only different things, but your spirit would work among us that our attention would be drawn to you, to what you are saying to us through this story, and that we might be able to grow in our faith, that we might be able to take the steps necessary you want us to take this very week, because we have heard this message, and we have heard in this way by your spirit, and we ask it in Jesus' name, amen. If I were to ask you the question, what is your top priority in life, what would you say? What is the thing that makes you tick? What is the thing that you are living for? If I have any read on the American culture, I believe that generally speaking, Americans would say happiness, personal happiness, family happiness, financial happiness, all of those things. As varied as Americans would be as defining that happiness. In a book written a while back, Reagan's America by Gary Willes, he contrasts the Reagan era and the Jimmy Carter era, and he says that there are two different even theologies in Carter and in Reagan, and he says that America has followed more the Reagan way of thinking. Increasingly, and this is a paraphrase, increasingly preferred the religion of what has been called healthy-mindedness, William James' quote of death, which replaces sin with sadness as the real enemy of human nature. That's sin that's our problem. It's sadness, and if we could just get happy, everything would be better. He went on in his book, and I again paraphrase, so this actually is a quote from it, he says, The imperative is to feel good about oneself, has become the national and personal priority, which has enlisted evangelical, no less than non-evangelical yuppies. It has become a patriotic, even religious duty to be happy. Christianity, if it's going to be appealing in our age, we're told at least, it must be totally positive, it must be self-fulfilling, it must feel comfortable, it must feel good, it must be a means by which you become successful in life, it must give you your space, it must not get in the way of your fun, it must move you on in a healthier, happier, wealthier kind of a way of thinking. So we find that American churches are trying to do that. Find out, we're told, pastors are told, find out what people want, find out what they like, and then mix that in with the gospel, and hopefully you'll build a great mega-church for the glory of God. But in most cases, that mixture is a deadly one, for it drowns out the gospel. The intention is right and yet in that mixture, the gospel becomes less and less the true gospel of the scriptures. One conservative church in Denver has changed its name to quote the happy church, the happy church, and the pastor explains, it draws people, quote from them, it draws people, everybody wants to be happy. People are asking, what can Jesus do for me? If Christianity doesn't make my life better than I'm not again, the time magazine article talked about this trend and even non-Christians are realizing this, it's not something Christians are finding out, sometimes the non-Christian world can figure this out quicker than we can at what's happening. And in a time, a religion article, it says that America's baby boomers who forgot God in the counter-culture movement three decades ago are now rediscovering an appetite for the spiritual. Increasing numbers of baby boomers who left the fold years ago are turning religious again. But many are traveling from church to church or faith to faith, sampling creeds, shopping for a custom-made God. Even Christians take on this expectation three out of ten Christians have said that nothing in life is more important than having fun and being happy. A third of Christians say, that's the important thing about life, having fun, being happy. Now, before I sound like a real scrooge this morning, you know me, I'm a happy guy. I basically live my life happy, but that's not my goal in life, nor should it be yours. Happiness comes as a byproduct of pursuing the kingdom of God in His righteousness. That's where happiness comes. If you pursue the thing of happiness, you'll never find it in this life. You'll look for it, you'll think you'll have it for a while, and it will slip to your fingers. But if you pursue Jesus, His kingdom, His righteousness, you get these things thrown in along the way. You see, people were thinking today, what have you done for me, Jesus, lately? That's the thinking. And we've got to change that as we come to the scriptures. Michael Horton has written a great book on this whole thing called Made in America. He talks about the pragmatism of America, Christianity, and the consumerism, and the materialism of American Christianity. And he says, in the church, we must be entertained these days. Our emotions must be charged. We escape the clutches of drugs in order to take the Jesus trip. So we must be guaranteed comparable experiences. We must have the best the world has to offer, after all, we are the king's kids. We gave up a lot to become Christian. And then we come to Acts chapter 4. Chapter 4. We find that the Bible says that we most definitely will face opposition if we own the name of Jesus Christ. Billy Graham, I think, said the word, there's something unnatural when Christianity is popular. It's very definition, it's going to be unpopular. We find Paul in 2 Timothy, rather, in a prison cell. And he's sitting there, I was one in one of the prison cells in Rome. It was small, it was dark, it was hideous. Sewers would run through some of those cells. And he sits in that cell or something like it. And he talks of his sufferings, and then he says an incredible thing. He says, in fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Not some people, not missionaries to go off to the Third World, but everyone who lives godly for Jesus will be persecuted. In Acts chapter 14, when the Apostle Paul and Barnabas are going through, after the conclusion of their first missionary journey, they're going through the different churches and their strengthening the disciples were told and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. And what, you know what they talk about? The next phrase right there in Acts 14, 22, says, we must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God. Jesus taught this as well, Acts, or rather Luke, chapter 6. Jesus says, blessed are you when men hate you. We could loosely translate that happy are you. When men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and get it leap for joy because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how they treated your fathers the prophets. I was reading the article this week about suffering and the writer asked this question, can this truth about what scripture says of persecution, can this bitter pill be made marketable to choose the things that God could use to mature them? 7 out of 10. That's the faking today. And then we come to Acts chapter 4. What a different picture the scripture actually gives us. Luke gives us a picture of a suffering church and we're going to see this from this point on. As they do the miracle in Jesus name, as they minister in the name of Jesus Christ, opposition comes to them. It suddenly comes upon them. If you notice, it doesn't really come out in the English translation. But it's almost as if the Greeks says they pounced upon them when they knew these things. They came upon them quickly and suddenly. And it was they, the established, the religious establishment, the priests, the temple security guards, the temple police, and the sadducees that came in the gospel of Luke, the big enemies, you know who the big enemies are to Jesus? They're the Pharisees, right? When you're going to see an Acts, the big enemies are not the Pharisees anymore. So sadducees. Why? The Pharisees were interested in theology and they were having trouble with Jesus' theology and so they were the ones always coming up saying, well, what about this? What about that? The sadducees were the ones, we're not that interested in theology. They were interested in keeping their power. They're usually keeping their authority. And so as the church grew and it became a dominant force within the culture, who gets upset? Not the theologians anymore. But the political realm, the politicians, they're the ones that are upset. And that's why the sadducees come here. They were the ones disturbed because these people were not Peter and John, were not authorized teachers, and they were speaking about the resurrection from the dead, not just Jesus' resurrection, but the general resurrection of the dead. And the sadducees didn't believe in the resurrection. They were sadducees. Yeah, you know that too. Okay, but they didn't believe in the resurrection. So I'm going to make sure you're still following and tracking with me this. They were the kind of the liberals of the day. They believed only in the Torah, the first five books of the scripture, and because of they didn't find the resurrection in those first five books, they said there's no resurrection. They denied all, they didn't find demons or angels, so they denied that, they didn't find heaven or hell. So they denied that as well, only the first five books. They were the kind of the liberal theologians of their day, although they weren't all that liberal. But they were the people in power, they're rich and powerful since about the second century of BC, they had started to own the property around Jerusalem, had the influence. And they were pragmatists and since in their politics, they believed that the best policy was the cozy up to the Romans and to get on their side and not to let anything rock the boat. And these are the people that grab Peter and John, and you need to see that this is no game. These are the same people, and that's why Luke mentions them. These are the same people that brought Jesus before a similar court. Remember that? These are the same people that said, we're going to crucify this guy. And now they were bringing Peter and John before them and Peter and John knew they had that power. And they were standing before them, and there was great opposition. And this is the beginning of what Jesus said, what happened? The world will hate you because of me. When you go in my name, you're going to have opposition. And there's great opposition today to the Church of Jesus Christ in places like China and Egypt and Saudi Arabia and Columbia, Nigeria and other places. There was great persecution, the voice of the martyrs magazine, estimates that over 200 million Christians are persecuted directly in the world today, just because they own the name of Jesus Christ, that more Christians have been martyred in the 20th century, that in all the other 19 centuries combined, because they own the name and go in the name of Christ. If you don't want to be beaten in some parts of the world or lose your land or tortured or imprisoned or if you just want to stay alive, you're going to have to give up speaking about Jesus. The US State Department lists more than 70 countries where persecution of Christians is either promoted or permitted in the world. Some parts of the world, the voice of the martyrs magazine, says that Christian women are brutally raped to break their allegiance to Christ, while children are sold into slavery for as little as $15 a person, 1,000 more are in labor camps and prisons around the world. And we hear this as American Christians and there's horror and there's rage and there's maybe some guilt mixed up in that. But I would propose to you as much as that is real and happening and we need to pray for our brothers and sisters who are facing that and realize that the possibility is that we may face that in our lifetime, things may change, and then tenses all of that is and is real as all of that is, and I don't want to minimize it, the basic tool of those who oppose our Lord and his gospel is still the same over there as it is here. What's the tool that the government uses or people groups use to come out and oppose the gospel? It's intimidation, physical, emotional, educational, intimidation, the apostles, we're told we're going to beat you if you don't stop talking, we're going to flog you and you're going to find chapter 5, they do flog it because they don't stop talking. The threats were real but it was first the intimidation. We have you in our hands and if you don't go our way and you're going to pay for it, the world, our world uses the same tactic with us. If you want to move up in this company, don't talk that Jesus talk here. If you want to move up in this field, you want to grow in this field, don't talk about Jesus. If you want my respect as a person, don't talk about Jesus. If you want to task this course with a good grade, don't talk about Jesus. If you want my love and affection, if you want peace in this home, don't talk about Jesus. It's the same thing. It's intimidation. Who are you going to believe? Who are we going to obey? You see in our world it's not shut up about Jesus or you're going to go into a labor camp. The threat is of embarrassment, of laughter, of looking uncool, of looking old-fashioned or intolerant or even ridiculous and people won't shut us up in the prison camps or put us in a jail but they'll just put us out of the loop and we're afraid of that. But with every opposition comes opportunity. And this is the major message I think of this chapter with every opposition, not only knowing opposite is going to be there, but with every opposition comes opportunity. And the apostles were asked the big question, what mean did you do this? And they'll think about Peter. He could have said, I'm not talking. I'm not going to say anything. He could have said simply Jesus. That would have been correct. But what is Peter do? He starts to preach. He starts to preach about Jesus. It's basically a summary of his sermon as long as they would give him to talk of Jesus. And he doesn't give in this time. Remember, he was the one who had denied Jesus. Think of how it was for Peter. Here he is standing before the same people that he was so threatened by, not so long ago. He's standing there and now he realizes this may be my only chance with these people. And I'm going to go for it. And I'm going to proclaim Christ. And he does. And his sermon is like all the other servants. It's scripturally based. It glorifies Christ. It exalts the resurrection of Christ. It's convicting. Notice the quotation from Scripture of Psalm 118. He changes it or adapts it. If you look at in the Old Testament, you'll see that it says the stone, the builders rejected, has become the capstone. Peter changes it and says the stone, you builder. He personalizes it. You did this. And you need to repent. And then notice the confidence and the boldness of salvation that enters in in verse 12. Salvation is found in no one else where there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. I was just stunned by that boldness again. We oftentimes use that as a proof text for the exclusiveness of Jesus. And it is. But in the context that comes out in vivid colors, it's not Jesus is one of many sages. Or Jesus is my personal Savior. No, it's not give Jesus a chance. You guys. It's Jesus is your only chance. You guys. It's not that there are many sages, but there's only one Savior. It's Jesus is your salvation. There's not going to be any salvation for you. And this is what is going to bring most opposition in your witness. People can take I've found Jesus as my personal Savior and not get too mad about it. But when you start saying he's the only Savior. He's the only one who's lived the perfect life. He's the only one who has died far since he's the only one that can forgive us. And we must be saved through him. It's then that people get angry. But it's then I propose to you only then when we in our own way can bring this point home that people make the connection between Jesus and us. The most the connection they made it was in the courage of Peter and John that the the high percentage and realize this these guys have been with Jesus. I remember they're just like that Jesus guy that we crucify the Chinatons and I remember these guys. I believe there's some connection as we go beyond ourselves beyond our own abilities beyond our education as Peter was going. It's when we go out on the limb for Jesus and speak of him and only him. It's there that the Lord helps make the connection and either will be connection for good or for evil or be the connection of evil in a sense of people say I hate that stuff. Or it'll be the means over time perhaps of bringing them to faith in Christ. All that you might speak out for Jesus this week. Not just as your sage but as the sage that there would be a boldness of passion a calling that we are starting to lose in American Christianity because we want to be accepted of saying it's Jesus or nothing. I love you but it's Jesus or nothing. I'm humble about it. I know it's only by grace of my own life but it's Jesus or nothing. All that we might have that kind of witness and be able as the basketball players talk about step up. The guy who steps up in a basketball game is a guy who brings the team together and brings the team alive in the fourth quarter and makes sure that they win that game. You've got to step up. Somebody's got to step up here and make those shots. Make those key passes. Pull down those rebounds and make sure we win it in the crash. Jesus is calling you to step up for him and to be bold as Peter and John were bold. The stakes were higher for them but they're still high for us as the world uses its intimidation on us. Peter Cartwright was a great circuit writing Methodist preacher in Illinois and he went to a church one time and they were told him that the president, Andrew Jackson, was in the midst of the congregation. And they told him the deacons said before the prayer time, we know that you are very vibrant and Bible-believing and kind of passionate preacher. Could you just tone that down just a little bit? You want to have the president here very often. Peter Cartwright stood in the pulpit and said these words I quote him, I understand the president Jackson is here today and I've been requested to guard my comments. Andrew Jackson will go to hell if he doesn't repent. And people were just, you know, go ahead crazy. You know that. Say that. Say that. Please. No one will come back to church next to me. And then Andrew Jackson, I understand this true story came up to a matter where he said, sir, if I had a regiment of men like you, I could whip the world. Just think what Jesus can do with a regiment of men and women who will think like that, who will be bold and say Jesus is the answer. That's what's going to get the people's attention. It's not that hey, I love you and we all love each other and we're all going to be happy together if you just come to my church. That's not going to get anybody's attention. That's not going to convert anybody. It's saying Jesus is the answer and I'm going to put my life on the line for that. I'm going to stake my life upon it. That's something that people listen to. It's the means that Jesus uses to bring out the gospel to people so they can hear it. Now how can you do this? You're not a preacher. You're not a minister. You're not a missionary. I think you can do this. I think this congregation can do this. I think I can do it. I think you can do it. But we're going to have to do three things I find in this text and I want to give them to you briefly. Notice that Peter, when he did this, he was filled with the Holy Spirit. Did you catch that line? He didn't he didn't do this in his own power. He did this because he was dependent upon the Lord. He did this because he wanted the honor of the Lord. He wasn't trying to shock people as maybe Peter Cartwright was. He was dependent upon the Spirit of God knowing that the Spirit of God was going to point to Jesus as he would point Jesus out in verbal language to these people. And we must be like that too. We must have the Spirit in us and with us. And we do have the Spirit. There's so much talk about this. Almost a mystical experience you're having to wait for the Spirit coming. That's not your test in the teaching. Your test in the teaching is that if you have a viewer believer in Jesus Christ, you have the Holy Spirit right now, even within you. And he'll never leave you. Oh yes, we should ask for God to bless us and strengthen us. We should be dependent and prayer and asking for the Holy Spirit. But look at the Ephesians chapter 5 verse 18. It says, do not be drunk on wine which leads to the botry. Instead ask for the feeling of the Spirit. No, that's not what Paul says. He says instead be filled with the Holy Spirit. Another year of Christian, you have the Holy Spirit. Be filled with the Holy Spirit. Walk in his ways. Do the things he wants you to do. You will bring wind into your sails. It's not waiting for him. It is walking on faith in his name. Certainly prayer is a way to show which we show them. We need to ask for the Holy Spirit. I'm not against that. But it's an interesting thing that the scripture never says pray for the feeling of the Holy Spirit. It's the feeling of God coming upon his people at particular times for witness. Instead be filled with the Spirit of God. Secondly, if we're going to be able to have this kind of boldness in opposition, we're going to have to fear God more than we fear people. We're going to have to have a holy fear of God. In the book Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Graham's book, there's a scene of rat and mole and they are coming into the presence of this deity. Let me read to you a paragraph. It says suddenly the mole felt a great awe fall upon him. An awe that turned his muscles to water, bowed his head and rooted his feet to the ground. It was no panic terror. Instead he felt wonderfully at peace and happy. But it was an awe that smote and held him. And without seeing he knew it could only mean that some presence was very, very near. Rat, he found a breath to whisper, shaking. Are you afraid? Afraid? Murmored the rat? His eyes shining with an utterable blood. Afraid of him? Oh, oh, never, never. And yet, and yet, oh, mole, I am afraid. That captures what the relationship we have with Jesus is. A holy fear I could never personally be afraid of Jesus anymore. And yet, I am afraid. There's a sense in which I know I'm going to have to answer for what happens in this church, for what happens from behind this pulpit, for what happens in my personal life. And you are too, for your life, for your family, for your soul. Friends, if we start to get a holy fear, we won't fear people anymore. That will go out the window because we're fear in Jesus. And that healthy, kind of way. HD Wells said, the trouble with so many people is that the voice of their neighbor sounds louder in their ears than the voice of God. Isn't that true of us in Vines? And yet, we find great examples of people who put the fear of God over the fear of other people. Think of Shadrach, Meshach, and Vednikov. And Vednikov, remember them? The fiery furnace, Nebuchadnezzar said, you're going in. You're going in. And then that furnace. If you don't bow down, it's a great big image. Remember what they said? It's a great way of life. Oh, Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. They knew they had to defend ourselves before the Lord. If we have thrown into the burning furnace, the God we started able to save us from it. And you will rescue us from your hand, O King. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O King, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up. They had a healthy view of gods, wholeness, and a fear before you. Well, that we might have that as well. Well, that we might have that as well. It's only then that Paul could say, remember that phrase, for me to live is Christ to die this game? We know that phrase, but we oftentimes don't know the verse that comes right before that. Paul says, I really expect and hope that I will no way be ashamed, but we'll have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ may be exalted in my body whether by life or by death. See, he feared failing Jesus. More than he feared anything else. And that's why he could say it doesn't make any difference if I live or I die. As long as I'm exalted, Jesus. But one final thing as we close, you need to know, you need to be filled with the spirit, dependent upon him for these things. Walking in his way, you need to have a fear of men over God, God over men. And then you need to have and be focused upon Christ and his kingdom. We need to realize what we've been seeing all the way through the book of Acts that Christ is on the throne, not your boss at work, that Christ is living within you, not the spirit of this world, that Christ is the key stone of life, that he is the only Savior from a real and a hot hell. There's only one Savior. And that Christ is what your friends and even what you're in in these need most, need most. And the Christ will bring in his kingdom with all its glory. And this will break us out of the recreational kind of Christianity that is so prevalent today. And keep us from being weekend believers when we sense the kingdom of Christ, that he's on the throne, he's coming again, he's ruling right now. I know our time is gone, but I must read to you one thing. We'll close with this. It's a paragraph from Dennis Johnson's book, The Message of Acts. And I want you to listen to this. I know that reading sometimes, I'm going out of the limb here, because reading in public has been told it's just deadly, especially at the end of a sermon. But I'm praying that God will give you a super-ocean of his spirit right now to hear what this man says in these couple of paragraphs. Listen carefully. The only church that has the credibility to summon people to sufferings is the church that is centered on the transcendent hope proclaimed by the apostles, the hope of the kingdom of God. That kingdom has invaded history in the incarnation, the words and deeds and death and resurrection and heavenly entronement of Jesus, the anointed servant team. It is advancing even now to the peoples of the ends of the earth, bringing salvation in the power of the spirit, poured out by the servant king upon servant witnesses. It will bring this history of present sufferings and witness to a climax when the servant king returns in clouds of glory. Nothing less than the gospel of that kingdom and that king can shake self-absorbed pleasure seekers from their short-sighted felt needs. For the church to proclaim this living hope that fortifies people to face suffering with courage and to take risks for the right, Christians must live their hope. When we enjoy religious freedom, material comfort and financial security, these are a kind reflection of our father's generous providence, but they also pose real and present danger to our spiritual health. They sweetly seduce us into complacency, self-trust or a nervous protectiveness of the feeble props of artificial security. They distract our hearts' view from the hope of the New Jerusalem, resplend it with the blinding beauty of the lamb. Instead, they set our sights lower and lower, a yuppie paradise of tennis, golf and surf, teaming with tan, trim, pleasure seekers. Whether we think of Israelite prophets, apostolic witnesses or modern martyrs, the suffering church has made an impact on the world because its hope has been not confined to the world. Christians can afford to lose all that the world can take from them because they have an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. And as we deserve in heaven for them, get that hope and you'll get that boldness. Let's close the word prayer. Father, take us now to your table. It's not far away from what we've been talking about, where we see you again in our minds and in our hearts as the one who suffered on our behalf. The one who gave all that we might gain it all. Oh, may we see Jesus. Oh, may we have this hope. May you nurture us and spur us on to witness and even to patience and suffering for your glory. And we will pray in Jesus' name and we all say, you know.