| Devotionals from the Upper Room |
| This is the part of the website where I will keep the devotionals from Wednesday Nights at The Upper Room. At any given time I will probably only have 8 or 9 devotionals posted up here. But I will make a list of all the devotionals I have so you can e-mail me to recieve the ones that are not posted on the website. |
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| Persecution . . . Is that what stops us? When school starts you are sure to be persecuted for being a Christian, but is that what really stops us from following God and trying to share the gospel? Many times I think Christians just want to follow the flow. We go to school all fired up from Summer Youth Camps and great revivals �on �the �weekends to a school of 300 - 1500 students and then we have only like 20-30 friends who are Christians. Because of that we have a tendency to follow the flow of actions. The actions we follow are cussing, making fun of people, and sometimes turning away from others who are a little less �popular� than us. READ: Mark 9:33-36. In this passage the disciple ask Jesus who is the greatest among them. Jesus� simple answer is this, �If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all. � For us to be first in the kingdom of God we must be a servant of all; all being the unpopular kids, the mean kids, the uncool kids, and some times even your rivals. Also, later on in this passage Jesus tells the disciples that whoever welcomes one of the little children also welcomes Him. Therefore, we should welcome the company of those who are less popular than us. Doing these things gets us persecuted �though. Doing these things makes us uncool. Doing these things makes us look stupid. No where in the Bible did it ever say that Jesus cared about what others thought. Jesus did what the Bible told Him to do. He �didn�t �try �to �be �popular �or �make �people �like �him, �as �a �matter �of �fact �in �many �places �he �does �things �knowing �he �will �be �persecuted �for �it. �BUT! �He �did �it �for �you �and �I, �so �that �we �could �go �to �heaven. �The �question �is �though �does �the �persecution �really �stop �us? �Many �people �in �the �Bible �were �killed �for �sharing �the �gospel �and �following �Christ. �Yet, �because �we �aren�t �popular �if �we �follow �Christ �we �deny �Him �at �school. Today I ask you, �Are you willing to be persecuted for Christ?� READ: Acts 7:54-60 This �is �the �only �place �in �the �Bible �where �Jesus �is �said �to �be �standing �at �the �right �hand �of �the �Father. �So �next �time �you �start �to �follow �the �flow �because �you �don�t �want �to �be �persecuted �or �are �being �persecuted �then �remember �Steven. �Steven �was �standing �for �Jesus �before �he �was �stoned �and �when �he �looked �up �Jesus �was �standing �for �him. �Will �you �stand �before �your �Savior? |