Hey, listen, I want you to do me a favor this morning. I don't know about your campus, wherever you're watching from today, but worship has been so good this morning. Let's give these guys a hand for leading us. Man, thank you so much for worshiping with us. Tell you, it's one thing to have a good worship team.

It's another to have an audience that's engaging in worship. And so thanks for leaning in with us. Here's the big idea, here's the goal for today. I'm gonna go ahead and give you my goal, okay? I want this to be the most encouraging message that you don't want to hear, and I don't know any other way to say it, but we've been studying these beatitudes, this is a long series.

It's about nine weeks, and we've been taking 'em kind of verse by verse, and it's kind of like, I wanna, I want you to go back to the playground days. You remember being on the playground and, uh, man, maybe you were the guy that was the team captain. Love the team captains and the team captains got to pick. And here's what's happened. The first seven beatitudes have been picked, and the only one left on the playground that nobody wants to pick is number eight.

And that's today. And I'm so glad I get to preach on it right now. This is not the one that I would draw, but this beatitude is the perfect one for us to talk about this week. Now, let me introduce it to you. Maybe you've heard it before.

It's in Matthew, and it's Matthew five 10. And so here's our beatitude this week. It says, blessed are those who are persecuted because of, because of righteousness for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Now, when I first read this, I thought to myself, surely this is kind like a one-off. You know, like sometimes I'll be preaching and I'll just say something and I'll go back and go, I didn't, I didn't really mean to say that.

I thought maybe, maybe that's what, maybe that's what happened to Jesus right there. Maybe Jesus just said that, but he didn't really mean it so much. It made me, surely it's not a theme of the whole New Testament. Well, I started looking for persecuted in the New Testament. Let's watch this.

Look in the book of John, remember what I told you, A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also kept looking, dig a little deeper. In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life, hopefully that's all of us in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weakness and insults and hardship, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I'm weak, then I'm strong.

Here's another one. Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all the nations because of me. Aren't you glad you came to church today? Such an encouraging word. Listen, if your first time to venture, ooh, you pick quite a week.

I'll be honest with you. I, I, there's nothing about my personality that's really drawn to teaching on persecution. I kinda like fun and light and easy, but I'm just telling you, this is, this is the word of God, and this is where we've been. This is what we've seen in our culture today. And so we get the chance to dive in to this idea of persecution.

Here's the big idea for today's message, okay? We have to be prepared for persecution. That's just it. I mean, from the days of Jesus' resurrection and the, and the, the promises he made that, listen, if you're gonna follow me all the way to today, it's so clear in Scripture that if we're following him and we're not of the world and we're not of the culture, then we can count on persecution. So what we're gonna talk about today is how do we handle it in a godly way?

Now, I wanna, I wanna get you to a book where Peter is writing and Peter is writing a group of followers just like you and me. He's writing them a letter and he's giving 'em some wisdom as to what to do when you're facing persecution. I mean, this was the day, this is what they were into. This is what they were looking at. This is what was staring them in the face.

They were seeing followers be persecuted. And so Peter begins to write them. He begins to give them some encouragement. Now, lemme set the stage for you. All right?

Uh, here's what's happening in this book. There's the, there's the Roman Emperor Nero. I'm gonna tell you, this was a sick dude, and he was into building things. He was rebuilding these cities, and, and he had a whole agenda. He kind of, honestly, the way the, on one of the commentators said he had a lust for it, like a deep desire for it.

And as he began to face opposition for his plan, he said, well, look here, here's the only thing I know to do. I, I'm gonna make everybody mad. I'm gonna just burn the city. And so he does that. He burns the city, but then he needed a fall guy.

And so he looked around the culture to see who's standing out in the culture, who's already on the, kind of the sidelines of the culture, who's already receiving pushback. And it was the first followers, it was the early church Christians. And so Nero, the Roman emperor blamed them. He just shipped all the blame to them and said, these were the ones that did it. And so then he didn't stop.

Like he just started heaping on the persecution of these early believers. If you've read about this, you've heard stories about this, Nero would capture these first followers, dip them in hot wax, and then he would throw a party. And for entertainment, he would light them on fire. Told you this was a sick dude. He killed his own mama, killed his first wife.

And so Peter begins to say, I need to write this, this group. I need to encourage them because what they're facing is really difficult. Do you listen? Do you kind of feel the weight of that today? I mean, many of you have watched what was an assassination of sorts.

I mean, we, we saw this live. We, we watched what happened on that bus in Charlotte. We've watched all these school shootings and we're beginning to ask ourself like, what is going on? What do we do in the face of persecution? So let's go to God's word and see if there's a pattern here and see what he says.

Now, I love this because when I began to read this, we're in one Peter four, I, it's not in this particular Bible. This is my preaching Bible. I gotta preaching Bible, and then I gotta study Bible. And my study Bible at home kind of got like, it's got notes in it, and it's got these little subtitles. Look at my subtitle.

My subtitle said, suffering for being a Christian Man, isn't it good to know we're not alone in this? Like this is a pattern all the way from one peter to today. And then here's what Peter says, here's what you can expect, okay? One Peter four we're in verse 12. He says, dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering as those something strange were happening to you.

He comes right out of the gate and he says, the first thing you need to know if you're gonna face persecution in a different way, don't be shocked. That's the very first thing, very first thing to remember is don't, don't be shocked. Like if you're gonna live against the culture, then the culture's gonna do everything they can to silence you. If you're gonna live a life that looks different, like if you're gonna live a life that's bold for your faith, then you need to know that persecution comes with that. Here's the question.

This is what's gonna be so different about this morning, okay? Instead of talking about persecution we see in other people's life, the question for you and me today is, is there persecution in your life, in my life? Here's the question I want to ask you. You ready? Is your faith the kind of faith worth persecuting?

You ever thought about it that way? See, what happened to me is I kind of got stuck in the news and I got stuck with the all the things that were coming on my feed. And I got stuck with a reaction, and I got stuck thinking about, I can't believe this is all happening. And I got stuck wondering what this was like then. And I skipped right over the fact of like, is there anything in my life, in my faith that is even worth persecuting?

I'll give you a good example. I, I spend a lot of my time kind of in one of three places. So I'm either at home, love being at home, right? My wife's into candles right now. We got all the fall scents going on, right?

It's just a fun place to be. Uh, I love being up here. This is kinda like my second home, right? We spent a lot of time here and we got such a good team, and it's encouraging. I love being here.

The third place I spend a lot of times on the soccer fields, it's just what we're kinda into. We do a lot of soccer, and there was a day where I played soccer, and I want you just to imagine that me and you got a match today. We're showing up at the field today, me and you are about to play soccer. I've got on my jersey, you've got on your jersey, and we step out on the field, and then all of a sudden you're out there engaging in the battle and you're playing. But I'm over here on the sidelines Now, only am I on the sidelines, man.

I got my jersey on, but I'm, I'm on the sidelines and I, I got my phone out. I'm just kind of scrolling on Instagram on the sidelines, and then I look up and I kind of gimme a few selfies, and then I, and then I look as I'm taking my selfie and I see Katie, I see a little hottie up in the stands. So now I'm texting her about a little coffee and ice cream post-game. Are you real worried about me in that game? Am I much of a threat to you in that game?

I mean, I, I, I'm just, I mean, I'm there and I got my jersey on, but I couldn't be farther from the action. Now, compare, compare that to if I'm, if I'm engaged in the game and I'm using my skills, I'm using my gifts, I'm using my talents, I mean, I'm using my resources to help provide, I'm speaking life into my teammates. I'm going at it, man. I'm, I'm coming at you. I'm trying to score.

I'm playing defense. I'm trying to encourage my teammates. Are you more worried about that player? Or are you more worried about the player? That just looks good over on the bench.

Now, you know, my next question, Which One are you? Are you, are you all in? Or are you just on the sidelines and you hear about persecution, but there's no persecution in your life? Listen, if, if you're gonna engage in this, like, if you're gonna live boldly, if you're gonna step out together and we're gonna go against the culture, here's some things I want you to look for in your life. This is just kinda like a quick test.

Are you living intentionally? Like this would look like, like when you see people you engage in, in relationships with them. This one convicted me because sometimes I pull up at soccer practice and I just sit in the car until it's over. Instead of getting out, Hey, how's your week been? What's going on with you this week, bro?

Hey, how you been? I, I remember last time we talked, you told me about family member of yours. How they doing? See the difference? Like living intentionally, like engaging and encouraging and seeing people that are around you.

Uh, the second thing you'd see in your life is you would live boldly. And now, now watch this. Because when I say live boldly, I mean like boldly being a servant. Uh, like boldly choosing to lay down your rights to encourage and serve someone else, like boldly being the one that despite your age or your title or your income, you're the one that's still picking up balls and bringing water. You're still the one serving, like living boldly.

What about this one? This one would be in your life. If you're in the game, you're living generously, meaning like the time that God has given you here and, and the talents that he's blessed you with. 'Cause all that came from God and the resources, the resources that he's equipped you with, that he said here, here, manage this for about 70, 80 years while you're here. Then the way that you handle all of that, if you're doing that generously, like you're giving it back to kingdom causes and you're using it for the good and you're speaking life, and folks, if that's the life you're living, then you need to know you are in a battle.

No, I'm talking about like a, like a big battle. Like, like imagine, imagine going into war and, and what has happened, I think over the last couple weeks is we've seen some brothers that got in war and you come running back to the commanding officer and you're like, they're shooting out there. And the commanding officer is going, yeah, it's a battle. And you're like, but I didn't know they were really gonna be shooting like real bullets at me. Like, though, it's, it's, it's crazy.

It's, it's this intense battle for people's souls and for good. But I just wanted to kind of step out there. And this was a war. And what we're talking about today is the beatitude said, yeah, and you're gonna be blessed when you face that kind of persecution for righteousness. And so what I'm asking you today is if you're on the battlefield, if you're battling with us, I tell people this all the time, uh, right before they get baptized, you know, we celebrate that moment and I've got somebody right here that's gonna be baptized right after the 11 o'clock.

I'm so proud of her. And we kinda give them a good speech. And we're so, you've done so well. We we're, we're, we're so excited to start this new life in Christ. But then, then, then we kind of pull 'em aside.

We say, Hey, you do know, it's kinda like game on now. Like this means you're, you're getting in the game. Like you're gonna live boldly. You're gonna live intentionally. You're gonna follow Jesus.

You're gonna be in his word. You're saying that you're beginning to walk with him, which means you're gonna become more like him. It's a battle. Now, what I love about this next verse, I want you, or this verse we're looking at, I want you to see the description, uh, that Peter gives. He says, difference.

Do not be surprised. Now we talked about that, right? Like, hey, this is what we're up against. This is the battle we're in. And then he says at the fiery ordeal, I think that's interesting that of the all the different words he could use to describe the persecution.

Remember the story I told you about the wax and the people being put on fire? He says, watch out. It's gonna be a fiery ordeal. That was the culture that day. And that's what he was seeing happen to the first followers.

What if Peter was writing this today to us? I mean, what does persecution look like for you? What's it look like for me? Well, I started brainstorming and I said, well, I guess I mean, right? I said, the last two weeks when I first wrote this message, I said, in other countries, it may look like giving your life.

I don't think that's the case anymore. First one, it may look like a loss of life. Next one that came to my mind, it may look like the loss of a job or separation from a family member. My wife and I spent some time overseas and, and, and we would see these people that they would, they would decide, Hey, I'm gonna put my faith in Christ. And when they made that decision, they have to ask themselves, how is my family gonna react so different here?

My girl that's gonna get baptized today, her whole family's gonna be there. We couldn't be more proud of her. We're gonna cheer for her. We're gonna pray for her. I mean, this is a moment we've been anticipating in other countries.

That's a moment that shuns them. It's a whole different level of persecution. Uh, what about this? It may look like not getting a second date. Come on.

College students. Maybe you're in high school and you thought, man, the date went so good until there was a moment in the date where I set some boundaries and I hadn't heard from him since. Sense, that's what persecution looks like. 'Cause you've made a stand. It may look like isolation.

I see this a lot in our students, man, I love this. On Sunday nights, I begin to have these conversations with all of our students. We've got so many students that are getting involved in the movement. You're doing amazing. Some of the times we'll hear stories about, you know what, it's a lonely thing.

Here's what I'm telling you. If you're feeling any of these things, then you're participating in the suffering. That's the next verse. That's the part of the next verse that I want you to see. He says, but rejoice in such a way as you may be participating.

See that whole list? That's not a list to go, oh, man, I mean, it hurts. I feel that with you. I don't want that for you, but I'm telling you, good job. The fact that you're a little bit lonely means that you've been left outta some things because you know that you're not gonna participate in it.

Uh, the fact that maybe you're getting a little bit of pushback and that, that that group's not asking you to come be a part of things. That's not necessarily a bad sign. That may mean that you're participating in the suffering. I'm asking you to kinda look at your life and begin to ask yourself is, is there anything in my life that I feel left out of that I may be being persecuted for? Or what happens, I think is maybe, have you just gotten comfortable?

I'm gonna tell you, that's me. I, I, I, I get comfortable. I like being comfortable. And then once I get comfortable, I kind of get lazy. And when I get lazy, I start, do I stop doing hard?

Things like, there, there, there was probably a season, maybe, maybe you're like this, where you, you, you felt uncomfortable in certain environments. Like somebody would say a racist joke and you would react. But now somebody says that same joke and you just kind of laugh. I'll give you an example. And this one's a little bit softer, and so it'll, it'll, it'll kind of help you get there.

Uh, over the summer, in the middle of the summer, it's probably like July or August, it was so hot. And a friend of mine called me and, and he asked me about a movie. He was gonna take his kids to see a movie, and he knew that I'd already gone with my kids to see the movie. Now my kids are a little bit older, but I gave it a full recommendation. Like, bro, you're gonna love it.

It's just right. You guys go, you know, it'll be a great thing for you to do. He left the movie and he was disappointed in me. Like I could hear it in his voice. He was like, I called the preacher to ask for a movie.

And there were some things in that movie that weren't appropriate for my child to see what had happened. I, I'd become numb. I I was watching the movie through a lens that had become comfortable with some things that were in the movie. Now, come on. This isn't like a R movie.

Y'all look at me like I'm crazy. Y'all done the same thing, but I, I wasn't uncomfortable anymore. I had just grown comfortable. And so what I'm asking you to do is to start thinking about some things that just, even if we, if we go back just in your life, just a couple of weeks, like has there maybe been a prompting? And it was a kind of prompting, like you, you know, like you, you saw someone and you thought, Hey, I can meet their need.

Like I could cover their lunch today. And instead of stepping into it, you just backed off of it like a kind of prompting where you, you saw a student and you saw, I see myself in the life of the student. Like, I see me in your life. I'm gonna speak encouragement into you so you don't give up. I'm gonna say some really positive life giving words to you.

And you went quiet, like the kind of thing where your conscious is in you and you know, you need to look to the person sitting next to your husband and wife, and you missed a chance to say, I'm sorry. And instead, you blew right by it. Here's the cycle, okay? Ask yourself if your life looks like this, this visual is gonna help you. Where you, you hadn't always been this way, but you've just started avoiding hard things.

Like you used to lean into moments where you didn't know how all it was gonna meet, but you were giving. And you, you used to lean into moments where you were in God's word and you were waking up a little bit earlier. You used to lean into moments where you included people and you invited them into your life, but, but you just kind of got in this habit. And then when you started getting in that habit, all of a sudden your faith began to weaken a little bit. Like there was a day where you, you prayed these bold prayers like, God, heal this person and God provide this.

And then it just turned into God, keep me safe. God bless my food. And when you started kind of backing off, your faith began to weaken a little bit. And then you just begin to pursue comfort. And you know, I started watching online and midst a COVID and it was awful, comfortable.

It's hard sometimes to go on Wednesday nights. Like it's just more comfortable. It's just easier to stay at home sometimes. Coming back up here on Sunday nights, getting my kids up here at five 30. You kidding me?

It's Sunday night giving, man, come on. There's plenty of things I can spend my money on. And then you begin to just get in this endless cycle. Now, I want you to compare that as your life looked like that. Or is this where you are?

Alright, here's the opposite of that. Here's what we want be, are you leaning into the struggle? Uh, this looks like this week I had someone that called me and, and, and she said, Hey, I just need you to know this. I need to apologize to you. Years ago, years ago, I didn't handle a situation though.

I wish I would've handled it. And it's been on my heart, and I need to tell you that. I'm sorry. It's pretty bold. That's someone that's leaning into the struggle.

This is someone that uses words that, that, you know, when they kind of feel like you wanna shrink back a little bit and just avoid, that's me. I like to avoid the pain. But you step into it and you say things like, Hey, I'm sorry. Hey, I missed the moment right here. You, you lean into the struggle and then all of a sudden what happens is your faith begins to strengthen because you're watching some healing happen, and you're watching these moments that, that you didn't even know were possible.

And you're beginning to gain a little momentum, and then you start to share it. I got a little row over here, that's all my house church. And Wednesday night we were sitting in a circle together and this person was sharing about this, and this person was sharing about this, and we were listening to our kids play, and we were all opening up God's word together. And what did it do? It, it strengthened my faith because I looked up and I went, I'm not alone.

Had a brother call me this week, asked me to just go eat lunch with him. He's like, man, I'm, I'm trying, I'm trying, I'm trying to do these things differently, but I feel like I'm on an island. And when we begin to talk, our faith strengthened, and then we begin to leave outta their living more boldly. So here's the question for you. Which one of these two cycles describes you?

Is this where you are? Or is this where you are now? Now this person on this week, following all the stuff we've seen in the news, your reaction is to probably make a post, kind of avoid hard things, but you wanna say something, you know, so you just kinda, this person says it's not about words, it's about power. And you begin to live differently. Like you begin to step into that, you begin to seek to understand and then to be understood.

So I'm challenging you this week to say, which one of those cycles do you want to use? Which one of those cycles do you want to be the one that describes you? Now, here's the third thing, okay? And this is it. We're getting there.

Okay? We're talking about how to handle persecution God's way. I love what Peter says. He understands this. He says, the last thing I want you to do, this is towards the end of the book, he says, I want you to cast because he cares.

Look at the verse. Here's the verse. Here's how he says it. Humble yourself. Now, that's hard enough in the midst of all this, like instead of jumping out there and making a comment real quick to get a bunch of likes, instead of having a quick reaction to something, he says, well, humble yourself under God's mighty hand.

So that's where my hope is. That's where my ultimate trust is. That's the ultimate authority. And in the meantime, humble yourselves in front of God's mighty hand that he may lift you up in due time. When isn't that encouraging?

Hey, don't give up. Hey, that second date, it's gonna come. Just don't give up. It's gonna come in due time. Hey, if you'll keep making a stand, man, the relief in God's presence, in God's provision, it's coming.

It's coming in due time. Don't stop. And in the meantime, cast all your anxieties on him because he cares for you. I love this. This is p Peter can speak your language.

You ever been with somebody in your life? It's just like they get me. Hey, here's why I think Peter said this. Here's why I think Peter, of all people would say to cast your anxieties on him, because I think there were some anxieties in Peter's life. I mean, when you first think about Peter, you go, oh yeah, I know Peter.

He's the one that walked on water. He's, that was awesome. That was such a big moment. I can't imagine having that much faith to walk on water. Oh, Peter, he preached at Pentecost.

He was the one, 3000 people were saved. Peter, he's that guy that Jesus said, you're gonna be the rock that I build the church on the same. Peter is the one that pulled out his sword and cut the guy's ear off that Jesus had to heal the same. Peter is the one that denied Jesus three times. One of those to little girl, the same Peter that did all those wonderful things was the one that Jesus literally had to say, get behind me.

Satan. What I'm telling you is I think there were some mishaps and some mistakes in Peter's life that were really heavy. And I think that's why he said, if you're feeling that way, cast those things off, brother. You've been carrying that backpack of all those mistakes for way too long. Cast those, let those go.

I need you to get back in this game. I still want to use you. I still have plans for you. You're not DQ because of those mistakes, Peter. No, no, no, no.

He says to cast them on him. And then he gives us this little jewel. Boy, don't you love it because he cares for you. And of all the different words to zone in on, to highlight it would be that one. I've gotta make sure you see that one that he cares for you.

This weekend in my house church, when we were sitting around out there in the carport, sweating and hearing the kids play, we'd been praying for, for one of the ladies in our group that's, that's got breast cancer. And she had to go back for her scans. I dunno if you guys ever have to go back for scans if you've been in that place, but it's a, it's a dark place. And I saw her, I went to get my haircut, and I saw her, and the first thing I asked her were, how were the scans? And here, you need to know this for the story, the scans came back good.

They came back clean. Let's celebrate clean scans. Yeah. But as she was describing to me everything that she felt that week waiting to go back for those scans, the triggers that that brought back up in her life, the anxiety of sitting there waiting for the call on the results of the scans, I just wanted to, I wanted to bring this verse up to her and say, he cares about you. Like he cares deeply about the results of those scans.

He, he cares about that kid that you're still praying for. He cares about that relationship. That's really, really tense right now. He cares about you deeply. I love that Peter brought that back up.

Listen, despite all the things that had gone wrong in Peter's life, at that point, Jesus was the one that reinstated Peter. He wants to do that for you. And so here's what I wanna do for you. I want to end this message a little bit differently today because I, I know you well enough to know you are just like Peter, just like me. You have these moments in this room when my man is leading worship and you are feeling it.

And there's a vibe up in here. You look around and everybody's in this thing together. We're opening up God's word together 59 minutes, and you feel really good. And then you walk out. First thing you do is you get back on your phone and you start to scroll.

I'm gonna ask you to do something different this week. Stop scrolling. I'm gonna ask you to do that. Here's what I want you to do this week. This is different.

I want you to start every day, and I'm gonna tell you exactly what to do, but I'm gonna ask you to do it to start every day with reading Psalms 1 21. And I think what's gonna happen to you, instead of allowing the algorithms to take you in a certain direction, We're gonna let God's word keep our ass focused on Jesus. But it doesn't happen if you jump up in the morning and you get right back on social media, it's just gonna take you somewhere there's an agenda. But if you'll wake up in the morning, and we're gonna read each morning this week between now and Sunday when we come back, okay, I got mine marked right here. We're gonna read Psalms 1 21, and let's just see if our week is a little bit different.

If we come back in and we take control a little bit, if we fix our eyes, like Hebrews three said this week on Thursday and the Bible Reading plan, here's what Psalms 1 21 says, let me read it over you, and I'm gonna just get it started for you so you can dive in this week. Psalms 1 21 says this, I lift up my eyes to the heels. Where does my help come from my help? Another translation right there says, my hope it comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip.

He who watches over you will not slumber. Now, I'm gonna stop right there, but there's eight verses and I want you to read 'em this week. I, I want you to take back control of, instead of letting your eyes be fixed on all of this, I want it to be fixed on God's word. And let's look to the hills for where does my help and where does my hope come from? It comes from his word.

Let's not talk about the different persecution of everybody else. Let's settle in and ask, is our faith worth persecuting? Listen, your response to today, it may be that you need to live a more bold life. Your response today may be that there's some anxiety on your heart that you need to cast off of you and put it on Jesus. He can carry it.

It may be that last little line right there that you need to hear, that he cares for you, like he cares deeply for you, like, like he cares about you and he sees you. And if he feels that way, then I'm asking you this week to push away the things of the world and to fix your eyes on Jesus. Psalms 1 21. We're gonna read it each day, and let's see if our week is different. Let's do this.

Let's pray together. I want you to bow your heads with me wherever you are, and I'm gonna lead you in this little moment. But I want you to know that when I say amen, you're gonna have a chance, man. The the altar is open. Some of you're carrying some things that are so heavy that the best thing we could do for you today is just to engage with you.

Remember, it's a battle. It's a war. We don't want you to fight alone, and we would love to carry some of that with you. So we're gonna have prayer team folks, so my friends right down here, and you could just walk down and say, here's the battle. Here's the battle.

Then you just fill in the blank. Here's the battle, and then we're gonna get in there with you. Maybe you wanna come down to the crosses, and then the crosses are there for you to leave some things behind. It's exactly what Peter would've done. He'd have gone down there and he'd have right denied you, boom.

And put it up on the cross. Maybe there's something in your life that just keeps dragging you down that you wanna leave behind. Maybe you just wanna worship and begin to pray and fix your eyes on Jesus. God, I thank you for your word and God that it intimidates me, that the reality is that persecution is something we're gonna have to face. But God, I know this.

I, I I wanna be on the field and I, I wanna be in the battle. And God, I wanna lead a church that's not just on the sidelines, but God. That's, that's, it's an active faith. It's, it's a group of people that are all in that we're pursuing you together. We're holding up each other's arms.

We're, we're in the battle. We're encouraging, we're giving, we're, we're present. We're living intentionally. And so, God, I pray if anything could happen from this persecution, it would leave us asking difficult questions of our own faith. So Father, I thank you for your grace.

I thank you for your prompting, the way that you can use these things of the world to, to point us back to you. And thank you that these tragedies don't go unnoticed. But God, I pray for our reaction that we would be a people of love. God, we know the way it ends. You win.

But God, in this world, in this moments, we look to the hills for where does our help come from? Where does our hope come? It comes from you. So God, we look to you today. Give us strength, give us endurance, give us perseverance.

Father, we love you. And we worship you. It's in your name we pray. Amen.