by David Gibson<\/p>\n
The leaders of the Jerusalem church referred to Barnabas and Paul as “men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ<\/em>” (Acts 15:26; see II Corinthians 11:23-28). Paul appreciated risk-takers like himself, such as Priscilla and Aquila, “who risked their necks for my life<\/em>” (Romans 16:4). He commended Epaphroditus, who “nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me<\/em>” (Philippians 2:30).<\/p>\n But what if we are faced with the choice of confessing Christ and suffering for it, or denying Him to save our own skin? At one point, Peter’s fear led him to deny he even knew Jesus (Matthew 26:69-75). Later emboldened, he was willing to suffer imprisonment, beating, and death for the Master (Acts 4:18-31; 5:17-42; 12:1-4).<\/p>\n What would we do if faced with the choice? “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you<\/em>” (Matthew 5:11-12).<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by David Gibson High Praise! The leaders of the Jerusalem church referred to Barnabas and Paul as “men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 15:26; see II Corinthians 11:23-28). Paul appreciated risk-takers like himself, such as Priscilla and Aquila, “who risked their necks for my life” (Romans…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[1613],"class_list":["post-89014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-risk"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":86576,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/being-crucified-with-christ\/","url_meta":{"origin":89014,"position":0},"title":"Being Crucified with Christ","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 11, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Formerly, Paul was an enemy of Christ and made it his mission to stomp out His church if possible. He thought he was doing God service as he searched to persecute and kill Christians, those Paul sincerely thought were heretics of the Jews' religion. According to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2136,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-must-i-do-to-be-saved\/","url_meta":{"origin":89014,"position":1},"title":"What Must I Do to be Saved? (Walker)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 25, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"by Wayne S. Walker Of all the questions asked ... Where did I come from? Who am I? Why am I here? Where am I going? The most important question ever asked was: \"Sirs, what must I do to be saved?\" (Acts 16:30) In the sixteenth chapter of the book\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23340,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-old-testament-points-us-to-christ\/","url_meta":{"origin":89014,"position":2},"title":"The Old Testament Points Us to Christ","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 12, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Tommy Peeler The Old Testament is valuable because it points us to Christ. Jesus emphasized that the Old Testament pointed to Him Jesus said, \u201cYou search in the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that bear witness of Me\u201d (John 5:39).\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/arrow-road-road-signs-sign-preview-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":47946,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-should-be-said-to-make-the-good-confession\/","url_meta":{"origin":89014,"position":3},"title":"What should be said to make the good confession?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 21, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Before I was baptized, I confessed that I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and I still do. If you look at I Timothy 6:12-13, Paul says Timothy made the\u00a0good confession in the presence of many witnesses and then says that Jesus made the\u00a0good confession in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20251,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/preaching-like-paul\/","url_meta":{"origin":89014,"position":4},"title":"Preaching Like Paul","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 21, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bobby Witherington via\u00a0Guardian of Truth\u00a0XXXVI: 3, pp. 80-82, February 6, 1992 There are many books that deal with preaching. Some are excellent. Some are not worth the paper and ink they require. Some are downright dangerous. But there is one book that not only reveals the value of preaching;\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/scan0013-13-300x235.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":28041,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-paul-a-sabbath-keeper\/","url_meta":{"origin":89014,"position":5},"title":"Was Paul a Sabbath Keeper?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 1, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Benard Kagaga Always, when the Bible is given time as the word of God (II Timothy 3:16-17) to give us the clear way (John 14:6), when our minds reach a point of confusion (I Corinthians 14:33), given time with the Bible we will understand. When talking with the Sabbath\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/scan0005-14-210x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89014\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Worth the Risk?<\/h2>\n
The Promise<\/h2>\n