by David Gibson<\/p>\n
He had so much to tell them and so little time. It was Jesus’ last night with His disciples before the cross. Knowing what lay ahead, He wanted most to prepare them for the hardships they would soon be facing.<\/p>\n
He warned them that their enemies would oppose them as they had opposed their Master. “I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away . . . . I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you<\/em>” (John 16:1, 4).<\/p>\n As Lewis Foster has written, “To be forewarned of those periods of persecution was to be forearmed.”<\/p>\n Like the apostles, every faithful Christian needs to know that persecution is inevitable (II Timothy 3:12). When such occasions arise, we can remember Who told us and be strengthened in our conviction that, because He is who He is, our suffering for Him will indeed be worth it.<\/p>\n One of those who heard Jesus that last night was Peter. Decades later, he wrote, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed<\/em>” (I Peter 4:12-13).<\/p>\n O Father, strengthen us now so that when we are called to suffer for Christ, we will stand firm. In His name we pray. Amen.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by David Gibson He had so much to tell them and so little time. It was Jesus’ last night with His disciples before the cross. Knowing what lay ahead, He wanted most to prepare them for the hardships they would soon be facing. The value of warnings He warned them that their enemies would oppose…<\/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":[572],"class_list":["post-91338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-persecution"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":63255,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/persecution-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":91338,"position":0},"title":"Persecution","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 12, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Justice Scalia made headlines a short while ago by attending a \u201cprayer breakfast\u201d and speaking about being a Christian \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I doubt Justice Scalia and I would agree about some aspects of what constitutes living a Christian life, but he did make some interesting comments. II.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As Christians,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32454,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/persecution\/","url_meta":{"origin":91338,"position":1},"title":"Persecution (Carter)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 22, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Jeff Carter Sentry Magazine, September 2001 In the United States, the church has enjoyed a peaceful existence. Our Federal and State governments allow us to worship freely. However, God does not promise us a carefree, painless life. Very early in his preaching, Jesus promises \"Blessed ore those who have been\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":57417,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/early-persecution\/","url_meta":{"origin":91338,"position":2},"title":"Early Persecution","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 29, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Andy Sochor via\u00a0Unmasking Sophistry, October-December 2022 As the apostles were commissioned to \"make disciples of all the nations\" (Matthew 28:19), this would include preparing these disciples to face persecution for the cause of Christ. Jesus warned about this in His Sermon on the Mount: \"Blessed are you when people\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":26295,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/moments-that-test-us\/","url_meta":{"origin":91338,"position":3},"title":"Moments that Test Us","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 4, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Mike Thomas Persecution reveals the quality of our faith in the same way fire reveals the nature of metal (I Peter 1:7). But persecution is not the only moment that reveals our character. There are other scenes in life that are just as effective in exposing our inner man:\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\/2014\/10\/lonely-200x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":40734,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/persecution-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":91338,"position":4},"title":"Persecution (Hausner)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 20, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Austin Hausner","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":55937,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/jamaica-patois-wisdom-effort\/","url_meta":{"origin":91338,"position":5},"title":"Jamaica Patois Wisdom – Effort","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 19, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jefferson David Tant The Jamaican Patois dialect is colorful, unique, and humorous. It is my desire to share some of the philosophy shown in this mix of colorful phrases that are witty as well as thought-provoking. I hope the readers both profit and enjoy. In my quarter-century plus of\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\/2022\/11\/runny-nose-300x200.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\/91338","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=91338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91338\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}And to prepare us as well<\/h2>\n