Persecution

“When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. I tell you the truth, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes. 
“A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master.  
It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebub, how much more the members of his household!” 
“So do not be afraid of them. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known.  
What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs.  
Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.  
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny ? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.  
And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  
So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. 
“Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven.  
But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven. 
“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.  
For I have come to turn “ ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law— a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’ 
Matthew 10:23-36
Persecution it seems for the most part is inevitable. If you are persecuted however Jesus make it clear go to another place.
Jesus was persecuted and as followers of Christ we will from time to time face persecution.
Our message makes persecution inevitable I think.
We proclaim the words of Jesus who said,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son”
John 3:16-18
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” 
John 14:6.
The world likes to think there are many ways to heaven. When we make it clear that there is only one way and we start to evangelize there are groups out there that will reject our message. Some violently.
Family members will turn against each other something that happens today in all areas of the world.
But we are urged by Jesus to continue on to the end. Jesus noting that if we acknowledge him before men he will acknowledge us before His Father.
Ultimately Jesus states “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.”
He is the prince of peace but his words can and do spark debate in all levels of society.  
Still it is the words of Jesus that we must proclaim to all people that as many as possible will be saved.
Do you? Think about it.