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Listen "Praying for the Persecuted Church – William Deane – Brixham Community Church – 23 Apr 2023"
Episode Synopsis
https://youtu.be/JLXzCaupbsE
Sermon notes:
Praying for the Persecuted Church
Introduction:
On average, every 2 hours, a follower of Christ, one of our brothers or sisters in Christ, is martyred for their faith, somewhere in the world, not to mention others around them who may be injured, bereaved or traumatised in the same incident. At our monthly prayer meeting for the Persecuted Church on Thursday evening, using the OpenDoors excellent videos, the six of us heard a story of a young Nigerian boy who survived a shooting by the Boko Harem Islamic extremist group. However 7 members of his family including his father lay dead. He was so full of anger against his family's killers and God that he became very angry, bitter and violent, desperate for revenge. Thankfully an OpenDoors trauma counsellor and her team were able to talk to him in time, and he broke down and wept, and was able to recover his faith in God and forgive the killers.
We also heard the testimony of a teenage girl in East Africa, who was a member of a family from an Islamic tribe who had all become Christians and were ostrasized by their community. One evening, when her parents were out, a man from the village came into the home and raped her. She was so traumatised physically and mentally that she lost the will to live. Thankfully she received help from OpenDoors trauma counsellors, recovered, and now uses her difficult experience to help others who have suffered in similar ways. These are precious members of our family in Christ! As we prayed, the horror of these two incidents dawned on us and we felt the urgent need to encourage more Christians to join us in united prayer and to support organisations like OpenDoors. I knew I should take the opportunity to speak about it today! How should we pray for the persecuted church?
In the course of my preparations the Lord gave me numerous confirmations that He wanted me to share this message today. For instance on Friday evening, during work on the sermon, I stopped for a break specifically to take communion with Christine. When I sat down with her at 9.30pm, she was watching TBN on TV. The programme that was just starting was 'Pray for the Persecuted Church with OpenDoors!' It gave me further testimonies for this sermon. As I was doing my final preparations this morning, an old friend phoned me in great distress with a very serious health issue. He asked me to pray for him over the phone and I used words from the Bible passage I am about to read to you. Afterwards he read the very same scripture to me which came to his mind as he had been studying it quite recently!
In 2 Corinthians 1:2-11 Paul shares a testimony he and his companions experienced:-
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.
We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favour granted us in an...
Sermon notes:
Praying for the Persecuted Church
Introduction:
On average, every 2 hours, a follower of Christ, one of our brothers or sisters in Christ, is martyred for their faith, somewhere in the world, not to mention others around them who may be injured, bereaved or traumatised in the same incident. At our monthly prayer meeting for the Persecuted Church on Thursday evening, using the OpenDoors excellent videos, the six of us heard a story of a young Nigerian boy who survived a shooting by the Boko Harem Islamic extremist group. However 7 members of his family including his father lay dead. He was so full of anger against his family's killers and God that he became very angry, bitter and violent, desperate for revenge. Thankfully an OpenDoors trauma counsellor and her team were able to talk to him in time, and he broke down and wept, and was able to recover his faith in God and forgive the killers.
We also heard the testimony of a teenage girl in East Africa, who was a member of a family from an Islamic tribe who had all become Christians and were ostrasized by their community. One evening, when her parents were out, a man from the village came into the home and raped her. She was so traumatised physically and mentally that she lost the will to live. Thankfully she received help from OpenDoors trauma counsellors, recovered, and now uses her difficult experience to help others who have suffered in similar ways. These are precious members of our family in Christ! As we prayed, the horror of these two incidents dawned on us and we felt the urgent need to encourage more Christians to join us in united prayer and to support organisations like OpenDoors. I knew I should take the opportunity to speak about it today! How should we pray for the persecuted church?
In the course of my preparations the Lord gave me numerous confirmations that He wanted me to share this message today. For instance on Friday evening, during work on the sermon, I stopped for a break specifically to take communion with Christine. When I sat down with her at 9.30pm, she was watching TBN on TV. The programme that was just starting was 'Pray for the Persecuted Church with OpenDoors!' It gave me further testimonies for this sermon. As I was doing my final preparations this morning, an old friend phoned me in great distress with a very serious health issue. He asked me to pray for him over the phone and I used words from the Bible passage I am about to read to you. Afterwards he read the very same scripture to me which came to his mind as he had been studying it quite recently!
In 2 Corinthians 1:2-11 Paul shares a testimony he and his companions experienced:-
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.
We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favour granted us in an...
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