Sermon quotes on persecution
Bernard of Clairvaux
Persecution shows who is a hireling, and who a true pastor.
Billy Graham
Persecution is one of the natural consequences of living the Christian life. It is to the Christian what “growing pains” are to the growing child. No pain, no development. No suffering, no glory. No struggle, no victory. No persecution, no reward.
Vance Havner
At the Nicene Council, an important church meeting in the 4th century A.D., of the 318 delegates attending, fewer than 12 had not lost an eye or lost a hand or did not limp on a leg lamed by torture for their Christian faith.
Vance Havner
Popularity has killed more prophets than persecution.
Skye Jethani
Persecution is never something sought by a Christian. It is the by-product of seeking first the kingdom of God rather than the privileges of the world.
What If Jesus Was Serious?: A Visual Guide to the Teachings of Jesus We Love to Ignore, Moody, 2020.
Peter Kreeft
Why would the apostles lie?….Liars always lie for selfish reasons. If they lied, what was their motive, what did they get out of it? What they got out of it was misunderstanding, rejection, persecution, torture, and martyrdom. Hardly a list of perks!
John Milton
There is no truth sure enough to justify persecution.
Dwight L. Moody
Happiness is caused by things that happen around me, and circumstances will mar it; but joy flows right on through trouble; joy flows in the night as well as in the day; joy flows through persecution and opposition. It is an unceasing fountain bubbling up in the heart; a secret spring the world can’t see and doesn’t know anything about.
Secret Power
Oscar Romero
Let us not forget: we are a pilgrim church, subject to misunderstanding, to persecution, but a church that walks serene, because it bears the force of love.
J.C. Ryle
Laughter, ridicule, opposition, persecution, are often the only reward which Christ’s followers get from the world.
Paul Simon
Blessed are the sat upon, spat upon, ratted on.
John Stott
Persecution is simply the clash between two irreconcilable value-systems.
The Message of the Sermon on the Mount (Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1978), 52
Hudson Taylor
Carrying the cross does mean following in Jesus’ footsteps. And in His footsteps are rejection, brokenheartedness, persecution and death. There are not two Christs – an easy going one for easy going Christians, and a suffering one for exceptional believers. There is only one Christ. Are we willing to follow His lead?
A.W. Tozer
The true Church has never sounded out public expectations before launching her mission. Her leaders heard from God, they knew their Lord’s will and did it. Their people followed them – sometimes to triumph, oftener to insults and public persecution – and their sufficient reward was the satisfaction of being right in a wrong world!
Paul Washer
Persecution has never hurt the church … only prosperity.
Richard Wurmbrand
I have found truly jubilant Christians only in the Bible, in the Underground Church and in prison.
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