Church bulletin for October<\/p>\n
In recent months we have been moved privately and in our church gatherings to pray about the terrible atrocities taking place in the Middle East. It is hard to imagine what it must be like to live in such dire circumstances. Yet we are to imagine what it is like. The author to the Hebrews tells us to <\/span>\u201cremember the prisoners as if chained with them\u201d <\/i>(Heb 13:5). We are to help our brethren just as we would desire their help if our places were swapped. Obviously it is not only Christians who are suffering, but certainly believers are being persecuted for their faith.<\/span><\/p>\n Perhaps there is another reason why we should contemplate the suffering of God\u2019s people. It could be that we are not that far away from it ourselves. Persecution as brutal as that in the Middle East may not come to these shores, but this does not mean that Christians won\u2019t suffer. The Bible forewarns us to expect opposition. 1 Peter 4:12, <\/span>\u201cBeloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you\u201d<\/i>\u00a0Maybe it is a strange thing that we have had it good for so long.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n We ought to consider the persecuted in order to pray for them and help them as we are able. We should also consider the persecuted in order to pray for our own situation. Paul tells Timothy, <\/span>\u201cTherefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions,\u00a0and giving of thanks be made for all men,\u00a02<\/sup>for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence\u201d<\/i> (1 Tim 2:1-2). Realising what can happen if the state turns against the church should move us to pray for those who rule over us. It is not self-indulgent to desire peace and safety as we practice our faith. In the Middle East we have a very real reminder that the kingdom of the world and the kingdom of God are incompatible. There will be conflict in one form or another, to one degree or another.<\/span><\/p>\n Here in Australia, how long before Christian ministers are jailed for preaching the truth; how long before Christian parents lose their children for exercising Biblical discipline; how long before ministries are closed down for maintaining Godly standards. It may be closer than we imagine. Let us pray for our brothers and sisters enduring severe persecution. Let us pray that God would spare us from the rod of opposition and may we be ready should He choose to bring it upon us.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Church bulletin for October In recent months we have been moved privately and in our church gatherings to pray about the terrible atrocities taking place in the Middle East. It …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=416"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":417,"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416\/revisions\/417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sdreformedbaptist.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}