Thank you, John. Thank you, Jeanette. Turn to Revelation 2 now. Revelation
2. It's another blessed word from
the Lord, our Lord, to His churches. How often He said that to every
church. He that hath ears to hear, let
him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. And then after that, every single
time, He says, He that overcometh. And He gives us promise. He that
overcometh. We look Sunday morning that it's
of the Lord's mercies we're not consumed. A world that is consumed
by sin, by itself, the world, the things of the world. A world
that's soon to be consumed, to be burned up, the Lord said. But a people, He has a people,
a remnant. according to his election of
grace, that is not consumed and will not be consumed. They are
not consumed with this world. We're tempted by it, but not
consumed with it, and will not be consumed with it. But he that
overcometh, and what does John say is that which overcometh? Faith, believing, looking to
Christ, looking to our God, promises of our Lord. In spite of the
warnings, ominous warnings, they're blessed and precious promises
that we'll escape. And our Lord said, it will not
have dominion over you. So, blessed were he that overcometh. And how does faith, where does
faith come from? Where do we get this assurance?
Where do we get this peace, this trust? From His Word. Faith cometh
by hearing His Word. What we're doing right now. What
we're doing right now is of the utmost importance. It's vital,
it's urgent to keep us from being overcome. Okay? A blessed Word. Four points to
this message. Let's read the text. Four verses,
four short verses, but full, so full. Verse 8, Revelation
2.8, "...Unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write, These
things saith the first and the last, which was dead and is alive. I know thy works, and tribulation,
and poverty, but thou art rich. And I know the blasphemy of them
which say they are Jews and are not, but are the synagogue of
Satan. Fear none of those things which
thou shalt suffer. Behold, the devil shall cast
some of you into prison, that you may be tried. And you shall
have tribulation ten days. Be thou faithful unto death,
and I will give thee a crown of life. He that hath an ear,
let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. He that
overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death. So there
are four short verses, four points. We have another word from our
Lord to his church. Thank God. A word of commendation,
another word of commendation, he commends the church for what
he's done for them. But another word of commendation,
another word of warning, that this time it's not warning for
bad behavior, it's not warning for something that they've done
wrong, but it's a warning of what's other people are going
to do to us, to them. And then a word of promise after
that warning. So a word from our Lord. Verse
8, unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write, write this down. These things are written, John
said, these things are written unto you that believe on the
name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal
life, and that you may believe, or more fully believe, on the
name of the Son of God. I believe, don't you? Lord, help
my unbelief. Well, this is how he helps us. This book, this blessed book.
Our Lord said, blessed are they that read the words of this book.
There are more Bibles now than ever, but fewer people reading
them. More Bibles and less truth. More perversions of the Bible.
But blessed are they that read the words of this book. And our
Lord said, blessed are they that hear. Because how shall we hear
without a preacher? How blessed we are to have preachers
of the gospel. give us an understanding. And
blessed are they that keep or lay hold of the Word. Our Lord
has written a book, remember Malachi, unto them that feared
his name and thought on him, a book of remembrance was written
before him. How thankful I am for this book,
aren't you? Where would we be without God's
Word in the dark? Dead. A book of remembrance. A word from the Lord to his angel. You see how the Lord has chosen
the preaching of the gospel. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching. Every single church had a messenger,
an angel, and it was written to him to give to them. And I'm
glad. I just listened to a couple of
messages today by my pastor, the angel the Lord sent me. I
still listen. I need to be preached to. Unto
the angel of the church in Smyrna, blessed word from the Lord."
Now, to each church, the Lord tells us who is speaking, who
He is. In the first chapter, He gives
several descriptions of Himself, all the way through the first
chapter. And then in these letters, He brings that up again. Whether or not this is true or
not depends on who's saying it. What we should believe or what
we believe depends on who's saying it. Right? If this is the Word
of God, then we must believe it. Then it's true. Look at all
the descriptions. Verse 1 of chapter 2 says, These
things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right
hands. He holds his His preachers, His
people, His churches. He walks in the midst of the
seven golden candlesticks. He's alive, He's living, He's
with us. We can't see Him. He sees us. We see Him with the
eye of faith. Look at verse 8, under the angel
of the church in Smyrna, these things saith the first and the
last. Who's that? God, who in the beginning
created the heavens and the earth, and the last, the God who's going
to end it all, the author, the finisher of the faith, the one
who created it all, the one who's going to destroy it all, the
one who created a new heaven and earth, which was dead, Christ
crucified, and He's alive. Everything we believe, about
God, about Christ, about life eternal, depends on Jesus Christ
rising from the grave. Right? If He didn't rise from
that grave, He was the biggest imposter to ever live. But Paul
said we have this glorious gospel of God concerning God's Son who
was declared to be the Son of God with power according to the
Spirit of holiness and according to the resurrection of the dead. Because he died according to
the scripture, because he rose again, it proves who he is. No one has ever gone to the grave
and come back except Jesus Christ. So that absolutely proves who
he is. And so we believe. Not some dead
prophet, not some dead reformer or martyr, a living Lord. Do you understand that? Look
at verse 12. I'm sorry, verse... Yeah, verse
12. To the angel of Pergamos write,
these things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges. He said, John said, I saw him,
he said, a sharp sword came out of his mouth, a two-edged sword.
This is the one who kills and makes alive. Aren't you glad? He said, I,
the Lord, do all these things. I kill, I make alive, I wound,
I heal. How does He do it? He just speaks
it. The same one who spoke everything
into existence is the one who controls all things, upholds
all things by the word of His power. The day you die is the
day the Lord says so. without anybody dying. Our enemies
are completely under control of His Word. You just speak the
Word. It's a sharp sword. Wound, you
get sick, the Lord says, be sick. If you're healed, be healed. Aren't you glad? That's who's
speaking here. We can believe Him. He has all
power. Verse 18, to the angel Thyatira, these things saith
the Son of God. the only begotten, the crown
prince of glory, Emmanuel, God with us, Son of God, He whose
eyes are like a flame of fire. He sees all. He sees through
everything. His feet like fine brass, unmovable,
unshakable, firm, a God who never changes, unchanging. That's who's speaking. Look at
chapter 3, verse 1. These things saith he that hath
the seven spirits of God, that is, omniscient, all-knowing.
We read the eyes of the Lord running to and fro through the
earth. He knows. We often think, look at things going on. The
Lord knows. Known unto God are all His works
from the beginning of the world. He sees, He knows, He controls
us. Read on. Chapter 3, verse 1, he has the
seven stars. That makes me so thankful that
he has his preachers in his hands. It should make you thankful too
because you won't be led by a false prophet. Verse 7, the angel of
the church of Philadelphia, these things saith he that is holy,
he that is true, he that hath the key of David, the key of
the kingdom, They openeth, no man shutteth. Aren't you glad? Shutteth, no man openeth. The
last one, verse 14, to the Laodicea, these things saith the Amen,
meaning everything he says is so, is certain, sure, faithful,
and true witness. The beginning of the creation
of God comes back at the end to where it began. The beginning. So that's who's speaking. We
ought to listen to them. That's what Hebrews said. We
ought to give them more earnest heed to the things we've heard.
If the things spoken by angels should hear, what about Him who
speaks from heaven? This is not my message to you.
This is not my little sermon to you. This is God's Word. No matter if I have liberty to
say it. No matter if I speak loud or soft or whatever, or
if I fumble or bumble, we're still reading God's Word. He's writing to the church of
Smyrna. Now, every word is significant. Smyrna. Is this just another
name for a church, another location, just another place? Smyrna means
myrrh. The word myrrh. Same word. What
is myrrh? It's the balm of Gillian. It's
the principal spice in the anointing oil that was made to anoint Aaron
and his sons. Myrrh. It's the first principal
spice that the Lord told them to mix together to put that anointing
oil on the head of Aaron and his sons. It was what Joseph
and Nicodemus came to anoint the dead body of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Myrrh. It's the balm of Gilead. It's taken from an evergreen
tree that is cut, not cut down, but wounded, and it's blood that
comes from this evergreen tree. And out of that sap, it has healing
qualities, it's aromatic, it's fragrant, it has a sweet-smelling
savor, and healing powers. What is this myrrh? That's the
grace of God. Grace be unto you, He says to
all the churches. Grace, the holy anointing of
Jesus Christ himself is upon his blessed church. This church, Smyrna, and Philadelphia
were the only two of the seven that God didn't say anything
against them. All that he says to all the churches
applies to every church, every local church. We all have everything
he said, we need to hear it. And we have the things he said
against them, he has against us. But the things he said in
commendation of them, he's commended us. And he didn't say anything
against Smyrna, it's all good, except I'm going to tell them
of the tribulation they're going through. But Smyrna to him, like
Ephesus loved him, he knew that, he put that love. Smyrna to him
was a sweet smelling savor of Christ to him. Myrrh. I was going to have you turn
to the Song of Solomon, where it says that I'm coming to my
garden, my love, my spouse, I've mingled my myrrh with my spices. Come, let's eat and drink and
fellowship together. But like Laodicea, Like Ephesus,
she fell asleep and didn't get up. Nevertheless, His church
to Him, because they preach Christ, His true church, because they
really do anoint and love and worship and do nothing else but
worship the Lord Jesus Christ, they are to Him a sweet smelling
savor. While everything else that goes
on under the name of God and Christ is not for His glory,
but is for man's glory, is an abomination, a stench in His
holy nostrils. He calls this church Smyrna.
He named it because it smells good. It's a sweet-smelling savor
of Christ to him. If Christ is not everything that
the church does, it's a stench to God. But the weakest, the
feeblest worship of him, the weakest attempt at trying to
worship Jesus Christ is a sweet-smelling savor to God. That gives me hope. This little church, what is this
little church to the world? Nothing. What is it to God? A sweet smelling savor. There are many places right now,
less than we are, smaller than we are in number, and God is
in the midst of them. While there are many places with
many, many, many more than us, it's the seed of Satan. I'm not telling you the truth. God is. We're going to see that
here and now. Smyrna. What's in a name? Everything
when God names it. What's in a word? Numerable things. It's a word from our
Lord, alright? A word of commendation. Look
at verse 9. I know thy works. Well, verse
8, he says, these things saith the first and the last, which
was dead and is alive. Now, I know thy works and tribulation. I know your works. Do you remember how we distinguished the works
of God's people, works of righteousness? John, in 1 John 3, you remember
he said, the works of righteousness, talked about Cain and Abel. that
Cain's works were evil. Remember that? Evil. What was
he doing? It doesn't say he was doing anything immoral. He was doing the best he could.
He was bringing something. He worked hard. He was sincere,
I guess. He was zealous, maybe. He came to God. And yet God rejected
it and said, it's evil. Well, I didn't say that. God
didn't. Why? Because he brought something
other than the blood of the sacrifice. Is this strict doctrine? God
says it's evil and you'll be cast out. I don't care how sincere
you are. That's pretty serious, isn't
it? Because if righteousness come any way but by Jesus Christ's
blood and righteousness, if salvation comes in, He came in vain. And God's people, they believe
this and they contend for it. Do you know what transubstantiation
is? A couple of you do. It's a big
word. It means what Catholics believe
now and used to believe is that in the, they call it the mass,
but in the table they say that the wine actually becomes the
blood of Jesus Christ and the bread, his body. When Christ
said, take, eat, this is my blood, this is my body, it wasn't, it
hadn't been shed yet. Okay? But they say it actually
became the body and the blood of Christ. And so these priests
are actually administering it. It's in their hands. Remember
the priest, you didn't take it, they did it, didn't they? And
they put that cup to your lips. It was in their power, in their
hand, to administer salvation to you. And they were killing
Christ all over again. They kept sacrificing, kept shedding
the blood of Christ. It was offered once. It wasn't
offered to us, it was offered to God. And God accepted it,
okay? Is this important? People went to the stake for
this. People were burned at the stake
for saying, that's not true. It's not the blood of Christ.
It doesn't become the blood of Christ. That's blasphemy. That's
heresy. Christ made one sacrifice forever. One atonement. One bloodshed. There's no more sacrifice for
sin. And we don't offer salvation to anybody. It's in God's hand. And people were killed for saying
that. Burned at the stake, sawn asunder,
cut their heads off for saying what? The truth. Transubstantiation. Is it important? It's blasphemy,
it's heresy. Catholicism still believes it. That's what the Mass is. That's
what this place does up here every Sunday morning, the Mass. Should we take a stand? The Lord
commends it. He said, I know your works, works
of righteous. Abel's works were righteous.
Didn't it say that? Abel's works were righteous.
And it says that God accepted Abel because of his sacrifice,
proving that he was righteous. What does that mean? The whole
book is about that. This whole book is about that.
You got the righteous and you got the evil. And most of them are in religion,
the evil. But the righteous are sinners,
chosen by God, elect of God, redeemed by Christ, revealed
the gospel to them, revealed that It's the blood of Christ,
it's the righteousness of Christ. It's not the law, it's Christ. And their works of righteousness
are not really their works at all. What did Abel do? He just brought
what God gave him, what God provided, what God said, you come to me.
Abel didn't grow that lamb. Abel didn't give life to that
lamb. God did. And God said, kill the lamb.
Kill the sacrifice. Bring the blood. When I see the
blood, I'll pass over you. You say, God didn't say that
before Exodus. Yes, He did. Yes, He did. Sinners have only
been saved one way, through Jesus Christ. Old Testament saints
were saved by Jesus Christ. They didn't know His name, but
they knew it was the Christ, the Messiah. which the blood
represented, which the lamb represented. They all came one way, one way. I know your works and your tribulation. Tribulation means under pressure,
under stress. It means affliction because of
the truth. I know. I know that everywhere,
everybody hates you for just telling the truth. I know that. That's the way it is. Our Lord
promised it. Look at this, verse 9, I know
your poverty. I know your poverty. The church
has always, always, always been in a minority. There's no truth
in numbers, it's the opposite. It's opposite is true. Charles
Spurgeon, and by the way, Metropolitan Tabernacle had 2,000 or 3,000
people. There's an exception. As soon
as Chuck Spurgeon died, half of those people were following
Charles Spurgeon. That's the way it was. This is
the way it is. Our Lord, there were multitudes, wasn't it? multitude,
everywhere attracted thousands, 10,000 people. When he left,
there were 120 disciples. You say, what about Pentecost?
What about it? They came from all over the world,
right? They were Jews from everywhere.
They came from all over the world. God saved 3,000. Then what happened?
Boom! Tribulation, persecution, they
went back everywhere with the gospel. Don't think the church
was some big... No, it wasn't. No, it wasn't. 5,000 later, but
the Lord dispersed them all. The reason He saved that many
was He dispersed them and put His Word everywhere. You've got
to look at that Sunday morning. But the church has always been
in the minority. Now, it doesn't mean it's true
because it's small, but nevertheless, No truth in numbers, no strength
in numbers. He said, I know your poverty.
Our Lord has literally, literally preached the gospel to the poor.
He went to the poor. The poor have the gospel too.
This is not a gospel for the rich and the famous. You see
your calling, brethren, how not many mighty, not many noble,
not many, not many are calling. That's a fact. The famous, the well-known, the
rich, our Lord was invited to the house of several rich people.
They didn't leave him. They rejected him. Our next story
is of our Lord eating in a rich man's house. And he didn't even
give him anything to wash his feet. And poor sinner came. Can't wait
to get to that Sunday. God's not in this health and
wealth gospel. He's not in it. Ichabod's over
there. I know your poverty. This is
literal. I know it's spiritual. Blessed
are the poor in spirit. It's serious. It's true. If you can't attract a big crowd,
you won't have a big budget and you can't build a big building. And you can't attract a big crowd
if all you're preaching is God. If all you're doing is preaching
who God is. Men don't want to hear that.
You've got to have some entertainment. Spurgeon, I told you this, Spurgeon,
when the Lord fed the 5,000 on the hillside, He divided them
up in fifties. Remember that? Why did He do
that? For ease of serving? No. No. The Lord never did anything convenient. He was prophetic. He divided
them up into fifties. And Spurgeon said, I'm convinced
that in the latter days, the church, grace churches will be
groups of fifty or less. You tell me if it's not so. Think about the churches we're
involved with, okay? Think about those. I know your
poverty, the small groups, smaller than this one, Newcastle, Indiana,
Madisonville, Kentucky, Kingsport, Tennessee, Pikeville, Kentucky,
Fairmont, West Virginia, Dingus, West Virginia, Cottesville, West
Virginia, Winston, Georgia, Ball, Louisiana, Sylacauga, Alabama,
Crow, West Virginia, Rock Valley, Iowa, just go on and on. Little
groups, little small groups, little handful of people here
and there. Cape Girardeau and on and on we go. Danville. The truth is not
in numbers. I know you're poverty, but you're rich. He said, no, you're rich. Rich in faith. Rich. While the world is feeding on
the husk of religion. We've got the kernel of meat,
fat thing, wine. I listen to them. I listen to
these preachers. I listen to them. They're rich. What are the riches
that we have? What is the treasures of riches? What are they? Somebody tell
me. It's Christ. In Him are hid all
the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Unsearchable riches. He's the
pearl of great pride. What would you rather have? A
big fine choir? A big band? A ten-piece band? The finest choir money can buy? Finest building that money can
buy, a family life center, a gymnasium for the kids to play in. Would
you rather have all that or the gospel? The meat of his word,
body of Christ, blood of Christ. Which would you rather have?
We can pack them in. We just have to quit preaching
the truth. This is what the Lord is talking
about. All the way through the Revelation. All the way through
the Revelation. Babylon, Babylon, Babylon. He
said, I know. I know where you are. Look at
verse 9. He said, I know where you are. I know the blasphemy
of them which say they are Jews and are not. They are the synagogue
of Satan. What? Are you reading this with me?
Good Jews? Good Orthodox Jews that keep
the Passover? Or the synagogue of Satan? Yeah. Now, he's not just talking about
Jews here. He's talking about those that
say they're Christians. He calls it the synagogue of
Satan. Do you know how many times he brings this up? Look at verse
13. I know you sit where Satan's
seat is, where you dwell where Satan dwelleth. Over in chapter 3 verse 9, those
that are the synagogue of Satan, they say they're Jews, and they're
not, they're liars. Rather, I'm not trying to be
exclusive, and I'm not the one saying this, Christ is. And if
I don't say this, somebody's saying it. Synagogue of Satan. John talked about they're of
the world and they speak of the world and the world hears them.
We're going to deal with that more Sunday morning. I'm going
to go on. Now, here's a word of warning.
Look at verse 10. Now, it's not warning, as I said,
because of something against them, but warnings of what shall
happen to them. Verse 10, fear none of those
things which thou shalt suffer. Behold, the devil shall cast
some of you into prison." Who? The devil. Well, Satan has no
power. God allowed, whatever. He's talking
about religion and talking about the persecution at the early
church, and Satan was in on it, but he did what God determined
to be done, right? Like Job, he couldn't touch Job
unless the Lord allowed him. And it was God's hand, though.
It was God who allowed this persecution by Satan and his ministers, and
his false religion, and his false prophets, and his false church,
Satan, to persecute the early church, and it's been going on
ever since. And it's still going on. Do you think things have
changed? Do you think there's this big
revival now, everybody believes on Jesus? No. No. But he said, he's going to cast
some of you into prison, and he did. Read Hebrews 11, and
read Foxe's Book of Martyrs, and read the history, which,
by the way, Catholicism tries to renounce, or try to deny. No, they try to deny that they
burned so many people in the state and killed them. They try
to deny it. They can't deny it. History proves it. And he did. They did. False religion. And he said, you shall have tribulation
ten days. What's that? Just ten actual
days? No. There were actually ten persecutions
of the early church that went on about 300 years after Christ
left. beginning with Nero. Paul called
him the lion, that's the one that had Paul beheaded, Nero,
at Rome. Remember Nero fiddled while Rome
burned and Jerusalem was sacked and the temple destroyed under
Nero, that's the first, and there were nine more. A long period,
300 years of persecution, of which Christ said in Matthew
24, if those days hadn't been shortened, no flesh would be
saved, except for the elect's sake. I did this for the elect's
sake. This happened. It was a persecution
of the early church, and it was scattered abroad, and you know
why we have the gospel? Because that persecution happened.
We have this gospel because that happened over there. And there
were nine more and it just went on and on until the Lord let
it cease. But persecution hasn't ceased. Tribulation hasn't ceased. Unless
someone thinks that the days of tribulation are just immediately
before Christ comes. No. When we just read there in
Revelation how that all of God's people went through tribulation.
All of them. He said, all of you shall go
through much tribulation. What kind of tribulation? Sickness
and all? It's the church standing for
the truth. That's the tribulation he's talking
about. Suffering for the cause of Christ. Suffering to different
degrees and different time periods according to the will of God. But he says in verse
10, Be thou faithful unto death, and I'll give you a crown of
life. Be thou faithful unto death. And I'll give you the crown of
life. Oh, the stories, brethren, of those who laid down their
lives for Christ's sake. If you get to feeling too comfortable,
go back and read Hebrews 11 again, okay? About our brethren that
actually laid down their lives. Our Lord said, the world is not
worthy of them, beginning with Abel. And you know, we're going to
die from something. Wouldn't it, I've said this many times,
wouldn't it be an honor to die for the cause of Christ rather
than overindulgence of the flesh? Let me tell you again that story
of Ridley and Latimer. You remember the story of Hugh
Latimer and Nicholas Ridley too that were burned for the stake
for preaching the truth? You're going to love this. This was
the days before the Reformation had started. They were being
burned at the stake by false religion. by the synagogue of
Satan under the name of God and the name of Jesus Christ. They all did it under the name
of God and the name of Jesus Christ. It was the synagogue
of Satan. And these men were preaching
a sovereign God, a sovereign electing God, a depraved man,
the blood of Christ as their only hope and the righteousness
of Christ. And they were killed for it. They were tied to a stake
while they put wood and set it on fire and watched their bodies
burn. It happened to a lot of people.
Saw in the sun to cut it. Now these two men, they were
close brethren. They had congregations. They
were preachers. They were pastors of churches
like me. And they were burnt at the stake. Now this was in the dark ages
before people had the Bible and they were contending that all
people needed the scriptures, needed to hear the truth, and
they were burned for it. And while they were being burned... Oh my, Hugh Latimer said to his
brother Nicholas Ridley, he said, play the man brother Ridley,
play the man. He said, today we're going to
light a candle in England such as never will be put out. Their literal burning bodies
were the lights of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of evil. And sure enough, it started a light and dark ages. Play the man, brother, sister,
in the face of this evil generation. Play the man. Play the woman. Be courageous unto death if necessary. It may come to that. Our society
is getting so perverted, it may come to that, where they threaten
you for just telling what God's Word says. So be it. It would be an honor,
wouldn't it? I tell you what it will do, it
will really be the lion in the sand. Let's see who really is
on the Lord's side when your life is at stake. Let's see.
And it still is. It still is. When there's persecution
for His name, y'all think you're right and everybody else is wrong. Well, if we're preaching the
truth and they're not, yes, it's true. No, we don't think we're right,
but we know God's right and His Word is right. These are the last days. It's
never been worse. It's never been worse. Religion's
never been worse. He said, I'm going to give you
a crown of life. I'm going to give you a crown of life. It's
not some laurel to wear because of good works done. No, it's
Christ himself. You're going to dwell with him. Well
done, thou good and faithful servant. Well done. You've stood
up for my name, for my glory, for my honor. I know. He said,
I know. I know who really did. He that hath an ear, verse 11,
let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. And
he that overcometh, he that believeth, he that holds fast, shall not
be hurt of the second death. As we said, Sunday morning, God
is going to take this whole thing, this whole world full of religion,
and throw it in a lake of fire. Because that which is highly
esteemed among men is an abomination to God. And so the opposite is
true too, isn't it? That which is an abomination
to men, the truth, is highly esteemed to God. And God says,
I'm going to cast it all into a lake of fire, not you. You're
going to be sitting with me in glory. Stand with me. Our Lord, we're not worthy of
hearing these words, but we sure are thankful. We thank You, Lord. Noah, preacher of righteousness,
being warned, moved with fear, prepared an ark, the saving of
his house. By it, he condemned the world and became an heir
of righteousness. That is our confession. Christ our righteousness, Christ
the ark, a perishing world, a sinful people only saved one way, in
Christ. Though we be small in number,
O Lord, we believe the truth, we love Thy truth, we love Thy
Son, because You first loved us and revealed it to us, Him
to us and in us. Thou knowest them that are true,
O Lord, How we thank you for the truth,
how we thank you in a day which turns away the years from the
truth unto fables. And oh Lord, we ask that you
would hedge your church about, but if it please thee to cause
great persecution in these very last days, so be it. Give us
courage and cause us to stand. and be courageous even unto death,
for thy name's sake. For you died for us, what an
honor to die for thee. Forgive us, O Lord, our cowardice. Forgive us of our unbelief. Help
our unbelief. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.