The Unstoppable Church

 

Stephen, a man full of the Holy Ghost, defending the faith was stoned before a man by the name of Saul.  What the others thought of as stopping the preaching of Stephen, turned out to be the conversion of the world’s greatest missionary.

·        Tradition tells us Antipas was roasted in a brazen bowl during Domitian’s reign.

·        Herod tried to quiet one of the sons of thunder by beheading James.

·        Philip was scourged, thrown in prison then crucified.

·        Matthew was killed with a halberd, a pike with an axe head.

·        James the less was beaten and stoned.  He then had his brains bashed out by a club.

·        Matthias was stoned then beheaded.

·        Andrew was crucified.

·        Mark was dragged until his body literally came apart.

·        It is said, Peter was crucified upside down.

·        Paul was beheaded.

·        Bartholomew was cruelly beaten then crucified.

·        Thomas was killed with a spear.

·        Luke was hung.

·        Nero burned the church at the stake until the smoke of that sacrifice choked the city.

And yet, notwithstanding all these continual persecutions and horrible punishments, the Church daily increased.

A.  Why, because our foundation is on the apostles and prophets Jesus Christ being the chief corner stone.

The emperor Domitian said, “no Christian, once brought before the tribunal, should be exempted from punishment without renouncing his religion.”

A.  But you can’t stop the church.

They tried lions and dogs but couldn’t stop the church.

The church was made to walk on nails, stones, spikes and thorns.

The church was beaten until their flesh hung in tatters, veins and muscle were exposed.

Buried alive, tied to horses and dragged through cities, encased in bags with scorpions and snakes, put on racks and stretched until dead, stoned, tortured with hooks, and burnt with hot irons.

Hebrews 11:36-38

36 And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:

37 They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;

38 (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

2 Corinthians 11:24-27

24 Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.

25 Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;

26 In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;

27 In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness

·        Trip us                       Get back up

·        Push us                      Push back

·        Deceive us                Proclaim truth

·        Shut us up                Shout all the louder

·        Cripple us                 Invent a new way to praise

·        Whip us                     Witness

·        Burn us                      Cool compared to the fire of the Holy Ghost

·        Bind us                      We’ve been set free

·        Tempt up                  Plead the blood

·        Steal victory             Sing the song…victory is mine, victory is mine…

·        Make us weak         The joy of the Lord is my strength