Today, preaching the Gospel of Christ is often called hate speech. It’s nothing new.
Acts 4:1 – And as they spake unto the people, the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them,
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As of the date of this writing, that being February of 2019, a minister speaking on the streets of London, England was arrested for preaching the Gospel of Jesus. It seems that someone sympathetic to the Islamic cause complained that the Christian minister was spewing hate speech. In reality, He was simply preaching the Gospel of redemption as established by the work of Jesus at Calvary and His resurrection.
Now flash back to first century Jerusalem at the time of Passover. The son of a priest was preaching that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. He spoke of one soon to come, and enjoyed the honor of baptizing the same. And shortly after that baptism, he was arrested and beheaded. Then we come to the man who was baptized, a simple carpenter, the son of a virgin, preaching that He was the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and doing so peacefully while working signs and wonders, healing and delivering multitudes, is arrested, beaten beyond recognition, crucified, killed, and buried.
Even before that attempts were made to silence men of God whose message and work was the of the kingdom; Daniel, the Hebrew children, and others. And of the first disciples of Jesus, all but one, to my knowledge, died a martyr’s death for the message they proclaimed. My point is simple. The work and message of the kingdom of God has always had its detractors, enemies, and agents of destruction. What we see today is no new thing. While we should be rising up in faith, interceding, and proclaiming the kingdom of God more powerfully than ever, we should not, by any means, be surprised at what is happening today. Jesus warned us that we would be hated of all nations for His Names’ sake. Well, dear friend, that time is here, and God has seen fit to have you living on the earth in that time because He has a work for you to do. I believe we are the generation that shall see the end of this age. In God’s divine pattern, He has always saved the best until last. If we are the final generation of kingdom workers in the earth before the end of this age, our work is great, our anointing is great, and our God is greater than all.
Preach the Word; be instant in season out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine; preach the Gospel to every creature; make disciples; do the work of an ambassador, for you are one. Let the world call it what they will, and in this day, they will likely call it “hate speech.” You know better. Speak the truth in love, turning the world on its ear with “love speech” at the graduate level.
Manna for Today – Acts 4:1-22; Matthew 24-25
My Second Miler by Dr. Beechard Moorefield 