A Life Changing Experience

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Emmanuel Temple Church

Smyrna – PersecutedRevelation 2:8-11

Emmanuel Temple Church of the Apostolic Faith…A Life Changing Experience

Revelation 2:8-118 "To the angel of the Messianic

Community in Smyrna, write: 'Here is the message from the First and the Last, who died and came alive again:

9 "I know how you are suffering and how poor you are (though in fact you are rich!), and I know the insults of those who call themselves Jews but aren't - on the contrary, they are a synagogue of the Adversary. CJB

Emmanuel Temple Church of the Apostolic Faith…A Life Changing Experience

10 Don't be afraid of what you are about to suffer. Look, the Adversary is going to have some of you thrown in prison, in order to put you to the test; and you will face an ordeal for ten days. Remain faithful, even to the point of death; and I will give you life as your crown.

11Those who have ears, let them hear what the Spirit is saying to the Messianic communities. He who wins the victory will not be hurt at all by the second death."‘ NKJB

Revelation 2:8-11

Emmanuel Temple Church of the Apostolic Faith…A Life Changing Experience

Smyrna – Persecuted

Jesus (Jehovah is Salvation) , is the Only True Living God, (was dead but alive) and speaking to John directly.

John the youngest of the 12 chosen disciples, now an old man, imprisoned on the Isle of Patmos converses with and writes as instructed, the LORD Jesus’ s words.

Emmanuel Temple Church of the Apostolic Faith…A Life Changing Experience

Believers residing in and around the city of Smyrna are the original recipients of this specific letter.

Smyrna one of the seven assemblies of saints on this major Asia postal route.

Message of comfort, a reminder, empowerment, preparation and assurance.

Emmanuel Temple Church of the Apostolic Faith…A Life Changing Experience

True Christianity – from the Beginning Mathew 5:3-12

Then and now - to the End. 2 Timothy 3:12 1 Peter 4:12-14, 16 Romans 8:17-18

History of Izmir (Ancient Smyrna)

The 5,000 year-old city of Izmir is one of the oldest cities of the Mediterranean basin. The original city was established in the third millennium BC (at present day Bayraklı), at which time it shared with Troy the most advanced culture in Anatolia.

In the first century AD, Smyrna became one of the earliest centers of Christianity….. Both Revelation and the Martyrdom of Polycarp indicate the existence of a Jewish community in Smyrna as early as the 1st and 2nd centuries AD.

Emmanuel Temple Church of the Apostolic Faith…A Life Changing Experience

The origins of the Christian community there, which was established in the 1st century, are unknown. Ignatius of Antioch stopped at Smyrna on his way to martyrdom in Rome in 107 AD, and he sent a letter back to the Christians there from later in his journey. Smyrna's bishop, Polycarp, was burned at the stake in Smyrna's stadium around 156 AD. [3]

Emmanuel Temple Church of the Apostolic Faith…A Life Changing Experience

Emmanuel Temple Church of the Apostolic Faith…A Life Changing Experience

Emmanuel Temple Church of the Apostolic Faith…A Life Changing Experience

There was a considerable number of Jews in the city from pre-NT times through the Ottoman period. Even today various

synagogues are located throughout the modern city.

The port city of Smyrna sat 35 miles north of Ephesus, built near the ruins of

an ancient Greek colony destroyed in the 7th century B.C.

 From the Day of Pentecost – Asia

saints among those who were baptized in Jesus name before Paul’s

rebirth, trips to Asia .

Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Acts 2:9 NKJV

Then there arose some from what is called the Synagogue of the Freedmen (Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and those from Cilicia and Asia), disputing with Stephen. Acts 6:9 NKJV

Emmanuel Temple Church of the Apostolic Faith…A Life Changing Experience

The Omniscient – Author and the message

Jesus (the Head of all things concerning His Body) – acknowledges His awareness of the state of Smyrna

believer's: faithful witness and 1. Works -(service in the continuance of what they

were called and assigned to do.)2. Tribulation – (hardships, humiliation, struggles,

oppositions they were experiencing.)3. Poverty - (their decrease in necessary daily

provisions meant to sustain life.)4. Blasphemy of others - (Insults, mocking, using

force to try to make them denounce the LORDSHIP of Jesus, lies from impersonators and of the Adversary.Emmanuel Temple Church of the Apostolic Faith…A Life Changing Experience

Preparation – CompassionThe LORD Jesus encourages and empowers them to face the inevitable events which were sure to come

by: 1. Don’t be afraid of the evil plans and plots of

the Anti-Christ. 2. Not just ordinary people, but controlled by

the devil and his slaves, 3. Would last no longer than 10-days 4. But remember the Word of God, The Way,

The Truth, and The Life, even if murdered will live again.

5. The LORD Jesus is the Resurrection and The Life, and he has promised eternal life with Him.Emmanuel Temple Church of the Apostolic Faith…A Life Changing Experience

Nature of Persecutors 2 Tim. 3:1-5 (CJB)

2. People will be self-loving, money-loving, proud, arrogant, insulting, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,

3. heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, uncontrolled, brutal, hateful of good,

4. traitorous, headstrong, swollen with conceit, loving pleasure rather than God,

5. as they retain the outer form of religion but deny its power. Stay away from these people!

Emmanuel Temple Church of the Apostolic Faith…A Life Changing Experience

Persecuted

James the Great

Philip the Apostle

Matthew the Evangelist

(Son of Zebedee) was beheaded in 44

A.D.

was crucified in 54 A.D.

killed by a halberd in 60 A.D.

Emmanuel Temple Church of the Apostolic Faith…A Life Changing Experience

Emmanuel Temple Church of the Apostolic Faith…A Life Changing Experience

Matthias Andrew Mark Peter Apostle Paul Jude Thomas the Apos

tle

was stoned and beheaded.

Peter's brother, was crucified.

was beaten to death. crucified upside-

down. beheaded in Rome. was crucified. was killed by a

spear.Emmanuel Temple Church of the Apostolic Faith…A Life Changing Experience

Persecuted

Persecuted Bartholomew

James the Just

Luke the Evangelist

Simon the Zealot

was crucified.

beaten to death by a club after being crucified and stoned.

was hanged.

was crucified in 74 A.D.

Emmanuel Temple Church of the Apostolic Faith…A Life Changing Experience

Emmanuel Temple Church of the Apostolic Faith…A Life Changing Experience

Emmanuel Temple Church of the Apostolic Faith…A Life Changing Experience

Growing Persecution of Christians in Nigeria

Open Doors USA Calls on Christians in the West to Support Suffering

Believers through PrayerChristians in Nigeria have faced increased persecution in recent

years. http://www.christiannewswire.com/

news/8966217656.html

Persecuted

Emmanuel Temple Church of the Apostolic Faith…A Life Changing Experience

Gunmen killed 14 members of an extended family in a midnight

raid on a village in central Nigeria on Saturday. Witnesses said

they were all from one Christian family, and had been shot or hacked to death by Muslim Fulani herdsmen.

http://barenakedislam.wordpress.com/

Persecuted

Emmanuel Temple Church of the Apostolic Faith…A Life Changing Experience

Emmanuel Temple Church of the Apostolic Faith…A Life Changing Experience

The associated press today announced that hundreds of

Christians and their families were slaughtered in “Nigeria religious violence” – brutally hacked with

machetes if they could not or would not identify themselves in the

language used mostly by Muslims (Fulani) www.persecution.com

Persecuted

Emmanuel Temple Church of the Apostolic Faith…A Life Changing Experience

Emmanuel Temple Church of the Apostolic Faith…A Life Changing Experience

Nine year old boy.Then they hanged or beheaded the rest of his family.

Yet another example of Muslim

on Buddhist violence in a

country where Muslims are only a

small minority.

Persecuted

Emmanuel Temple Church of the Apostolic Faith…A Life Changing Experience

12 yr old being coached in how to

behead www.barenakedislam.wordpress.com

Taliban

Persecutions

Mathew 5:10-1210 "How blessed are those who are

persecuted because they pursue righteousness! for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.

11 "How blessed you are when people insult you and persecute you and tell all kinds of vicious lies about you because you follow me!

12 Rejoice, be glad, because your reward in heaven is great -- they persecuted the prophets before you in the same way. Emmanuel Temple Church of the Apostolic Faith…A Life Changing Experience

Emmanuel Temple Church of the Apostolic Faith…A Life Changing Experience

Emmanuel Temple Church of the Apostolic Faith…A Life Changing Experience

A Life Changing Experience

For His Name

For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living

God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe. 1

Timothy 4:10

Emmanuel Temple Church of the Apostolic Faith…A Life Changing Experience

http://tebowhaters.com/2010/11/12/daily-shows-john-oliver-hates-tim-tebow-like-he-

hates-bin-laden.aspx“I dislike

Robert Mugabe. I hate Tim Tebow. If I was in a room with Tim Tebow and Bin Laden and I had a gun with one bullet in it, I’d shoot Bin Laden. I’m not a monster. But if I had two bullets–I’d shoot

Tim Tebow first.Denver Broncos QB