1. Persecution Lesson Two Our Response

2. Persecution – Our Response 1. What happened on March 17 th, 461? 2. Who was Maewyn Succat?

3. Persecution – Our Response 3. How did he end up in Ireland? 4. How did he respond to persecution?

4. Persecution – Our Response 5. What were some of Patrick’s methods to share Jesus with his captors?

5. Persecution – Our Response 6. Can you think of any Bible stories that are similar to the story of St. Patrick?

6. Psalm 139:7-12 7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? 8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. 9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, Persecution – Our Response

7. 10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” 12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. Persecution – Our Response 7. Is there anywhere we can go where God can’t protect us?

8. Persecution – Our Response 8. How did God use persecution for Patrick’s good? 9. How might God use persecution for our good?

9. Romans 12:17-21 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.

10. 10. Is it ever God pleasing for us to take revenge? Romans 12:17-21 20 On the contrary:“If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

11. 11. What should Bob do tomorrow when Billy comes a call’n? Bob is on the playground again. Billy finds Bob for the 37 th straight school day and punches him in the belly demanding his lunch money. Bob groans as he hands over the money.

12. 12. How did God’s people respond to persecution in the Old Testament? Desolation was the word of the day in 586 B.C. when Nebuchadnezzar carried the Jews off into the Babylonian captivity. For 70 years God’s people lived in exile and the temple constructed by Solomon lay in ruins, empty and deserted. When the Jews returned to Palestine they rebuilt the temple.

13. Ps 137 1 By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. 2 There on the poplars we hung our harps, 3 for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” 4 How can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a foreign land? 5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill.

14. 6 May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy. 7 Remember, O LORD, what the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell. “Tear it down,” they cried, “tear it down to its foundations!” 8 O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is he who repays you for what you have done to us— 9 he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.

15. 13. What did Jesus mean when he instructed us to pray, “Thy will be done?” Luther: This is a prayer that God would break every evil will and counsel and hinder whatever would not let us hallow the name of God nor let His kingdom come. In the fierce struggle between Christ and Satan, and between Christ’s people and the devil’s minions.

16. 14. What is one God pleasing way to fight against the enemies of God? Psalm 139:19-22 19 If only you would slay the wicked, O God! Away from me, you bloodthirsty men! 20 They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name. 21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD, and abhor those who rise up against you? 22 I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.

17. 15. What are two God pleasing responses to persecution? Revelation 6:9-10 9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. 10 They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?”

18. Persecution Lesson Two Our Response