Not Stopped By Rejection

we're going to look to his word from luke chapter 4. it's a little bit lengthy passage but i'm going to read it as we begin here we're going to begin in with verse 16. now this lesson is actually coming now we're going to go into the series so this week and next week and then that will finish this quarter which we just jumped into the end of hopefully in march when we start the new quarter we'll have your leaflets and those things that are available from publishing house luke chapter 4 beginning at verse 16 and he jesus came to nazareth where he had been brought up and as his custom was he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day and stood up for to read and there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet isaias and when he had opened the book he found the place where it was written the spirit of the lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted to preach deliverance to the captives and recovering of the sight to the blind to set at liberty them that are bruised and to preach the acceptable year of the lord and he closed the book and gave it again to the minister and sat down and the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him and he began to say unto them this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears and i'll bear him witness and wonder to the gracious words was proceeded out of his mouth and they said is this not joseph's son and he said unto them you will surely say unto me this proverb physician heal thyself whatsoever we have heard done in capernaum do here also in this country and he said verily i say unto you no prophet is accepted in his own country but i tell you the truth there were many widows in israel in the days of elijah and when the heavens were shut up for three years and six months when there was great famine throughout the land but none under none of them was elias sent save unto serepta the city of sidon unto a woman that was a widow there were many lepers in israel in the time of elisha the prophet none of them was clinton saving nahum the syrian and all they in the synagogue when they heard these things were filled with wrath and rose up and thrust him out of the city and led him under the brow of the hill where upon their city was built that they might cast him down headlong but he passing through the midst of them went his way the lesson titled it today is this not stopped by rejection we've been talking about our field and the importance of reaching others and i think it's important that we understand not everyone is going to want to hear your gospel message there are hungry people and i believe god is going to point them to us and help us to reach out to them and they will accept and they will be looking for this and there are others that are going to reject us the important thing to realize is don't let rejection stop you when you get a closed door just go to the next one amen and keep going on so we're going to look at jesus and his return basically to his hometown of nazareth and the rejection that he faced there

each of the four gospels approached the life of jesus in a different manner and a different starting point they don't all they had different purposes for writing and so when you look at them they they start in different places they they include different stories some of them they expound on some of them a different gospel will and when you look at matthew and luke they both include the story of jesus birth and so they do begin there yet luke even starts a bit earlier and he talks about the birth of john the baptist both mark and john begin their minister their gospels with the ministry of john the baptist yet john he starts a chapter earlier with his prologue that is more theological than historical talking about jesus and our text today from luke 4 if you if you had read that whole chapter there looks appears like it may have taken place early in jesus ministry in fact it's just a couple verses earlier he was talking about jesus temptation in the wilderness yet matthew mentions this story just in one verse in chapter 13 of his book and mark does so in chapter six and both of them had already written about a significant number of miracles and the discourses that jesus has done the sermon on the mount several things before they tell of his return to nazareth now none of that implies a contradiction it's apparent from luke's telling that jesus already had an act of ministry throughout galilee he just didn't choose to catalog it at this point in time because we can read in luke 4 and 14 jesus returned in the power of the spirit into galilee and this was leaving the temptation time and then he said there went fame of him throughout all the region and he taught in their synagogues being glorified of all so in those two verses luke kind of summarizes everything that matthew had talked about earlier and what mark talked about and he got to this chapter martha and mark fill in some of the details in fact luke does say in verse 23 that jesus mentioned you've heard things that i already did in capernaum although luke doesn't talk about those things in his book at this point at least we understand that he knew that those had happened so obviously jesus had been ma active in ministry before he returned to his hometown

our text began this way he came to nazareth where he had been brought up and as his custom was he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day and he stood there to read and there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet isaias or isaiah perhaps this most likely was the synagogue where he had worshipped as a child where he had gone in the people who attended there clearly knew who jesus was they knew his parents and because later they would say is this not joseph's son we know who this guy is and considering his growing status as a prophet and the things that would happen you would you would expect them to be excited to see jesus home we've heard of great things that you've done we've heard we want to hear what is going on and however we we probably can't read a whole lot into the fact that they ask him to read we have to understand not everyone in those days could read not everyone had that ability even fewer would have had direct access to scriptures they wouldn't didn't have a a bible like we do in every home you had to go to the synagogue to hear the the word read and they would pull out the scrolls that they had and so we often talk about that that we often mention that jesus went into the synagogue on the sabbath as was his custom and we kind of stop there and we pull that out and talk about faithfulness to coming to church and there's nothing wrong with that it's a it's a good point and a good application but i think luke is saying a little bit more there because jesus custom in nazareth was to go to the sabbath in the synagogue on the sabbath but it was also to stand and read luke includes both of those in that same sentence so it was his custom to come to on on sabbath to the synagogue and to read so they were used to that no doubt he had been here before they knew the young man jesus who had grown up probably many times had allowed him to read scripture and perhaps that's the reason that luke places the story right after the telling of the wilderness temptation i think luke was trying to drive a point home that he made in verse 14 that we read jesus left the wilderness in the power of the spirit you see once you experience a spirit everything changes once the holy ghost comes into your life things aren't going to be the same those who walk in the spirit are going to be different from those who do not and those who minister with an anointing of the holy ghost upon their life are always going to affect their hearers in a different way than those without the spirit of god that god had promised isaiah he said my word that goes forth out of your mouth it will not return unto me void but it will accomplish the thing which i please and it will prosper in the thing wherein two i sent it and so i think luke is making a very specific point here jesus comes out of the wilderness and he is walking in the power of the spirit and he goes back home and things are different it's not the same as he had done before not that the spirit was not on him and not those things but there was something unique about what had happened through that wilderness temptation and so he said this he began to read from isaiah and he said the spirit of the lord is upon me he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor he sent me to heal the brokenhearted to preach deliverance to the captive recovering of the sight to the blind to set at liberty them that are bruised to preach the acceptable year of the lord all these things they had no doubt heard that had been happening with jesus they had heard about him touching people and he had heard about the miracles that he had done they had heard probably about the miracle and cain and the chart changing the water and the lion they'd probably heard about his preaching and the preaching the kingdom of god and all those things and so they hear him say this again most likely many of them knew the passage that jesus had chosen it probably been read many times it was a messianic prophecy talking about the messiah probably many of them because of the hope that they had in a messiah that was come could probably have quoted it and they were looking for the day the messiah would come and restore the kingdom of israel that was their hope that was their reason for rejoicing no doubt that was why many of them continued to come to the synagogue because they believed the lord is going to send a messiah maybe even jesus had read this passage to them before but this day was different rather than just read the passage to them of a coming again event jesus then does something very unexpected he finishes reading and he closes the book and he gives it to the minister and he turns and he goes back and he sits down i don't know what was going on in everyone's mind i don't know what they were expecting luke doesn't tell us how long he sat there probably in silence were they expecting something more was there an application to be made were you going to talk about this great messiah was were you going to expound on the verses that you just read and maybe a few minutes went by i don't know how long it was it does not say but perhaps as they he sat there and looked about the crowd and they looked at him maybe something began to click in their minds do you see what he just did he just got up and said the spirit of the lord was upon me because he's anointed me to do all these great things that we've heard that he's been doing do you do you think he's talking about himself d surely not jesus i i can't imagine what was going through everybody's mind and the bible said all the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him what are you getting at jesus what are you trying to say what's going to happen next

and then there's a surprise jesus begins to speak again and he says this this day is the subscription fulfilled in your ears do you understand what just happened there in one sentence jesus was declaring i'm the guy you were waiting on i'm the guy that was promised i am the messiah no longer just another hometown boy no longer i'm just on even footing with all my peers and all the kids i grew up with jesus was saying i'm the hope i'm the prophet the one the prophet spoke about i'm the king who was to come i am the salvation of israel can you imagine what was going through that crowd that day

you know sometimes the people we love the most will not accept our decision to follow god's call his anointing sometimes mean foregoing the acceptance of others including those who are closest to us sometimes they fail to recognize what god is doing in our lives when you come to god and particularly if if you come from some other doctrine or you come from a life maybe not even following after jesus and one day you choose all of a sudden to follow him and and people look and say don't understand what happened what's going on with you and the bible says they all bear him witness and they wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth and they said isn't this joseph's son well they marveled at the words they he spoke they immediately began questioning his authenticity well that all sounds good but we know you are jesus wait a minute you're joseph's kid you can't be the messiah you can't be the one this doesn't make sense and often it's that way when the spirit of god changes a life isn't it when the guy at work decides on the friday night that i'm not going to the bar tonight because something changed in my life well come on we always go no you know i'm not going there god changed my life when god suddenly becomes the most important thing to someone no question what happened and it's often difficult for others to accept the change that a christian undergoes when he is filled with the spirit and it was hard for them it was difficult for them to accept there's something different about jesus now we've always known there was something different about him but but this is something more i mean maybe we thought he was going to be a prophet maybe we thought he was going to be another john the baptist or something like this but but he just told us he is the one the spirit of the lord is upon the spirit anointed him to preach the gospel heal to do those things no wonder paul would write therefore if any man be in christ he is a new creature old things are passed away behold all things are become new aren't you thankful for the change that happened in your life aren't you thankful when the spirit of the lord came in yeah it changed some places i went it changed some of the things i used to do and it probably ended up changing some of the circle of my friends because they turned around said i don't want to be a part of that but don't ever let that rejection and never ever let that turn us from serving god in the words of the old hymn what a wonderful change in my life has been wrought since jesus came into my heart can you say that this morning are you thankful what he's done in your life i mean the power of god hallelujah amen and so they look up him and they begin to wonder are you not joseph's son now at that point it was just some questioning we're trying to put this together it doesn't make sense to us you're you grew up here and and you know we know who you are and we know your parents and your brothers and your sisters and we we know we know everything about you

jesus begins to talk again and he said unto them he shall surely say unto me this proverb physician heal thyself we've heard what you did in capernaum so why don't you do it here and he looked at him he said you know what a prophet is never accepted in his own country no prophet but i tell you a truth and then he begins to explain you know in elijah's day when the famine was going on god did not send elijah to someone in israel but he went to the this city a city of sidon zaraphath to a woman there who was a widow and we know this the story she was picking up sticks to start a fire two sticks and a little bit of meal and she was gonna bake a cake and god said you stay there told elijah you stay there and he said well you bake me one first she did and god sustained them throughout the famine jesus first jesus synagogue sermon seemed like it was well received and they wandered at the gracious words but their attitude changed when he reminded them of that moment in elijah's life god sent the prophet of elijah to minister to someone that was not of the nation of israel yet because of her faith in god she received a continuous supply and god's people had rejected the lord during that time so god said you know what well i'll go to where i will be accepted and a gentile received the miraculous provision while israel who was faithless and didn't believe in the things of god went hungry jesus was letting them know if you reject me as israel rejected god in elijah's day then someone else is going to enjoy the miraculous things of god if nazareth you don't accept it capernaum will the other cities of galilee if you won't believe in me there's somebody else that will believe the thing is jesus would not let rejection by his friends stop him from doing the will of his father in heaven don't let anything quench your testimony don't let anything change that we must not allow others to hinder our walk with god

we may face rejection from friends even family because of our christian beliefs and the choice is not always easy but it always comes with a promise peter even pointed out to jesus all that they had left one point he turned to them he said lord we've left everything and followed you and jesus turned to him and said verily i say unto you there's no man that have left house and brethren and sisters or father mother wife children to lands for my sake in the gospels but he shall receive a hundred fold now in this time houses and brothers sisters mothers children lands with with persecutions and in the world to come eternal life there is a promise hold on don't let anything distract you on this work walk of god with god if the first response to jesus is one of disbelief the second was outright anger you know maybe the first time when when he said this day it's fulfilled in your ears they kind of look and say yeah we're not so sure we know who you are but when he began to say you know what if you can't accept what god's doing i'll just go somewhere else now they got mad all in the synagogue the bible says when they heard these things they were filled with wrath and they rose up and they pushed them out of the city and they took them to the brow of a hill where the city was built that they might cast him down headlong here's the thing jesus never promised his church that we would always be accepted or that life would always be easy in fact i'd say that was would probably be a warning flag in the church there are those that preach a prosperity doctrine and promise a life filled with all good things and you don't ever have to work we need to be careful jesus presents a far different picture let me just read you four verses matthew 10 22 and ye shall be hated of all men for mine's sake but he that endureth to the end shall be saved he didn't say the world was going to love you because you're serving jesus he didn't say it's all going to be nice he said in john 16 33 these things have i spoken to you that and ye might have peace in me you might have peace because in the world you will have tribulation but be of good cheer i have overcome the world you're going to face some things in john 16 and 20 he said verily verily i say unto you that you will weep and you will lament but the world is going to rejoice and ye shall be sorrowful but your sorrow shall be turned into joy and in romans 8 18 paul writes for i reckon the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be in us and we could go on there many other scriptures that talk about trials and tribulations and and things that we would face and persecutions and things that would happen if we serve god but i'd like us to focus on something else notice that every one of these verses we read come with a promise did you notice that he said you may be hated of all men for my name's sake but if you do or unto the end the same shall be saved we've got a promise of salvation it may not always be easy but you've got to keep your eyes on the gold church you might we may face rejection we may face some things in this life but we need to remember that he has something greater for us he said this in in the second verse we read these things have i spoken unto you and he gives the promise first that in ye me you might have peace aren't you thankful for the peace of god he said in the world you're going to have tribulation but in me there's peace we can either get worried and all worked up over the tribulation or we can say you know what he's my peace and we can turn to him and we can have that peace and he said be of good cheer i've overcome the world i've done it you can too and i'll give you that peace the next verse he read he said yes they ye shall weep you will remain the world will lament the world will be rejoicing you're going to be sorrowful but don't worry your sorrow is going to be turned into joy hold on child of god don't give up child of god keep serving him amen because your sorrow is going to be turned into joy in roman 18 8 18 that we read he talks paul talks about the sufferings of this world but then he says they're not worthy to be compared with what god's got for us there may be rejection in this world amen but i'm thankful there is a promise with every rejection there is a promise every time we look at things happening and people turn us down or turns down the message or begin to treat you in a different way don't let rejection stop you

luke's next statement is kind of vague i i don't know that we really understand it and i don't know if he knew exactly what happened there he was taken to the edge jesus was taken to the edge of the hill they were intent on shoving him off a cliff he said that they were going to cast him down headlong just throw him over the cliff get rid of him and luke says this but he passing through the midst of them went his way and i can't figure out just how that happened the bible doesn't say he went right through the middle of him you know you i can almost picture something like you like you'd see in a film where all of a sudden every scene just freezes and he just walks around on i don't know doesn't say how it happened he went right through the middle of him maybe he just disappeared and they couldn't see him maybe he was invisible i mean i don't know how it happened did he just miraculously stop the action did he walk through did he you know pull one of these oh look over here probably not i don't know we probably won't know the answer to that until we get to heaven but what we do know is this god preserved him because as john would say a couple of times it was not yet his time wasn't time he knew it was not time for him to be persecuted to die to go to the cross those kind of things and so he went right through the midst and he escaped nazareth but again i see a promise for the child of god even when things look impossible even when it looks like you're right on the edge of the cliff and they're getting ready to push you over aren't you thankful god is able to make a way where there seems to be no way i'm thankful he can reach down in any situation however impossible it looks however you whatever you're facing whatever you're going through and you think this is never going to get out of this and god just makes a way and you walk right through it aren't you thankful for the promises of the word of god i can't explain it i don't know how it happened amen you know it really doesn't matter how it happened we just say you know what god made a way paul said it this way in corinthians he said there is no temptation that has taken you but is common to man he said but god is faithful aren't you thankful for a faithful god said he will not suffer you to be tempted above your able but will with the temptation he will make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it i'm thankful he's got a way of escape church if you might face rejection you might see things you don't understand you may not know how it's all going to work out but god says don't worry i got a path i like reading about the exodus and i like reading about how moses and and leads the people out of israel and the bible when you read that passage they begin heading and there's a straight path from israel if you look at a map they could leave egypt they could go right up the coast of the mediterranean sea and right into the promised land and it's flat it's all nice and they they start heading out and the bible says and the lord turned them back wait a minute there's the promised land and the lord said okay now now turn let's go this way but we're supposed to be going over there and he took them into a place between mountains on this side and mountains on that side and a red sea in front of them why don't you walk through this valley where there's no way to escape and go right to the edge of the water because there's an army behind you that's a path i'd choose right let's take the easy way we'll go right here where we're caught in a straight and we can't go to the left or right we can't go forward we could turn back but is egypt's armies are and that's where god sends him and we look at sometimes where we're at in life and say what's going to happen you know what god said don't worry moses lifts his rod and the sea parts and we walk i don't know how that happens but jesus walks through the mist paul wrote to timothy he said for the things for the which cause i suffer these things he said i'm going through he was in prison a lot of things going on in his life he said nevertheless i am not ashamed for i know whom i have believed and i am persuaded he is able to keep that which i have committed unto him against that day get it in your heart get persuaded it doesn't matter what god is going to keep what you have committed to him god is going to keep us

the writer of hebrews i'm going to read this from a different different translation than king james because it uses a bunch of different words but he said this but remember in 10 and 32 remember the earlier days after you've been after when after being enlightened and a lot of translations say after you saw the light you endured a great and painful struggle and he's writing to some people there in that day and he said sometimes you were made a public spectacle by insults and abuse and at other times as you stood with those other people that were retreating that way you suffered you showed compassion on those who were imprisoned and you joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property knowing that you have something better and more lasting in heaven doesn't sound like a fun life does it they're being scoffed at they're being mocked they're being treated poorly they're taking their property away things like this were happened but then he said this therefore do not throw away your confidence bad as things look keep believing he said which is such a great promise of reward for you need to patiently endure so that having done the will of god you may receive what was promised for in a short time he who is coming will come and not delay don't throw away your confidence don't give up when you face rejection don't say i don't know where else to turn and what else to do god is going to make a way god is going to work it out keep believing don't throw away your confidence amen don't be stopped by rejection

and we see this in jesus ministry and luke bears it out in in his text though many rejected jesus he continued to do the will of his father in heaven isaiah prophesied that the messiah would be despised and rejected of men and jesus frequently faced rejection during his ministry even when he went to his own town yet he never allowed that rejection to disrael his purpose in fact in one point the jews in jerusalem had said he comes back here we're going to kill him and so jesus turns the disciples and said oh we need to go to jerusalem well jesus we'll go with you we might as well all die they just never really accepted what was going on but jesus had a purpose and he never allowed that rejection to derail what he was doing regardless of whether he was welcome with the open arms and the throngs and the multitudes coming out to see him or if he's at nazareth and they're trying to push him off a cliff he continued to be faithful to his calling what an example for us church what an example it is tempting and it's easy i think this is important for us to bel base our sense of self-worth on the acceptance of others you know we're kind of programmed that way aren't we we want to we want to hear somebody say good job enjoy that today that that was great you did that song was beautiful you wow you've got a voice and as a result if we're not careful sometimes we'll bend our behavior to conform to the expectations of others because we you know we we want to hear that and we judge whether we've done well by the feedback we receive you know some of the best sermons you ever preach if you're a preacher or some of the best lessons or maybe some of the best testimonies you ever give you may not hear anything but god works in somebody's heart jesus never fell into that trap his ministry was established on god's word and god's power and not man's approval and doing god's will will often put us at odds with the culture in which we live and and jesus clashed with the pharisees and the sadducees which represented the religious leaders and yet he never minced words to appease either party he told them straight up in fact he called him a generation of vipers it's a way to make friends right his death came at the hands of the romans who held the reins of the government jesus had confidence to look at the roman governor punches pilate in the face and say you couldn't have any power at all against me except it were given to thee from above he wasn't worried what pilate had to say he didn't care that he was the ruler but you know what through all that what we can see is that some of jesus enemies some of those that we would would places and we recognize that he wasn't like everyone else one of the pharisees nicodemus comes to jesus we know we know who you are you're a teacher sent from god he begins to talk talk to him the roman centurion said truly this was the son of god at the crucifixion but more important than the acknowledgement of his enemies was the commendation from his heavenly father this is my beloved son in whom i am well pleased that's what i want to hear i want to hear the well done thou good and faithful servant enter into the joy of the lord it doesn't matter if i leave here today and say that is the worst bible lesson i ever heard i want to do the will of god and jesus didn't let rejection at nazareth change his focus

it's interesting because as we read this passage jesus had been to compertium before we already mentioned that he had done several miracles in fact that's what nazareth was kind of envious of believe in nazareth where did he go he went back to the people who had believed in him luke 4 and 31 says this and he he left there he went through their midst and came down to capernaum the city of galilee and taught them on the sabbath days and they were astonished at his doctrine for his word was with power here's what we know god's word and god will always seek out faith those who refuse to believe only succeed in denying themselves what god intends for them the bible says it this way in the in mark and in matthew talked about jesus ministry in nazareth and it said he did few miracles there because of their unbelief so jesus said you know what they believe in me in capernaum i'm going down there they believe this message and he went there and god healed sick god casts out devils god worked all kinds of things in capernaum why because there was faith god looks for faith he never forces his way into europe he could have he could have tried to force his way onto nazareth you're going to believe this i'm going to call down light i'm going to do whatever so that you believe who i am now here's what he says behold i stand at the door and knock if any man hear my voice and open the door i'll come in and i will sup with him and he with me everyone has a choice to respond in faith or to just ignore the knock and if we understand the acceptance or rejection of jesus is left to the decision of every individual then what we also can understand is that when we face rejection they're not rejecting me they're not rejecting you they're rejecting him

i think that's why jesus when he was talking to his disciples and he was getting ready to send them out now he wasn't being ugly with this but he said this when you go into a city and they receive you go into them and share the gospel message and when you go into another city and they don't he said just shake the dust off your shoes and walk on well that's ugly that's cruel no he was saying you know what i respond to faith and if they're willing to listen share it and if they stop their ears and don't want to hear it walk away i think what he was saying is don't worry about being rejected don't worry go to your field and when you hear someone that is interested give them the gospel message and when you go somewhere else and they say i don't want to hear that i'll be praying for you and walk away i'm not saying to hate him god may work in their life and they come back later you don't know i mean look at saul later became paul he heard the gospel message and he helped stone stephen but later on god worked in his heart god closes some doors and other doors closed because people are closed the doors through faithlessness and disobedience but don't let the disappointment of a closed door stop us from walking through the open ones that god has placed before don't get discouraged and say well you know it just doesn't work i was talking to pastor brad a couple weeks ago mentioned the sermons that peter preached and stephen preached basically the same sermon for the most part how that israel israel you rejected god you crucified the lord of glory and in acts 2 they said oh wow what should we do or repent be baptized and a great revive on three thousand souls and they look at stephen and he says the same thing you're a bunch of stiff-necked people and you didn't refuse to follow god and instead of saying what should we do they picked up rocks and begin to stone him it was the same message jesus didn't quit preaching because things didn't go well at nazareth rather he continued to fill the calling of god we have to understand our anointing does not come from our neighbors it doesn't come from family it does not come from friends it's not based on the acceptance of others but it comes from god and if he has called us and he has anointed us and we must carry on that mission that he has given us don't let anything deter you from sharing your testimony in fact the bible says we overcome him by what the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony not everybody's going to accept that testimony but don't let that rejection stop you you know it could be said how we respond to rejection is what makes a difference between success and failure both in life and in ministry we're going to fail at some things we're going to fail things in life we're going to fail things working for the lord and we will face doubt and we will face rejection you can count on that but don't let that stop you if people doubted jesus they're going to doubt us and we may even prove our doubters right sometimes but the question is not whether people believe in us but will we believe in what god says about us will we believe god's word will we believe his promises will we believe he's going to use me despite my flaws and imperfections and my failures and if we internalize that rejection and we say well you know i just can't do it i'm just not a very good witness and i'm not this i'm not that and we believe what others think about us is the truth it will limit what we can accomplish for god's kingdom oh for somebody that would just say you know what it i know i'm limited but this is what god did in my life follow that example of jesus keep doing what god has called us to do don't stop believing in the message in what he's done in your life and what he can do in the lives of others

do you ever notice paul in the book of acts there's one story that is told more than any other probably in the whole bible at least in one book i know because of there's four gospels that many stories are told four times in the gospels but in the book a lot of acts alone three different times we hear of paul's road to damascus trip first time it's told is it's happening the next couple times it's told is paul decides to tell it here's what happened to me i was on the road to damascus a blight bright light you know sometimes he told that story and he got some results but most often he didn't but he kept telling it he kept sharing his testimony you know he could stand and give that testimony before king agrippa and say well paul you almost persuaded me but it ain't happening okay back to prison back to the cell but god impacted literally the world because paul kept sharing the gospel don't let rejection stop you from doing what god wants you to do

let's stand i don't know how many times you've been rejected i don't know if it's if if maybe somebody today has just given up on it because of you know i just can't do this anymore or maybe you just needed that bump in faith from god's word today i want to just lift a hand right now let's just ask him to help us to understand what your word has to say lord we know jesus even in your ministry there were those that rejected you those that failed to even receive anything from you because they did not want to believe and could not believe but lord i'm thankful to know hallelujah that you kept going jesus and that we can too because our reward is in heaven help us to get a glimpse beyond this life and to know that you will make a way even when we see rejection and we see things happen in life and you're going to do great things through each and every one of us god and you're going to reach this world because someone is not afraid of rejection hallelujah will stand on the promises of your word in jesus name thank you lord thank you lord hallelujah amen listen