1 - Introduction - Living like a real Christian 9b - Blessed are those who are persecuted _2_ | Page 12

cross of Jesus in Matthew 27 v 54 who was a witness to the death of Jesus. He was
so impressed with the way that Jesus died that he said, “Surely this man was the
Son of God.” That soldier’s observation has been an observation that has been true of
many in similar situations.
My closing thought for you today comes back to the fact that we, in our comfortable
world, will probably never be persecuted to the same extent as those early church
Christians, but the challenge that we face today is not so much are we willing to die
for our faith, but are we willing to live for it? To live a life that reflects the
Beatitudes which we have studied these last ten weeks, should set for us a standard
by which we measure our Christian maturity. These Beatitudes also stand as an
inspiration to us to live our lives in such a way that they reflect the values and
ideals that we have studied and at the end of the day bring glory to God in the most
powerful way. I hope that you will see these Beatitudes and our study thereof in that
light.
See you in church.