dW 04.03.08

scripture

 

1 Peter 1:3-7

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

 

thought

 

Faith has a price. Here Peter explains that it is worth more than gold.

It is a great encouragement that even though being in the flames hurts

us we know that God gives us the strength to endure and that the end

result will be worth it.

 

quote

 

Matthew is supposed to have suffered martyrdom by being put to death by a halberd, a slender ax for splitting helmets, in a city of ancient Ethiopia.

Mark was dragged through the streets of Alexandria, Egypt, till he died.

Luke was hanged upon an olive tree in Greece.

John miraculously escaped death when put into a cauldron of boiling oil at Rome.  He afterwards died a natural death at Ephesus.

James the Great was beheaded at Jerusalem.

James the Less was thrown from a pinnacle or wing of the temple, stoned, and finally beaten to death with a fuller's club.

Philip was hanged up against a pillar at Hierapolis, a city of Phrygia.

Bartholomew was put to death by the command of a barbarous king in Armenia.

Andrew was bound to a cross, whence he preached to the people till he expired.

Thomas was run through the body by a lance in the East Indies.

Jude was cruelly put to death in Persia.

Simon Zelotes was crucified by the Druids in Britain.

Matthias was stoned and then beheaded.

- Unknown