Nobody told you it was going to cost you something to follow Jesus. Or if they did, you probably didn't believe them. In part six of Acts: To the Ends of the Earth, Lead Pastor Jon Stoe goes somewhere most sermons avoid: the real price of being a disciple. Not just inconvenience or social awkwardness, but the kind of cost the early church actually paid. Reputation. Relationships. Safety. Stephen, one of the brightest preachers in the early church, got stoned to death. The apostles got beaten and thrown in jail. And then went right back out and kept talking about Jesus.

Jon traces how the persecution that broke out in Jerusalem after Stephen's death didn't kill the movement. It scattered it. Judea, Samaria, and eventually the ends of the earth, which is exactly what Jesus said would happen. Along the way Jon pulls from Peter's letters to Christians living under Nero's Rome, where "fiery ordeal" wasn't a metaphor. The early believers rejoiced through it all, not because they were naive, but because they had counted the cost before it happened and decided Jesus was worth it. This message asks whether we've done the same.

Litchfield Church of the Nazarene is a welcoming, bilingual community of faith in Litchfield, MN, whose mission is to produce fruitful disciples of Jesus Christ. We gather every Sunday at 10:45 AM. New messages drop on the podcast each week. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite app. Learn more at litchfieldnaz.com.