THE STORY OF AN ABSENTEE KING (3 OF 4)
by Scott Maze
Scripture: Luke 19:11-27
This content is part of a series.
The Story of an Absentee King (3 of 4)
Series: The Parables of Jesus
Scott Maze
Luke 19:11-27
I wish I could say I was shocked when I saw the story... A Libyan branch of ISIS claims to have beheaded 21 men. A caption across the bottom of the video screen read, ''The people of the cross, followers of the hostile Egyptian church'' As many as thirteen of the men were from one small farming community off the Nile River and 150 miles south of Cairo. A local priest said you could hear screams coming from every house and every street throughout the small town. The men were captured about a month ago, their hands tied behind their back with plastic ties, they were cursed at, beaten and kidnapped. A little more than a week ago, they were dressed in orange jumpsuits, made to kneel, and then tragically beheaded. ISIS, or the Islamic State, is a brutal extremist militant group that has seized much of Iraq and currently rules an area larger than the United Kingdom.
And they have also expanded quickly over war-stricken Libya, in Northern Africa. The Coptic Church numbers some 8.5 million people in Egypt and many of the poorest Egyptians have traveled to Libya in the last 4/5 years in search of work. We need to pray for government leaders across the world and in our nation to deal with this crisis. We need men and women of courage to rise up and to everything within their power to protect innocent lives. And we need to pray for these believers to have the courage to continue to follow Christ in the midst of such adversity. Now, ISIS is fueled by a specific vision of the end... a vision of violence and a return to way things were in the legal environment of the 7th century. And they believe they are written into God's script as a central character in the end times. They ultimately wish to bring about the apocalypse. Jesus had very different views on the end times. Instead of waging violence on innocent people, Jesus called on His followers to invest their lives in kind ...
Series: The Parables of Jesus
Scott Maze
Luke 19:11-27
I wish I could say I was shocked when I saw the story... A Libyan branch of ISIS claims to have beheaded 21 men. A caption across the bottom of the video screen read, ''The people of the cross, followers of the hostile Egyptian church'' As many as thirteen of the men were from one small farming community off the Nile River and 150 miles south of Cairo. A local priest said you could hear screams coming from every house and every street throughout the small town. The men were captured about a month ago, their hands tied behind their back with plastic ties, they were cursed at, beaten and kidnapped. A little more than a week ago, they were dressed in orange jumpsuits, made to kneel, and then tragically beheaded. ISIS, or the Islamic State, is a brutal extremist militant group that has seized much of Iraq and currently rules an area larger than the United Kingdom.
And they have also expanded quickly over war-stricken Libya, in Northern Africa. The Coptic Church numbers some 8.5 million people in Egypt and many of the poorest Egyptians have traveled to Libya in the last 4/5 years in search of work. We need to pray for government leaders across the world and in our nation to deal with this crisis. We need men and women of courage to rise up and to everything within their power to protect innocent lives. And we need to pray for these believers to have the courage to continue to follow Christ in the midst of such adversity. Now, ISIS is fueled by a specific vision of the end... a vision of violence and a return to way things were in the legal environment of the 7th century. And they believe they are written into God's script as a central character in the end times. They ultimately wish to bring about the apocalypse. Jesus had very different views on the end times. Instead of waging violence on innocent people, Jesus called on His followers to invest their lives in kind ...
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