Get 30 FREE sermons.

BATTERED, BRUISED, BUT ENDURING (33 OF 56)

by Wyman Richardson

Scripture: Acts 14:19-28
This content is part of a series.


Battered, Bruised, but Enduring (33 of 56)
Series: Acts 14:19-28
Wyman Richardson
Acts 14:19-28


Read Acts 14:19-28

Dave Howard tells an amazing story about a Colombian pastor he worked with named Lupercio Taba.

One Sunday Taba was preaching from his pulpit when a man appeared at a side window of the church, aimed a pistol at him, and ordered him to stop preaching. The congregation, seeing the danger, dove to the floor and hid under the pews. Taba, however, went right on preaching the gospel. The man then fired four shots at him. Two shots went past the preacher's head, one on one side, one on the other, and lodged in the wall behind him. Two shots went past his body, one under one arm, one under the other, and also lodged in the wall. The would-be assassin then dropped his gun and fled. Taba, still unmoved, continued his sermon.

There is something surprising and intriguing about a preacher so intent on his sermon that he does not have time to duck when shot upon. That, friends, is focus! I think that kind of unflinching resolve is settled upon years before in the past when a man or woman decides that obedience to the Lord God is simply more important than life itself. That is to say, endurance arises from a clear vision of the priority of things and a determination to lay down one's life for the first things.

Lupercio Taba did this. Stephen did it is well, you might recall, when he was being stoned in Acts 7.

54 Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. 55 But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 And he said, ''Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.'' 57 But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. 58 Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man name ...

There are 15893 characters in the full content. This excerpt only shows a 2000 character sample of the full content.

Price:  $5.99 or 1 credit
Start a Free Trial