Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets before you.Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets that were before you.
5 sermons cite this verse
… Matthew 5. He said, blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. He said, rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted they the prophets who were before you. In other words, don't worry, be happy. Now, Paul explains why you can be happy no matter what. In verse 29 and 30 of Philippians chapter one, he says this, for you have been given, you Christians, you have been given, not only the privilege of trusting in Christ, but also the privilege of suffering for him. Did you know that's part of being a Christian? The privilege of trusting Christ, the privilege of suffering for Christ. We are in this fight together, the Bible says. You have seen me suffer, Paul's talking. You have seen me suffer for him. Remember, he's in prison as he's writing these words. You've seen me suffer for him in the past, and you know that I'm still in the midst of a great struggle, I'd say. …
… Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted the prophets that were before you. If you want to be a happy person, you're gonna be a persecuted person. Let's put it all together. I see myself as I really am. I'm poor in spirit. I mourn over my condition. Blessed are they that mourn. It produces a new meekness in me and a hunger and thirst for righteousness. Now I'm extending mercy to others. Now I'm a peacemaker talking about Jesus to others. People don't like that. and because of that, you're going to be persecuted. This is one of those promises of God we don't like to claim. We'll claim promises all day long about God's provision, God's blessing, but then, when's the last time you claim this promise? All that live godly in Jesus Christ will suffer persecution. You prayed that one lately? Lord, I feel like I'm not being persecuted enough. Send more persecution. Well, no, we don't pray that. …
… What should our response be to all this goodness God has stored up for us? Jesus said in Matthew chapter 5, verse 12, Rejoice, Christian, rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven. God wants us to rejoice. He wants us to be glad as we anticipate all that he has in store. Christian, the best is yet to come. And it could be coming soon. Any day now, that trumpet could blow and the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, the Bible says, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who remain, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore, comfort one another with these words. What comfort. Paul says, stir each other up to, well, that's a different writer, to love and good works. …
… and our blessedness as well. So again, if you'll turn to Matthew chapter 5, verses 3 through 12, and in the sermon, I've entitled the sermon, The Pursuit of Happiness. And you, of course, recognize that phrase. we're going to celebrate the document that comes from this summer, July 4th, the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. And you remember that one phrase. Most people don't remember the 27 statements to King George of the things we were unhappy with. What we remember is that preamble. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, among which are, join me, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. So the pursuit of happiness. So what is happiness exactly? And how do we pursue it? And what we're going to find is that Jesus offers us a very different path to happiness and really defines it differently than what we find in the world. So the word happy in Greek is actually in Latin is beatus. And this is where we get the name beatitude from. Beatus is the Latin word for happy or fortunate or blessed. …
… preaching one word today you'll see in a minute i'm preaching one word and either you grab it or you don't but it's one word i'm gonna read a lot but i'm preaching one word today matthew chapter five verse one through twelve listen at the beatitudes these supreme blessings matthew chapter five verse one through twelve new revised standard version reads like this when jesus saw the crowds he went up to the mountain and after he sat down his disciples came to him then he began to speak and taught them saying read it with me verse three blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness but they will be filled blessed are the merciful but they will receive mercy blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were message bible let's read let's read let's read message bible message bible message bible here we go let's read one two three read when jesus saw his ministry drawing huge crowds he climbed …