Faithful Followers in God’s Forever Family

Faithful Followers in God’s Forever Family

Ephesians 1:1–2

“This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus.
I am writing to God’s holy people in Ephesus, who are faithful followers of Christ Jesus.
May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.”

Faithful Followers in Jesus

Acts 19:4-5- “Paul said, “John’s baptism called for repentance from sin. But John himself told the people to believe in the one who would come later, meaning Jesus.” As soon as they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. “

Acts 19:18–20- “Many who became believers confessed their sinful practices. A number of them who had been practicing sorcery brought their incantation books and burned them at a public bonfire. The value of the books was several million dollars. So the message about the Lord spread widely and had a powerful effect.”

Faithful Followers  Proclaim the Gospel

Acts 19:8–10, “Then Paul went to the synagogue and preached boldly for the next three months, arguing persuasively about the Kingdom of God. But some became stubborn, rejecting his message and publicly speaking against the Way. So Paul left the synagogue and took the believers with him. Then he held daily discussions at the lecture hall of Tyrannus. This went on for the next two years, so that people throughout the province of Asia—both Jews and Greeks—heard the word of the Lord.”

Faithful Followers  Persecution for the Truth

Acts 19:28-32 “At this their anger boiled, and they began shouting, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” Soon the whole city was filled with confusion. Everyone rushed to the amphitheater, dragging along Gaius and Aristarchus, who were Paul’s traveling companions from Macedonia. Paul wanted to go in, too, but the believers wouldn’t let him. Some of the officials of the province, friends of Paul, also sent a message to him, begging him not to risk his life by entering the amphitheater. Inside, the people were all shouting, some one thing and some another. Everything was in confusion. In fact, most of them didn’t even know why they were there.

Globally, persecution is very real. According to Open Doors’ 2025 World Watch List:

• 1 in 7 Christians worldwide experience persecution.
• 1 in 5 in Africa.
• 2 in 5 in Asia.
• Last year, over 4,400 Christians were killed, and nearly 5,000 imprisoned for their faith.

SBC response to Charlie Kirk assassination: https://www.sbc.net/justice/

A Statement for Lament and A Call for Justice

Scripture calls God’s people to hate what is evil and cling to what is good and to do so in the name of the Lord Jesus. We believe this statement is a way we can do that while upholding the Gospel.

Southern Baptist pastors and leaders are invited to sign the statement below and pray for our nation as we commit our Gospel work to the Lord.

As leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention, we lament the assassination of Charlie Kirk and we mourn his death. Political violence is a grave sin and it represents a threat to our nation and its government. The murder of Charlie Kirk is a grave warning to us all as we consider the health of our nation and society.

All persons of good will must condemn this premeditated act of violence and see the depth of evil in this murder and in a spirit of violence that will undermine our ability to function as a nation.

Christians are rightly grateful for Charlie Kirk’s public witness to Christ and for his courageous defense of the dignity of the unborn and a host of other moral issues. We rightly appreciate the profound impact Charlie Kirk has had on our young people, inspiring them to live with bold conviction and take righteous action.

We mourn with his wife, Erika, whose husband has been so murderously taken away, and for their precious children, now left without an earthly father. We pray for them, and ask our Heavenly Father to protect and console them.

We call for righteousness and justice and for the lawful prosecution of the assassin and urge Southern Baptists to join us in praying for his repentance and salvation. We also call for Southern Baptists and all Christian brothers and sisters to recommit ourselves to the defense of life, liberty, and biblical morality in our nation, and we pray for an end to political violence in any form. We condemn any retaliatory violence.

We call on all our brothers and sisters in Christ to bear faithful witness to the good news of Jesus Christ — the world’s true King and our only hope — who was crucified and raised so that sinners might be forgiven and have eternal life.

May God have mercy on our nation, and may we be found faithful in our generation.