What They Endured Before Us

Count the cost of following Jesus now, or you may be sorrowful about it when meeting that reality before His return.

1st Corinthians 4:9/13

For I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last, as men condemned to death; for we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are distinguished, but we are dishonored! To the present hour we both hunger and thirst, and we are poorly clothed, and beaten, and homeless. And we labor, working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure; being defamed, we entreat. We have been made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things until now.

• The true reality of the scriptures coming into our hands today is one of blood being spilled and many facing tortures and torments from powers and principalities which are still at war with us today. Attempting to bring the Good News to the world is in and of itself a war, and offense to the god of this age, because even more so now, he knows that his time is so very short.

• In my own walk with the Lord Jesus, I have been to jail, faced homelessness on multiple occasions, and even betrayal in ministry, been the center of gossip, among other things. Not so much for persecution sake from the world as much as just going through difficult times, but some of us can relate with the apostles more than we realize at times. The powers and principalities of this age seek to ‘throw us off course’ on being obedient to the Father in all things. This is especially true in 2026 and going forward.

• Just as the apostle Paul says here: “We are a spectacle to the world!”, and it has been no different even to today. God has given the task of inviting people to the BIGGEST WEDDING FEAST ever to come, and though time is growing short, the urgency of knowing Jesus is so much more greater than ever before. Go out to be a SPECTACLE for Jesus, counting the cost and understanding this one thing: “What is Jesus worth to me?”