2 Timothy 1:8. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of the Lord, nor of me his prisoner:
What! were people ashamed of Paul? Oh! yes, dear friends. The great Apostle, because he was persecuted, found himself despised by some of the very people who owed their souls to him. It is the lot of those who are faithful to Christ to find even good men sometimes turning against them. But what of that? They are responsible to their Master, not to their fellow-servants. Yet it is a hard thing when any come to be ashamed of you - ashamed of you, though you know that you have done right. I do not wonder that he puts it even to Timothy, "Be not thou, therefore, ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner." Some of us know what it is to have trained and brought up these about us, who were to us what Timothy was to Paul, who have been ashamed of us, and of the testimony of our Lord.
2 Timothy 1:8. But be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;
You will want the power of God to do it, and mind you do it. Take your full share in whatever affliction the gospel brings upon Christians. "According to the power of God."
2 Timothy 1:8. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of the Lord, nor of me his prisoner:
What! were people ashamed of Paul? Oh! yes, dear friends. The great Apostle, because he was persecuted, found himself despised by some of the very people who owed their souls to him. It is the lot of those who are faithful to Christ to find even good men sometimes turning against them. But what of that? They are responsible to their Master, not to their fellow-servants. Yet it is a hard thing when any come to be ashamed of you - ashamed of you, though you know that you have done right. I do not wonder that he puts it even to Timothy, "Be not thou, therefore, ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner." Some of us know what it is to have trained and brought up these about us, who were to us what Timothy was to Paul, who have been ashamed of us, and of the testimony of our Lord.
2 Timothy 1:8. But be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;
You will want the power of God to do it, and mind you do it. Take your full share in whatever affliction the gospel brings upon Christians. "According to the power of God."