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I don't know how you feel about sharing your faith, how bold you feel about sharing the good news of Jesus with your neighbours, with your workmates, with people in school. But someone I know about is a guy called Sally. And he and a friend would just share Jesus really boldly outside a local religious building. And in fact they became known as the crazy guys, such was their boldness. And when I tell you that they were doing this in the country of Yemen, you'll realise now just how crazy they were.

Because Yemen is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a Christian. It's potentially deadly to be a follower of Jesus in Yemen and there are no physical church buildings in that country. And tonight you are in for a treat because you're actually going to meet another crazy guy from Yemen, my friend John, who's going to tell you his amazing testimony of how he came to know Jesus and at open doors. You know, our vision is that we believe that there is no place, no person that God cannot reach. There are no closed doors.

And we thank you, All Saints Linfield, for being a church that believes in that too and partners with us. And I hope also tonight that maybe some of you will be spurred and stirred on, stirred to actually support and pray for the persecuted church yourself. So Sally, he received death threats, started receiving death threats for doing this work of sharing Jesus in a country that forbids it. And in the end he had to flee the country. But together he partners with open doors and he goes in and out of the country and amazingly has established like this network of about 70 Christian families in Yemen where he goes in and he disciples them, he takes in maybe aid that they vitally need as well.

So your partnership, your prayers as well as your financial support make a massive difference in enabling the church to grow under the COVID of darkness. Isn't that a great thing to be investing your wealth, your money into and your prayers as well? We just read some words from Matthew 5. Blessed are those who are persecuted. Blessed are you.

When people insult you and accuse you, rejoice and be glad. Now, in light of what I just shared about the danger and difficulty in Yemen, that is just one of 50 plus countries around the world where following Jesus is really, really difficult. Humanly speaking, you kind of think, Jesus, are you mad? These words seem quite out of line, don't they? They don't quite go with our 21st century mindset and dare I say, even 21st century Western Christian mindset as well.

So Jesus begins the eight Beatitudes with a word Blessed. It's the Greek word makarios, which is quite tricky to translate into English. Essentially, what Jesus is meaning when he says blessed are you. Is this. Congratulations, happy are you?

Wonderful news, Wonderful news. Now for me, I'll never forget the moment I became a mum. I become a mum three times, I have three children. Absolutely life changing. But maybe some of you will remember that when you give birth, you're sent amazing numbers of congratulatory messages and cards and all sorts of things.

For others of you, maybe it's, you know, when you've nailed your exams, you've passed your driving test, you've got that promotion, Brighton flying at the top of the league. I don't know if there's any Brighton fans, but it's very fairly close to you doing really well now. They are the type of occasions where you kind of feel like congratulations in order, but not this. Not from what we read in this text, not from our 21st century Western mindset. You don't find many greetings cards, do you, with congratulations.

I'm so happy that you're persecuted in Jesus Day. Grief, humility, poverty, hunger, injustice, the seven Beatitudes or blessings that are listed earlier in this passage. I encourage you to go home and read the whole passage. And now persecution were actually believed to be signs of God's displeasure. His displeasure, not his blessings.

And here on the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is absolutely turning theology and ways of thinking completely on its head. That's what Jesus does. He absolutely smashes. Smashes it. Then in verse 12, he builds on it and he says, rejoice, Rejoice and be glad.

And that word rejoice, it literally means to jump for joy. To jump for joy. And in a few minutes, you're going to meet my friend John, who really is an example of that. He jumps for joy in the midst of persecution. And maybe from our comfortable standpoint tonight, we think, how is that even possible, humanly speaking?

But Jesus calls it blessed. Blessed are you. So we're going to quickly look at this biblical text a bit more and encounter Jesus through it, but also encounter more of the persecuted church. And the one big thing I want to highlight for us tonight is that we're given a reality cheque. As comfortable Western Christians, we're given a reality cheque, a reality cheque.

And it's this, that the cost of following Jesus is real and inevitable. The cost of following Jesus is real and inevitable. The word persecuted that Jesus uses in this text is the Greek word doku, and it simply means to chase, to Hunt, to hunt prey. And you can sort of imagine maybe conjure up that image of an animal being hunted to pursue something that you're after. So Jesus here is talking to the harassed, the harried, the hunted, and he says, blessed, Blessed are the pursued, the persecuted.

Now, almost nobody in Jesus original audience, or in his day for that matter, would have seen things this way. That is not how they were programmed or hardwired. Now, Jesus isn't saying persecution is good, he's saying it is inevitable. It is inevitable. It goes with the territory.

Those who proclaim the reality of the kingdom of God have always been persecuted. And he sort of does a throwback, doesn't he, to the Old Testament, because he says, they did it to the prophets, they did it to the prophets. So Jesus is highlighting for us in this passage that opposition and antagonism are inevitable. If you put your head above the parapet, if you start living the way of Jesus. And it's the normative faith experience of the New Testament, and it still is in this very moment, on the 17th of November, 2024.

Around the world today, around the world today, there are millions of Christians who pay a high price. For them, persecution is real simply because of their allegiance to Jesus. So the cost of following Jesus is still real and inevitable. One in seven Christians around the world face high or live in a context where persecution and discrimination is real at a high level. That's 365 million Christians around the world.

You know, these aren't just sobering stats to throw around on a Sunday evening. They're more than statistics. They're our family, our sisters, our brothers, our family and, you know, all saints. And I'm glad so many of you do see this. But when you see the persecuted church through the lens of family, it is a complete game changer.

It really is. Because then you realise that actually you are part of the persecuted church, that actually there is no persecuted church in us. We are one and the same. We are all persecuted. We're all persecuted.

And that persecution that they experience, which is really inevitable, is something that you are so closely associated with because you are family, you're part of the body of Christ. 1 Corinthians 12:26 says, when one part of the body suffers, we all do. We all do. And I pray tonight that through the Holy Spirit, that actually God will bring you a bit closer to parts of the body, parts of the family around the world tonight who are paying the highest price for Jesus. You know, when we share updates at open doors and prayer requests, we're praying for our family.

We're praying for our family. So please do connect in with that. And at the end, you've got an opportunity to fill out a card where you can get the regular updates and prayer requests, urgent prayer requests from the persecuted church and ways that you can take action and stand alongside them because they need you. They desperately need you. So it's loyalty to Jesus and his kingdom that is the actual reason for being hard pressed, insulted, pursued, people lying about you, Jesus says, accusing you.

And as you read those verses, verses 10 to 12, you almost get the sense of the ramping up, don't you? The escalation and intensification of it. And Jesus says, blessed are the persecuted because of righteousness. Blessed are you when people persecute you because of me. And I'm reminded of Jesus words in John 15 where he says, if the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.

You do not belong to the world. If they persecuted me, they'll persecute you also. And they will treat you this way because of my name. That's Jesus in the lead up to the crucifixion. Reality cheque for us tonight, persecution is real and inevitable because it's what Jesus faced.

It's what Jesus faced, you know, he knows the depth and reality of persecution and suffering because he was nailed to a cross. We sung about it tonight. Dying, the death of a slave and a criminal. He knows what it's like to be persecuted. And obviously he did that to win us back, to gain victory, to give us life over death.

An amazing truth. An amazing truth. You know, tonight we do need to encounter the stories of the persecuted church for ourselves because they show us what it looks like to share in Jesus suffering. They really do. So we need their faith.

We need their faith. Often they are like a mirror to us. They kind of show us what it's like to faithfully follow Jesus in the midst of struggle, opposition, suffering and pain and maybe increasing challenges as well. And they really do need our prayers. Support.

A guy called Suleiman leads open doors work in West Africa. And increasingly Africa is an area of focus for us because persecution simply is raging like wildfire. And next year we're going big on a campaign for Africa called the Arise Africa Campaign. So do look out for it and you can speak up by signing a petition. And it's a bit of a two year journey.

And Suleiman says this, he says, we only survive because of your prayers. We only survive because of your prayers. They give us the grace to stand that should inspire us to pray, to pray for the Church facing the most violent forms of persecution in this day. They give us the grace to stand. When you came in this evening, hopefully you all got one of these.

And this is an invitation for you to actually invite your MP to the World Watch List launch in Parliament on the 15th of January every year. We produce research on all the countries that we work in, 60 plus countries, and we then bring it to the attention of parliamentarians. And as you'll know, we had an election earlier this year. Over half the MPs in parliament these days are new and many of them have never been invited to the World Watch List launch in Parliament. And we would love you to invite your MP to come.

And they often say, those that have been around for a while, they said, we listen to our constituents. Your voice is really powerful. Imagine collectively if they receive a few hundred invitations from All Saints Church, what that could do. You can also do it online. You can go on our website, opendoorsuk.org, even do it now.

I don't really mind, just do it. You can go on our website and on the homepage there is a section where you can invite your mp. But equally, we've made it quite easy for you. Just fill out the card, put your name of your mp, fill out this card and invite them to come. And it will be a great opportunity for them to know about the reality of the cost of following Jesus and a real witness to them as well.

And if you're interested in praying, do join Janet and Ron in their prayer group that runs locally in this area to pray for the persecuted church. They would love to have more people join them. So persecution is real and it's inevitable. That's what Jesus says. Just very quickly, before I hand over to John, there's something else I'd just love to highlight for us tonight.

And it's an encouragement. It's good to get encouragement, isn't it? We've had the reality of the cost of following Jesus, but there's an encouragement that in this life, persecution and suffering might not be removed, but they're redeemable in this life, suffering, persecution and pain as well. And the challenge that you may be going through might not be removed, but they're redeemable. They're redeemable.

And it's a great paradox, isn't it, of life with Jesus that often in persecution and suffering and pain, that can be the place. That can be the place that fire where we can meet with God most closely and intimately. And why? Because Jesus has paved the way. Jesus has gone before us through all that he went through on the cross.

Suffering, pain, persecution is redeemable. Redeemable. And the text highlights a great truth that I know I need to hold onto, and I'm sure you do, too. That whether you're a persecuted Christian around the world tonight or here facing other struggles and trials, that suffering, persecution, and pain do not have the final word. Do not have the final word.

God does. God does. And the empty grave reminds us of this truth. And in God's hands, suffering, persecution can be redeemed. Can be redeemed.

So often we see persecution as a force for bad. And it is in the sobering scale of persecution, injustice is huge. But actually in God's hand, it can be a tool for good. He can work good out of what the enemy means for evil. And so often around the world, we see that persecution is the engine, the motor for the gospel.

And you're going to see that in John's story. And Jesus points to the fact that one day, a day is coming when we can fully rejoice and be glad eternally. But it starts in the present. A day is coming when all persecution, all suffering and all pain will be removed and will be finally, fully redeemed. Isn't that the great hope of being a Christian?

And that is great hope for our family around the world tonight who are most persecuted that Jesus is coming. Jesus is coming back. And they know where their future lies. They live that and claim that this present day. Encourage you to read the rest of that passage again, too.

If you had more time, we would look at verses 13 to 16, where Jesus calls us to be salt and light and a town on a hill. Quite simply, our lives are meant to shine, aren't they? Our lives are meant to be like sallies in Yemen, signposting people to the glory of God to discover who he is. The greatest gift that we can have is to know Jesus. We're now going to watch a short video, and then I'm going to invite my friend John to come up.

Thank you.

Amazing. You know, we believe all doors are open, don't we? All doors are open to God. There are no closed doors. And tonight, testimony we're going to hear is just a reminder of that truth.

So, John, come up. Let's give him a big welcome, shall we? Amazing. So, John, over to you. Thank you.

Thank you so much for having me here. Is it working? The mic working? So thank you so much for having me. Hallelujah.

Praise the Lord. Jesus Christ our God, our Saviour. I am John, full time evangelist, missionary and I am from Yemen. And always I ask this question, how many people of you know about Yemen? 1.

Don't be shy, don't be shy. Yeah, a few people. That's good. For now we're gonna tell you a little bit about Yemen. So basically in when Islam established in Saudi Arabia, which next to Yemen, the prophet of the founder of Islam, Muhammad sent his son in law, Ali bin Abi Talib into Yemen.

And Yemen wasn't a Muslim country, it was a Jewish kingdom. And after that this Ali bin IBN convert one tribe in Yemen because Yemen, it's a tribal country. And Ali bin Abu Talib converted one tribe in one day. And after that the whole country became a Muslim country. And this is how I was born.

And I grew up into a Muslim family in Yemen. And my family taught me how to pray, how to fast, how to be a radical Muslim. And 2012 I was married to my cousin. It was arranged, married by my family. They choose a wife for me.

It was my first cousin and I have two daughters from her. And later on I went to the uni. 2014, I was studying at the uni. And that time I started to ask the big questions about Allah, about Islam because I was praying. I was very devoted to Islam, but there is no spiritual connection between me and the Creator.

And I asked many, many people, many leaders in Islam how, like how I'm going to go to heaven. And they told me, you need to pray, you need to fast, you need to do all the Islamic ritual. And I told them, but I don't feel God, I don't feel him. So they scared me. They say there is a verse in Islam, Quran.

You are not, you can't ask anything about Allah or Islam. It's not allowed you. You born as a Muslim, you die as a Muslim. So after that I have family in the Saudi Arabia, the capital of Islam. And my father, he was working there.

So he, he wanted to treat my mother, he invited her to go all the way to Saudi Arabia to visit the most holy place of Islam called Mecca, the house of Allah. And as you see in the picture. In the. That picture. Yeah, yeah, that picture.

So I took my mother, they asked me to be a guardian to my mother. I was the luckiest Muslim to go as a, as a guardian with my mother because I said I'm gonna find answers to my questions. Take my mother all the way to Makkah with my grandmother. And after that my family received us. My uncle, he's the middle with the beer.

So he's a big leader, big deal in Islamic faith. So he was, he was leading us. So in, in Mecca, the house of Allah, many, many Muslims, all Muslims, when they go to Mecca, they have to go seven times around the house of Allah. So I was, I was doing that and nothing happened. So I was waiting any change in my spirit, any connection with Allah, but nothing happened.

And I have that realisation. This is from, this is man made, this is not from God, if there is God. So I started to doubt about God, about his existence. And I give up Islam straight away in front of Kaaba. Hallelujah.

So but it wasn't like this because there is definitely death penalty for leaving Islam. And I couldn't dare to tell my family I am not Muslim anymore. But I kept it secret, went back to Yemen. I stayed the secret agnostic for three years. But from the outside I have to pretend in front of my friends, my family that I was a Muslim and I have to do the prayer, I have to do all of these things.

It was very hard for me for three years. 2017, I left Yemen to make this the long story short, ended up in Greece as a refugee. And in Greece I met many, many people because I was seeking freedom. I met many, many people from different nations. And one of them, he was from Syria.

And this man, he was a Christian. And we speak Arabic. He speaks Arabic we speak together, we become friends. And he has a tattoo in his hand. And as a Yemeni, for me, that's how I grew up.

Tattoos is forbidden in Yemen. This is my culture, this is how I grew up. And I asked him, why you have this tattoo in your hand? And he replied, he told me, this is the cross of Yasu al Masih. He replied in Arabic, yisu al Masih, the cross of Jesus Christ, the saviour of the world.

I said, wow, nobody told me about this before. And he told me that I was curious. And he started to tell me about Christianity. It was too much information for me, for the first time in my life to hear about real Christianity. And he told me, would you like to know more about Jesus Christ?

I told him, yes. He told me, there is a German missionary, you are welcome to join us. There is a German machinery came all the way from Germany to Greece to teach people who want to know about Jesus Christ. So the following day we went to that Bible study and this German machinery, they start to worship by the guitar and saying what they are doing. And after that they start to teach from the Gospel.

It was too much information, too much. I couldn't handle it. But one thing, I stopped my mind when they said Jesus Christ is the son of God. I told them because of the Islamic influence, how God can have a son. I am looking for God.

I am agnostic. I give up his love. I am looking for God. So they told me that I was, you know, curious and I have lots of questions. They said to me, would you like to come to a church?

I told them yes. And that time I never been to church in my life because we don't have churches in Yemen. Churches in Yemen not allowed. There is like secret believers. But there is no public Christian.

I never met Christians inside of Yemen and I accepted the invitation. The following Sunday I went to that church. I remember I entered through the door to the church and I saw man and woman worshipping. I sit at the back looking at them, what they are doing. Some of them dancing, clapping, crying, screaming, and men and women.

I said, what they are doing? But I felt it. I felt the joy in that place. I felt it must be a secret power. I felt the atmosphere was different and I felt jealousy in my heart.

I said, why they are happy, why they are confident? And when they finish, the pastor start to preach. He was a Greek and the church, it was international. They translate into English, Arabic, piracy, French, all languages. And he started to share the pastor.

He was very smart. He knew there is people, new people in his church. So he said, this is why we believe in Jesus Christ, because we are sinners. Sin came through Adam and Eve and separated us from God. We inherited sin from Adam and Eve and sin became a disease in our hearts.

And this is why we need a saviour. And this is why Jesus Christ came all the way from heaven to earth. And he was died on the cross for our sins. And he rose again. He's alive.

If you want to be saved, accept him as Lord and Saviour. And I was like, listen to this. Nobody told me about this. Wow, this is something new. And I didn't receive Christ.

Don't blame me. It's too early. And I met another couple. They give me the Bible and I was curious to know about this Jesus Christ. This Syrian told me about Jesus.

The German missionary told me about Jesus Christ. The church told me about Jesus Christ. I want to know about Jesus Christ by myself through the Bible. So I start to read Matthew, chapter one, chapter three, two, Chapter three. Chapter three was the baptism of Jesus Christ.

If you are familiar with chapter three, the baptism of Jesus Christ. Where Jesus was baptised in the Jordan river by the Baptist John. And verse 16 and 17, where God, a voice from heaven said, this is my beloved Son, whom I am pleased. Well, I said, wow, God speaks from heaven. And I felt the seed of faith in my heart.

I felt something start in my heart and I believe that that was the seed of faith. And I continue to read chapter four and five and chapter five, the sermon in the mouth, the most power teaching in the universe, the most incredible teaching in the universe. I was reading the blessed are the poor in the spirit, for there is the kingdom of heaven, all the blessings. And I felt the God I'm looking for. He said to me, this is to you, this is to you.

And I received the ceremony in the Mount as I received like water into my soul as a medicine. And I was so joyful, so happy about this. And I continued to read chapter six and seven and all my questions that I was asking about, about prayer, about fasting, about everything was answered through the Sermon on the Mount. And I said, this is the God I'm looking for, this is the God I want to follow, this is the God I want to give life to. I was so happy, so excited to go back to the church to tell them what's the next?

Which I did. But that time I didn't sit at the back, I said in front. And at the end, the pastor, he said, who wants to give his life to Jesus Christ? I raised up my hand and they lay hands my shoulder and they prayed for me. And the pastor, the prayer was like this.

I am a sinner and I declare that I am a sinner. I declare that Jesus Christ came all the way from heaven to rescue me. He was died on the cross for my sins and he rose again. Islam behind me, it isn't behind me. Agnostic behind me and the world behind me.

Jesus before me, he's my king, my Lord and my Saviour forever. And I said amen. I opened up my eyes, I saw everything so beautiful, like you. Hallelujah. And after that, I felt I am like a new creation.

I felt I am new. I felt like I was born again. I felt so joyful and I was so thirsty, so hungry to read the whole Bible. I asked the church to give me the entire Bible. And I challenged myself to read from Genesis to Revelation.

And after one year even I changed my name into John. From Islamic name to Christian name, from Muhammad to John. New life, new faith, new salvation, new eternal life through the name of Jesus Christ. So, and I remember when the pastor baptised Me, you can show them the picture. The pastor, he said, john, upon your confession of faith, I baptise you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

He brought me into the water. I came out of the water and I felt the Lord God, Jesus Christ told me, you're gonna share me with the whole nation. I was so happy, I was so passionate to tell everybody, everyone, that Jesus Christ is Lord and he's the God of love, which I did. I shared my baptism on social media. I shared my testimony on social media.

It went viral. And from there the imam in the mosque village saw my testimony and he divorced my wife. The community, they started to put pressure on my family and start to receive death threats. The Yemen YouTubers, they start to do videos against me. They make me more famous.

And it was very hard for me. It was really challenging to choose Christ or my family, Christ or my family, Christ or my family. And Islam, because my family forced me to go back to Islam. But in Matthew, in Matthew 16, Jesus said, what's the benefit if man gains the whole world and lose his own soul? I said, jesus Christ, I am convinced and I believe from my heart that you are my God.

Because your love saved me. You died in radical way for me. You rose again. You gave me victory, you gave me new life. You wrote my name in the book of life.

I'm gonna follow you. Yes, I lost my family, I lost everything. But I gained the King of heaven, the king of glory, the son of Heaven, the Lord of lords, the king of kings. And I told him, I need you, I need your help, I can do it by myself. I need you, Lord.

I'm gonna bought you first. I'm gonna give you everything what I have, my voice, everything. But I need your help. And I can see year after year how my faith is growing because I bought him first. I brought him over my family, I bought him over everything I belong to.

Because I don't belong to myself anymore. I belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. And now he's using me through social media. You can show them the social media. And in the last two years, 800 Yemenis came to Christ only through Facebook.

And now Jesus Christ is using me through social media beyond Arabs, beyond Yemenis. And not only that, I declare publicly because he give me a voice so I can use my voice to him. And I declare my people Yemen for Christ, Yemenis for Christ, as much as declare the UK for Christ. So I pray for you that God will use you. God will continue to use you for British people, because this country in the past sent so many missionaries to Middle east, to India, to China and British people.

The church in the UK has used to have a lot of courage and we need that courage to come back to the church. We need to evangelise more. We need to declare this country belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, nothing else. Hallelujah and God bless.