Coming Persecutions (MAT 10:16-25)

[10:16] “Listen! I am sending you out just like sheep to a pack of wolves. You must be as cautious as snakes and as gentle as doves.

[10:17] Watch out, for there will be those who will arrest you and take you to court, and they will whip you in the synagogues.

[10:18] For my sake you will be brought to trial before rulers and kings, to tell the Good News to them and to the Gentiles.

[10:19] When they bring you to trial, do not worry about what you are going to say or how you will say it; when the time comes, you will be given what you will say.

[10:20] For the words you will speak will not be yours; they will come from the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

[10:21] “People will hand over their own brothers to be put to death, and fathers will do the same to their children; children will turn against their parents and have them put to death.

[10:22] Everyone will hate you because of me. But whoever holds out to the end will be saved.

[10:23] When they persecute you in one town, run away to another one. I assure you that you will not finish your work in all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

[10:24] “No pupil is greater than his teacher; no slave is greater than his master.

[10:25] So a pupil should be satisfied to become like his teacher, and a slave like his master. If the head of the family is called Beelzebul, the members of the family will be called even worse names!