Pray the word with David Platt is a resource from radical.net.

Acts chapter 14 verse 21.

When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Listra and to Iconium and to Antioch,

strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith and saying that through many

tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. These verses are talking about the initial churches that were being planted on

Paul and Barnabas's first missionary journey and so they they preach the gospel

and each of these cities and then they return to them and they strengthen

those disciples and helping, they were helping gather them together in churches.

But what's interesting, at the end of verse 22 22 it says they encouraged them to continue

the faith and they told them that through many tribulations we must enter the

kingdom of God. I think it's really interesting that in the very initial discipleship process for these new

believers that Paul and Barnabas are emphasizing that they're going to go through many tribulations

in order to enter the kingdom of God.

Like this is a part of initial discipleship.

They were training them in a sense to suffer well.

They knew that these new believers would face all kinds of challenges in their lives for following Christ,

particularly as they proclaim Christ as they worked to spread the gospel, that they would encounter much persecution and trial and

tribulation and so they're encouraging them from the very beginning suffer

well walk through tribulations with trust in Christ.

And this really needs to be built in, doesn't it, into our initial discipleship as well?

Like sure, we don't live and first to our initial discipleship as well.

Like sure, we don't live in First Century Roman world

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