History
Polycarp was the bishop of Smyrna and a disciple of the apostle John. When the Roman authorities came for him at age 86, they…
Perseverance · Discipleship
Polycarp
History
John and Betty Stam
John & Betty Stam – 1934
In December 1934, missionaries John and Betty Stam were captured by Communist soldiers in China. John was forced to kneel and was beheaded. Betty was killed shortly afterward. A Chinese Christian shopkeeper who tried to intervene was also executed. Their gravestones later carried the words they had lived by: John: “That Christ may be glorified whether by life or by death” (Philippians 1:20). Betty: “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). There was no dramatic deliverance. There was simply faith that held to the end.
How you’d preach it
Sobering and powerful for sermons on the cost of discipleship or the reality that faithfulness does not always mean rescue in this life.
- Perseverance
Stam · Philippians 1 · philippians
Philippians 1:20; Philippians 1:21