The Strength to Endure

Jesus tells us in Matthew 24 that there will come a time when Christians "will be hated by all nations for my namesake...but that he who endures till the end shall be saved." With the growing animosity toward all that is godly in our culture today, it seems, more than ever, that prophecy is coming to pass. Do we have the strength to endure as persecution increases? In II Timothy 1, the apostle Paul says yes, we do. But we have to embrace the tools we've been given to do so.

Tony Stith grew up in the Pacific Northwestern United States. He has been a member of the churches of God all of his life, attending the Boise, Idaho, Lewiston, Idaho and Spokane, Washington churches of God. After graduating college in Pasadena, CA in 1990, he and his wife Elizabeth moved to Minnesota, where they now live in Woodbury, a suburb just to the southeast of St. Paul. They attend the Twin Cities United Church of God congregation.