Acts 14:19-20
19But there came Jews thither from Antioch and Iconium: and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul, and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. 20But as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up, and entered into the city: and on the morrow he went forth with Barnabas to Derbe.
Scripture Testimony Index stories for this passage
At a great personal cost, Mateen committed his life to doing God's work - sharing the Gospel with Afghans. The beatings, arrests and imprisonment
he suffered did nothing to deter him.
After 8 days of hard labour with blood gushing out of his hands, Kazim was asked if he was ready to deny the Lord Jesus. “No. Never" was his simple reply and not even the beating that followed got him to change his mind.
Tenzin Lahkpa had decided to follow Jesus and abandon Buddha, and he tenaciously stuck to his newfound convictions even when faced with death.
As part of a team preaching the Gospel in Toxteth, Liverpool, Martin Goldsmith experienced for the first time, the reality of suffering for Christ. They were attacked by a crowd of youths who rained stones on them, leaving several of them hurt.
A local mullah and member of the Taliban came with thugs, and had Nazim beaten to pulp - his only crime was teaching children from the Bible. But Nazim didn't stop, there was no going back for him; even while dying, he gathered his family friends and boldly declared God's message to them.
Raymond Lull, like Deacon Stephen, dared death, and boldly proclaimed the love of God shown in Jesus Christ to the people at the marketplace of Bugia. Not even the very real prospect of cruel death was enough to deter him.
When Tofael was beaten and left unconscious for preaching the gospel at a marketplace with his fellow students in Bangladesh, many feared his friends would never go out to preach again. But courage, instead of fear, was what filled them in the aftermath of that experience; for they read in the Bible that persecution is part of the job and is in fact a tool for evangelism.
Sundar Singh was arrested for preaching in a forbidden Tibetan village. But his joy was so great--joy that he might suffer for Jesus' sake--that he sang and preached all night long from his tiny cell window. The enraged officials tried to silence him with torture, but he sang hymns of praise to Jesus all the more.
In Communist Romania, severe beating was the reward for preaching the gospel. But instead of backing down because of this, Richard Wurmbrand, alongside other believers, resolved to continue preaching, saying to themselves: "we preach and they beat; and everyone is happy."