Introduction

How much could you endure? Would you endure in the faith for very long if it meant that you could not keep your job or if it became difficult to feed your family because you believed the teachings of an itinerant preacher from Nazareth? Would you stay true to your faith in Christ when authorities come to seize your car, home, and land? Would you stand strong in the face of imprisonment for the mere fact that you worship a Jewish carpenter who claims to be the Son of God? Would you endure physical torture from strong-armed thugs because you refuse to recant your faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ? Even worse, could you endure the slaughter of your family before your very eyes just because you refuse to renounce your faith in Jesus? These are the questions that first-century Christians were asked and these questions were no mere philosophical exercise. They awoke every day to the question, "What are you willing to trade for Jesus Christ?"