Daily reading: John 16:1-4
Jesus does not pull punches in what we should expect to endure as Christians in this world. Paul carries this torch forward by driving these points home further. Through the New Testament, taking persecution in the name of Jesus becomes a badge of honor, not something to flee from. (Acts 5:40-42)
Expect in some cases to be expelled by those who call themselves Christians. These would be the same Christians who pick and choose what to believe and obey in God’s Word — They don’t truly know the Father or the Son.
I HAVE told you all these things, so that you should not be offended (taken unawares and falter or be caused to stumble and fall away). [I told you to keep you from being scandalized and repelled.] They will put you out of (expel you from) the synagogues; but an hour is coming when whoever kills you will think and claim that he has offered service to God. And they will do this because they have not known the Father or Me. But I have told you these things now, so that when they occur you will remember that I told you of them. I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. John 16:1-4