“Shall we beat a retreat and turn back from our high calling in Christ Jesus or dare we advance at God's command in the face of the impossible? Let us remind ourselves that the Great Commission was never qualified by clauses calling for advance only if funds were plentiful and no hardship or self-denial was involved. On the contrary, we are told to expect tribulation and even persecution, but with it victory in Christ.” –John Stam
In this episode, we reflect on the lives of John and Betty Stam and how they lived out the command to seek first God’s Kingdom.
In John and Betty Stam, we see two individuals who wholly surrendered their lives to Jesus, let go of temporal things for God’s treasures, learned to depend on Him for daily needs, and chose obedience over comfort to follow Him. As missionaries in China, they faced captivity with peace. In a ransom note, John Stam wrote, “May God be glorified whether by life or by death.” Beheaded in 1934, they still bore witness that to “die is gain” (Philippians 1:21), and their sacrifice became a seed that stirred many to missions. | 
