John 17:14-19  , Matthew 5:13-16

1. The Christians in Jerusalem, surrounded by hostile environment
2. The Christians in Rome, in the middle of paganism.
3. The Christians persecuted in Islamic society (Egypt)
4. The Christians in modern day USA society, constantly under attack, in a gargantuan media apparatus, and academia…(modern societies even protect heresies under the banner of free speech)  
5. The Israelites in exile (Daniel and his friends) from the fiery oven, to the lions den. Also the time of Esther.
6. The Israelites in Egypt, from Joseph to Moses?
7. They were ALL persecuted NOT only because of their religion, but also because their religion made them DIFFERENT!!!!!
8. This went on for more than 20 centuries… After another 20 centuries, how will history look back at us? How will it define our attitudes and faith? Will it find us as faithful as we find the generation of 20 centuries ago?
9. We are not supposed to COPY the environment in which we are, we are supposed to influence it to be better. It is not an easy task but that is our task. Salt is different in its nature from the food it is salting!!! A little salt can flavor a large pot of food. What happens if the salt loses its nature? Also light is different from darkness. If the light is dimmed to look like darkness, how would we find our way or guide others? And even though the salt seems to dissolve into the medium we put it into, salt never loses its nature but rather lends its nature to that medium. While in case of the light, each candle as it brings light to vanquish the darkness, it melts and sacrifices itself for that single purpose of its existence.
10. The problem originates from birth, with every new baby. The new baby is  like a blank sheet that will be loaded with info very rapidly. Whether we like it or not it will pick up all the negatives and the positives around. So the child is nothing but a reflection of the image of the family. When that child grows you can see:          a- neglect   b- faith     c- love     d- vulgarities    e- conflict   f- ambition   and all the kinds of emotions and learning present in the family where that child grew. The process begins before birth, and continues as long as that child is around that family, and then you add the influence of friends and school, and social environment.
11. What is the ultimate goal we should achieve? In order to influence society positively as Christians, we have to strike a balance between,  a- keeping our solid traditions and culture and faith while,   b- exchanging with the society the best possible trade offs of advances in science and habits and trends.
12. How are we going to do that? In the house, we have to build up a Christian character. In practice, as well as appearance of house and behavior. We must be mindful of outside influences and work to counter balance them, not by violence or force but with love and intelligent approach, to avoid the pitfall of resentment.
13. What about the one who already went astray?  It is always easier – as hard as it might be- to avoid a problem, rather than try to fix it after the fact. Yet when we are faced with a situation where children are lost to the world at large. We must realize certain facts:  a- it is the collective responsibility of parents as well as church to cooperate to solve the problem.   b- we might not always succeed, specially if we let the problem grow for a long time    c- no matter how bad it gets, there is always hope. Yet, it is imperative to adopt prayers and spiritual approaches to ask God to interfere, for without his help we shall surely fail.