A. The receptive believe the Word:

JON 3:1. And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying,

JON 3:2. Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.

JON 3:3. So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey.

JON 3:4. And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.

JON 3:5. So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.

JON 3:6. For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.

JON 3:7. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water:

JON 3:8. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.

JON 3:9. Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?

JOH 4:39. And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did.

JOH 4:40. So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them: and he abode there two days.

JOH 4:41. And many more believed because of his own word;

JOH 4:42. And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.

ACT 8:5. Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them.

ACT 8:6. And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did.

ACT 8:8. And there was great joy in that city.

ACT 8:14. Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John:

ACT 16:14. And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.

ACT 16:32. And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.

ACT 16:33. And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.

ACT 16:34. And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.

B. The unreceptive reject the Word:

LUK 8:5. A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it.

LUK 8:12. Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.

1COR 1:18. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

2COR 4:4. In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

JER 36:1. And it came to pass in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that this word came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

JER 36:2. Take thee a roll of a book, and write therein all the words that I have spoken unto thee against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spake unto thee, from the days of Josiah, even unto this day.

JER 36:3. It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do unto them; that they may return every man from his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.

JER 36:4. Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah: and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the LORD, which he had spoken unto him, upon a roll of a book.

JER 36:5. And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, I am shut up; I cannot go into the house of the LORD:

JER 36:6. Therefore go thou, and read in the roll, which thou hast written from my mouth, the words of the LORD in the ears of the people in the LORD's house upon the fasting day: and also thou shalt read them in the ears of all Judah that come out of their cities.

JER 36:7. It may be they will present their supplication before the LORD, and will return every one from his evil way: for great is the anger and the fury that the LORD hath pronounced against this people.

JER 36:8. And Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading in the book the words of the LORD in the LORD's house.

JER 36:9. And it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, in the ninth month, that they proclaimed a fast before the LORD to all the people in Jerusalem, and to all the people that came from the cities of Judah unto Jerusalem.

JER 36:10. Then read Baruch in the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of the LORD, in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the scribe, in the higher court, at the entry of the new gate of the LORD's house, in the ears of all the people.

JER 36:11. When Michaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, had heard out of the book all the words of the LORD,

JER 36:12. Then he went down into the king's house, into the scribe's chamber: and, lo, all the princes sat there, even Elishama the scribe, and Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, and Elnathan the son of Achbor, and Gemariah the son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the princes.

JER 36:13. Then Michaiah declared unto them all the words that he had heard, when Baruch read the book in the ears of the people.

JER 36:14. Therefore all the princes sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, unto Baruch, saying, Take in thine hand the roll wherein thou hast read in the ears of the people, and come. So Baruch the son of Neriah took the roll in his hand, and came unto them.

JER 36:15. And they said unto him, Sit down now, and read it in our ears. So Baruch read it in their ears.

JER 36:16. Now it came to pass, when they had heard all the words, they were afraid both one and other, and said unto Baruch, We will surely tell the king of all these words.

JER 36:17. And they asked Baruch, saying, Tell us now, How didst thou write all these words at his mouth?

JER 36:18. Then Baruch answered them, He pronounced all these words unto me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink in the book.

JER 36:19. Then said the princes unto Baruch, Go, hide thee, thou and Jeremiah; and let no man know where ye be.

JER 36:20. And they went in to the king into the court, but they laid up the roll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe, and told all the words in the ears of the king.

JER 36:21. So the king sent Jehudi to fetch the roll: and he took it out of Elishama the scribe's chamber. And Jehudi read it in the ears of the king, and in the ears of all the princes which stood beside the king.

JER 36:22. Now the king sat in the winterhouse in the ninth month: and there was a fire on the hearth burning before him.

JER 36:23. And it came to pass, that when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth.

JER 36:24. Yet they were not afraid, nor rent their garments, neither the king, nor any of his servants that heard all these words.

JER 36:25. Nevertheless Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah had made intercession to the king that he would not burn the roll: but he would not hear them.

JER 36:26. But the king commanded Jerahmeel the son of Hammelech, and Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to take Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet: but the LORD hid them.

JER 36:27. Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, after that the king had burned the roll, and the words which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah, saying,

JER 36:28. Take thee again another roll, and write in it all the former words that were in the first roll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah hath burned.

JER 36:29. And thou shalt say to Jehoiakim king of Judah, Thus saith the LORD; Thou hast burned this roll, saying, Why hast thou written therein, saying, The king of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land, and shall cause to cease from thence man and beast?

JER 36:30. Therefore thus saith the LORD of Jehoiakim king of Judah; He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David: and his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost.

JER 36:31. And I will punish him and his seed and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring upon them, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and upon the men of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them; but they hearkened not.

JER 36:32. Then took Jeremiah another roll, and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah; who wrote therein from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire: and there were added besides unto them many like words.

C. Unpopularity & persecution because of witnessing:

LUK 6:22. Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake.

JOH 7:7. The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil.

ACT 16:20. And brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city,

ACT 16:21. And teach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans.

D. Our witness a testimony against the unrepentant:

MAT 10:18. And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles.

MAR 6:11. And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.