Growing up, I had occasionally heard references to people saying that their parents cried when JFK was assassinated. I always thought that was really odd – that the death of a public figure would spark that sort of an emotional reaction in people.

And then Charlie Kirk was assassinated on September 10, 2025, and I understood. My wife and I cried like babies. We both liked Charlie and listened to a lot of his stuff. It came as a huge shock, and it broke our hearts. As a true brother (not a cultural or fake Christian), his death hurt deeply but also brought a renewed sense of boldness to preach the Gospel.

On September 11, I changed up our family worship routine (we are currently reading through the Gospel of Mark) to read Acts 4. This is the account of Peter and John being hauled in front of the Sanhedrin because they preached in the name of Jesus. After the council had ordered them to stop preaching in Jesus’s name, the Apostles replied, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:19-20).

I believe that Charlie Kirk is a Christian Martyr. Some might object by saying that he wasn’t killed for preaching the Gospel, but I think that Mike Winger’s assessment of that claim is dead-on: If you’re going to say that Charlie Kirk wasn’t a martyr, then you would have to say the same about John the Baptist. Charlie was unashamed of the Gospel and proclaimed it regularly to the college youths he engaged. He was killed by a left-wing activist who hated Charlie for his Biblical stances on gender and sexuality, just like John the Baptist was killed for calling Herod on his sexual sin.

Charlie said that he wanted to be remembered for courage for his faith, and I think that’s exactly how people are going to remember him. Let us be inspired by his example. We don’t fix our eyes on him; we fix our eyes on Christ. But I think that we can consider Charlie as part of the great cloud of witnesses that testify to us of the glory of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. (Heb 12:1-2)

So let us not be afraid. Let us instead dive headlong back into the fight with renewed vigor. Let us run our race to obtain the prize. As the church in Acts 4, I pray to God for renewed boldness in preaching the Gospel within Christ’s church. Let us boldly take a stand, share in suffering as good soldiers of Jesus Christ, and preach the word whether the time is favorable or not.

Below are some sermons and talks from Pastors that I think are particularly relevant during these trying times. I encourage you to check them out!