Scripture referenced 6 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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Mark 6:7 Jesus summons the 12 and sends them out in pairs with authority over unclean spirits
7 He called to himself the twelve, and began to send them out two by two; and he gave them authority over the unclean spirits.
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Keep this verse
Luke 9:1
Jesus calls the 12 together and gives them power and authority over all demons and to heal diseases
1 He called the twelve together, and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases.
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Matthew 10:1-42
the full commissioning of the 12, including their names, instructions, and warnings
1 He called to himself his twelve disciples, and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every sickness.
2 Now the names of the twelve apostles are these. The first, Simon, who is called Peter; Andrew, his brother; James the son of Zebedee; John, his brother;
3 Philip; Bartholomew; Thomas; Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus; Lebbaeus, who was also called Thaddaeus;
4 Simon the Canaanite; and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.
5 Jesus sent these twelve out, and commanded them, saying, “Don’t go among the Gentiles, and don’t enter into any city of the Samaritans.
6 Rather, go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
7 As you go, preach, saying, ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!’
8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, and cast out demons. Freely you received, so freely give.
9 Don’t take any gold, silver, or brass in your money belts.
10 Take no bag for your journey, neither two coats, nor shoes, nor staff: for the laborer is worthy of his food.
11 Into whatever city or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy; and stay there until you go on.
12 As you enter into the household, greet it.
13 If the household is worthy, let your peace come on it, but if it isn’t worthy, let your peace return to you.
14 Whoever doesn’t receive you, nor hear your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet.
15 Most certainly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city.
16 “Behold, I send you out as sheep among wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
17 But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to councils, and in their synagogues they will scourge you.
18 Yes, and you will be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony to them and to the nations.
19 But when they deliver you up, don’t be anxious how or what you will say, for it will be given you in that hour what you will say.
20 For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.
21 “Brother will deliver up brother to death, and the father his child. Children will rise up against parents, and cause them to be put to death.
22 You will be hated by all men for my name’s sake, but he who endures to the end will be saved.
23 But when they persecute you in this city, flee into the next, for most certainly I tell you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel, until the Son of Man has come.
24 “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his lord.
25 It is enough for the disciple that he be like his teacher, and the servant like his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more those of his household!
26 Therefore don’t be afraid of them, for there is nothing covered that will not be revealed; and hidden that will not be known.
27 What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in the ear, proclaim on the housetops.
28 Don’t be afraid of those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. Rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.
29 “Aren’t two sparrows sold for an assarion coin? Not one of them falls on the ground apart from your Father’s will,
30 but the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
31 Therefore don’t be afraid. You are of more value than many sparrows.
32 Everyone therefore who confesses me before men, him I will also confess before my Father who is in heaven.
33 But whoever denies me before men, him I will also deny before my Father who is in heaven.
34 “Don’t think that I came to send peace on the earth. I didn’t come to send peace, but a sword.
35 For I came to set a man at odds against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
36 A man’s foes will be those of his own household.
37 He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me isn’t worthy of me.
38 He who doesn’t take his cross and follow after me, isn’t worthy of me.
39 He who seeks his life will lose it; and he who loses his life for my sake will find it.
40 He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives him who sent me.
41 He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward. He who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward.
42 Whoever gives one of these little ones just a cup of cold water to drink in the name of a disciple, most certainly I tell you he will in no way lose his reward.”
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Ephesians 2:10
we are God's workmanship, his poem, created in Christ Jesus for good works
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them.
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John 15:16
Jesus tells his disciples they did not choose him, he chose them
16 You didn’t choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatever you will ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
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Galatians 5:22-23
the fruit of the Spirit listed as the benediction
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith,
23 gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
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Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
On July 24, 2022, Pastor Brian walked First Baptist Jackson through Matthew 10, Mark 6, and Luke 9 as part of the ongoing Harmony of the Gospels study. The passage covers Jesus sending out the Twelve for the first time, and the sermon followed that commissioning closely, verse by verse. The thread running through it all was what it actually looks like to carry the gospel into a world that does not always want it.
What was said
Pastor Brian started by noting how each of the three gospel accounts layers in a little differently. Mark and Luke give a brief account of the sending. Matthew, characteristically, gives forty-two verses of instruction. The Twelve are summoned, listed in pairs, and given authority over unclean spirits and disease, the same authority Jesus himself had been exercising throughout the ministry they had watched up close for two and a half years.
The travel instructions, take no extra bag, no extra tunic, stay with one household per town, shake the dust off your feet when you are rejected, are held together by a single idea: trust the provision of God. Pastor Brian connected this to his own experience staying an extra two and a half weeks with a family during a mission trip after driving the rest of his team to the airport. The point Jesus is making is not just simplicity for its own sake. It is dependence, and it includes staying put with a household long enough for real conversation to happen.
The restriction to go only to Israel and not to Gentiles or Samaritans is addressed plainly. Pastor Brian read this as a training mission, not a permanent rule. The disciples' prejudices were still strong enough that sending them to Samaritans would have been a problem. James and John had already wanted to call down fire on a Samaritan village. Jesus starts them where they can actually function.
Beginning around verse seventeen, Pastor Brian noted a shift. Jesus appears to be looking past this one trip toward everything that is coming. Being handed to courts, flogged in synagogues, brought before governors and kings, family members turning against one another. He paused on the image of the sword in verse thirty-four, insisting that this is not a political text about Jesus taking sides. The sword is the word of God, and it will divide. Two mothers he had spoken with that week had children publicly rejecting them online while deconstructing their faith. The instruction for that situation is still the same: you may not be the one, shake the dust, and treat those who have become your enemies the way Jesus said to treat enemies.
The sparrows and the hairs numbered on your head are not a promise of an easy road. Pastor Brian was direct about that. The disciples being sent out could face martyrdom, and Jesus does not say they will not. What he says is that God is paying attention, and that fearing God rather than people is the only posture that makes sense of any of it. The disciples who were beaten in Acts did not pray for safety. They prayed for boldness, and Pastor Brian pointed to that as the practical shape of what Jesus is describing here.
The closing verses of the chapter, about receiving a prophet and giving a cup of cold water in Christ's name, brought in a group of cyclists who had stopped at the church that week. They were biking across the country to build homes, and Pastor Brian said he always wants First Baptist Jackson to say yes to people like that. Receiving a righteous person in the name of a righteous person carries its own reward, and nothing done in Christ's name and motivated by God's Spirit will be in vain.
The detail that landed hardest for Pastor Brian personally was the final note in Matthew's account. After Jesus finished his forty-two verses of instruction to the Twelve, he went on to teach and preach in their cities, the home cities of the disciples he had just sent out. He said he gets tears thinking about how seldom he sees his own parents, and then pointed to Jesus doing for the disciples' families what the disciples could not do themselves. God does not stop working in the places you leave when He sends you somewhere else.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- Pastor Nathan talked about the disciples being sent out with almost nothing, told to trust God for provision and to stay with a family of peace in each place. When have you had to trust God for something practical, and what did that experience teach you about dependence on Him?
- Jesus told the disciples to shake the dust off their feet and move on when a place rejected the message. Is there a person or situation where you have struggled to let go and trust that God might send someone else? What makes that so hard?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Read the full transcript 9,713 words
Speaker 1Morning. How are y'all? Good to see you. Glad y'all are here. Would you stand up?
We're gonna sing When We All Get to Heaven. Well, that's true both ways. We're about to sing a song called When We All Get to Heaven and When We Get to Heaven, we're gonna sing. So would you sing with me? Hidden number seven seventy two.
Speaker 2Sing it like you mean it. Sing the wondrous love of Jesus. Sing his mercy and his grace in the mansions bright and blessed. He'll prepare for us a place when we all get to heaven. What a day of rejoicing that will be when we all see Jesus, we'll sing and shout the victory.
Let us then be true and faithful, trusting, serving every day. Just one glimpse of him in glory will the tours of life repay when we all get to heaven. What a day of rejoicing that will be. When we all see Jesus, we'll sing and shout the victory. Onward to the prize before us, soon his beauty will behold.
Soon the pearly gates will open. We shall tread the streets of gold. When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be. When we all see Jesus. We'll sing and shout.
Shout the victory.
Speaker 1Amen. Got another one. How about I'll fly away? These are these are the the real deal greatest hits this morning, aren't they? I've got next week.
Next week. Well, I'll get to it in the announcements. We'll we'll do that.
Speaker 2Some glad morning when this life is all, I'll fly away to a home on God's celestial shore. I'll fly away. I'll fly away, oh glory. I'll fly away in the morning when I die. Hallelujah.
By and by, I'll fly away. When the shadows of this life have gone, I'll fly away. Like a bird from prison bars has flown, I'll fly away. I'll fly away, oh glory. I'll fly away in the morning when I die.
Hallelujah by and by. I'll fly away. Just a few more weary days and then I'll fly away. To a land where joy shall never end, I'll fly away. I'll fly away, oh glory, I'll fly away.
When I tie, hallelujah, by and by, I'll fly away.
Speaker 1Y'all can have a seat. I have a few announcements this morning. First off, Monday nights at first b. I don't see Carl but he's toward the latter part of the book of Corinthians and... I'm sorry.
Colossians. Y'all know that. Colossians. Monday nights at first b. Some meal, music, and a message.
He's been going through Colossians and now it's where the rubber hits the road. This is how you are to live out the sufficiency of Christ in your families and in your workplace. So that's what he's hitting tomorrow night. Lasagna for the meal, the band for the music, and then we've got Carl preaching from Colossians, for the message. Prayer group meets Wednesday mornings at 07:30AM in the church office, which is right here.
First door on the left headed down the hall. There is a group of people, a group of people has been meeting for many years in there, and you can be a part of that group. It's changed faces and names over the years, but you're welcome. Every Wednesday morning 07:30AM for prayer session, they pray through the requests. So Sunday school has been taking a break during the month of July.
The middle school and high school boys and gals have been still meeting, but the little kids have not been. They've been upstairs. We have a church camping trip that is happening. This is fun. This is always fun.
In August, each year, Brian McCooey usually, it says Brain up there, but Brain McCooey is the guy who usually organizes this. So the fifth and the sixth and the seventh, that's a Friday, Saturday, Sunday of August, and it's coming fast. It's just two weeks away. So fifth, sixth, and seventh at Coulter Bay. If you are bringing an RV, probably let him know.
There's a space for you, but he needs to know. If you're bringing a tent, there's plenty of spaces for tents. But that'll be a fun time. Good food, good fellowship, music usually in the evenings. We'll go up and sit around the campfire and play some.
So church camping trip, everybody's welcome August fifth, sixth, and seventh. Just before that on 08/03. Dan, you know more about this than I do. You... I think you do anyway.
There's a men's rafting trip and it's starting about 02:30 in the afternoon. Is that what I heard? 02:30 in the afternoon. They're gonna go down the river. Which section?
In the canyon. Fantastic. And then going from there, they're going have barbecue after the fact. Eat after the fact. So rafting and then barbecue afterwards.
Eight three, that's a Wednesday. You can talk to Mike Demetrius or Brian McCooley or probably Dan if you catch him before he gets out of Anything, this this I need to know about too. So bereavement team leader. The bereavement team leader. We have a great team of people here who are helping with funerals, especially with like the luncheon after a funeral or with helping to set up.
We have a great team of people who are doing it, but Nancy Cummins has been our coordinator and leader. I was guessing four or five years. She says nine years. She's been doing a great job the whole time working on this. Becky Murphy, was working on it as the coordinator before her.
We would love for one of you who really feels the need and understands it. There's a team already in place. Our current team leader is moving eventually, not right away, but eventually. So we're searching for a new team leader and coordinator. Now this is the most practical way that I know of, of helping grieving families.
It's super practical and immediate. Usually we just kind of step in. I'm looking around the room and seeing a lot of y'all help on this team. It's really, really a good way. But if you feel like God might be stirring you to be the coordinator or leader, would you you let us know?
Next week, Cowboy Church is happening under the big top. The fair board has invited us once again to come over to the Teton County Fair. Y'all know where the Fairgrounds is. It's right over there. You can hear them Wednesday nights and Saturday nights.
Can hear the rodeo in the office here. But it's right there. We're gonna be under the Big Top. One service only. So if you come at 11:00 next week to this location, you will have missed church.
Okay? We're gonna do 10:00 service over there, and it's always fun. So pray for me as I prepare, and I'll be praying for you. This is a good time. If you come early, the Lions Club does breakfast in the same tent usually, around eight or nine in the morning, and you can come in early and have breakfast and then have church.
I think that's it. Anything else that I've forgotten? There is coming a day. All of them are about heaven this morning, aren't they? Yeah.
Would you stand with us? What a day that will be.
Speaker 2There is coming a day when no heartache shall come. No more clouds in the sky. No more tears to dim the eye. All is peace forevermore on that happy golden shore. What a day, glorious day that will be.
What a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see. When I look upon his face, the one who saved me by his grace. When he takes me by the hand and leads me through the promised land, what a day, glorious day that will be. There'll be no sorrow there, no more burdens to bear, no more sickness, no pain, no more parting over there. And forever I will be with the one who died for me.
What a day, glorious day that will be. What a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see. When I look upon his face, the one who saved me by his grace. When he takes me by the hand and leads me through the promised land, what a day glorious day that will be. Amen.
Speaker 1Amen. How about the greatest thing? This one's a... This one's definitely a here and now. This one, the greatest thing in all my life is knowing you.
And then it says the greatest. That's a superlative. This... I think of this every time we sing this song. The greatest.
How can it all be the greatest? It's all the greatest because to know him is to love him. To love him is to serve him. So here we are. The greatest thing in all my life is knowing you.
Speaker 2The greatest thing in all my life is knowing you. The greatest thing in all my life is knowing you. I want to know you more. Want to know you more. The greatest thing in all my life is knowing you.
The greatest thing in all my life is loving you. The greatest thing in all my life is loving you. I want to love you more. I want to love you more. The greatest thing in all my life is loving you.
The greatest thing in all my life is serving you. The greatest thing in all my life is serving you. I want to serve you more. I want to serve you more. The greatest thing in all my life is
Speaker 1Amen. Y'all can have a seat. Would you pray with me, Lord? Sometimes we're just running, running, running, running so fast and so hard. I thank you that we can pause together, that we can gather in your name to worship you, Lord.
To to thank you for all that you have given. Lord, and to give back a portion of that to you to see your gospel advance, the good news of the kingdom of God, that it is near, that's right here and available. Lord, may we be carrying that with us at all times. May it be on our minds. May it fill our hearts.
May it fill our hearts to the point that it comes out of our mouths. And Lord, we ask for a purity to the gospel message that we would be able to speak it and articulate it well, and that we would be able to live it out in a way that would cause people to listen. In Jesus' name, ask, Lord, that you would bless this offering. That you take all that is placed in these plates literally or metaphorically, and that you would bless it and multiply it to do your kingdom's work. Lord, we ask that you'd advance the gospel in our hearts and through our efforts.
In Jesus' name. Amen. Judy, can we do that one last? Oh yeah. Okay.
Yeah. Last. We didn't get to meet between services like we usually do. Thank you, Judy. Commissioning of the 12.
This is where we are in our Harmony of the Gospels study. We've been going through the synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. And this is where we are in the the passages. It's Matthew 10, pretty much the whole chapter. First verse through verse 42.
Mark just verses seven through 11, and then Luke nine one through five. Now if you look at it side by side, this is what it looks like, Or not quite yet. Oh, we're going close with a couple others. But this is, this is what it looks like. I know you can't read it, but that's how much Matthew has this week for us.
And that's what Mark and Luke have for us. And we'll go through it and I'm going switch back and forth. I actually color coded things this week just to help us keep up with the switching. Okay? Mark is in light blue.
Luke is in kinda in orange. And then Matthew's in green. Highlights are always in green, but here we go. Mark six seven says this, and he summons. Anytime you see that little asterisk in the New American Standard, it means it's a historical present.
It's an active thing to draw you into the story, right? And he summons the 12 and he begins to send them out in pairs and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. That's Mark. Luke says this, now he called the 12, the 12, the 12, the 12. We get that in each one of these.
He called the 12 together. He gave them power and authority over all the demons which we've just seen him working, right? He cast out legion into the pigs just a few weeks back. We saw that together. He called the 12 together.
He gave them power and authority over all the demons. But Luke, the physician points out, and it's not just about demons, it's also to heal diseases. And we saw that in the last couple weeks too where there's a lady who reaches out in faith and she is made whole. Her faith saved her. The power of God was present to heal.
So Matthew. Matthew says his 12. Called his 12. Jesus summoned his 12 disciples and gave them authority over the unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal every disease and every sickness. That's good.
His 12. He goes on to list who those 12 are. This is the first time in the book of Matthew that we see who those 12 are. In Mark, we have seen it earlier and we covered this together. 11/07/2021, if you felt like you had to go back and listen again.
He went up to the mountain. He summoned those who he... Whom he himself wanted. He chose these. Later in John he'd say, you didn't choose me, I chose you.
And he appointed them, it says. He appointed 12. So the word appointed there is important, But that's the definition of it. I'm not gonna read that to you either. Okay?
That's ridiculous. But that's all the places that it's used in scripture. Anything in blue is a scriptural reference right there. So it comes up a lot. God ordains or appoints.
And this is the meaning in this case, he appointed them. He appointed them. It's from the same verb that is poieo, meaning to make or to do. Poieo is to make or to do. We get our word poem from this verb.
To make something. In Ephesians two ten, it's actually the the noun form of this but it's the same idea. For we are his workmanship. We are his poem. We are his love poem to the world.
Oh, are we? I hope. We should be. We are his workmanship. We were created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
If you look at the New Living translation, I believe it gilds the lily just a little bit here. It says, We are his masterpiece. Crowning achievement. We are his masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus by his spirit, so we can do the things that he planned for us long ago.
We do have a role here, and he appoints what that role is. It's different for different people. It's different in different times, But the verb there means to appoint or ordain one so that they may do something. Now we have it specifically in Mark, what he has appointed and ordained for them to do. It says, he appointed those 12 so that they would be with him, first of all, and they have been.
So right now, if you're kinda keeping up time wise, we are at least two years of Jesus' ministry behind us. We're working our way. He had three years of ministry. We're working our way towards the cross, but there's two years, perhaps two and a half years by this point. They have been with him and they have seen him do all kinds of miraculous things and they have heard his message and they've been confused about it and he's corrected them and they've heard it again and they have been with him.
He appointed them so that they would be with him and that he could send them out to preach. To proclaim the same message that he had been proclaiming, and it says to have authority to cast out the demons, which is the same thing that he was doing. He was dispelling the powers of darkness with the truth of God. His miracles authenticated his message. So that's what they were chosen to do.
Now, Matthew gives the names here for the first time. I actually used this back in November because all three of the Synoptics have the list. But Mark says in verse seven, he summons those 12 and he sent them out in pairs. And it's interesting that in Matthew, where it says he sent them out in pairs, he lists them in pairs. They have semicolons in between them in English.
There are six pairs here. Simon, it's called Peter, and his brother Andrew. That makes sense. They're brothers. They're watching out for each other anyway.
Send them out together. James and John, bornerges, sons of thunder. They're together. They're brothers. It makes sense that they go out together.
Philip and Bartholomew, that's a group. Thomas and Matthew. Actually Matthew wrote this down. He should know what the pairs were. He was up there with Thomas, the twin, Didymus.
And James the son of Alphaeus and Thaddeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot. Oh yeah, the one who betrayed him. Actually Thaddeus in Luke's list is listed as Judas, but you know, if I had the choice of going between Judas and Thaddeus after the crucifixion, I'd probably go with Thaddeus. You know. Simon the Zealot, Judas Iscariot.
The one who betrayed him. So that's Matthew's list. Sent him out in pairs. Now, is this prescriptive for all time or is this descriptive of this one mission? I think that it's really good for training.
What's going on right now? And it may be that this is a really good idea. What's what they're gonna do from this point on. Jesus summons them together. He sends them out in pairs and he gives us some instructions.
He gives them some instructions that I'm not sure we can call them normative for all of us, for all ages, that this is the way missions has to happen every time. Because Paul kind of says no. Jesus says no later. But for this training mission, these were the rules. He gave them authority over the unclean spirits.
Now if you think about this, the same power that was in Jesus is the Holy Spirit, which is available for the believer today. That that believer receives Christ and Holy Spirit comes whispering in your ear with that gift that you received. Now, the way it was in the New Testament before Pentecost happened, before the resurrection, before the coming of the Holy Spirit, you know, you see that John was filled with the Holy Spirit, John the Baptist. And you see various times where the Holy Spirit would light upon him. Jesus is giving over authority, power, over the unclean spirits to them.
And he instructed them that they were to take nothing for their journey. Trust him. Trust the spirit. Trust in the provision of God. He instructed them that they would take nothing for their journey except just a staff.
No bread, no bag, no money in their belt, but to wear sandals. Flip flops maybe. No, wear sandals. No. He added, Don't even take two tunics.
Don't even take a jacket with you. Just simply go as you are. Okay. And he said to him, Wherever you enter a house, just stay there till you leave town. You're going into a village.
Now at the time, hotels and inns were not necessarily known for like they are today. It wasn't a hospitality industry or it was a different type of hospitality industry, if you get my drift. There were a lot of houses of ill repute, and there were a lot of places that were not, there were dens of piracy and prostitution is the way one of my commentaries put it. But wherever you go into a village, you stay with that family until you leave town. Any place that does not receive you or listen to you as you go out from there, shake the dust off your soles, your feet as a testimony against them.
Just, you're gonna have to let that go. Not everybody's gonna receive the message. You know how it's been. You've been with me two and a half years. You know what it's like.
We can present the most glorious truth ever and they reject it. And that's gonna happen to you too. But if that happens, don't let it bind you up. Just shake the dust off your sandals and move on. Luke says it this way, and he sent them out.
Why? To proclaim the kingdom of God. What's Jesus been proclaiming? The kingdom of God. The parables of the kingdom were just a few weeks back for our study, but in scripture it's just a few verses away from this.
He sent them out to proclaim the same thing that he had been proclaiming, the kingdom of God and to perform healing, doctor Luke says. And he said to them, take nothing for your journey, a staff nor a bag nor bread nor money. Don't even have two tunics. You don't even need to take a jacket. Just go.
I will provide. And whatever house you enter, you stay there until you leave that city as a missionary. So we were missionaries for a long time, still consider ourselves to be. But when we were sent out, I got to stay. I didn't mention this in the first service.
I was staying with this mission team, but I went on what was supposed to be a seven day mission trip and ended up staying for an extra two and a half weeks, and the family received me, not the whole team. The whole team was 14 people. I drove the bus back and dropped them off at the airport. And then ended up staying in Miny, Minerva, and La Cerro Puente. They hosted me.
And it was for the rest of the next two and a half weeks. Now sometimes when you go places, I think of up with people or some bands that are traveling across the country, and every single day when you go in, you have to gather up everything you own, and you take it to the next place, and then you settle down, and you gather up. Well, they're living simply. They're not taking much with them. But I think that what he's pointing to, and I could be wrong, is whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that city.
Jesus had lots of disciples. He had his 12 and he had Peter, James, and John. And he's saying, stay with these folks, and you'll be out carrying the message all day long. But when you come home, they're gonna have questions. Answer their questions.
Hang out with these people and stay with them. It's a person of peace. Stay with them. Share with them as they're sharing their space with you. You share what you have with them, and stay there until you leave that city.
And as for all who do not receive you, and it's gonna happen, when you leave that city, just shake the dust off your feet as a testimony to them. That's that's it. That's not even new. For Jesus, he picked this up. That's a that's a Jewish custom.
It's a Jewish custom shaking the dust off of your sandals. You know when they did it though? When they were coming back from those ugly Gentile lands. Before they came back into Jerusalem. Before they came back into synagogue.
If they had passed through a dirty, rotten, stinking Gentile place, They dusted off their sandals before they came into the holy place. So Jesus is saying, you go out and Matthew is gonna have something to say about this. We hear this and go, okay. I think it's good just to know that you can let it go. You might not be the one to minister to every single person.
There are some of y'all that I've talked at length about how to minister to my family. How to minister to people. There's been a growing rift over the years. There's a great chasm between us, and I don't know how to do it. Well, maybe you're not the one to do it for them.
At a certain point, there's a shake the dust off your feet. That's hard for me to hear, but it's it's here. Okay? If they don't receive you, if they don't receive me through receiving you, just shake the dust off. You can't worry about that.
Matthew says it this way. These 12, Jesus sent out after instructing them. Now we've got it from Mark and we've got it from Luke, and it sounds like, okay, I know that they're supposed to travel simply, not prepare too much for this, and to stay with the same family, and, let it go if they reject you. That's what the other two gospels said. Well, Matthew Matthew gets very, very involved in the instruction.
See, he did that in the Sermon on the Mount, and he does it through a couple of different discourses, and this is one of them. And have you all seen The Chosen? Any of y'all watched The Chosen? So it's good. It's really good.
I'll put a plug in for The Chosen. I really like it. First season's amazing. Second season's amazing. It's really, really good.
I don't think I've seen the third season yet. But the first season when they introduced us to Matthew, I was like, I don't like that. He's quirky. He's quirky and beyond quirky. He is probably autistic.
And he... As John is sitting there and he says, If I ever write down what I'm going write down, it's going to be about belief. And Matthew says, well, why wouldn't it be precise? It's a different person thinking about different ways. And that helped me to say, okay, I'll go with you on that.
Because he gets so persnickety about this. We don't learn from Mark and we don't learn from Luke that Jesus sent them out after instructing them, don't go right now to the Gentiles. He will later say, you're my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, everywhere, free reign. Go, Thomas. Walk to India.
He'll say that. Not... He didn't say Thomas walked to India. We believe Thomas did walk to India. There are Thomasite Christians there.
The the 12 Jesus sent out after instructing them, don't go on a road to the Gentiles. That's not this trip. That's not this trip. You don't go to the Gentiles and don't enter into a city of Samaritans. Now why would he say that?
Well, this is a training session. It's the first one he's ever sent him out on. Later on we see James and John walking down the road when the Samaritans reject him. He said, should we call down fire from heaven? No.
Calm down. My goodness. It could have been and might have been and I think it was, that their prejudices were still too strong to be able to do that. So they weren't ready for that yet. When he said, you go out, I don't want you to go to the Gentiles.
I don't want you to go to the Samaritans, but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. They're like sheep without a shepherd. They don't get what's going on right now. They're praying for Messiah, their version of it, and they don't understand what's going on. They're like sheep without a shepherd.
That's the folks I want you to go to. That's the people that I want you to introduce to. As you go, be preaching, proclaiming, saying, The kingdom of heaven has come near. That is Jesus' first sermon. The acceptable time of the Lord is right now at hand.
He's saying, it's ready. It's right now. The kingdom of heaven has come near. He just said last week for us, he just said in a few minutes before this probably for them, he just said, pray that the Lord would send workers into the field. The harvest is plentiful, the workers are few.
So as you go, just go proclaiming, the kingdom of heaven has come near. Messiah is here. Heal the sick. Raise the dead. Cleanse those with leprosy and cast out demons.
All of those are messianic things. Now because they had been given authority, does that mean they're the Messiah? No. They've been given authority by the Messiah. And it was a time when good, God fearing Hebrews should recognize the signs of the messianic era.
Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those with leprosy, cast out demons. They had a preconceived notion about what Messiah would bring and what it would look like. Now Jesus says to his disciples, we sing this a lot in the service, freely, freely I have received. Freely, freely give. Freely, you have received.
It is a gift of grace to Peter and Andrew, James, John, all of the other disciples. You have received from me freely. Now, you be giving just as freely. Do not acquire. That's interesting.
Matthew's way of saying this is more detailed and some people say it seems to contrast, it seems to even contradict the other two. But Matthew is saying, don't go out of your way to get this stuff. Okay? Don't acquire gold or silver or copper for your money belts. Take what you've got with you.
Don't even need to take a bag for your journey or even your jacket, two tunics, or sandals, a staff. For the worker is deserving of his support. Paul would say later that the workman is worthy of his wages. The author of Hebrews says it. It's a common concept.
But there are people who would say, I don't know why we pay people to do that. I don't know why. Well, it is providing for someone who is doing the work of God. If they're not doing the work of God, then nope. Paul was a tentmaker, and he did that job so that people wouldn't have to support him.
And there's a time for that. But there's also a time where he says, no, Jesus says it right here. The worker's deserving of his support. If he's doing the work of God, God will take care of you. And probably through the people that you minister to.
And whatever city or village you enter into, inquire there who is worthy in it. Where is a decent place to stay? So that you don't get caught up in trouble, and stay at that house until you leave that city. Stay in the same place. Don't...
No need to be bouncing. Just go. You can explain further to them what you're doing as you see what it is that you're doing. And as you enter the house, give it your greeting. That's a blessing.
Be blessed in the house. Paul always starts with grace and peace in his epistles, and I think that's what he's saying. Start off with grace and peace, and then if that house is worthy, see that your blessing of peace comes upon it and rest upon it. But if it's not worthy, take back your blessing of peace. That cracks me up.
It's hard for me to think about that, but that's another way of shaking the dust off your sandals. It's like, I have done everything that I can do. I'm delivering a message of grace and peace, but there are people who just won't take that. You ever try to do something nice for somebody and they're gonna pay for it no matter what? I'm trying to give you a gift.
You don't have to pay for it. It really is just a gift. Anyway, whoever does not receive you nor listen to your words, I'm expecting that you'll be repeating what I'm telling you. I'm expecting that you'll be using my words. Whoever does not receive you nor listen to your words, as you leave that house or that city, just shake the dust off your feet.
They've rejected you. That's normal. Sometimes that happens. They've rejected me. We've seen it time and again.
We're going to see it all the way up to the cross. Truly I say to you though, it'll be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than it is for that city that rejects you. That's hard. You're carrying the good news. If they reject it, that's not on you as long as what you're carrying is the good news.
Don't attach everything else to it. Okay? Don't attach everything else that you think is good and right to this. Just stick to the simple message of the kingdom of heaven. And I might just say right here, there is a huge difference between following Christ and repeating the words of Christ and proclaiming the kingdom of heaven and Christian nationalism.
Those are two completely different things. Completely different. Behold, I'm sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Defenseless. What does a sheep have against a wolf?
They're defenseless. So be wary, wary as serpents, wily, and be innocent as doves. This brings me, fast forwards me to first Peter every time. It says, if you suffer, let it be suffering for the right reasons. Not because you're murderer, an evildoer, or even a gossip.
If you're suffering for righteousness sake, you're enduring the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ. So be wary as serpents. We've seen Jesus by this point slip away from several hostile crowds and he slipped out from among them. I suppose he was being wary. But he was also innocent as doves and that's what we're to be.
Be on guard, it says, against people. That hurts my heart too. I'm a mercy guy. I don't like to be on guard against people. I like to take people at their word for what they're telling me, that it's true.
But Jesus is saying, be on guard. People are people. They're They're going to hand you over to the courts. They're going to flog you in the synagogues. That's what's going to happen.
Actually, 17 looks like, when it starts at 17 and goes all the way to the end of this chapter, it looks like Jesus is not just talking about this trip. This is a training trip. You're gonna go out and experience this somewhat, but it's gonna be ever more true the further along we go. Be on guard against people for they'll hand you over to the courts. They'll flog you in the synagogues.
You'll even be brought before governors and kings on my account as a testimony to those governors and those kings and to the Gentiles. Don't go to the Gentiles, but trust me. This message is gonna spread out from here. I want you to start, Paul says, with the Jew first and also the Greek. Jew first and then the Gentiles.
He's saying this is going to happen. You're going be brought before governors and kings on my account as a testimony to them, but also to the Gentiles. And when it is that they do hand you over, don't worry about how or what you're going to say. You don't have to prepare your defense or what you're gonna say will be given to you in that very hour. I will speak through you.
Can you think of Paul before Festus and Agrippa? All of those guys and he says, would you persuade me? He feels that what Paul is doing is persuading him of the truth of the gospel of Christ. I'm almost persuaded. When they hand you over, don't worry about what you're to say.
What you're say will be given to you in that hour for it's not you who are speaking but it is the capital s, spirit of your father who is speaking in you. Now, I mentioned before that the Holy Spirit would light upon and do a job through someone at times we're told in the Old Testament and in the New Testament pre Pentecost. But Jesus is giving them over the same spirit that he has had by which he's done all these miracles. By which he's walked out a lovely life. For it's not you who are speaking, but it's the spirit of your father who's speaking in you.
Now, this is sad but true. Brother will betray brother to death. They'll turn him over to death. And a father is child, and children will rise up against parents, and they'll cause him to be put to death. It's just the way that it's going to go down.
And you will be hated by all because of my name. Be sure though it's because of my name. Don't just be hateful and then expect that people won't hate you back. If you're carrying the love and the grace and the peace that I've given you, and that's what you're a carry of and people reject it, shake the dust off your feet. The one who has endured to the end will be saved.
You'll be hated because of me. Whenever they persecute you in one city, just keep on moving on. Flee to the next. If they don't accept it, that maybe that wasn't the one for you to be the bearer of their good news. Maybe God will send someone else.
Whenever they persecute you in one city, flee to the next. For truly I say to you, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel until the son of man comes. I don't understand that completely. I'll just say that right now. So I think that they were expecting that they would, on this trip, see the Son of Man coming in glory.
I think that they were still going through the cities of Israel when the crucifixion happened, when the resurrection happened. It moved on from there outward, but I'm not positive what to do with that. Some of these things, I'm just sitting them in your lap and letting you mull over them. I am proclaiming it because it's true and it says that. A disciple is not above his teacher.
You're listening to me because I've got a message that you value, and a disciple is not above his teacher nor a slave above his master. It's enough though for the disciple that he may become like his teacher. God, would you make us more Christ like? May we listen to his words and understand them, process them, and live them out. Amen.
It's enough for a disciple that he may become like his teacher and a slave like his master if they have called the head of the household Beelzebub, and they have. Just recently, we heard it last week and the week before. They've called me Beelzebub, and I'm your leader. I'm your teacher. I'm your master.
How much more are they going to insult the members of his household? You're gonna be mistreated. Make sure it's in my name. So don't fear them for there's nothing concealed that will not be revealed. Ultimately, you'll be shown to be right.
Or there's nothing hidden that will not be known. It will come through. What I tell you in the darkness in your prayer closet, what I tell you in the darkness, you tell it in the light. And what you hear whispered in your ear, that Holy Spirit speaking like a still small voice, proclaim that from the housetops. And do not be afraid of those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul.
This reminds me of Acts. Everything right here is just popping. Jesus's words are reverberated throughout the book of Acts and even into our times. Don't be afraid of those who can kill the body but are unable to kill the soul, but rather fear him who's able to destroy both soul and body in hell. That's who are we to fear?
God or man? God. And so the disciples in the book of Acts, after they had been beaten and flogged, just like Jesus predicted they would be, what they prayed for was not safety. They prayed for boldness to continue proclaiming the message because they knew that they should fear God rather than man. Are not two sparrows sold for an Assyrian?
An Assyrian is a coin. Actually, this is an older one. This is a couple of centuries BC, and this one is from the sixties. This is Nero's Assyrian. That's Nero's picture with his little chin strap beard.
Ugly dude, sorry. Talking about his actions, not just his demeanor, but I mean not just his countenance. But that's a coin from Syria. That's a Nasarian. It's one of the cheapest, littlest, sometimes it's called a penny, but it's a sixteenth of a denarius if you want to get particular.
Are two sparrows not sold for an Nasarian, and yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your father. God knows what's going on. He understands and is in charge, and are you not more valuable than they are? Even the hairs of your head are all counted. He knows us thoroughly.
So don't fear. You're more valuable than a great number of sparrows. Does it say you're going to slip out of every sticky situation? No. It doesn't say that.
It doesn't say that you won't be martyred. You may be martyred, but you will have persevered to the end if you are martyred. God cares. Don't fear. Even facing death, don't fear.
You're more valuable than a great number of sparrows. So therefore, everyone who confesses me before people, I will also confess him before my Father who's in heaven. Now I see this and I get a little apprehension. Am I doing that? Am I doing that?
I think there's a little bit of that there. Technically, strictly speaking, both of these are in the future tense. So therefore everyone who will confess me before people, everyone who will do this, I will also confess him before my father who's in heaven. I've got your back, Jesus is saying. I've got you.
You are going out boldly in my name right now. I'm sending you out, and you are homo logeo confessing. Saying the same thing about me that's true, that God says. You are proclaiming my name. You're proclaiming me before the people.
You are saying, we have found the Messiah. The time of Messiah has come. Here's the message and Jesus is it. Every one of them who will confess. So it's not just for those disciples.
It's not just for us as disciples. It's for everyone who will confess, acknowledge Christ. He will confess them before his father who is in heaven. That's good. It's good stuff.
It's helpful. But whoever denies me, that one technically is an error subjunctive middle for all you grammar nerds. The reason I threw it up there is because it's middle. Middle is weird. Middle means it's about me.
I did this for myself, or I did this myself, or I did this to myself. That's a middle voice, okay? So it's not passive, something else is happening to me, and it's not active, I'm doing something. It's middle meaning, I'm doing something to myself. Are you with me?
Whoever shall conditional, it's a choice. Whoever shall against themself deny me before people. I will also deny him before my Father who's in heaven. He's saying not to fear. He's saying that it is it is in your best self interest to follow after and believe and confess me.
It's against yourself not to. That's good. It's hard, but it's good. Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I didn't come to bring peace but a sword.
Now, this one is hard for a lot of different reasons. One of them is that everybody with an axe to grind, politically speaking, wants to say that Jesus is on their side. And if they're being obnoxious about it, they point to this. Okay? Jesus is saying that he is the word and it is going to cause a divide.
Right? He is going to cause a divide. The sword of the spirit actually in Ephesians is the word of God. The word of God is going to be a dividing line, and he's gonna describe that here in a minute. Do not think that I came to bring bring peace on earth.
I didn't come to bring peace but a sword. For I came to turn man against his father, and daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. Now for some of y'all, that's the hardest thing to read that we've covered in weeks here. But notice that it is the turning of the younger generation against the older. Specifically in this context for training, Jesus is sending them out and saying, You're gonna go out here and the people who are gonna be receptive to your message of love and grace probably aren't gonna be the older people.
Do you pick up on that? That's hard. Now, there's a terrible trend that's going on right now, and I have talked to two different mothers this week. And I could probably have several of these conversations after the service today. Where a mother or mother and father who has raised their children to believe in Christ and has lived that out in front of them, now that their children are older, are rejecting it out of hand.
I talked to two moms this week where they said they're on social media, their children had written awful things about them online. Rejecting them out of their hand... Out of hand as they're deconstructing their fate. They're blaming their parents, and there's a hatred. In that case, think we've already covered the you may not be the one.
There's a shaking the dust off your sandals. You've done everything that you can do, but to retaliate against that, I don't think it does any good. I came to turn man against his father daughter against her mother, daughter-in-law against mother-in-law, and a person's enemies will be the members of their own household. That is so hard to read and hear, but what is it that we're supposed to do for our enemies? Yeah.
We pray for them, and we love them, and we treat them with kindness. So if they are rebelling against you and have rejected the message that you carry, they're not rejecting you so much as rejecting Christ and the way that you treat them will be what they remember. This one, the one who loves father or mother more than me. This sounds like hyperbole, but it's comparative. The one who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.
And the one who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. If your other relationships are more important than Christ, then you're missing the point altogether. And the one who does not take up his cross. This is interesting because the cross of Jesus has not happened yet. They had not seen the crucifixion at this point, but it's known as the death penalty.
This is the way. The one who does not take his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. The cross staros or staron in this case, the cross piece of a Roman cross. It's the cross beam that's placed at the top of the vertical member to form the capital t. Okay.
So what we see in our head or see on our movies a lot of times is Jesus carrying a whole cross and it could have been that way. The normal manner was for them to carry what looks like a railroad tie. Right? For me, it'd be huge. And carry it with them to their execution all the way to the end.
It's not a symbol for suffering in general. This comes from word helps, actually a lexicon. Rather, it refers to withstanding persecution, difficult times, by the Lord's power as he directs in the circumstances of our life, which he does not promise we'll always be rosy. As Christ's disciples, we are to hold true even when we are attacked by the ungodly. Actually, even when we're attacked by those who claim to be godly.
That's tough. The one who has found his life will lose it, and the one who has lost his life on my account will find it. This is where our identity needs to land is in Christ. Union with Christ is what it's all about. He knows what it's like to be rejected.
He knows what it's like to weep when people will not accept the plain truth of God. He knows what it's like to have shown it over and over and over again and still be rejected. The one who's found his life will lose it. The one who's lost his life on my account will find it. The one who receives you, receives me.
Whatsoever you've done for the least of these, right? You've done also to me. He's saying, when you go out carrying this message, if someone receives you, they've received me. And the one that receives me, receives the Father who sent me. You are the connection point.
You may be the connection point for someone. Might not be the ones that you're praying the strongest for. But if you'll carry this message and they receive you. The one who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward. We see that in the Old Testament quite often.
When someone puts Elijah up, they have supply that doesn't run out. Right? They have... Another one has a child resurrected from the dead. Receiving a prophet, one who proclaims, thus saith the Lord, will receive a prophet's reward.
And the one who receives a righteous person in the name of a righteous person shall receive a righteous person's award. We had a group come through this week that are building houses all across the country. Where were they biking from, Diane? Do you remember? Georgia.
I was going say back east somewhere. That's what we... Yeah. So they have been biking since Georgia and stop along the way. And they are doing this in this justice, righteousness, right?
They're doing this motivated by love and compassion for people who need homes. They were doing a habitat project here. They've done them in several other places. Biking between. I always want to say yes to that, right?
I always want for us to say yes. One who receives a righteous person in the name of a righteous person shall receive a righteous person's reward. Whoever gives one of these little ones just a cup of cold water to drink in the name of a disciple, truly I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward. Nothing that you do in the name of Christ will be in vain. It's gotta actually be in Christ.
Right? There are a lot of people who have tagged Christ's name onto other movements and tried to say that it's Christian when it's not. Everything that you actually do in Christ's name, motivated by God's spirit, will achieve the purpose that God set out for it. Amen. The commissioning of the 12.
Now, we're gonna see in the next minute just a couple verses, five verses left. Four verses left, think. Here they are. Mark six says... At the end of this instruction it says, and they went out and they preached.
The people are to repent. Now where were they? They were among the religious people. They were among the Jews. They would eventually get to the Gentiles, but they started out with the religious folk.
They went out and they preached repentance. Which is what John the Baptist preached, which is what Jesus preached, which is what they were to preach and did. And they were casting out many demons, and they were anointing with oil many sick people, and they were healing them. The authenticating miracles, authenticating the message. Luke says, and as they were leaving, they began going throughout all of the villages preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.
Praise God. And then Matthew says this, And when Jesus had finished... This one... Bless my socks off this week. I had never seen this one before.
When Jesus had finished giving instructions to his 12 disciples, and they were fairly intricate. 42 verses of them in Matthew. When he had finished giving instructions to his 12 disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in their cities. Isn't that good? I told Roseanne a few months back, I said, I get to hug y'all, but I don't get to hug my mama.
Right? Like on Sunday mornings I come in here and I have a lot of surrogate family here. But man, I get a tear in my eye when I think about how seldom I get to see my folks. Can you imagine these 12 going out? And they're going out into all these other villages and cities, going to places they didn't...
May not have been before, and they're carrying a message. And you know that they're thinking, but what about my mama? What about my mother-in-law or the youth or whatever from where I'm from? And this says, Jesus went out from there to teach and preach in their cities. Isn't that good?
God is looking out for you. Even when he sends you on a mission, he is actively working. Now, some people still reject him. But it feels like I'd rather have Jesus looking out for him than me looking out for him. Anyway, I think that's it.
Is there anything else, Blake? Is that the last slide? Hey, we changed... This is the audible. I asked Judy if she would to play They'll Know We're Christians By Our Love.
Do you have one? Here, take this one. I'll turn to it. Thank you. So would you stand with us and we're gonna sing, They Will Know We Are Christians By Our Love.
And I say this because so many things have been tacked to the gospel and so many things have been added Christianity or they've been tacked on, but they don't always look anything like Jesus. Right? And if we are to pay attention to what's going on, they'll know we're Christians. Jesus says, by our love. Here we go.
Speaker 2We are one in the spirit. We are one in the Lord. We are one in the spirit. We are one in the Lord. And we pray that all unity may one day be restored, and they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love.
Yes, they'll know we are Christians by our love. We will walk with each other. We will walk hand in hand. We will walk with each other. We will walk hand in hand.
And together, we'll spread the news that God is in our land. And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love. Yes, they'll know we are Christians by our love. We will work with each other. We will work side by side.
We will work with each other. We will work side by side. Guard each man's dignity and save each man's pride, and we'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love. Yes, they'll know we are Christians by our love on the last. All praise to the father from whom all things come, and all praise to Christ Jesus, his only son.
And all praise to the spirit who makes us one. And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love. Yes. They'll know we are Christians by our love.
Speaker 1Amen. And for the benediction today, it kinda flows with that song. If you feel like you have God on your side, this is what it will look like. The spirit of God bears fruit in this way. If you feel like your movement, your ism is of God, it will look like this.
The fruit of the spirit is love. It is joy. It is peace. It is forbearance. It is kindness.
It is goodness. It's faithfulness. It's gentleness, and it's self control. Against such things, there is no law. Will people reject you if you act this way?
Yes, they will. But it won't be on you. You can shake the dust off of your sandals there. In Jesus' name, Lord, I pray that you would put us in this position right here to be acting under the direction of your spirit. And Lord, I pray that our love would draw people into your kingdom.
Amen.
Topics
Family RejectionFear Of PersecutionMissions TrainingSending Out DisciplesShaking Dust Off FeetSharing Your Faith
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