[00:00:01] Speaker A: Hey, thanks so much for listening to this message. My name is Jason and I'm one of the ministers here at the Madison Church of Christ. It's our hope and prayer that the teaching from God's Word you hear today will bless your life and draw you closer to Him. If you're ever in the Madison, Alabama area, we'd love for you to worship with us on Sundays at 8:30 or 10:30am if you have any other questions about the Bible or want to know more about the Madison Church, find
[email protected] be sure to also check out our Bible study podcast, Madison Church of Christ Bible Studies. Thanks again for stopping by.
[00:00:38] Speaker B: I'm sure you guys can relate to me in that sometimes in life you're going to find a job or an act or a thing that you're going to be doing that requires you to do something that maybe you don't feel quite ready to do, right? And I was reminded of this a couple of weeks ago. Cindy and I decided we were going to restain our fence in our backyard. And, and I remember years ago, about seven years ago, Jim Holly, one of our men here, knew that I needed to paint my fence. We had just gotten into this house and we had to paint the fence. And so he said, hey, don't go out and pay someone to do that and let me go buy the paint, let me bring my sprayer, I'll show you how to use it, I'll get you started and you can paint your fence and that'll save you a lot of money. And I'm like, hey, I'm all about that, right? So Jim Holly came to my house.
He had buckets out in my yard. I came outside, he was already busy working and stuff. And he said, okay, I think I've got you ready. All we gotta do is put that hose in the bucket and then we'll start spraying and it'll be great. And he said, I'll show you how to do it. And so we started to do that and I thought, well, this is not bad, right? And so got through the painting. And, you know, I was a good bit younger, so I remember it not hurting so much, but maybe just like a long day, you know, maybe a full day. And I kind of had that in my memory. And so I thought, I can totally do that by myself. And so I went out and I got a sprayer because we're repainting and I thought that will help save money again. I love that idea, right? So I went and I got a sprayer and if you've never done this before, you know, you may think it looks something like this. This is my expectation. Okay, you. You walk in, look how clean and nice this guy looks. He is. I think his T shirt has been steamed. He looks great. He's in like regular attire. He's not in something that you throw away when you're done, you know, and he's just going up and almost looks like he's watering plants, right? Like, oh, just look how lovely this is and how fun this is. All right, well, that's not exactly how it comes out. It doesn't look like that. You see that beautiful stand it's got and all those kinds of things. Well, this is more of what it looks like now, by the way, I couldn't get a real good picture of this because I had like stuff all over my hands, so I'd never even touched my phone. Like, I had stain everywhere. But it's literally several buckets. Because when you open up this thing and you open up those instructions that they give you, there's like requirements before you even start painting where you have to run this solution through the thing and then you have to run water through the thing. And then eventually you get down to putting it in a paint bucket to do that. And like, when you're doing it, the hoses have to stay together. They're not big enough for that hole. I was stubborn, just crammed it in there anyway, you know, kind of frustrated with it. And so I started to paint the fence, which by the way, we have a shadow box fence, which I'm convinced is a design of the devil.
That's one thing. And so I get this paint sprayer and I go through all this stuff. And by the way, we were planning to do this and we like pressure washed our fence the week before. And then you gotta wait for these windows, right? It's gotta be dry for so long. And then, you know, you gotta make sure it's done before it starts raining again, like a certain amount of time. And so it came down to, by the time this really came together, we're talking about doing it like on Halloween day, like starting around 2 or 3 o' clock in the afternoon until Saturday sometime, right? Knowing what all is coming. So we get out there and we're. And I'm so frustrated. I can't even tell you how frustrated I am. And you know, by the way, they give you these paint suits that you put on, you know, the white suit that has like, you know, like a little hood that comes over it and all that stuff. And they say those things are one size fit. All that is not true.
I will tell you.
Totally blew out the back as we got started. I think Cindy felt bad for me. She did ask me if I would go around the front to paint. I'm like, hey, I've seen people get on the news for that kind of stuff. I'm not doing it. You know. And so we're painting the fence and it's. It's like. It's not one of those things where it's really easy. Like you're up and down, you're all day long, and after a while, you know, your body just starts wearing out. And when it was all said and done, this is what I look like. Okay, now I'm saying I had like, you know, stained ricochet all over me. And you can't really tell by this picture, but it looks like I have a little Hitler mustache because it looked like I had been snorting up somebody's tailpipe or something. Like, I don't know, I had this terrible look on my face. I was worn out. I was, you know, tired. My hair, it looks like a bird's nest. It actually was as hard as a bird's nest. It's like a scouring pad of some sort of. What I'm telling you is Jim Holly doing all that pre work, setting me up was a beautiful and nice thing.
And even though I went through all of his orientation, I wasn't ready for the job.
And maybe you can relate to that, too. Maybe there's a time where you took on a job and you went through all the training and you got in the middle of it and you found yourself saying, hey, I'm not ready for this. I'm not ready for what's coming ahead. And I think about that when I think about where we are and scriptures. This morning in Matthew chapter 10, we're going to see a time where Jesus is sending out his disciples out into the world and he's equipping them and he's shown them and he's demonstrated for them and he's given them an idea of what it's going to be like. But it's another thing to put your hands to the work, right? So I want to go back just real quickly as we kind of examine this and think about it, where we've been.
Jesus arrives on the scene. He comes as a king. That's not like any other. He begins speaking in terms that, you know, everyone hears what he's saying and says, hey, this man Sounds like someone who has authority.
This is. This is different. And when he said things, he said things that were a little bit counterculture. He said things that challenged their standard convictions about some things. He tried to steer them away, that deep adherence to the law, to. To the heart of the law, so they would understand how to follow him. And so we get to this spot and he's teaching, and he gave us that beautiful sermon on the Mount. And then what happens is as he begins to go and travel from place to place, and as he's doing some amazing things, people begin to want to be a part of this. So here's a text in Acts, I mean, Matthew chapter eight, where a scribe comes up and says, hey, Lord, wherever you go, I want to follow you.
And Jesus just says to him, hey, the birds, you know, have nests or the. Yeah, the birds of the air have nests.
Sorry, just misquoted that. Foxes have holes, the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.
See, I want you to understand something. When we think of kingdom, and when they thought of kingdom, they thought of something much different. Maybe they imagined like this big city that was set on a hill, maybe walls around the city. Maybe there were flags flying. Maybe there was a castle. Maybe there was something special about the people. Maybe there was water, wealth that was involved in being a part of this kingdom. Maybe there was like an advancing army and kind of protection. But the reality is Jesus is coming in and he's totally flipping that upside down and reminding them that this kingdom is very, very different and they need to be challenged in the way they thought about things. See, there is no territory, so to speak, not in the way they understood it.
There's no wall surrounding anything. There's no advancing or security team that's following the king.
And there's certainly no great dwelling place. There's no, you know, kingdom in the sense of the way they understood things.
And so as people are following, maybe the disciples are listening, they're hearing some of these things.
Says he went through the cities and villages and he taught in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, healed diseases, every affliction.
But what was different about him was when he saw the crowds.
You know, the Bible here tells us that he had compassion on them.
Why?
Because they had been harassed, neglected.
But also they were people who came across as helpless.
Again, when you think about a king, the king is not going out and looking for these kind of people. But the king, Jesus, is going around and he's looking for People who are going through the most difficult circumstances. And you have to take your mind back to these people in their time. You know, when they saw people who had afflictions or some kind of terrible disease or something like that, they were kind of pushed away because the general thought was God had, you know, claimed some kind of curse upon you because of all the things that you've done. And so your sin has brought these things on you, and that's why you're feeling the consequence of your behavior. And so they could see that. And so most kings would stay away from them. They wouldn't even send anybody out. And in this case, it's not Jesus sending people to go get them.
It's Jesus himself as he goes finding these people, pouring out his heart to them, loving them, healing them, nurturing them, engaging them in conversation. It's just a different king altogether. And they're watching this, the disciples, as they're following along, they're seeing these things.
But isn't it interesting that this king doesn't coerce, he doesn't force us, he doesn't take us captive and say, you will obey.
No, this is the kind of king that is demonstrating to us that the way you pull people in is compassion and love and mercy and care, and that their loyalty will be based on that kind of love for him. Think about in our own lives, what is it that drives you to follow Jesus?
Well, in these times, it was certainly his kindness that stood apart from everything else.
There's a story here in Matthew, chapter nine where it says he came across this demon possessed man. And the demon possessed man was a mute. And all of a sudden he healed this mute so he could talk again. And here's what's amazing about this situation, is that the crowds themselves looked at it, saw it, said, hey, this is the most amazing thing I've ever seen. We've never seen anything like this in all of Israel. But it was the Pharisees. It was the ones who really understood what God wanted out of life. The ones who were experts of the laws, who had read everything and knew everything that God had said to them and shared with them through the prophets and all. These are the Pharisees. They're the strictest sect. They understand things. But it was they who said, hey, this is a man who's casting out a demon, and he is the prince of demons.
You see what they're saying, like what's right there in front of me, what I'm seeing for real, what I understand with my eyes. It's kind of like, going back to John, chapter nine. You remember when Jesus came through and he healed that man who was blind and put the mud pies over his eyes and all that. And then after he did that, you know, everybody was like, well, we don't know who this is, who did this, and we don't know how he did it, but he can't be from God. It's like, well, hey, how can he has to be from God if he did this, right?
Well, in thinking about that, that's kind of the situation here, is that the crowds are going, hey, this has to be of God. And it's the religious ones who are having a problem.
Can we just stop and camp out on this for just a second?
Isn't it interesting that Jesus is kind of building a case that the world is ready for the gospel?
The world is ready for this message about the kingdom. The world is ready to hear that there is a king who loves them, who came to die for them and gave himself completely for them.
But could it be. And I'm asking us to ask ourselves this question, and maybe it's convicting.
Is it us who have faltered in our desire to get that message out?
Is it our struggle sometimes that we are not comfortable with sharing that message with other people?
It's just something for us to maybe think about. I sure hope that that's not the case. But when I think about my own life, there have certainly been times where I knew people needed to hear the message. And I withheld it because of the discomfort of the moment or because I feared maybe what would happen as a result of that.
Here, Jesus is already letting them know that that's one of the struggles that you're gonna face.
So he said to his disciples, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers, few. Basically, what he's saying is the crowds are big, y'. All. You see these crowds? They're marveling. They're ready. They're ready to be shared with. They're ready to hear the message. They're listening. There's a bunch of them, but there's so few of us that are going out there to do this. And then he says to them, hey, I'll tell you what, do this.
Pray that the Lord will send people out into the harvest. And can't you imagine the disciples who are walking along with him going, that is such a great prayer. I mean, we need to pray right now that the Lord will send people, that he will gather people together and bring them for this cause.
And then we get into Matthew, chapter 10.
And it says this now. He called the twelve disciples together, and he gave them authority.
All the things that they've seen, the healings, the illnesses, all of those things. He gave them authority over unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal every disease and every affliction. Wow.
I hope you're understanding something. Orientation is over.
Like, it's not. This is not a training ground anymore.
This is time for you to put those things into practice. I remember when I worked at McDonald's years ago, it was a labor of love, for sure.
And I went through all my training, and I listened to all these videos, and I watched, you know, all the things he had to do, whether you were up front on the grill, whether you were in the very front, like, putting food in orders and putting them in bags, or whether you were the guy back in the back dressing the sandwiches. You know, I listened to all those videos, watched them, had someone show me how to do those kinds of things. And then they put that little visor on my head and my little badge that said, Brandon and I got to be on the job, and so they threw me out, and they said, we're gonna put you in the dressing station. Which meant I was going to become a sandwich artist. And, you know, as a guy who gets his burger sometimes and the cheese just slid off the side and everything was like, where are the burger artists these days? Where are the ones who can put it all on the burger? I was gonna be that guy. Let me tell you. I was going to be that guy for you.
And they gave me this big vat, handheld vat with a little pump on it that was the ketchup dispenser, okay? And they put it.
They got this little stainless steel table, and I've got a tray of all these burgers together, and I'm getting to dress them, and I'm looking at what the order is. And the way it worked was just the sheer quantity of ketchup that you'd have in the vat would push it through the bottom, right? I guess the gravity of it. Okay, so you were just kind of opening a portal. Why? I saw what they did. They were, pop, pop, pop, pop. Well, I got to the first burger and went.
And when I did, like, ketchup's everywhere, right?
I went through the orientation, but I wasn't ready.
And I think that's kind of what's happening here, is Jesus has shown them all these things, and he's like, hey, it's time for you understudies to get out There and to start teaching people, it's for you to be empowered by God, to go out and to help us advance the kingdom. It was time for them to get to work. Well, what does it mean? He gave them authority. Well, it means to furnish, to endure them with virtue, to give them his goodness, to empower their faculties, to give them abilities that he had. In fact, if you look at the authority aspect of it, it's the idea of its delegated empowerment, that he gave that over to them in a very powerful way so they could do the things that he had done. Why, if you'll remember later, we'll get into this in late parts of Matthew, is when they go out into the world, the things that they did, the miraculous things, were the things that helped people see that they were indeed from God. And so he gave them this power to do this. And who are we talking about here? You know, I don't get into each one of these men, but, man, this is a ragtag batch of guys. I mean, you're talking about a guy whose name is Simon. And if you look at the Hebrew language, you know, you'll find out that Simon means listener. Well, I mean, is that not funny to anybody besides me? About Peter, I mean, he was not necessarily the best listener, right? You got Andrew, his brother, who's the one that brought him to him. You've got Simon the zealot, who was basically a terrorist. I mean, he was a part of a political group that sought to assassinate Roman officials. You know, these are rough, rough guys. You got Judas, who was the betrayer. You got Matthew, who's a tax collector, and Bartholomew is the very one that we call Nathaniel that said, honestly, can anything good come from Nazareth? I mean, these are weirdos, okay? Actually, they're a lot like you and me.
And Jesus is using them to help advance the kingdom.
So this is the sermon in a nutshell, all right, is that this mindset that we have as Christians is a radical mindset, and it causes us to think a little bit differently. First of all, we have to realize that we are sent out.
It's great to come here and to worship.
It's great to gather for our Bible classes and to receive that spiritual nourishment, to be challenged in our Bible classes and those kinds of things. But understand, all of that is meant to send us out.
So they're going to be sent out, and they're going to be sent out.
And I would love to tell you that things are just going to be easy for them. But in reality, What Jesus is going to tell them is you're going to come against some pretty strong opposition.
You're going to be persecuted. There's going to be beatings, there's going to be scourgings, there's going to be floggings, there's going to be arrests, there's going to be persecution within your family and all those kinds of things. You're going to have a really, really difficult time with this task.
But also, I need you to be fearless in this messaging.
The things that I'm going to tell you privately, I need you to share those things boldly.
But I also need you to use some discernment and some wisdom, the ability to kind of know the situation and know the moment and to handle yourself appropriately.
But then ultimately, what I want you to understand is this life is one where you trade what you have for what I'm calling you to.
You have to lose your life for the sake of gaining real life.
And so Jesus is going to share that with them.
So let's talk about this first part. Sending them out says Jesus sent them out, instructing them, go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and proclaim as you go, saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
That may just be something that we pass through a little bit.
He says, don't go to the Gentile world.
Don't go to the Sumerian.
Don't go to these places where you wouldn't be welcomed anyway. Don't go to those places. He actually says, stay right here in Israel and find people who are lost. Find people who are in search. Find people who are helpless. Find people who are looking for something special, looking for a way to follow me.
And I happen to think that there's a reason for that.
You know, when I was in youth ministry, we would put together these campaigns where we would go out and we would go to different states and we would call them stateside missions or what have you. We would go into a vacation Bible school and we would canvass the area. You know what happens when you get 75 kids together and you say, hey, we're going to go knock doors in this community. We're going to talk to people about coming to this vacation Bible school. You know what happens?
They line up and say, let's do this.
But sometimes when we say, hey, let's gather together, we're going to canvass the area. We're going to tell people about our Vacation, Bible school, or we're going to tell people about different things. Sometimes it's harder here.
Why is that?
It's fun to go somewhere else, right? A new state, new experience. These people I'll never see again, man. I need to share with them the gospel. Maybe no one will ever do it, but I'm going to do it right there. But then we come around with people here in our place where whether it's our family, our friends, or the people that we may bump into at school or people that we may bump into in our jobs, and then that becomes a little bit more awkward and a little bit more difficult. I think Jesus may be helping us understand something here that maybe the greatest fear that you and I have to overcome is having the confidence and the boldness and the courage to share our faith with our family and friends first.
Isn't that something? I mean, can we say that maybe this is something we're challenged by from time to time? I mean, there's a reason when we get to Thanksgiving, people say, hey, when you get to Thanksgiving meal, don't talk about what two things, politics and religion, Right? Don't do it. You don't want to get into a fight. And yet God is calling us to be the kind of people who are willing to share the gospel with the people we love the most, the people we're going to be around the most, the people we may have the most influence over that he gives us the courage to speak out on his behalf. So he tells them, heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons you received without me.
So I can't take my stuff. He says, no, don't bring a satchel with money. Don't bring any of that stuff. Don't bring anything extra. Don't bring a staff for yourself. Hey, get there, roll up your sleeves. Get involved with the people in their world, whatever it is they're doing, work alongside them as you're working. Share that gospel. And guess what? We believe God is gonna take care of. God is going to take care of you. And that's something that they could lean on. So our trust in this process needs to pivot away from the money we have, the purse that we have, and to transition over to the providence of God, knowing that he is going to take care of us. He's calling them to reach out and to have this kind of courage.
But he also says in your sending out that you're going to find a place or two that may or may not appreciate who you are. So he says, this he says, go into the town or village, and if you find a place to stay that's worthy, then stay there. And if not, then depart from it. If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it. If it is not worthy, then let your peace return to you. What's he saying? He said there's a certain special quality that gives us an internal rest, that when we go into a place and we share with them about the peace that we have in following Jesus, that that comes across to people and that they receive that and that they're moved by that, that your peace will kind of infiltrate their heart a little bit.
So Jesus is calling us to spiritual discernment. It just means that we're going to go into a place. There may be times where it works out great, and there may be times where it doesn't work out so great.
So he says to expect opposition if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave the house or town. Now, in their culture, they would have understood this because the general rule was as they went out and about, and if they went into an area that wasn't really the House of Israel, if they went out into Samaria or some kind of gentile land where there were paganistic things going on and practices that were not becoming of what God wanted them to be, maybe idolatrous in nature. And then the idea was, don't even bring one grain of sand back to your hometown. So when you leave that place and you get out of dodge, basically take off your shoes, clang them together, get all that off, wipe off your feet, don't even bring one bit of that back to your home. That was the idea. But in this case, because he says, I want you to go to the House of Israel, it's a different application altogether, right? Because now he's not talking about those pagans out there.
He's talking about the people you love the most.
He's talking about your friends, your community.
And so shaking the dust off our feet is kind of the idea that I've done my part, I've done the responsible thing. I've shared the message, I've laid it out to them. I've given them a reason to fall in love with that idea, but they have rejected it. Or maybe they just didn't want me to stay in the house. And maybe that was my way of knowing, hey, they're just not ready to hear these things. That doesn't mean they won't ever be ready. It just means in this moment, they're not quite ready to hear.
So from a mindset you say, okay, I don't want to be burdened by that anymore. I want to move on to someone else who might be receptive. So God is asking us in this to have some discernment as we expect opposition. And he says, I'm sending you as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.
And listen to what he says. Men will deliver you over to courts, flog you in their synagogues. You'll be dragged before governors and kings for my sake to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. So he says, I'm going to send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and harmless as dove. What in the world does that mean?
Well, off the standpoint of the serpent, it's just saying that a serpent kind of knows the environment it's going into. It's very wise about the places it goes. It doesn't, you know, get into places that are like highly visible. It gets, it curls up in a place that kind of is careful. And so he's saying on some level that you don't need to be reckless in your going out, that you need to be kind of thoughtful about that and discerning. Maybe this is not the right time. You got a bunch of people wielding swords. You don't go right in the middle of them, repent or perish. You know, that's not necessarily the best of environments, right?
But this harmless as a dove really speaks to the character of the Christian.
When you think about the dove, the dove is kind of an emblem. It's a symbol of the Holy Spirit.
And so when he says go out as harmless as a dove, what he's saying is model the characteristics. Be soft and gentle and compassionate. Come with kindness, come with truth, come with love and well being for your neighbor.
And let that be the thing that people see as people who are following Jesus. And so he says, be wise, don't go into reckless situations. But also when you do get there, come with a message that shows them your concern for them. It's not just coming in and telling them what to do. It's kind of coming in to say, hey, can I share with you something that may change your life forever.
So he says, when you are arrested, and you know this sales pitch by Jesus gets really good, doesn't it, when you are arrested. He didn't say if you get arrested.
No, Jesus is saying, when you are arrested.
Jesus knows the fallout that they're gonna go through. And he's preparing them, he's opening up their mind to the reality that it's going to be difficult, that this journey is tough.
And he says, when you're arrested, don't worry about what to respond or what to say.
Now can you imagine being arrested and the fear that would overcome you?
Can you imagine what that would be like to be in a place where you're held captive and the only thing that you know you've done is that you spoke out in Jesus name?
Well, that's the experience of the first century Christian.
And as they found themselves in those circumstances, how difficult would it be? What do I say? What do I do in these moments? How can I trust in God in the middle of all this? And Jesus says to them, hey, don't worry about what you're going to say. Why?
Because the Holy Spirit's going to be there and the Holy Spirit is going to help you know what to say in those moments. Don't fret about it because God's presence is going to be with you. Think about the confidence that we have in knowing that God's presence is going to be with us.
He was with them then, he's with us now.
It says, brother will deliver brother over to death, father his child. Children will be rise up against their parents and have them put to death. You'll be hated. All for my name's sake.
I've come to set man against his father, a daughter against his mother, a daughter in law against her mother in law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. Man, this sales pitch gets worse and worse and worse because the people that you know are going to be offended by you doing something different than what they've always done for centuries now.
And Jesus is letting them know this is going to be a difficult road.
But can we cycle back just a little bit to the Sermon on the mount?
Matthew, chapter 5, verse 10 and 11.
Jesus said what? Blessed are you when men shall persecute you, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when men revile and persecute you for my name's sake.
For so they did also to the prophets.
Do you hear what he's saying?
The expectation is that you're going to go through opposition.
And now through all these words, he's made it very personal because now we realize it's going to be around the people that I care about the most.
But Jesus reminds us that there's a fearlessness that comes with this Message.
And I don't know how you see this, but as I read this text, I kind of imagine Jesus sitting with someone, maybe around a campfire at night, and they're asking questions, and Jesus is saying, this is the truth of the kingdom.
And all the things that you're gonna experience, all the difficulties that you're gonna face, the burden you're gonna bear, the hardships that you're gonna endure. Let me help you understand what heaven is like. Let me help you understand what it's like to follow me and to feel the presence of God and to be able to do these miraculous things and to be able to experience the joy of knowing inside of your heart that you're doing the right thing. And the peace that comes over you in the middle of this. I can imagine Jesus saying these things to them. And then it says, what I tell you in the dark, say in light.
And what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops, tell people that you've heard these assurances and you've heard these assurances from the King himself.
And don't fear those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. What he's telling us is that we need to begin seeing things from a spiritual perspective.
And we know the disciples had a hard time with this. And if you've never heard that kind of language where you think in terms of what is the battle that's going on on the inside, the things that are not just right there in front of me, but how is that affecting me internally and where is my heart going, and all those kinds of battles, if we're not able to see those things, then we're not gonna resist temptation. If we don't see those things, and we're not gonna accept what God is saying to us, if we don't see those things in the spiritual battle that we're facing, then, Then everything that we hear with regard to God's word, it kind of bounces off of us. Unless we see it from a spiritual lens, that tells me, hey, every bit of this is worth it.
So he finishes up with this text here.
And I remember when I talked to all of my children about becoming a Christian at some point or another, and they may or may not remember all this, but I think probably Nick will, because I think he and I kind of camped on this for a little bit.
But Jesus says this to them.
Everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven.
But everyone who denies Me here on earth, I will also deny before my Father, who is in heaven, before my children I felt were ready to receive the blessing of salvation in Christ.
I wanted them to understand this very thing, that your job in this life is to stand up for Jesus no matter what, no matter what situation comes your way, no matter what battle you may be facing. And so when it says this term, acknowledge him. The idea is really confession. And the thing is, there's two parts of this. The first part is, yes, I believe, without a shadow of a doubt in my deepest part of my heart that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. I believe that with everything I got. And because I believe that, that changes everything, right?
But the second part of this is the next part, which is living out that confession every day. It's the endurance to the end of it that is required of every Christian. Hear the words, whoever confesses me before my before men here on earth, him will I confess before my Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies me here on earth, him will I deny before my Father who is in heaven. Stop for just a second. And everyone ask yourself the question.
In your life, have there been moments where you denied your connection to Jesus Christ?
That's a terrifying thing.
He wants your loyalty.
And you may say, brandon, well, there's not a lot of persecution going on these days, and there's not a lot of things going on that we're gonna fight through. There's not battles that we're facing every day. Our lives are not in jeopardy because we believe in Jesus. Not yet, not maybe right in this moment.
But you see the uprisings taking place. You see things changing in our world. There's less of familiarity with God's word. There's less of familiarity with who Jesus Christ is. And the world is developing its own mentality about what should be done right. And people don't have the same morals we do. And you could very well find yourself maybe a generation from now, or maybe a little bit further, or maybe even next week, where you're challenged with the idea, do you actually believe that?
And you may be asked to give your life up for that very thing.
That's why In Revelation, chapter 2, verse 10, it says, Be thou faithful unto death, and I'll give you the crown of life.
And you may say, brandon, this is hard.
Yeah, it takes radical courage to do these things.
Listen to this. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever does not take up his cross and Follow me is not worthy of me and whoever finds his life, what that means is if I choose to preserve myself here with what I have and what I want, my priorities right now that are very earthly, then I'm gonna lose that, that's gonna die with me.
But if I put my focus on following Jesus Christ, that is a gift, that is eternal.
And when you forsake all of those things for the sake of Christ, you're going to find life everlasting.
Being kingdom minded means that true life is not found in self preservation, but in self denial.
And that means all of us have an obligation to evaluate and see. Where am I on this?
Is Jesus my priority?
Do I have the kingdom mindset that requires me and offers me the hope of eternal life because of following the King?
And can I live bits and pieces of that heavenly life here because I follow the King right now?
Jesus says this, if you receive righteous people because of their righteousness, you'll be given a reward. If you've given a cup of cold water to one of the least of these, you've also received the reward.
I guess the point I'm trying to make is we maybe sometimes think that it's all about, you know, carrying our Bible and standing on street corners and sharing the message of the cross. And I think if you want to do that, that is wonderful. That's a great way to share the gospel.
But I want you to understand that I think what Jesus is saying is there's literally hundreds of ways to advance the kingdom.
I saw about, I don't know, 25 or 30 men yesterday advancing the kingdom.
They were helping some of our brothers here who needed help in their lawn work.
They showed up on the scene and it was great.
I actually left from there just thanking God for good men who were willing to serve and help. And I was touched by the reality that every one of them were willing to serve.
Well, they were serving someone who's already a brother in Christ, brother or sister in Christ.
What am I saying?
Do you know how many people were stopping, going, what in the world is that group of people doing? Like, I could see cars pulling up and stopping and like doing the rubberneck. And you're like, wow, they're helping that person out.
That's advancing the kingdom. That's showing the love of Jesus, compassionate hearts, thoughtfulness, kind giving of ourselves.
Orientation is over for us.
It's time for us to roll up our sleeves and to give our hands to it. When it was all said and done, my ugly old shadow box fence looked beautiful.
It was a painful process.
On the other side, I got the satisfaction of what I saw, what I thought it could be.
Do you have faith enough to see the blessing of what God is going to provide for you?
And when you stop for a second and you ask yourself, is it worth all the risk? Consider who it is you're asked to follow?
Jesus, the Son of God, left heaven, came here, endured all the hostilities that you and I suffer even more. So he did give up his life, and he did it so you could live forever.
If that's not a message to inspire you and get you excited, let's talk, let's pray, let's work through this together.
But if you're subject to the invitation and you're ready to enlist yourself in sharing the gospel, and you're ready to advance the kingdom, and you are ready to have the courage to do the next best thing, and you are ready to give yourself fully to the cause of Christ, to live for him and to dedicate yourself every day, I hope you'll come and you'll come altogether we stand and say.
