Matthew Chapter 10 Verses 1 – 4

• One thing that I want you to notice is that when Jesus called them to Himself and they came to Him, Matthew tells us that they received power. Now in context of this occurrence they received power over unclean spirits, sickness and disease but the practical, applicable fact that I want to point out is that it is always true that when Jesus calls you, His disciple, to Himself and you go to Him, you do receive power.
• Power over what? Don’t know. Whatever it is that you’re facing or dealing with or struggling with or even just something that He is preparing you for or calling you to. But here’s the question. Is this applicable fact true of you? When you go the Lord in a time of study, or prayer or communion or worship, do you receive power? Power to glorify God in how you treat him, or treat her…power to let it go…(to be like Elsa! HA)…power to overcome the flesh? Maybe not, certainly not all the time if I, we are being honest…well why?
• Notice the title given to those who He has called and to those who receive power when they go to Him. The word is translated for us, “disciples,” and in the Greek the word is, “mathetes,” which certainly means disciple but should be thought of as, “a pupil,” or, “a learner.” Man, here’s the thing…if you want God’s results, God’s blessing, God’s approval and God’s power then you have got to do it God’s way! Doesn’t that just make sense!? And boy we have unsearchable and unlimited untapped potential and power if we would just trust Him.
• Go to God willing and ready to learn. To lay down your biases and your bents and what you think is right based on your limited perceptive experiences and cognitive collections stored in your imperfect memory, mind and heart…and believe God! No one can argue that this is practically true and perfectly clear but so many struggle in their faith because their faith is in them and not God. Of course the Word of God is going to challenge you! It is contrary to your flesh! Which will you trust? Here He calls His disciples, they come to Him to learn, without request and without selfish perspective, and they receive power. Try it…

Matthew Chapter 10 Verses 5 – 6

• I love this! Jesus says to them, “Start at home!” Go first to the Jews. Why? Well let’s get down to the nitty gritty. If we are not proclaiming the Lord in our homes then any proclamation of the Lord in the streets is false! A work of the flesh, man! A show. An act…and so we gotta walk this out at home first and if you’re not a follower of the Lord at home, then you haven’t yet begun to follow Jesus!

• Another reason He put this edict out there is that if the disciples had gone first to the gentiles then coming back to the Jew would not be an option. The Jew wouldn’t have them then! Finally, it was the Jew that was prepared by the scriptures, the prophets, the covenants, the feasts…on an on…they were the ones prepared to receive the gospel…

Matthew Chapter 10 Verse 7

• The message is the same today! That is the message of the gospel even this day! The kingdom of heaven is at hand! Folks that doesn’t mean necessarily that the curtain draws today and heaven is revealed or something syfy like that…that simply means what it simply says. The kingdom of heaven is right here waiting for you! Oh how I love Richard Marx! HA!

• Literally, this “at hand” in the Greek is “to join one thing to another!” This is the message of the gospel. That God is now. God is here. Heaven has come to earth to fix it and you and I need fixing!   Think about the hand. Close to you isn’t it? Useful isn’t it? Powerful isn’t it? What’s in your hand is what you use, it’s what you eat, it’s what you do, it’s what you fight with, it’s what you comfort with…let me ask you, what’s in your hand?

• God through the payment sacrifice of Jesus Christ representing all men on the cross of Calvary has made Himself accessible such that we can again join with Him, take His hand, eat of the tree of life and live forever. That as far as the east is from the west the same distance from us will our sin and lostness and fallen loserness become…if we trust Him, drop whatever is in our hands now and take His...

Matthew Chapter 10 Verse 8

• I love this. Christians, we are to go…preach…heal, cleanse, raise up and cast out…the way you are, your wiring is all malfunctioned up until you are filled with the Wirer! HA! But once you come to the Lord, man He begins the work of rewiring and reconfiguring and fixing up your heart…here a little there a little and that desire you have to help people blossoms into a love and a heart cry to serve. That compassion you have for the downtrodden begins to blossom into a passion to heal, cleanse and raise up…

• Those things, those blessings, those anointing, those fixings are from the Lord and freely you have received through the cross of Christ and so freely give! Let these gifts flow through you to preach, man! You say I don’t have any yet…hold up your hands…they work don’t they? They can work, they can embrace, they can rest on someone else’s shoulder, they can be lifted high in prayer…oh you’ve got them, and you’re ready, even if your wires ain’t all soldered yet in your heart…little secret…none of us are perfect…we’re just receivers…

Matthew Chapter 10 Verses 9 – 10

• Not only was Jesus shocking them and telling them in a way to lay down every stability factor and just trust in Me but He’s also saying to them just go. Quit planning so much, quit over thinking this! Paralysis by analysis. Sometimes we are going out to the mall or to the swap meet or to a friend’s house and the kids and I are just staying by the door ready to go and April is halfway through packing a suitcase! FOR TWO HOURS! HA! I’m like honey, if there’s something we can’t live without then we’re passing 15 7/11s and 5 Walmarts! Can we just go!? HA!
• Jesus in a way is saying, let Me take care of you. Focus on the work. What you need will come and if it doesn’t come and you sleep cold tonight, you sleep hungry tonight, let humility reign in your hearts…and watch your gratitude for the message and for the calling surge!