Today Our Daily Bread Matthew 10

~Today ~
Matthew 10: 1 - 42
1 Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to cast out evil spirits and to heal every kind of disease and illness. 2 Here are the names of the twelve apostles: first Simon (also called Peter), then Andrew (Peter's brother), James (son of Zebedee), John (James's brother), 3 Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew (the tax collector), James (son of Alphaeus), Thaddaeus, 4 Simon (the Zealot F57 ), Judas Iscariot (who later betrayed him)..
5 Jesus sent the twelve disciples out with these instructions: "Don't go to the Gentiles or the Samaritans, 6 but only to the people of Israel – God's lost sheep. 7 Go and announce to them that the Kingdom of Heaven is near. F58 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cure those with leprosy, and cast out demons. Give as freely as you have received! 9 "Don't take any money with you. 10 Don't carry a traveler's bag with an extra coat and sandals or even a walking stick. Don't hesitate to accept hospitality, because those who work deserve to be fed. F59 11 Whenever you enter a city or village, search for a worthy man and stay in his home until you leave for the next town. 12 When you are invited into someone's home, give it your blessing. 13 If it turns out to be a worthy home, let your blessing stand; if it is not, take back the blessing. 14 If a village doesn't welcome you or listen to you, shake off the dust of that place from your feet as you leave. 15 I assure you, the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah will be better off on the judgment day than that place will be.
16 "Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. Be as wary as snakes and harmless as doves. 17 But beware! For you will be handed over to the courts and beaten in the synagogues. 18 And you must stand trial before governors and kings because you are my followers. This will be your opportunity to tell them about me – yes, to witness to the world. 19 When you are arrested, don't worry about what to say in your defense, because you will be given the right words at the right time. 20 For it won't be you doing the talking – it will be the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. 21 "Brother will betray brother to death, fathers will betray their own children, and children will rise against their parents and cause them to be killed. 22 And everyone will hate you because of your allegiance to me. But those who endure to the end will be saved. 23 When you are persecuted in one town, flee to the next. I assure you that I, the Son of Man, will return before you have reached all the towns of Israel. 24 "A student is not greater than the teacher. A servant is not greater than the master. 25 The student shares the teacher's fate. The servant shares the master's fate. And since I, the master of the household, have been called the prince of demons, F60 how much more will it happen to you, the members of the household! 26 But don't be afraid of those who threaten you. For the time is coming when everything will be revealed; all that is secret will be made public. 27 What I tell you now in the darkness, shout abroad when daybreak comes. What I whisper in your ears, shout from the housetops for all to hear! 28 "Don't be afraid of those who want to kill you. They can only kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Not even a sparrow, worth only half a penny, can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. 30 And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. 31 So don't be afraid; you are more valuable to him than a whole flock of sparrows. 32 "If anyone acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will openly acknowledge that person before my Father in heaven. 33 But if anyone denies me here on earth, I will deny that person before my Father in heaven. 34 "Don't imagine that I came to bring peace to the earth! No, I came to bring a sword. 35 I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 Your enemies will be right in your own household! 37 If you love your father or mother more than you love me, you are not worthy of being mine; or if you love your son or daughter more than me, you are not worthy of being mine. 38 If you refuse to take up your cross and follow me, you are not worthy of being mine. 39 If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give it up for me, you will find it. 40 "Anyone who welcomes you is welcoming me, and anyone who welcomes me is welcoming the Father who sent me. 41 If you welcome a prophet as one who speaks for God, F61 you will receive the same reward a prophet gets. And if you welcome good and godly people because of their godliness, you will be given a reward like theirs. 42 And if you give even a cup of cold water to one of the least of my followers, you will surely be rewarded."
FOOTNOTES:F57: Greek the Cananean. F58: Or has come, or is coming soon. F59: Or the worker is worthy of support. F60: Greek Beelzeboul. F61: Greek welcome a prophet in the name of a prophet.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation,copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.,Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved

~Everyday~
1 Cor10:3-4 3 And all of them ate the same miraculous F50 food, 4 and all of them drank the same miraculous water. For they all drank from the miraculous rock that traveled with them, and that rock was Christ.
FOOTNOTES:F50: Greek spiritual; also in 10:4.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation,copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.,Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
John 17: 8
for I have passed on to them the words you gave me; and they accepted them and know that I came from you, and they believe you sent me.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation,copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.,Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
Lena’s Comments Matthew 10
He Called to Himself AND then He sent them out, to specific places ( I’ll call them targets) WITH instructions! If we do not know where we are going, how will we get anywhere? If we don’t know what we are "shooting at", how will we hit a bullseye? Jesus hits the bullseye, right on the target, because He sends out His disciples with goals and purposes and an outlined strategy in hand. Why even go to war or build a house or have a goal if not to finish, win, or make something from nothing? He aims and shoots and hits. If a person aims at nothing, that’s what he’ll hit, nothing. Also aiming with faith is a key, not just aiming, but aiming looking through the eye of faith is key! Do we realize we have been sent as announcers? When was the last time you even thought about making an announcement for God to anyone at all? Have you been sure and secure enough to announce anything to anybody that is a contrary message from whatever has already been being announced to them? Such as- If they’ve been unloved, or felt unloved, what would you be right there at the right time announcing? That there is one who loves them like no one else ever could, and tell them it is Jesus who loves them that way? Do you see yourself as an announcer? Let’s not agree with people’s problems or sympathize with circumstances, let’s announce the good news. Who are you? Who do they say you are? Who does He say you are?
When we announce, the point is not whether they listen or not, the point is whether we announce or not. How can there ever be a chance for listening, if we are not announcing? BUT there is at least a chance that they are listening, if we are announcing, and even more so if we are also praying and fasting
Only sheep go out. If we are goats (diff between sheep and goats? "But, But. But…. No BUTS. Go)
vs 22 This is sooooo key…He who ENDURES to the END will be saved. God made us to bring His will and plan into the earth- period. He needs us to do that, that’s why we were made, that’s why we are here, born at the time we were made, in this city, in this country, in this age. IF we do not ever do this we miss it all, and if we do it but quit we miss a whole lot, and if we do it no matter what happens to us, or what people think of us or how they look at, or speak of us, or no matter what kind of opposition arises to try to stop us, we will see a great reward. One such reward, I believe is the sweet holy communion of a human being being ONE with God Himself. What an awesome place that is to be in! There is no other place like that anywhere. That place is where satan does not want us to go, or stay in. He’d hate it if we even went there for a moment, if we can go there for a moment it will be enough to take us there over and over again, it is enough to keep us keeping on, and going on, and enduring all, for the love we get to know in that place. Love covers a multitude of sin. Love sees beyond who people appear to be to reach their lost souls. Love will endure their state of being to get through to their spirit life, what is really inside and call it forth, so they too can become who God made them to be in Christ Jesus the Lord.
ANNOUNCE – ANNOUNCE- ANNOUNCE! Rebel against the world’s sway to keep silent. Rebel against the enemy’s pull to fight against and try to win against God. Do it anyway, say it anyway. Start small. Practice love. Practice kindness. Practice announcing. Practice boldness, and confidence in Him, because He wins and when we are on His "side" we win too.