Matthew 10 ++ Today's DB

Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.

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Matthew 10:1-42
Jesus Calls Twelve Followers And Sends Them Out(Mark 6:7-13; Luke 9:1-6)
1Jesus called His twelve followers to Him. He gave them power to put out demons and to heal all kinds of sickness and disease. 2These are the names of the twelve followers. There were Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John who were the sons of Zebedee. 3There were Philip and Bartholomew and Thomas. There was Matthew, the man who gathered taxes. There were James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeaus, and 4Simon the Canaanite. There was Judas Iscariot who handed Jesus over to be killed.
5Jesus sent out these twelve followers. He told them to go, saying, "Stay away from people who are not Jews. And do not go to any town in the country of Samaria. 6But go to the Jewish people who are lost. 7As you go, preach. Say, 'The holy nation of heaven is near.' 8Heal the sick and those with bad skin diseases. Raise the dead. Put out demons. You have received much, now give much. 9Do not take gold or silver or brass money with you. 10Do not take a bag of things for the trip. Do not take two coats or shoes or a walking stick. A workman should receive his food and what he needs.
11"When you come to a city or town, find a home that is respected and stay there until you leave. 12As you go into a house, tell them you hope good comes to them. 13And if the house is respected, give them your good wishes. If it is not respected, let your good wishes come back to you. 14Whoever does not receive you or does not listen to what you say, as you leave that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet. 15For sure, I tell you, it will be easier for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day men stand before God and are told they are guilty, than for that city.
16"I am sending you out like sheep with wolves all around you. Be wise like snakes and gentle like doves. 17But look out for men. They will take you up to their courts and they will hurt you in their places of worship. 18They will take you in front of the leaders of the people and of the kings because of Me. You will tell them and the people who do not know God about Me. 19When you are put into their hands, do not worry what you will say or how you will say it. The words will be given you when the time comes. 20It will not be you who will speak the words. The Spirit of your Father will speak through you. 21"A brother will hand over a brother to be put to death. A father will hand over his child to be put to death. Children will hand over their parents to be put to death. 22You will be hated by all people because of Me. But he who stays true to the end will be saved. 23When they make it hard for you in one town, go to another. For sure, I tell you, before you have gone through the Jewish cities, the Son of Man will come.
24"A follower is not greater than his teacher. A servant who is owned by someone is not greater than his owner. 25A follower should be happy to be as his teacher, and a servant who is owned by someone should be happy to be as his owner. If they have called the head of the house Satan, how much more will they speak against those of the house. 26Then do not be afraid of them. For nothing is covered up that will not be brought out into the light. There is nothing hid that will not be made known. 27You tell in the light what I tell you in the dark. You must speak with a loud voice from the roofs of houses what you have heard. 28Do not be afraid of them who kill the body. They are not able to kill the soul. But fear Him Who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. 29Are not two small birds sold for a very small piece of money? And yet not one of the birds falls to the earth without your Father knowing it. 30God knows how many hairs you have on your head. 31So do not be afraid. You are more important than many small birds.
32"Whoever makes Me known in front of men, I will make him known to My Father in heaven. 33But whoever does not make Me known in front of men and acts as if he does not know Me, I will not make him known to My Father in heaven.
34"Do not think I came to bring peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35I came to turn a man against his father. I came to turn a daughter against her mother. I came to turn a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36A man will be hated by his own family.

Giving Up Things Of This Earth(Luke 14:25-35)
37"He who loves his father and mother more than Me is not good enough for Me. He who loves son or daughter more than Me is not good enough for Me. 38He who does not take his cross and follow Me is not good enough for Me. 39He who wants to keep his life will have it taken away from him. He who loses his life because of Me will have it given back to him.
40"Whoever receives you, receives Me. Whoever receives Me, receives Him Who sent Me. 41Whoever receives a preacher who speaks for God because he is a preacher, will get the reward of a preacher who speaks for God. Whoever receives a man right with God, because he is a man right with God, will get the reward of a man right with God. 42For sure, I tell you, anyone who gives a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he follows Me, will not lose his reward."

Copyright Statement: New Life BibleScripture quotations are from the New Life Bible, copyright © 1969 by Christian Literature International. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

~ Lena’s Journalin’ Today~
There is such a cost in choosing what is right before God. It so evident how easy choosing evil is, yet the consequences of those choices are grave. We choose what is eternal in value and we pay a price for that here in earth. The price is the giving of our self life to God.
It’s like if we live for what is easy and what we’d naturally like while we are here on earth, what is easy to us, we may live in eternal torment; but if we choose what will be eternal bliss we live now on a narrow pathway.
What is our salvation really worth to us?
Is God our God? Or do we serve another, including self- service?
God calls for self –sacrifice, not self service. Our lives are as seeds, if we give them to God, He’ll make trees with fruits, If we withhold them and do not give our lives to God while we are here on earth, we die and there is nothing except eternal payment for that wrong choice.
God is calling for trees with fruit from each one of us, if we have not given our lives to Him there is nothing and will be nothing for us later on.
Did the Lord say it would be easy to obey? Is that the gauge of obedience, whether it is easy or hard? Dear God, if we listen with that measure we are deceived and may go to hell’s fire, which will not be easy at all.
Do not be deceived into thinking what is easy is God. God said narrow is the way that leads to life, there are not a whole lot of choices there. Life is the obvious choice, His not mine.
When we talk and live this way we may lose a few friends and a few family members may not want to be around us much. This may be part of the price we pay. Our faith will be tested by fire to see if it is true. If you lose friends over faith, not over your bad character choices, because of your faith walk, do you curse God? Do you turn back? Do you re-consider saying, I had no idea God would ask for this? What all did Jesus give to pay for rights to the salvation of your soul? A very High price. The price He paid is not usually of the magnitude that we feel we to pay for our faith.
When we get hired for a job, when we get married, when we say the “sinner’s prayer”, do we know the full extent of the requirements that will come to us by definition later on? Yet we make the promises before we know, don’t we? We go in immature, and if we endure to the end we are matured through the process of staying.
What we are wiling to give to God is a sign of our level of maturity. How long we stay, how much we endure, what we give up etc. Are our words of promise real? Do they have integrity to them, does the integrity mature with re-definition? Does it stand no matter what?
I mean what if your family member hates you? Do you keep your faith in God, do you keep faith for that family member? Can you or do you bless them?
We say we know God. Knowing is loving, knowing is telling. If we know Him we will not be able to not speak about Him to others in hope that they also will know Him as we do. This is evidence of relational love, Telling all we know about Him and His great love. Always be ready to cast seeds of love into the groundwork of people’s hearts. Then watch to see if there is receptivity for more and if it is good soil to continue to plant in and make a new disciple.
How great is our love this week? How Great is our love for God? And for His people? Do we give our lives for it? Is it that valuable to us, or is it so shallow that it is easily taken, comes and goes with the wind?
Time to get solid in faith! The winds are about to blow over the earth.
Come wind blow on my Lord’s love garden. Those who’ve been planted and stay planted will stand firm in the storms.

Daily Repetitive Verses:

Proverbs 27:17-19
17 You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another. 18 If you care for your orchard, you'll enjoy its fruit; if you honor your boss, you'll be honored.
19 Just as water mirrors your face, so your face mirrors your heart.
Psalm 122:1
1 When they said, "Let's go to the house of God," my heart leaped for joy.