Matthew Chapter 10

Matthew 10:1-4 ~ The Calling of the Twelve Apostles

There was no failure involved when the disciples went out with the authority of Christ. Failure is impossible with the authority of Christ. There is no such thing as the human frame is too weak, or we just did not pray enough. That is not the Jesus of the Bible.

If you have been called, when you preach God's word, you will have the ministry of Christ in His authority through His word. If no one gets ministered to when you preach the word, then sit down, you have not been called. You think you have, but you have not. If you say you are a faith healer and nobody gets healed, sit down, because you do not have the authority of Christ.

If you approach me proclaiming your calling, you better have the authority of Christ. I am willing to receive everything the Lord has for me. But if you are going to put it back on me, thinking the authority of Christ is not enough. That Jesus is so weak and feeble that He is dependent upon me to believe enough to be able to do it. No. Even Jesus showed the contradiction there, He upped the ante. Not only did He cast out demons, and heal people of all diseases, but He raised the dead. How much faith does the dead guy have? None. It was the authority of Christ.

Matthew 10:5-15 ~ The Commissioning of the Apostles

The disciples were going through an intensive situation to learn to live by faith. Do you know that every Christian is put through this kind of circumstance in their walk with Christ?

In the Old Testament Jesus took the Jewish people through the wilderness to the Promised Land. It was an eleven day journey to get to the Promised Land. He could have taken them the shorter plush way. But He purposely took them through the desert to teach them that man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. In the desert there was no food, no water. And they complained to Him the whole way. God miraculously provided food and water for them, but still they complained. To the point that when it was time to come into the Promised Land, He said they could not enter in. They would have to go around the mountain until they died. It took forty years to travel an eleven day journey. Spiritually, many Christians are going around the mountain.

God is going to take us through hard times where we must learn to trust the Lord and His word no matter what, even when there is no provision. We will be out in the hot desert with no food, no water, just the Lord, trusting that He is going to keep His word. That is the best circumstance in which to learn how to trust Him.

So, if you are a believer and you have not gone through times like these yet, you will. You will lose everything. And the Lord will take you through the desert to teach you that man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

Matthew 10:16-18 ~ The Conditions of the Twelve Apostles Part 1

The proper approach to difficulties is to approach them as shrewd as snakes and unsophisticated as doves. And the purpose for our difficulties is to go through the difficulties surrendered to Christ, willing to receive the sacrifice that those difficulties bring to our lives. Not looking to get out of it. Not looking for the difficulties to pass. But looking to suffer through the difficulties so that the testimony and witness of Christ would be effective in our lives.

Matthew 10:19-23 ~The Conditions of the Twelve Apostles Part 2

If you find yourself in situations where you ask, "What am I going to say if this person asks about my faith in Christ. Should I tell them about my faith in Christ?"

Listen to what Jesus said, "Do not be anxious, for it will be given to you in that hour what you will say. For you yourselves are not the ones speaking, but the Spirit of your Father is the One speaking in you." What a deliverance truth that is.

There have been times when I thought maybe I should tell the person I was with about the Lord, and I could not get any words out. I wanted to but could not get the words out. Then there were other times when I did not want to talk to the person about the Lord at all. And all I did was talk about Jesus. And at the time, I am thinking to myself, "Where is this coming from? It is not me." Do you see the difference there between human beings trying to perform for God and human beings centered on Christ and letting Him do the talking? If He wants to talk, He can talk. I feel no guilt or pressure whatsoever because it is not me who speaks. It is the Spirit of my Father who dwells in me. We as human beings are unable to speak the spiritual things of God. Only God's Spirit speaks the spiritual things of God.

Matthew 10:24-33 ~ The Characteristics of Discipleship

In all situations, you are challenged.  Are you going to compromise and reject Christ?  Are you going to seek the Lord as to what He wants to do and follow your Teacher, your Master?  And if you choose to follow Him, you should expect to suffer.   That suffering may come from your family, your friends, maybe even from yourself because you are going to beat yourself up over all the lost opportunities you had for following Jesus Christ.  You will lose, not gain in this world system.

Matthew 10:34-36 ~ The Cost of Discipleship Part 1

"I want people to see my decision to respond to and be obedient to Christ. And I want them to get upset about that. Because I want them to see their need for Christ; to see that they are walking in rebellion to Christ. I want them to know and I want them to see that their eternal soul is dependent upon how they respond to Christ, not religion, and if they continue in their own way they will die in their sins. My witness to people is the things that I suffer and the things that I sacrifice for. But as for me and my household, as for me and my life, I will serve the Lord. I will suffer for it in relationships, in opportunities, in circumstances, in situations. That is my testimony."

Matthew 10:37-39 ~ The Cost of Discipleship Part 2

"I cannot overemphasize this. I cannot go too far if I emphasize it every week. Remember this morning I started off with saying we are two thousand years removed from the actual person of Jesus Christ being here, from an actual identification with Him Himself and we have a book called the Bible. And it is through the Bible that we relate back two-thousand years, but we've lost the reality of a personal relationship with Him as they had back then. We have Christ with us today, but we would rather study a book."

Matthew 10:40-42 ~ The Communion of Discipleship

When Jesus Christ lives inside of a person, He is going to create difficult circumstances not good ones.  He is going to put me in circumstances where I am hungry, need clothing, or need help for the day.  Christ in me is going to create a condition that is going to cause Christ in someone else to respond.  And people are going to respond not because they are humanitarian.  They might not even know why.  Someone will think, "He looks thirsty.  He might need a drink of water."  You and I would say that is insignificant, but Jesus says you just responded to Him, not them.

Jesus creates hard circumstance that He is in. Not these circumstances where you see people parading around the street saying how perfectly healed, wealthy, and happy they are.  That is not Jesus.  Jesus identifies with the poor, the hungry, those who need clothing, those who are in prison, those who are sick.  So, what Jesus is saying is, "While you were here, you responded to Me in the difficult situations of God's people." That is the proof that you belong to Christ.  It was not your doctrine or church attendance, but how you responded—not to people but to Christ in people.