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 10:34-36 ~ 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."