"He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me. 41 He who receives a prophet in the
name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he who receives
a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a
righteous man’s reward. 42 And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward."
If
you have recently received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, please
write or text to let us know so that we can pray for you. Also, let us know if
you would allow us to share your story. Each one of us have been
blessed with a unique testimony. We'd love to hear from you.
If
your faith is worth having, it is worth sharing. If your don’t share
it, you do not have saving faith which leads to transforms the life and
makes us His servants or disciples. I’m not ashamed to bear His name, in
fact, I tell the world that I'm a Christian, even if that may result in
persecution. Nowhere in Scripture does Jesus claim that when He calls
us to be His disciples, it's going to be a life of ease. In fact, He
repeatedly tells us it will be anything but. He says we will be hated,
reviled, scourged, slandered and possibly, even put to death.
In our last message, we learned it will not always be easy to follow Christ, in fact, more often than not, it will be difficult. We talked about having to confess before men in hostile world, forsaking your family, and even giving your life. A concept that for many is mind-boggling today. If that's you, you are not alone. Especially at a time when human rights are high on the list of priorities for many people, can you imagine the headlines, if God were to test our faith today as He did Abraham’s in asking him to give up Isaac. We'd be arrested for child abuse! And, in today's world that’s the way it would look. Yet, in Genesis 22 that's exactly what happened. However, I believe if we would look closely at the story in Genesis, and relate it in terms that
make sense for us today, a spiritual process, which should be applied to our own lives, turns out to have an amazing relevance for
our daily lives! God doesn’t speak to us by accident, but we do have to be listening for it. I believe it needs to be seen in light of Matthew 10.
Let us pray
Heavenly Father,
In His name we ask and pray.
Amen
Today's Message: The True Meaning of Discipleship - Part 4
Today, as we continue in the gospel of Matthew, as return to chapter10 to conclude our study on the true meaning of discipleship. I believe the Spirit of God has had much to say on this topic, which has spoken to my own heart and I pray it has yours as well. I believe this is a much neglected subject that desperately needs to be addressed in the church today. Much of the preaching and teaching on the responsibility of being a disciple of Christ is superficial and shallow, that you can just add to Jesus to your life. There's no call to obedience, to forsake the sin of which you have been forgiven, no call to repentance. I believe it is a horrible damning misrepresentation of what is means to follow Christ.
There is no mention of self-denial, self-sacrifice and commitment to the Lordship of Christ, at any cost.An teaching that have produced a generation of people who claim to follow Jesus, but the reality is their not willing
to give up anything, therefore, there's no authenticity to their claims. It's little more than lip service.
In Philippians 2:8, Paul wrote "Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."
In Matthew 15:8, Jesus said
"‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away from Me." I
believe that it should be the heart, the passion of every believer to
become more and more like Christ. Jesus never stopped obeying His Father and fulfilling His will and all righteousness. He didn't just talk the talk, He walked the walk. That’s how true discipleship works.
Luke 24 says "Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and He said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem."
It is not only when we preach, but when we live out our testimony of faith in Christ and when we represent Jesus Christ through the transformation of our lives that people believe. When they can see for themselves we are in Christ and He is in us, that's when they accept your message.
When
we forgive someone who has hurt us or offended us, we expect an apology
and a change of behavior from that person so as not to hurt or offend us again. How much
does our Heavenly Father Who gave His own Son to die in our place, that
we might be reconciled with Him expect us to repent, turn away from the
sin from which He has so graciously forgiven us?
"He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me. He who receives a prophet in the
name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he who receives
a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a
righteous man’s reward. And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward."
What a tremendous honor and privilege it is to be used by God, knowing that people receive Him through you and me. That is truly a remarkable thing. Of course we know that not everyone will receive us, some will reject us thereby rejecting Christ. That's why we must be continually speaking and living the Truth at all times, because we never know who or when someone may be watching.
Let's look at verse 40, this is incredible, "He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me."
Since the very beginning of my journey, God has been with me, over the years, I have witnessed Him doing things in my life and the lives of those around me that were humanly impossible. I trust God for everything. For the record, that isn’t blind faith, it is tested faith, because I have seen and experienced what God has done. I believe that obedience is the key to seeing the work of God in our lives. Unquestioning obedience creates a trustworthiness, a deeper relationship with God, and increased faith with our Heavenly Father.
We honor Him when we support of those who do the work of Jesus. He will reward those who welcome the message and welcomes the messenger whom He has sent. Those who reject the messenger, also reject His work through those He sends, will be rejected.
In verse 41, He says "He who receives a prophet in the
name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he who receives
a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a
righteous man’s reward."
Those who receive you will receive the reward that you receive. It doesn't matter whether you're a pastor, or a teacher, or a missionary. We should be encouraged to know that God will reward those who support us in proclaiming His message. God has supernaturally and providentially sustains us along the way with His helpers to encourage us. God is involved in every detail of our lives. He will even use us in encouraging others as they proclaim the Gospel. What a beautiful display of His loving care. Every prayer, every email, word of encouragement or act of generosity is seen by God.
As we do it for others, we do it for Jesus Himself. We can pray and support others with confidence and joy in knowing we will be rewarded for our faithfulness to accomplish the work of God. In other words, it’s all about Jesus and His work in and through us. We all share in receiving the same reward. In a sense, I become a means to your blessedness when I proclaim the Gospel and when you let your life become the source supporting me, you become a means to my blessedness. We both become the instrument by which others are blessed. What a tremendous thought. We demonstrate that He is the priority of our lives by being a faithful disciple and supporting faithful disciples.
That brings us to verse 42, "And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward."
The twelves were unknown, essentially nobody's, they were unqualified. Just like all of us today. When we become the source of blessedness for others, even by giving them a cup of cold water, we will be rewarded. They will be rewarded when they believe our message when they receive salvation, no matter how meager the messenger is because of whose he is. They will be rewarded when they help our ministry. In that sense, we give them the privilege of being doubly rewarded. Even the least of us shares the reward with the greatest of us. God gives His eternal gifts to those who are His own.
Being a disciple of Jesus, His messenger is not always easy. I doing so, you become the source of conflict for much of the world. But for those who receive us, we become the source of blessing. By embracing us, they will embrace the whole of the blessedness of God. Let me put it this way, we are the bridge for someone to cross into the presence of God. Entering into a spiritual inheritance that
goes on forever. In receiving Christ every person’s past can change! The significance of their life can change. That's the staggering reality of God's grace.
May we commit and dedicate our lives to serving our Lord, Jesus Christ to that end.
In Closing..
I see people today who think they can live any way they want and still
be saved by Grace. By abusing His grace you're breaking God’s heart, but
you cannot make Him stop loving you. That kind of love should bring
about changes in our lives and the way we live. We must choose to submit
ourselves to the Lord and His will. The eternal consequences of denying Jesus, whether with our lips or our lives have far reaching consequences and are far worse than the consequences of denying the lusts, desires, things and people of this world. I pray that from today forward, each of you will choose to make Christ the greatest priority of your lives.
May it be so..
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
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