The Call to Discipleship Part 3

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Shabbat Shalom, everybody. Good morning to you all. I trust that you had a wonderful and filling Thanksgiving this week. And I think that we as a people have a lot to be thankful for, not just as Americans, but as believers, as people who know what it means to experience the holiness and goodness of God. So I hope that you were able to return thanks this week with your family and just be very grateful for all that he's done for you and in you.

Today we're going to finish up what I call the sermon on the Go, which is Matthew chapter 5, or, excuse me, Matthew chapter 8, 10. We're going to zero in specifically on Matthew chapter 10. You know, there is a time for seated instruction. The classroom matters. You know, when I got out of Bible College, I used to hear people, some of my fellow friends that were in ministry who would say, well, they didn't teach me that well, that's.

Yeah, they probably touched on things that would help you when you deal with some of the things that you deal with in ministry and life. But there's no classroom that can cover every experience. There's some learning that happens not just while you sit and while you listen to someone lecture. You learn it as you go, as you experience the things that that classroom setting was designed to teach you. The Sermon on the Mount was that classroom setting where the disciples came to Yeshua and he began to teach them about the kingdom and teach them about how God wanted the Torah to play out in their life in genuine righteousness.

But that was followed by what I call the Sermon on the go, Matthew, chapter 8 and 9. Jesus takes the disciples with him. And in Matthew 8 and 9, it is just crammed full of miracle after miracle after miracle, giving testimony to the goodness of God, to the heart of God, and to who Jesus is. And These men, these 12, are there with him. It's no longer the classroom now it's the lab.

It's the real world. But just as there's a time for seated instruction, and just as there's a time for going and watching as an apprentice and learning in that capacity, there's also comes a time when, after the classroom and after the apprenticeship, it's time to do what you have been trained by the Master to do.

In sports parlance, we would call that game time. Matthew chapter 10 is kind of like Jesus final pregame instruction and a game plan for those Matthew describes as his 12 disciples. It is that moment when you move from being a listener to a leader, from a watcher to a doer, and from an Apprentice to an apostle, meaning a sent one, someone who's going to engage as the master has taught you. Matthew, chapter 10, verse 1, it says, and Yeshua called his 12 disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness. Now, I'm going to apologize in advance for my football analogies today, but it's time to suit up.

It's time to get your head in the game. It's time to break free from fear and move forward knowing we're all in this together. Now, that little section there was really for two ladies who are trying to keep count of how many high school musical terminologies I can work into one sermon. In all seriousness, it's game time for the 12. But it's not just for the 12.

I had the privilege of coaching high school football in Union County, Indiana, for eight and a half seasons, and I was actually hired to be the freshman football coach, but I functioned more like the offensive defensive line coach. And when I was working with the young men, and I thought it was a real privilege that they had given me this opportunity, I was from Oklahoma, so they assumed I knew something about football.

Part of their assumption was right, but not as much as they thought. But one of the things I would do with my young men, especially in the early days of the season and practice, is I would line them up, up, and I would take one or two from out of the pack and I would begin to literally physically work with them, because especially the freshmen are kind of gangly and awkward and just begin to work on the basics of how you get down in a proper stance, where your backside goes, how straight your back should be, where your head should be, what is the correct position so that when you hear that ball snap, you can fire off that line.

As a coach, I would teach them form and posture. I would try to coach them on how to remain steadfast and not get jumpy and go too soon or move too late. I would teach them to explode off the line with power and how to do that and how to best position themselves for maximum impact. And I would teach the boys how to block when the opponent was rushing you, or how to block when you were going after them. Now, I want to ask you a question.

Do you think as a football coach, I only wanted that one young man that I pulled out from the pack to learn all of those things? Of course not. I would be a rotten football coach if I thought that just teaching one of the boys how to do that would put a team together. But this is what I understood by pulling that one or two out of the pack and physically working with them, using them as an example, guess what was happening. The rest of the boys were watching.

And then when I would call them to get in position, I had to do far less to position them because they'd been focused on what was happening with their teammate. As I showed the one, the others watched and learned. And friends, that's what we're going to do today as Jesus pulls out the 12 and sets them before us and ask us as disciples to pay attention to what he is teaching them about how to do Kingdom ministry and Kingdom Harvest. Will you pray with me, Abba? Father, we bless your name.

Again, thank you so much for our littles. Lord, they're such a blessing to see them come up week after week. Lord, we don't want to just recite a blessing. We want to actually speak a blessing over them and pray that you will watch over them and bless them in every way in Yeshua's name. Father, bless us now with an understanding of what your son Yeshua was trying to teach his disciples and what we are to learn as we listen and as we watch.

Father, there's my prayer. And my hope is that there is one thing in this message that relates to every heart in this room, but only you can do that. So, Lord, I put that in the hands of the Holy Spirit and all the glory will be yours in Yeshua's name. Amen. So we're just going to go down through Matthew, chapter 10.

If you have your Bible on your lap or on your app. Matthew, chapter 10, verses 2 and 4 gives us the names of the and some familial relationships of the 12. There are twins. There's tax collectors, there's brothers, there's fishermen, there's hardcore national zealots. There are some whose names are in Hebrew and there are some whose names are in Greek.

Time is not going to permit a detailed study of each name, but there are some things I want to point out, and one of those things is diversity. Some were neck deep in politics and others were successful businessmen. Some were respected in their communities and some were hated, like Matthew, the tax collector. Yet Jesus chose each one to be his 12. Their past was not irrelevant to their future ministry, but it was not a shackle that would keep them from public ministry.

The 12 were chosen to manifest that diversity. But the diversity here is not the diversity we hear so much about, which is based on race or gender. Their diversity was more based on social and spiritual diversity. There is a place for each of you in the kingdom of God. There is no place for you to be a do nothing disciple in the kingdom of God.

Well, that sounded judgmental. Well, that's just the way it is.

You don't get to wear the jersey if you won't do the work. You're not a part of the team. If you're not a part of the team.

Some of us used all sorts of different things from our own life to in our own heart and mind disqualify us from getting up and going and being engaged in kingdom service. But the 12 teach us not to ignore where we came from. Because where you came from, some of your hardship, some of your social identity, some of your cultural reality, some of your ethnicity will be used by the Master to reach people that I will never reach because you are uniquely stamped with those things which will connect with them. And if you choose not, well, I'm not him, so I can't do that. Then you rip somebody off by not doing your part.

Our past is not irrelevant, but it also doesn't limit us. Sometimes he'll use those shared backgrounds and experiences, and sometimes he'll call you to do something so far outside your identity and your cultural background so that you will learn this is never about who you are. It's about who he is. It's about being on mission with him. It's about the identity he gives you.

Matthew, chapter 10, verse 5. He says, do not go the way of the Gentiles and do not enter any of the cities of the Samaritans, but rather go, go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Last week we dealt with this, so I'm only going to mention it again as a reminder. Go where God sends you and recognize God's timing. Don't miss the moment with those who are ready because you're so focused on those who you want to be ready.

Anybody have people you want to be ready to receive the kingdom that just aren't doing it. Man, that's frustrating, isn't it? I'm not saying move on and drop them, but don't let your focus on those who will not receive take you out of the game for those who will receive. And if you don't know who those people are, this would be a good time to start asking the Master. Well, what's my assignment?

Show me who I should reach. Matthew 10, 7, 8. He says as you go preach, saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand, has drawn near. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers and cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.

Don't use what you can, do what you can do to stop you from doing what he has called you to do in his power. Don't use what you can do say, well, I'm only going to, you know, I'm not an apostle. I don't have those supernatural gifts, so I'm only going to do this. But don't let that stop you from believing in what God can do. Don't, as a Kingdom disciple, begin to think, well, I can't do anything if I can't do it the way that guy does it.

Come on, that takes you out of the game. I mean, you know, watching young men as a football coach, watching them, they want to be good players. But so many times, you know, the worst advice I ever got as a football player was to be like this, to run like this other player. Well, this other player was about this tall and was bench pressed about 325. He was about as wide as he was tall and he literally ran through people.

And my freshman year, they said, oh, you need to be like Robert. And so I was a running back and they pitched me the ball and I went out around end and I got past the line and here come the cornerbacks and all three of us, our heads all met because I was going to try to run like Robert instead of like Brent. Guess what happened? I got my bell rung and it took me four years to remember the game.

Don't be like somebody else. Run the race that you have been given. Use the gifts and the abilities he has given you. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the leper, cast out demons, give freely. However that works naturally, supernaturally, you let the Lord show you.

Matthew 10, 9, 10. Do not acquire gold or silver or copper for your money belts or your bag for a journey, or even two coats or sandals or a staff for the worker is worthy of his support. I learned this as a kid. I said it last week. Where God guides, He provides, trust him.

For their first missionary experience, Jesus told them to literally go practically with nothing. Why? Because Jesus was going to give them two testimonies. One would be to them, would be for them to experience his provision through his people. God would teach them that they can trust God to already be wherever they're being sent.

It would also teach them to simply trust people. Sometimes we have a hard time doing that in the body of Christ. We're afraid to ask for help. The other testimony was not so great. It was a testimony against the towns and villages that would experience firsthand the power and presence of the kingdom, yet they would reject it.

And the disciples, hear me. The disciples needed to see that rejection as much as they needed to see those who had reject receive. Why? Because that's the reality of the harvest. That's the reality of this world.

Jesus goes on and explains. And whatever city or village you enter, inquire who is worthy in it and stay at his house until you leave that city. As you enter that house, give it your greeting. If the house is worthy, give it your blessing of peace. But if not, take back your blessing of peace.

Whoever does not receive you nor heed your words as you go out of the house of the city or city, shake off the dust of your feet. Truly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the Day of Judgment than for that city. Folks, this is a hard lesson. How many of you want to be involved in Kingdom harvest and Kingdom mission and Kingdom ministry? Guess what?

It's not easy. There are people that are going to reject you. The good news is that's not your failure. That's the reality. Church.

When it comes to the Kingdom ministry and mission, we don't give up. We move on. Do you hear me? When it comes to being a servant, being a disciple, sharing the gospel, we don't give up, we move on. Now, that doesn't mean we stop caring about those people we have to move on from.

But sometimes we have to recognize it's not their time. And so we have to get up and move on. And sometimes we need to know when to shut up. I mean, excuse me, parents. We need to know when to be quiet.

Sorry about the littles. We need to know when to. Oh, let's get Hebrew. We need to know when to check it.

You can translate that one yourself. We need to know when to back off. We need to know when someone is at saturation. Sometimes we're so busy wanting to win the argument, we forget that we're trying to rescue their souls. And you don't rescue somebody by overwhelming them, by brow beating them, by making sure they get every one of your amazing points.

I love how Jesus teaches these men the truth.

Some are just not going to be worthy of him. He goes on verses 16 through 20. Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Man, let me stop, right? Come on, Jesus, be honest about this.

I mean, is there anybody that needs explanation for what that means? Okay, a Wolf is a carnivore and he eats sheep. They're not buddies, just in case you need that interpreted for you. And he says, and I'm sending you out. Don't you wish he would have said, I'm sending you out like wolves among sheep.

You can just devour them with the Gospel. No, that's not what he says. He says, I'm sending you out as sheep among wolves. Well, that's what we call counterintuitive, as my down syndrome brother used to say. That don't make no sense.

That does not sound like a recipe for success. Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. So be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves. But beware of men, for they will hand you to over to the courts and scourge you in their synagogues and you will even be brought before governors and kings for my sake as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. But when they hand you over, do not be worried about how or what you are to say, for it will be given to you in that hour what you are to say.

For it is not you who speak, but it is the spirit of your Father who speaks in you. Man I love verse 16. Jesus doesn't give a false representation of the playing field. Man. As a football coach, I used to have to get my boys ready for teams for games where quite honestly, we were a little 2A school and we were going up against 4 and 5A schools.

And the bottom line is unless the angels came down and started playing for us, we weren't going to win.

But that didn't mean we stopped encouraging them to go out and play their best. It's tough, it's dangerous, if that's what it was for them. Why do we think that the kingdom mission should work, should never have any risk involved for us? Why do we think the presence or resistance of people is a reason to not go in the first place? Honestly, as a minister, I used to hear this all the time.

Well, what if they reject me? Especially when I'd be talking to young people. Well, what if they reject me? They've already rejected you. What are you talking about?

Well, I wouldn't know what to say. I'm not going to make you raise your hand, but I would love to do a cross section and find out how many have said that at some point. I wouldn't know what to say.

I wouldn't know what to do. Well, this is the playbook Jesus has told us. It's not about what you know how to do. I had a young man one time, and let's just say he wasn't the brightest in the pack. And I told him we were going to change, move him to a different position.

And I said, I need you to go home and read the playbook tonight. I need you to study it. I need you to know these plays. And he came back the next day, and I don't know if you know anything about football playbooks, but you know, you represent one side as an X and the other side is an O. And he came back and I said, well, did you read the playbook?

He says, yes, I did. I did, coach, I did. I read. Oh, man, I studied it. I got it.

I said, all right. Well, do you have any questions? He said, yeah, just one. Are we the X's or the O's?

Jesus tells them what the other side is going to throw at them. But if we don't pay attention to what Jesus has told us about us, we go out there in fear instead of faith.

Jesus is telling them, oh, and when they do it, what our flesh actually tells us is when they reject. Oh, when they do that, when they do exactly what Jesus told us they were going to do, what does our flesh say? You failed. Did Jesus tell them this was going to happen because they were going to fail? No.

Do you remember the 10 lepers, or do you remember the leper of chapter 8? Jesus says, Go and show yourself to the priest as a testimony to them. Now Jesus says, you're going to end up before kings and Gentiles as a testimony before them. Friends, please hear this and know that I say this right now, living this very. I'm in this season right now in my own life.

Sometimes the moments of struggle we face are just moments setting the stage for a greater moment of testimony that Jesus has planned. And sometimes getting to that greater moment of testimony involves rejection and pain and frustration with people you love and care about. And it can be incredibly painful to go through. But we have to understand, Jesus says, sometimes this is going to happen. This is going to happen.

But guess what's going to come from it? Some of you are going to end up before kings. You're going to be testifying before kings about the King of Kings. You're going to have a chance to say something to a political figure that will change the course of human history. But it's going to be a painful path to get there.

You're going to be in the trenches. It's going to be a dogfight. But you have to understand that sometimes those are the moments that are setting up the greater moments. And maybe there's someone in the room today that's in one of those situations like I am, like Tanya and I are in, and we don't like it. That's not what we plan for.

But we have to have the same faith. We call you to to wait for the greater moment. Matthew 10:21, 22 Brother will betray brother to death, and father his child. And children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. You will be hated by all because of my name.

But it is the one who has endured to the who will be saved.

It's not the one who leaves the game and says it's too hard. Now, how do we know this section is prophetic of their future ministry ventures? Because none of them were put to death on this first missionary journey.

So why did Jesus tell them this? Because these things obviously apply to later on in their life and ministry. There is nothing quite as deceptive as success.

There's nothing that can skew your view of how things really are than when you win a little too much. Because when you win a little too much, what do you start expecting? Well, man, that was easy. And then you go at it again. Oh, that was easy.

And then you go at it again. Well, that wasn't easy at all.

Jesus begins to describe a resistance so extreme that it points to a future of some of the most extreme resistance to the gospel that they will face. A resistance that's based on a delusion so strong that family members who should be able to. We should be able to count on will betray us and turn us over to the authorities unto death. Now we're talking some future time for us. But what I just read is a present reality for other believers around the world right now.

It may be future tense for us. It's not future tense for them. They're living it right now. Believers in China, in Indonesia, etc. The success of one mission does not mean your next one will be met with the same acceptance and the level of self deception and delusion.

Folks, we have to understand this. It will be at levels we never thought possible, but we've got some really good examples that are happening right now. How many of you would have thought in a million years that your children would go to school, those who are in public school, or they would turn on the TV to hear somebody telling them there are 72 genders?

72.

There's two now. Please understand me. I don't say that to fan the flame of hatred against those people. But to understand it is a good example of. Of just how far the deception has gone in our age.

And so when we read these things about, oh, brothers aren't going to betray brothers to death, this isn't going to really happen. Well, did we ever think people would say there were 72 genders? No.

What Jesus is describing is real. And it's very, very important that we understand that it's real. For this reason, let me form it as a question. How many of you believe that level of deception is real? I mean, that Jesus wasn't exaggerated?

Do you believe that? Well, then my next question is this. How many of us are as fully convinced by these words? But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say, for it is not you who speak, but it is the ruach, it is the spirit of your Father speaking in you. Y'all are so quiet.

I mean, we absolutely believe that Jesus did not exaggerate the level and the degree of deception. But then we turn around and struggle. Well, I'm not even going to put myself in that situation because I wouldn't know what to say. Do you understand what you're saying right then? You're saying, satan has more power to do evil than the Father has the power to do good in you and through you, by the spirit of his holiness.

Anybody want to say that? No, I keep coming back to this paradigm. Why do we believe what Jesus said about the wicked and not what he has promised the redeemed? Matthew 10, 23, 34 or 24. But whatever, whenever they persecute you in one city, flee to the next.

For truly I say to you, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel until the Son of Man comes. Jesus says, and this is good news. Sometimes it's time to run.

Sometimes the wise move is get off the bullseye. When they persecute you in one city, flee to another. There's no shame in fleeing to another city so that you can serve those who are ready to rece. Receive. There's no shame in knowing when to speak and when to keep your mouth shut and move on.

But also notice there's no shame in moving on from those who reject so that you can find those who will receive. And that is maybe one of the most important moments in our lives as disciples, in listening to what the Holy Spirit is saying to us is listening for that moment. Lord, am I really focused on what you want me focused on, or have I just become obsessive about what I want. You see, discipleship is about listening to him.

Some may say, well, this is way too hard, and Jesus has an answer for that. A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master. It is enough for the disciple to become like his master or like his teacher and the slave like his master. What's the point? It is the same point he taught them in the Sermon on the Mount.

If they persecuted me, they're going to persecute you. If they hated me, they're going to hate you. Why do we expect otherwise? He then adds, just how far they'll go if they have called the head of the household Beelzebub, how much more will they malign the members of his household? What they're saying is, if the religious leaders who had gone so far will say that all of the good deeds of righteousness, that he's doing, all these manifestations, these miracles, these healing, that he's doing these by the demons, you know, by the Prince of demons.

If they're willing to say that about him doing those things, why should it surprise us? I mean, we're not the head of the household, are we? No, he is. And if they won't respect him, why should we go through, you know, go into the mission field thinking, oh, but they're going to respect us.

I struggle with this because I want to be successful as a coach. I wanted to win. I don't like losing.

But sometimes we go out with unrealistic expectations.

It was never really too difficult to figure out which boys had shown up just so they could wear the jersey on Friday.

The ones who just wanted to look cool, the ones who wanted to look like they were a part of the team and in the game, but they really just wanted the jersey to impress girls.

They weren't willing to risk playing tough and playing hard and being willing to get hurt.

Why does the Bible tell us that many will fall in the last days? Because they will. Because it's too hard.

Because they never really listened to what the master said. We can't be above our master if our master suffered for us. We can't turn around and then say, master, but you shouldn't allow us to have to hurt and struggle for you. I get it. I don't like rejection.

But the gospel of the Kingdom is the ultimate victory that we're called to. And the price that we pay is nothing compared to the reward we receive. Nothing. May I just give you just a. Just to use an illustration, this is something that years ago, when I was doing a Lot of Revelation seminars.

You know, I'd come to that section about the mark of the beast. And they won't let you buy or sell if you don't have the mark. And everybody's like, ooh, worried. You know, they're so worried about the mark.

But as a preacher, I had people telling me, the more you preach on giving, the less I'm going to give. And I'm like, what?

And I always thought about the tithe. And I thought, well, how in the world are we going to be ready for a time of tribulation? And I'm not date setting, I'm just talking that this is the suffering that Jesus. We don't know whether we're in the tribulation or a tribulation. All I know is I can't be ready to play in that kind of environment.

If I can't trust him with 10%, how am I going to trust him with my whole life?

And I'm not trying to grandstand, you know. This little note from Chris, we're near the end of the year. Please push giving. No, he didn't do that.

He didn't, and I'm not doing that. It's just. How can we. How can we say we're all in if we can't even be 10% in? He goes on.

Matthew 10, verse 26. Therefore, do not fear them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed or hidden that will not be made known. What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light, what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim on the housetops. Do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul, but rather fear him who is able to destroy both the body and the soul in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a cent, and yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your father, meaning apart from his awareness.

But the very hairs of your head, those of you who still have them, are all numbered.

So do not fear. You are more valuable than sparrows. That'd make a great T shirt. People would be like, what?

Why does your T shirt say you are more valuable than sparrows? Nothing ruins and impedes our witness more than fear. Fear leads to narcissism, and narcissism leads to the idolatry of self preservation over everything. Meaning pretty soon I will make sure I'm taking care of number one, and I won't risk and I won't go out there and I won't put myself where I might get hurt. Even though Jesus told the twelve.

That's exactly what happens sometimes when you go into the Kingdom. Harvest.

Ephesians 1:18, 19. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing passing greatness of his power towards us who believe. I ask you again, do you believe in that inheritance, that power, that presence of the Holy Spirit? Or do you believe more in the power of Satan in this world than you do the Spirit in your heart? I mean, it's just an amazing thing.

Jesus says it will be the spirit of the Father speaking through you. So please hear this. Until we know who we are in him, we will live in fear of them.

Until you know who you are in Christ, you will live in fear of those who don't know Christ. So how do we overcome the fear of them? Well, it's not a football game. In fact, Jesus says, do the exact opposite of what we do as coaches. We watch all the movies and the reels of the other team.

We learn everything about the enemy that we possibly can. Jesus says, no, don't do that. Learn everything about who you are in Christ. All the gifts I have given you, the callings, the promises, the testimonies. You learn that and their strategy becomes irrelevant.

Know who you are in Christ and it will stop making any difference what they're doing. Greater is he who is in us than he that's in the world. We either learn it, live it, and believe it, or we perish. Matthew 10:32, 33. Therefore, everyone who confesses me before men, I will also confess him before my Father who is in heaven.

But whoever denies me before men, I will also deny him before my Father who is in heaven.

There are many people who have created what they thought were spiritual movements. And some of those movements have created more apostates than saints. It breaks my heart that the living Torah and prophets of God became so misused that it began to blind people to the Messiah. Moses is going to have some words with those people. So I give you this warning and any who may hear, if you deny Jesus, if you deny Yeshua, you are denying the one who sent him.

You are denying the Father Himself. You need to understand, you're not. You don't have the option of holding back and saying, well, you know, I'm just going to kind of keep believing in God, but I'm not going to make a decision about Jesus. I'm not going to commit to be. Listen, you are not a kingdom citizen until you are a disciple of the King.

Period. You don't get to tell the king, hey, I'll get to you later if it turns out you're the one. Because what you're saying to the Father is that the Father failed to reveal the truth of who Yeshua is.

Remember what Jesus said about all those towns where he did all those miracles? It'll be better for Sodom and Gomorrah than those cities. How dare they say to God, you didn't do enough.

God says, depart from me. You are never on my team. Yeshua's words would have sounded likely sounded harsh, scary. But remember, they are the ones being sent to their own people on this mission, their family members. They are all being sent to people who have been told by their narcissistic religious leaders that oh, all Israel has a share in the world to come.

You don't need to worry about it.

But you can't tell the Father. The one whom he has revealed doesn't matter and still get in the game. Matthew 10, verses 34 through 39. Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.

For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother in law, and a daughter in law against her mother in law. That kind of happens anyway. And a man's enemies will be the members of the household, his own household. He who loves the father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And he who loves sons or daughters more than me is not worthy of me.

And he who does not take his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. He who has found his life will lose it. And he who has lost his life for my sake sake will find it. Wow. We've never heard anything so dramatic or so divisive in all of scripture, have we?

Well, except that we have. It just was stated in a little nicer way. Genesis 2, verse 24. For this reason a man shall leave his father.

He'll leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and they will become one flesh. If you're trying to understand what Jesus was saying in what I just read, that's the import of it. If you're not willing to forsake your household to become one with him as the bride of Christ, then you're not worthy of him because he has given his life for you and for me. Going on mission with Jesus is going on in life with him as his bride, bearing his Name as your own, accepting his destiny as your own, in sickness and health and poverty and plenty, until death does not part us, but joins us to him forever.

Jesus concludes, 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 the prophet shall receive a prophet's reward. And he who receives a righteous man, a sadiq, 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 tell you, he will not lose his reward.

Remember what Jesus told him about finding a worthy man in the city and staying with him if his house is worthy. Jesus is now citing what I am 100% certain worship team. You can come back is a rabbinic axiom. I believe with all my heart that Jesus is actually quoting an axiom that was familiar to the people. If you receive a prophet.

And remember in the ancient Middle east, hospitality was one of the highest manifestations of righteousness. If you receive a prophet and show hospitality, you'll receive a prophet's reward in the name of the prophet. So if the prophet comes knocking on your door and you know he's a prophet, what are you going to do? Come on in, because you're saturated with this belief and I think it's correct. You receive a prophet in the name of that prophet, you receive a prophet's reward.

If you receive a sadiq, a righteous one, in the name of the righteous one, you will receive the reward of the righteous man. And he gives us the assurance. A disciple who gives a cup of cold water and other parts of scripture, it expands, it says, in Jesus name will not lose their reward. This is what is called an implied kalveichomer. What does it mean?

I say it's implied because a kalveichomer is one of those arguments that Jesus and the apostles use. It's very Jewish. How much more argument? If you as a wicked father know how to give good gifts, how much more does your heavenly Father, that's a kalvahomer. And so what's being implied here is this.

If in the name of a prophet, a prophet's reward is given, and if in the name of a righteous man, a righteous man's reward is given, and if the Lord will not even fail to see a cup of cold water given in his name, how much more will a Kingdom disciple receive the reward of the Son of man? How much more will he receive the One who receives the One whom the Father sent. If you get a prophet's reward for receiving the Prophet, if you receive a righteous man's reward in his name, you receive a righteous man's reward. And if all of the things that we do as disciples to do, what the Master has called us to do will not be looked over, not even the smallest act of a charitable cup of water, how much more will you receive when the game is over, when you finish the race, when you fought the good fight, when you are beaten and bloodied with a smile on your face? Because these are just the scars of fellowship with our Messiah King?

How much more reward will we receive when we listen to the One who taught us how to go? He sat him on a mountain and gave them his Torah of instruction. He took them with him and let them watch him interact with all different kinds of people and all different kinds of diseases. And they watched him with grace and mercy, not just heal people, but sit with sinners and have fellowship with those that everybody else has rejected.

Being a Kingdom disciple means choosing faith over fear and moving in his power even at the prospect of persecution and rejection. Jesus didn't spend a lot of time talking about the greatness of the reward of the harvest because he wanted to prepare the 12, and in preparing them, prepare us to be all in one of my favorite football coaching quotes is the greatest moment that a person, the player, experiences, is that moment when he lies exhausted on the field of battle, victorious. And that's the great thing about being a Kingdom disciple. Even when you're laying on the field beaten and bloodied and bruised, victorious or not, you've won the game and you will receive the reward of the Son of God. You will receive the reward of those who did not deny the Father by rejecting the Son, but spent your life sharing the Son as the testimony of the Father.

Lord, as we enter into a time of response, my prayers for those here who have been distracted by pain, frustration, fear, anxiety, selfishness. Father, we want to be a church that gets outside of our comfort zone. We want to be a congregation of disciples. Not just people who wear the jersey, but people who are engaged in the game, people who are actively seeking opportunities to share the good news with those around us. So, Father, for whatever is inhibiting anybody in this room today may by your spirit will you remind them of the words of Jesus, remind them of his example, and fill them with your power.

And as we sing, Father, this season, this song of response, I pray that your voice will be heard, that whisper in the hearts and minds of those who are receptive for people that you know are already ready to receive. Send us Father, in the power and the privilege of Jesus name, Amen.