Prepare For Your Journey

And He summoned the twelve and began to send them out in pairs, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits; and He instructed them that they were to take nothing for their journey, except a mere staff—no bread, no bag, no money in their belt—  but to wear sandals; and He added, “Do not wear two tunics.”  

And He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave town. Any place that does not receive you or listen to you, as you go out from there, shake the dust off the soles of your feet as a testimony against them.”  

And they went out and preached that people are to repent. And they were casting out many demons and were anointing with oil many sick people and healing them.

Mark 6:7-13

When Jesus sent His disciples out in pairs to preach, He instructed them not to load themselves up with things they did not need, because God would provide for their daily needs.  

We know that this was a simpler time and many people only possessed one change of clothing or even only the clothes they were wearing.  

When the disciples came to minister, they were like those who they ministered to in that they did not show any possessions more than a few necessities.  

As we minister to others we can take this into consideration that we should not appear flashy with expensive clothing or eating expensive meals, but rather live humbly so that people will not be distracted by our worldly possessions, but will hear the message of the Gospel.

And, we can also heed Jesus' words that if we are not received to move on, knowing that perhaps another will come after us preaching the Word and it will be received.

Prepare for your journey. 

An Anchor Of The Soul

 

In this same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us. 

This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

Hebrews 6:17-20

The hope set before us is that we too shall not sleep, but shall rise to meet God in heaven.  God fulfilled His promise to make a way for all people when He sent His Son, Jesus, to die once and for all sinful men and women.  This being done, all that is left to us is to receive this great gift of salvation and acknowledge Jesus as our Lord, Master and Savior. 

And, this hope is an anchor of the soul.

A Strong Foundation

 “Now why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?  Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them, I will show you whom he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock; and when there was a flood, the river burst against that house and yet it could not shake it, because it had been well built.  But the one who has heard and has not acted accordingly is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation; and the river burst against it and it immediately collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great.” 

Luke 6:46-49 

Jesus tells us that we not only need to know what the Bible says about how we should live but that we should also live it.  That means we need to consider the long term consequences of our actions.

If we say we are Christians, and act in a less than Christian manner, then we are in danger because we cannot continue in sin without being found out and that will destroy our witness as Christians.

Remember, weigh you motives and your actions, and see that they reflect the teachings of Jesus, so that your faith foundation will be strong.   

You Are Doing Well

My brothers and sisters, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism.  For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and is dressed in bright clothes, and a poor man in dirty clothes also comes in, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the bright clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives?  

 Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters: did God not choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?  But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court?  Do they not blaspheme the good name by which you have been called?

If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.

James 2:1-8 

I have seen this happen at church.  New people show up driving an expensive car and wearing fancy clothes and the pastor goes out of his way to befriend them.  I could almost see the dollar signs in his eyes because he was thinking they would bring a cash windfall to the church.  Which maybe they did give a substantial gift once, but then they being irregular church goers became, irregular givers.  The same pastor payed little or no attention to a couple who had two small children and volunteered at the church.  Little did he know that they were very generous givers and it was only when they departed for another church did he want to engage with them, but it was too late.  

James' point is that we should not favor wealthy people over poor people.  We should love them all the same and respect their gifts.  Where a wealthy person may bring big cash offerings to the church, the poor person may bring their willingness to volunteer to do the work of the church.  And, God loves the rich and the poor.

We then are to remember Jesus' commandment: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."  And, if so, you are doing well.  

 

Birds Of A Feather

 

Then it happened that as Jesus was reclining at the table in the house, behold many tax collectors and sinners came and were dining with Jesus and His disciples.  When the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, “Why is your Teacher eating with tax collectors and sinners?”

But when Jesus heard this, He said, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick.”

 

"But go and learn what this means: "I desire compassion, 'and not sacrifice,' for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

Matthew 9:10-13

 

My Mother warned me that "birds of a feather, flock together" meaning I should not make friends with kids who got into trouble, lest I become like them.   

 

However, as Christians, these are exactly the people who Jesus tells us to minister to.  I ask, "How is this supposed to work?"   

We are sometimes intimidated by people who are openly sinful.  We may think they are dangerous or we may be afraid that their sin will pollute our lives.  Both are legitimate fears.  However, we can minister to these individuals by following Jesus' model. 

We can take a friend or two along and meet in a public place.  We can stick to our message:  Jesus, Lord, Master and Savior.  We can offer prayer, no matter how the discussion goes.   

 

And, if things start going in a direction that does not look good to us, we can leave and go home.   

 

Jesus associated with sinners but did not imitate them, and so can we.

Fishermen Fish

Now when He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.”  

Simon responded and said, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets.”  

And when they had done this, they caught a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to tear;  so they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats, to the point that they were sinking. But when Simon Peter saw this, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!”  For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken; and likewise also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. 

And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not fear; from now on you will be catching people.”

Luke 5:4-10  

When we read this Bible passage we can understand how keenly interested Jesus is in all aspects of our lives.  The disciples were career fishermen.  That is how they made their living.  So, when they told Jesus the had caught nothing, they were stating that there was nothing to catch, but they still did what Jesus said, and they caught a boat load of fish.  

What this tells us is even if we think we have done everything we can and failed, that God can direct us to do something different to achieve success.  

So, when you are ready to give up, look to God for direction - and follow His leading.  We never know what God has planned and we may be surprised and amazed.   

An Attitude Of Gratitude

When He saw them, He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.”  And as they were going, they were cleansed.

Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him.  And he was a Samaritan. 

Then Jesus answered and said, “Were their not ten cleansed?  But the nine – where are they?  Was no one found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?”

And He said to him, “Stand up and go, your faith has made you well.”

Luke 17:11-19

All Jesus asks for all He does is that we say “thank-you.”  We do not need to burn candles or beat pots and pans; all we need to do is humble ourselves and acknowledge His power in our lives. 

An attitude of gratitude can extend into our daily lives. We can give thanks to God, and we can give thanks to people who serve and help us – like the teller at the bank, the clerk at the gas station or a teacher who takes a few extra minutes with our child. 

Giving thanks cost nothing, and does much to further the Gospel.

Be the one to say thank-you.