Matthew 10:1-20, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: God Wants Your List

God not only wants the mistakes we have made-He wants the ones we are making. Are you drinking too much? Are you cheating at work or cheating at marriage? Mismanaging your life? Don't pretend nothing's wrong. The first step after a stumble must be in the direction of the cross.
1 John 1:9 promises, "If we confess our sins to God, He can always be trusted to forgive us and take our sins away."
Start with your bad moments. And while you're there, give God your "mad" moments. There's a story about a man bitten by a dog. When he learned the dog had rabies, he began a list. The doctor said, "there's no need to make a will-you'll be fine." "Oh I'm not making a will," he said, "I'm making a list of all the people I want to bite!" God wants your list!  He wants you to leave it at the cross.
From He Chose the Nails

Matthew 10:1-20

New International Version (NIV)
Jesus Sends Out the Twelve

10 Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.

2 These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

5 These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. 6 Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. 7 As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy,[a] drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.

9 “Do not get any gold or silver or copper to take with you in your belts— 10 no bag for the journey or extra shirt or sandals or a staff, for the worker is worth his keep. 11 Whatever town or village you enter, search there for some worthy person and stay at their house until you leave. 12 As you enter the home, give it your greeting. 13 If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. 14 If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet. 15 Truly I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.

16 “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. 17 Be on your guard; you will be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the synagogues. 18 On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. 19 But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, 20 for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
Footnotes:

    Matthew 10:8 The Greek word traditionally translated leprosy was used for various diseases affecting the skin.


Our Daily Bread reading and devotion   

Read: Hebrews 4:1-11

A Sabbath-Rest for the People of God

Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. 2 For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed.[a] 3 Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said,

“So I declared on oath in my anger,
    ‘They shall never enter my rest.’”[b]

And yet his works have been finished since the creation of the world. 4 For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: “On the seventh day God rested from all his works.”[c] 5 And again in the passage above he says, “They shall never enter my rest.”

6 Therefore since it still remains for some to enter that rest, and since those who formerly had the good news proclaimed to them did not go in because of their disobedience, 7 God again set a certain day, calling it “Today.” This he did when a long time later he spoke through David, as in the passage already quoted:

“Today, if you hear his voice,
    do not harden your hearts.”[d]

8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. 9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10 for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works,[e] just as God did from his. 11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.
Footnotes:

    Hebrews 4:2 Some manuscripts because those who heard did not combine it with faith
    Hebrews 4:3 Psalm 95:11; also in verse 5
    Hebrews 4:4 Gen. 2:2
    Hebrews 4:7 Psalm 95:7,8
    Hebrews 4:10 Or labor

Insight
In today’s passage we read: “But the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it” (v.2). The word translated “mixed” means to “comingle, to unite one thing with another.” The promises of God were proclaimed, but only those who believed and acted upon the promise profited by them.

Too Late

By Dave Branon

Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. —Hebrews 4:1



It happens nearly every semester. I tell my freshman college writing class often that they need to keep up with the numerous writing assignments in order to pass the class. But nearly every semester some don’t believe me. They’re the ones who send me frantic emails after the last day of class and give me their reasons for not taking care of business. I hate to do it, but I have to tell them, “I’m sorry. It’s too late. You have failed the class.”

That’s bad enough when you’re a college freshman and you realize you’ve just wasted a couple thousand dollars. But there is a far more serious, more permanent finality that comes at the end of life if people haven’t taken care of business with God about their sin. In those cases, if people die without having put their faith in Jesus Christ as Savior, they face an eternity without Him.

What a terrible moment it would be to stand before the Savior Himself and hear Him say, “I never knew you; depart from Me!” (Matt. 7:23). The author of Hebrews warns us to make sure we don’t “come short” (4:1) of the eternal rest offered by God. The good news is that it’s not too late. Today Jesus freely offers to us salvation and forgiveness through Him.
If you’d like to know the love of God the Father,
Come to Him through Jesus Christ, His loving Son;
He’ll forgive your sins and save your soul forever,
And you’ll love forevermore this faithful One. —Felten
Calvary reveals the seriousness of our sin and the vastness of God’s love.


My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Spontaneous Love

Love suffers long and is kind . . . —1 Corinthians 13:4



Love is not premeditated—it is spontaneous; that is, it bursts forth in extraordinary ways. There is nothing of precise certainty in Paul’s description of love. We cannot predetermine our thoughts and actions by saying, “Now I will never think any evil thoughts, and I will believe everything that Jesus would have me to believe.” No, the characteristic of love is spontaneity. We don’t deliberately set the statements of Jesus before us as our standard, but when His Spirit is having His way with us, we live according to His standard without even realizing it. And when we look back, we are amazed at how unconcerned we have been over our emotions, which is the very evidence that real spontaneous love was there. The nature of everything involved in the life of God in us is only discerned when we have been through it and it is in our past.

The fountains from which love flows are in God, not in us. It is absurd to think that the love of God is naturally in our hearts, as a result of our own nature. His love is there only because it “has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit . . .” (Romans 5:5).

If we try to prove to God how much we love Him, it is a sure sign that we really don’t love Him. The evidence of our love for Him is the absolute spontaneity of our love, which flows naturally from His nature within us. And when we look back, we will not be able to determine why we did certain things, but we can know that we did them according to the spontaneous nature of His love in us. The life of God exhibits itself in this spontaneous way because the fountains of His love are in the Holy Spirit.


A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Volcano Scars - #7123

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

I grew up in Illinois. It's hard to find high mountains there. I think the highest in the state was like 2,000 feet. So, man, when I go west, "Whew!" impressed by the mountains. And as my friend from the Rockies pointed out, what we called mountains were nothing more than glorified hills.
See, Colorado has what they call the Fourteeners - mountain peaks over 14,000 feet. And Ecuador, in the city of Quito, they have Antisana. It's 18,000 feet tall! And the tallest mountain I've ever seen! But Antisana used to be 28,000 feet high. (So much for Colorado's "Fourteeners"). It was a volcano and it blew its top one day. And although the eruption only lasted a short time, the damage has been forever.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Volcano Scars."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Proverbs 12:18. It says, "Reckless words pierce like a sword." Wow! That is the awesome power of our angry, irresponsible, thoughtless words. Proverbs 18:21 says, "The tongue has the power of life and death." Now, we can say things that make a person feel more alive or more dead inside. You've had that happen to you, right? When we're angry, I think we're like that volcano. We erupt, we spew out our lava, and we often blow away a piece of the other person...if not ourselves. And every one of us carries around parts of us that have been mortally wounded by something someone said to us in anger. We know how it hurts. We know the lasting damage it can do. They may have forgotten it; we never have. Those are volcano scars.
So why do we do this to other people, and why especially do we do it to the people we love the most. The Bible pays a high tribute to a person who's under control. Proverbs 16:32, "Better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper than one who conquers a city." Wow! I mean, that's real manhood. He can control his temper; more powerful than conquering a city.
If you're tired of erupting and tired of leaving volcano scars, maybe it's time to follow the steps to becoming an extinct volcano. Number one, confess your anger. Confess your reckless words as the sin that they are. Bring that to Jesus' cross and treat it as some of the ugly sin that killed our Savior. And confess it as well to the victims of your anger.
Number two, don't let the lava build up. Deal with issues right away. Number three, make yourself listen; make yourself ask questions before you speak. James 1:19 says, "Be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger." If you listen, if you hear the whole thing, if you understand it, you'll be slower to anger. Number four, don't say anything at all until you're under control. And the fifth step to becoming an extinct volcano is to make Jesus Christ the Lord of the raging animal inside you.
The uncontrollable parts of us are constant reminders that we need a Savior. You give it to Him for this new day. If volcanoes could think, maybe they'd think twice about blowing their top. The volcano might reason, "You know, maybe I'll feel better for a while, but is it worth blowing away a part of myself?" And in our relationships is it worth blowing away a part of another person I love?
If you think about it, we know it's not worth it. "The tongue (remember) has the power of life, it has the power of death." And it says, "reckless words pierce like a sword." Haven't we left enough volcano scars?