KJB Daily Devotion – Following Jesus Through Every Chapter
Date: Tuesday, October 16, 2018
Chapters: Matthew 10,14
Message: That Your Fruit Should Remain
Hello My Friend,
“The past few weeks have been trying for me, not in my faith, but with moving, juggling work and daily duties, on top of daily devotions with God, I am struggling to find the time to do everything that I am supposed to be doing, twenty-four hours a day is just not enough for all I have going on, and even if we did have more hours I would be too exhausted to go on any further.” This is a quote from my devotion on the same day last year, the only difference is that I have school now. Life often seems to replay itself, we start the year we are like a tidal wave for God, and swear by, thy will be done, and at first, we do actually make some waves, but something happens as we go from month to month, obstacles get in the way, and our waves starts to calm, before you know it, it is October and you find yourself just floating on the water with a bunch of garbage in the way, wondering what is going on. Then you open the Bible and Jesus tells you exactly what is going on. “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.” – John 15:16.
“that ye should go and bring forth fruit,” Fruit; Production; that which is produced. The fruit or that which is produced by us through the work that Jesus commands us to do is saved souls. If we are out there preaching the fruit of the Gospel, meaning showing the lost the way to Christ, then we are therefore, fruitful, and it does not matter whether or not they do not get saved, we did our part, Jesus does the rest. We are not the ones who actually save them, we lead them, Christ saves them should they receive Him, we are merely the messengers of Christ. While Jesus had and has many disciples, He had twelve that followed Him around the entire three and a half years of His ministry. These twelve were first commanded by Jesus to go out and preach the Gospel. It was important that the Gospel first be preached to the Jews, it was their rejection of Christ that was needed to not only fulfill Scripture, but pave the way for Him to be introduced to the Gentiles.
“These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give. And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city. Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” – Matthew 10:5-8,14-16.
“and commanded them,” Jesus was not asking them to go and preach the Gospel to the lost, He commanded them to do it. Now, what is the Gospel? The death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. Now, at that time they really had no recollection of what the Scriptures said regarding His death, burial, and resurrection, but they did have knowledge of repentance through Jesus, and just so that they would believe at that time, Jesus gave them powers to be able to heal people, and do understand that they were not actually the ones doing the healing, Jesus was, they were merely the messengers. “freely ye have received, freely give.” Salvation is a free gift from Jesus given to us, we are to freely give the Gospel to all who God puts on our hearts to do so. And as I said in the beginning, once we get those waves in the water and start moving, we going to have obstacles in the way. Jesus explain those obstacles.
“And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you. And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come. The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?” – Matthew 10:18-25.
“If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub,” If you are one with Christ you are going to face suffering as Christ did. No, hang ourselves on the cross, but bear our cross with Him, becoming a living sacrifice, and this is why God had me point out these next lines of Scripture. “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.” – Matthew 10:34-39.
“And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.” Boy, is that not the truth. The devil knows how to divide a nation, and the first place he starts is within the family and this also includes our brothers and sisters in Christ. Worthy; Value; that quality of a thing which renders it useful. People see these verses and it kind of makes them cringe, are we really to love Jesus more than anyone else to be of value to Him? Well, that is a two part answer. First, we are very valuable to Him, otherwise, He would not have died for us. However, if we want to be effective in doing what it is that He commands us to do, which is preach the Gospel to the lost sheep, then we are not Useful or fruitful. The reason being is from the above passages, families fight over these things. Second, what Jesus is really referring to here, and I am trying to word this so you can understand, are those who per say, choose family over Him, an example being, parents allow their child to play softball and go to their games rather than church on Sunday. Jesus comes first, and everything else follows, if we love Jesus so much that He is above everything and everyone else, than they will see Him in us and follow suit. Then there will be no division because everyone is on the same page, most of them anyway. And that is we will be worthy of doing what He commands us to do. “If others be partakers of this power over you, are not we rather? Nevertheless we have not used this power; but suffer all things, lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ. Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple? and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar?” – I Corinthians 9:12-13.
“they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple?” Do you see this? If we preach the Gospel, we must live the Gospel. Do you know how many people stand there on the pulpits preaching Christ and are not living the Gospel? This actually hinders the Gospel because people look up to those men and women who are leading double lives and when they are found out people leave the church. We must understand that the devil is not out there on the streets messing with those who are not saved, he is in the churches. We are not special here, if the devil messed with Jesus he will mess with His disciples, and that is each and every one of us who are commanded to preach the Gospel. We must understand that we are not alone in this, Jesus is definitely with us, watching over us. We find this out when Jesus sent the disciples off as He stayed behind to pray although He is watching them from afar, with the waters raging, He walks on the water toward them.
“But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid. And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?” – Matthew 14:27-31.
“it is I; be not afraid.” The path that Jesus leads us down is not always calm, in fact, it comes with lots of waves, sometimes a tidal wave, but He is with us each step we take, and He will see us through. And by the way, people think they need to say elaborate prayers for Jesus to save them, but all they need to do is believe in the Gospel and simply say, “Lord, Save me.” It is that simple. “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” – Romans 10:9-10.
Jesus Christ Magnified: “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.” – Matthew 10:34.
Today’s Prayer: God, We do not always know where our present steps will take us, but we do know they lead to heaven if we received Your Son as our Saviour. Our steps here may lead to cold, dark mountains, deep valleys, or crashing waves, but ultimately You are right there with us. Lord, You have chosen us because we chose You, You have commanded us to go out into the world and preach the Gospel, and that we keep doing so so that we can be blessed by our Father in heaven. Lead us and guide us, fill us with Your power and words that we might be a walking, talking light that shines that Gospel on all we pass by. Give us rest, peace, and joy as we serve You faithfully, let us not live in fear or doubt, but with the full assurance of Your watching every step we take. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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