Fresh faith for the harvest

"Go; behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. Carry no money belt, no bag, no shoes; and greet no one on the way. Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house.’ If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you. Stay in that house, eating & drinking what they give you; for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not keep moving from house to house. Whatever city you enter & they receive you, eat what is set before you; and heal those in it who are sick, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near.’ Jesus (Matthew 10:3-9)

Jerry Trousdale, author of 'Miraculous Movements' says, "Christians around the world know that becoming a follower of Jesus requires repentance of sins and a verbal affirmation of belief in God and the sacrifice of Jesus' blood for those sins. And that is where most ministries begin when engaging the lost: at the point of conversion. New believers are then encouraged to become disciples." He suggests that Jesus works in the reverse. He calls people to spend time with him, to experience God's power and obey his teaching. They come to the point where they realize that following Jesus costs them everything. "This kind of discipleship model - one that begins with discipleship and moves toward the point of conversion - is how many Muslims are becoming Christ followers." 

He concludes, 'When you turn people loose with a Bible to obey, you can't predict what they might do when they discover that God answers prayer, or how extravagant God's blessings can be on this kind of new faith.'

This Sunday - "Sent by Jesus to expand his kingdom" Matthew 10. 

On the road with Jesus

Some think that an aspiring apprentice should read the gospels to discover how the disciples attempted to follow Jesus and then ‘do it better’.  Perhaps they would teach something like, ‘Look at these poor ill-informed guys who had a problem with who was greatest;’ or ‘who didn’t have enough faith to heal this poor boy’.  Some would think, ‘but we know better.  :<   I would like to suppose however that the disciples represent the real struggle an apprentice of Christ has with his own human nature and his own personal battle for faith.  Too quickly the early church, full of real folks with real issues, got bogged down with sin and competition - begging for the apostolic epistles to be written.  The Thessalonians had lazy folks. The Corinthians had confusion and sin of every sort.  The Galatians were quickly abandoning the gospel. There is much for the apprentice to learn on a narrow way in a dangerous world. 

Luke writes, not to super disciples flashing their all-knowing eyes at a silly world, but to fellow sinners clothed in the righteousness of Christ.  If anyone sticks out as a Super Man it is the eyewitness account of Jesus himself.  He teaches the kingdom way. He commands the waves.  He saves and heals. He is revealed on ‘the Mount’ in an amazing rending of the veil and out-spilling of the glory he has shared from eternity with the Father.  His face shone & flashed like lightning. His clothes glowed unearthly white. ‘He is the radiance of His glory, the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of his power.’ Heb1:3 He is revealed as the beloved Son of God, Son of Man determined to bear the sins of the world to the cross, to please His Father in heaven and to return to the right hand of the Majesty on high. 

 And we keep our eyes on Jesus while identifying with the disciples because we are so much like them. Can't wait until Sunday as we continue on the path of apprenticeship with the Master Craftsman.