i really don't know.
but there is something working within me
that will not allow me to continue to put off doing it
until i know how.
some days ago i was reading matthew 10
where Jesus, having summoned His 12 DISCIPLES (v1),
gave them
authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out,
and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.
then it tells the names of these 12 APOSTLES (v2).
this didn't occur too long after
He had called them to follow Him.
so it seems that not to long after a person
becomes a LEARNER of Jesus, how to imitate Him,
he becomes a SENT ONE
to do mighty good things to others
which involves exercising power over evil spirits
and being a healing and life giving agent.
so everyone in human history who Jesus sends out to help others
is His learner and imitator
and wants to be just like Him
and think, speak and do what He would.
in v7 Jesus tells them,
'AND AS YOU GO
PREACH (proclaim as a king's herald), saying,
THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN AT HAND (near).
so the mission of every learner of Jesus is:
1. exercise spiritual power
2. meet physical needs
3. tell people, where ever they meet them,
that they will come under God's control sometime soon.
when i hit vs 7 my mind just started churning out, as it were, the things that follow, in the format in which they appear.
-DO I HAVE TO TELL THIS TO EVERYONE?
* no, only everyone possible that you meet
as you are going along from one place to another.
-EVERYONE..i meet?!
*only as many as you think are in the position of possibly being
a nanosecond from an eternity in hell.
-HOW MANY IS THAT?
*you can only start to have an idea by talking with them, i would think.
Jesus said that MANY are on the road to hell
and that few will certainly be received in heaven.
*LET ME ASK YOU
IF YOU WERE A NANOSECOND FROM NEVER ENDING TORMENT
WOULD YOU WANT SOMEONE TO TRY AND HELP YOU
find a way of escape?
if you say 'no' then i guess you are taking your chances.
do you say yes?
well then i encourage you to do to others
what you would want them to do to you.
-WHAT IF I COME INTO DIFFICULTIES?
because the ones i'm talking with
don't like what Jesus says.
what if they make fun of me or
say bad things about me
even lie about me
and treat me badly
for trying to help them?
*BLESSED ARE YOU when you have been persecuted
for the sake of this righteousness of trying to help them.
YOURS IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.
blessed are you when men
cast insults at you and
persecute you and
say all kinds of evil against you falsely
on account of Jesus.
REJOICE AND BE GLAD
FOR YOUR REWARD IS GREAT,
for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
-well...
i AM a learner of Jesus' commands and ways.
i'm committed to do His will no matter what happens to me,
so with God's help
i plane to start proclaiming that
'the kingdom of God is near'
to those i meet
as many as possible!,
for every man needs to fear God and keep His commandments
if he is to do as he should,
for Jesus commanded this..
He didn't suggest it.
-why should i say that 'the kingdom of God is near' though?
shouldn't i rather say,
'you need to ask Jesus into your heart
*well,
for one thing, it's short...
easy to get out, you know,
if its just a passing encounter
or no time to talk because of the situation.
you are, at times like this, like a sower of seed
scattering it liberally on the fly!
the more of this seed that falls on the human ear
(others you may not even know of may hear too!)
the more chances that it will germinate.
if there's no seed....God needs to work another way
like in the middle east where,
because no missionaries are willing to go there,
people are being introduced to Jesus
in visions and dreams.
that's not God's Plan A,
we are.
*also, it is not condemnatory in the least.
it is something that is just as true
for the 'best' or 'worst' man in the world.
*Jesus left it purposefully enigmatic (perplexing, mysterious)
we (especially I) tend to try to say too much,
to make it all too 'clear' too quickly
rather than to make short statements,
ask thought provoking questions
so as to understand better where
the person they are talking with
'is' spiritually.
so it can create curiosity
especially in a situation where nothing else is shared.
-that seems all good,
but shouldn't i understand what i am saying,
so that if someone says,
'what does that mean?'
i can explain it to them?
*you're right! what don't you understand?
-well, i know that
1. God is the King of kings,
obviously, as their creator,
the ruler over all men.
2. that even though He is heaven,
He wants His will to be done
by all everywhere.
...but, what does Jesus mean by the words 'IS AT HAND'?
* that means that it is very near.
now we have to understand several things
that will better help us to see
that this is a matter of urgency.
Jesus says that no man knows the day or the hour
of His return to earth.
but think of this.
neither does any man know the day or the hour
of his death.
OUR DEATH COULD HAPPEN AT ANY TIME..
so all the time we are potentially a second
away from the kingdom of heaven...
from standing in before God
with no chance to
'go back and do better'.
-i hadn't thought of that
and it is certainly true
that for every man,
being where God' will
is unchallenged,
...and eternal!....
is an IMMINENT (likely to occur at any moment) REALITY.
may God have mercy on me
and help me to obey this command
to proclaim His kingdom's imminence
and do the things He commands.
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