And so I want us to learn some things about what the Lord told his disciples, and let me give you a little background into Matthew chapter 10. As we come to this portion of the earthly ministry of Jesus, he is pretty much finishing up his ministry in the area of Galilee, and he's going to move out into Judea and then into Samaria. There's a lot of work for him to do yet. In just about one year, he's going to go to the cross, he's going to be crucified for man's sins, and then, of course, the resurrection. And so in one year, there's a lot of ministry that needs to be done. There's a lot of preaching that needs to be done, and so he needs some help. And so his strategy now is going to be to send out his disciples two by two into the villages. At this point, there's only really two preachers that are preaching the kingdom. That is Jesus and John the Baptist. They were the only two going around preaching the kingdom of heaven as at hand. However, where's John the Baptist when we come to Matthew chapter 10? Well, he's in prison. And pretty soon, he's going to be beheaded. That means there's only Jesus now. And again, there are so many villages, so many people that need to hear the message. So much needs to be done before Jesus ends His earthly ministry. I remember several years ago, I was in Africa. I was in West Cameroon, Africa. I went up there, and there's a little village called Indu there. And I went, and there was a seminary there of about 450 students, if you can believe that. And then, when I was there, they were having a pastor's conference, and they sent pastors in from all over. And so it's just a crowd of people there, and I was preaching six or seven times a day to them. Can you imagine that? Wouldn't you get tired of that? I would. I get tired of hearing myself six or seven times a day. And so I just remember all this was needed to be done. And then on Sunday, when Sunday came, there were two different churches that wanted me on Sunday morning at the same time. And so one church agreed that we're going to wait until he's done at this church, then you bring him over to our church, then he can preach to us. And that's what happened after about preaching an hour in one church, they took me over to another church and there were a thousand people waiting for me to come there. That's never happened to me in America. And of course over there in Africa, they're a little more loose about time. They're not so schedule-oriented as we are here in America. But I just remember going through all that and preaching six and seven times and losing my voice and I was wishing, I wish that I had a few more preachers here with me. to help me do some of this. Now you multiply that and you kind of get the idea of what is left on Jesus. There's a lot of teaching and preaching that needs to be done. Galilee had 204 cities and villages with a total population over 3 million people. And there was still so much that needed to be done. So now he's going to send his disciples out. Now he's going to get them to do much of the work. Now, after all, the disciples had been with Jesus for about 18, 20 months. He had taught them every day. They spent all their time with Him. They walked together. They heard Him preach and teach. In fact, John describes this in 1 John 1, that which is from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, our hands have handled all the word of life. They were with Jesus all this time. They had learned from Him. And by the way, that's what being a disciple is all about. The word disciple, the Greek word is mathētēs. It is where we get our word mathematics from. It doesn't mean you have to be good at math in order to be a disciple of Jesus. What it simply means is the word means a learner, one who learns. It's all about learning. And why is it about learning? So you can take what you have learned and go out and do what? Teach somebody else. imparted on to someone else. And so Jesus had been pouring his light into these disciples for 20 months, day by day, hour by hour. He taught them the word of God. He taught them the gospel. He modeled before them a godly life. Now it is time for them to go out. And so what does Jesus do? He sends them out on a series of short-term mission trips. And this was a wise thing for Jesus to do. They had opportunity to put into practice all those things that Jesus had taught them through those years. And so they would go out, and they would minister, and they would come back, and they would report to Jesus, and then they would evaluate together what had happened. And Jesus would teach them more, and He would send them out again on another short-term mission trip. And He would do this with them over and over again. In fact, look in Luke chapter 9, hold your place in Matthew 10, but look over in Luke chapter 9, I want to show you something there. Luke chapter 9, look at verse number 1. And notice what it says, kind of gives us this idea here. And Luke 9, 1, Then he called his twelve disciples together. and gave them power and authority over all devils and to cure diseases. And he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. And he said unto them, Take nothing for your journey, neither staves nor scrip, neither bread, neither money, neither have two coats apiece. And whatsoever house ye enter into, there abide, and thence depart. And whatsoever will not, or excuse me, whosoever will not receive you, when ye go out of that city, shake off the dust from your feet for a testimony against them. And they departed and went through the towns, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere. Drop down to verse number 10. And the apostles, when they returned, told him all that they had done. And he took them and went aside privately into a desert place belonging to the city of Bethsaida. And so here we see that pattern here, don't we? He would send them out, they would preach, He gave them instructions, they would do as He said, and then after a while they would come back, and Jesus would listen to them as they reported, and He would teach them more. By the way, He took them aside, He understood the value of rest after you were ministering for a long time. But notice in verse 1 He calls them disciples, and in verse 10 He calls them apostles. What's the difference? Disciples, again, is emphasizing learning, ones who learn. Apostles means sent out ones. They were official representatives. They came under him and they learned under him. And then he sent them out after he had taught them. And so the emphasis on apostles is sending out. And so this is what would happen. This is what he was going to do. And he's training his disciples. He's getting them ready. He's giving them instructions. What was he preparing them for? Well, obviously, for the time when he would no longer be with them, when he would depart, and they had to carry on the message of the kingdom and the gospel without the presence of Jesus there. Now, go back to Matthew chapter 10, because what I'm going to try to show you here tonight, hopefully I'll get it all in. There's kind of a lot here, and I'll do my best. But to just give these instructions to his disciples on how to behave themselves, how to act, how to serve. And by the way, this also teaches us what leadership is all about. Leadership is getting things done effectively through other people, delegating out, teaching, training, delegating, dedicating, helping the ministry get done through other people. And that's exactly what Jesus is doing here. And notice also, they're called the 12. He calls them the 12 here. Look in verse 1, chapter 10, and when he called unto him his 12 disciples, and later on they'll take the official title of the 12, and that's not by chance. There are 12 apostles because there are 12 tribes in Israel, and they are symbols of the what? The new Israel. The true Israel. The Israel of God. The new people that God is forming. That's what that is a symbol of. Each of them will have a tribe and rule. Their names have already been emblazoned on the city, on the holy city, the new Jerusalem in heaven. And so they're permanently placed in a position of leadership and responsibility. According to Ephesians 2.20, they have become the foundation stones of the church. And by the way, this is also an indictment against the Judaism of Jesus' day. Jesus rejects the Judaism of His day. You say, how so? Well, when he called his twelve disciples, or apostles, none of them were men that came out of that religious system. None of them were men that came out of that establishment. None of them were scribes, or rabbis, or priests, or temple attendants. None of them had any Levitical responsibility. They were completely on the outside. of the religious establishment of that day. Who are these twelve? These are just an assortment of plain, ordinary men. And really, according to the society of that day, they were not deemed men who were very important. In fact, society in that day would look upon these men as being very unimportant. And so why did Jesus get his twelve apostles from that rung of society? It was an indictment against the Judaism of its day. It was Jesus rejecting that religious system, that religious system, by the way, that would later crucify the Lord Jesus Christ. because they completely rejected him. So he chose his future leaders from among the common, the plain, the poor, the uneducated. You know, it's funny, everyone thinks that in order to really be qualified in ministry, you have to have all this education, all this, you know, and I'm not against education. But friend, the most important thing about doing ministry is the calling from God, is being a child of God. And so Jesus calls these ordinary men together, And now having said all that, I just want you to see some of the things, the instructions, the needs that they have to have, things that He has to give them in order for them to minister. And by the way, this is all true of us, because let me ask you a question. How many of you here tonight, you don't have to raise your hand, you're saved, you know the Lord Jesus Christ, you have repented of your sin, you call Him Lord, you follow Him. If that's true of you, guess what you are? You are His disciple. You're to learn of Him. Now, you don't learn just because you can have knowledge for yourself. You learn from Jesus. Why? So that you can do what? You can go out and you can minister to others and you can teach others and you can disciple others. There are no Apostles capital A today, but there are Apostles small a. We're all sent out by the Lord to do his work and we can't do it in our own strength. So here's the first thing. Number one, write down. There has to be a delegated authority. A delegated authority. Look at verse 1. And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave unto them power against unclean spirits to cast them out, to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease. Notice where it says power here. That's the Greek word exousia. It just means authority. And this is not talking about authority in a church government. It's authority to do the work of missions. It's empowerment to do the work of ministering to others. Notice where it says, he called them unto himself. That is, he calls them unto himself for this special task, and then he gives them divine authority and sends them out to do that work. He empowers them to do the work of the Lord. Now, you understand and realize that we can't do God's work under our own strength, under our own authority, under our own power. That has to be from the Lord. We have to have His power. One of the big curses, I think, upon the church in America today is that many churches have learned how to get results without having divine power. There's a difference between kingdom growth, God doing something, and just simply getting results. We have to examine our labor and make sure that we're blessed with the power of the Holy Spirit. So there's a delegated authority, but right down number two, here's the second thing, a determined mission strategy. Look at verse five. 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. Now, Jesus placed a bit of a restriction on the disciples as to where they could go and could not go. Now, why did he do that? It's interesting that some commentators elaborate on this, and they basically say, well, the Samaritans, they were half-Jew, half-Gentile, they were despised by the Jews, and so therefore, you know, Jesus didn't want them going there. They almost portray Jesus as some kind of a racist in such interpretations. I reject those kind of interpretations. I think that there's a reason why Jesus did this. First of all, there's a practical reason. They were not to go to the Samaritans or into the Gentile lands, because that was way too far. Remember, what is Jesus doing here? He's sending them out on short trips. He has to keep them relatively close. And to send them beyond those areas would not be short term, so to speak. And so, he keeps them relatively close. Don't go to the Samaritans, don't go to the Gentile lands. By the way, later on, Jesus, just before he ascends into heaven, what would he say to these same disciples? He said, you'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and what? In Judea, and where else? In Samaria, and then where else? Into the uttermost parts of the world. So eventually, they would go to all those places. But right now, They were to focus on that one area where Jesus was ministering. But then I think also there's a theological reason for this, and that is because God has designed that the work of calling fallen men and women is to start with the Jew first. Now you have to start somewhere, right? Since Jewish people were the people through whom we received the gospel, the Messiah, the promises, the covenants, and all these other things, God had in His design that the gospel first be preached to the Jews, and then from there on outward to the Gentiles, and then out onto the uttermost parts of the world. And that's the pattern of ministry that we see later on in the life of the Apostle Paul. You remember Paul reading the book of Acts? Where would he go when he went into a town? First he'd go to the Jewish synagogue. And it was easy to identify a synagogue. It was always on the highest elevated place in the town. It always had a pole straight up. So you walk into a town, look for the pole, go to the synagogue, go in. As a visiting teacher, they would allow him to read and to teach. And he would teach them the gospel. He would show them Jesus out of the Old Testament. And if the Jews received him, he would stay and he would keep teaching them. And hopefully some of them were converted and some were. But if they rejected him and they threw him out, what would he do? He would shake the dust off and he would go to the Gentiles. That pattern of ministry is taught here first by Jesus to his disciples. And so basically what the Lord is saying is focus your ministry. This is your ministry right now. You can't do everything. You can't go everywhere at this point. But here's this one area, this one spot, this one thing you can do. And the application we can learn for all of us is this. Whoever you are, if you're saved, you know the Lord, you are His disciple, He has a mission field for you. You can't do everything. You can't go everywhere in the world. But there is some place where you can minister. And it's up to you to find out where that place is. Where is the place that God has called you, where you can be effective for the Lord in that one spot that the Lord has given you? Now, let me give you the third thing. A delegated authority. Number two, a determined mission strategy. But here's number three, a distinct gospel message. A distinct gospel. Look in verse seven. And as you go, preach saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Very basic. When you go, you preach the gospel. Many people don't receive the gospel because they don't understand it. And the reason people don't understand it is because it hasn't been clearly preached. We are getting distracted in the church. I don't mean this church. I mean the church in general. I mean the church abroad. We could say the evangelical slash fundamental church in America seems to be getting distracted and is not preaching the clear message of the gospel. Let me tell you something, friend. The power is in the message itself. There has to be a clear gospel. And by the way, that's what I always try to do. I strive for clarity. I strive for making the word clear. Because again, I believe there's power in the message itself. But I think the church has been distracted. Someone handed me a newspaper article, because they heard me mention this before. And the title of the article is this, Time to Preach a Green Gospel. What does that mean? Well, this article is all about the green faith movement that's going on, and it's the connection between church leaders working with faith and the environment. All of a sudden, there's this call to the church where we have to save the environment, you know, and people don't have access to clean water. And the article goes on to say there are environmental and weather catastrophes. We now have to focus on protecting Mother Earth. And leaders of the church need to help us in this endeavor. And so we need to preach the truth that God's Earth is in trouble. It's called the Green Gospel. And so the mission of the Green Gospel is to inspire, educate, mobilize people all over to help save the planet, save Mother Earth, Be a good steward of the planet. That all sounds wonderful, doesn't it? Sounds so good. The only problem is God didn't call the church to save the planet. God called the church to save the people. When the Bible says, for God so loved the world, He wasn't talking about the trees. When the Bible says, for God so loved the world, He was talking about the people. By the way, this comes from a secular worldview that basically believes that we have evolved to where we are. The earth is millions of years old, and it has to last another millions of years for the future generations. And that comes from an unbiblical worldview. Let me tell you something. If you follow the genealogy of the Bible, this earth is about 6,000 years old. We're going into the 7,000 or the next millennium. I don't think we're going to get to 7,000 years. This is a disposable planet. God has given this to us for us to help us to live. So I believe in, you know, go ahead and kill that deer. Go ahead and walk on the grass. Go ahead and dig right now. Go ahead and get oil. I know that's not politically correct, but this planet was given for us. And the Bible says to Adam, I'm getting off track here just a little bit, to subdue the planet. We're to bring this planet in submission. If you don't, you want to go natural? Really? You want to live that way? I'll have air conditioning. You go ahead and go natural. God has given man common grace to subdue the planet. Because if we don't have that, you know what this planet would do to us? Mother Earth would kill us. That's where all the diseases come from, this planet. And by the way, it wasn't man that cursed the earth in the beginning. It was God. Man sinned and God cursed the earth. And if you don't think, you know, if you didn't like what's going on now, just wait till Jesus comes back. You talk about an environmental disaster. You just read what's going to happen during the second coming. And so why do you say all that? Simply to say this, that things like this distract the church from preaching a clear gospel message. and being biblical in their approach to ministry. Jesus says to his disciples, look, preach this. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. And, of course, it was a spiritual kingdom first and then a physical kingdom. We preach Jesus Christ, the King, who wants to take up residence in the heart and the life of every person who repents and turns to Him. Then they can have forgiveness of sin. Then there can be eternal life. And one day He'll come back and set up His literal physical kingdom. He would have done it already back then, but the Jews rejected him and so he postponed that. And now he's going to come back one day and set up his physical kingdom. But the message is the message of the kingdom of God. And so we need to preach a clear message. We don't need to get distracted by all these things. There's a story that I love about Yogi Berra. Some of you baseball fans know that name. He was a catcher for the New York Yankees. Hank Aaron, the great home run hitter. He was playing for the Milwaukee Braves at that time. He was the best hitter in baseball at that time. And they were playing a competitive series. And Yogi Berra always tried to distract the hitters when they came to the plate. And when Hank Aaron came to the plate, Yogi Berra said, hey, Henry, you're holding the bat wrong. You should have the label, the trademark in front of you. You're holding it wrong, trying to distract them. The next pitch came in. Henry Aaron hit it out of the park. Home run. He circled the bases. When he crossed home plate, he looked at Yogi Berra and said, I didn't come up here to read. That's a good answer. He didn't get distracted. Listen, folks, we're not here to save the planet. God has left us here in this earth to bring salvation, the message of the gospel to lost people. That is our purpose. So there has to be a delegated authority. Number two, a determined mission strategy. Number three, a distinct gospel. But then number four, divine affirmation. Look at verse 8. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils, freely have received, freely give. And so this is a divine affirmation. Now remember, the message they preached was a new message at that time. Now think about it. How did the people that were hearing these disciples preach, how did they know that what they were preaching was really from God? This was a new message in that day. And these men were not, as I said before, from the religious system. They were not Levite priests. They were not temple servants. How did the people know that what they were preaching was truly from the Lord? There had to be some kind of an authentication. There had to be some kind of affirmation. You know, when you go to the doctor, you'll see on the wall somewhere in the office or somewhere the diplomas of the doctor and also the certification of the doctor. Now, why does a doctor do that? Well, because the doctor wants the patient to know that this doctor is legitimate, that they have their certification, they have their education, they are qualified and certified to practice medicine. That is an affirmation of them. Where would the authentication come for these disciples? It would come through the miracles, the healings, these signs, that God would do in His Son's name, that authority would be passed to the disciples. They would have the authority and the power to heal the sick and do all these other miracles. Why? Because those miracles at that time was a divine affirmation that the message that they were preaching was from God. It was a divine message. Now, by the way, God had done this for His Son already. And if you read in Matthew chapter 8 and 9, those two chapters focus on just the miracles of Jesus, just a handful of miracles. By the way, Jesus did so many miracles. He basically wiped out sickness in Palestine. But Matthew focuses on a handful of miracles that Jesus did. Why? To show that the authority that Jesus had was from God. And now the disciples will have that same authority. They'll go and they'll heal the sick. They will cast out devils, and by doing these things, it will be God's divine affirmation that the message that they are preaching is genuinely from the Lord. Now, those are signed miracles. And by the way, I believe that we're in a day and age in the church today where those signed miracles, we don't need them anymore. We know the message is from God. In the early stage of the kingdom and the church, those signed miracles were necessary. They're no longer necessary today. And let me just be careful to say, well, you're saying you don't believe God heals. Let me tell you something, friend. God is the only one who heals. All healing comes from God. And I believe that God heals. I believe that God can heal anyone at any time. I believe I can pray for someone and God will heal that person. I believe when we come together and pray over a person, God will heal them. The question is not, does God heal? The question is, do you have the power and gift of healing, you as an individual? Is there anyone here today that has the signs of the apostles that can go and do these miracles? Let me tell you something, friend. If I had the gift of healing, I would be in a hospital. And I would be in a children's hospital healing. The question is not, does God heal? The question is, has God given any man today those same signs of the apostles that He gave to the disciples back then? And I say, no. In that sense, they're ceased. They're no longer necessary today like they were back then. God affirms His gospel message in other ways. He affirms His servants in other ways today. You say, how does He do that? Well, that's God's business. God magnifies. He affirms. He authenticates His own servants. And that's His business. That's not mine. But I'll tell you this, there's one thing that shows a person is really genuinely from God. And you say, what is it? It's compassion on people. These miracles, these signs that the disciples did, it was all about compassion. Look again in verse 8, heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils. All these things were to help people who were suffering. There will be a genuine compassion for needy people if a person is truly a servant of the Lord. If they're truly from God, they will have compassion for those who are in need. And by the way, that's how Jesus manifested himself, his authority. All the miracles that Jesus did, you'll notice in the Bible, what kind of miracles were they? They were to help people. They were acts of compassion. You know, the Pharisees would come and say, Oh, show us a sign from heaven. Jesus wasn't out there to put on some kind of show. Every miracle he did was not to make himself look big. It was to help. people who were suffering at that time. And so there's one mark that I know of, of a genuine servant of the Lord, and that is just a love and a compassion for people who suffer. But there has to be that divine affirmation. Here's number five. A debt-free attitude. A debt-free attitude. Look in verse eight. It says, again, freely ye have received. Freely what? Give. In other words, you have received without charge, you're to give without cost. The disciples were not to profit monetarily from their power to preach and to heal. Whatever power they had been given, that was given to them by Christ. Jesus didn't charge them for this power and authority, and they were to take what Jesus had given them and to give it to others without charge. It was to be done freely. Jesus was saying to them, you are not in this for financial profit. It was God's power, not theirs. Their ministry was to be marked by selflessness, by generosity. You compare that to what's going on in the religious world today. The people that want to do all these miracles, they need you to send a little offering. They want a little bit of money first. These healers that fly around in jets and tell you that you can have your miracle. suck all this money out of people who are hurting and tell them that they have these gifts and these abilities to do all these miracles? How can they get away with things like that? I'll tell you why, friend, because people are so desperate. People are dying. People are hurting. And people are willing to give whatever they can to get well. And they'll give it to someone. They'll give it to anyone who can stand up and say, oh, yes, I can heal you. I can help you. And so they're under the illusion that they can get well and get a miracle if they just give their money to a certain person or to a certain ministry. And people who do that, they are liars, they are schemers, they are false prophets. Send us your money and you'll get your miracle. That's not at all the way Jesus taught His disciples. By the way, back in this day there were Jewish exorcists that went around all the time claiming to have the ability to cast out devils for a lucrative sum. They could get rid of your demons. You remember in Acts chapter 8 when Simon the magician saw the miracles of Peter? You remember what he said? How much is this going to cost me? I'll buy this from you. That's a good product. You know why? Simon saw that he could make a lot of money off of that, and so he offered to buy it. And when he offered, Peter said, let your money, your silver perish with you, because you thought that you could obtain the gift of God through money. And so, basically, Jesus says, look, when you go to a house, when you go to a village or a town and go to a house, just stay there. Don't go to house to house, sucking resources out of people, because false prophets and false teachers would do that all the time in this day. In fact, Paul spoke about this, 2 Timothy 3, 5, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. From such turn away, for of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive, silly women laden with sins, led away with divers' lusts." That's the characteristic of false teachers. They go from house to house, person to person, sucking out their resources and moving on. That's why Jesus said in Mark 6.10, in whatsoever place you enter into a house, there abide in that place. Whenever you go into a village, if they invite you in, stay there, but don't go from house to house. Why? Because you're not in this for gain. You're not in this for financial gain, for money. But you're to freely give. You're to have a generous heart. Here's the sixth thing, a dependent faith. Not only a delegated authority, a determined mission strategy, a distinct gospel, a divine affirmation, a debt-free attitude, but here's number six, a dependent faith. Look in verse 9. Provide neither gold nor silver nor brass in your purses, nor script for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staffs, for the workman is worthy of his meat." Now, what's Jesus telling his disciples here? You're to learn to live dependently. And he says, don't take anything with you on your journey. Just go as you are. Don't take anything extra. Don't take an extra coat. Don't take extra shoes. Don't take extra money in your belt. Don't take an extra money bag with you. Just put on your sandals. Don't even take an extra tunic. Just go. Why? Well, who would send somebody out like that? What's Jesus trying to teach them? You're to be dependent on God. Learn dependent faith. God will provide for you. You watch. Just go as you are. Let the Lord take care of you. Now, why was this necessary for them to learn this? Well, because they had been living with Jesus for the last year and a half. That's about 20 months. And if they needed anything, Jesus would provide it for them. I mean, they were living with someone that could multiply loaves and fishes, right? Food was not a problem. He provided for them everything that they needed. And they knew that as long as Jesus was around, they would have everything that they needed. But they had to learn that one day Jesus wasn't going to be there physically. And they had to learn to depend upon God and God alone for God to take care of them. And so that's why in the upper room, Jesus would later tell them, look, if you ask anything in my name, God's going to get it for you. If you ask in my name anything, I will do it. They needed to learn the lesson of trust. But this was another reason for this, and that's this. It helps to guard against compromising the message of the gospel. I hate to say this, but as you know, the preachers are compromising the truth all the time. And you know why they compromise the truth? They don't want to get kicked out of their church. Because if they preach a message that the people don't like, then the people can remove them. All of a sudden, they don't have a salary. And so they tone it down a bit. They have this good, comfortable source of income, and so therefore, they're not going to stir anything up. They're not going to do anything that might be offensive, never mind that it's the truth. Let me tell you something. When God calls a preacher, he's called to preach the truth of the Word of God, period, the whole counsel of God. And I think Jesus is teaching them that, look, you don't compromise the message for financial expedience, just because you think that it may not be received and you might lose your source of living. You learn to depend upon God and God will take care of you. And by the way, I think that's why the Lord in my life, many times I've kind of gone through this poverty cycle where I didn't know where the next check was coming from and I had to depend upon the Lord. It teaches you to be courageous and not fear. Because you know, God is always going to take care of you. And by the way, can I say God has always taken care of me? He's always given me more than I needed. He's always been gracious. I would be a fool to doubt God. But God teaches his servants that so that they will learn to depend upon him so they won't be tempted to compromise truth. Let me quote to you what one person said, a serious danger of paid ministry is that preachers will tailor their message to suit their supporters. And that's, I think, the whole idea there. But there's a third thing I want you to see here, however, and that is this. This wasn't permanent. This was only for a time. He teaches them dependent faith. Once they learn that, he tells them something totally different. In fact, right down in Luke chapter 23, verse 35, This is what Jesus said there. He said, when I send you out with no money bag or knapsack or sandals, did you lack anything? And they said, nothing. And so therefore, in Luke 22, 36, Jesus said to them, but now let the one who has a money bag take it, and likewise a knapsack, and let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one. Now what is he saying? Okay, now that you have learned the lesson, of dependent faith, now prepare in your mission. Now take your money bag. Now get everything together. Be wise. And be prepared for long-term ministry. And make good decisions. And so this was only for a short time. that they would have to do this to learn the lesson. Because look at verse number 10, neither script for your attorney, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet stays. For the workmen is what? Where the others meet. That is, God's ministers, God's servants, are to be supported by God's people. That's a principle that God establishes here, especially if they're ministers who have ministered faithfully. You know, I can't resist but say we have had such a tremendous example and still do of a pastor who's been faithful for 43 years, preaching the Word of God faithfully and has been blameless in his testimony. And you have done well that you have taken care of him and will continue to take care of him. You do well to do that because this is God's plan. This is what God wants. The Bible says in First Timothy 517, let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and in teaching. That's God's pattern. And so let me let me move on here. The last thing quickly, and that is number seven, a discerning spirit. a delegated authority, a determined mission strategy, a distinct gospel, a divine affirmation, a debt-free attitude, a dependent faith, but then a discerning spirit. Look in verse 11. And into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, inquire who in it is worthy, and there abide till ye go thence. And when ye come again into a house, salute it. And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it. But if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you. And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words when you depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet." And then in verse 15, a very fearful verse, "...for verily I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city." So, Jesus gives a basic assumption here. What is it? Not everyone's going to receive you. You're going to experience rejection. That's what he says to his disciples. And if you're going to do the work of the Lord, you better come to grips with that. Not everyone is going to like you as a disciple of Jesus Christ. Not everyone is going to receive you and the message of the gospel that you bring with you to them. And so Jesus is warning them about this. And remember, who's he sending them to first? He's sending them to Jewish people. And these Jewish people already think of themselves as being religious. And so what is their message? Well, you're sinners and you need to repent. That's not going to be well received by some Jewish people who think as being a child of Abraham, they're already religious. And so Jesus says, you know, some of them aren't going to receive you. And so you have to be discerning. When you go to a place, you have to discern whether or not this place is worthy, whether you need to stay here. And when he says worthy here, what is he referring to? He's talking not about, he's talking about their character, whether they're worth the investment. In verse number 11, inquire who in it is worthy. That is, you have to discern that if this place where you are is a place where you want to continue to minister, are you spinning your wheels here? Is this going to be worth your investment? And if not, then you need to move on. If they receive you, then go ahead and stay there. But if they don't receive what you have to say, well, then you just need to move on. You have to discern whether or not this place is worthy. Use your discernment. And by the way, Jesus already mentioned that earlier. Go back real quickly. Go back to Matthew chapter 7. Let me just show you this real quick. Matthew chapter 7, when Jesus says, Judge not that you be not judged. This is a lot of folks favorite verse, but they misunderstand it. He's talking to the hypercritical Pharisees. If you judge very hypercritically, you'll be judged in the same way. But later he's telling the disciples, use discernment. Look at verse 6, Matthew 76. Give not that which is holy unto the dogs. Neither cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you." And so what is Jesus telling them? Listen, don't waste your time with certain people who won't receive what you have to say. Just like, you know, you don't give pearls to pigs. You think pigs enjoy pearls? Next time you have a pearl necklace, go to the pig farm and throw it to a pig and see what they do with it. The pig's not going to pick it up and say, oh, this is wonderful. I'm going to wear this. No. You don't do that. And Jesus is saying the same thing when it comes to preaching the truth. If they will receive you, he says, then you stay there and you preach. Go back to chapter 10 again and look again at verse number 12. And when you go into a house, salute it. And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it. But if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you. And then in verse 14, And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when you depart out of that house or the city, shake off the dust from your feet. That is, stay there as long as they will receive you, as long as they will receive what you're saying, but if they won't receive it, then just leave and just shake the dust off. And that was a Jewish way of expressing kind of scorn and, you know, I'm done with you. By the way, Jesus will do this later in Matthew chapter 11. He basically does that in chapter 11 when the unrepentant cities didn't receive Him. He did all these miracles. And he pronounces woe upon, look in chapter 11 real quick, look in verse number 20. We're closing here, I know I said that already, right? But look at verse 20. Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they, what? They didn't repent. Verse 21, woe unto thee, Chorazin, woe unto thee, Bethsaida. For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sodom, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. By the way, when I was over in Israel, I went around Galilee to some of those little cities. I went to Chorazin. You know what it is? It's a desolate, forsaken place. And you can go there today and see that in the time of Jesus it was a bustling little village, but now there's nothing there. It's black basalt rock and it's desolate and it's gone. And it's to me a symbol of the judgment of God of people who would not receive the gospel and receive the truth. Jesus, what did he do? He shakes the dust off and he moves on. That's what he tells his disciples. If they don't receive you, fine, stay there. But if they don't, then you just move on. Shake the dust off, move on. He doesn't say trim your message. He doesn't say, you know, oh, you know, just beg and plead and try to do more. No. The truth of the matter is the problem is not in the message. The problem is in the hearts of people who don't receive it. There's too much more work to be done out there in the kingdom. There's too many more people out there that want this. Go to them. Go preach to them. But don't waste your time with the rebellious people that will not receive what you have. So you move on. You have to have a discerning spirit to discern if this is a place where I can stay and I can minister and I can give truth and so on. And so there has to be a discerning spirit. Now, through these disciples, Jesus would do greater works. He promised them that. Greater works shall you do, because I go to my Father in heaven. You know why? You say, how can we do greater works? You know, it's no surprise that God used Jesus, a perfect person, to do great works. What's a surprise is that God can use people like us, imperfect people, to do great works. And the works are greater in the sense that the instruments that God has are much less. But God can still do the works that he did in the ministry of Jesus. He can still use us to do those works. Even though we're far from what Jesus was, these works are greater. God can work through you. He can work through me if we will obey Him and take what He teaches us and give it out to others. You know, we don't just come here in these services just to continually absorb and get all this and just keep it to ourselves, do we? We have got to get it out. We've got to get it to others. That's what being a disciple is all about. Let's bow for prayer tonight. And so, Father, help us to obey these instructions from our Lord. Help us, Lord, to be faithful. Lord, we confess we need Your power. We can't do this ourselves. Help us to know where our mission field is. And help us not to be distracted away from the true Gospel. Lord, affirm us. Help us to be generous and to freely give what You have given to us, depending upon You, Lord, and using our discernment to know whether we should minister in this place or in that place. Lord, help us to be effective. disciples to do your work, to preach your kingdom, for your glory. Lord, we want to be used by you, so help us, Lord, in this. We pray all this in Jesus' wonderful, matchless, and worthy name. With heads bowed and eyes closed, I just want to ask this one question. Are you a disciple of Christ? Do you know Him? That's the first step right there. Could be that you're here tonight and you've never trusted Jesus as your Savior. Friend, if I could, I would go to you and I would plead with you. Don't, don't play around with this issue. Don't, don't be careless with your soul. There's only one way to heaven. It's through Jesus Christ. And if you're not absolutely certain, that you have turned from your sin, repented and turned to Christ, and asked Him to be your Savior, I want you to do that right now where you are. Would you pray right where you are? And would you say, Lord, be merciful to me a sinner, and Lord, save me. Please pray that, and friend, if you do, if you reach out in faith, God will reach down to you, and He'll meet you where you are. Father, bless these words to hearing hearts, and we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.