Whole World in His Hands!

Whole World in His Hands!

Jesus’ nature is Love… His message traveled from what is now Israel  through the whole world over the last 2000+ years!

He urges us to continue spreading His gospel , unapologetically, to our friends and family, to our coworkers and Antoine else who is willing to listen.

God's immense and unwavering love isn't always easy to see or understand. Sometimes it shows itself in small ways, like when a person asks how your day is going and actually listens when you answer. It shows itself in big ways, too, like when a guardian angel appears out of nowhere when your car stops running and you need someone to restart it.

"Certainly the faithful love of the Lord hasn’t ended; certainly God’s compassion isn’t through! They are renewed every morning. Great is your faithfulness."

The Good News: God's heart is brimful of love, and we can depend on Him to love us just as much every day.

Reference: https://www.womansday.com/life/inspirational-stories/g28832117/bible-verses-about-gods-love/#

Matthew 10: 26-33

The Word of God

"So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows. Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven."

Matthew 10:34. When he says, “I didn’t come to bring peace,” he expects us to be shocked, to wake up, to take seriously what he is saying, and not to generalize to mean things he showed us he doesn’t mean. He said, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” And when he says, “to the earth,” his point is to draw attention to his origin in heaven and his mission on earth.

He’s not your ordinary prophet. He has come from outside earth, outside the world system, and the message he brings is going to cut like a sword. Peace will not be the all-defining mark of his ministry. In other words, those who elevate peace to the all-defining mark — as if to say that nothing can be done if it doesn’t make peace — will go against this text, far from it. There will be peace and unity, but not at all costs. That’s what we’re learning from this text.

Where We Pledge Allegiance

Link

This is what Jesus meant by bringing a sword, not peace. It means he comes into the world as the supreme beauty and supreme joy and supreme value of the universe. And he comes with absolute supreme authority, and therefore, he claims in every family, and in every business, and in every school, and in every church, and in every political party, and in every nation a superior allegiance, a superior love. And so, with the sword of his supremacy, he cuts every affection and every allegiance to family, or business, or school, or church, or political party, or nation, which would compete with him for supreme place in our hearts.

How will he set family members against each other? Verse 37 explains: “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” In other words, Jesus enters earth, he enters the world, and he lays claim now, as a king from another kingdom, on every human heart. “I am worthy of greater affection, greater love, greater allegiance than any member of your family.” If all the family members respond to Jesus this way, you’ve got peace. But if they don’t, if there is anger because Jesus has become more important than family bonds and family affections, then a sword cuts right through the relationship. We’ve all tasted this in some ways.

And verse 38 moves the division from superior affections for Jesus — first, he says, “You’ve got to love me more” — to absolute following of Jesus. So now he says, “And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” So, the family not only does not have the supreme affection; it does not have supreme authority either. The disciple loves Jesus above the preciousness of the family, and the disciple follows Jesus before the authority of mother or father.

https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/jesus-came-to-bring-violence-but-what-does-that-mean-for-us

Previous
Previous

Freedom

Next
Next

What is Pentecost