Live without fear

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

LIVE WITHOUT FEAR

Matt 10:26-31

26 "So do not be afraid of them. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. 27 What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. 28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

NIV

Jesus had just told them about some who call him the devil and how much more they will be against those who are his disciples. Now he continues telling them not to be afraid of them, not to fear mere men for they too are but mortals. Some may hide their true character under the cloak of religious appearance, but Jesus tells them whoever tries to hide under that pretense will be made known. Once again we have to come to terms with the truth that man sees only that which in on the outside, but God sees into the heart of man. It might be fine to have our facade for the benefit of others, so they think well of us, but what does God see beneath that exterior. Is there a rotten building behind that façade? This type of person is who he warns his disciples about, yet not to fear them. In the days of Christ, these men were the Pharisees. He called them whitewashed tombs, nice on the outside, but dead inside. The whole idea, as he continues is that all will be revealed. What is concealed will be disclosed, what is hidden will be made known, what is said in the dark, even whispered, will be proclaimed from the roof. We remember what a former pastor once said that our personality is who we are when we are with people, our character is who we are when we are alone. Jesus goes on to tell them and us not to be afraid of people who are like false teachers, fake religious people, wolves who appear in sheep’s clothing. The world can kill our body. We can be murdered by evil men, which is just a fact, the body will die one way or the other, but our soul, or spirit is who we really are. We need to be aware of these types who can destroy our soul, this one who can destroy our soul. He can bring those who would teach falsehoods which can lead spiritually weak people astray and take away the truth who leads them to heaven. This is what is spoken about being tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine. Jesus tells us how important we are to God and how he cares so much about us, and oversees our lives. He even knows the very hairs on our head. How much more does he know the desires of our heart and the thoughts of our mind? Does that mean every time we fail, we submit to some temptation, God gets angry with us and cuts us off from his love and grace? That would not be consistent with his character. He knows we desire to resist temptations, but because we are human and not divine as he is, we cannot be perfect. Yes, Jesus live in us, or the Spirit, but at the same time we will not attain the perfection of Christ until we are with him in heaven. But our desire is to resist, and the devil’s desire is not only  to steal our soul, but also our joy. He accuses us before God, making the case of our sinful state. Yet because God cares for us so much, even the devil cannot do anything to us unless it is the will of the Father. The whole idea is that we have nothing to fear from men or the devil, for God keeps us in the palm of his hand. Yet once again we should be innocent as sheep and wise as a serpent, knowing who to be on guard against. Still we having nothing to fear. 

Student and Servant

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

STUDENT AND SERVANT

Matt 10:24-25

24 "A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. 25 It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebub, how much more the members of his household!

NIV

This seems pretty self-evident. How could we ever expect to be above Jesus? He is our teacher and we are his students, he is our master and we his servants. That should give us an insight as to how we are to live our lives, first as students of Jesus and second as servants. What does it mean to be a student of Jesus? That implies study of him, or the term that could be used is theology, the study of God. It is good to attend Church and hear the word of God preached by those who should be ardent students of Jesus. It is good to fellowship with fellow believers, which fellowship is Koinonia in the Greek. This carries the meaning of partnership, or to share with one has in anything. That means more than just talking about the weather or some sports team or the latest political or social event. Fellowship implies living life, sharing life together which includes being students in the same classroom listening to our teacher, but then participating in the discussion with one another so we all can learn more. This is not about learning denominational doctrines for Jesus is not and has never been nor will ever be a denomination. So then the purpose of our study, both our independent and classroom study is to emulate Jesus. “It is enough for the student to be like his teacher”. How much we need to study to be like Jesus, to see his character, so see his mannerisms, his sense of humankind, the traits he exhibited while he was among his people in the flesh. He has told us if we have seen him, we have seen the Father.

John 14:9-10

Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father . How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? 10 Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?

NIV

So we study, we examine the word of God not to just gain knowledge, not to enhance our intellect, but to find out more about Jesus so we can be like him, so that we can incorporate his character into ours, so that it is not we living, but Jesus living in us. In addition to this we also are his servants which follows the fact that he is our master. What servant is greater than his master? What servant does whatever he wants? Does not the master control every aspect of his servant’s life? What servant tells his master where he is going to live and work? What servant tells his master what type of service he will do for him? Although Jesus has told us he would give us our hearts desire, what should our desire be? To be more like Jesus, or to live a life like the pagans?

Ps 37:4

4 Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.

NIV

The condition of the desires of our heart are to delight ourselves in the Lord. This word delight carries several meanings. The first is to be soft and pliable, to be delicate, to be dainty. The second is to be happy, to take exquisite delight. Both of these definitions would seem to fit how we are to approach both our student and servant life. This also agrees with his teaching that if we seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, he will add the things we need in our physical life. It is not that we should run after them as the pagans do. It all comes back to be his student and his servant. His last statement here about being called Beelzebub has greater meaning then just what just meets the eye. The word he used was what the Jews called the god of flies, the god of the Ekron. They, however changed on letter and made it to mean Satan. This is what he has been accused of being when driving out demons. However the idea here is that as the world endeavors to discredit Jesus, the word of God, it also endeavors to discredit Christianity in general, which includes us, as we live by faith. They think us as being foolish trusting in God, not storing up for the future, as they do. They think us foolish for thinking God created the world and man as he is today. As Satan is the father of all lies, they consider us living a lie, having a false hope, a lying tongue about how life began, exists and ends. But we know the truth, we have seen Jesus, we have experienced his divine power in our lives, we have been with him, walked beside him, had him speak into our hearts and minds. We know who our teacher is and who our master is, for we are his students and his servants.

He is coming

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

HE IS COMING

Matt 10:21-23

21 "Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. 22 All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. 23 When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. I tell you the truth, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

NIV

It seems unnatural the tender relations of a family would be torn apart to the point of having a family member put to death over religious differences. Yet Jesus says this will occur. If we were to do an in depth study of history it would reveal some horrific situations concerning the persecutions of Christians. There were cases recorded of people being burned at the stake, boiled in oil, roasted slowly over coals, covered with pitch then set afire, compelled to drink melted lead, torn apart by beasts of prey and some were crucified. It was said Peter was crucified upside down. History tells us that family members were responsible for some of their torments because of their hatred toward God. Certainly we have nothing like this going on in our country presently. There are people, Christians who are being tormented in some of these same fashions in parts of the world. ISIS has done some of these barbaric acts against believers and we have seen the published videos of such behavior. The other words of Christ also has some ideas that we need to understand. When he tells his disciples they will not finish going through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes. There is several thoughts about what Jesus meant. Our scholars of old cannot agree completely, however they all seem to point to the destruction of Jerusalem which happened somewhere around forty years after these words were spoken. Some would what us to believe the coming of the Son of Man was to mean his ascension. But the verbiage is similar to those words he spoke as recorded by Mark, Luke and even Matthew later on.

Luke 21:25-28

25 "There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. 26 Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. 27 At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."

NIV

Mark 13:26-27

26 "At that time men will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. 27 And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.

NIV

Jesus was not talking about his ascension, but rather his return for his people, that event we call the rapture of the church. How can it be then the disciples will not have finished going to ever town in Israel before he returns in the clouds? This seems to be a conflict and that is why our scholars have to believe he meant an event which occurred in their lifetime. Yet truly can we say that Disciples of Christ have visited every city in Israel? Surely not the twelve, but was Jesus only referring to them, or to all his disciples, which would include throughout all of human time. Has Jesus been preached in every town in Israel? Certainly not during their time, and since the people of Israel were scattered all over the world, and the country or nation of Israel no longer existed for centuries we can be certain this has yet to be fulfilled. It was somewhere between the third and sixth centuries that the religion of Islam controlled the land.  Even after Israel becoming a nation again in the nineteen forties, it is doubtful the gospel has been preached in every town.  This leads us to the idea that we will not accomplish this even in our era of mass communications before Jesus appears in the clouds to call his people home. This does not preclude that ever knee shall bow because all men will have to stand before God and be judged. Then we have to deal with those who never heard the gospel, how can they be judged for not accepting Jesus? We would have to conclude no man is without excuse for what may be known about God can be clearly seen through creation.

Rom 1:18-20

18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse .

NIV

Paul goes on in his letter to the Romans

Rom 1:28-32

28 Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

NIV

It is evident all men were created, knit together in their mother’s womb by God with the knowledge of him within them. This is why they are without excuse even if they have never heard the gospel. So then we have to believe Jesus will return for us even before someone gets to every city in Israel to preach the good news about the kingdom of God. But also we should not forget that it is still possible families will be torn apart because of Jesus. We might not experience being put to death in those horrific ways, yet we can see families being torn apart because of Jesus. There is plenty of discord that occurs and we are told just to be silent, they do not want to hear about Jesus. Some tell us they just don’t believe in God and therefor anything we have to say using scripture or the principles of scripture have no relevance to them. It is sad to see this riff within families, but it happens today in our world. We cannot convince them to believe, they rather like their lives in the darkness of their own minds, although they believe we are in the dark and need their intellectual enlightenment. Not everyone is going to actually hear the gospel before Jesus comes, that is a fact, but that does not relieve us from trying. But it is a fact, not every town will hear the message before the coming of the Son of Man. 

Needed words

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

NEEDED WORDS

Matt 10:17-20

17 "Be on your guard against men; they will hand you over to the local councils and flog you in their synagogues. 18 On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. 19 But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, 20 for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

NIV

We have no record of such treatment of these disciples if they left Jesus at this time to make their journey throughout the towns of Israel. If we proceed further in this gospel we find his disciples are still with him. So did Matthew miss some time, or did none of these travels happen until after the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus? It would seem this is the case. He was giving them instructions as to what to do after he was gone, although he did not say that. One of the clues given to us which verifies this, is he tells them the Spirit of their Father will speak through them. It is not until he leaves them he tells them he will send the Spirit. We see the Spirit coming to them in Acts well after his ascension. This is another example of his divine nature, knowing all that is to happen, because in the reality of the divine it already has. Everything that will happen to Jesus did so before the foundation of the earth. So in some sense this is prophetic, these situations will happen. But then as we know from history these things did happen to them, most of his disciple were martyred eventually. But is this just prophesy and a history lesson for us? Is there anything in here for us to garner as truth for our lives? We certainly know that throughout history even today in areas in the world Christians have experienced much persecution at the hands of their own peoples. This does not speak to situations such as the holocaust but rather being treated in such manner by the very people of their own country. As with the case of the disciples they were sent to the towns of Israel only. Although the Romans did the crucifying of Jesus, it was the Jews who demanded it. Will we someday be subject to this kind of treatment in our country, but our own people? Will Christians be brought before the local councils and be flogged in the churches? Because of our faith could we be brought before the local government courts, even arrested? Maybe not in our lifetime, yet maybe we will in a sense. Maybe Christianity is being flogged in the courts of this land. Maybe Christianity is being attacked, arrested and on trial. We certainly have had encounters with people in our own communities and families that would flog our belief in Jesus. They present their compelling arguments against Christianity in the public arena, and more so more freely on social media. Our own government is bending to the pressures of those who distain our faith by passing laws prohibiting public expression of Christmas, unless giving the same space to anti-Christian expressions. More of late, it seems more liberty is given to other beliefs than to Christianity.  However, as with the disciples we have the Spirit. When we, or our faith is flogged in the public square including social media, we should not be alarmed nor sit silent. Jesus tells his disciples and us not to worry about what we are to say for the Spirit will speak through us. We will be given the right words. But that also means we need to rely on the Spirit and not on our own abilities or linguistic prowess. It is not by our intellectual knowledge  we are to make the case, but by the guidance of the Spirit. This also means we should not be afraid to speak up, to witness to the truth.  But at the same time we need to be on guard against such attacks. This goes back to being aware there are wolves out there. Although we live as innocent people, as sheep, we need to know where the den of wolves is. Be on guard against them, and keep on sharing the gospel as the Spirit gives us both the power and the needed words. 

Go to Town

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

GO TO TOWN

Matt 10:11-16

11 "Whatever town or village you enter, search for some worthy person there and stay at his house until you leave. 12 As you enter the home, give it your greeting. 13 If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. 14 If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town. 15 I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town. 16 I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.

NIV

Jesus is sending his disciples out into the world, but with explicit instructions.  Although the world is likened to a den of wolves in which he is sending sheep, he tells them exactly how they are to proceed. In every town they enter they should inquire about any good people in town. They certainly cannot inquire as to the best inn, for they have not gold or silver to pay for lodging. They were not to try to find the riches people in town that could offer them good accommodations.  The idea is to find those who are predisposed to hearing the gospel, good people, worthy people. We can certainly see some parallels to our lives today. Although for the most part the worldly people we know do not seem as a den of wolves, but nevertheless those who are opposed to the gospel are in fact those wolves. We see many of them in high profile positions where they can effectively work to decrease any efforts of the sheep, those of us who would witness to the grace of God. But we also come across these types of wolves in our daily life, perhaps even in our own extended family. What Jesus is instructing his disciples to do is somewhat like the game of hide and seek. The good people are out there hiding and we are to seek them out. There are going to be people who when we share the good news about the kingdom of God, they will refuse to listen, oppose what we tell them. They will even refute the message with their theories of science. They will believe the words of men rather than God.  They will say they have proof of evolution and we have no proof of God. Science is provable but we cannot prove God with using only the bible for that is not scientifically proven. These are the people Jesus tells us to shake the dust off our feet and move on. They are not worthy of our staying with them or spending any energy on with the message. They will be judged by God and their destiny of their own making is the lake of burning fire, which is far worse then what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah. God simply rained down fire from heaven on them, but the lake of burning sulfur will utterly destroy them, they will perish. But there are people out there, worthy people, but we have to seek them out. This would imply that we have to tell the message to everyone, finding who is worthy and who is not. We have to inquire if they are worthy. This certainly appears to be a hide and seek scenario, yet we need to seek for them. That appears to mean we need to be out there in the towns looking for them. We cannot simply stay secluded within the confines of our Christian community, staying away from those awful sinners, or the places they frequent. It would be possible we could think that those worthy people would not be in those places either, that we would most likely find them in good places, like coming to visit our church. But that is not the case either for they live in the same town as the rest of the sinners. It is just they will be open to hearing the message. However in being as innocent as a dove, we still need to be shrewd as a snake. That is to say, it might not be the best method to approach people and say, “Do you know Jesus?” There are clues to who would be open to the message and who would not. In our dove like lifestyle, staying innocent, but at the same time mingling with sinners, looking, seeking, finding those clues which lead us to those who are open and staying away from those wolves who would devour us, or attempt to destroy us. Yet even with all that we are still supposed to go to town.  

Freely

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

FREELY

Matt 10:5-10

5 These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: "Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. 6 Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. 7 As you go, preach this message: 'The kingdom of heaven is near.' 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. 9 Do not take along any gold or silver or copper in your belts; 10 take no bag for the journey, or extra tunic, or sandals or a staff; for the worker is worth his keep.

NIV

The instructions Jesus gives his disciples is rather lengthy, so we will need to take them in segments in order to garner all the truth. First we would assume this is just for these men and this time as he tells them to only go to the lost sheep of Israel. Then it would seem we are simply looking at a historical record of the acts of his disciples rather than seeing anything we could integrate into our lives. It does appear we do use the idea of a worker being worth his keep in paying those who serve the people of God as pastors as well as the support staff employed by the church. Then again we surely want our keep for the work we do for whoever employs us. We also know that eventually more than just the lost sheep of Israel get the message of the kingdom of heaven is near. It also seems we pay little attention to going with nothing in our purse. That is our missionaries must go about raising enough funds to support their work. They certainly take along gold, silver or copper in their belts and a bag with even an extra tunic, plus sandals and a staff. Their denomination tells them they cannot go unless they are fully equipped and funded. So it seems we pay little attention to any of the instructions Jesus has given so far to his disciples, except pay our pastors. But are they attending to the lost sheep of Israel? So what, if anything, can we use to incorporate into our thinking or lives? Perhaps this plum of a statement which seems to be inserted between these instructions. “Freely you have received, freely give”. What did he mean? What did they freely receive? Perhaps the Lord was telling them they received this power to heal people at no cost and therefor they should not make any material gain by this power. We know that men made gain using demonic powers in people as seers. But the disciples should not charge for the casting out of demons, healing the sick or raising the dead. But we could take this advice in regards to our being an ambassador of Christ. We have freely received salvation, the grace of God. There was no cost to us to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, so then we should freely share the grace of God with others. That is we should not think to gain anything by sharing his grace with others. But we should also look at this in the sense that as we freely received, we need to freely give. That is to say we cannot simply keep it for ourselves, with the attitude of us four and no more. If all we do is live by our lists of do’s and don’ts, mostly paying attention to the don’ts, going to church on Sunday morning and separating ourselves from the sinful world, we are not freely giving. Surely we support a few missionaries and maybe think we are giving, sharing the grace of God with some people in a foreign land, who we do not know. But what about in our lives with the people right here in our land, in our community, in our work place? Do they need to hear about the grace of God? Are we freely giving to them that which we freely received? We spent a great deal of time learning how to live a good Christian life, so to speak, we study his word, we attend bible studies, Sunday school, small groups, all to supposedly help us grow in our spiritual journey, but that is all about us. It seems a bit self-serving. Should we not be freely giving that which we freely received? It goes right to the point of the fruit of the Spirit. It is not for the tree. The fruit does nothing for the tree. The tree bears fruit to be picked and eaten. We bear the fruit of the Spirit so that people may come along and pick it from us. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and yes, even self-control. These are attitudes and behaviors people can enjoy from us. We can freely give those to them along with the grace of God. When we encounter someone in the world, in a store or business we frequent, do we freely give? Do they notice the fruit hanging from our tree and does it look appetizing enough to want some of it? We could go on and on with this idea, but it still comes back to us freely giving that which we freely received.  

Believe it or not

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

BELIEVE IT OR NOT

Matt 10:1-4

10:1 He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. 2 These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

NIV

Here we have Jesus picking the actual twelve that we refer to as the Apostles, including Judas Iscariot who betrayed him and thus was later replaced by Matthias, due to the fact Judas committed suicide after his betrayal of Jesus. So we have the twelve now and Jesus gives them this mission, this commission. He gives then both the qualification and the authority, as Luke uses both these words in his account. We are going to see further instructions in the following verses, but it would be good for us to consider this qualification and authority first. We know at least some of these men who Jesus called to himself because we were made privy to his saying to them, “Follow me”.

Matt 4:18-22

 18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19 "Come, follow me ," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men."  20 At once they left their nets and followed him. 21 Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, 22 and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

NIV

We are not sure as to how much time has elapsed since the first call of these four men as well as how soon after that he called the rest of them to follow him. We also know he called others and then more simply followed him because of all his miracles and thus were witness also of his teaching. So the actually number of who we would call disciples is uncertain, but from that number he calls out twelve to be his trusted close disciples whom he qualifies and gives this authority to cast out evil spirits and heal the sick, even raise the dead, as we will also see in the next couple of verses. The question is; was this just for the twelve? We know he later commissioned the seventy-two who came back and rejoiced because even the demons submitted to them in his name. So this qualification and authority was not simply for the twelve, although we certainly know they were very special men. Matthew calls them Apostles as he gives the names of the twelve. This Greek word translated Apostle means a delegate, specially an ambassador of the Gospel, officially a commissioner of Christ, a messenger sent forth with orders. It would seem this definition could apply to many believers rather than just the twelve, in fact it could apply to us. Do we not accept the great commission as directed to all believers from the time of Christ even to this day.

2 Cor 5:20

20 We are therefore Christ's ambassadors , as though God were making his appeal through us.

NIV

Some would say that was just Paul who was Christ’s ambassador, but then if we take away all those verses that were just for them, we would be left with little to nothing other than salvation. No, we have to internalize all of the word of God for our lives, otherwise what is the point of all of it. So then if that is the case, then should we not also be messengers sent forth to share the Gospel message? Have not we hear the call of Jesus to follow him? Now we should also note that these men first spent some close times with Jesus before he appointed them with this authority. Some would use the term he ordained them. But that word is not in the Greek New Testament here. He did give them the power and authority. But it is also true these men were qualified by Christ first. He watched them in the days or months that preceded this commissioning. This is why he called these twelve out from the others who followed him. They had been qualified by him and thus were given this authority. It would make sense that we too must go through this qualification process in order to be given such authority. The church in general has taken this to mean attendance of some bible college or seminary in order to receive the authority to minister as an ordained individual. The church gives them that authority. But Jesus is who must qualify those he gives authority to drive our demons, heal the sick and yes, even raise the dead. This may be why new believers may not have much authority, but why then do so many mature or long time believers not seem to have that authority? Are we back to this just being for the twelve? But we all are messengers of the Gospel. We all are called to go into all the world and preach the good news. We all are called to be followers of Jesus. We all have been told that we would do even greater things then he did. We all have been told if we ask anything in the name of Jesus, it would be done for us. We all know it is God’s will that men be freed from the possession and oppression of evil spirits. We all know it is God’s will that people are healed. We know that if we ask according to his will it will be done. So then after spending so many years following Jesus, studying his word, proving it to be true, believing everything it says, should we not be qualified to be given this authority? Yet are we back to just the twelve because it seems there is not much driving out of demons, healing the sick going on today. Or is that just because we don’t really believe? It may just come down to whether we believe it or not.