COMPLETE SERMON NOTES

MATTHEW 10

Matthew 10 (NIV) 9 “Do not get any gold or silver or copper to take with you in your belts—10 no bag for the journey or extra shirt or sandals or a staff, for the worker is worth his keep. 11 Whatever town or village you enter, search there for some worthy person and stay at their 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, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet. 15 Truly I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.

1. Don’t look at the odds . . . Only 12

As we yield He moves us – if we don’t yield we fight

2. We have limited time to do God’s Will

“Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12). WISDOM IS YOUR FRIEND!

3. “Proclaim this message”: The gospel is primary.

Misaligned priorities always results in frustration.

UNBELIEVER: He is not willing that any should perish…

PROCLAIM THIS MESSAGE OFTEN APPEARS IN THE FORM OF COUNSEL

1. The heart of the person presenting the gospel must be emotionally engaged with the truth they believe.

Jonathan Edwards said, “God is glorified, not only by his glory’s being seen (known, reflected upon), but by its being rejoiced in.”

     – Balance truth and love; joyful but serious; patient but objective.

TRUTH SIDE

– “No wonder people often don’t want to be around doctrinally driven individuals! They aren’t doing doctrine right! They aren’t emotionally in touch with the truth they teach” (John Piper).

EMOTION SIDE

James Boice said to RC Sproul – “we are surrounded by pastoral wimps…they say, ‘People don’t need teaching… they need to be hugged, they need silence, they need stories, they need experiences shared’.”

 

2. The goal of the person who is engaging must be love.

The reason most people don’t minister and reach out to others is because they don’t have a compassionate loving heart. Paul said that you are my example as a mother feeding her own child

• 1 Thessalonians 2:7, “Although we could have been a burden as Christ’s apostles, instead we were gentle among you, as a nursing mother nurtures her own children.” Holman Christian Standard Bible

Proclaim This Message parallels with Isaiah 61:1-2, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor, he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound…”

a)  the poor – feel beat up and rejected

b)  the brokenhearted – lives have been shattered

c) liberty to captives – why does the enemy want to oppress? Bound / loaded down.

d)  opening prison doors – Colossians 1:13-14 “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness…”

4. Ministry followed: Heal, Cleanse, Set free …  

8 “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.”

• “I’m just not being used.”

5. “Do not take any money with you…”

• God often builds by removing; HE tests by dependance.

• How do you build dependence?

He often leads more by withholding information than by supplying it. TOTAL AND UTTER DEPENDENCE ON GOD

• FAITH and TRUST meet WISDOM

6. Fellowship with the worthy … Entrust your care.

1. Godly fellowship and care.

2. “Bad companions corrupt godly character.”

 Draw God’s people away.

7. Dust off the feet: removing POLLUTANTS

• We’re just Messengers not Correctional Officers.

• Let the peace of Christ rule, govern, direct.

8. “More bearable and tolerable than Sodom and Gomorrah.”  The people heard but failed to repent.

The saying is not designed to hold out hope for Sodom [and Gomorrah] but rather to suggest that the present situation created by the coming of Jesus means that what is involved in rejecting his messengers is much more serious than had been the wickedness of Sodom [and Gomorrah].

John Nolland (2005). Preface. In The Gospel of Matthew: a commentary on the Greek text (p. 420).

CLOSING: So What Does God Want?

Have you been rejecting the message of the cross? 15 Truly, I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom & Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for YOU.

Have you been living in DISOBEDIENCE? 15 Truly, I tell you, he who knows what to do but does not do it, it is sin to YOU – “You’re living in deception.”

Have you been living in FAILURE? Truly, I tell you, CAST ALL YOUR CARES UP ME!​