Power in the Pulpit | Matthew 10:16–42

Intro: If you have a Bible with you tonight, could you turn to Matthew 10:16. We will be looking at the rest of chapter 10 tonight. Real quick, before we get started, I want to let you know a quick scheduling note. We do not have The Walk next Sunday night. We have not done it the week after thanksgiving in the past and this year we have The Hanging of The Greens which I hope you will all join us for. December 1st will be our last Sunday night of the semester. On that night we will take a break from the book of Matthew so we can start fresh with chapter 11 at the beginning of the semester. But we are going to be looking at why missions and things like Lottie Moon are so important. I hope you will be here that night. I know I just talk about missions a lot, but I want us to look at why it exists.

But moving on to tonight’s passage. Last week we talked about when Jesus told 12 of his disciples that he was sending them out in pairs to go to the Jews and take the message of the Kingdom. In tonight’s passage, which is all a part of the same teaching from Jesus, he changes his focus, and he begins to help them understand what would be going on in the future when they and others would take the message of the gospel. What he told his disciples is that though persecution will come, the promise of God would be greater. We will see a warning of persecution, an encouragement of how to handle it, the division the message of the Kingdom would bring, and the call to care for the messengers. Tonight we are going to do it a bit different since it’s such a long passage. I’m just going to read it as we go. So I’m going to pray and then we can look at verse 16.

Verses 16-25

Verse 16

Wise as a serpent, innocent as doves

Verses 17-18

The legal format

How this happened in Acts

Not just the Jews, but also gentiles,

Persecution as an opportunity

Verses 19-20

The Holy Spirit

Not an excuse to not prepare to speak

Verses 21-25

If we follow Jesus, we will be treated like Jesus

Transition: Jesus warns that persecution will be part of being a disciple, and will be pretty severe for some. But he also helps explain the mindset one must have when enduring. It must be an eternal mindset.

Verses 26-33

Verses 26-28

Everyone day will one day know, don’t fear speaking truth.

Verses 29-32

God loves us and holds our eternal faith, don’t worry about what this world may bring.

Transition

Verses 34-37: This persecution Jesus is speaking of, it won’t just happen from strangers or enemies. It will come from those close to us as well.

Division can come even within familes

Sylvanus

Girl at Georgia State

Verses 38-39

Don’t trade the temporary for the eternal. Even for those that are saved don’t do this.

Transition: After so much talk about enduring persecution, Jesus then gives a word for those that would receive and support those who were sent.

Verses 40-42

Take care of those who take the message of the gospel.

Conclusion