What do you have to look forward to?

Introduction

Matthew 10:16–18 (NASB95)

16“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.

17“But beware of men, for they will hand you over to the courts and scourge you in their synagogues;

18and you will even be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles.

Mark 9:30–32 (NASB95)

30From there they went out and began to go through Galilee, and He did not want anyone to know about it.

31For He was teaching His disciples and telling them, “The Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him; and when He has been killed, He will rise three days later.”

32But they did not understand this statement, and they were afraid to ask Him.

Luke 9:23–26 (NASB95)

23And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.

24“For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.

25“For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself?

26“For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

John 16:2 (NASB95)

2“They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God.

Let’s review some church history.

Jesus Christ died either 30 A.D. Or 33 A.D. Most likely it was 30 A.D. Is disciples saw him for 40 days after that-

Acts 1:1–3 (NASB95)

1The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach,

2until the day when He was taken up to heaven, after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen.

3To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God.

Peter is the main preacher from Acts 1 through Acts 12. Paul is the main preacher from Acts 13 through Acts 28. Timothy takes up the ministry of Paul. The ministry of John reaches into 97 A.D. The disciples of John Took the teachings of Jesus Christ into the next three centuries by people like Clement, Ignatius, Polycarp, and various other Church fathers. Between 300–500 AD, the Roman Catholic Church began to form. From that time until the 16th century, the true church of Jesus Christ, which is a reference to true disciples who held to Jesus his words accurately, was underground. From the 16th century until now the church of Jesus Christ has had a relatively public presence. From our day until the day Jesus returns for his church, we know from prophetic scripture that the church will be increasingly antagonized by the world. At some point in the future, Jesus Christ Will return and miraculously and supernaturally cause his disciples to be transformed bodily into glorious beings and lifted up into the clouds where he will welcome them and return with them to the father’s throne room.

Why am I seeing all of this?

It will be important to you, if your ministering in the way the disciples are being told to minister buy Jesus Christ, to be strengthened in your ministry. The world is growing hostile to truth.

And the church is the source for truth in the world because we have the word of truth.

As ministers of the new covenant, we need to remember the words of our lord in our passage today.

Ministry is difficult.

There are many enemies to the gospel.

We are all very weak in so many ways.

It would seem that the gospel could not go out from us with any level of effectiveness because of our weaknesses.

But go out it must.

Today, we have the immense glorious privilege I’ve seen Jesus give comfort to his apostles as they are about to be launched into the new covenant Ministry.

These men will continue the gospel ministry for the next 60 years.

Most of them will die a martyr’s death.

They will not die because they are murderers, or thieves.

They will die because they spoke the truth to the world, revealing the world’s sin.

John 3:19–21 (NASB95)

19“This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.

20“For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.

21“But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”

The promise of the spirit: vv. 16-17, 26.

The promise of the son: vv. 18-19, 25.

The promise of the father: vv. 20-24

The promise of the spirit: vv. 16-17, 26

1) he will be given to the disciples: v.16

he will be with the disciples forever: v.16 he will be in the disciples: v.17 he will teach the disciples: v.26

The promise of the Son: vv. 18-19, 25

he will not abandon the disciples: v.18 he will come to the disciples: v.19 he has spoken to the disciples: v.25

The promise of the father: vv. 20-24

He indwells Jesus Christ: v.20 he loves those who love Christ: v.21 he will make his home with the disciples: vv.22-23 he who believes in Jesus’s words believes the words of the father: v.24