Just a few more verses and we will have the meat and potatoes of this. In verses, 22 and 23, Jesus goes on, telling them, “And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in this city, flee to another.” Lastly, in verse 26, Jesus brings it on home by telling them, “Therefore do not fear them. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.”
Did you
get it???
Jesus gave us the road map on what we are to do, when we are given an assignment. He goes on to tell us what we are to do, if we are NOT received, what will happen to those who do not receive us, what we are to do when we realize we are not received, He tells us how we are to act, what is going to happen to those who don’t receive us where we are sent and why we will not be received. That is our time to ask questions, but know this, it has already been worked out, by the time, it is given to you to bring to fruition or to complete. We are just to walk in it.
Oftentimes, by the time the person or group rises up against you, the people you are sent to impart the Words to, or the people you are sent to show the way, may have already been connected to what it is God sent you to do.
Let me give this example. You are a minister of the Gospel. God places it upon my heart and mind to invite you to a function I am giving. You accept. God gives you a Rhema Word to deliver to His Children. God’s plan is to impart into those He is getting ready to elevate in His Kingdom. But, you don’t know this. All you know is you were invited to a function to speak and the Holy Spirit had you write the Words. You deliver the Word. Those that God wanted to receive, received the Word. The rest of the people are murmuring and want you out of there yesterday. Their ears were shut up to receiving what you said or their hearts were hardened by satan, because he knew you were coming to deliver people out of the bondage they were in. You stand there wondering what is going on. It’s the end of the program and you are gathering up your stuff. People are coming to you, thanking you for the Words that came out of your mouth. You are giving God the glory, because you know it wasn’t you, but the Holy Spirit speaking through you. Then that one person comes to you with a condescending tone, asking you and accusing you. Before you know it, the Holy Spirit pushes you aside and begins to speak to that person, they walk away, and you get out of there, before someone else comes along, with that same spirit of negativity.
Are you starting to understand???
Let’s break this down a little bit further…
The road map is we are given a Vision, an assignment and demand that God wants us to complete. The Holy Spirit guides us into what we are to do, when we are to complete it, how we are to complete it, where we are to go and who the target people are.
In preparing this, the Holy Spirit brought to remembrance a conversation a sister in Christ and I had not too long ago. She was saying how people no longer fear or had reverence God in His House and how we all need to go back to the OT and read about God’s judgment of those that didn’t heed His Word or those that were disobedient. I remember saying through the course of this conversation how just as Jesus had to deal with the Pharisees and Sadducees, we have to deal with them, as well. Today, they are called church people. Those same people today, as they were then, are attempting to do the same thing, to stop the Word of God from going forth.
They are trying to stop the move of God from
taking place.
But, those that are being raised up are not buckling anymore from the pressure they are being put on them. They are shaking the dust off, AFTER; they have done what it is God has commanded them to do and going on to the next church, to the next neighborhood, to the next city, to the next state and to the next country.
I say all of that to say that God has given us a blueprint in Matthew 10 that we are not to deviate from. We are to trust Him, to lead and guide us. He sends us to be a light and to impart hope in His people. This is why He sent them out two-by-two, to be a companion, to support each other and in the midst of it all, to be there for one another. When God’s peace and love is not received, it is not us, they are not receiving. When the instruction is being despised, when the Word is being despised and Christ is being rejected, in Word or in us and we have done all that we were instructed to do, I must say this again, when we have completed everything we were instructed to do, it is only then, because Jesus told them the warning signs to look for, that we are to depart from that place, but nor before shaking the dust off of our feet.
Shaking the Dust Off