Matthew 10 and The Great Assignment

 First Page of the Gospel of MatthewMatthew 10:
1 And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.
Note: This is the spirit of prophecy, as in the resurrection of Mashiach the prince of this world is cast out.


2 Now the names of the twelve apostles are these;
Note: If one knows why there are twelve tribes of Israel, one knows why there are twelve apostles/emissaries. As the whole soul of Israel must be born from Above, so the soul of each tribe must be born from Above - and this is by the revelation of the word of the Good News of Israel and Her Messiah.
 The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother;
3 Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus;
4 Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.
5 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not:
6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
7 And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.
9 Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses,
10 Nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is worthy of his meat.
11 And into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, enquire who in it is worthy; and there abide till ye go thence.
12 And when ye come into an house, salute it.
13 And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you.
14 And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.
15 Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.
16 ¶Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
17 But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues;
18 And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles.
19 But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.
20 For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.
21 And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.
22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.
23 But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.
24 The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.
25 It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?
26 Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known.
27 What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops.
28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
29 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.
30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
31 Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.
32 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.
33 But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.
34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
36 And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.
37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.
40 ¶He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.
41 He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward.
42 And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.

Doing All Thinking In Prayer

 THE SCENT ESSENCE OF JERUSALEM

In II Corinthians 10:5: We read of "overthrowing arrogant opinions and every defence that towers high in defiance of the knowledge of God."  We read of  "carrying off into captivity every thought to bring it into subjection to Messiah".

Our objective is to reach that place where we do all our thinking in prayer.  We seek the place in our spiritual journey where we "pray without ceasing," I Thess. 5:17.  It is only in this place of our spiritual development that we will be able to fulfill the Great Assignment.

In order to accomplish this we must pray always according to the will of God.  I John 5:14: "And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he hears us."  This is not talking about knowing the details of God's will for every step of our private lives ahead of time before we make requests of Him.  It is talking about praying according to the knowledge of the Good News of Israel and Her Messiah, the plan of redemption for the world, which He has revealed in Israel.

It is only through maturing in the faith that God has provided eternal redemption for Israel, and thereby for all the world, in Yehoshua the Messiah of Israel can we enter into that place where we do all our thinking in prayer.

In Matthew 10:1 we read: "Yehoshua called his twelve students to him and gave them authority to drive out evil forces and to heal every disease and sickness."  This is the introduction in the education and training of Yehoshua's twelve talmudim to the Great Assignment that he would give to them.  Paul's statement cited from II Corinthians 10:5 can be linked directly to this teaching.

How To Announce The Good News of Israel and Her Messiah Today

For a long time now the Gospel has been announced as a replacement gospel - not the Good News of Israel and Her Messiah but good news, as it were, that even though Israel lost the promise of the Good News (according to replacement theology) you, whoever you are, as an individual could choose to receive Christ, to believe in his death and resurrection for you as an individual human being and so the Good News would be yours.  You would replace Israel as the recipient of the Good News.  Now it is time to correct that misrepresentation of the Gospel of God.  How is this to be done?  How is the Good News to be presented to a sinner convicted by the Spirit of God of their need of salvation?

There are differences between the generation when the great assignment of announcing the Good News was given and the present generation - however, there are things that are unchanged.  When the confusion of replacement theology is removed, we can see the things that have not changed and begin there.  To begin with the Good News is about Yehoshua (not about our lives as its subject).  The Good News is that he came to his own and while they did not receive him he gave himself in prayer for them, and until this day his prayer remains and is heard for Jerusalem and for Israel, and his desire is ever more toward his people and will be until his nation is filled with the joy of salvation and of her Good News.

When we are announcing the Good News today, we are not called to speak to an individual sinner, whether they are found alone or as a member of a group or an audience, primarily about their personal life. Rather, as from the beginning, we are called to speak to them primarily about the story of Yehoshua and how God made him to be both Lord and Messiah of Israel.  We are called to do this in a general way or in a detailed way, depending on the circumstances.  When speaking to a sinner we are not being called to be saying to them by the manner of our address, "You are special" in contrast to anyone else.  Yes, everyone in the world is 'special' to God who created them, but we are not to speak to them in a way where they are bound to misinterpret our saying so as being an element of the Good News itself.  For the truth is that no matter how special any sinner is to God because He created them, this alone will not save them, nor will it ever be the cause that causes God to save them.  The death of Yehoshua declares unto us that the death of every sinner is indeed the result of God's judgment.  A sentence from God of death and not of life must and will be carried out upon every sinner.  The fact that they are special to God who created them does not change this.  There is one cause and one cause only for salvation coming into the world.  It is the grace of God.  It is that God chose to love the world through the gift of His only begotten son.  This is the way that God loved the world.  In announcing the Good News to the hopeless and desperate sinner we are to speak about Christ alone, that is about the Messiah of Israel, who God raised from the dead.  For by this news there is a revelation of a new humanity to bring hope to all Humanity in all the world.