Today’s Podcast
Today’s Bible reading plan:
Read it in a year – 1 Corinthians 3-4
see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)
Today’s Devotional
Matthew 10:40-42
Jesus: Anyone who welcomes you welcomes Me, and anyone who welcomes Me welcomes the One who sent Me. Anyone who welcomes a prophet and surrenders to his prophecy will receive a prophet’s reward, and anyone who welcomes a righteous person and conforms to the righteousness that surrounds him and proceeds from him will receive a righteous man’s reward. And anyone who has given so much as a cup of cold water to one of the little ones, because he is My disciple, I tell you, that person will be well rewarded.
What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?
There’s a story in the Old Testament that relates an action by King David not long after he took the throne of the united kingdom of the twelve tribes of Israel. The country was secure. His enemies defeated. David’s subjects lauded his reign.
Nahash, the king of the Ammonites, died; and his son Hanum became the new king. Nahash had helped David during the time he fled from Saul. So when David heard of Nahash’s death, he sent emissaries to Ammon with a sympathy message about his friend’s death. But instead of greeting David’s emissaries, Hanun’s advisors convinced him these men from David were spies sent to learn as much as they could about the new king and the country so David’s army could come in to defeat them.
Consequently, Hanun seized the men, cut off half of their beards, cut off their garments at their hips and then ordered them out of his country. Remember, these were David’s emissaries, his representatives. When he heard about what happened to his men, he sent messengers to intercept his emissaries to put them in seclusion until their beards grew back to keep them from public humiliation. Then David had something to say to Hanun. He spoke loudly about the way Hanun treated his emissaries by sending Joab and his army to crush the Ammonites.
Jesus’ words are reminiscent of that story. When you treat an authorities emissaries well, you will be treated well in return. When you treat an authorities emissaries poorly, expect to be treated poorly in return. Jesus was at the end of His instructions to His twelve disciples before sending them on their missionary journey to share His message. “Repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
These twelve are His emissaries to their world. His representatives. Their message is His message. Their actions represent His actions. So, like David’s emissaries so many centuries earlier, the way you treat His emissaries determines the consequences that follow. If you welcome them, you welcome Him, and you welcome the Father, because He is one with the Father. Conversely, if you reject His emissaries, you reject Him and the One who sent Him.
Those can be tough words today. How do we discern who His true emissaries are in a world that also contains a lot of false prophets, preachers and teachers that bend the truth and pull us away from God’s intended path? Like Satan’s temptation of Jesus in the wilderness, they use scripture to prove their point. But they use pieces of scripture for their convenience. Their words sound good, but they don’t carry God’s message. How do we discriminate between God’s prophets and false prophets?
First, test what people say against God’s word. Go back to His word and read it for yourself…in context. Don’t let someone take a verse or two out of context and build their case. Put everything back into the context of God’s word. He never contradicts Himself. So when someone tells you something that contradicts His word, be wary of what they say. God does not contradict Himself. Either you heard wrong, misunderstood, or a false prophet is trying to lead you away from the truth. That testing includes me, too. See if what I say is true to God’s word.
Second, stay prayed up. The more we talked to God, and let Him talk to us through His word, the less likely we are to fall for the message of those false prophets. Like bank tellers who learn how to identify counterfeit money by only handling real money, when the fake stuff comes through their hands, they immediately know it is different and become aware it’s not legitimate. So it is with God’s word. When we stay attached to it, we come to know what is real and what is not. No one can fool us with what comes out of His word, because we become familiar with it.
Third, you stay connected to the source of all good things. You will become more discerning in what you hear and see. When you stay connected to God, He will help you see past the glitz and glamour of the false prophets so you can hear the truth. When God is fully in control of your life, He will help you discern truth from falsehood. When He is your source of power, nothing can wedge its way in because He has already overcome the world. But that means letting Him be Lord of your life. It means saying yes to Him…always. It means choosing to follow Him in everything He directs. It means letting Him really be Lord.
Are you ready to be His emissary?
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