Jesus was frequently misunderstood. In fact, when He taught His disciples how to deal with those who rejected His message, the strength of His directive was enormously misinterpreted by a couple of His disciples.<\/p>\n
And He called the twelve together, and gave them power and authority over all the demons and to heal diseases.<\/em> And He sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to perform healing<\/em>. Luke 9:1-2<\/p>\n Jesus commissioned His disciples to hit the road and proclaim the gospel sometime in the midst of His three year ministry. Matthew\u2019s gospel cited Jesus\u2019 charge this way, “And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand\u2019\u201d<\/em> (Matthew 10:7).<\/p>\n \u201c\u2026As you go, preach\u2026\u201d<\/em> Whether formally sent out by a commissioning ministry or merely on the go in everyday life, the directive from the Lord was clear: \u201cAs you go, preach.<\/em>\u201d In other words, be on the lookout for assignments from God.<\/p>\n \u2026 and<\/em> [He] gave them power and authority over all the demons and to heal diseases. <\/em>Luke 9:1b<\/p>\n These anointings were specifically imparted to the twelve, not to everyone<\/em> following Jesus at the time. However, just before Jesus ascended to the Father, He intentionally included every<\/em> believer in His charge when He stated, \u201cThese signs will accompany those who have believed<\/strong>: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues;<\/em> they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover<\/em>\u201d (Mark 16:17-18).<\/p>\n You and I are commissioned as ambassadors for Christ. Jesus relegated that authority to you and me. As you go, preach<\/em>\u2026and these signs will accompany those who have believed<\/em>. This is not meant to pressurize<\/em> anyone; it is meant to inspire<\/em> and direct<\/em> every single believer.<\/p>\n And He said to them, <\/em>\u201cTake nothing for your journey, neither a staff, nor a bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not even have two tunics apiece.<\/em> Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that city.\u201d<\/em> (Luke 9:3-4)<\/p>\n During His ministry, Jesus charged His disciples to travel light\u2014no money, food, or extra clothes. He was training them to trust God for their every need.<\/p>\n However, right before He was crucified, He adjusted this directive: \u201cAnd He said to them, <\/em>\u2018When I sent you out without money belt and bag and sandals, you did not lack anything, did you?\u2019<\/em> They said, \u2018No, nothing.\u2019<\/em> And He said to them, \u2018But now, whoever has a money belt is to take it along, likewise also a bag, and whoever has no sword is to sell his coat and buy one\u2019<\/em>\u201d (Luke 22:35-36).<\/p>\n The only explanation He gave for this modification was this: \u201cFor I tell you that this which is written must be fulfilled in Me, \u2018<\/em>And He was numbered with transgressors<\/em>\u2019; for that which refers to Me has its fulfillment<\/em>\u201d (Luke 22:37). Evidently, Jesus knew that some people\u2019s perception about His death would make daily life tougher for His followers. And with this redirection, He continued<\/em> to make provision for them.<\/p>\n But what about those who didn\u2019t want<\/em> to hear the message?<\/strong> Check this out:<\/p>\n And as for those who do not receive you, as you go out from that city, shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.<\/em> Luke 9:5<\/p>\n Not everything would be kittens and sunshine for followers of Christ. Some people would reject both the message of Jesus and<\/em> those who proclaimed it. In response, did the loving Jesus admonish, \u201cBe tolerant of the folks who don\u2019t like My message. Try to see things their way and compromise<\/em>\u201d?<\/p>\n Not on your life. Instead, He told them to leave<\/em> the unwelcoming city and shake the dust of that place from their feet.<\/p>\n Aware of Jesus\u2019 firm stance on this issue, a couple of the disciples stepped it up even more when, on the way to Jerusalem, a certain Samaritan village refused to receive Him (see Luke 9:51-53).<\/p>\n When His disciples James and John saw this, they said, \u201cLord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?\u201d<\/em> Luke 9:5<\/p>\n \u201cHey,<\/em>\u201d they said to Jesus, \u201cLet\u2019s show them<\/strong>\u2014let\u2019s call down fire<\/strong> and watch \u2018em fry!<\/em>\u201d After all, He did <\/em>give them authority, didn\u2019t He?<\/p>\n But He turned and rebuked them, and said, <\/em>\u201cYou do not know what kind of spirit you are of;<\/em> for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men\u2019s lives, but to save them\u2026\u201d \u00a0<\/em>Luke 9:55-56a<\/p>\n Wonder if\u2014during the days of the guillotine and the stake and the handling of \u201cheretics\u201d\u2014any of them ever studied this Scripture? Jesus said, \u201cProtest, indeed; but make it short-lived\u2014and non-violent<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n When believers are upfront but peaceful with those who don\u2019t receive them, they leave room for God to do His<\/em> thing\u2014<\/em>however He sees fit.<\/p>\n \u2026And they went on to another village<\/em>. Luke 9:56b<\/p>\n What do you do when you’re rejected as a believer? You go on your way. <\/em>Don\u2019t fixate on the rejection; leave it with the dust you shook off back in that city\u2026and then go about your Father\u2019s business.<\/p>\n Dorothy<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a9 2017, Dorothy Frick<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jesus was frequently misunderstood. In fact, when He taught His disciples how to deal with those who rejected His message, the strength of His directive was enormously misinterpreted by a couple of His disciples. And He called the twelve together, and gave them power and authority over all the demons and to heal diseases. And […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[534],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bk-of-luke"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8020"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8020\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8069,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8020\/revisions\/8069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}