Matthew 10:1-42

Fritz Kreisler, one of the world's greatest violinists said, "I was born with music in my system. I knew musical scores instinctively before I knew my ABC's. It was a gift of Providence. I did not acquire it. So I do not even deserve thanks for the music…Music is too sacred to be sold. And the outrageous prices the musical celebrities charge today are truly a crime against society."

These are words that everyone in Christian work might take to heart. The Christian ministry is a...

The Bible is fairly full of tokens of God's marvelous care for His people. During Israel's forty-year trek through the wilderness, they ate food from heaven (Exodus 16:4), had an unfailing supply of water (1 Corinthians 10:4), and were equipped with shoes that never wore out (Deuteronomy 29:5).

It is the same in our wilderness journey. To prove this,...

The omniscience of God means that He has perfect knowledge of everything. He has never learned and can never learn.

One of the great passages on the subject is Psalms 139:1-6, where David wrote: "O Lord, thou has searched me and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising; thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my...

The wisdom of God is a thread that runs all through the Bible. For example! "With him is wisdom and strength, he hath counsel and understanding…With him is strength and wisdom: the deceived and the deceiver are his" (Job 12:13; Job 12:16). "O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of...

Hospitality is not only a sacred duty (Be not forgetful to entertain strangers); it carries within it the promise of glorious surprises (for thereby some have entertained angels unawares).

It had started out as just another ordinary day for Abraham. Suddenly three men appeared before him as he sat by the door of his tent. The patriarch reacted in the typical middle-eastern manner - he washed their feet, arranged a cool resting place for them under a tree, went out to the herd for a...

Our Lord is not speaking here about the direct purpose of His coming but rather about its almost inevitable result. He is saying that whenever people would follow Him, they could expect bitter opposition from their relatives and friends. In that sense, He did not come to bring peace but a sword (v. 34).

History has fulfilled the prophecy. Wherever people have turned to the living, loving Savior, they have met with abuse and hostility. They have been ridiculed, disinherited, thrown out...

It is not uncommon for a person to become discouraged in his service for the Lord and to quit. I suppose that most of us have faced that temptation at one time or another. Therefore, in today's reading I would like to share four passages that have been a tremendous encouragement to me and that have kept me from quitting. The first is Isaiah 49:4 : "Then I said, I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain: yet surely...

One important element of practical wisdom is tactfulness. The Christian should learn how to be tactful. This means that he should develop a delicate sensitivity as to what to do or say so as to avoid offense and cement good relations. The tactful person puts himself in the other fellow's shoes and asks himself, "How would I like to have that said or done to me?" He seeks to be diplomatic, considerate, gracious and discerning.

Unfortunately the Christian faith has had its share of...

What an extraordinary world is this that such a sentence should ever have been uttered in it! Consider what is implied in these words. They manifestly imply that it is an opprobrious thing in the estimation of mankind to give honor to him who is the brightness of the Father's glory, and to acknowledge any connection with him. They imply that it is necessary to present the most powerful motives to the mind in order to subdue the feeling of shame that would naturally arise in the confession of...

Matthew 9:35 to Matthew 10:15 Matthew 10:40-42

Jesus never rested. He went about doing good. His work is summed up here in three words: teaching, preaching, and healing. He was in this world to seek and save the lost, and He went everywhere on His holy mission of love. He did not stay in one...