Part 15 - Matthew 10:16-18 - GOSPEL TERRORISTS! TRUTH GRENADES!
Last night on the news I heard a report from Afghanistan - how the religious terrorist group called the Taliban killed many people with a suicide bomb. It is a common occurrence to see such news reports and deeply disturbing.
A terrorist inspires fear, dread, panic and anxiety often through religious fanaticism and a calculated use of violence against people in order to move towards their political and religious goals.
Forgive the analogy but Matthew 10 records how the disciples become GOSPEL TERRORISTS, terrorists of a very different kind who are going to fire some LOADED TRUTH GRENADES right in the middle of the nation of Israel. They themselves will be WOUNDED many times.
SHARING MY FAITH isn’t always going to be well received but far from destroying the world, it will save those around me. Yes it involves fear - THE FEAR OF GOD. Proverbs 1:7 (NLT) says "Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline." And yes it involves DREAD - a healthy dread of spending an eternity in hell. Yes it involves CONFLICT! The message of the gospel is confronting enough to bring opposition. No it does not involve religion but RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD.
Jesus lays it on the line to His disciples. This isn’t going to be a walk in the park. They will suffer personally. Flogged, whipped, trials! (Matthew 10:17-18. Who was just saying they wanted to be a disciple?) They are going as SHEEP AMONG WOLVES.
In December of 2004, Judge Michael Higgins, presiding at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal here in Australia, found Pastors Daniel Scot and Danny Nalliah guilty of inciting RELIGIOUS HATRED against Victorian Muslims.
This was an historic case, the first finding of RELIGIOUS VILIFICATION in Australia under new Victorian legislation.
Pastor Daniel Scot spoke at a seminar concerning Islam, sponsored by Catch the Fire Ministries. The seminar was also attended by three Australian Muslims; they had been asked to attend by an executive member of the Islamic Council of Victoria (ICV) and their members and the Equal Opportunities Commission. That alone speaks of a set up.
After years of court cases and many thousands of dollars on lawyers the charges were eventually quashed.
Matthew 10:18 says "But this will be your opportunity to tell the rulers and other unbelievers about Me." I am not here to FIT IN and ACCOMMODATE EVERYBODY’S opinions with a WATERED DOWN version of the Gospel. The message the Bible brings is CONFRONTING. I was talking to a Jewish person yesterday who said that the claims about Jesus being the Saviour were very CONFRONTING. I agree.
The Bible speaks of REPENTANCE and that’s not exactly a popular subject. The Bible is confrontational concerning sin, and may well cause OFFENCE. But if I am only being CHALLENGED about my sin I will have no hope. The aim of the Bible is to show me my need for a SAVIOUR. Jesus died for my sin so that I could be forgiven and brought into a personal relationship with Him.
In John 14:6 (NLT) Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through Me." Acts 4:12 (NLT) makes it clear that "There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved." Not a whole lot of room for compromise here!
God bless you Church as you refuse to water down the Gospel and as you share Jesus - the Way, the Truth and the Life. There is salvation in no one else!
Pastor Ross
