The Proclamation. 7/16/23

Weekly Memory Verse: "And proclaim as you go, saying, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand." - Matthew 10:7

Sermon Scripture Reading: John 1:9-13

-THIS SUNDAY'S SERMON-

River Family, This Sunday we, Lord willing we will begin Matthew 10. Read the chapter. This is a big chapter. This is a difficult chapter. Just to be honest, this is one of those chapters that I might be more prone to skip over, but it is our practice (which I believe is good practice) to teach through books of the Bible, not skipping over difficult passages. In this chapter we will hear Jesus say:

"Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the household of Israel." (Read Romans 1:16)

"...if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. Truly I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town."

"I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves..."

"Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for my name's sake."

"When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next..."

"Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul."

"Do not think that I have come to bring peace to earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. "

What did Jesus mean by these hard sayings?

I want to encourage you to read diligently and think deeply on these scriptures and pray for understanding. While Jesus does not contradict Himself, what is found in these passages may contradict some of the things we have believed and shared with others regarding God and His Word.

Grace and Peace, Eric