Matthew 9–10; Mark 5; Luke 9: Come Follow Me with Sam

 Welcome!


Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?

It's nice to have a nice house in a nice neighborhood in a nice community that is always nice to each other.

I don't think Jesus would live there though. I think he would live in the poorer part of town, and do what he could to serve there. That means that our nicest christian communities may be farther from following the example of Jesus Christ than they think.

I'm not saying we can't have nice communities, nice houses, and nice neighborhoods. Everyone needs a place to rest from the storm, and I personally have been blessed by associating with others in nice houses. You also need to make sure that you and your family are, relatively speaking, safe. But there is a real danger if your neighborhood is all just nice with no one in trouble. You may want to consider moving to a place where you can be of more use.

The woman who touched the garment

The chosen does a lot to bring this story out



The harvest truly is plenteous but the laborer's are few

This line caught my attention. This is the same generation that are also the most hard hearted, and yet Christ is saying that there is a great work and a great harvest to accomplish.

I feel this is reflective of our day. When there is great evil infesting what parts of society it can, it can be easy to think the labor is over and the harvest is gathered. In most situations, this is actually the seed bed God needs to bring in the good fruit. We have a great work to do and the opportunity may grow with the opposition.

the value of no purse or scrip

This is the first come follow me that is starting to get into the serious stuff. The reading of the lilies of the field began to go there. This is Christ sending out the disciples for the first time with nothing but the clothes on their back.

I have never personally been in the situation or had the faith to do this, but I believe there are many blessings, if you do it properly, to doing this. The key is that you need the commission and a high level of spiritual maturity or a senior guide to do this correctly.

More importantly, Christ is preparing and warning them of things to come. They need to learn to give up everything for the kingdom. This is practice. Its a start. 

These are words that also can be taken the wrong way. You really need to be at a different level to carry this out properly. Otherwise you'll destroy yourself and destroy others. But when you realize yourself, your place in the world, your relation with God and your fellow man, you can begin to realize the blessings that are caught up in call of these verses.

¶ Behold, I send you forth as asheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore bwise as serpents, and charmless as doves.

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