Matthew 10: 27- 33 by Kevin Kohltoff
Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.
God was kind enough to share His word with us to which as faithful Christians we should be engaged in, and He speaks to us through our heart and through those who have fellowship with God. The things God tells us should not be considered embarrassing; we should not be ashamed of what God stands for and the righteousness that He preserves. Whatever we learn from God isn’t supposed to be kept to ourselves but rather shared with all. We are supposed to stand up for the values and morals of God, keeping His righteous standards above ground and not let the things important to God be buried amongst the dead. Which in these days that’s exactly what this world is trying to do; but we, as believers, can’t just keep our mouths shut and say nothing. God doesn’t want us to stay isolated and keep His word quiet, His word needs to be brought to the light and shouted from the highest peaks.
But most believers don’t really act that way, do they? No, they come up with some lame excuse as to why they don’t talk about the things of God. If you call them on it, they say that it’s not because they are ashamed, so they give some other reason to justify their silence. The most common thing you will hear is that they don’t feel that they know enough about the things of God, or that it’s not their calling, to which my response is that they need to get going in their studies. If you are a born again believer then you know how to talk about the saving grace of God and if you don’t then how do you know if you are saved. And as far as it not being you’re calling to preach, that might be so but you do have a calling to spread the Gospel. Sharing the good news of Jesus Christ is the calling of all born again believers; it really comes down to whether you really believe in what you are doing. If you really trust in what you are doing, whatever that might be, you will share it with others. But of course sharing the Gospel of Jesus with others can come with some heavy persecution and rejection.
There is nothing done in this world that God does not know about, we might not think twice about a sparrow falling to the ground but God is aware of each and everyone that falls and can you imagine trying to keep count of the hairs on all the heads upon the earth, not to mention each one that falls out, especially as we grow older and they start falling out more quickly, and yet God has them all numbered. God concerns Himself with everything going on in this world and as far as we are concerned, well let’s face it, God loves us so much that He came into this world and died for our sins. God knows everything about us and as much as we might be able to convince others the reasons we do the things we do, we cannot fool God as God knows the heart and the real reason behind your silence.
So what is it that we are afraid of? It is true that man can kill us but they have no power over our soul. But God can destroy both soul and body, but of course this is not referring to annihilation but rather ruination. To annihilate you would be the easy way out; to ruin you would be everlasting suffering and pain. So if its fear you have you better believe the one that you should fear is not man but God.
Everything we do will be evaluated at the judgment seat of Christ and for us to refuse to speak up for Jesus because we are afraid because of intimidation or persecution will result in us losing our reward and the consequence of not being able to enter into the kingdom of God. If you are ashamed of Jesus and His words then He will be ashamed of you, and if Jesus is ashamed of you then I don’t see Him telling the Father that He knows you.
The bottom line is that if we don’t want to confess to others, no matter what the situation, whether we are intimidated or fear for our lives, or whatever, if we deny Jesus and our relationship with Him then in essence we are denying our faith in Him and if you do not have faith then you are not saved. Anyone you know intimately and are friends with them you won’t deny, so what are you saying if you deny Jesus by not defending Him both in our actions and with our words? Many will say that they will show their faith with their actions but the truth is that they are scared about what others will say of them. You won’t get too much grief for living within your morals and values but try to tell others why you live the way you do, then you will begin to feel some of what Jesus went through when He defended you when He went to the cross. I could go on and on with this and I already have but the truth is that we need to start telling others about the things of God and lift up the name of Jesus before all.
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