Matthew 10
10
Jesus Sends Out His Apostles
1Jesus called his 12 followers together. He gave them power to drive out evil spirits and to heal every kind of disease and sickness. 2These are the names of the 12 apostles: Simon (also called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; 3Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew, the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot. Judas is the one who turned against Jesus.
5These 12 men he sent out with the following order: “Don’t go to the non-Jewish people. And don’t go into any town where the Samaritans live. 6But go to the people of Israel. They are like sheep that are lost. 7When you go, preach this: ‘The kingdom of heaven is coming soon.’ 8Heal the sick. Give dead people life again. Heal those who have harmful skin diseases. Force demons to leave people. I give you these powers freely. So help other people freely. 9Don’t carry any money with you—gold or silver or copper. 10Don’t carry a bag. Take for your trip only the clothes and sandals you are wearing. Don’t take a walking stick. A worker should be given the things he needs.
11“When you enter a city or town, find some worthy person there and stay in his home until you leave. 12When you enter that home, say, ‘Peace be with you.’ 13If the people there welcome you, let your peace stay there. But if they don’t welcome you, take back the peace you wished for them. 14And if a home or town refuses to welcome you or listen to you, then leave that place. Shake its dust off your feet.# A warning. It showed that they were finished talking to these people. 15I tell you the truth. On the Judgment Day it will be worse for that town than for the towns of Sodom and Gomorrah.# Two cities that God destroyed because the people were so evil.
Jesus Warns His Apostles
16“Listen! I am sending you out, and you will be like sheep among wolves. So be as smart as snakes. But also be like doves and do nothing wrong. 17Be careful of people. They will arrest you and take you to court. They will whip you in their synagogues. 18Because of me you will be taken to stand before governors and kings. You will tell them and the non-Jewish people about me. 19When you are arrested, don’t worry about what to say or how you should say it. At that time you will be given the things to say. 20It will not really be you speaking. The Spirit of your Father will be speaking through you.
21“Brothers will turn against their own brothers and give them over to be killed. Fathers will turn against their own children and give them to be killed. Children will fight against their own parents and have them killed. 22All people will hate you because you follow me. But the person who continues strong until the end will be saved. 23When you are treated badly in one city, go to another city. I tell you the truth. You will not finish going through all the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.
24“A student is not better than his teacher. A servant is not better than his master. 25A student should be satisfied to become like his teacher. A servant should be satisfied to become like his master. If the head of the family is called Beelzebul, then the other members of the family will be called worse names!
Fear God, Not People
26“So don’t be afraid of those people. Everything that is hidden will be shown. Everything that is secret will be made known. 27I tell you these things in the dark, but I want you to tell them in the light. I speak these things only to you, but you should tell them to everyone. 28Don’t be afraid of people. They can only kill the body. They cannot kill the soul. The only one you should fear is the One who can destroy the body and the soul in hell. 29When birds are sold, two small birds cost only a penny. But not even one of the little birds can die without your Father’s knowing it. 30God even knows how many hairs are on your head. 31So don’t be afraid. You are worth much more than many birds.
Tell People About Your Faith
32“If anyone stands before other people and says he believes in me, then I will say that he belongs to me. I will say this before my Father in heaven. 33But if anyone stands before people and says he does not believe in me, then I will say that he does not belong to me. I will say this before my Father in heaven.
34“Don’t think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35I have come to make this happen:
‘A son will be against his father,
a daughter will be against her mother,
a daughter-in-law will be against her mother-in-law.
36A person’s enemies will be members of his own family.’ Micah 7:6
37“Whoever loves his father or mother more than he loves me is not worthy to be my follower. Whoever loves his son or daughter more than he loves me is not worthy to be my follower. 38Whoever is not willing to die on a cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39Whoever tries to hold on to his life will give up true life. Whoever gives up his life for me will hold on to true life. 40Whoever accepts you also accepts me. And whoever accepts me also accepts the One who sent me. 41Whoever meets a prophet and accepts him will receive the reward of a prophet. And whoever accepts a good man because that man is good will receive the reward of a good man. 42Whoever helps one of these little ones because they are my followers will truly get his reward. He will get his reward even if he only gave my follower a cup of cold water.”
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Matthew 10: ICB
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Copyright © 2015 by Tommy Nelson™, a Division of Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Matthew 10
10
(We have not yet translated 10:1-23. You can read those stories and most of those messages in Mark 3:13-19; 6:7-13; 13:9-13.)
Don’t be frightened of people that will hurt you because you follow Jesus
24-25Jesus told his followers, “You know about students and teachers. The teacher is more important than any of the students. The students have to learn to be like their teacher. And I am your teacher, so you have to learn to be like me.#Matthew 9:34; 12:24; Mark 3:22; Luke 6:40; 11:15; John 13:16; 15:20
And you know about workers and their boss. The boss is more important than any of the workers. The workers have to learn to be like their boss. And I am your boss, so you have to learn to be like me.
People will treat you the same way as they treat me. I am your leader, and they lie about me. They call me the boss over the bad spirits. And you are my followers, so they will say bad things about you too, more than they say about me. 26But don’t be frightened of them. You see, people might do things secretly now, but later God will let everyone know what they do. People hide things now, but later God will show them to everybody.#Mark 4:22; Luke 8:17
27And think about the message I tell you now. Sometimes I tell you something when nobody else is here. I might even just say it quietly in your ear. But later on, I want you to tell my message to everyone in the world. If you can, get up on a high place, and shout my words out loud, for lots of people to hear.
28Don’t be frightened of those people that can only kill your body. They can’t kill your soul. But you have to listen to God. If you don’t do what he says, you have to be frightened. He can finish up your body, and then he can also finish up your soul too, in that bad place called hell.
29Think about those little birds called sparrows. They don’t cost very much. You can buy them for a few dollars. But God remembers each one of them anyway. And if one of them falls down to the ground, God knows about it. 30-31Well, you are more important to God than a big mob of those birds, so don’t be frightened. He knows you properly. He even knows how many hairs you have on your head. So he will only let things happen to you that will be good for you.”
Follow Jesus properly
32Jesus said, “If you tell everyone that you are one of my followers, I will tell God, my father in heaven, that you are one of my followers. 33But if you tell everyone that you are not one of my followers, I will tell God, my father in heaven, that I don’t know you, and I will tell him that you are not one of my followers.#2 Timothy 2:12
34Don’t think that I came into the world to get everyone to agree with each other. No. People will not agree about me, and some people will fight the people that they don’t agree with. It will be like this,
35-36Maybe your own family will not want me, and they will turn against you and be your enemies.
A man will be the enemy of his father.
A daughter will be the enemy of her mother.
A woman will be the enemy of her mother-in-law.#Micah 7:6
37You see, you have to love me more than you love your own father and mother. Then it is all right for you to be my follower. And you have to love me more than you love your own son or daughter. Then it is all right for you to be my follower. If you don’t love me like that, you are not the right person to be my follower. 38If you want to follow me properly, you have to stop thinking only about yourself. You have to live like me. You have to be ready to die, yes, to die like a criminal on a cross, just like me.#Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23 39If you only want to look after your own life here on earth, you will lose it. You will not live with me for ever. But if you are ready to give up your life here, then you will find real life, and you will live with me for ever.”#Matthew 16:25; Mark 8:35; Luke 9:24; 17:33; John 12:25
(We have not yet translated 10:40-42. You can read some of those messages in Mark 8:34-35; 9:37, 41.)
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