“Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.” Matthew 10:1

Jesus prepared and equipped the Twelve for a specific purpose. This sending out was a “practice run” for all who would be taught and then sent them out into the world in need of help in all kinds of ways.  The greater purpose of this “giving” of Himself to His disciples went beyond the ability to offer temporary relief with physical healing but so that the world may know God who so loved the world He sent His Son to save us from our sins—eternal and forever spiritual healing!  What the disciples did gave God glory as God was glorified in them!  This is the teaching of Jesus!

“These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.”  Matthew 10:5-8, NIV

God gives us life in Jesus’ name
he lives in us in Jesus’ name
And in Jesus’ name I come to you
To share his peace as he told me to.

He said ‘Freely, freely you have received; freely, freely give.
Go in my name, and because you believe others will know that I live.

(Copyright © 1972 Bud John Songs/ EMI Christian Music Publishing/ Adm. by CopyCare)

Paul was one of those lost sheep of Israel who now is a fully committed servant of Jesus Christ.  Paul, saved by grace, transformed by the Holy Spirit, now preaches Jesus—crucified for our sins and raised to life to give us our hope of eternal life!  Called and equipped by God; Paul is sent in Jesus Name to preach Jesus’ salvation to Gentiles and Jews—everyone in the world whom God loves—with the message of redemption by Jesus. 

Paul, who has freely received Christ now freely gives his life so the rest of the world may know the God who saved him through Jesus, His Son.

2 Thessalonians 1, The Message

^1-2 I, Paul, together with Silas and Timothy, greet the church of the Thessalonian Christians in the name of God our Father and our Master, Jesus Christ. Our God gives you everything you need, makes you everything you’re to be.

Justice Is on the Way

^3-4 You need to know, friends, that thanking God over and over for you is not only a pleasure; it’s a must. We have to do it. Your faith is growing phenomenally; your love for each other is developing wonderfully. Why, it’s only right that we give thanks. We’re so proud of you; you’re so steady and determined in your faith despite all the hard times that have broadsided you. We tell everyone we meet in the churches all about you.

^5-10 All this trouble is a clear sign that God has decided to make you fit for the kingdom. You’re suffering now, but justice is on the way. When the Master Jesus appears out of heaven in a blaze of fire with his strong angels, he’ll even up the score by settling accounts with those who gave you such a bad time. His coming will be the break we’ve been waiting for. Those who refuse to know God and refuse to obey the Message will pay for what they’ve done. Eternal exile from the presence of the Master and his splendid power is their sentence. But on that very same day when he comes, he will be exalted by his followers and celebrated by all who believe—and all because you believed what we told you.

^11-12 Because we know that this extraordinary day is just ahead, we pray for you all the time—pray that our God will make you fit for what he’s called you to be, pray that he’ll fill your good ideas and acts of faith with his own energy so that it all amounts to something. If your life honors the name of Jesus, he will honor you. Grace is behind and through all of this, our God giving himself freely, the Master, Jesus Christ, giving himself freely.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Paul thanks God for those whose faith is so strong and tenacious that others come to know God because of the testimony of their very lives lived for Jesus!

“Our God gives you everything you need, makes you everything you’re to be.”  God provides where He guides and sends.  We respond with grateful hearts as we freely tell God’s Story of His Glorious Son!

REAL LIFE is all about His Grace!  “Grace is behind and through all of this, our God giving himself freely, the Master, Jesus Christ, giving himself freely.”  We don’t deserve to be set free.  We cannot earn this freedom from our sins.  God freely gives us the Way out of our sins.  Jesus is the Way, Truth, that leads to Life eternal!

Mercy is the act of withholding deserved punishment, while grace is the act of endowing unmerited favor. In His mercy, God does not give us punishment we deserve, namely hell; while in His grace, God gives us the gift we do not deserve, namely heaven—all because of His great love for us!

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16-17

There was a cost to redeem us.  Jesus paid it in full.

“He said ‘Freely, freely you have received; freely, freely give.
Go in my name, and because you believe others will know that I live.”

Lord,

Thank you for your love, mercy, and grace.  Thank you for saving us and setting us free from the bondage of our own sins. Thank you for reconciling (reconnecting) us to you in a growing, intimate relationship with you—one that you have always desired with us.  Continue to cleanse our hearts, renew our minds, refresh our souls with our daily mercies, and restore the everlasting joy and peace of your salvation at work in us so that we can be all you created us to be as we freely give the message that has so freely been give to us.  To you be the glory!

In Jesus Name, Amen