39 - Bible Commentary | Karuna Sadan

How to Have Intimacy with God

And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease. (Matthew 10:1)

When He had called His twelve disciples to Him…

1.Power flows out of intimacy with the Lord

2.Revelation and understanding flows out of intimacy

One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him. Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, “Ask him which one he means.” (John 13:23-24)

3.You will be a great blessing to the people around you.

People will be blessed by the Lord because of you.

4. Intimacy is the key to boldness.

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus. Acts 4:13

Boldness is the key to miracles. Someone who leads a balanced calculated life will not dream of stepping out and praying for someone to be healed, but someone who has the boldness that Holy Spirit gives will step out and pray for healing. Or a boldness to walk on water. If you don’t step out and take a risk then there is no chance for success. Stop playing it safe, step out and live in the faith zone.

5.Real intimacy is relational

You can be sitting right next to a person and yet feel distant and we can still feel close to a person who is a thousand miles away. Let me bring it down for you. You can be sitting right here in church and be distant from God. Real intimacy is relational.

How to develop intimacy with the Lord?

while it is said: “Today, if you will hear His voice,

Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” (Hebrews 3:15)

a)We must learn to keep our hearts tender before God

How do we do that?

When we read the word of God, when we hear the word, we must flow in line with that word. We must put that word into practice.

Hardening of the heart is described as a rebellion against God and we must guard ourselves against it.

Yet you, LORD, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. (Isaiah 64:8) God cannot work and will not work with hardened clay.

b)Trust is at the heart of intimacy.

The more we trust someone, the closer we let them get to us. The degree to which trust is compromised in a relationship is the degree to which intimacy evaporates.

we put our trust in all of “his precious and very great promises” which find their Yes to us in Christ (2 Peter 1:4; 2 Corinthians 1:20). Proverbs 3:5

Now the names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter (Matthew 10:2)

One day the disciples wanted to know who was first among them. After Pentecost, the Holy Spirit showed who stood where

“Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans. (Matthew 10:5)

Interesting that Jesus told his disciples not to go to the Gentiles and the city of the Samaritans but He Himself went to both.

The point is we do not copy what the disciples did but what Jesus did. None other than Jesus is our best example.

Lord Jesus told the disciples not to go to the gentiles but He Himself went to the gentiles. (Matthew 4:15, John 4:9) I think it was His great compassion that provoked Him to go out of the way.

What did Jesus mean when He told His 12 disciples to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves as he sent them forth on the Great Commission? (Matthew 10:16)

Sounds like quite the balancing act doesn’t it?

A serpent is wise, with keen eyesight and is quick to learn. A dove is innocent, meek and gentle.

When the Holy Spirit appeared, it would do so in the form of a dove.

Jesus saw a necessity in this balancing act because, as He put it, he was sending them out “like sheep among wolves.”

The opposition will come from…

1.Organized religion (Matt. 10:17)

2.Government (Matt. 10:18), and even

3.The family (Matt.10:21).

Confession before Preaching the Word

For it is not I who speaks, but the Spirit of my Father who speaks through me. In Jesus’ name.

Prayer: Spirit of my Father, speak through me in Jesus’ name. (Matthew 10:20)

How to handle Persecution

"When they persecute you in this city, flee to another. For assuredly, I say to you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes. (Matthew 10:23)

What must we preach?

“Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops. (Matthew 10:27)

Whatever I tell you in the dark
What you hear in the ear

Did Jesus Really Come to Bring a Sword?

“Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’ (Matthew 10:34-36)

In this greatly misunderstood passage, Jesus is quoting prophet Micah (7:6). Also, the sword that Jesus mentioned was not a literal one but a symbolic one.

You see, when Peter took up a sword and struck off the ear of the servant of the high priest in order to defend Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus rebuked him and told him to put away his sword saying, "for all who draw the sword will die by the sword” (Matthew 26:52). He then willingly lays down his life and dies for the sins of the whole world.

Many have asked me the question, “Why then, did Jesus say, “I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.” What kind of sword did Jesus come to bring?

One of the names of Lord Jesus Christ is ‘Prince of Peace’ (Isaiah 9:6)

In John 14:27, Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

The above verses and many like these in the bible make it clear that Jesus came to being peace - peace between man and God.

Jesus clearly mentioned, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. (John 14:6) Those who reject God and the only way of salvation through Jesus will find themselves perpetually at war with God. But those who come to Him in repentance will find themselves at peace with God.

During this end times, there will be conflict between good and evil, the Christ and the antichrist, those who have accepted Christ as their only Saviour and those that have not. Many times these groups exist within a family wherein some are believers and others are not.

In Matthew 10:34–36, Jesus said He had come on earth not to bring peace to the earth, but a sword, a weapon which divides. As a result of His visit to the earth, some children would be set against parents and a man’s enemies might be those within his own household.

This is because many who choose to follow Christ are often hated by their own family members. This is the cost of truly following the Lord. Lord Jesus clearly mentioned that even our love for our family should not be greater than our love for Him. (Read Matthew 10:37)

Those who have appealed to this passage to justify violence throughout history were twisting it to fit their own violent aspirations.

And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. (Matthew 10:38)

There are some who follow the Lord because of
And there are some that follow the Lord in spite of

Chapter 10