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First Evangelists
215
sincere prayer He answers, “Here I am.” He lifts up the distressed
and downtrodden. In every temptation and trial, the angel of His
presence is near to deliver.
Jesus continued, “As you acknowledge Me before others, so I
will acknowledge you before God and the holy angels. You are to
be My witnesses on the earth; likewise I will be your Representative
in heaven. The Father does not see your faulty character, but He
sees you clothed in My perfection. And everyone who shares My
sacrifice for the lost will share in the glory and joy of the redeemed.”
Those who would witness for Christ must have Christ abiding
in them. The disciples might speak fluently on doctrines, but unless
they possessed Christlike meekness and love, they were not repre-
senting Him. A spirit contrary to the spirit of Christ would deny
Him. People may deny Christ by speaking evil, by foolish talking,
by words that are untruthful or unkind. They may deny Him by
shunning life’s burdens, by conforming to the world, by uncourteous
behavior, by justifying self, by cherishing doubt, and by borrowing
trouble. And “whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny
before My Father who is in heaven.”
The Savior said, “I did not come to bring peace but a sword.”
This strife is not the effect of the gospel, but comes from opposition
to it. Of all persecution, the hardest to bear is in the home, the
distancing of our dearest earthly friends. But Jesus said, “He who
loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he
who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And
he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of
Me.
“He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me
receives Him who sent Me.” Christ will not fail to reward any act of
kindness shown in His name. He includes the feeblest and lowliest
of the family of God. “Whoever gives one of these little ones only a
cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you,
he shall by no means lose his reward.”
And so the Savior ended His instruction. The chosen Twelve
went out, as He had gone, “to preach the gospel to the poor; ... to
heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and
recovery of sight to the blind.”
Luke 4:18
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