Wednesday after the Third Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on June 19, 2024 by under
Scripture: St. Luke 10:13-16 (NKJV)
10:13 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14 But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. 15 And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades. 16 He who hears you hears Me, he who rejects you rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me.”
Devotion
“He who hears you hears Me, he who rejects you rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me.”
Jesus spoke these words as He was about to send out seventy men whom He had designated to preach and heal the sick. We can quickly forget how important the preaching of His Word is to Jesus. We can look at the pulpit on Sunday morning and are tempted to see just a sinful man. Why in the world should anyone listen to him? Well, Jesus tells us why. “He who hears you hears Me.” When the pastor’s preaching is faithful to Jesus’ words, you are, indeed, hearing Jesus. We are to judge a pastor’s preaching based upon his faithfulness to the Word. We are to be like the Bereans and examine the Scriptures in order to see if the pastor’s preaching lines up with Jesus’ teaching.
When the preaching is faithful, our faithful eyes see who is really speaking to us: Jesus. This is serious business. The faithful pastor is God’s instrument. Thus, rejecting your faithful pastor is no small matter, for it is indeed a rejection of Christ Himself. Pray for your pastor, thanking God for this precious gift whom Christ has chosen to bring Himself to you.
Collect: O God, the Protector of all that trust in Thee, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: Increase and multiply upon us Thy mercy; that Thou being our Ruler and Guide, we may so pass through things temporal, that we finally lose not the things eternal; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
