Jesus Verse by Verse...
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11:1 Their cities- Jesus encouraged people to preach to their network of friends and relatives, in their home areas; He visited those places to back up their witness. Witnessing to friends and family is the most difficult yet most important witness we make.
11:11 Whoever is least in the Kingdom of God in the future will be greater, spiritually, than John the Baptist was in his human life. We learn from this that there will be degrees of reward in God’s Kingdom- one star will shine brighter than another (1 Cor. 15:41), some will rule over ten cities, others over five (Lk. 19:17-19). Do we have the spiritual ambition to want to shine then as much as possible? If we love and seek God’s glory, then we will want to extend it as far as possible, reflecting it as far as we can.
11:12 Men of violence – The image is of commandos storming a city. Whatever our position in life, we now have a cause to totally give ourselves to- to enter and take the Kingdom of God for ourselves.
11:27 Reading the Bible alone will not reveal the Father to us. There’s also an element of grace- Jesus reveals His Father to those whom He chooses.
11:30 The heavy weight remains, but Jesus is a yoke, binding us together with many others, and so the weight seems far lighter to us. The purpose of the body and person of Christ is to bind us together with other believers- with all the personal problems and conflicts this can create. Christianity isn’t intended to be lived in isolation from others.