The Reward of Respects – Pt.2
JOSHUA 2:12-21
12 Now therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by the LORD, since I have shewed you kindness, that ye will also shew kindness unto my father's house, and give me a true token:
13 And that ye will save alive my father, and my mother, and my brethren, and my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death.
14 And the men answered her, Our life for yours, if ye utter not this our business. And it shall be, when the LORD hath given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee.
15 Then she let them down by a cord through the window: for her house was upon the town wall, and she dwelt upon the wall.
16 And she said unto them, Get you to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you; and hide yourselves there three days, until the pursuers be returned: and afterward may ye go your way.
17 And the men said unto her, We will be blameless of this thine oath which thou hast made us swear.
18 Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by: and thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father's household, home unto thee.
19 And it shall be, that whosoever shall go out of the doors of thy house into the street, his blood shall be upon his head, and we will be guiltless: and whosoever shall be with thee in the house, his blood shall be on our head, if any hand be upon him.
20 And if thou utter this our business, then we will be quit of thine oath which thou hast made us to swear.
21 And she said, According unto your words, so be it. And she sent them away, and they departed: and she bound the scarlet line in the window.
MATTHEW 10:40-42
40 He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.
41 He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward.
42 And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.
The Reward of Respects – Pt.2
Cont. from last week…
Last week we read this scripture:
HEBREWS 11:6
6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
**God is a great rewarder. All through the bible God promises rewards to the believer.
Last week we saw how that Rahab the harlot was rewarded for her respects toward the servants of God that were sent to her, she was rewarded by God by being given the lives of her family members - that was certainly a great reward.
*Noah pleased God by his respects and his faith toward the message of his day, and he was rewarded with the salvation of his family also – that was a great reward for him.
*Achan through disrespect to the commandment of Joshua, lost the reward of his family.
*When the parents of the 42 children that were killed by the two she bears disrespected Elisha by their talk around the kitchen table, then that disrespect resulted in the loss of their children – their loved ones.
*When Martha showed respect to Jesus, even though it seemed that he had let her down, she received her loved one back to life again.
***All through the bible we see examples of people that their rewards are connected to the deliverance of their loved ones. - The Shunammite woman showed respects to God’s prophet and was rewarded with the resurrection of her only son
- The gentile woman of Canaan showed respects to Jesus even though she was called a dog and she was rewarded with the deliverance of her daughter.
**So God has been showing us something in the word that pertains to us also for this hour.
**So after the death of Moses, we see a gentile woman (Rahab) showing respects to just ordinary low ranking men (the bible doesn’t even give us their names), and we see that the respect that this gentile woman showed towards these men of low degree produced such a powerful blessing of reward.
JOSHUA 1:1-6
1 ¶ Now after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD it came to pass, that the LORD spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying,
2 Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.
3 Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.
4 From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast.
5 There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.
6 Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them.
***Remember – Moses was Christ, and as Christ died so did Moses die, but as the Holy Spirit came back upon Paul who was the first church age messenger to further teach the church, the spirit of the Lord that was on Moses come back upon Joshua.
Remember that Jesus said that he had many things to teach them but they could not bear it at that time.
JOHN 16:12-13
12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
***So the revelation of the word required further teaching to the people of what they were not be able to bear at the time of Jesus ministry, so we notice that the revelation of the word becomes more advanced, but the ranking of the man who delivers that message appears to get less, because Paul the apostle said that he was the least among the brethren, and yet he expound the revelation of the mystery of God in an even greater way than that of what Jesus had taught in his own ministry.
Jesus said – I am coming back, and as the light shines from the east to the west, so shall my coming be, and Paul taught the same thing, but Paul caught a more advanced revelation of that same revelation and said “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first” and when Jesus shall appear with his mighty angels and many other things – this was the Holy spirit leading the church into a great revelation through the ministry of that first church age messenger Paul.
***Paul who was lower than Jesus was teaching them greater of what they had heard from Jesus own ministry – this is very important that we understand this.
**So this is the same thing of what is happening with Moses and Joshua, Moses died and then we see that Joshua continued the same ministry in an even greater way (as I was with Moses, so shall I be with you).
*Elijah was taken up and then there was Elisha to continue Elijah’s ministry in an even greater way – a double portion.
*Jesus was taken up, and the Holy Spirit comes into Paul to continue the same ministry and open the word in an even greater way.
**And then also in this day, Brother Branham was taken up and the Holy Spirit through the bride and the 5 fold ministry continue the advancement of the opening of the word in an even great way than that of what Brother Branham had taught in his day – not a different teaching, the an advancement of the same teaching and revelation.
***So the same thing we see with Moses and Joshua is repeating again in this hour – God used the lower ranking ministry to bring the greatest message to this gentile woman.
Why didn’t God send Moses directly to this gentile woman Rahab, why didn’t he send Joshua himself, why did God send a couple of unknown men of no apparent ranking, because this was going to be a test of respects and the same thing is happening in this day.
***Because after the death of the prophet William Branham – then we are to also see a gentile woman showing respects to low ranking ministry, and then she will also be rewarded greatly.
Opening scripture:
MATTHEW 10:40-42
40 He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. (So we see that the chain of command appears like it is going from the bottom to the top instead of from the top to the bottom.
And we see this when the two spies in Jericho made the promise of deliverance to Rahab the harlot and her family, that promise came by the lowest ranking men and that was a test of respects for Rahab, and when she showed respects to them, then that promise by these men was honoured right up the command chain to Joshua and then to God himself.
**So God fully backed up that covenant of what these two men of common statist had agreed about with Rahab – and that is a very powerful concept and bible principle, (we also know that Rahab herself was probably considered one of the lowest ranking citizen of the community) – but God honoured this regardless of the rank because God is no respecter of persons, but the problem is that as humans we often are.)
41 He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. (God promises a reward when you have respect to a prophet)
42 And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones (a little one - a low ranking believer) a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.
Notice – Reward, reward, reward, what for? - For showing respect to God’s people and to God’s servants and to God’s prophet’s regardless of their rank.
**So we see that God is a great rewarder and he promised rewards simply by showing respects to his servants, because when we show respect to his servants and even to his little ones, then we are showing respects to him – and he is the great rewarder.
“He that receiveth you receiveth me” and so this especially applies to the lowest ranking servant that God uses to propagate and speak his word for the age that you live in.
***This may seem like simple teaching, but this will explain a lot of things as to why people miss out on the blessings of God in this hour, because they fail to understand the bible principles and the power of some of these truths.
***Whenever a person showed respects to God’s servants in the bible, there always followed a great blessing from God.
*So this is the test of respect. But why don’t many people show respect to God by showing respects to his servants?? It’s because that God choses to send his message by people of what is considered common and ordinary – especially by the people of their own country. That is why God sent shepherds to declare his first coming.
MATTHEW 13:53-58
53 ¶ And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed thence.
54 And when he was come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works? (Notice – Jesus is the highest ranking general of all ages, this is the Lord Himself manifested in the flesh, this is the mighty God unveiled in flesh before them, this is not the lowest level of command, this is the highest level of command, this is the chief of all the chief generals himself, but then look at how He was treated by the locals of his own country and the lack of respect that they had towards him)
55 Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?
56 And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things? (Notice - It was the way they thought about him in that he was just a local man of low common statist, and he was, but he was also God, and that was the part they failed to see)
57 And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house.
***In other words, these people had little respect and honour for him as a minister of the word because that they had grown up with him, and they were offended because to them he was just an ordinary local and common worker that did not command their respect like if they had thought he was someone big from another area – it was a human popularity and a human pride problem – this is because of the fallen human character and nature of man.
58 And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.