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Hey, friends, welcome back, Matthew chapter 10.

If you have a copy of the Bible and you want to follow along, we're in these really important

instructions that Jesus gave his own apostles. And we have to understand when we read the Bible

that it was written in a certain culture

at a certain time frame and it's incumbent upon us as Bible students and Bible readers to do the

best we can to enter into the mindset of a first century reader in that area of the world. Sometimes it's a little mental exercise to do that

because some of the language that Jesus uses here, some of the things to which he refers to here

aren't necessarily applicable in an immediate sense to you and me that live in a totally different society, but the principles

apply. And so just as surely as Jesus was speaking to them about their need to go out and be a

witness and the kinds of things they might face and the opportunities that were theirs

that need not be squandered.

So he speaks to us today.

So I hope that as we read these verses, we're seeing beyond some of the cultural things to

some of the principled things that you and I can apply to our own lives.

Again, we're in verse 16,

where I think I told you the last episode that Jesus is jumping into a little bit of a different mode here in his message, his instructions. It's really a warning. Watch it in verse number 16.

Behold. Often in the Bible, when the word behold is used, it's a pay special attention to this.

Let me draw attention to something. So behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves.

Be therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves.

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