You and I who are in Christ have been covered with favor.

And there is nothing we can do to self-cover that we want to trade.

For divine cover.

This is what we want.

The cover of God's favor.

Turn with me as you are seated, please, to Matthew chapter 10. I say Matthew 10, but I want you to glance

up at the very end of nine to get us there. This is just to frame our lesson and get us going this

morning because I want you to note something with me that is of extreme importance. You'll see that

it begins with him sending out his 12 apostles. He calls them to

him and he gives them authority and he's about to send them out. And I want you to see what the

timing was all about because it has everything to do with us today. Would you back up? You're in

Matthew 10. I want you to just glance up. Remember that when the Word of God was inspired and in the

New Testament, it was inspired in Greek, in the Old Testament in Hebrew and a little bit of Aramaic.

And when it was inspired in the New Testament, those chapters

and numbers for verses were not there. So it would have read straight from the end of what we're

seeing as a chapter into the next verse where we're seeing a verse one. It would have been

flowing straight through it. And I want you to see

the context. Look at Matthew chapter 9, verse 35 that says, and Jesus went throughout all the cities and

villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every

disease and every affliction. And when he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them

because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples,

the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the

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