Our holy Father’s son, is God’s Word in the flesh. Jesus came to us to demonstrate God’s Word through His love for us. His was baptized around the age of thirty (Luke 3:23), and His ministry lasted approximately three years. In that short span of time, Jesus selected a devoted group of twelve disciples. They gave up all they had in order to follow and learn from Him.

During Jesus’ ministry the twelve traveled with Him. Jesus also sent the disciples out on their own; both before and after His resurrection. These men became apostles when they helped organize Christ’s church and proclaimed His resurrection by teaching others throughout the nations how to be disciples of Christ. The Name gave the disciples power to: drive out demons (Mark 6:7), cure diseases and heal the sick (Matthew 10:1), and proclaim the kingdom of God (Luke 9:1-2).

When Jesus appeared to the disciples after His resurrection, He opened their minds so they would understand The Word and how the Old Testament proclaimed His coming. Notice how the following verses spoken from Jesus, proclaim “will be preached in His name” as a demonstration of the power of the name Jesus.

He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” Luke 24:46-47 [emphasis added]

Jesus was instructing His disciples that now, because of His crucifixion and His resurrection, repentance and forgiveness of sins come through belief in Him. His almighty and glorious name is defined as salvation.

Preaching this message was not an easy life for the disciples. But these men were bold in their belief. Bold to the point of death. Of the chosen twelve, the first to die was the one who lead the armed crowd to arrest Jesus at Gethsemane.  After he saw that Jesus was condemned, this man committed suicide.

The remaining eleven understood Jesus as the Son of God, and used the remainder of their lives to tell others about the Gospel. Not the threat of being fatally beaten, crucified on a cross, beheaded, put to the sword, or stoned could stop the disciples from proclaiming The Good News of Jesus Christ. Yes, ten of the remaining eleven disciples died horrible deaths, all for living out their lives to preach in The Name.

Only one disciple died a natural death. Although some believe he miraculously was unscathed after being dipped in boiling oil for his faith, it was later while held prisoner on an island, that he died at an old age for his firm trust in The Name.

Can you right now, think of anything in your life that you so truly believe in, you would choose to die an excruciating death for it, instead of publicly declaring it wrong? This is exactly how the disciples died. They chose death on earth over denying The Name. And they made known all they saw and believed in Him through their deaths.

This beautiful act of love the disciples demonstrated for His name, differs from our acts of trashing His name. Their hearts were filled with total faith in The Name, as they shared the Gospel with many nations. Our hearts reveal no honor for The Name, when we carelessly toss it as exaggerated emotion.

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