Jesus Sends Out Seventy-Two to Preach

Take Every Passage to Prayer - Volume 2, The Gospels
^{Friday August 16, 2024}

Luke 10:1-11

Father, You have called me to evangelize. My responsibility for this task cannot be given to my pastors, to my elders, my deacons, my Sunday School teachers, or the missionaries I support. I will answer one day as to how my hands and feet brought the gospel of Jesus Christ to others. Father, it is my prayer that You will one day conclude that I did indeed obey Your command to do my part sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with the people You have brought into my life. Please make me an evangelist and use me to transform lives for Christ. Amen.
Father, we read in Luke 9:52-56 that Jesus had sent people ahead to a Samaritan village to make preparations for His arrival. We now learn that the village was not the only village Jesus had sent His followers to in order to make arrangements for His coming. He appointed seventy-two “others”, in thirty-six groups of two, to do this work throughout the region.
What did Jesus mean by “others”? The Greek word used for “others” is ?????? which means people who were not the previous people referred to. In Luke 9:52-56, Jesus sent “messengers” (???????, envoys) to the Samaritan village. Therefore, we can conclude that Jesus sent another group of people other than the ones whom He had sent to the Samaritan village. The conspicuous absence of any reference to the disciples suggests that those whom Jesus sent out were not the disciples. They must have been “lay people” who were dedicated followers of Jesus. In a present-day context that we can understand, this would be the same as Jesus walking into a church in America one Sunday and exhorting the congregation, and not the pastoral team, to go out and share the gospel with their neighbors. The sending of the seventy-two is a call for each and every believer to understand that he or she has the responsibility to venture into their community to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is wrong for us to expect our church leaders to do that for us.
Before the teams departed from Jesus’ presence, He held a training session with them. He taught them the following things about sharing the gospel within their local communities:

1. Jesus loves the people in each one of the villages in the region. Evangelism is intended to spread from Jerusalem, to Judea, to Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Evangelism begins in our home, spreads to our neighbors and co-workers, continues throughout our hometown, and then spreads throughout our county, our state, our nation, and the world. Jesus loves them all and wants them all to be saved.
2. Those who were sent were intended to prepare the hearts and minds of the villagers to whom Jesus would soon come. Jesus’ plan was that when He would come into a village, He would find the villagers ready and waiting to hear what He had to say. In the 21st century, we are to share gospel truth with our neighbors so that when the Holy Spirit comes to them, they are ready to listen to what He has to say.
3. The work of evangelism is not our work. It is Your work, Father. We are not called to do evangelism while You watch us munching on Your popcorn while seated in Your recliner. On the contrary, You are metaphorically doing the hard work of evangelism, sweating, lifting, carrying, and getting dirty. You call us to help You.
4. There is an abundance of people who need salvation in our communities. This remains true today.
5. There are very few believers who are willing to share the gospel with their neighbors. This also remains true today.
6. We are to pray that Jesus will move the hearts of sedentary believers to become evangelistic.
7. Each individual believer is to understand that he or she is called to be an evangelist. While we pray for You to raise up other believers to become evangelistic as well, we are to be active in evangelism.
8. Believers are to go about the work of evangelism peacefully and gently. Hearts are not changed with sledgehammer evangelism any more than a Biblical counselor is effective screaming at a client, who struggles with addiction to pornography, during their first counseling session. People are persuaded to embrace the gospel just like they were persuaded by Jesus: He loved them, mercifully healed them, and peacefully taught them. The world is already full of angry and aggressive people (wolves). Believers need to be different, peaceful and gentle, in order for the world to notice the beauty of the gospel.
9. We are not to bring along worldliness with us as we evangelize. Our message will be lost when those who are listening to us share the gospel conclude that we idolize fame, power, influence, wealth, or pleasure. A true evangelist doesn’t just talk about the Christian life. They live it by surrendering their lives, and desires, to the advancement of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
10. Evangelism is the exercising of faith. We go to where we don’t know what will happen to us. We say things that might put us at risk. We do things that others will not like. We trust that God will provide for us when all we have is the clothes on our back.
11. Time is precious. People will die later today who need to hear the gospel now. There is no time for chit chat or getting caught up in the insignificant and mundane. Yes, sharing the gospel is more important than the football game this afternoon. There should be an urgency to evangelism.
12. Evangelism is laser focused on specific individuals that You, Father, have called us to minister to. We are to spend substantial time with those individuals, building a relationship with them. We are to enjoy meals with them, as if we are members of their family. We are not to move on to someone else, abandoning the work You have called us to do with a specific person. Evangelism is not wide (cursory sharing of the gospel with many) and shallow (surface relationship with each person). Evangelism is deep (mentoring and discipleship) and narrow (with only a few people).
13. We are to pray for Your peace to rest on each and every person we encounter in ministry. If they are a person seeking peace with You, our blessing will rest upon them. If they are not, the blessing will return to us so we can give it to someone else.
14. We are to receive gifts from others. Father, You take care of evangelists by inspiring Your people to give gifts, meals, clothes, and lodging to them. A person who is too proud to receive gifts from others is ill-equipped to be an effective evangelist. They will be preoccupied with acquiring the things they need to survive instead of being focused on sharing the gospel.
15. Evangelism includes acts of compassion. It includes generosity, kindness, and meeting the needs of the sick and poor. Heartless and indifferent evangelism is a waste of time, certain to yield no results. When we do something that a person wants to thank us for, we are to give credit to You, Father, making sure the person understands it was Your love for them that led us to care for them.
16. Those who purposely and fervently reject the gospel are to know that those who serve You will not have anything to do with them. There can be no relationship between a believer and someone who, in their rebellion and wickedness, brings hatred towards the gospel. Believers are to evangelize seekers, those who are searching for a relationship with You.

Amen.