Luke 10:1-24 - Sending Out the Seventy-Two

For those of you who don't know me, my name is Rob Bell and one of the elders here at the church and with Jude and ran Luca over in Iraq, actually in Austria, probably right now on the way over to Iraq. I have the honor to pray and to preach for you this morning. So why don't we start in prayer and we'll look into the Book of Luke be by with me in prayer this morning.

Our heavenly father we praise you. We thank you. We thank you for the gift of your son Jesus Christ that we've just celebrated. We celebrated his death and his resurrection. We thank you for the atonement that we have through Him Father God as we look into your word this morning. Would you through the power of your Holy Spirit Open the Eyes of our hearts that we can see the truth of the Gospel in your word would you help us to be strengthened so we can go out and do the ministry in the work that you have us to do would you comfort us for those of us who are struggling this morning? Would you help us to see in your truth the great comfort that we have in Jesus Christ and the joy that we can have in him a lord. We think of Jude and ran over seas. We ask that you would keep them safe. We ask that you would give them traveling mercies and we pray Lord that they would be effective in their Ministry over in Iraq while they're there for 2 weeks. Will you bring them back safely to us and that we get to rejoice in The Amazing Stories of they have to tell us other time in Iraq and pray these things in Christ name. Amen.

I just recognized for the Splendor comes from 2nd grade 9 science minor try to figure out what it was a Christian gave it to me this morning for my notes in late. Just trying to place it. I just realized what it was. I am really excited about that was a great course, by the way. I am really excited about the text that we have to look at this morning. We are back in the Book of Luke you can see that we are back into gospel goodness for the humble hearted and it's been a while if you haven't been with us for very long, then this sermon series make me new do for those of you who have been attending with London. And what's on what's on the light strips for a while. We've been going through the Book of Luke and what I'm really excited about this passage is that we get to learn a lot about Jesus and specifically we get to learn about one aspect of Jesus that we don't normally hear about which is his Joy And I think it's a beautiful thing that on a day when we're celebrating communion and we think about the solemnity of the occasion of Jesus going to the cross and dying that we can also talk about the joy that Jesus had. So if you're new to Westland and Alliance Church Pastor Jude had a little message that we talked about that he like me to pass on and so I want to tell you that about how we preach the Bible. So we preach what I would call a cross and along the Bible. So when we say that we preach across the Bible that means that we look at important topics that show up in scripture and it's kind of systematically look through the whole Bible to see what it has to say about that topic. We just finished three weeks on church planting and in the past, we've looked at the cycle ship and evangelism in the roles of men and women in the church as well that's preaching across the Bible, but we also preach along the Bible and we say that we preach along the Bible that means that we take books of the Bible are passages in the Bible and we preached through them. We can all the themes and ideas that come up as we preached through a book of the Bible and we see what God has given us in his word to teach us more about him and his work and Austin are we Relationship to God and how we relate to each other as well. And so I examples of that or the Somme series that we've been doing over the last few Summers and then we're also looking in the Book of Luke. And so we wanted to kind of explain where we are in the Bible story and you've probably heard from the front to talk about the Bible story and kind of four terms for four phases creation fall Redemption and then restoration or consummation. And so this is the idea that human history can be thought of in four phases that God created the universe and everything that we see in and out of nothing. He created the Earth and populated it with the trees and the plants and the animals and everything that we see he made the land and the sea in the air and they also made us But humans fell that is that we were sinful and we rebelled against God and starting with Adam and Eve every human being inherits the sinful nature in this rebellion, and we participate in it daily adding to the sins that we commit it helps us as Christians explain the world around us because the Brokenness that we see in the world is explained by the Brokenness that's in each one of us. But then Christ came God came to Earth to rescue Us in the person of Jesus and Jesus lived a life without sin and rebellion, and because he did that he was able to take our place. He died a death in place of us taking the death of a rebel instead of us and because he paid the penalty for sin in our place dying on the cross. He was raised from the dead and now we who can believe in Jesus are able to be redeemed from that sin. And as we redeem from that send now the Holy Spirit comes to work in our hearts the hearts of all the humans who have turned towards Jesus and we join in the mission of restoring the world, which we heal the broken this that we seeing other people we healed we got the Brokenness that's in our self healed as well. And we work on this healing of the Brokenness of the world until the day that Jesus comes back again and makes everything new. And so as we're going through that Arc of world history were looking at the Gospel of Luke which is a story of Jesus's life right at the time when Redemption is about to come to God's people that's what we're going to look at chapter 10 today, but we've just finished just back in may we finished chapter 9 in chapter 9 what we saw was a Jesus has set his face towards Jerusalem, but is that he's a boat halfway through his ministry. We've gone through his birth and his growing up time and he started to minister to the people in Israel and he's been walking around Israel teaching them and healing them for about a year or year-and-a-half now and now Jesus is at the point where he knows that he's going to his death and he only has a short amount of time left in the world. And so he's busy passing on his message to his disciples until chapter 9 he commissioned And train the 12 apostles his closest followers. And so now in chapter 10, what we're going to read is Jesus commissioning and training and sending out the next wave of disciples with 72. So if you have your Bible with you can open the Luke chapter 10, the same text is on the back of the insert or if you have an app on your phone, you can look with me there as well. Are we are going to read together Luke chapter 10 quite a long chunk of it verses 1 to 24. So let's sit back and read that and then we'll dive into the word this morning Luke chapter 10.

After this that is after the commissioning of the 12 disciples the Lord appointed 72 others and sent them on ahead of him two by two into every town and place where he himself was about to go and he said to them the Harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few therefore pray earnestly to the lord of the Harvest to send out laborers into the Harvest. Go your way behold. I am sending you out as Lambs in the midst of wolves carry no money bag. No knapsack. No sandals and greet. No one on the road. Whatever house you enter first say peace be to this house and if it's centerpieces there your peace will rest upon him, but if not, it will return to you and remain in the same house eating and drinking what they provide for the laborer deserves. His wages. Do not go from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and they receive you eat what is set before you heal the sick in it and say to them the kingdom of God has come near to you. But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you go into its streets and say even the dust of your town that clings to her feet. We wipe off against you nevertheless know this that the kingdom of God has come near I tell you it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom then for that term, what would you chorazin woe to buy cider for some mighty Works done and you have been done in Tyre and sidon. They would have repented long ago sitting in sackcloth and Ashes, but it will be more bearable in the Judgment for tyre and sidon them for you and you capernium. Will you be exalted to Heaven you shall be brought down to Hades? The one who hears you hears me. I the one who rejects you rejects me at the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me?

The 72 returned with Joy saying Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name and he said to them I saw Satan fall like lightning from Heaven behold. I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall hurt. You nevertheless do not rejoice in this at the spirits are subject to you. But Rejoice that your names are written in heaven and that seemed our he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, I thank you Father Lord of Heaven and Earth that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to Little Children. Yes Father for such was your gracious will all things have been handed over to me by my father and no one knows who the son is except the father or who the father is except the son and anyone to whom the son chooses to reveal him. Then turning to the disciples. He said privately blessed are the eyes that see what you see for. I tell you that many prophets and Kings desired to see what you see and did not see it and to hear what you hear and did not hear it.

What an amazing passage of scripture? We don't really think of Jesus as joyful very often do even as we were doing communion this morning. I was thinking of him as Lyle mention to him sing later today and I was thinking of Man of Sorrows and elastin should My Savior Bleed I was thinking of all the sad songs that we tend to sing when we're doing communion and it besides participating in the Lord's table and thinking of the Destin and sacrifice of Jesus in our place. We see in Scripture that Jesus is a solemn person to there are a lot of sad events around him Isaiah 53 predicts that Jesus when he comes was going to be a man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief and we see images of Jesus during his life where he said later and Luke will get to the point where Jesus actually gets to Jerusalem and he's going to see the city and weep over it. And after that he's going to be told that Lazarus is dead and he's going to go to try to save Lazarus at and he's going to weep you get that wonderful short little verse in the Bible. Jesus wept. And then in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus said that my soul is very sorrowful even to death and the writer of Hebrews comments on that time and the garden and says that while he was there Jesus offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death. But Jesus was a person that was acquainted with grief and death and sorrow but this passage is really unique because it tells us of a time that Jesus was. Joyful. Actually. It's the only time in the Bible that we are specifically told the Jesus rejoices that he actually reacts with joy. And so we know intuitively that Jesus must have been a trifle person that you you don't get invited to dinners and weddings and parties. If you're not a joyful person and the children flock to him and children have a radar for joint and a kid can smell a mile away. If a person is an old curmudgeon, but if you're a joyful person children will just run to Jesus had to tell us a Cycles to get out of the way and let the little children come to me. It don't hinder them. So we know that Jesus must have been joyful and he uses humor all throughout the Bible think of the camel fitting through the eye of a needle. That's hilarious. I was a camel going to fit to the oven needle. He uses humor all over the place. So we know intuitively in implicitly from the Bible that Jesus must be joyful. But this is the one place or actually says Jesus rejoiced and into the interesting thing about the word that gets used for rejoice here is it actually means much jumping It's it doesn't even it's not even talking about rejoicing over his heart was but it literally means he was jumping around for Joy just was leaping up in the air at how happy he was when his disciples returned and he was and he was joyful. So since this is such a special occasion in the Bible to the only time we learn about Jesus's Joy. What is it? That makes Jesus. Joyful. What can we learn about the passwords that makes Jesus Joy and rejoice in the Holy Spirit actually this week because of the Motions that I do with my son Mark. So we've been walking through the Bible chapter by chapter and we happen to be in the book of Hebrews and we've been reading this week Hebrews chapter 11 and Hebrews chapter 12 and to fit in with our story of the overall Bible Hebrews chapter 11, if you remember list this huge list of Heroes of the faith, All these people in the Old Testament who believed in God but died before they got a chance to see Jesus before they got a chance to see Redemption actually come they lived in the fall era, but they never got to see Redemption and these faithful characters are all paraded in front of us. And then the author of Hebrews goes on and says therefore in chapter 12 since we're surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses. Let us also lay aside every weight and the sin would clean so closely and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us and as we run we are looking to Jesus the founder and Perfecter of our faith who for the joy that we set before him endured the cross despising the shame and is seated at the right hand of the Throne of God put it a little hint here, but Jesus was motivated by joy to go to the crew. And what was that joy that he is the founder and the Perfecter of our faith. What what does that mean in the context of the passage that we dat's right? If you go back and look at verses 20 through 22, we can see what Jesus says Jesus says Rejoice that your names are written in heaven in that same hour. He rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, I thank you Father Lord of Heaven and Earth that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and reveal them to Little Children. Yes Father for such was your gracious. Well, so they're there are these things that are making him rejoice and what are these things? All things have been handed over to me by my father and no one. Knows who the son is except the father or who the father is except the son and anyone to whom the son chooses to reveal him. What makes Jesus joyful is thinking about the Plan of Salvation that he made with a father and the Holy Spirit to choose people that he would reveal himself through it that is him founding and then perfecting our faith. Are those people who he reveals himself to our people whose names are written in heaven? In other words are citizenship has been transferred from Earth up to heaven because Jesus will die on a cross for their sins. He's rejoicing in Redemption that he knows that the Redemption Part of history is coming. And so what can we learn about this Plan of Salvation that God made? Well, first of all truly knowing god leaves leads you to having your name written in heaven. This is not just knowing about, but this is having a relationship with him and we know that Jesus later on in his ministry says that in the last days people are going to approach him and said I did this for you Jesus. I did this I did this I did this and juices going to say to the ones who are claiming those things, but for whom it's not true away from me you workers of lawlessness. I never new you You can say and do all you want a boat Christ, but do you know Christ you can only know Christ if he chooses to reveal it to you. We also see about the Plan of Salvation. The default position for a person is not to know God first clearly says if no one knows who the son is except the only way to get that knowledge is by Jesus Choice. He must choose to reveal the father to you and we're told that this seems foolish other options would make more worldly sense with me what some of the other options God could have had was God could have chosen to save nobody if our default position is that nobody knows who the father is. He could have left it that way. None of us would have our names written in heaven. But if none of our names are written in heaven, there's no point for Jesus to come to Earth. There's no point for us to share the gospel with anybody because there's no hope to Jesus presence on Earth is not a possible option. That's not true. But it is the option that we see in the world. This is cancel culture that we see in social media, right? If you're not part of my tribe. If I don't know you were understand you you're cut out your cancel for my life, but God doesn't do that to us. He doesn't cancel if he doesn't cut us out of his group of people. Another option would be the God could have said everybody gets into heaven doesn't matter what you've done. I don't care you're in heaven. No problem. And there are people who believe this. This is we see this spirit and attitude in the world today people who want to include everybody and everything this seems like a worldly piece of wisdom, but this doesn't make sense for us was were told that nobody knows unless God reveals himself to them. And we also know intuitively this doesn't really make sense. If everybody gets into heaven. What's the point in Jesus coming and dying if I get in for free then what's the need for atonement? So we will see that God didn't choose the nobody go to heaven or everybody go to heaven so we can we could be a little more particular maybe God saved a particular group of people to go to heaven. Will then what is it that is it a trait that you have has lots of worldly wisdom about us having a trait that makes a special isn't this what leads to racism and Prejudice and things like that around us that I have a particular trait and you don't what if the trait to get into heaven was you had to be a woman or you have to be tall or I have to be able to speak a certain language of a certain color of skin. If there was some kind of trait that we had that would get us into heaven. Then that would do two things one is that would negate the need for Jesus to come cuz then all the people who have that trait are already in the door. But it would also really hamper our evangelism. Imagine going to go share the gospel with people were talking about church planning for the last 3 weeks me Legend going to go plant churches and tell everybody over 6 foot 2 that you can't get into heaven cuz you're too tall. I'd be out. What if what if what if we only accept people who are from a certain gender? So we're only going to accept women into the church or rolling and going to accept people under the age of 18 and once you turn 18 you're out. The idea seems ridiculous that something in us would be the same causing us to be saved. So maybe maybe it's something that we have to act that we have to perform. Maybe there's something that we can accomplish that would get us into heaven. We have the same problem as we do with the individual traits what to do with people who can't do the thing that has to do you have to do to get into heaven. What is the thing requires you to walk somewhere if it's a pilgrimage at what if you don't have the money to get on a plane and head over to that part of the world and conduct the pilgrimage? What are there something you have to do with your hands? What if what if you have ability issues where you would your ability doesn't let you use your hands. Maybe maybe you don't have the strength in your hands be able to do that work. But that doesn't make sense right with you. It can't be something that we do that gets us into heaven and if we could do it again, we wouldn't need Jesus. Jesus wouldn't need to come and die for people who could just do something to get themselves into heaven. And it can't even be something that you decide. I can't even just be a thought that you have what about people who can't have that fought yet how to explain what happens to babies or what happens to people who don't have the mental capacity to grasp a certain concept voice thing that those people can't be saved just because we don't understand how their brain is working and they can't process a sentence in English that we want them to understand if getting to Heaven is based on a decision that we need to make work cut out the ability for people to come to Jesus just simply because they can't understand us. And again, if it's a decision that you need to make even if you have God is looking through time and seeing that you're going to make a decision for Christ. And if that's what gets you into heaven do really need Jesus to come if you can just make your own decision and get into heaven. You don't need the Savior. You just need to make a decision. So all I have to do is meet with you and get you to the point where you make a decision and then you're in. So so none of these things can be the way that we come to Christ. Otherwise, it's ultimately based on the person. So salvation must be based on God's choice and John chapter 15. We read the Jesus's this you did not choose me. But I chose you and appointed that you should go and bear fruit that your fruit should abide and whatever you ask the father in my name. He may give it to you. And why did he say these things but in the same chapter, he says that these things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full. Understanding Jesus's choice in bringing people to Christ is supposed to make us. Joyful as we understand the joy that he has. So that means that Jesus is joyful in the sponsors that we read knowing that the plan all along has been for him to be the only means of Salvation and the only one to determine salvation. And that as he brings people into relationship with him, he sends us out to tell others to our joy is made full of made complete when we join into the work that Jesus is doing so when we get behind him and join in the Redemption of the restoration of the world that we filled joint. Just let me know if we want to be. Joyful. We need to experience Joy like the disciples did and we need to go which is why we've been talking for the last three weeks about planting church. So if we need to join in Jesus mission and go we need to understand how Jesus went. How how did Jesus go how did he come to this world with Philippians? Paul tells us quoting from a him that we should have this mind Among Us which is ours in Christ Jesus who though he was in the form of God didn't count equality with God nothing to be grassed. But he emptied himself by taking the form of a servant and being born in the likeness of men being found in human form. He humbled himself while becoming obedient to the point of death even death on a cross. This was how Jesus went he went as a servant. He went humbly not taking what was owed him, but holding on not holding onto his current position, but he was obedient even to death and we need to go the same way. And if you think about it God choosing who goes to heaven is actually the greatest motivator for evangelism because if we can't know looking at a person whether they are going to heaven or not. The only choice we have is to share the gospel with them. We have to share the gospel and let God do the work if we know that there's a certain trait that will get them in or they do a certain thing or if they have to make a certain decision, but then we're going to be focusing on whether they have that trait or getting them to do the right steps or having to make the right decision. But if we don't know we look at somebody and I can't know what's in your heart. The only thing I can say is this is what Jesus has done for me and he can do the same for you. So our motivation for evangelism is the fact that we can't know who God is going to save but he has it. Jesus knows who his people are he knows who's going to save that puts Jesus actually in a really unique position because he's the one person in the Trinity who has been both sent by God but is also asunder Ever thought about that Jesus is the one person who's been in both positions. That means he's uniquely able to serve us because he is gone before us he can empathize with all the struggles and frustrations that we have in this world all the fatigue and the failures we experience. Jesus has been through them. But he's also the one sending us, he knows our needs therefore he can tell us what can be left behind and what's essential to equip us. He can give us what we need to go. I was I was thinking about this idea was thinking of something going on the very first camping trip so you can imagine pictures of going on your first camping trip ever with no help. No knowledge of what you should bring. I can see that you'd probably fall into one of two traps. Trap. Number one is that you're going to bring so much stuff. You're going to burden yourself with way more than you need to go camping about of somebody thinking. Okay. I need shelter and I need food. So I'm going to disconnect my fridge and stick it in my van and I'm going to get a rental truck going to bring bricks and mortar and I'll put together a house and run electricity cable from the corner of the the corner of the camping site into my new house and I'll plug my fridge in there and then I'll have shelter and I'll have food and they would never get done camping any matches here sitting there in your campsite and we can over in the skies get like a trowel and way more than trying to buy bricks to build this house. It would take forever we would over prepare. I'm on the other end. If it's your first camping trip, you don't have helped you could under prepare. So you can just be romantic at the I'm just going to go under the stars and sleep over there and figure it out when we get there. It'll be fine at 9 p.m. Is he looking for that person? Who's just going to sleep under the stars? They're huddling freezing. I can't see them cuz I forgot to bring anything to light a fire with I don't have a flashlight. So they're huddled in the dark. If you could see them you'd see them with no line up close and no blanket and nothing to stay warm in a tent to be freezing cold and we can fall into those two traps as we go and try to share the gospel. But Jesus came and lived a life on Earth so that he knows what's necessary for a person to go and share the gospel whether it's here in our city or around the world. God has goddess. Jesus knows he's he's our camping guide. He is our park ranger. He knows what we need in order to be successful and camping in your life as they're going through your life. If you feel unequip remember that the person that gives you all that you need has purposely given you all the things that are in your life to be useful to do the job that he's called you to do in Ephesians. We read that he has prepared Works in advance for us to walk him. We'll have to lift a run in these works are other things to do these Works Jesus's pair prepare the works in advance. We just have to walk in them and it's like going on a hike with a park ranger. He already knows the dangers. He already knows what we need to bring. We just have to walk in the So that's how Jesus went. So how should we go? So from this text we learn a few things about how we need to go into the world of work going to plant churches as a church how we going to do it, but first we need to understand the Harvest. We learn this from the text like God is the lord of the Harvest the Harvest this world is his field. He's the one that sold at the Harvest belongs to God. And we are his laborers. The Harvest we were told is ready. The Harvest is ready to be harvested. So there's an urgent need this is this is almost harvesting. We need to get out there into the fields and go Harvest we don't have time to wait and the Harvest is plentiful. There is a huge Harvest. So Jesus has this huge Harvest for us to go out to and it's urgent that we get out there now and do we see how plentiful the Harvest in the world is the Harvest were told as plentiful. What if I told you right now that within a 10 or 15 km radius around us are almost 400,000 Souls that need to hear about Jesus just in the city of London in this room. How many people in this room need to be harvested? I need to hear while the gospel and come to Christ. Maybe you're new and you're wondering why you're here today. Maybe you're here today to hear about how you can join in the Harvest. The Harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. So that means we must work we need to get to work and we need more workers. We need everyone. I was listening to a podcast a couple weeks ago and it was talking about how churches can slip into this mold worth Christians. We rely on three p's, we rely on professionals and rely on performances and we rely on programs. Aurora non-professionals is the idea that that we can think because we pay Lyle & Jude & Bram and Judith and Angela daved to do the work force and Rick we pay these people to do work for us so that we don't have to but that's not what Jesus is doing in this text. He has his professionals the 12 apostles, but now he's disseminating those ideas out to the 72. That's the two most of his disciples at this point that he is training everybody to go and when he gathers everybody together after his resurrection, he says all authority in Heaven and Earth has been give it to me therefore go and he's talking to 500 people telling all of his disciples go you all have to go on Mission. We can't just rely on professionalism can't just rely on performance says we can't just rely on somebody coming up and speaking to you for half an hour a week or the worship team praising God to get the truth of the Gospel into your soul is something that we all have to do we all No need to be taking the time to read the word to pray to meet together as a family of Christ in order to build each other up. We can't just rely on some kind of performance as our hit of Bible for the week. And we also can't rely on programs programs of a church. I meant to equip the saints that we can go out. We we can't just rely on that. I think that the programs themselves our church are the programs himself is my Christian Life. I'm I'm not a better Christian simply because I was at the family discipleship meeting on Friday or because I go to men's morning or if you're in TLC or if you go to any of the different programs that we have in the church. Those are meant to strengthen you and your faith so you can do the real work of Christianity, which is going Being a laborer in the Harvest field and we do we rely on the programs here to be our church instead of the programs to to strengthen us to go back out to the world. We can we can't rely on performances are professionals are programs. The laborers just need to go in fact that the first and the word that says that the laborers need to be sent out actually the word means pushed. Jesus Jesus knows that we're not going to go. Otherwise we're going to rely on whatever is in these walls to comfort us. We're going to just stay here and we have to actually push the laborers into the Harvest field. They got to be shoved. You can almost standing behind a line of people just like kicking them into the into the field and then go get up there. And so if we have to go and we maybe we don't want to then we need to go in prayer. Is opens and closes this whole text with prayer the only way that we can get our mind right and understand what God wants us to see and do is if we pray so we need to pray there's there's no excuse not to pray if Jesus himself prayed then you need to print but let's be honest, right if like the second person of the Trinity has to communicate with the other two members of the trinity in order to get the job done. Then you probably due to We need to pray there's no excuse not to pray. You can pray you must pray and we're told what we need to pray for. Well, we need to pray for the Harvest. So when you're at home when you're thinking but what to pray for maybe you're praying by yourself, you're bringing a group of praying with your family and praying with your friends. Pray for the Harvest pray that God would send laborers into his Harvest field preferred Joy pray that we would see the joy that Jesus has in being our savior and that we'd want to participate in that Joy made. You want your what your neighbors to come to Christ pray. Do you want your family to know Jesus and family members who may be have never even darken the door of a church. You want them to come and hear about Jesus kind of prey. Do you have people in your life who you just grieve over who seem to have walked away from the faith. There are people who you just know desperately need to get their lives fixed and back in order. Do we need them need to pray? And as we go we need to understand the dangers that are in front of us who are vulnerable like Lambs Among Wolves, Jesus says, so do we need to pray and rely on God for safe? The week we don't take more than we need. So we need to rely on God for provision. We don't follow the social conventions of the day. We we need to rely on God for our connections with people and we expect opposition. So we rely on God for people to hear the word and believe it's not on us that's on God. And so we go we minister to the whole person Jesus sent out these disciples not just a preach the gospel but to heal and as they heal to preach and Slater the kingdom of God has been brought near to you. So that means we care for the whole person knowing that what they need to hear most. Is that the king and the kingdom are here. We're in God for healing and for truth of the last lie about going is that we need to go together both the apostles in chapter 9 and the 72 in this chapter 10 were sent out two by two. And the reason for this is the reason that I can assume some of your having right now rub. This sounds great. I would love to have joy in Jesus. I would love to go but I'm tired. I am beaten down by the world. I am hurt. I am broken. I'm in pain I have relationships that aren't working. I got a job I've got to do I how am I supposed to do all these things? We are sent out two by two for a reason how many people here remember taking high school math. So I'm a little biased you learn about different kinds of lines. And if you have lines going in the same direction, right? We're on this journey of Faith together. If you have two lines going in the same direction, you have a couple options one option is those two lines are parallel and two parallel lines are lines. Are we going in the exact same direction, but they're never going to meet my other separate from each other. The going into different directions would be like if I sent somebody down to Oxford assembly up to Sarnia Road. I said turn East and drive and you're both driving east. Those cars will be going in the same direction, but those cars would never see each other we wouldn't be able to interact because they are parallel. What's the other option that you have with two lines of sitting parallel? You can have two lines that are what are called coincident and coincident lines are two lines that are so stuck right on top of each other that they're essentially the same line. They're on the same path together. They're they're interacting with each other actually at every single point of the line. So they they coincide that's where we get the name from their coincident lines. Brothers and sisters the Christian Life was not meant to be lived in parallel. We were not meant to go in the same direction but not next to each other. Our life as Christians was meant to be done coincidentally. We are supposed to be with each other at every point on the line so that we share in the journey as we go together. That means that as we go through preaching the gospel and bringing healing to people we start with each other. That means it starts in this room. If people need healing in this room, then we come alongside them and we pray for them. We if we are feeling down we preach the gospel to each other so we can strengthen each other we start here and we radiate out just like the disciples to this disciples didn't go very far or they just went to some towns and Villages close by but they started and then they went. Oh and that's what we have to do as well as we go we start here we heal the people here we minister to the people here preach the gospel here and then leave a note into our communities and neighborhoods of cities and countries around the world. So what should we expect if we actually follow through and get to the work we should expect opposition and rejection. There are people who are not going to like the message. There are people who are going to reject the message. We should expect distractions. The disciples came back from this trip and they were so pumped up about the fact that they had the ability to cast out demons. That wasn't even if you look at the Texas not even something that Jesus gave to them at the beginning Jesus. How did given them that and yet they had this power by the Holy Spirit to have authority over the demons when they come back and cheer about that juice reorganizes their priorities and we don't cheer about the empowerment by the spirit, but we would said we're supposed to cheer about our Salvation in Jesus. We have to put our joy in the same place that Jesus puts his choice Jesus puts a joint in himself because he's the one that's going to save us and she was asked to come into his family and we should put our joy in the same place. You put her joy in Jesus and his work not in the work that we do work that we do is derivative. It comes from that flows out of the original joy that Jesus has that means that all the praise in Salvation is going to go to Jesus and he'll get all the glory for what we've done. And we expect even in the midst of all this opposition of rejection and distraction that we're going to have success at least 72 disciples. First of all, the all arrived back home safe. We prayed for that this morning for Jude and Rand that they also will return to us safely. We see that they were blessed beyond what they anticipated Paul writes that we are given more than we ask or think and the disciples were not even told they were going to be given the authority over demons and they did they had more they got even more than they thought. God was going to give them for the journey that they had to undertake. And we expect then to rejoice in Jesus just like the disciples did that we will be satisfied and happy in Jesus in the work of Salvation and the work that he's given us to go do as labor is in his Harvest field so West London. It's time to go. We are getting ready as a church ourselves to send or 72 to plant churches around. London and and around the world and so as we are getting ready to send or laborers into the Harvest field, we need to pray and get to work as well. The Harvest is plentiful around the world and around the city and even in this room. So let's start by praising Jesus. Let's start by experiencing his joy, and let's start by ministering to each other. Let's pray together.