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Feb. 25, 2023 - Just Informed Talk - Craig James

14:41

Jesus Sends Out 72 Harvesters To Make Disciples - Luke 10:1-20 | God's Grace Is Greater

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	Welcome to another God's Grace is Greater segment.
	Today we're in Luke chapter 10 and we're talking about Jesus sending out 72 harvesters.
	And who are these individuals that Jesus sends?
	Well, we're going to learn about that in chapter 10 of Luke.
	We're finishing chapter 9 and where we left off in chapter 9, Jesus explained to us what it cost to follow him and how that is something that we should really take seriously and understand going into it is that Even if we gain the world and lose Jesus, we really have nothing.
	And in that understanding, we're going to be going into this next segment, this next set of scripture in chapter 10, where, similarly to what happened previously, Jesus is sending out 70 or 72 messengers on his behalf, just like he did with the disciples in pairs of two, To go to every town ahead of him to spread the word of his gospel and his glory and his amazing new gospel that he was spreading at that time.
	And this is right as he is on his way to Jerusalem.
	So, to face his ultimate death, burial, and resurrection for our sins, essentially.
	So, this is powerful, and there's a little bit of an interpretation thing here.
	Some people say he says there's 70 people he sends.
	Some people say it's 72.
	I'm going to go with 72, but if you think it's 70, I mean, let's be honest.
	Numbers do matter, right?
	But, you know, there's a little bit of an interpretation thing here.
	But we're going to read, this is in chapter 10, verse 1 through 20, talking about Jesus sending out 70 more disciples ahead of him to spread the gospel.
	And there's a lot we can learn from this.
	So let's go ahead and read this in chapter 10, verse 1 through 20.
	It says, He told them, the harvest is abundant, but the workers are few.
	Therefore pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.
	Now go, I'm sending you out like lambs among wolves.
	Don't carry a money bag, traveling bag or sandals.
	Don't greet anyone along the road.
	Whatever house you enter, first say peace to this household.
	If a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on him.
	But if not, it will return to you.
	It says,
	When you enter any town and they don't welcome you, go out into the streets and say, Woe to you, Therazin!
	Woe to you, Bethsaida!
	For if the miracles that were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.
	But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you.
	And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven?
	No.
	You will go down to Hades.
	Whoever listens to you listens to me.
	Whoever rejects you rejects me.
	And whoever rejects me, rejects the one who sent me.
	The 70 returned, or 72 returned, with joy saying, Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.
	He said to them, I watched Satan fall from heaven like a lightning flash.
	Look, I have given you the authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy.
	Nothing will ever harm you.
	However, don't rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.
	Now, this is a pretty packed set of verses, let's say.
	And if you were looking at this from an eschatological or Bible scholar perspective, there's a lot of people spend years, and some people spend entire, you know, generated lifetimes trying to decipher what the meaning of these words are that are given to us here in the Scripture.
	But...
	I'll just try to give you my own take on it.
	And you can share in the comments what you think about these verses yourself so that we can build a better understanding.
	Because as I say before, I'm not an eschatologist and I'm not a Bible scholar.
	I'm a simple evangelist.
	I'm a simple person who was given the eternal salvation through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that saved me.
	And then all I wanted to do was spread that to others and give that to others.
	And in that same...
	This story is about sharing the gospel of Christ.
	Now Jesus is sending these 70 or 72, I call them harvesters, ahead of him because he's telling them first that the harvest is abundant but the workers are few.
	Now, he's essentially telling them to go out and that there's an abundant amount of people who need to be harvested in the gospel, told the gospel, right?
	But that there aren't enough people to go to every single one.
	So he anoints 70 or 72 of these, let's say, disciples, right?
	Not the twelve disciples, but these unnamed disciples, to go out ahead of him to all these towns and spread his good word.
	Now, just like with his twelve disciples that he set out in pairs to do miracles in his name in all the major cities of that time to spread the gospel, he sends them out with nothing.
	No money bag, no traveling bag, no sandals.
	And he basically tells them to rely on the kindness of others to get what you need to survive.
	But not just to rely on the kindness of others, but to rely on the truth that God is with them through it all.
	Sometimes in our lives, and in mine right now even, I'm facing difficulties that I keep constantly wanting to look to myself, to save myself from problems.
	And in a way, we can save ourselves in certain situations, in certain ways.
	But we can't save ourselves eternally.
	And we can't save ourselves ultimately.
	We have to let go and rely on God.
	And I'm learning to do that right now.
	Maybe I'm failing.
	Maybe I'm passing.
	I don't know.
	I'd like to tell you the details of my stories.
	But I'm sure you're going through something in your life right now.
	Where...
	You may feel like you're being challenged in a way that is something that you think you should be able to handle, but you can't.
	God will give you the power to overcome it, just like he gives the power to these unnamed disciples to go and do great things in his name as they are so excited to tell him that they were able to drive out demons in his name and do great things.
	Remember that God can give us power that we don't even know is there, and He can allow us to do things that we thought were impossible.
	And when things look like they're going against us, that they can, in fact, turn around, and they will.
	We just have to have faith and patience, which is what I'm learning myself, which is really not as easy as it sounds.
	Now, in these days, there was a kind of a way of, you know, I think kind of cursing a place.
	And Jesus tells them to essentially do that.
	If they are rejected, he says, if you're welcomed, then peace will be upon those who welcome you.
	And essentially saying that the eternal salvation, that if they accept that message, then they can receive it.
	But he says, if you're rejected, he tells them, Kick the dust off your sandals, off your feet.
	Now, we talked about this when he sends out the twelve disciples.
	He says the same thing to them.
	What he's telling us is that there are those who will not be saved.
	That's one of the hardest things for me to accept, I believe.
	One of.
	I want to try to save everyone.
	I have hope for everyone.
	I truly want to believe that we can all be saved.
	And I guess we can all be saved.
	But, as Jesus says then, and I believe is still true today, not all will.
	There will be those who reject Jesus, and they will go to the fire.
	And he says it in no uncertain terms here.
	He actually calls out these specific places, Churazin and Bethsaida and Capernaum.
	And he calls out these cities who have rejected his disciples, and he says, Woe to you, essentially, for they rejected him on that day.
	And he essentially says it would be better for them if they were Sodom and Gomorrah, or if they were Sodom, you know, the city that was destroyed, it would be better for them and more tolerable than what they were going to face.
	Now, I believe one of these cities, if I'm not mistaken, I think it's Cherazin, I'm not sure how to pronounce that, was destroyed so badly that even historians to this day can't figure out where it was.
	And I believe that's Cherazin.
	It might have been one of the other two, but I think it was Cherazin.
	And this is Jesus telling us that in our lives we're going to encounter people who aren't going to accept the word.
	And that instead of wasting our energy in our lives trying to convince those who have rejected God outright to convince them to accept him...
	I think what Jesus says here to his disciples is something we can take for ourselves here in this life that we live now is that we need to shake the dust off our feet and go because the work is many.
	Like he says in the beginning here, he says the harvest is abundant but the workers are few.
	He's telling us that there's a harvest to be had but there aren't enough people to help bring it in.
	And If we spend all of our time going after each individual person who rejects God outright, then we might miss those who haven't even had a chance to hear the gospel yet, who want to hear the gospel, who want to learn about Jesus and his amazing eternal salvation that he gives us.
	So let us not be distracted in that way.
	And then when they return, of course, they're excited.
	They say, Lord, the demons even submitted to us, and they're happy, and they're joyful.
	What does Jesus do?
	He corrects them.
	He says, this is what Jesus says to him.
	He says, I watched Satan fall from heaven like a lightning flash.
	He's telling us he saw Satan, Lucifer, fall from heaven, be struck down from heaven.
	And he says, I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and that nothing will harm you.
	But he says this, don't rejoice that the spirits submit to you.
	Why would you tell them not to rejoice that the spirits submit to them?
	Well, because he goes on and says, Rejoice that your names are written in heaven.
	He says, It is more valuable that you have been given eternal salvation, that God knows your name is more valuable than having power over all the evil in this world.
	Think about that.
	Really think about it for a second.
	Jesus is saying, It is more valuable to have God know your name and have eternal salvation than it is to have power over all the evil in this world.
	That's how we should remember ourselves.
	That's how we should think about our lives.
	We have to be humble and thankful that God gave His Son for our lives.
	And we have to not look at it as we must conquer evil.
	We have to look at it as we have to live a life that is for God so we can help others find that salvation and help be like these harvesters and bring in the harvest for Christ.
	So that's where I'm going to go ahead and leave it.
	We'll say a prayer and we'll wrap it up.
	Lord and Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for this scripture.
	We thank you for this insight and discernment.
	And I pray that all those out there listening, including myself, find wisdom in these words and understanding for how we can help others and how we can help ourselves, Lord, to honor you, to bring glory to your name, to go out and to bring in that harvest for you, Lord.
	To not take satisfaction in triumphing over evil, but to take satisfaction in knowing that you know our name, Lord.
	And that we can spend eternity with you.
	Lord, we pray that we can overcome this evil in this age.
	And although we will not be joyful in it, We can humbly be thankful, Lord, that you allow us to overcome evil in whatever way you can.
	We pray for that power, that discernment, that wisdom.
	We pray for the same power that you gave the 72, the same power you gave the 12 disciples.
	We pray that if it be your will, visit that upon us so we can help do great things in your name.
	But most importantly, bring people into the great kingdom of heaven through you, for you.
	Lord, we thank you for that opportunity, and we thank you most of all for our eternal salvation.
	In Jesus' name, amen.
	All right, guys.
	Well, I hope you enjoyed that episode of God's Grace is Greater.
	We'll pick it up where we left off next time.
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	Until the next time, we'll see you then.
	My name is Craig, though.

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