August 21, 2025; Luke 10:1-24

Daily Dose of Hope

August 21, 2025

Scripture – Luke 10:1-24

Prayer:  King Jesus, We come to you today with praise and lifting your name high.  You are a Lord of love, mercy, and forgiveness.  Thank you so much for allowing us to experience those things in you.  Also, Lord, thank you for showing us a new way of doing life.  The ways of this world are empty and temporal but your ways are eternal and fulfilling.  Help us remember who and whose we are.  Help us live like the people you have called us to be.  We love you.  Amen.

Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope, a deep dive into the Gospels and Acts.  Today, we start Luke 10.

In chapter 9, we read about Jesus sending out the twelve to teach about the Kingdom, heal, and cast out demons.  In today’s reading, Jesus sends out seventy-two other disciples, working in pairs, to all the towns and places he planned to visit.  Similar to when he sent out the twelve, they were to stay where they were welcomed, bless those homes, and quickly leave those places that didn’t care to have them.  Jesus couldn’t possibly go everywhere and see everyone so he taught, he mentored, and then he delegated.  These disciples were to very literally show the people a new way of doing life – the Jesus way. 

Jesus sent his followers out in small groups and in larger groups.  Consider these two verses from John:

John 17:18, Praying to the Father, Jesus says, “Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world.”

John 20:21, Speaking to his disciples, he says, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.”

We who follow Jesus are a sent people, then and now.  Just as Jesus was sent into the world by God, we are sent on mission together – to keep doing the work of Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit, to both proclaim and live out the Kingdom of God, and to alert people to the reign of Christ right here, right now.  Jesus is King and we are to live like it.  This Scripture from Luke gives us a great template to follow.  Go, share, proclaim, heal, pray, and teach.  If someone does not receive you well, don’t sit around and worry about it.  Keep going.  Keep sharing, keep proclaiming, keep healing, keep praying, and keep teaching. 

These were Jesus’ instructions to the seventy-two disciples: “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest and ask him to send more workers into the fields...go proclaim the Kingdom of God.”  Pray for more people to help and then go proclaim the Kingdom.  Don’t overthink it.  Don’t micromanage,  Just pray and go.  He also told them that they were like lambs among wolves.  They were going, knowing it might not be safe and knowing they would be vulnerable.  But it didn’t keep them from going. 

How often does fear or risk keep us from sharing and proclaiming the Gospel? 

Here’s a very practical question:  How do we alert people to the reign of Christ, to the Kingdom of God, right now? How do we live out this mission of being sent?

I want you to think of your life as a movie trailer. What’s the purpose of a movie trailer? A trailer is like a teaser for the soon-to-be released movie, and it usually shows the best parts of the movie. If a trailer does its job well, then it leaves you feeling like, “I want to go see that movie.” This is a great metaphor for our mission as God’s people, for his church. Jesus’ sent people are to be like a trailer for God’s intended world, for the Kingdom of God. If the Kingdom is a place of love and mercy, then we are to a trailer that shows, through word and deed, that incredible love and mercy. If the Kingdom is a place of justice, then that should be clear in our trailer. If we believe that under the reign of God, “every knew shall bow and tongue confess that Jesus is Lord,” then in our trailer, not only do we proclaim Jesus as Lord of our life, but we live it out, and we encourage belief in Jesus where there isn’t any.” In every area of our lives (at work, at school, on the golf course, at the baseball field, in our neighborhoods), Jesus’ sent people announce and demonstrate that Jesus is Lord and King. 

One more thing about today’s reading.  Notice that the seventy-two return with great joy, amazed that even the demons listened to them.  Of course, the demons only listened to them because they went under Jesus’ authority.  We also are sent, not on our own authority, but under the authority of King Jesus.  We go in his name and I think that’s an important point. 

Jesus then tells them not to rejoice that the demons listened to them but rejoice because their names are written down in heaven.  Rejoice because of who they are in Jesus.  The demons are in the distractions.  How often do we get distracted from the main thing?  How often do we fail to rejoice because of who we are in Jesus?

More tomorrow.

Blessings,

Pastor Vicki