Identity as Missionaries
Prayer Precedes Movements.
Tuesdays are important corporate days of Prayer and Fasting for the Kansas City Underground. On these days, we unite our voices around a central theme. Today, we return to a central theme around our identity as missionaries.
Strategic Focus: Missionaries
Todays Scripture: Luke 10:1-11
Read: Luke 10:1-11
The Lord now chose seventy-two other disciples and sent them ahead in pairs to all the towns and places he planned to visit. These were his instructions to them: “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields. Now go, and remember that I am sending you out as lambs among wolves. Don’t take any money with you, nor a traveler’s bag, nor an extra pair of sandals. And don’t stop to greet anyone on the road.
“Whenever you enter someone’s home, first say, ‘May God’s peace be on this house.’ If those who live there are peaceful, the blessing will stand; if they are not, the blessing will return to you. Don’t move around from home to home. Stay in one place, eating and drinking what they provide. Don’t hesitate to accept hospitality, because those who work deserve their pay.
“If you enter a town and it welcomes you, eat whatever is set before you. Heal the sick, and tell them, ‘The Kingdom of God is near you now.’ But if a town refuses to welcome you, go out into its streets and say, ‘We wipe even the dust of your town from our feet to show that we have abandoned you to your fate. And know this—the Kingdom of God is near!’
Move #1: You have already been sent. (Verses 1 - 4)
Consider these key points from the first few verses:
Jesus sent out seventy-two disciples. Women and men who had been with Jesus. These are people that had seen so much and could testify to all that He had done and were being trained to do all that He did.
They were sent in pairs so that no one would be alone.
Jesus is telling the workers He is sending that they are the ones to pray for more workers. More workers are needed, and it is the workers themselves who should be asking for more workers to be sent.
Jesus doesn’t sugar-coat anything. He doesn’t hide the fact that their task will be difficult. He addresses it straight on. You will be exposed and might even describe it as helpless since they were instructed not to take anything with them.
Pray through these ideas:
We don’t have to be perfectly trained, but we have to have been with Jesus in order to be sent by Him. How might Jesus be calling you to spend more time with Him in this new season? What areas of your life need to be filled with more of His presence? Ask Jesus to show them to you?
Who might Jesus be sending with you? Is there a person or persons who Jesus has impressed on you to invite into a missionary lifestyle with you? Write their names down. Pray for them by name.
Pray that Jesus would send more workers into the harvest fields to join the Underground in seeing Gospel Saturation in 2022. Consider a creative way to pray Luke 10:2 often and commit to praying consistently for more missionaries.
Surrender your fears to Jesus about being one sent as a sheep among wolves, exposed and vulnerable. Confess freely. He will not condemn you for those emotions, rather He wants to sit with you in them. He is not a careless commander of missions. He is first a friend who cares deeply for you.
Move #2: Persons of Peace (Verses 5 - 7)
Consider these key points from the passage:
Jesus did not command His sent ones to go door to door to door. He instructed them to find homes where they were welcomed and then to stay there.
Jesus said to eat and drink what was provided to these workers. He wanted them to accept the hospitality extended to them. In essence, be a part of the family that has received you.
This part of the passage describes a missional principle we call persons of peace. We describe persons of peace as those who welcome you, receive you, receive the message about Christ that you bring, serve you, and they open their relational network to you.
Pray through these ideas:
Where are you welcomed? Ask Jesus to highlight the places where there are people that receive you and have welcomed you into their space. Ask Him if this is a missional context where you are to plant the gospel. Write down what you hear.
How might Jesus be calling you to foster a deeper sense of family in the places where you are welcomed? How can you intentionally move the relationship from merely eating and drinking to spiritual conversations that lead to disciple-making? Write down what ideas He puts in your heart and mind.
Pray for persons of peace to emerge all over Kansas City in 2022 for current and future missionaries. Jesus has provided us with a picture of “how we should go.” This passage shows that He is already at work in people’s lives. When He creates the connections to those people, entire networks will be opened to the beauty, justice, and Good News being shared. Pray that we meet them and cultivate those relationships, not in an agenda-driven way, but in a deeply loving way.
Move #3: The work. (Verses 8 - 11)
Consider these key points from the passage:
Jesus has great confidence in those He sends and has given them authority to do as He did. He says, “Heal the sick and proclaim the Kingdom.” He doesn’t say, “try to,” or even, “Pray real hard and hope it happens.”
Jesus authorizes them to walk away if people are unreceptive. He places no burden on them, no undue stress that they have failed in some way if people in a particular place do not respond positively.
Jesus reminds those He sends to be encouraged, “The Kingdom of God is near.” These missionaries are going in power. They represent a greater Kingdom than the kingdoms of this world, and they are not alone as they go.
Pray through these ideas:
Spend a few moments in praise and thanksgiving that Jesus loves you, that He trusts you and invites you into the mission, that He has empowered you to do great things by the authority of Holy Spirit that He has sent to live within us.
Pray that Jesus will give you boldness as you are obedient to Him in healing the sick and proclaiming the Kingdom. Ask him to give you spiritual eyes to see and ears to hear where the sick are among you today and pray for their healing.
If you feel some pressure to earn Jesus’s approval by the work you produce for Him, or by the number of people you introduce to Him, or if you feel that you have failed Him, pause for a moment and let Him tell you that He loves you. He calls you a daughter or son, and He does not need you to prove your worth. Receive that good news and spend a few moments in praise and thanksgiving again for this truth.
Ask Jesus if the field in which you are working is good fertile soil, a place where He wants you to stay and invest, or if He has another field of harvest ready for you. Ask Jesus for peace in that decision.
Jesus, we thank you that the Kingdom of God is near. We know that in the Kingdom, there are no lonely people, no oppressed people, no hungry and thirsty people, no one who mourns, no fatherless, no motherless, and none who are addicted. In the Kingdom, there is relational wholeness, and there is joy and celebration, freedom, reconciliation, and the restoration of all things. Jesus, send us. We are with Isaiah crying out, “Here am I, send me.” Show us our people of peace and houses of peace. Show us the networks of relationships you have sent us to in which we can declare these truths of the Kingdom. Show us all the ways today, Jesus, that we can bring beauty, justice, and Good News to our homes, families, extended spiritual families, and every place in this city we call home. And Jesus, may we be not only obedient but also swift in our obedience. We love you so much. And we love because we were first loved. May we love hers in the same way we have been loved.