Good morning Lord Jesus, help me to see my life this morning and you see it, and then go live it according to your vision..
“After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him two by two into every town and place where he himself was about to go. He said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest….Then the seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name!” So he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” (Luke 10:1-2.17-18)
Jesus sent out his followers into there communities that were under enemy occupation by foreign armies of Rome. They were being brutally taxed by Rome, life was hard, making ends meet was difficult, and their world appeared a darker, more evil place. Then Jesus’ followers entered into these communities with the Gospel of love and hope of Jesus Christ. They brought the light of Christ with them into their community’s darkness, and like cockroaches in a basement when the lights are turned on, evil fled and scurried away, and as Jesus saw, “Satan fell like lightning from heaven” and the “ruler of this world was cast out” of these communities. (John 12:31)
Jesus said, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18). In the saving works of Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension on the cross and the releasing of the power and presence of the Holy Spirit into all of us who call Jesus Lord, Jesus’ church was built. And the gates of Hell that will not prevail against His church are not just the literal gates of hell itself, but the gates of the living hell people are trapped in and overcome by from the present evil, injustice, and hate in this world. By Jesus saying the gates of hell will not prevail against His church, means His church, His followers were not created for defense, but for offensive actions to be “sent out,” like the 72, with the light of the hope of Christ to tear down the gates of darkness in our communities. “So Jesus said to them again,… Just as the Father has sent me, I also send you.” (John 20:21)
Each of us who claim to be Christians and are followers of Jesus have received and are full of the presence, power, and light of the Holy Spirit. “The one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” (1John 4:4) And just as Jesus was a “Sent one” “God so loved the world he sent his only begotten Son” (John 3:16); Just like the apostles and the 72 followers of Jesus were “Sent Ones”; you and I followers of Jesus today are also to be “Sent Ones” into our neighborhoods, our workplaces, our cities, our nations and until the ends of the earth.
My family, I pray you will claim your identity and calling of a follower of Jesus as a “Sent One.” I pray you will understand that Jesus created the church not to be a location, but to be a movement of God to tear down the gates of hell in their communities, in Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
I would love for you to please share your reflections with myself or others using the comment box below.
My wife Nancy and I are in a new season of our ministry of pouring completely into planting and growing simple house churches in our neighborhoods, and having “boots on the ground” serving in our community.. Please pray over this season in my life and that of my family. Please partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758. Thank You Thank You!
