Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases. He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. Luke 9:1-2
The Lord Jesus gives us the ability and authority to carry out the ministry's work, which is to announce the kingdom of God to a lost and dying world, when He calls us. As the head of the church, He instructs and guides us by example as His disciples. Jesus sends His disciples out for the first time in the passage above after they have watched Him instruct the crowds, pardon a sinful woman, drive out demons, heal the sick, and raise the dead. Then He instructed them to follow suit.
We should take away two things from this: first, the Lord will never ask us to do something that He has not first modelled for us, enabling us to imitate Him in everything we do for Him; and second, the Lord will never give us a task without also giving us the authority and power necessary to complete it. Another significant idea at play in the text is that large numbers are not necessary to carry out the work of the Kingdom. When Jesus personally instructed the twelve to carry out God's will, they upended the entire world. Their ministry continues to have an impact today.
With the same urgency that He confessed when He said I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work, it is now our turn to partake in the works that Jesus started and imparted to His disciples. Since it is our day, we must complete the tasks assigned to us by the person who sent us now, before night falls. The Lord Jesus has sent us to finish the task He started, just as the Father sent Jesus. He who has started a good work in us will undoubtedly see it through to completion until the return of Jesus Christ.
He has granted us the ability to act in the same way that He did. Nowadays, we approach preaching differently than people did when Jesus sent His disciples out. Wherever they were sent, they were tasked with spreading the gospel. In order to persuade sinners to enter, we are sent to preach the gospel along highways and hedges. In order for those who are on the outside to enter and partake at the master's table, the gospel of the kingdom is preached. We exercise power and authority with love and compassion for the lost while remaining humble.
People are compelled to enter the Kingdom after being healed of their demons and set free. We ought to give freely to those who are enslaved and looking for a way out because that is how freely we have received. I ask the Lord to use this pandemic to dedicate His people to this work. According to David the sweet Psalmist, "Look on my right hand and see, For there is no one who acknowledges me; Refuge has failed me; No one cares for my soul," many people are lost and perplexed because they don't know whom to trust. NKJV Psalm 142:4
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