Luke 9:1–17

Be Still: Holy Spirit I welcome you. Come into my heart, my mind, and my body.  Fill me with the life of Jesus today. You are welcome here. Amen

Read: Luke 9:1–17

He sent them out to announce God’s Kingdom and cure the sick. (v2)

Encounter: Life is designed to be lived with a purpose. When we don’t have purpose, we feel less fulfilled, often restless, and low. I remember a season of waiting, where all the doors to my future seemed shut: I had a small job in the storeroom of a local shop, but I knew I was made for more and I didn’t know for sure where God was leading me. I was hungry to know where I was being ’sent’ next. 

The wonder of Christianity is that we’re not just saved but sent. Jesus gives purpose to everyone, for all time. Here in our passage, we see this principle worked out. Jesus sends the twelve disciples out to ‘announce God’s Kingdom and heal the sick’. We are all now ‘disciples’, and so we share in this command to go. No matter what job we have, what place we live in, what friends or family we have – we have a shared purpose that comes to us from knowing Jesus. 

Crucially, this purpose isn’t that we should go and talk about ourselves to others - even though most of us do that a lot! No, our purpose is to go and talk about the Kingdom of God that has come through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus - how we heard about it, what difference it has made in our lives, and what Jesus means to us now!

Apply: How much do you talk about Jesus rather than yourself? What difference does it make to your day knowing you are ‘sent’ - you have an ongoing purpose that works out within and through your ‘ordinary’ life. How can you ‘announce the Kingdom’ today?

Devote: Jesus, thank you for sending me! Thank you for giving me a purpose. Thank you that you send me out but also you are with me by your Spirit. Fill me with power from on high to confidently announce your kingdom where I live, in my work, study, social life and family.