Welcome to Day 2909 of Wisdom-Trek. Thank you for joining me.
This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom.
Day 2909– “The Ultimate Close Encounter” based on Luke 10:1-16
Putnam Church Message – 06/21/2026
The Good News According to Luke: “Practical Talk to Those in Ministry.”
Last week’s message was “A Face Like Flint,” in which we studied the One who set His face toward Jerusalem now sets His grace upon His people.
Today, we continue with our twenty-ninth message from Luke’s narrative of the Good News of Jesus Christ. Today’s message is: “Practical Talk to Those in Ministry.” Our core passage today is Luke 10:1-16, on page 1611 of your pew Bibles.
Jesus Sends Out the Seventy-Two
10 After this, the Lord appointed seventy-two[a] others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. 2 He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. 3 Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. 4 Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.
5 “When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ 6 If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you. 7 Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house.
8 “When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you. 9 Heal the sick>who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ 10 But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God has come near.’ 12 I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.
13 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14 But it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. 15 And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to Hades.[b]
16 “Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; but whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.”
Opening Prayer
Father, we come before You today grateful that You invite ordinary people into Your extraordinary work. We confess that we often feel inadequate, distracted, discouraged, or afraid. Sometimes we carry burdens You never asked us to carry, and sometimes we measure ministry by results rather than faithfulness.
Lord Jesus, teach us today from Your Word. Show us what it means to be sent by You, to labor for Your harvest, to depend on Your provision, to speak peace, to serve faithfully, and to leave the results in Your hands. Help us see that ministry is not reserved for a few, but belongs to all who follow You. May our lives become faithful witnesses to the nearness of Your Kingdom. Amen.
Introduction: Why Would God Use Us?
I have often wondered why God involves people in His work when He can do everything Himself.
Have you ever thought about that?
God does not need our talent.
God does not need our strength.
God does not need our planning ability.
God does not need our committees, schedules, buildings, sermons, songs, or programs.
He can do the job better than we can. He can speak a word, and worlds come into existence. He can open blind eyes, raise the dead, calm storms, silence demons, and move kings according to His will.
So why does He entrust something as important as building His Kingdom to people like us?
People who get tired.
People who misunderstand.
People who get proud.
People who become discouraged.
People who argue about greatness.
People who sometimes want to call down fire on their enemies.
That is the mystery of grace.
God does not involve us because He lacks power. He involves us because He loves us, forms us, and gives us a genuine part in His redemptive work.
In the previous message, “A Face Like Flint,” we saw Jesus set His face toward Jerusalem. Luke 9:51 is a hinge in Luke’s Gospel. From that moment forward, Jesus is moving toward the cross, the resurrection, and the ascension. Nothing will distract Him from the Father’s mission.
Now, in Luke 10:1–16, Jesus does something remarkable. He multiplies the mission.
Earlier, He sent the Twelve. Now He appoints seventy-two others, or seventy depending on the manuscript tradition, and sends them ahead of Him into the towns and places He plans to visit. This means the ministry is expanding beyond the inner circle.
The Kingdom is not a private project for the Twelve. It is not merely the work of clergy. It is not limited to those with public titles. Jesus is building a people who are sent. And in this passage, He gives practical talk to those in ministry.
That includes pastors, teachers, elders, deacons, missionaries, children’s workers, worship leaders, caregivers, parents, grandparents, encouragers, prayer warriors, business owners, neighbors, friends, and every believer who bears witness to Christ.
If you belong to Jesus, you are involved in ministry. So let us listen carefully to His practical instruction found in four truths in your bulletin insert on the side that says Practical Talk to Those in Ministry.
Main Point 1: The Harvest Belongs to God, but the Labor Belongs to Us
Jesus says the harvest is great, but the workers are few. So, He tells His disciples to pray to the Lord of the harvest, asking Him to send out workers into His harvest. That is where ministry begins: not with panic, but with prayer.
Jesus looks at the world as a harvest field. That image would have been vivid to His listeners. In an agricultural world, the harvest was urgent. When the crop was ready, delay could mean loss. Workers had to go into the field while the time was right.
But notice what Jesus calls it.
- It is not our harvest.
- It is not the church’s harvest.
- It is not the pastor’s harvest.
- It is the Lord’s harvest.
- That matters.
When we forget this, we carry burdens God never intended us to carry. We begin to think the future of the Kingdom depends on us. We stay awake at night worrying about results we cannot control. We measure faithfulness by numbers, approval, visible response, or immediate fruit.
But Jesus calls Himself the Lord of the harvest.
- He owns the field.
- He knows the soil.
- He sees the hearts.
- He sends the workers.
- He brings the growth.
Our responsibility is not to control the harvest. Our responsibility is to labor faithfully.
Object Lesson: A Seed Packet and a Basket
Hold up a packet of seeds and an empty basket.
The seed packet represents the work entrusted to us. / We can plant. / We can water. / We can tend. / We can prepare. But we cannot force life into the seed.
The basket represents the harvest. / We long to see it full, and that longing is good. / But only God can bring the harvest.
Paul says something similar in 1 Corinthians 3:7 It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow. That is freeing.
We are not excused from labor. Jesus calls us workers. But we are freed from pretending to be God.
Ancient Context
When Jesus sent these seventy-two, He sent them ahead of Him. They were not going out to build personal followings. They were preparing towns for the arrival of the King.
In the ancient world, messengers often went ahead of a ruler to announce his coming. They did not invent the message. They did not negotiate the king’s authority. They...
