Walking With Christ

(Part 4 of 9)

Luke 9:2  and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.(ESV)

There’s only so much that can be learned by listening.  At some point, the lesson has to leave the room.

Jesus taught the disciples.  They watched Him preach.  They watched Him heal.  They watched Him confront evil.  They watched Him deal with crowds, critics, sickness, need, and rejection.

Then He sent them out.

They were no longer standing beside Him watching ministry happen.  Now they had to do it.  They had to speak.  They had to enter unfamiliar places.  They had to depend on God.  They had to discover what happened when people welcomed them and what happened when people didn’t.

Jesus could’ve kept them close and continued explaining everything.  Instead, He gave them responsibility.

There are things we can understand intellectually and still not truly know until we have to put them into practice.

You can study forgiveness without forgiving someone.  You can study generosity without giving.  You can study prayer without praying.  You can study faith without ever stepping into a place where faith is required.

Eventually, the lesson has to become action.

Jesus didn’t only prepare His disciples by telling them what ministry looked like.  He let them experience it.

Then they came back with questions, stories, successes, and failures that could become part of the next lesson.

Sometimes the classroom is exactly where we need to be.  Sometimes the next lesson is waiting outside the door.

How Jesus taught:  He made them do it.