Shots
Fired

Every dangerous job starts with a briefing, and Jesus gives His straight. He chose seventy-two ordinary folks and sent them ahead in pairs. Two by two. Not one by one. You were never meant to ride this trail alone, and if you've been trying to, that's not toughness, that's ignoring the orders.

Then the orders get stranger. Don't take any money, no traveler's bag, no extra pair of sandals. And don't stop to greet anyone on the road. That's not rudeness. That's a man on a call. When the radio says shots fired, you don't pull over to visit at every gate. You travel light and you stay on task, because the mission is urgent and God Himself is the supply wagon.

So week two starts with two questions. Who's riding with you? And what are you hauling that Jesus never asked you to pack?

First order of business when you get where you're sent: offer peace. "May God's peace be on this house." Notice Jesus doesn't say check the house out first, see if they deserve it, size up their politics and their past. You offer it at the door, free, to whoever's inside.

And here's the part I love: if they don't want it, you don't lose it. The blessing returns to you. Peace offered is never wasted. You take it with you somewhere else, to the next house, the next gate, the next man leaning on his truck. Nobody can rob you of what they refused.

Then Jesus says stay put, eat what they set in front of you, and don't be shy about accepting hospitality, because those who work deserve their pay. Letting good people be good to you is part of the mission too. Some of us are better at giving than receiving, and Jesus closes that gate. Both are orders.

The message itself is short enough to fit in a shirt pocket: the Kingdom of God is near you now. That's the whole telegram. If a town welcomes it, they will be saved. If a town won't, Jesus says wipe even the dust of it off your feet and move on, and He's blunt about what rejection costs: even wicked Sodom will be better off than a town that turned down the King Himself.

Now here's the verse that takes the weight off your shoulders. "Anyone who accepts your message is also accepting me. And anyone who rejects you is rejecting me. And anyone who rejects me is rejecting God, who sent me." When people turn down your message, they are not turning you down. They're turning down Jesus and the God who sent Him.

That changes how a man rides. You're the messenger, not the message. Deliver it faithful, deliver it kind, and quit carrying rejections that were never addressed to you.

Jesus never lied about the danger. "I am sending you out as lambs among wolves." And remember from last week, our uniform looks like Christ. When John the Baptist saw Jesus coming, he hollered "Look! The Lamb of God." So if the uniform looks like the Lamb, don't be surprised the wolves take you for easy pickings. They took Him for easy pickings too. Right up until Sunday morning.

Because the Lamb of God is also the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the heir to David's throne, the one who has won the victory. Same Jesus. Lamb in the physical world, Lion in the spiritual one. And the sheep aren't sent out bare, either. Paul says to put on all of God's armor so you can stand firm against every strategy of the devil. The armor protects the sheep wearing it.

One more piece of range wisdom from the briefing: watch for wolves in sheep's clothing. You spot them by their teeth, by what they devour, not by what they wear. And sheep don't hang out with wolves. If the company you keep is feeding on people, don't stand there wondering why you're getting bit.

The seventy-two came back whooping like cowboys at the end of a good gather: "Lord, even the demons obey us when we use your name!" And Jesus doesn't hush them. He raises them. "I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning! Look, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy, and you can walk among snakes and scorpions and crush them. Nothing will injure you." Demons touch the physical world, but they operate from the spiritual one, and in that realm you don't ride scared. You walk among them and crush them.

Think about that picture. What do you call a herd of sheep in the spiritual realm? A pride of lions. Right where people see us as weak, God makes us strong as the King of the Beasts.

But Jesus gives the victors a warning, and it's the bottom line of the whole week: don't rejoice because evil spirits obey you. Rejoice because your name is registered in heaven. The power is real, but it isn't the prize. The prize is that the Lamb knows your name and wrote it down Himself.