Our reading for study produces a number of themes which are picked up in songs or hymns. Prepare for reading the Scriptures by singing one or more songs which are echoed in Luke 10. Examples might be:

Peace is flowing like a river (verse 5)
Seek ye first the kingdom of God (verse 9)
Go forth and tell (verse 2)
Thank you Jesus (verse 20)
I have decided to follow Jesus (whole passage!)

Read Luke 10:1-11 and 16-20 then discuss some or all of these questions.

1. Make a list of all the instructions Jesus gives those he is sending out. There are a lot of them. Looking at the list, what impression does it give and what especially strikes you about it?

2. "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few" (verse 2). How do you apply this verse? How would it have been applied in a group of 70 rather than (as now) a church of millions?

3. Lambs among wolves (verse 3) are helpless and in danger. When can either be said of our own discipleship?

4. Jesus told those he was sending to brook no distractions or delays. For example no talking on the road (verse 4)no arguments about food (verse 8), no gadding around houses (verse 7), and no hanging around if you're not welcome (verses 10-11).What would be his equivalent words to us?

5. How can Jesus tell his followers both that they are lambs among wolves and then that they have power over snakes and scorpions (verse 19)?

6. Verse 16 gives Jesus's followers an awesome responsibility. Do you believe it applies to us?

7. What do you understand by Jesus saying "the kingdom of God is near"?

8. Some churches in deeply rural USA have had a history of grasping snakes to prove the promise in verse 19. Like the writer of these notes, you may believe this to be misconceived. But why do you think this?

9. Is it urgent for us today to proclaim that the kingdom of God is near? Do we act as if it matters that much?