{"id":9540,"date":"2026-01-18T14:40:28","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T18:40:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/?p=9540"},"modified":"2026-01-18T14:42:44","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T18:42:44","slug":"9540","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/?p=9540","title":{"rendered":"NEVER TOO BUSY TO BLESS"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEVER TOO BUSY TO BLESS<\/u><\/b><\/h1>\n

Luke 9: 1-17<\/b><\/h2>\n

\u00a0by Rev. Richard Jones<\/b><\/h2>\n

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The Commission<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Luke 9:1-6 (ESV)<\/b> <\/b>
\n1 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases,
\n2 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.
\n3 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0And he said to them, \u201cTake nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics.<\/span>
\n4 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0And whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart.<\/span>
\n5 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0And wherever they do not receive you, when you leave that town shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them.\u201d<\/span>
\n6 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0And they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.<\/span><\/p>\n

Matthew 10:7-8 (ESV) <\/b>
\n7 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0And proclaim as you go, saying, \u2018The kingdom of heaven is at hand.\u2019<\/span>
\n8 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mark 6:8-9 (ESV) <\/b>
\n8 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff\u2014no bread, no bag, no money in their belts\u2014
\n9 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics.<\/p>\n

Matthew 10:14-15 (ESV) <\/b>
\n14 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town.<\/span>
\n15 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Confusion<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Luke 9:7-9 (ESV) <\/b>
\n7 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0Now Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was happening, and he was perplexed, because it was said by some that John had been raised from the dead,
\n8 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the prophets of old had risen.
\n9 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0Herod said, \u201cJohn I beheaded, but who is this about whom I hear such things?\u201d And he sought to see him.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Condition<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Luke 9:10-11 (ESV) <\/b>
\n10 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0On their return the apostles told him all that they had done. And he took them and withdrew apart to a town called Bethsaida.
\n11 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0When the crowds learned it, they followed him, and he welcomed them and spoke to them of the kingdom of God and cured those who had need of healing.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mark 6:30-33 (ESV) <\/b>
\n30 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught.
\n31 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0And he said to them, \u201cCome away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.\u201d<\/span> For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.
\n32 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves.
\n33 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mark 6:34 (ESV) <\/b>
\n34 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Completion<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Luke 9:12-17 (ESV)<\/b>
\n12 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0Now the day began to wear away, and the twelve came and said to him, \u201cSend the crowd away to go into the surrounding villages and countryside to find lodging and get provisions, for we are here in a desolate place.\u201d
\n13 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0But he said to them, \u201cYou give them something to eat.\u201d<\/span> They said, \u201cWe have no more than five loaves and two fish\u2014unless we are to go and buy food for all these people.\u201d
\n14 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0For there were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, \u201cHave them sit down in groups of about fifty each.\u201d<\/span>
\n15 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0And they did so, and had them all sit down.
\n16 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing over them. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd.
\n17 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0And they all ate and were satisfied. And what was left over was picked up, twelve baskets of broken pieces.<\/p>\n

John 6:7 (ESV) <\/b>
\n7 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0Philip answered him, \u201cTwo hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.\u201d<\/p>\n

John 6:8-10 (ESV) <\/b>
\n8 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter\u2019s brother, said to him,
\n9 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0\u201cThere is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?\u201d
\n10 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0Jesus said, \u201cHave the people sit down.\u201d<\/span> Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number.<\/p>\n

Philippians 4:18-19 (ESV) <\/b>
\n18 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0I have received full payment, and more. I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God.
\n19 <\/span><\/sup>\u00a0And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NEVER TOO BUSY TO BLESS Luke 9: 1-17 \u00a0by Rev. Richard Jones     The Commission Luke 9:1-6 (ESV) 1 \u00a0And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, 2 … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,24,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-messages","category-sermon-series","category-sermons-by-rev-jones"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9540"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9540"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9540\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9545,"href":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9540\/revisions\/9545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.crossroadchristianfellowship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}