In Season and Out of Season

Guest (Male): Behold, I stand at the door and knock. This is In Season and Out of Season, a Bible teaching ministry with Father Tom DiLorenzo.

Father Tom DiLorenzo: Good day, it's Father Tom, and we do this broadcast live. I really think that we who read the Scriptures are kind of stupid. You might ask me why. Because we see Jesus doing things, and we don't do them. I'm telling you, this is very important.

I'm looking at the 10th chapter of Luke, and let's see what Jesus does. We don't do this, but let's see what Jesus does. After these things, the Lord appointed another 70 and sent them two by two before his face into every city and place where he himself would come.

This was the tool, the evangelical tool of Jesus. He appointed 70, and he sent them two by two to the places that he was going to go. They were to prepare his way. Isn't it amazing? Do we do things like that? Do we do things like that? I don't think so.

Do we send people two by two to the places that we're going to preach? Even if we don't do that, do we get people to pray in the chapel while we're preaching or praying for healing, preparing the way for the Holy Spirit to come? Do we do things like that, or do we just go and do what we need to do? I'm not saying God doesn't work through that, but Jesus, who is the Lord, who is true God and true man, he appoints 70 disciples to go before him, to go before him to prepare the way.

I'm talking now about Vincent Ferrer. He was a Dominican priest who preached the judgment, who preached the last things. He had 10,000 penitents that went before him. He listened to what Jesus did and did it. These penitents would go to the places that he was going, and they would be worshipping God, praising God, and adoring Christ. They would be singing songs, making the way for the preacher.

The penitents did more work than the preacher because they went before the preacher. There were thousands of miracles that this Dominican priest did in the power of the Holy Spirit, but he did what Jesus did. He sent people before him to prepare the way. It's like if a river needs a riverbed in order to run through, the penitents of Vincent Ferrer created a spiritual riverbed by praying, worshipping God, and fasting. They prayed and sang songs and fasted to prepare the way for the preacher. They prepared a riverbed for the river of God to flow through, and there were thousands and thousands of miracles that Vincent Ferrer did.

After these things, Jesus appointed another 70 and sent them two by two before his face into every city and place where he himself would come. Then he said to them, "The harvest is great, but the laborers are few. Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth laborers into his harvest." We pray that you, Lord, would send laborers with the heart of Jesus into the harvest, laborers who love your people, shepherds who will care for the sheep.

We don't need more laborers; we need shepherds that will care for the sheep. We need shepherds that have a heart for the sheep. We need shepherds that are filled with the Holy Spirit and compassion. We need shepherds that are filled with the Holy Spirit and power. Oh God, send forth shepherds. Send forth shepherds into your field. Send forth shepherds to do the work of God, shepherds after the heart of Jesus.

We need shepherds, O Lord, and not just any shepherds, but shepherds that have that heart of Jesus that care for the sheep. Oh God, we don't need more men and women. We need men and women who are sold out to you and who have your heart for the people. There are so few of them, Lord, because it can become a job being a shepherd. I'm telling you, being a shepherd is not a job. Being a shepherd is a vocation.

Being a shepherd means you're going to care for the sheep. Being a shepherd knows you're also a sheep and that your good shepherd, Jesus, calls you to shepherd his people, to love them, and to be Jesus for them. Sometimes that's very difficult. I just spoke about not enabling drunks. If you're a good shepherd, you don't enable a drunk. If you're a good shepherd, you don't enable a drug addict. If you're a good shepherd, you love them and get them help, but you don't enable them.

You don't break the fall. You don't do that because they're only going to get worse. Alcoholism and drug addiction is a progressive disease that wants to kill people. Ultimately, it wants to kill people. If you break the fall, you're making yourself feel good and not the person. If the person is a drunk and lands in jail, don't bail them out. Let them stay. Let them smell the misery of a jail until the jail does its work in his heart, that he doesn't want to be there anymore.

I know that's difficult. It's more difficult for the people than it is for the drunk because we want to save people. You don't save people by just helping them all the time to get out of their predicament. No, you don't save people that way. You let them smell the pigsty like the prodigal son. When the pigsty had done its work, then he was ready to go home to Papa. Until the pigsty does its work, you cannot help anybody. Until the person who is a drunk or a drug addict reaches the lowest of the low and they come to the realization by the grace of God, they can then be helped. But don't break their fall.

We need laborers in the field that will care for the sheep. Then he says to them, "Go your way. Behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves." That's something, isn't it? That's why we need Jesus to be with us. These men were going before Jesus to prepare his way, but they were to know that they were like lambs among wolves. The wolf wanted lamb chops. There would always be people that would want to pull them down, that would want to destroy them, and that would speak evil of them.

Then he says, "When you enter into a house, remain there, eating and drinking the things they give you, for the laborer is worthy of his hire. Do not go from house to house." So you stay in the house. What do you do when you stay in the house? "Whatsoever city you enter and they receive you, eat the things they set before you. Heal the sick that are in that house and say unto them, 'The kingdom of God has come nigh upon you.'"

So you're preparing the way for the Lord. What are you to do? You are to heal the sick. You are to leave a blessing. I'm telling you, when God starts doing things like that through his people, people start taking notice. People start taking notice when God starts healing the sick. It's an evangelical tool. God does it through the Holy Spirit because he loves people, but he will not do it unless we do the praying.

I've often been asked, "What if the people are not healed?" I say, you know what? I am called to pray for the sick. I am not called to heal them with my power. If the sick are healed, Hallelujah, God gets the glory. If the sick are not healed, Hallelujah, I don't get the grief because I didn't do it anyway. I'm called to pray for the sick, to speak healing to the sick, and to say that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.

"And whatsoever city you enter and they receive you not, go your way onto the streets and say, 'Even the very dust of your city which cleaves to us, we wipe off against you. Notwithstanding, be sure of this, that the kingdom of God has come nigh upon you.' I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than for the cities that have rejected Jesus. Shake the dust off your feet if they do not receive you."

That's judgment. Judgment is the other side of love. Love is not always beautiful kisses and hugs. Sometimes it comes as judgment. When it comes as judgment, let me tell you, it is calling people to repentance. Judgment is not to destroy, but to call people to repentance. Our country is under the judgment of God economically for what we do to the unborn and the elderly. Our country is under the judgment of God.

I would dare say the Western church is under the judgment of God for how little we have done for the unborn and how little we have done for the poor. We've given our poor to the state and to the nation rather than caring for them ourselves. Let me tell you, the state cannot give the poor the faith to move mountains. I'm telling you, people like Monsignor Biding, who works with the poorest of the poor in Appalachia, he cares for the poor.

People like Heidi Baker, who is in Mozambique, she has thousands of people she cares for. She doesn't rely upon the state. The state can give us nothing. When the church gave the poor to the state, it was the biggest mistake. There were hospitals in Italy that used to depend upon providence, that God would give them what they needed, and the Lord rewarded faith day by day. They saw miracles. I tell you, when we start depending upon the state and not upon the Lord, we're in deep trouble because the state has nothing to give us.

This is real, and I believe it's been a big pitfall of the church that we've relied upon the state. We say, "Where are we going to get the money?" I tell you, when you live by faith, God does things. When you live by faith, God does things. They started a home for unwed mothers in Quincy with Sister Miriam and Marilyn Birney. They accepted nothing in that house from the state. Nothing, because they want to preach and teach the young women. They want to bring them into the glory of God. They want to bring them into the life of the Spirit.

When the state starts giving you money, then they tell you how to run your business. When the business is the business of God, it's not a business. It's shepherding people. Let's see what happens now. Verse 17. And the 70 returned again with joy, saying, "Lord, even the devils are subject to us through your name." And he said unto them, "I beheld Satan falling from heaven like lightning. Behold, I give you power to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you."

"Notwithstanding in this, rejoice not that the spirits are subject unto you, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven." Oh, they came back. They came back and said, "We saw the devil coming out of people. We healed the sick. Things were happening. It was wonderful." He said, "Don't rejoice that the devils are subject to you. Rejoice that your names are written in heaven. Rejoice that you're a child of God. Rejoice that you've been adopted through the blood of the Lamb. Rejoice that your home is in heaven."

Our citizenship is in heaven, St. Paul says to the Philippians, and from there we await the great Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who will give a new form to our bodies. Don't rejoice that the devils are subject to you, but rejoice that you're on your way to heaven. Rejoice in that reality. In that hour, Jesus rejoiced. He rejoiced in spirit and said, "I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and the prudent and have revealed them to babes, the disciples, these 70."

"Even so, Father, it is good in thy sight. All things have been delivered to me by my Father, and no man knows who the Son is but the Father, and who the Father is but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him." The Son reveals the Father. Then he said to his disciples privately, "Blessed are the eyes that see the things that you see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see the things that you see and they didn't see it, to hear the things that you hear and they didn't hear them."

David wanted to see Messiah, and he never saw him. Isaiah wanted to see Messiah, and he never saw him. Jeremiah wanted to see Messiah, and he never saw him. David wanted to see Jesus Christ risen from the dead; he never saw him. David wanted to see Jesus Christ the Lord, and he never saw him. But we see him. We see him in faith. Blessed are the eyes that see what you see and the ears that hear what you hear. For many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see and hear what you hear and didn't.

We see Jesus, the full revelation of the Father. We see Jesus, the Son of God and the Son of Mary. We hear Jesus in his word. We hear Jesus as he comes to us through the Bible. We see Jesus and eat him as we receive the Eucharist. That's what I say to people: you can't leave the Eucharist. No matter what happens, no matter how bad the preaching is in your church, you can't leave the Eucharist. It's the body and blood of the Lord. It's the Lord himself. You can't leave the Eucharist.

Blessed are the eyes that have seen what you've seen and the ears that have heard what you've heard. David wanted to hear it. Malachi wanted to hear it. All the prophets wanted it. Abraham wanted to see it. He didn't see Jesus, only from heaven. It is so interesting that the Lord looks at the little ones. These are the 70. These are nobodies. These are people that are little and poor and broken that he sent before him. These are not the greatest men in the world. He looks at them and says, "Blessed. Blessed are the eyes that see the things that you see."

Do you know that your eyes are blessed? Blessed are the ears that hear of the redemption in the blood of Jesus. Do you know that your ears are blessed? Do you know that you've touched the Lord when you receive the Eucharist, and he comes into your heart and into your body? Blessed are you. Don't think you're not blessed. We need that anointing to know who we are in Christ. We need to see the things that Jesus did and do them.

Jesus sent people before him to prepare his way. When we preach, we need at least people to be praying while we're preaching, while we're going out, while we're praying for the sick. We need that. I know in Antioch weekends, whenever someone was giving a talk, there were two people in the chapel with their arms outstretched like a crucifix, and they prayed that people would come to know Jesus through this talk, through the preaching of the Gospel.

This is what Jesus did. Why don't we do the things that Jesus did? Jesus sent them out two by two. Why don't we send them out two by two? Jesus didn't send them out one by one. He sent them out two by two. Why don't we do that? Why don't we do what Jesus did? I guess we just read the Scripture and have no idea what it all means, what Jesus did.

Father, I thank you that you sent out people to prepare the way for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I thank you that Vincent Ferrer did the same thing. I thank you that there are some people like Francis who sent out his brothers two by two. I thank you and you moved powerfully by the power of God. I thank you, Lord, that you have asked us to depend upon you and not the state. Father, I thank you for this.

I ask you, Lord, that our ministries would look more like your ministry, Jesus, not American ministries, but your ministry. If we can't send people before us, we can have people praying for us while we go. It is so important because it means life and death, heaven and hell, healing and sickness. Father, you are God, and your Son is God, and the Spirit is God. I pray the power of the Trinity would come upon the church again and that our ministries would look like the ministry of Jesus. Blessed are your eyes that see what you see, people. Blessed.

The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary, and she conceived of the Holy Spirit. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be done unto me according to your word. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

I do need to hear from people so that we can pay our bills. The mailing address is Father Tom, Post Office Box 602, East Boston, MA 02128. Father Tom, Post Office Box 602, East Boston, MA 02128. I really do need to hear from people because we cannot do this work without your help. Father Tom, Post Office Box 602, East Boston, MA 02128. You can go to www.inseason.net, and we have PayPal. You can leave a donation on PayPal at www.inseason.net. We need to look at the things Jesus did in the New Testament and start to form our ministries after Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit. God bless you.

Guest (Male): Behold, I stand at the door and knock. This is In Season and Out of Season, a Bible teaching ministry with Father Tom DiLorenzo.