The Third Preaching Tour

150:4.1The next evening, hav­ing gath­ered to­gether the twelve apos­tles, the apos­tles of John, and the newly com­mis­sioned women’s group, Je­sus said: “You see for your­selves that the har­vest is plen­teous, but the la­bor­ers are few. Let us all, there­fore, pray the Lord of the har­vest that he send forth still more la­bor­ers into his fields. While I re­main to com­fort and in­struct the younger teach­ers, I would send out the older ones two and two that they may pass quickly over all Gal­i­lee preach­ing the gospel of the king­dom while it is yet con­ve­nient and peace­ful.” Then he des­ig­nated the pairs of apos­tles as he de­sired them to go forth, and they were: An­drew and Pe­ter, James and John Zeb­e­dee, Philip and Na­than­iel, Thomas and Mat­thew, James and Ju­das Al­pheus, Si­mon Ze­lo­tes and Ju­das Is­car­iot.

150:4.2Je­sus ar­ranged the date for meet­ing the twelve at Naz­a­reth, and in part­ing, he said: “On this mis­sion go not to any city of the gen­tiles, nei­ther go into Samaria, but go in­stead to the lost sheep of the house of Is­rael. Preach the gospel of the king­dom and pro­claim the sav­ing truth that man is a son of God. Re­mem­ber that the dis­ci­ple is hardly above his mas­ter nor a ser­vant greater than his lord. It is enough for the dis­ci­ple to be equal with his mas­ter and the ser­vant to be­come like his lord. If some peo­ple have dared to call the mas­ter of the house an as­so­ciate of Beelze­bub, how much more shall they so re­gard those of his house­hold! But you should not fear these un­be­liev­ing en­e­mies. I de­clare to you that there is noth­ing cov­ered up that is not go­ing to be re­vealed; there is noth­ing hid­den that shall not be known. What I have taught you pri­vately, that preach with wis­dom in the open. What I have re­vealed to you in the in­ner cham­ber, that you are to pro­claim in due sea­son from the house­tops. And I say to you, my friends and dis­ci­ples, be not afraid of those who can kill the body, but who are not able to de­stroy the soul; rather put your trust in Him who is able to sus­tain the body and save the soul.

150:4.3“Are not two spar­rows sold for a penny? And yet I de­clare that not one of them is for­got­ten in God’s sight. Know you not that the very hairs of your head are all num­bered? Fear not, there­fore; you are of more value than a great many spar­rows. Be not ashamed of my teach­ing; go forth pro­claim­ing peace and good will, but be not de­ceived—peace will not al­ways at­tend your preach­ing. I came to bring peace on earth, but when men re­ject my gift, di­vi­sion and tur­moil re­sult. When all of a fam­ily re­ceive the gospel of the king­dom, truly peace abides in that house; but when some of the fam­ily en­ter the king­dom and oth­ers re­ject the gospel, such di­vi­sion can pro­duce only sor­row and sad­ness. La­bor earnestly to save the whole fam­ily lest a man’s foes be­come those of his own house­hold. But, when you have done your ut­most for all of ev­ery fam­ily, I de­clare to you that he who loves fa­ther or mother more than this gospel is not wor­thy of the king­dom.”

150:4.4When the twelve had heard these words, they made ready to de­part. And they did not again come to­gether un­til the time of their as­sem­bling at Naz­a­reth to meet with Je­sus and the other dis­ci­ples as the Mas­ter had ar­ranged.