Joyful Moments in Christ

This Bible study lesson is for people who are learning English (ELL or ESL students). It is made for advanced beginner and intermediate English learners. Children who speak English or adults who prefer easy English may also enjoy it and learn from it.

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Lesson Icebreaker Question

Have you ever gone somewhere to share good news with someone? What was it like?

Lesson Highlight

In this lesson, we will learn how Jesus sent out many helpers to tell people about God’s kingdom. We will hear what Jesus told them to do and how they felt when they came back.

Vocabulary List (GNT)

1. Against — Not agreeing with or working with someone.
2. Ashes — Soft gray powder left after something burns.
3. Assure — To tell someone something to make them feel sure and safe.
4. Authority — The power or right to give orders and make others obey.
5. Beggar’s Bag — A small bag used by poor people to carry things.
6. Capernaum — A town where Jesus preached and did miracles.
7. Command — An order someone must follow.
8. Demons — Evil spirits that cause harm or trouble.
9. Disciples — People who follow and learn from a teacher.
10. Dust — Tiny pieces of dirt in the air or on the ground.
11. Enemy — Someone who wants to hurt you or fight you.
12. Evil Spirits — Bad spirits that hurt people.
13. Feet — The parts of your body you stand and walk on.
14. Follow — To go after someone or do what they do.
15. Gather — To bring things or people together in one place.
16. Glad — Feeling happy or pleased.
17. Go Ahead — To go before or in front of someone else.
18. Harvest — The crops or food people pick when it is ready.
19. Heal — To make someone healthy again.
20. Heaven — The wonderful place where God lives.
21. Hell — A terrible place for people who reject God.
22. Judgment Day — The day when God will judge all people.
23. Kingdom Of God — God’s perfect place where he is King and everything is good and right. It is a real place in heaven, and it also lives in the hearts of people who love and follow him.
24. Lambs — Young sheep.
25. Large — Big in size.
26. Lightning — A bright flash of light in the sky during a storm.
27. Lift — To raise something up.
28. Mercy — Being kind and forgiving instead of punishing.
29. Miracle — Something amazing that only God can do.
30. Move Around — To go from one place to another.
31. Name — The word people call you.
32. Nothing — Not anything at all.
33. Obey — To do what you are told.
34. Offer — To give something to someone.
35. Owner — The person who has something.
36. Pay — Money you get for working.
37. Peace-Loving — Wanting to live in peace and not fight.
38. Perform — To do something, like a job or a miracle.
39. Power — The ability to do something strong or important.
40. Pray — To talk to God.
41. Proclaim — To say something clearly and for others to hear.
42. Purse — A small bag for carrying money.
43. Reject — To say no to someone or something.
44. Remember — To keep something in your mind.
45. Saccloth — Rough cloth people wore to show they were sorry.
46. Say — To speak words.
47. Scorpion — A small animal with a long tail that can sting.
48. Send Out — To tell someone to go and do something.
49. Shoes — Something you wear on your feet.
50. Sin — Doing wrong things against God.
51. Snakes — Long animals with no legs that can bite.
52. Sodom — A city in the Bible known for being very sinful.
53. Someone — A person, but not saying who.
54. Sprinkle — To drop small bits of something over an area.
55. Stay — To remain in a place.
56. Sticks — Small thin pieces of wood.
57. Street — A road in a town or city.
58. Terrible — Very bad or awful.
59. Town — A small city.
60. Turned — To change direction or to change your heart.
61. Two by Two — In pairs of two.
62. Walk — To move by putting one foot in front of the other.
63. Wipe Off — To clean or take something off a surface.
64. Wolves — Wild animals that look like dogs and live in groups.
65. Worker — A person who does a job.
66. Written — Words put on paper or another surface.

Summary of the Passage

This passage tells how Jesus chose seventy-two helpers to go ahead of him into towns. They were to tell people about God’s kingdom. Jesus sent them out in pairs, two by two, so no one would be alone. He told them not to bring extra things, like money or extra shoes. They were to stay in one house, eat what people gave them, and share God’s peace.

Jesus also told them to heal sick people and say that God’s kingdom was near. If a town welcomed them, they should stay there and help. If a town did not listen, they were to leave and warn the people that they were missing God’s good news. Jesus explained that some towns, like Chorazin and Bethsaida, would be punished because they did not believe, even when they saw miracles.

Later, the seventy-two men came back happy. They told Jesus how even bad spirits listened to them when they spoke in his name. Jesus said he saw Satan fall from heaven, meaning his power was broken. He told them not to be happy about their power, but to be glad their names were written in heaven.

This passage teaches us that God sends people to share his message. It shows us that some people will listen and some will not, but God sees and knows everything. It reminds us to be joyful because God loves us and promises us life with him forever.

Read The Passage

Jesus Sends Out the Seventy-Two
1 After this the Lord chose another seventy-two men and sent them out two by two, to go ahead of him to every town and place where he himself was about to go.
2 He said to them, “There is a large harvest, but few workers to gather it in. Pray to the owner of the harvest that he will send out workers to gather in his harvest.
3 Go! I am sending you like lambs among wolves.
4 Don’t take a purse or a beggar’s bag or shoes; don’t stop to greet anyone on the road.
5 Whenever you go into a house, first say, ‘Peace be with this house.’
6 If someone who is peace-loving lives there, let your greeting of peace remain on that person; if not, take back your greeting of peace.
7 Stay in that same house, eating and drinking whatever they offer you, for workers should be given their pay. Don’t move around from one house to another.
8-9 Whenever you go into a town and are made welcome, eat what is set before you, heal the sick in that town, and say to the people there, ‘The Kingdom of God has come near you.’
10-11 But whenever you go into a town and are not welcomed, go out in the streets and say, ‘Even the dust from your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you. But remember that the Kingdom of God has come near you!’
12 I assure you that on the Judgment Day God will show more mercy to Sodom than to that town!
The Unbelieving Towns
13 “How terrible it will be for you, Chorazin! How terrible for you too, Bethsaida! If the miracles which were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, the people there would have long ago sat down, put on sackcloth, and sprinkled ashes on themselves, to show that they had turned from their sins!
14 God will show more mercy on the Judgment Day to Tyre and Sidon than to you.
15 And as for you, Capernaum! Did you want to lift yourself up to heaven? You will be thrown down to hell!”
16 Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”
The Return of the Seventy-Two
17 The seventy-two men came back in great joy. “Lord,” they said, “even the demons obeyed us when we gave them a command in your name!”
18 Jesus answered them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
19 Listen! I have given you authority, so that you can walk on snakes and scorpions and overcome all the power of the Enemy, and nothing will hurt you.
20 But don’t be glad because the evil spirits obey you; rather be glad because your names are written in heaven.”

Luke 10:1-20 (GNT)

Most English learners should use the New International Reader’s Version (NIRV) or the Good News Translation (GNT) because they are easy to read. If you want to try something harder, you can read one of the other Bible versions:

• Very Easy: New International Reader’s Version: Luke 10:1-20 (NIRV)
• Easy: Good News Translation: Luke 10:1-20 (GNT)
• Medium: New Living Translation: Luke 10:1-20 (NLT)
• Hard: New International Version: Luke 10:1-20 (NIV)
• Very Hard: English Standard Version: Luke 10:1-20 (ESV)

Comprehension Questions

1. How many people did Jesus send out?
2. Why did Jesus send them in pairs?
3. What did Jesus tell them not to take with them?
4. What were they supposed to say when they entered a house?
5. What should they do if a town did not welcome them?
6. What did Jesus say would happen to the towns that did not believe?
7. When the men returned, what did they tell Jesus?
8. What did Jesus say he saw happen to Satan?
9. What special power did Jesus give to the seventy-two?
10. What did Jesus say they should be most happy about?

Application Questions

1. Why do you think Jesus sent them out two by two?
2. How do you feel when someone listens to you and believes your good news?
3. What can we do when people do not want to hear about God?
4. Why do you think it is more important to be known in heaven than to have power on earth?

Theological Insights

1. Jesus wants people to go and tell others about God’s kingdom.
2. Some people will listen to God’s message, and some will not.
3. God gives his people strength and protection as they serve him.
4. Even when people do not listen, God’s kingdom is still near.
5. Our greatest joy comes from knowing we belong to God and will live with him forever.

Closing Prayer

Dear Father, thank you for sending people to tell us about you. Help us share your good news with others. Make our hearts happy because our names are written in heaven. Amen.

ELL Resources for the Gospel of Luke

More ELL Resources

You can find more Bible lessons for English learners on the main ELL page.

Scripture quotations marked (GNT) are from the Good News Translation in Today’s English Version- Second Edition Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.