Jesus' has my back (I'm His hype man)

After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. - Luke 10:1

"The Word of God is alive." We always hear that and we know that, but it still strikes me as amazing to see His Word become alive to me on a regular basis - for the Holy Spirit to bring to light new facets of familiar passages.

I've read where Jesus sends the 72 out numerous times, but the second part of that verse never really caught my attention until this weekend during Sunday School.

Jesus wasn't just sending the 72 out. He was sending the 72 out "ahead of Him." He would be visiting those some towns, ministering to those same people, shortly after His followers made their way through.

He doesn't just send us out. He sends us out ahead of Him. I'm to be an ambassador heralding the coming King. Not just in the final sense, but in the present tense. The Holy Spirit is following behind us, building on what He has already done through us in the lives of those to which we minister.

To put it in today's terms, we're Jesus' hype man. For those not familiar with the term, you'll know the guy. In a rap song the main artist doesn't come on until several seconds after the beginning of the song. During the build-up to his entrance on the track, the hype man yells over the beat. He's always saying things like, "Yeah!" "Alright!" "Uh-huh!" and other generic phrases that prepare the audience for the main event.

The hype man are usually friends of the rapper that lack the skills and experience of the featured artist. Hype men are successful as long as they are just another instrument there to make the main artist look good. They can and should have no ego, because it's not about them. Just about anyone can do what they are doing, they have that role because of who they know and nothing more.

As hype men for God, we don't have any special skills that He needs to accomplish His work - He's God. Any abilities that we have, He gave to us so that we can be fulfilled by promoting or hyping Him. We get to be part of His act because we know Him. He's our Daddy. We are there just to get people ready for the main event. He's coming behind us to do all the real work. Like the original hype man John the Baptist said, "He must increase, but I must decrease."

Good hype men, get the audience excited and ready for the performer and get out of the way to let the real artist shine. How good a hype man are you?