Jesus said to His disciples, “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” In fact, after His resurrection and just before His ascension, He commanded them to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” Now for the most part, during Jesus’ earthly ministry, the disciples traveled with Him, observing and ministering alongside Him. There were, however, a couple of occasions when Jesus sent out disciples by themselves to preach the gospel. On one occasion, He sent the twelve and then later He sent out seventy disciples to preach the gospel and heal the sick.
Matthew records the occasion on which Jesus sent out the twelve (Mat 10:1-15). It is remarkable that the Lord sent them only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, even prohibiting them from reaching out to Gentiles and Samaritans (cf. 28:18-20). In the covenant God made with Abraham, He promised to bless his descendants (Israel), and through them bless the nations. The blessing of the gospel came first to the Jew and then to the nations (Acts 3:25-26). Even Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, followed this order (Acts 13), but we are under no such directive. We are to make disciples of all the nations which of course includes Israel.
Jesus commanded the twelve on this occasion to go preach the gospel, and also included warnings and promises of reward (Mat 10:16-42). Like the twelve, we must understand that Jesus did not come to bring peace (vs.34). The message He sent us to preach will stir up opposition even in our families. Jesus warns that we may be called upon to endure hatred and persecution which might even lead to our death. But He also encourages us to remain faithful to Him and His people, and in so doing, we shall by no means lose our reward!