Set Right and Sent Out

How One Phrase, Discovered More Than Thirty Years Ago, Became a Pastoral Companion, a Key to Understanding the Resurrection Stories, and a Way of Helping the People of God Find Their Way Again

A Surprise Awareness

Like many ideas or phrases—memes, really—that eventually become part of your teaching and ministry, I stumbled into this one almost by accident.

Years ago, a few weeks after Easter, I was invited to speak at a diocesan conference. That was somewhat unusual for me. I was not often asked to teach or lead events in the Diocese of Dallas. In those days, rectors of larger churches were sometimes kept at arm’s length when diocesan leadership opportunities arose. So when the invitation came, I wanted to do a good job.

I chose one of the resurrection stories as my topic. As was my habit, I stayed very close to the text itself. I simply walked through the story line by line, commenting on it and then trying to apply it to ordinary Christian life in North Texas.

But during that preparation, I saw something in the resurrection narratives that completely arrested me. And once I saw it, I could not unsee it.

In every resurrection appearance, Jesus followed the same pattern.

He met with people.
He set them right about Himself.
And then He sent them out.

Every time.

• He met Mary Magdalene in the garden and spoke her name. He corrected her grief and confusion with the reality of His living presence.

• He returned intentionally to the Upper Room for Thomas. He answered Thomas’s doubts by revealing His wounds and His identity.

• He walked with the disciples on the road to Emmaus, patiently opening the Scriptures and helping them understand what had really happened.

• Even the “odd one out”—the Apostle Paul—fits the same pattern perfectly. The risen Christ confronted him on the Damascus Road:
  “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.” Paul was set right about who Jesus truly was. And then he was sent out to the nations.

Again and again, the pattern repeats:

The risen Christ meets people. Then…

The risen Christ sets them right.
The risen Christ sends them out.

As I taught that conference, I repeated those phrases deliberately because they seemed to summarize not only the resurrection accounts, but the entire Christian life.

And over the years, I began to notice something else.

Something More

This same pattern appeared in almost every authentic story of conversion, renewal, calling, or spiritual awakening I had ever witnessed.

People met the Lord—in worship, in suffering, at a hospital bedside, on a mission trip, during prayer, through Scripture, at a conference, sometimes quietly and unexpectedly. And when they truly encountered Him, two things always seemed to happen.

First, they were set right about Jesus.

About who He is.
About His death.
About His resurrection.
About His authority.
About His mercy.
About His living presence.

But then came the second movement:

They were sent out.
To forgive.
To serve.
To reconcile.
To give.
To speak.
To change.
To bear witness.
To love someone difficult.
To begin again.

Diagnostic Questions

And honestly, over decades of ministry, I have found these two movements to be among the best diagnostic questions for spiritual life.

• When someone is discouraged in their faith…

• When a leader is exhausted…

• When ministry becomes mechanical…

• When Christian life feels joyless or thin…

I often want to ask, gently: What do you truly believe about the risen Jesus?
And then: What are you doing about it?

Have you met Him recently?
Has He set you right again?
And has He sent you anywhere?

Because Christianity was never meant to become merely informational or institutional. The resurrection narratives are not simply proofs that Jesus rose from the dead. They are invitations into an encounter with the living Christ Himself.

And that realization is what eventually led me to write my new book: We Have Seen the Lord

I realized years ago that I had taught this pattern often, but I had never fully explored it. So after Easter this year, I went back into the resurrection texts and studied them carefully and prayerfully.

The result became this book.

In its pages, I walk through a dozen resurrection appearances in the New Testament and show how, in every case, the same movement unfolds:

The risen Christ meets people.

He sets them right about Himself.
And He sends them out.

Each chapter also includes a Collect, reflection questions, journal prompts, and space for personal notes because I wanted the book to become more than just a study. I wanted it to become a companion for Eastertide—and perhaps a companion readers return to year after year.

My hope is that readers will not simply learn about the resurrection stories, but will discover themselves inside them.

Where have you met the Lord?
How has He corrected your vision of Him?
And what might He now be calling you to do?

The book is now available on Amazon in both paperback and Kindle format.

And for the many thousands of you who followed along during this Easter series here on Substack, thank you. I would also be deeply grateful if you would consider leaving an honest review on Amazon. Reviews truly do help books find new readers.

Grace and peace,

David Roseberry

PS: To leave a review, go to the Amazon page like this: