THE STORY OF JESUS: Luke 4:42-44
“I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also.” (Luke 4:43)
The message of the kingdom of God really is good news for all (Luke 2:10).
Hope for the hopeless, freedom for the enslaved, forgiveness for the guilty.
Here in a coffee shop, I see so many people, each of whom needs to know.
To know the real Jesus and His good message, not just church or religion.
Do I as a pastor have a burden for people beyond my own ‘town’ (i.e. my church)?
Do we as a church have a concern for those who do not belong to our community?
Church is not just about meeting our needs, a place where we can be blessed, served, supported.
That is not why Jesus was sent, and that is not why we were sent.
People all around us are lost, confused, burdened, enslaved, struggling, suffering.
They are caught in the spirit of self, and slowly dying from the inside out.
They are desperately seeking security, significance and belonging… in all the wrong places.
Someone needs to show them the good news of the kingdom of God.
Someone needs to show them how Jesus provides love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, etc.
Someone needs to step out of their own ‘towns’, to let others experience God’s good news too.
Will we be like these townspeople, and stay inward-focused, meeting our own needs?
Or will we join Jesus in the next place, where others are, who also need God’s good news?
What do you sense the Lord saying to you?
PRAYER
Lord, You are leading me to my neighbour next door. That is where You are, because You were sent for them too. Help me to see that this is a part of following You too.
Jesus follower
trying to find His way
I used to have this weird gift…not sure if it was gift or a curse!
I would go somewhere, full of people like a mall, coffee shop, or movie theater and God would always pick out one person for me to minister to. (This was back in college days).
I would argue with God for a while and try to walk the other away, but it all came back to this person really needs to know Jesus and why am I being such a selfish coward!?
Anywho- I would go to that person and say what God has placed on my heart to say to that person. I say it and I leave quickly. I don’t know what happens after. I just know I had to listen to what is being told in my spirit and do what I don’t even like doing. Just because someone is an extrovert doesn’t mean they like to talk to random people about Jesus. Although those were my college days. I feel it heavily now. Which is funny because Jesus is the only thing holding myself together right now and yet as I sit in Timmie’s (at midnight) , I can’t help but know this one person in here with me needs to know Jesus and I know that after I write this I will go and who knows what I’ll say. He doesn’t ask us to go and say everything we have ever known from Genesis to Revelation. It’s not about showing them about Religions or politics or shoving a Bible in their faces. It’s about being the man and woman of God that we were created to be, to spread the good news to others.
And trust me. I’m in a place right now where my relationship with Jesus is in troubled waters, and Satan seems to have the upper hand over my spirit of darkness. Though, I can still choose to let God use me to guide others to the hope I have seen in the light. It’s not only my calling, it’s all of ours.
His love and light are a hospital for all of us and the saddest thing is how many of us actually go out of comfort zone to tell the person next to us at Timmie’s that they are loved?
Observation/Application
Jesus went out at daybreak to a solitary place. Why? To spend time with the Father. He had been busy and needed re-energizing. His priority was to spend time with Him but the the crowds wanted more of His healing power – to keep the Master with them. Yet Christ knows what He must do – to proclaim the Good News elsewhere. If He stayed there He would be failing at what His mission was. Christ put God first and His mission second.
What about me? What are my priorities?
To have JOY I too need to put Jesus first, others second. In my God-given task I must daily spend time with God who strengthens me in service to others. Help me Lord on my way as I continue to learn what You what me to do today in Your service.
Living for Jesus, a life that is true,
Striving to please Him in all that I do;
Yielding allegiance, glad-hearted and free,
This is the pathway of blessing for me.
Refrain:
O Jesus, Lord and Savior, I give myself to Thee,
For Thou, in Thy atonement, didst give Thyself for me;
I own no other Master, my heart shall be Thy throne;
My life I give, henceforth to live, O Christ, for Thee alone.