Today’s Podcast
Today’s Bible reading plan:
Read it in a year – 2 Chronicles 21-24
see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)
Today’s Devotional
Luke 8:39
Jesus: No. Go home. Tell your people this amazing story about how much God has done for you.
What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?
Jesus and His disciples travel to the region of the Garasenes. There they meet a man possessed by an army of demons. I can’t imagine what that would be like. I can’t imagine what being possessed by one demon would be like. I don’t want to find out. I don’t want to know what it’s like to lose control of who you are because of one or more of Satan’s minions living in you. But this man had a war going on inside him. A battalion of demons warred for control. They had him, it was a question of which of them would be in charge at any one time and so the man was driven mad.
You know the story. Jesus comes along and tells the demons to leave the man. They request to go into the a herd of pigs instead of into the abyss prepared for Satan and his demons. Jesus grants their request, but the demons drive the pigs mad also and the animals run off the edge of a cliff into the sea and drown. The town hears about the events and come out to see this man who could deliver their mad-man from his army of demons.
The town comes out en mass and listens to Jesus’ words but then ask Him to leave. They just can’t handle the things He does or the things He says. They want Jesus gone. They are comfortable with their way of life and don’t want any change, even if it means putting up with their demon possessed mad-man. They just can’t imagine giving up their routine for anything or anyone. “Jesus, just go away and leave us alone.”
I’m afraid as I look at our society we, as a nation, act a lot like that group of citizens who told Jesus to go away. “We like our comfort. We like our toys and gadgets. We like to enjoy our pleasures. We like to do what we want. We don’t want anyone to tell us what to do. Go away Jesus.” You might not think that’s what we do, but that’s what our actions as a nation tell me. We are very far from being a Christian nation. In fact, I’m afraid we’ve let that attitude creep into many of our so called Christian churches. We’ve adopted the attitude of the world and want our way more than God’s way. We want Jesus’ picture in the hallway, but we don’t want His direction ruining our plans. So in the back of our minds we say, “Go away Jesus.”
What does that have to do with the words we’re exploring today? Jesus told the man He freed from the demons to stay in his hometown and spread the word of what happened. Many of our churches and denominations spend a lot of money and effort sending missionaries to other countries to spread the gospel around the world. My own denomination has missionaries in 180 countries around the world. That’s a good thing. We should continue to do that. Part of the great commission is to go into all the world. But that’s the last part of the location stream Jesus talked about.
Jesus first said go to Jerusalem, hometown, where you live, the street you call home. Witness there. Jesus knew there were plenty of people all around you that needed to hear the good news. You don’t have to go to a foreign country to find people who don’t know Christ. If I were a betting man, I would bet a month’s pay you have members of your family that have not given their life fully to Christ. Disciple them. I would be a year’s pay you have someone on your block that has not heard God will forgive them of their sins if they will confess and in repentance ask for His forgiveness.
I know there are hundreds, or thousands within a one mile radius of where you live, depending on whether you live in the country or the city, that are not citizens of the kingdom of God and are at this point eternally lost unless someone shares with them the nature of God and His desire to bring everyone into His kingdom if they will repent.
Who will tell them? Do you expect a missionary from some other country to come to your neighborhood that must learn our language and culture to convey God’s message of salvation to them? Do you expect another church to send out invitations to Christ to the people in your neighborhood? Do you expect your neighbors to just happen by the church you attend and give their lives to Jesus because you attend your church?
Those might sound like crazy questions, but that’s the way we act most of the time, isn’t it? The Garasean Jesus freed from the control of that army of demons wanted to go with Him to help share the message that God’s kingdom had arrived in the person of Jesus. But Jesus gave him a mission. Go home and tell those you meet in your village the story of what happened to you. That’s what Jesus asks of each of us, too. Go home and tell the story of what Jesus has done for you. Simple mission. Now go and do it.
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