TELLING OF GOD'S LOVE AND GRACE

TELLING OF GOD’S LOVE AND GRACE

Sunday, August 14, 2016

Mark 5:1-20 [Jesus said unto the healed demoniac] "Go home to your family, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how merciful he has been to you."  So the man left. He began to tell how much Jesus had done for him in the Ten Cities. Everyone was amazed.

  It is a given that after we trust Christ we are His witnesses (Act.1:8), salt and light (Mt.5:13-16), ambassadors of reconciliation (2Cor.5:10-21). This is who we are but not always who we are actively. There are a number of reasons for this, not the least of which is in one or more ways our suppression of God’s indwelling Holy Spirit. (1Cor.3:16; 6:19; 1Thes.5:19-20)

  John Hoffman often told of an uneducated old peasant woman he met. After trusting Christ she walked the mountain paths to remote villages carrying Bible in hand and gospel on lips witnessing of Christ the Redeemer. Many listeners trusted Jesus and dozens of local congregation were founded.

  How did she do this with little biblical training? She loved her Lord and cared deeply for lost souls “already condemned” (Jn.3:18) and had a strong desire to tell of God’s love and grace.

  I walked no mountain trails, but I did immediately the morning after trusting Christ as Savior traverse a dewy pasture to tell my closest friends. Presenting the same “Romans road” that I’d been led upon just hours before by coworker Bud Bond. I met with firm rejection. Saddened but not discouraged in the least I sought guidance in ambassadorship. My mentors began with “It’s not all about you. It’s about Jesus. You are not being rejected, He is.” One mentor laughed as he told of some hearers trusting Christ but never accepting him, his point being that God does not need ambassadors with persuasive personalities. Together they emphasized that inviting people to church without my personal witness is a form of suppressing God’s Holy Spirit within me

  Peter said that we are always to be prepared to tell the reason of our hope. (1Pt.3:15) Ah, but how to do so may be our problem? Tomorrow I’ll share more of what my mentors taught me about being an active witness for Christ.

EBB4