Welcome to this Come to Jesus Daily Devotional. This week, as we continue in our Luke series, we will be using Luke 8:1-3 as inspiration. If you find these devotionals helpful, do pass them on to others.
‘After this, Jesus travelled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; Joanna the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.’ (Luke 8:1-3)
Lesson: Jesus invites us to be with Him so as to make His mission our mission.
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Many people have what they call a ‘bucket list’. This is a list of experiences and accomplishments that they hope to achieve in their lives. These are around things like career, family, travel, lifestyle… As Christians, however, our ‘bucketlist’ - our ambitions - should be those of Christ because He is our King and we are His disciples. In our reading today, we see that Jesus’ lifestyle is summarised:
‘After this, Jesus travelled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God…’
Earlier in this gospel, He summarises His mission:
‘But he said, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.” And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.’ (Luke 4:43-44)
Jesus’ mission was to ‘proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God’ and we are to share this mission together. Yesterday, we looked at what this kingdoms and message is about, and today, I want us to be challenged and encouraged to actually make Jesus’s mission our mission and to allow it to affect every aspect of our lives. This focus radically affected everything in His lifestyle; It affected what He spoke about as He was ‘Proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God’. It affected where He lived as we are told that, 'Jesus travelled about from one town and village to another'. We are not all called to be travelling evangelists or in full-time church work, but sharing the message of the Kingdom is the reason - the main reason - why we live where we live and do the job that we do! This whole subject reminds me of a text we looked at earlier in the series:
‘Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.” So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.’ (Luke 5:10-11)
Here we see that we are all called, in wherever we live and in whatever we do, that we are to ‘leave everything and follow Him’ and become ‘fishers of people’ as we share the good news of the Kingdom.
Response
Jesus invites us to be with Him so as to make His mission our mission. I’m sure that most of us feel that we are falling short in our devotion to sharing Jesus’ message of the Kingdom. How can we take a step forward? Well, I suggest it begins in humble prayer. Take a moment to read this text and maybe The Great Commission from Matthew 28:19-20 and pray that God would align our hearts with His. Secondly, pray regularly for God to give you opportunities, and for Him to give you the courage to make the most of every opportunity, to share the gospel.
COMMUNITY GROUP NOTES AND STUDY
1. Notices
It might be good to begin with notices. Please share from this week’s Church News.
Please ensure that the members of your group are aware and familiar with using the daily devotionals.
2. Icebreaker
How has God been speaking to you from His Word this week and how has this helped you?
3. Worship together
Let’s begin our time together by lifting our eyes and hearts to worship our great God. Perhaps you have readings and songs that you would like to use together. Let’s be open to the gifts that the Spirit wants to give in order to encourage one another.
4. Study and pray together
This week, as we continue in our Luke series, we will be using Luke 8:1-3 as inspiration.
Please read Luke :8:1-3
What were you particularly struck by from Sunday’s message from Luke 8:1-3?
What would you say is the central teaching of this narrative?
We are told that ‘Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God.’ How would you describe the Kingdom of God and what is the good news about it? (If you need help, you can find a in this devotional here: https://www.communitychurchputney.com/post/983-the-good-news-of-the-kingdom-of-god-5-2-24 )
Why do you think that Luke specifically mentions that women were included among in His disciples?
What does this teach about giving to the ongoing work of Jesus through His church? (Please ensure that you’ve shared the notice, from church news, about our aim to increase our giving.)
SIV - What does this text teach about our mission in life? (See also Luke 4:43-44, 5:10-11).
SIV - Do we have any stories of how we have ‘Served, Invested, and inVited’ recently?
Let’s pray together that, this week, we will have opportunities to SIV; and pray for anything else that’s come out of our time in God’s Word.
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