“Return to thine own house…”

Luke 8:39

First, we see that Jesus has healed a man who had an “unclean spirit”, in fact, he had been possessed of devils for a long time and no one could help him!

“he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him. And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones.”

His life was in ruins.

“And Jacob lived... And the time drew nigh that Israel must die...”

Genesis 47.28-29

When Jacob described his life he said, few and evil have the days of the years of my life been” (Genesis 47.9).  He realized that he had lived much of his life selfishly and immaturely... and now the truth was, he MUST die.

“And Jacob lived... And the time drew nigh that Israel must die...”

“Emmanuel... God with us.”

Matthew 1.23

How can that be?

God... with us?

First of all, it definitely isn’t a question, it happened!  Full stop.

Then, it just amazes me that God the Father sent Jesus, and that Jesus willing obeyed. (Philippians 2.5-8)

It amazes me because I will spend my life thinking about this verse, believing it and accepting it with all my heart, but it is so far beyond my mind that I could never completely understand it.

“That ye may be blameless and harmless”

Philippians 2:15

The darker the night the brighter the light, so our lights as born again Christians need to shine for the Lord Jesus Christ!

For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Do all things without murmurings and disputings: That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;” Philippians 2:13-15

“…my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.”

Romans 10:1

Does your heart ever ache for someone to be saved?

“…my heart's desire and prayer to God for

(fill in the blank) is,

that they might be saved.”

Keep praying for the words to say and scripture to share!

Keep saying that you care!

May we be sensitive to God leading us in what to do and say:

Listen.  Truly and honestly listen!  Care.  Be Kind.  Be Honest and be Truthful.

Share verses about Salvation.  Give a Gospel tract/Scripture brochure…

“O satisfy us early with th“O satisfy us early with thy mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.”y mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.”

Psalm 90.14

Over the next few weeks people will be looking for some sort of satisfaction.

That is not a bad thing – the verse above speaks of being satisfied.  The tricky thing is how people will go looking for satisfaction.

“hid”

Psalm 119.11

One word!

“hid”

One word!

Or two or three or…

“Thy word have I hid…”

“Every word of God is pure” Proverbs 30.5

“Thy word have I hid in mine heart” Psalms 119:11

“Thy word is truth…”  John 17.17

Never so few words… could have such power!

Listen carefully…  Listen very carefully…

…never… could so few words… have… such… power…

“For God so loved the world…” John  3.16

“all have sinned” Romans 6.23

“the house of prayer… but ye have made it a den of thieves.”

Mark 11:17

“ye have made it…”

God’s House.   This was the Temple in Bible times, today it is the local church, see 1 Timothy 3.15.

Jesus is talking to people who made a business out of what they did at the Temple, which was mainly selling animals for sacrifices, and money exchange.  It was their business and often dishonest and corrupt.

When Jesus cleansed the Temple, He referred to Isaiah 56.7, “mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.”

“…yet I will look again…” ?

Who… is saying… what?  In the above verse, who is saying this???

I was fascinated when I read this recently… because I’ve read this many times before.  This is one of the most familiar stories in the Bible, and it’s easy to think…

“we already know what this is about…”

And then miss what God may be saying to us right here, right now!

We may miss an incredible IMPACT!

We may miss a very personal message from a living God, and a loving God to us!

“it cannot pass it”

Jeremiah 5.22

Have you ever seen someone hold back one of the most powerful forces of nature with one of the tiniest things on earth?

Think about it… water is a powerful thing, yet it is held back by tiny grains of sand!

God claims that He did that!

The God of the Bible.  The God of creation.  The Lord Jesus Christ!

“But…”

“But…” nobody really cared…

“But…” people thought it was funny for God to “go on and on about who He was and what He did”…

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