Are you involved in your community? Do you know your neighbors? Is your town or city a place where believers in Jesus are welcomed? Why is it important? Do you think it is important? What happens to the town that doesn’t welcome God into it?
Jesus sent seventy-two people out in pairs to the many towns He intended to visit. He told them to stay and eat in the same house. In other words, don’t be jumping from one place to another looking for the best host. Be content with where you initially chose to stay.
He also tells them to be perceptive and discerning. If they go into a town who will not welcome them and thereby not welcome Jesus, there were to curse the town. Now, you may think that is not what Jesus said. But the euphemism He uses means exactly that.
But they were also to give them a warning that the kingdom of God has come near. This was the same as saying the Messiah has arrived. It was saying to them that they better get their act together and make a much better decision than they had just made. It was the promise that judgment was coming.
The same message is true for us today. It is important for our towns and cities to accept Jesus. It is important for us to remind them that judgment is coming. We do not know when, but we can rest assured it is coming. Just as the messengers Jesus sent out warned the people they encountered; we need to warn the people we encounter. It is important for the message of Jesus to be spread throughout our communities.
I pray we all heed the warning of Jesus. I pray we realize it is important that our communities accept Jesus. I pray each one of us will spread the news of Jesus and the approaching judgment. Heed Jesus’ warning. Know it is important for our towns and cities to accept Jesus. Spread the gospel. Give the warning alarm.
Luke 10:10-12 “But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.’ I tell you, on that day it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for that town.”
Marty Pressey 