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Go Home To Thy Friends | Making A Difference Daily
Categories: Thoughts from Mark

Go Home To Thy Friends

Today’s Passage – Mark 4 – 5 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – click here to view the text from the Blue Letter Bible website)

(Second Milers also read – Psalms 86 – 90; Proverbs 18)

Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Micah 6:8

Read the “1018 Evening and Morning“ devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

Read a previous post from this morning’s reading passage – “Good Ground

“Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee.” (Mark 5:19)

The testimony of this man from Decapolis that was saved by the Lord was incredible. He was delivered out of an horrible pit of the worst kinds of sin. He then volunteers by asking the Lord if he could stay with Him. You would think that the Lord would have this man travel with Him full-time sharing with the whole world what He had done for him. However, the Lord had different plans for this man’s life. Instead of taking him with Him, He told the man to go back home and tell all of his friends and family about his testimony. The Scripture tell us that the man “published” in Decapolis all things that the Lord had done for him.

I got to thinking that the Lord has different plans for all of our lives. Some of us He will call to minister for Him full-time as pastors or missionaries, etc. However, the vast majority of His children will be asked to stay home and tell their friends, family members, and neighbors about the Lord. We all have a testimony if we are saved, and the best place to start in sharing Christ with others is simply telling them what that Lord has done for us. Have you shared with your friends “how great things the Lord hath done for thee?” If you haven’t, there is no time better than today to start.

A note to you who have been saved and serving in a particular area for a long time: If you are like me, when you were first saved all of the people you knew were lost, and you had many wonderful opportunities to influence the people in your life with the love of Christ, which was literally bursting out from within you and your new and exciting faith. Now that you have been saved for some years, most of the people that you know are likely to be saved as well. You now have the challenge to intentionally seek out opportunities to interact and impact the lost people where you live for Christ. Get out into your community, meet new people, and share Christ with them.

Phil Erickson

Pastor Phil Erickson has been the pastor of Jersey Shore Baptist Church since 2002. Having grown up in Ocean County, Pastor Phil has always had a burden for the south Jersey area. After graduating from Bible College in Longview, Texas, he and his family moved to Galloway Township with the vision of digging in and serving the Lord and the people of Atlantic County. Pastor Phil and Cindy Erickson have been married for 34 years, and have four children and eight grandchildren. His oldest son, Phil Jr., and wife, Katelyn, are serving the Lord at a church in Paradise, TX. His oldest daughter, Melissa, is married to Wesley Clayton who is in the Air Force and is currently stationed in South Carolina. Samantha, his third child is married to Justin Mears and they are both serving the Lord here at the church in Galloway. Hannah is the youngest and is a sophomore at Vision Baptist College while also serving the Lord at Jersey Shore Baptist Church.

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  • amen i need salvation to ve on the salvation list to be able to do things. so go out and talk with neighbors family friends about what god has done for us.

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Phil Erickson

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