🌿BREATHE TRUTH🌿
Then Jesus went out to the lakeshore again and taught the crowds that were coming to Him. As He walked along, He saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. So Levi got up and followed him.
Later, Levi invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as his guests, along with many other tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. —Mark 2:13-15
🌿LIVE THE REAL TRUTH🌿
News flash! Read all about it! Tax collector becomes a disciple of Jesus Christ! Sensational news swirls around town. The discovery of Levi as part of Jesus’ inner circle ripples an uproar throughout the community.
A holy man and a hated man. How could this happen? Doesn’t Jesus know what kind of person Levi truly is? To compound this outrage, Levi plans a feast for other tax collectors to come jam with Jesus and His followers.
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Transforming Fire.
Baptism is regarded as a public act of identifying with the death and life of Christ. Buried with Him in baptism to walk in the newness of life.
Levi’s feast is akin to a baptism. This party is a public proclamation of faith: I used to be the man you know. I’m a different man now because of Jesus Christ. He finds the dead embers to fuel the deadness inside of me. Jesus’ fire transforms me…….
Feeble to fired up.
Fearful to fierce.
Flawed to faithful.
Forgotten to found.
A 360 degree fiery change is occurring in Levi’s life. Now he wants everyone to know about it, the what’s and why’s, and ways to stay ablaze for God. The good news is too good to keep to himself. He sees differently, thinks differently, and believes differently. The “new” man wants to shout through the flames about his “new” life.
In Christ………
A sightless man becomes a seeing man.
A straying man becomes a seeking man.
A shamed man becomes a surrendered man.
A self-doubting man becomes a secure man.
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Turn-Around Faith.
This jamboree is Levi’s testimony of how Jesus turns his life around and how Jesus can turn anyone’s life around who believes. Levi’s first ministry gospel rally encompasses:
A strategic symposium of two polarizing groups of people, faithless and followers.
An evangelistic endeavor sweetly disguised as a coming-out celebration.
A final farewell to his old life and a fervent forward to his new one.
Unreached people groups are those whom the gospel has difficulty reaching. In some aspects, the tax collectors are an unreached people. Their fellow Jews are reluctant to associate with them, thus limiting their turn-over opportunities. They are ostracized as an enemy of the people, a stigma that is like a badge of hatred. Unfortunately, this stigma isn’t persuasive enough for them to change because their taxation jobs are so financially profitable.
Enter Levi. This is my testimony. I found something you can’t behold or buy with money. Something far more precious than temporal gain. Something that is turning my life around again.
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Telling Field.
Jesus comes to save. A sinking man becomes a saved man. Once you’ve been rescued, you want to rescue others. This is the heart of ministry. We tell others and take our testimony to be a launching pad for the gospel because of what Jesus has done for us.
Levi used to be a tax collector and he now has an outreach to other tax collectors in a way no Pharisee has. Likewise, we have a ministry to those around us and from our former life that is unique.
Tell your story. Entrust it to Jesus to bring people to your story. Beloved, you have a telling field to tell your story. Your telling field is your mission field. You don’t have to travel to another country. Your telling field is right where you are.
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Let the lost gather and grow, feast and find favor with Christ in your telling field. Levi opens his home and heart. Open doors in your life and share the gospel of the Real Truth in your telling field.
Disciples Peter and Andrew, and John and James, sons of Zebedee, are fishermen who become fishers of men. Levi, also a disciple, is a previous tax collector who becomes a soul collector. These are their telling fields.
Disciple, what is your telling field?
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Copyright 2019