A Visit with the Joneses

Carol Jones Saint: Hello, hello there. Come right in to visit with the Joneses at home sweet home. And we hope that you will tell us what Christ has done for you. This is the second in a special series entitled, Go Home and Tell. And as we begin the radio visit, we're going to be singing for you once again that very interesting little chorus that was written back in 1906. It's so catchy and it certainly has enthusiasm. Go home and tell what Christ has done for you. And what a challenge to each one of us every day.

Guests: (Singing) Go home and tell, go home and tell, go home and tell what God hath done for you. Go home and tell, go home and tell that they may want him too. Go home and tell, go home and tell what God hath done for you. Go home and tell, go home and tell that they may want him too.

Carol Jones Saint: You will find these words of the Lord Jesus in Mark chapter five, verse 19. Jesus said, "Go home to thy friends and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for you."

Guests: (Singing) Go home and tell, go home and tell what God hath done for you. Go home and tell, go home and tell that they may want him too. Go home and tell, go home and tell what God hath done for you. Go home and tell, go home and tell that they may want him too. Go home and tell, go home and tell what God hath done for you. Go home and tell, go home and tell that they may want him too.

Guest (Male): (Singing) Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere. Go tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Guest (Female): (Singing) Go home and tell, go home and tell what God hath done for you. Yes, go home and tell, go home and tell that they may want him too.

Carol Jones Saint: Our text which we want you to remember is Mark 5:19. Go home and tell.

Guests: (Singing) Go home and tell, go home and tell what God hath done for you. Go home and tell, go home and tell that they may want him too.

Carol Jones Saint: Now if someone asked you tomorrow, what was the text, what was the theme of A Visit with the Joneses? You can say it was found in the words of the Lord Jesus, "Go home and tell." Go home and tell thy friends how great things the Lord hath done for you and hath had compassion on you.

By way of review, some of you will remember the number one message in family devotional period in this series. By way of review, Jesus had met a man of the Gadarenes, a man whose mind was just totally deranged, a man who was filled with demons. He dwelt among the tombs and no man could bind him, not even with chains. Jesus cast out the demons. Jesus made this man a new man. A work was done and certainly with the Apostle Paul, this man was able to say, "Old things are passed away, behold all things have become new."

Now I will not talk further about that, but you can read more about it in Luke chapter eight or in Mark chapter five. The story is told both places. In Mark it says go home and tell. In Luke it says go home and show what great things the Lord has done for you. So both are wonderful. When the Lord has done something for you, you must tell and you must show the change that there is. Well, there was certainly a change in this man's life. A work had been done.

Second, services were offered. Now this is the most natural reaction when one has received a special favor, when one has been blessed of the Lord. It is the most natural thing of all to say, "Here Lord, here I offer you my services." We offer services to the one who's saved us from physical danger, one who has helped pull us through an illness, and one who has helped us in financial distress. You say, "Oh is there anything that I could do for you to repay?" And so in gratitude to the Lord, the least you and I can do is say, "Here Lord I am. Love so amazing, so divine demands my life, my soul and my very all."

Picture the delight with which these services were rendered to the Lord. These services were offered to the Lord. I'm sure this man who had had his whole life changed, who'd been dwelling in the tombs and filled with demons—it says he was cutting himself and he went about naked—but now he was fully clothed and in his right mind. He envisioned distant places. He thought it would be great to travel with Jesus, the great evangelist of the day. He envisioned the huge crowds, the great miracles, the loud acclaims, the thrilling works, the boat rides, the trips, the spiritual discussions. He thought of all of this as he came to Jesus and offered his services.

Now it was wonderful for this fellow to offer his services to the Lord, but he made just one mistake. He tried to tell the Lord how and when or where to use him. This is always a mistake, a mistake for you or me to offer our services for a specific sphere. That's where we get into trouble. To say, "Lord, here's how I want you to use me," or "Here's when I want you to use me," or "Here's where I want you to use me." Ours is not to say, "Oh Lord, I'll be a staff member of the Billy Graham team, but I'm not much interested in teaching the beginners in the Sunday school at my little church back home." It is ours to say, "Here I am Lord, I'm ready. Ready to serve you at home or in distant places, but ready to do thy will." Sing it for us, Ruth.

Ruth: (Singing) Ready to suffer, grief or pain. Ready to stand the test. Ready to stay at home and send others if his best. Ready to go, yet ready to stay. Ready my place to fill. Ready for service, lowly or great. Ready to do his will.

Carol Jones Saint: And that song as Ruth has sung it expresses the spirit with which you or I should offer our services to the Lord. Here I am Lord, however, whenever, wherever, but I'm yours to use. And so third, we find that a commission was given. The Lord gladly accepted the services which were offered, but he gave a commission. He said to the man who said, "Let me go with you," he said, "Go home and tell" (Mark 5:19) or "Go home and show" (Luke 8:39) what the Lord has done for you. Think of the disappointment with which that healed man must have heard this commission.

Guest (Male): That really would be a disappointment to have to just go home again.

Carol Jones Saint: When he was dreaming of getting on the boat and traveling to distant places on the other side of the Sea of Galilee with Jesus, dreaming of seeing miracles performed and crowds that gathered, Jesus said, "Go home and tell." What a horrible, forbidding task to go home and tell. Well, that is quite a task, quite a commission the Lord gave to that fellow. Go home and tell. I'm sure he wasn't too happy with it, but there are certain implications of this commission of the Lord that I want you to consider with me as we continue in family devotions right now.

First, the Lord expected this man to bear witness at home. Now the fellow only thought of going to distant places with the Lord, but I would remind you that home service comes before foreign service in the Lord's commission. The Lord expected this man to bear witness at home, a twofold commission: to go home and show and go home and tell. This is not to say that the Lord would never give him a larger sphere of service, no. But first, his first responsibility was go home and tell. Often the Lord uses home service as a proving ground for greater service. How can you be a missionary in a school in India if you can't be a Christian witness in your school at home?

Guest (Male): And often that is perhaps even a greater challenge in many respects.

Carol Jones Saint: Yes. How can you be a missionary to a home in Africa if you cannot be a witness at home here? There is nothing in crossing an ocean which will help you be a witness if you can't be a witness at home. And so the Lord said to this fellow, "Go home and tell," and home service does come before foreign service.

This commission of the Lord also implies that there were those at home who needed the message, who needed to be reached, who needed to hear of the change that Jesus Christ had wrought in this man's life. Oh how important to let them know it. But that need was not seen by the man. Failure to see immediate needs at home is very, very often the case. I'm thinking of a young man who had fine vision of places beyond, but he failed to see that need at home.

How often we too on a human basis can clearly see the need in other places, but we become so accustomed to the needs at home that we fail to see them. You know, that crack in your own ceiling? Why you've lived with it so long you don't even notice it. And then one of the relatives comes home for a holiday and he says, "When are you going to get that crack fixed? It was cracked at Christmas time." Or that worn spot on the carpet, or that broken chair. I remember going to church last winter for about seven months, and I was bothered by a stained glass window that was broken at the very front of the church. It was just a small pane, but it just irritated me to see that pane of glass that was broken. And I finally went to the board of trustees and I said, "Don't any of you see that pane of stained glass that's broken? When can we get it fixed?" Well, it is often very easy to fail to see the immediate needs at home. And I'm sure this man whose life had been changed by Jesus, he failed to consider the spiritual need of those at home, those who needed to hear his testimony.

Guest (Male): And it's go home and tell and go home and show. And you know, so often people will say when they see someone go forward in a meeting, they'll say, "Oh well, that's just... let's wait a year and see how it works out." And that's what this family needed to see. They needed to see that this man really could live the life, that he was a changed person. And perhaps just seeing his life meant as much as what he was actually able to say as a witness.

Carol Jones Saint: Before continuing with more implications of this commission of the Savior, "Go home and tell," let me remind you, give Christ first place in your home.

Guest (Male): (Singing) Give Christ first place in your home. Let him be the head of your house. With the Bible as your guide and Christ at your side. Give Christ first place in your home. Let me remind you, we have to pay for this radio time and we can only do it as friends like you help. As you consider this a home missionary ministry, reaching people with the good news of what Jesus Christ can do in hearts and homes, we invite you to share sending your gift to: A Visit with the Joneses Incorporated, Box 575, Erie, Pennsylvania 16512. We love to hear from you. We love to hear that this family devotional period has challenged you in some special way. Give Christ first place in your home. Let him be the head of your house. With the Bible as your guide and Christ at your side. Give Christ first place in your home. Give Christ first place in your home. Give Christ first place in your home.

Carol Jones Saint: All right, some more implications of this commission of the Savior: "Go home and tell."

Guest (Male): Oh this is very challenging.

Carol Jones Saint: In giving this commission, Jesus was fully aware that it is very hard to be a witness at home. This commission admits that there are real difficulties in being a home witness. Now for this man, there was the complete opposition of the crowd, for as we read, the whole town, his relatives included, opposed Jesus Christ. They did not like the fact that Jesus had cast out demons from the man and the demons went into their swine and the swine then went into the lake and were drowned. They disliked Jesus. They wanted nothing to do with Jesus Christ. In fact, they pleaded with Jesus to leave their country. And it is to these people that Jesus said, "Go home and tell what has happened to you."

Home is never the easiest place in the world in which to be a witness. No alluring spectacles, no delightful trips, not much praise and sometimes lots of blame, just mundane duties at home, but that's where Jesus sent this man. Oh I wonder, does Jesus expect you to go home and tell? If you haven't done it, I believe he does. There are some real difficulties in home witnessing as with this man. There was the opposition of the crowd, the opposition of the relatives, there was the persecution. There was the familiarity which makes a prophet of little honor to the folks at home. Now the Bible teaches us that, and they knew this fellow so well that they were not about to listen to the fact that he said "I'm changed."

There was the doubt of one's ability, the awareness of one's past, the skepticism as to the reality of one's experience. And there's a certain provincialism which does not allow for change at home. Home isn't supposed to change. The hometown is supposed to always be the same, you see. And the people don't like somebody coming in and changing things as Jesus had come in and changed this man, and this man wanted to change them. Yes, home is a hard place to witness.

This commission also embodies the hope that the witness of this man to his home folks would even be more effective than the preaching of the Lord Jesus himself. Think of it. When Jesus said to this man, "Go home and tell what I've done for you, go home and show what has happened to you," this commission embodies the hope that the witness of this man to his home folks would be even more effective than the preaching of the Lord himself. The Lord had been there and they hadn't been happy about that. And they didn't want him to stay. They said, "Leave our country, leave, get out." I'll tell you, this was a tough group to witness to.

It was going to be a hard thing to witness because they had seen Jesus, they had heard Jesus, they had had spiritual light, but they had rejected the Lord himself and had asked him to leave. So God was, or Jesus was really putting a very high price on the witnessing of this young man. Now some of you are going to face an experience just like this. Some of you have loved ones at home who once had great spiritual light but have rejected that light. Some of you have loved ones at home who once were very faithful Christians but have backslidden and are far from Jesus Christ.

Let me tell you, those will be hard people to deal with. Some of you must face similar groups at home. They've seen Jesus, they have rejected him, they've asked him to leave their lives and often these are the hardest people in the world to reach. These people, tough people, who are hard spiritually, who are hard-hearted because they've had spiritual light and they have rejected it. Yet Jesus said, "Go home and tell," with the hope that the witness of a loved one to a loved one would accomplish what even the preaching of Jesus Christ could not do.

Are you willing to accept that challenge even in your own family? Are you willing to accept the challenge that says, "Go home, go home and tell what Christ has done for you"? But somebody objects and says, "But I can't preach, or I can't sing, or I don't know what to say, or I've made mistakes, or I'll make more mistakes. I've never been to Bible school or college to learn how." And to all those objections I would answer: but you can let the Lord use you at home, being confident that when he commissions, he will provide the enablement to do the job. Do you get that? If the Lord gives you the commission to go home and tell, he will provide the enablement of his Holy Spirit that you can do the job he asked you to do. I challenge you: when he commissions, he enables. Go home and tell, go home and tell what the Lord has done for you. Go home and tell, go home and tell that he may save them too.

Guest (Male): (Singing) Happy the home when God is there and love fills every breast. When one their wish and one their prayer and one their heavenly rest. Happy the home where Jesus' name is sweet to every ear. Where children early speak his fame and parents hold him dear.

Carol Jones Saint: What a special joy it has been to have you visiting at home sweet home. And we do pray that the thoughts that we have shared in this radio visit have been challenging to you in your Christian walk. The songs that we have sung and the scripture—it's been helpful to me. And I know that it will challenge you in your Christian walk too. Now remember that you can cheer us up if you take time to write and let us know that the visits are a blessing to you. When you're writing the address: A Visit with the Joneses Incorporated, Post Office Box 575, Erie, Pennsylvania, and the zip code 16512. Goodbye, and don't forget to go and tell someone the good news of Jesus Christ. Goodbye.