6/18/25

Luke 9:5 NASB95 “And as for those who do not receive you, as you go out from that city, shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.”

Jesus gave the disciples the mandate that was for the church. They were sent out to proclaim the kingdom of God.

We have forgotten this mandate. We now go out to help the needy to do work for those who require it. We feel that our mandate is to do things that can be seen, tangible things. While these tangible things are a secondary part of our mandate, they are to be done as a part of the proclamation of the kingdom of God.

We have gone to the secondary and left off the primary. So, as we get back to the primary, we will see that there will be those who won't receive our primary. If they won't receive the Gospel, the proclamation of the Kingdom of God, our verse tells us when we leave to shake the dust off our feet as a testimony against them.

Dust is dirty and filthy and is a reminder of sin. For a Jew, dust from a pagan nation was considered unclean. However, they lived in the promise land. For a Jew to see them shake off the dirt was the same as calling them a pagan. If they refused the gospel, they refused Christ, and a refusal of Christ is a refusal of the Kingdom of God. This means they were destined for Hell.

We need to realize the importance of our mandate! For those who refuse the Kingdom of God that we proclaim, it means an eternal death. We must proclaim the gospel boldly, showing the love of service while giving a vivid understanding that the sin of refusal will result in spending eternity outside the promised Kingdom of God!

Are we proclaiming, then serving? Then, if they accept, we will stay and disciple. However, if they won't accept the righteous message, we must give them a strong testimony of their destination if they don't repent.

Because as Jesus said in John 3:3 NASB95 Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

That is our mandate in full. We must strive to complete it!

Love Bro. Scott