"12 When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he left Judea and returned to Galilee. 13 He went first to Nazareth, then left there and moved to Capernaum, beside the Sea of Galilee, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. 14 This fulfilled what God said through the prophet Isaiah:
15 “In the land of Zebulun and of Naphtali,
beside the sea, beyond the Jordan River,
in Galilee where so many Gentiles live,
16 the people who sat in darkness
have seen a great light.
And for those who lived in the land where death casts its shadow,
a light has shined.”
17 From then on Jesus began to preach, “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.”
18 One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers—Simon, also called Peter, and Andrew—throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living. 19 Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!” 20 And they left their nets at once and followed him.
21 A little farther up the shore he saw two other brothers, James and John, sitting in a boat with their father, Zebedee, repairing their nets. And he called them to come, too. 22 They immediately followed him, leaving the boat and their father behind.
23 Jesus traveled throughout the region of Galilee, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness.24 News about him spread as far as Syria, and people soon began bringing to him all who were sick. And whatever their sickness or disease, or if they were demon possessed or epileptic or paralyzed—he healed them all. 25 Large crowds followed him wherever he went—people from Galilee, the Ten Towns, Jerusalem, from all over Judea, and from east of the Jordan River."
What a start to a ministry, right? Everywhere Jesus went, large crowds either followed or developed quickly. In that day for word to have spread that far and that fast is a pretty big deal! They didn't have phones or email remember, haha. I've always been interested with how Jesus first began teaching about the Kingdom of God. Matthew writes in verse 17 that Jesus' message was 'repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.' Jesus didn't gloss over people's sin. In fact, He addressed it head on, telling them that they need to repent. Then He followed up this instruction with a VERY real, and VERY valid reason. Why should you repent? You should repent because the Kingdom of God is near! He didn't say that it was coming. He didn't say that it was a long way off. He said that it was NEAR! Other translations read similarly saying that the Kingdom is 'at hand.' That gives a pretty good picture that the coming of the Kingdom of God that people had been waiting for for a long time is no longer a long way off, in fact it's right before them breaking onto the scene in this Jesus! If the Kingdom was at hand then, don't you think it's present here today as well?
"Father make us aware of the presence of Your Kingdom. I pray that we wouldn't just recognize it as being near, but that we would act in response to that. Just as Jesus instructed the people He preached to here in this Scripture to act in response to the presence of Your Kingdom, I pray You would give us instructions on how to respond. Maybe we need to repent. Father we repent. Maybe we need to take heart. Father fill us with peace and strength. Maybe we need to become more bold for Your truth. I pray Father that each day we live, we stand firm on the rock that Jesus talks about in Matthew 7. We love You so much! It's in Jesus' name that I pray, amen!"
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