Does it ever feel like you must have been homesick the day the Holy Spirit handed out gifts? You see the amazing giftedness of others and it just feels like you really don't have much to offer. If you're a believer, then you do have a gift. It may be that it seems ineffective because you're offering it to the wrong people. Welcome to the Food for Your Soul podcast, where we apply the Word of God to the hearts of men and women to stoke the fires of your delight in Christ. Here's your host, Dr. D. Richard Ferguson. So how's Jesus going to respond to them? Now this is important. This is the lesson of this passage. This is why it's here, is to teach us how to handle rejection of the gospel. It's why he brought his disciples along. Remember I told you at the beginning, he makes a statement. His disciples were there. He brought his disciples. Why? Because this is a teaching trip. He wants to show them something. He wants to show them how to respond to rejection, to expect rejection. Because, think about it. After all those miracles in chapter 5 that He just did, the disciples might have been thinking, wow, this is going to be quite the ride. This is going to be a cakewalk. That's what this ministry is going to be. Every time there's a problem, Jesus is going to do a miracle and fix it, and raise people, and stop the storm, and everything's going to be fixed, and this is going to be an easy street. Nope. No, they need to learn that the gospel will advance throughout the world mainly in a context of unbelief, mostly unbelief and rejection. That's how it's going to be. That's how it was for Jesus, that's how it's going to be for the Apostles, that's how it is for us. And that would have been a great encouragement to Mark's readers, because by the time Mark wrote this gospel, the church was suffering terrible persecution. They might have been thinking, where are the miracles? Where's the help? Everyone's rejecting us! And they read this, and like, oh yeah, that's right, Jesus taught us to expect rejection. He was rejected, even by his own hometown. The rejection in Jesus' hometown was a foretaste of the rejection that the church, that the apostles and then the church would suffer, and that he would suffer eventually throughout the entire country, climaxing in his crucifixion. So, how does Jesus teach the 12 to respond to rejection? So when you're rejected and the gospel's rejected, here's how you respond. You ready? What does he do? What did Jesus do to teach it? Did he call down fire from heaven and just incinerate these people? No, no. Did he stay there and just beg and plead, please believe, come on, come on? No. Did he try to figure out a new, effective, more effective approach, a different angle, a better way to reach instead of preaching, try something? No, no. What did he do? Verse six, then Jesus went around teaching from village to village. He left, he just left. It's kind of frightening, huh? Jesus just says, you don't believe? Goodbye. And that's the basic principle for gospel ministry. Preach to the interested. Preach to the interested. When people are so hard-hearted that they start mocking the message, or they get violent, or they become irrational like these people, just move on. Just move on, because there's other fish in the sea, millions of them. There are plenty of people in the world who will soak up the message of the gospel like a sponge. They're hungry for it. They're thirsty for it. They can't wait to hear it. They'll drop on their knees and repent as soon as they hear it. Go find them. Go find them. Don't keep beating your head against the wall with irrational, belligerent, mocking people. Go find someone who's receptive. That's the model that we see with Jesus. We see it again and again. We've seen it multiple times so far in Myanmar. They reject him, he moves on. And if you doubt whether that's the message that is being taught here, look at the very next passage. Jesus finally sends the apostles out on their own mission. He sends them out to preach. And He gives them instructions. Here's your marching orders. And in verse 10, He says, Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave as a testimony against them. If they don't listen, go. Just leave. Go to the next town. That's what He's teaching. Now how that's applied in a particular situation is a judgment call. We've all heard wonderful stories about missionaries who hung in there, they're being rejected, and year after year they hung in there and they persevered, and then eventually there's a great harvest, and praise God for that, that's wonderful. We've heard those stories. So there can be exceptions to this, but as a general rule, we should focus our ministry on people who are receptive. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, Matthew 7, 6, When they start trampling the gospel, mocking it, getting violent against you, move on. Move on. That was Jesus' pattern, and it was the apostles' pattern, and it's a model for us in ministry. Let's not make our churches places where we're trying to get through to people who are not interested. Attract students to youth groups who are not interested. Let's focus on the ones that are interested in the gospel. You may have been trying for decades to reach a family member, and maybe you need to keep trying for decades more. But whatever you decide about that, don't ever stop serving with your gifts because of rejection. Rejection just means you're like Jesus. It's part of the game. Expect that. And instead of letting it discourage you so you give up, keep moving on and moving on and moving on and offering what you have to offer to more and more different people until you finally find those who will be receptive. That's how Jesus did it. Thank you for listening. If you found today's episode edifying, why not share it with a friend? A simple post on social media can change a person's day. This season, the Food for Your Soul podcast features excerpts from our sermon series on the Gospel of Mark. Over 130 expository sermons covering every verse. You can find those and hundreds of other sermons for free download on drichardferguson.com. Until next time, rejoice in the Lord always, and set your mind on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.