Color the Story — Mark 5:1-20
A coloring page for this week's message, "Testimony Before Invitation." / 이번 주 말씀 "초대 이전에 간증입니다"를 위한 색칠 도안입니다.
Gospel & Disciple Series 9 | 복음과 제자 시리즈 9 | Different Questions, Different Life
Testimony Before Invitation
”초대 이전에 간증입니다”
Testimony Before Invitation
A Story Before an Invitation
Last Sunday, we learned something simple but hard to live out: faith doesn't live by words — it lives by deeds. The gospel enters through life first, not through argument. We practiced a new question that week: instead of "Do you believe?" — we asked, "What can I help you with?"
Today we take one more step. If relationship comes first, and life comes before words — then what finally gets spoken? Today's answer: testimony.
For anyone meeting Mark 5 for the first time: today's scene takes us to the region of the Gerasenes — Gentile territory, across the lake from Galilee. There, Jesus meets a man living among the tombs. No one could bind him anymore, not even with chains. Night and day, among the tombs and in the mountains, he cried out and cut himself with stones. He was possessed by a legion of unclean spirits. And Jesus set him free.
"When the people came to see what had happened, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid."
— Mark 5:15
"Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region."
— Mark 5:17
The Thing We Always Say
What do we usually say to someone who doesn't know Jesus yet? "Come visit our church sometime." It's not a bad thing to say. But notice what's missing — my own story isn't in it. It's an invitation without a testimony. It asks someone to come see for themselves, without me ever showing them what I've already seen.
A Testimony Still Growing
I grew up in a small town in Korea, where most of my friends didn't go to church. If everyone around me had gone, I might have simply followed the crowd. Instead, in the opposite environment, I followed my parents — and there, I welcomed Jesus into my heart.
In middle and high school, I attended faithfully. I studied hard and wanted to live for God's glory. But honestly, if someone had asked me then, "Why do you worship?" — I couldn't have answered well. My heart was there, but I didn't yet have an internalized testimony.
Maybe that's why, with a close friend in middle school, I wanted to share Jesus's love but never said the words, "Come to church with me." I stayed just a kind friend. I met him again 45 years later — he now attends a Catholic church with his wife.
In high school, I invited a close friend to every special church event for three years. He never came. Decades later, he still hasn't found his way to church.
In college, things became clearer. I understood that a personal relationship with Jesus mattered more than anything else, and I grew to see how important it is to live out the gospel. I asked a classmate, "Would you study the Bible with me?" He said yes — and we're still close friends in faith today. I also gave another friend, who was curious but not warm toward Christianity, a small card that simply said, "God loves you." That was enough. That was a beginning.
Above all, in both those seasons, the friends and community of faith around me were what carried me forward.
Jesus's Order: Not "Come," But "Go and Tell"
Here's what's remarkable. After the man is healed, he begs Jesus to let him come along — to stay with Him, to follow Him. And Jesus says no.
"The man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but said, 'Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.'"
— Mark 5:18-19
Jesus doesn't say, "Stay with me." He sends him home — not to a place of being invited, but to a place of telling what happened in his own life.
"So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed."
— Mark 5:20
One story. One changed life. And a whole region — the Decapolis, ten cities — hears about Jesus before any formal invitation ever goes out.
A New Question, A New Language
So today, we change what we say — one more time.
"Come visit our church."
"Can I share something I've experienced?"
The invitation comes after. First, one testimony — one true thing that happened in your own life.
One Story, Told Honestly
This isn't a grand evangelism campaign. It's one story, told honestly, the way the healed man told his.
"Testimony comes before the invitation.
Sharing what I've experienced already is an invitation."
- Step 1Remember one small thing God has done in your life recently.
- Step 2Share that story with one person — briefly. Let the invitation follow naturally, on its own.
Lord, before I hand someone an invitation,
let me first tell what You have done in my life. Amen.
Hello, World!