The Message and the Ministry

[Steven Beck]

Jesus' number 1 job was to be the "lamb that was slain" to take away our sins. His blood being spilled satisfied the Father that justice had been achieved.

Heb 9:22 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

Heb 9:26 for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

Heb 9:12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.

Jesus secured this at the cross where on that day the Father allowed Satan and his minions to pour their anger and wrath at the Son of God who had created them.

In the 3 years leading up to this event Jesus had a message which culminated at the cross. His message was, Mat_3:2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Mat_4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Mar_1:15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

Joh 3:14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
Joh 3:15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. <--- and yes the English word whoever is translated from the Greek PAS which means ALL.

Joh 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Joh 3:17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
Joh 3:18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

How much faith does it take to be saved? Actually not a lot, faith the size of a mustard seed will do.

Mat_17:20 He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”

Example: The thief on the cross who died next to Jesus

Luk 23:39 One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!”
Luk 23:40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? <------ Repentance
Luk 23:41 And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.”
Luk 23:42 And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” <-- Faith
Luk 23:43 And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” <----Salvation

Joh 19:30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

The Message is that everything if fixed at the cross. Come to the cross and fix your eyes upon Jesus. Forget about the theologians, the supposed thinkers and wise men, the message is all about Jesus and the cross.

 

[Steven Beck]

Jesus' number 1 job was to be the "lamb that was slain" to take away our sins. His blood being spilled satisfied the Father that justice had been achieved.

Heb 9:22 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

Heb 9:26 for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

Heb 9:12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.

Jesus secured this at the cross where on that day the Father allowed Satan and his minions to pour their anger and wrath at the Son of God who had created them.

In the 3 years leading up to this event Jesus had a message which culminated at the cross. His message was, Mat_3:2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Mat_4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Mar_1:15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

Joh 3:14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
Joh 3:15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. <--- and yes the English word whoever is translated from the Greek PAS which means ALL.

Joh 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Joh 3:17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
Joh 3:18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

How much faith does it take to be saved? Actually not a lot, faith the size of a mustard seed will do.

Mat_17:20 He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”

Example: The thief on the cross who died next to Jesus

Luk 23:39 One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!”
Luk 23:40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? <------ Repentance
Luk 23:41 And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.”
Luk 23:42 And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” <-- Faith
Luk 23:43 And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” <----Salvation

Joh 19:30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

The Message is that everything if fixed at the cross. Come to the cross and fix your eyes upon Jesus. Forget about the theologians, the supposed thinkers and wise men, the message is all about Jesus and the cross.

The Ministry

Jesus other job was in this three years was to disciple and train the 12 into ministry. This idea was more developed under Paul's writings. This is where Christians get confused reading the Gospels. When Jesus is talking to the crowds it is about sin and salvation, when He talks to the disciples privately it is about ministry. When Jesus said that Luk 9:23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." He was talking about being a minister of the Gospel.

One word of repentance will save you, but taking up the cross will help spread the Gospel and save others and give you a reward in heaven.

 

[Mathetes66]

amen!

 

[Steven Beck]

The Ministry

Jesus other job was in this three years was to disciple and train the 12 into ministry. This idea was more developed under Paul's writings. This is where Christians get confused reading the Gospels. When Jesus is talking to the crowds it is about sin and salvation, when He talks to the disciples privately it is about ministry. When Jesus said that Luk 9:23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." He was talking about being a minister of the Gospel.

One word of repentance will save you, but taking up the cross will help spread the Gospel and save others and give you a reward in heaven.

Paul in his letter to the Ephesians wrote,
Eph 4:11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,
Eph 4:12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,
Eph 4:13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,
Eph 4:14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
Eph 4:15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,
Eph 4:16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

Basically Apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers are there to mentor and disciple a congregation so that they can become Apostles, prophets etc etc. Church leaders are not there to build their own egos, they are not there to be an 'elite' and the congregation the 'peasants'. So we can understand this better, take football and more specifically the EPL and contrast with amateur Saturday league teams. The amateurs usually have one coach who does everything. The trains the team, organizes game days, gives the pre game talk, half time talk and the full time talk, hands out the oranges and water. This sounds a bit like our amateur churches who have one minister who does everything.
An EPL team like Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal etc have up to 20 coaches, physios, doctors, groundman, bus drivers plus more and the Manager. The Manager directs the coaches on specific training for players, devises tactics for game day, motivates the players. This is what a church should be doing for its congregation. We are at WAR and we need coaches, tacticians, strategists to engage the enemy and to heal us when we are wounded.
Jesus is the head but he appoints those with the ability to do the above but these people do not use their ability or even ask on how to do a better job. Ministry is important to go forth with the Gospel.

 

[Steven Beck]

The Ministry

Jesus other job was in this three years was to disciple and train the 12 into ministry. This idea was more developed under Paul's writings. This is where Christians get confused reading the Gospels. When Jesus is talking to the crowds it is about sin and salvation, when He talks to the disciples privately it is about ministry. When Jesus said that Luk 9:23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." He was talking about being a minister of the Gospel.

One word of repentance will save you, but taking up the cross will help spread the Gospel and save others and give you a reward in heaven.

A trap that Christians fall into when declaring the Gospel is telling people that they are dirty rotten sinners and going to burn in Hell. Now they may be speaking the truth but not in LOVE, they are condemning not drawing. Another problem is that people do not respond well to hearing the truth. Jesus knew this and used other tactics to lead them to the truth. Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life". We need to show people the Way so they can learn the Truth and be led to Life. Jesus mostly used miracles to show people the Way since when the people saw a miracle they wondered and became open to hearing the Truth. Of course us modern Christians are way to smart to want to use miracles so we have lost the Way, unable to deliver Truth and lead people to Death.

Some may ask why I haven't performed any miracles? Well I asked but God in His Wisdom did not endow me with miraculous power probably because I would have misused them. I have other gifts. When Jesus was asked, "
Luk 13:1 There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.
Luk 13:2 And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way?
Luk 13:3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
Luk 13:4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem?
Luk 13:5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

Jesus did not condemn the Romans nor did He condemn the Galileans but told them they would all perish if they did not repent. Truth must be spoken with Love then people can be led to Life.