Ministry of Missions | Elder Ang Peng Hoe

You're listening to a message to go from X church. We hope this message

will light up your day. It's missions, emphasis mine. I'm going to

be talking and teaching on missions, a lot of it. But let's let's

let's go trade. Because as I was praying and asking the Lord Lord,

I want to share and teach on missions? What try to share? And

then two names dropped into my spirit. One is John the Baptist and the

other one is Jesus. Okay, Jesus. And then I was led to

the Book of Mark. Okay, which is I'm going to be teaching from

the first chapter of the Book of Mark. And of course the Book of

Mark is a very interesting book. Is the shortest Gospel of the Lord,

probably the one of the earlier ones, if not the earliest one to be

written. In fact, Matthew and Luke most likely used Mark as a reference

as they were writing and preparing there there because we see a lot of similarities

and we know that Mark actually wrote his gospel. Probably the earliest John is

the latest gospel because the apostle rotate when he was very, very pretty old,

actually about eighty or ninety. And so you get the Book on Mark,

which is the gospel that we always we give. We give the gospel

to a new believers, someone who jess came to know Jesus, and we

tell them, okay, read the Book on Mark, because it's one of

those gospels that on the get goal. It's full speed a hit. You

you open, Matthew, you open lit It says Jesus, son of this,

son of that, son of this, And the genealogy is so they

fall asleep. Really usually so Mark is always on the goal. Actually it

starts off straight into Jesus's ministry. He doesn't talk so much about young tong

ning kind of story. So very exciting. Actually, a lot of people

actually make plays out of the Book of Mark in different places around the world.

If a lot of plays are because it's seen by seeing seeing my scene.

And so what I'm going to do is I'm going to be sharing teaching

drawing out from the Book Ofmark, which is the shortest gospel of them all.

And you will realize in the first even in the first few chapters of

the Book Ofmark, you see that word immediately immediately mentioned quite a few times,

and it occurs, and I think, really, as you're reading this

gospel, you will get a sense of urgency. And when it comes to

missions, when it comes to responding to Jesus's commandment of commissioning his disciples to

make more disciples, that's what the mission really is. There is actually a

sense of urgency. Because really, back then, if there was no sense

of urgency in the Twelve Disciples, the twelve Apostles, I don't think we

will be where we are today. They really took it on because the mission

was given to a group of men back then and today is the ministry of

missions that is still ongoing. But we thank God that it happened back then.

It happened with urgency, and today we have the opportunity to continue to

build on from where they got us started. So let's read the first chapter.

I'm going to read the whole book of Mark chapter one. So stay

with me, and then you realize is really seen my sins heem say,

I'm going to read from my ennalt. So let's do this, okay,

Mark chapter one, This is the good news about Jesus, the Messiah,

the Son of God. It began just as the prophet Isaiah had written,

Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, and he will prepare

your way. He is a voice shouting in the wilderness, prepared a way

for the Lord's coming, clear the road for him. This messenger was John

the Baptist. He was in the wilderness and preached that people should be baptized

to show that they had repented of their sins and turned to God to be

forgiven. All of Judaea, including all the people of Jerusalem, went out

to see and hear John, And when they confess their sin, he baptized

them in the Jordan River. His clothes were woven from coarse camel hair,

and he wore a leather belt around his waist. For food, he ate

locusts and wild honey. John announced someone is coming soon who is greater than

I am, so much greater that I am not even worthy to stoop down

like a slave and untie the straps of his sandals. I baptize you with

water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit Verst. Nine.

One day Jesus from Nazarev in Galilee, and John sorry. One day Jesus

came from Nazarev in Galilee, and John baptize him in the Jordan River.

As Jesus came up out of the water. He saw the heaven splitting apart

and the Holy Spirit descending on him like a derf, and a voice from

heaven said, you are my dearly loved son, and you bring me great

joy. The spirit then compelled Jesus to go into the wilderness, where he

was tempted by Satan. For forty days. He was out among the wild,

animals and angels took care of him. Later on, after John was

arrested, Jesus went into Galilee, where he preached God's good news. Time

promised by God has come at last, He announced, the Kingdom of God

is near. Repent of your sins and believe the good news verse sixteen.

One day, as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee,

he saw Simon and his brother Andrew throwing a gnat into the water,

for they fish for a living. Jesus called out to them, come follow

me, and I will show you how to fish for people. And they

left their nets at once and followed him. A little further up the shore,

Jesus saw Zebride's sons, James and John, in the boat repairing their

nets. He called them at once, and they also followed him, leaving

their father Zebride in the boat with the hired man Verse twenty one. Jesus

and his companions went to the town of Capanome. When the Sabbath day came,

he went into the synagogue and began to teach. The people were amazed

at his teaching, for he taught with real authority, quite unlike the teachers

of religious law. Suddenly a man all immediately, a man in the synagogue

who was possessed by an evil spirit. Out, Why are you interfering with

us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroyers? I know who

you are, the Holy One of God. But Jesus reprimanded him. Be

quiet, Come out of the man, he ordered, and that the evil

spirit scream threw the men into a convulsion, and then came out of him.

Amazement gripped the audience, and they began to discuss what had happened.

What sort of new teaching is this, they asked excitedly. It has such

authority even evil spirits obey his orders. The news about Jesus spread quickly throughout

the entire region of Galilee. Verse twenty nine. After Jesus left the synagogue

with James and John. They went to Simon and and Ru's home. Now,

Simon's mother in law was sick in bait with a high fever. They

told Jesus about her right away, so he went to her badside, took

her by their hand, and helped her sit up. Then the fever left

her, and she prepared a meal for them. That evening, after sun

said, many sick and demon possessed people were brought to Jesus. The whole

town gathered at the door to watch. So Jesus healed man any people who

were sick with various diseases, and he cast out many demons, But because

the demons knew who he was, he did not allow them to speak verse

thirty five. Before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out

to an isolated place to pray. Later, Simon and the others went out

to find him. When they found him, they said, everyone is looking

for you, But Jesus replied, we must go on to other towns as

well, and I will preach to them too. That is why I came.

So he traveled throughout the region of Galilee, preaching in the synagogues and

casting out demons Verse forty a man with leprosy came and knelt in front of

Jesus, begging to be healed. If you are willing, you can heal

me and make me clean, he said, moved with compassion, Jesus reached

out and touched him. I'm willing, he said, be healed. Instantly,

the leprosy disappeared and the man was healed. Then Jesus sent him on

his way with a stern warning, don't tell anyone about this. Instead,

go to the priests and let him examine you. Take along the offering quiet

in the Law of Moses for those who have been healed of leprosy. This

will be a public testimony that you have been cleansed. But the man went

and spread the word, proclaiming to everyone what had happened. As a result,

large crowd soon surrounded Jesus, and he couldn't publicly enter a town anywhere.

He had to stay out in the secluded places, but people from everywhere

kept coming to him. The Lord bless the reading of his word. Amen,

okay, forty five verses. Let's draw out some truth from each and

everyone of it. I will try to end by twelfth. The team promise.

Okay. So usually usually when you read something new and in literature,

the first question we always ask is what is it about? Right? But

can I say this when you read the Gospel, the question that actually begs

to be asked. It's not really what is it about? It's who is

it about? And it is about a man called Jesus. He's actually a

historical human being. But if that was all you could say about him,

then it would not be the gospel. What's the gospel? The gospel is

a good news, good news. What is the good news? Because many

people believe that Jesus was a great man, He was a great healer,

a great teacher, a great leader, but they believe no more than that.

So Jesus, we know, is no ordinary human being. Because here

is God's own son on earth. And that is what makes the Book of

Mark, the Gospel the good News because for the first time God was actually

involved in the battle. For the first time in the warfare, God is

actually fighting, and it's not just men, but God's own son is actually

fighting this battle and he eventually got the victory. And so that is the

beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the beginning of the good News of

Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And this is basically an account of

how our religion began as believers, of how Christianity started, and from the

very beginning. If you can write it out in all big words, you

will realize that you can state that Christianity is Christ. It is. We

are not preaching opinions. We do not have a new philosophy. We do

not have a system or a way of life that we are trying to know,

like pushing into people. At the end of the day, what we

are talking about, what we are preaching is a person. We are preaching

a person, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. So technically history is

his story. It's about him. So the best way to learn about missions

is actually true the story of Jesus, from the Gospels, from the Good

News. After all, it was Jesus who actually commissioned us all for this

ministry, right, so let's learn from him. But before we go into

Jesus, which is a whole lot of things that I'm going to be sharing,

let's talk about John the Baptist first, because there is much in which

we can learn from John the Baptists himself. Amen, stay with me,

Okay, let's go. So if you look at John the Baptist, John

the man, first of all, you will realize that he's a pretty interesting

guy and there's something about him that is different. So some people ask,

you know, what's so different about John the Baptists. Well, if you

read about John the Baptist, you'll realize two things about him. He is

a fulfillment of prophecy and he's also a revival of prophecy. Okay, I

will explain why I say this. So if you look back many centuries earlier,

God actually had made a certain prediction. And that's the amazing thing about

the Bible. It's full of prophecies and predictions you know, from the past,

and then we see it coming to fruition. It comes to past,

and basically that's why the Bible becomes a fulfillment of prophecy. And so in

Isaiah forty, and we are talking about some six hundred years before Jesus came,

it was actually a ready revealed that one day God will send them a

messiah. They will send them Christ. But God also revealed that he would

first send someone to prepare the way you will read it. You will see

it in Isaiah chapter forty and so Isaiah taught all these many many years before.

And John the Baptist was this messenger who would come to prepare first the

way, and he was the He's basically one of those great guys who was

so happy to play second fiddle. He's like the wingman, and he's happy

to be the wingman. Such a humble character, and he became a fulfillment

of prophecy when he walked the because not just the fulfill fulfillment and prophecy,

John was also a revival of prophecy. Okay, why do I say that?

Because if you read your old Testament and then you move on to your

New Testament, you realize from Moses all the way to Malachi, you know,

they're talking, talking, talking, God was actually using his profits to

talk. He was speaking to them, and therefore they can always say this

says the Lord, and then they prophesied, does says the Lord? They

prophesied? But then from Malachai all the way to Matthew, you have four

hundred years of silence. And that's why you don't you have that gap between

your old and your new tests. I mean, because that was the gab

in which God did not speak and so when John the Baptist actually appeared,

prophecy was revived again because once again they could hear someone saying, this says

the lot, and they all paid attention. They all dashed out to listen

to this guy. And then of course, low and behold. The first

thing they noticed about this dude was that he was wearing the same kind of

clothes as Elijah was wearing. There was something about John the Baptists that sort

of kept was he wasn't, like I said, interesting due and sat down

in the wilderness eating locusts. A lot of things that he did reflected what

Elijah was doing. So they realized God was speaking again. He became the

revival of prophecy. So what was John's mission? Basically, he came preaching.

It has been said that preaching no is a waste of time, just

talk and know why do we even bother preaching today? But you know some

people always tell us his own preacher, no wastes time. Just go and

feed the hungry, clothes the naked, care for the migrants, and there's

the mission. And that's what God is telling us to do. But there

is a place for all those things that I mentioned. I'm involving all those

things. All of you are involving all those things. But ultimately, there

is one thing, the first thing that he always tells us to do,

and he says we must preach. Let me try to put it in another

way. What do you think is the biggest need of men and women today?

Do you think it's food for their bodies? Do you think it's freedom

for their minds? Well? I believe that forgiveness of sin is still the

greatest need of every man and women, and I know of no other way

to meet their need apart from preaching the Gospel. That's the reality of it,

because forgiveness of sin is at the heart of Christian preaching. It is

the greatest blessing you can be anyone can be offered, and is every human

being's fundamental need. That's why when you share the gospel, when you share,

you always share first about the forgiveness of sin, because to live with

the guilty conscience is the worst thing that you can go through, and the

forgiveness of sin becomes the best experience. That's why you ask any believer why

is it that you carry on believing? It's because they realize the Lord forgive

me he took. He took my brokenness, He took my sin, and

he exchanged it for his forgiveness and salvation. He took my faith and my

belief and exchanged it for his righteousness. That is the forgiveness of sin,

and the two things that were needed to express forgiveness of sin is actually repentance

and baptism. So again now I'm just drawing out I'm just drawing out truths

that we can learn from this two amazing characters. So this message actually goes

straight when you talk about repentance, you talk about baptism, it goes straight,

right across all through the entire New Testament. If you are in need

of forgiveness of sin, you need to do two things. You need to

repent, you need to baptize. That's why John the Baptists came to baptize

them, and it was baptism for repentance. So what is repentance. Well,

it's not just feeling sorry, because that could also mean remorse. That

could also mean regret. Sometimes when we are remorseful, we are regretful.

It's the feeling of I feel sorry. But repentance is more than an emotion.

It is actually the mind saying it is wrong and I do not want

to do it again. But more than that, it is the will saying

I will turn away from it and I will turn to God. That is

what repentance is. So repentance can be accompanied by feelings, and it would

definitely involve thoughts, but it is only real when it's actually shown in our

action. That means we've got to be sorry enough to stop doing something that

is not right, or sorry enough to do something that is right. That

is what repentance. It always translates into an act. It doesn't just formulate

in a thought. It doesn't just remain an emotional I know it is wrong,

but it leads us to do something that is right. Baptism is also

an act, and the word actually means to dip or to plunge or to

drench, and that's what John the Baptist was known. He was actually known

as John the Plunger, the guy who go in baptized people. And so

he was communicating to people, do you want to be clean from hate to

toe, then this is how to do it. Wash yourselves and express your

appeal to God for a clean conscience. This way, that was what he

was preaching. It always did mean that. But the significant what's significant that

you all need to take note off is until John came, no Jew had

ever been baptized, only gentiles. And this was because to the Jew,

it was the gentiles who were unclean who needed to wash themselves. It was

a gentile who needed to get their past washed away. And so the Jew

was quite happy to go and baptize the gentiles. They did it. They

actually did baptize the gentiles in the synagogues, but they will not baptize a

fellow Jew, because, after all, if you're a Jew, you were

circumcised as a baby, you have been through all the ceremonies, all your

bar meets, far us, et cetera, et cetera, and you already

belong. And so the most startling thing about John the Baptist is that he's

saying to people who have been through all the religious ceremonies, who outwardly belong

to the people of God, but he's still saying, you repent and be

baptized for the forgiveness of your sins. Strong at the time, and everyone's

like one in the world, and this is what John was saying to the

people. And it was so offensive to them they had. They're like,

hey, I'm circumcised. You know, they're very proud of being circumcised.

So in a way, this was John's mission. It was too mature,

morally responsible people who were guilty and needed cleansing. And then just from John

the Baptists, we can actually learn so much about the ministry of missions.

But what is even more and reaching is not just what John the Baptist mission

was, but who is the central focus of his ministry of missions. Because

John goes on to declare and again everything that I'm saying, you can go

back and read the first chapter of the Book of Mark. Okay, he

went on to declare, after me will come one more powerful than I,

the tongs of whose sandals I'm not worthy to stoop down and untie. This

is verse seven. And this is quite an enlightening insight because if you study

the order of slaves, and they actually had a grading system, and even

until today, if you look at the car system, they are all graded

by different levels, and each slave actually have a certain duty. And so

the job of the second from the bottom, Okay, the second last slave

usually is to untie shoes. After that slave had untied the shoes. The

bottom one the lowers of the law is the one that washes the feet of

people. Does Dead not speak to you about the humility of Jesus, Because

what John is essentially indicating was that he was not even fit to be the

second from the bottom, But when Jesus came, he came to be right

at the bottom, because we go on to read that Jesus washed the feet

of his disciples. Amazing. Right then John said something else. The Mighty

One who was coming after John was needed by men because he could give a

baptism that John could not give. John said, I baptize you with water,

but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. And this was a

baptism they would need as well, because there are two baptisms mentioned right at

the beginning of the Gospel. One is a physical one, the other one

is a spiritual one. One is an outward thing. I wash you on

the outside, the other one is an inward thing. One deals with your

past, the other one deals with your future. And one is connected with

pardon and the other one is connected with power. That's what the baptism of

the Holy Spirit is. It deals with the Holy Spirit changing and renewing your

life so that you don't go on sinning. We continue to live our lives

right, and we need the power of the Holy Spirit to transform our minds

so that we don't carry on with our past life. So John is indicating

that he can only help to a certain point. You will need the one

he says is coming after him, because he's essentially saying, I can wash

you now, but that guarantees your past is scouting settled your future what lives

hit every decision, every decision that you make moving forward, you need the

Holy Spirit. So John's work was to connect people to God. He was

baptizing them, getting hold of them. But now the other thing that John

needed was to get hold of this Christ. And how was he going to

do this? You see, if John was going to connect Israel with Israel's

king, he needed to be in contact with both. So far he's only

contacting Israel. So one day John saw his cousin. So if you haven't

realized, Jesus is actually John's cousin, Okay, he saw his cousin coming

along the river bank and then to his surprise, Jesus asked to be baptized.

And the simple fact is that Jesus was baptized. And if Jesus was

and calls us to be baptized, how can we ever refuse baptism. Therefore,

let's study there were three unique features of Jesus's baptism. But all I'm

saying is that if you have not yet been baptized and you're a believer of

Jesus Christ, go through the waters of baptism. It's a powerful, powerful

thing. Okay, But let's study this unique features of jesus baptism. First,

Jesus saw the heaven being torn open, which means the cloud spotted.

And then what came down was a white derf. And I don't think the

white derth, you know, sometimes we think or our derth comes a symbol

of peace. You know, the this derth was actually hovering around the earth

in Jenesis chapter one as well, and we know it's the Holy Spirit,

and everything was chaotic, and this Holy Spirit basically brought order out of a

universe that was chaotic. And therefore what we are looking and actually represents the

anointing of power, the anointing of the Holy Spirit, not just peace.

Know, some people think that Jesus is a peacemaker. No I think he

came in power. So Jesus technically did not preach a single sermon or perform

a single miracle before he was baptized. And you probably asked why not.

Well, because being a real human being as well as being the son of

God, he could not do it without the spirit's power. Jesus himself needed

anointing of the Holy Spirit with power to do what he did, and his

ministry was only effective because of the amazing anointing of the Holy Spirit upon his

life. So that was the first thing. The second thing was this,

there was a voice, and obviously it was God speaking right, because he

says, you are my belibered son in whom I am well pleased. If

some of you have contention against maybe that's not the voice of God. Maybe

someone was respringing to John Mark's years. No, no, no, no,

we believe because he says in the Bible that that's the voice of God.

Okay, So here what happens is God actually quotes the Old Testament twice.

He's actually quoting himself love. Okay, I know it sounds a bit

funny, but you know it comes from some chapter two, verse seven,

and also Isaiah for the two one, and he refers to two things that

he had said hundreds of years earlier. So you can go back, you

can read some chapter two, verse seven, but in some chapter two you

actually see that phrase you are my son, which actually, in the context

of some chapter two, it's actually a corron nations service. What is it

is actually an appointment of a king. And then you go on to read

Isaiah for the two verse one, you see the words in whom I am

well pleased or in whom I deli, and then you realize in that context

it's not referring to a sovereign's actually referring to a servant. And this is

what's remarkable. Psalms chapter two, verse seven concerns the highest place that a

man can have a sovereign, which is you are my son. But Isaiah

for the two, which is where we get a phrase in whom I delight,

concerns the lowers. So when Jesus was baptized, we see that the

Father wanted him to combine both the highest and the lowers, the greatest sovereign

and the humblest servant into his ministry. And that is what his baptism men

to Jesus. It men taking on the responsibility of both king of kings and

servant of servants. How do you combine the two? And we only know

that when we look at the life of Jesus Christ, because we see the

highest and the lowest perfectly combined. We see someone who can wash the feet

of his disciples, and then we see someone who can wear a crown with

equal dignity. It's amazing, our Lord Jesus Christ. We see someone who

fits anywhere in the social skill. We see someone who is equally at home

with the highest politicians or the religious leaders. And we see someone who can

walk on the streets and talk to the men and women on the streets.

And so from their relationship we know that both John and Jesus they were definitely

not rivals, even though there were some people who tried to make them look

like they were rivals. Read the scripture and go by and read and they

knows out there. Actually came up to John wepp this one day and know

and pointed a Jesus getting bigger church, his congregation bigger, and that's what

the devil is to do, to pit people against one another. But John's

reply to such talk was along the lines of it doesn't really matter because I

came to get ready for him, and if I get smaller and He gets

bigger, then that's what should actually happen. And that is such a big

statement from a big man like John the Baptists who says that I know that

no matter what, this is my ministry of missions, and in my ministry

of missions, I can never be bigger than Christ. No one of us

doing missions or carrying out the mission that God has placed upon our life should

ever do it replacing Christ. It is not you that saves, it's Christ

that saves. And that is something that John the Baptists understood right from the

very starts. So from John the Baptists we learn that the ministry of missions

involves pointing people to Christ, true repentance, and baptism, and that missions

is about Jesus and no one else. Amen. Okay, that's the first

part. Let's go. So as we read Mark one, then you realize

the focus turns towards Jesus. And now we learn from Jesus what the ministry

of missions is. And you will see there will be some overlaps, but

ultimately I want to tell you when Joel and Leona went out for missions.

They didn't just go and do whatever they felt like doing. It was because

I believe they were following scripture. Because they are three features of jesus ministry

of missions that we can actually glean from the verses that we have just read

just now. The first is to take note of the pattern of Jesus' ministry.

Okay, I've broken it down somehow, I've found a way someone actually

did it, and I think this is brilliant in breaking it down. So

the first take note of the pattern of jesus ministry. What did he actually

do? And the answer is actually very simple. In his grace and power,

he met the threefold needs of men, the physical need, the mental

need, and the spiritual need. So the ministry of our Lord was to

the whole of man, and it was for the whole world. And we

find this balance because he preached to meet all these kinds of needs. Take

the first thing, and we know the first thing that he did was preaching.

So Jesus believed in preaching. This was a fundamental priority of his ministry.

He did not begin with healing. He did not begin with teaching,

even though they are there, but he always started out with preaching, and

the church in the days when it spread so rapidly, especially in the first

three hundred years, always had this as priority. While even though there was

healing taking place, there was teaching taking place. But they always begin with

preaching. They did not begin by opening a school or by opening a hospital.

They begin with preaching and then other things followed. And so this is

the emphasis of our Lord's ministry, because this is the way in which God

meets the deepest need of men, as we saw earlier, like I said

that our overlaps, and even in the ministry of John, the deepest need

of every man and every woman is the need for forgiveness. And that is

what our spirit and that's what our soul needs. So why did Jesus begin

with preaching? Because the world is in the grip of Satan, and Jesus

came to set men free from that grip. You see, the world was

full of vice, full of crime, full of disease, full of death,

full of pain, full of suffering. But all these things were caused

by one thing only, and that was because it was in the grip of

the evil one. And so Jesus came to tackle that. He was going

to tackle that, and he was. He came to preach about that,

and he came preaching the good news, and that means the good news of

freedom to those who have been bound by an enemy. That's essentially what he

is talking about. So Jesus came to preach that God is doing something for

you because he has come to set you free. You know, when you

read the Old Testament, basically back from the Old Testament is how people recognize

that the world was not good. And for centuries people have been waiting and

longing for God to do something, and they prayed for him to come and

set them free from those things. That was what they were all wanting.

They wanted God to set them free. And then Jesus came at the right

time to fulfill the things that the people have longed for centuries. That is

why there is such an urgency in the message. And this is because the

world is not the kingdom of God according to Jesus, it is the kingdom

of Satan. Again, I'm not saying all these things. It's in Mark

chapter one. And that is why our newspapers are filled with evils, filled

with last is filled with cruelty, is filled with bloodshed, it's filled with

suspicions, filled with hatred because the world is not the Kingdom of God.

But wherever someone comes under the power of God and the evil things are put

out of his life by God's power, that person has entered the kingdom and

is living under the reign of God, and therefore God is reigning over his

life. The good news that Jesus preach was that the Kingdom of God is

actually breaking into this world. Now you enter, you can enter it,

now, you can live it. Now, you can experience God's power.

Now you can have God's power conquering the enemies in your life now. And

that is the good news, the tremendous news. It is the gospel.

So Jesus came preaching the gospel that the Kingdom of God is now at and

that is what is man by that statement. So how can we hope to

be in the Kingdom of God and then ask God to deal with our enemies

if we do not want him to deal with our sins? You can't.

How can I ask God to get this disease out of my life if I

don't want victory over bad temper? In other words, you cannot have God

help you with one enemy, if you don't if you want to hang on

to another enemy, doesn't quite work that way. All the enemies of God

and all the enemies of men must be dealt with at the same time.

How then do I get ready for the power of God to break into my

life and give me the victory? The answer is I repent. It's the

same thing. So in calling people to repent, Jesus was saying just as

what John said before. In other words, when God comes, he comes

to put everything right, not just what we want to put right. So

the need is to repent, which is to change our minds and to hit

the things we have done that were wrong. And that was what Jesus came

to preach. He was preaching first to our spirit, to our soul.

Amen. The first pattern, the second pattern we see in jesus ministry of

missions is meeting the needs of our mind. And so one of the greatest

needs, other than the forgiveness of sin, is the need to get hold

of to know the difference between right and wrong. Isn't that what we are

all asking philosophically but also in reality, And that's why men need teaching.

So the synagogue was the place of teaching in Israel, and Jesus got up

one day in the synagogue to teach. We are told that the congregation was

so astonished now because he did not quote anybody else. Jesus has waffled his

way to no one made no reference, and they realized, wow, whatever

that the way he did it, he did it out of his own authority.

And when Jesus thought, he not only taught as someone who is having

the authority of knowledge, he also spoke and things happened, and then they

realized, not only did this guy had have the authority of knowledge, he

also has a unique authority. He has authority of power. And so Jesus

had them both. And the people knew this because in the middle of the

synagogue service someone actually challenged him. You remember reading it just now. It

was a man who was possessed by demons and God up and then he started

yelling, what do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth, have you

come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of

God. And Jesus actually said, be quiet, come out of him,

and the man fell down and came around and was perfectly normal. And this

was Jesus' authority. He said it, and it was done, and they

were amazed, and they had never had any teaching like that. So that's

the second pattern that we see. The first is preaching, the second is

teaching. The third pattern of Jesus's ministry is this. It was the healing

for the body. And all of us face sickness. Sooner or later we

find that whatever sickness Jesus encountered, sometimes a good condition. Sometimes fevers,

you know, this was I think Peter's mum okay or mother in law.

It could be crowning sicknesses. But Jesus was able to deal with each and

every one of them, and usually he did something physical. He might touch

the person, and there was no situation that was beyond his control. So

just imagine what would happen if a man actually a rive in your town who

could cure any disease. Those who think their health is everything would do all

in their power to get near to this person. And that's why people flocked

to Jesus, because there was that physical need. And so the pattern of

our Lord's ministry is so wonderfully balanced. All the needs of mankind, physical,

mental, spiritual comes within his reach. And therefore our ministry of missions

following his must be balanced and must seek to meet all the needs of men.

But there is that order of priority. Remember that preaching first, because

that's the ultimate need of men, forgiveness of sin. And then the second

of the three features, still with me. Second of the three features is

this, Jesus not only had a pattern in his ministry, he had partners

in his ministry. And that's why when we go out and when we do

missions, I think you can ask Joel and Leona on the team when they

went out, was the first thing they did well. The pattern was that

go and preach. That's what we always prepare our missionaries to do. And

then you'll be teaching the kids as well. And then I remember Learna said

that we were laying hands on those who are not well. Do that.

That is what missions is about. But then you realize you don't always you

should never go out alone. I mean, if Joel says I'm going alone

to do missions, no, we always tell him, bring your partner,

your wife, who is your team leader, Bring a partner, and then

don't don't go on the ground alone. And so there are partners on the

ground in which we can come together and work together. And so Jesus,

while he was a unique individual, he was never an individualist. And we

shall think about it from human and divine partners, because Jesus had both,

So let's consider human partners firsa. To further his ministry, Jesus called other

people to share it, and this would actually mean expanding it in space while

he was still on Earth, and extending it also in time after he left.

How did that happen? Well, Jesus, when he was on Earth,

he was limited. He could not be at multiple places at multiple times.

So in order to expand the space in which he could make sure his

ministry keeps growing, he needed human partners. But when he left, in

order to extend the time of his ministry, he also needed human partners,

and that is us. And so he called men to be his disciples and

apostles. And you know, think about it. We are where we are

today because those many years ago, Jesus, while walking along the shores of

Galilee, decided to call for fishermen to follow him. That was the beginning

of the first church. He says, come follow me. And such a

simple beginning and such an amazing outcome. Let's not over complicate church. It

is not. It is really pitching, teaching, meeting the needs, partnering

with one another. And he's remarkable that the church would have started in that

way for fishermen. And then I must also take no. No, these

were young people. The disciples were probably in their teens, late teens,

and not early twenties. No, they had no education, nothing. They

were people who worked with their hands. Basically, God chose no bodies,

no, and told them to come follow me. In reality, everything that

they would be was because of him. They would therefore give glory to God

and not themselves. I believe that's why God chose nobodies, because if he

chose somebody, then that somebody will think that I'm somebody, not because of

God. But these were not. They were nothing, and Jesus actually chose

them for what they were not, rather than for what they were ordinary practical

down to an uneducated man. He told them, follow me, and I

will make you fishers of men. Notice this also he made a demand of

simultaneously, and Jesus loves doing that, making a demand and an offer simultaneously.

The demand was the follow me was an unconditional demand. It was going

to be there like some sort of a slavery but perfect freedom. Follow me.

And then they're like, okay, so I will follow you, but

I'm free. I'm free because I'm following you. And then the offer was

an equally wonderful one. If you followed me, I will make you fishers

of men, because they were pretty good already in handling those nets to catch

fish, but he was going to help them handle people. And Jesus sure

did not call them to an easy life. Actually I feel sorry for them.

I think maybe being fisherman would have been much easier because catching people,

I can tell you, it's the hardest thing to ever do. So the

message was follow me and I will make you work. Follow me, and

you won't get out of a job. You won't get out of fishing.

You're fishing will be more demanding. This not call us to a life of

ease. But they followed him, and they know that they could do a

job that they had not been doing before, and that was the awful and

they took it up. So these were the human partners in his ministry.

Amen. Amen, Now we turn to the divine partner. And it's very

easy to get so involved with people that you lose touch with your divine partner.

Jesus never did lose touch with the divine partner, so prayer was more

important to him than slip. And he could get up very early in the

morning and he would get alone with the Father, who was his other partner.

He had human partners, he had a divine partner as well. He

was down to earth with men he chose. He was also up in heaven

with the Father he loved. And this is the secret of ministry, to

get right in among ordinary folk and love them as God loved them, and

then to be able to get away from them and love God. It is

this combination of getting into society and out of it again that really marks jesus

ministry. And we must learn to balance it, just like how our Lord

balanced it. Amen. So it's so much easier not to really get an

unbalanced ministry, to go for one man's needs instead of all of them,

to spend too much time helping people at the expense of prayer, or to

sometimes spend too much time alone at the expense of people. But Jesus kept

everything in perfect balance. And this also comes out in the third feature of

jesus ministry. So we I thought about the pattern. I thought about the

partners, but realize this, Jesus also had problems, and I find it's

quite reassuring that Jesus had problems in his own ministry. And the interesting thing

is that every time it is mentioned that Jesus prayed, we find it is

because he had big problems on his hands. And that is the that is

actually a good time to pray, if at all, we feel like,

I've got nothing to pray for our science, So I ask people, come

and pray. I'm going nothing to pray for. Don't wait until we have

problems. They only we pray, But you know the reality is most of

the time we do la. So let's look at how the problems that Jesus.

I'm going to finish this in the next five minutes. So what crisis

is actually mentioned? So the clue actually lies in the fact that three times

in this short passage she actually told people to shut up. That's the literal

translation. Okay, why did Jesus say that? Because, no, think

about it. Didn't he want the world to know who he was? Didn't

want didn't he want the world to talk about him? So that two inteling

problems here. One is supernatural, and one is natural. One is concerned

with the demons, and the other one is concerned with disease. And on

both occasions Jesus actually told them to and let's see why. You see.

First of all, let's talk about the demon possess and it's in verse twenty

four. Basically, there was this demon possessed person who had foresight clairvoy and

he could see the future. And so he says, I know who you

are, the Holy One of God, And nobody had told him, but

the demons knew. Of course, the spirits knew who Jesus was. Right

from the very stud they knew, and Jesus told them to be quiet.

He said, come out of him. Why you see, Jesus was the

promised king of the Jews, and he would It would have been quite devastating

and dangerous if his full identity was revealed right at the very stage, because

everyone would straight away and want to crown him. Asked him to set them

free day because they were desperate for a political king. Right from the very

stud they wanted a political king to come and set them free from the Romans

and his enemies. If they found out right at that point, they would

have wanted to kill him immediately. And what's even more so, it's really

not right that this revelation comes from demons. Such things should actually come from

the Holy Spirit and the Holy Ghost, not by evil spirits declaring that this

is the son of God. And so that's why Jesus actually commanded silence and

all true the three years. He had problems with the demons actually knowing who

he was, and he did not want people to know before the right time.

So that was the first thing. The second problem was concerned with disease,

and this was this is like a danger where men's physical needs sometimes dominate

their spiritual needs. So if a man who could kill any disease comes to

your town, trust me, it would be an ending line of people who

want to sick healing. And our Lord could have spent the rest of his

life doing nothing but healing people. And this was his problem, and that's

why he says before the sun rose, he climbed up the hills behind Capanol,

and he started praying, and he has God, what should I do?

And the Father actually told him that you must preach, So he must

go somewhere else to leave those sick people. And when the disciples found him

up on the hills. They told him that everybody was looking for him,

but he told them that they were going to go to other towns too preach.

And that is a constant battle with believers, with Christians have had ever

since, and which the Church is still having till today. No, to

a certain degree, how are we to balance the physical needs of men?

Sometimes there's food needed here, sometimes as medicine needed here. Doctors are needed

here, hospitals are required. Sometimes we can be overwhelmed by the physical needs

of men, and people say health is the most important thing in life,

but we actually sometimes forget what is even more important is holiness, not just

health. Holiness, and that's what God wants of his people. He wanted

us to be holly set apart for him. And so Jesus, facing this

crisis, realized that he had to decide now that preaching was going to comfort

and healing must follow thereafter. So that's why they left Capitom. They left

a street full of sick people, and then Jesus on to preach. And

the tragedy was that he met a laper, and the laper says, if

you're willing, can you please heal me, make me clean. And of

course Jesus was amazed with this person's faith, and he said, I'm willing

be clean, and he was, and then of course the tragedy was dead.

He told this man, look, your faith is amazing, but be

quiet. But the next thing that he did was another act of disobedience.

Jesus said, no, make sure you don't tell anyone. Just take this

certificate, go and get it endors so that the synagogue will know that you

are clean. That's it. But he ran down the road and he went

and to everybody that he had been healed by Jesus. And then after that,

Jesus couldn't even he couldn't even get into towns he had. He had

to literally keep away from it because there was just too many people flocking.

And again, like I said, this is where the problem is. There

will always be needs. How do we strike that balance? And so while

Jesus had deep compassion for people in physical pain and suffering, he had a

deeper compassion for people in sin, for people who were facing a suffering in

the next world, for those living in this world. Sometimes we never think

about it, but Jesus knows what will happen to those who don't have his

forgiveness of sin in this lifetime. This is the ministry of Jesus. This

is why we do missions. At the end of the day, as far

as the pattern goes, Jesus balanced all the physical, mental, and spiritual

needs of men. Whenever we hate out to do missions, this is what

we are going in the same kind of authority to go and help and minister

to needs. And as far as partners, when Jesus balance both the divine

and the human, the earthly and the heavenly, and what the balance there

was in life right and even with the problems, even with the problems that

Jesus face, he balanced between what is eternal and what is temporary. That

was why, that was how he was actually balancing it out. What is

the long term and what is the immediate now? And I've got to wait

out and do what is right and think about it now. All their aggestion

was just the first three days of his entire three years of ministry here on

earth. But I pray that the Holy Spirit will open up our hearts to

realize that missions is something that each and every one of us is actually called

to. It's not something that okay, only or select you. Maybe only

the leaders will head out to it, because the commission is given to all

all who believe. All of you, please go and make disciples of every

nation, tongue, and tribe, baptizing them in the name of the Father,

and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and then teaching them

to obey God's comp It winds until the day He comes again. That is

our role, that is our responsibility, that is our commission, that is

our first priority. And I want you to know that we have not been

doing it any differently than the way the Lord has already taught us. But

I pray that whenever we feel I don't know what to do, let's go

back to scripture. Let's go back to the gospels, and let's do as

the Lord has taught us to do. With hallelujah, We hope you've been

blessed by this message. For more information on our church, please visit as

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this week is going to be a good week ahead for you. God bless