The Ministry of Missions | Elder Ang Peng Hoe

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

will light up your day. We're going to be sharing quite a fair bit

of things. We're going to be reading a portion of scripture. But I

was asking a lot Lord, I want to teach on missions again teaching time,

and he dropped two names in my mind my spirit. Firstly it was

John the Baptists, and then secondly is Jesus Christ. Okay, so two

very important names when I think of missions, and this came into my spirit.

Really, sometimes let's not over complicate things, and let's just go back

to the basics. Let's go back to what the Lord has taught us through

his word. And so as I was laboring in prayer, I was brought

to the Book of Mark. And the Book of Mark, most of us

know, it's probably the shortest of all four Gospels. Is usually the little

gospel track that we give to new believers, those who say I believe in

Jesus, I want to stand my journey. Then we put them. We

give them the Book of Mark, the Gospel of Mark, because shorter is

easiest to read. They won't start reading it and they're like, oh,

so heavy you know, you start reading Matthew and Luke, he starts talking

about the genealogy of Jesus. They kin even get past chapter one and two,

and so we usually passed the Book of Mark. It's not only the

shortest, is probably the earliest gospel written. Actually, if you do a

little bit of study, you'll be able to realize that most likely Matthew and

Louke actually referred to whatever that was written by Mark, because there's quite a

fabulo of similarities. John, the Gospel of John is probably the one that

is the last that was written many many years in his old age. The

apostle John actually wrote down those who words and so Mark became well almost like

that Benchmark. And you know, it's it's quite a good, fast,

easy read. And I want to encourage all of your to read through the

Book of Mark. It starts off on the goal and a boom, and

then straight away that's what we're going to be reading. We're going to be

reading the whole of chapter one of the Book of Mark. I'm going to

lead us in that reading. But you will realize some words, No,

especially when you read the first few chapters of Mark. One of the words

that you hear Mark users quite often is the word immediately immediately, which actually

occurs, like I said a few times in the first few chapters, and

when you read it, you will sort of get a sense of urgency in

what Mark is trying to deliver. And of course this is John Mark.

And really should that not be our response to Jesus's commandment commissioning his disciples to

make more disciples. That's why he told the disciples, disciples, go make

more disciples. That is the mission. And sometimes if it wasn't for the

fact that there was that sense of urgency, if those twelve will not tell

where he was eleven because one betrayed him, and then of course there was

someone else who replaced him, so well technically twelve and of course you have

Paul amazing apostle their tin. If they did not have a sense of urgency

right from the various start, I'm not sure if any of us would be

seated here today. And so there was that very mission given to a group

of men. And this has become technically what the ministry of missions really is

and is recognized by Christians all over the world. And so I want to

just go back to the basics of it all, reading the first chapter of

the Gospel of Mark together, and then we will draw out some truths on

what to do in our service as missionaries. Does that make sense? Okay?

So you can see the title of my message today is the ministry of

Missions. When we talk about mini, you're talking about service. So what

is our service in missions? What is our service unto the Lord? That's

what we have to think about. I'm going to read about forty seven verses,

so as I read, pick up some of these truths because what I'm

going to do is I'm going to draw out. Okay, I'm going to

draw out and explain line my line. Okay, this is the good news

about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God. It began just as the

prophet Isaiah had written. That's why I meant the Bookmark just dives straight into

it, Okay. And he says this, Look, I'm sending my messenger

ahead of you, and he will prepare your way. He's a voice shouting

in the wilderness. Prepare the 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 Judea, including all

the people of Jerusalem, went out to see and hear John, And when

they confess their sins, 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. But Sam and

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. First night. One day, Jesus came

from Nazareth in Galilee, and John baptized him in the Jordan River. As

Jesus came out of the water, he saw the heavens splitting apart and the

Holy Spirit descending on him like a derve, and a voice from heaven said,

you are my dearly loved son, and you bring me great joy.

The Spirit then compelled Jesus to get 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. The time

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

is near. Repent of your sins and believed 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 net into the water,

for they fished 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 a board repairing their nets.

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

father Zebride in the board with the hired men. Verse twenty one. Jesus

and his companions went to the town of Capernom. 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 in the synagogue, who was possessed

by an evil spirit, cried 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 screamed

through 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 her right away, so he went to her badside, took her by

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

and she prepared a meal for them. That evening, after sunset, many

sick and demon possessed people were brought to Jesus. The whole town gathered at

the door to watch. So Jesus healed many 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 the

daybreak. 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 am 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 a lot, the

offering required in the law of Moses for those who have been healed of leprosy.

This will be a public testimony that you have been cleansed verse forty five.

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 secluded places by

people from everywhere kept coming to him. The lot blessed the reading of his

word. Hey man, I know it's a it's a lot, right.

That's why people like to make plays out of the Book of Mark, because

it's it's seen by sea happens. But let's let's draw some truth out,

okay. So usually when you read something new, let's just say you read

literature or anything like that, the first question that you will ask is what

is it about? Right? But when you read the Gospel, the question

that actually begs to be asked, is not what is it about? Is

actually who is it about? And that's something that I want to encourage all

of us. You know, when we read the gospels, we have to

always ask who is it about? And you will realize that it is about

a man called Jesus, a historical human being. But if that was all

you could say about him, it will not be the gospel. It will

not be a gospel. And many people believe that Jesus was a great man.

Actually many many believe that he came he was like a prophet, a

great healer, a great teacher, a great leader. But then they'd believe

no more than that Jesus was no ordinary human being. And here was God's

own son on earth. And that is what makes the Book of Mark a

gospel. The good News basically is the good news because for the first time

God was in the battle. For the first time, the warfare of being

fought was being fought by God and not just by men. And God's own

son was fighting it, and God the victory. And so that is the

beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. We need

to realize that as believers, when we are reading scripture. So this is

an account basically of how our religion begin, of how Christianity started, and

from the very beginning, one could actually write out in large bowl letters that

Christianity is Christ. It is. You remove Christ out of our faith,

you remove Christ out of our religion. We have nothing. We are not

preaching opinions. We do not have a new philosophy, we do not have

a new system or even a way of life. We actually have a person

to preach, and that person is Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

So history is there for his story. Amen. So the best way to

learn about missions is actually true the story of Jesus from the Good News.

After all, Jesus was the one that commissioned each and every one of us

for this particular ministry. Okay, does that make sense? That's the intro.

Let's go. I'm going to speak really fast, so I hope y'all

can catch me. I hope the nodes will help y'all. But let us

first start with John the Baptist, Okay, because we can learn quite a

few things about missions from John the Baptist. So if you look at John

the man, first of all, he's actually quite an interesting person. There

was something about him that was quite different. What is it that some people

ask? What is it that was different about John? Well, you have

to realize this. When you read about John the Baptist, you have to

realize two things. The first thing is this, he is a fulfillment of

prophecy. I will explain everything that I say. And then the second thing

is John the Baptist is also a revival of prophecy. Okay, why do

I say that so many centuries earlier? No, God actually had made certain

predictions, certain promises, And that's the beauty of the Bible. There were

a lot of predictions and promises and prophecies that were made, and then a

lot of it came to pass. That's what gives us that real and true

authenticity of the Bible. And so many centuries ago, in Isaiah chapter forty,

it was actually reveal God revealed that he will first send someone to prepare

the way, and of course it was also revealed that he would send the

Messiah, but before the Messiah came, there would be someone to prepare the

way. And so Isaiah actually taught this, and he was prophesying about the

six hundred years before Jesus came in Isaiah chapter forty. So John the Baptist

was that messenger. He was one of those great men who basically his function

is to play second feel Okay, he's the backup guy, the wing men.

Someone was calling okay to someone else. And he was a humble man,

and he was there for a fulfillment of prophecy. But more than that,

okay, not just the fulfillment of prophecy. Of course we know he

came six hundred years later. John was also a revival of prophecy. Why

do I say that, because do you realize what it must be like?

You know, if you have been hearing from God from right from Moses all

the way to Malachi and then Sunnia for four hundred years, there was complete

silence. That's why you have that little gap in between the All and the

New Testament, because technically, in those four hundred years God did not speak.

Nowhere was it ever recorded that statement, thus says the Lot, And

that was why it was complete silence for four hundred years to get between Malachi

and Matthew, because nobody spoke from God. And when John the Baptist appeared,

prophecy was technically revived again once again, there was a man who could

say, this is what God is saying to you now, and everyone rushed

out to listen to what John had to say. And that's why he is

the revival of prophecy. The first thing they probably noticed was that John was

wearing the same type of clothes like Elijah. And that is when the message

came to God was speaking again. People knew this guy Elocus hang out in

the desert reminds us of someone, right, And so what then was John's

mission? Well, he came preaching. That was what he came to do.

And I'm going to tell I'm going to tell you this, right,

the very onset A lot, if not most, of what missions is about

starts with this. It starts with preaching. So it has been said sometimes

no preaching is like a waste of time, just stop meaning and yang,

you know, like no appear, met appear, just going on and on.

But we must feed the hungry, we must clothe the naked, we

must care for the immigrants, and that is missions as well, and that

is what God is telling us to do. But there is a place for

preaching, just as there is a place for doing all those things. To

help people because when we think our missions is all about community and social services,

but it's more than that, it's beyond that. Let me try to

put it in another way. What do you think is the biggest need of

men and women today? Ever thought about it? What do you think is

human being's biggest needs? Do you think it's food for their bodies? Do

you think it's freedom for their minds? Anyone? No? Okay? I

purpose well, I actually believe forgiveness of sin is still the greatest need of

every man and woman, forgiveness of sin, and I know of no other

way to meet that apart from preaching. There is no other way you can

meet man's greatest need, which is to be forgiven of is sin. Because

the forgiveness of sin is at the heart of Christian preaching. It's the greatest

blessing you can be offered, and it is every human being's fundamental need because

think about it, to live with a guilty conscience is the worst thing that

you can actually go through, and the forgiveness of sin is actually the loveliest

experience that one can experience. That's why when you come to know of the

saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are set free. There's no

turning back because you understand what it means to be forgiven. So two things

were actually needed to express forgiveness of sin, and that's repentance and baptism.

Again, now I'm just drawing out. I'm drawing out from Mark chapter one.

So this message actually goes straight through into the rest of the New Testament.

If you read the whole of the New Testament is talking about repentance,

is talking about baptism. No, and why do we need repentance? Why

do we need baptism? Well, for the forgiveness of sins. That's the

only way in which we can actually be forgiven of our sins. We've got

to repent and we got to be baptized. What is repentance, Well,

it's not just feeling sorry, because that could be remorse, that could be

regret. Sometimes when we feel sorry, I'm remorseful or I regret doing what

I did. But repentance is actually more than the emotions. It is what

the mind is saying it is wrong and I do not want to do it

again. That's repentance. But a birth all is also the will saying I

turned away from it. And I turned back to God. So there is

a minding and there is a wilding. Repentance may be accompanied by feelings,

a lot of what Sometimes we feel sorry because it's a feeling, it's an

emotion, but it will definitely must involve thoughts. But at the end of

it, you want to know what true repentance is is when you actually see

an act being sorry enough to do something or being sorry enough to stop doing

something. That is what true repentance really is. Okay again, I'm skimming.

True baptism is also an act. The word actually just means to plunge

or to drench or to dip, and that's why they used to call John.

Technically, John the Baptist is John the plunger. He's the guy who

plunges people into the water. He was basically communicating to people, do you

want to be clean from hate to toe, then this is how to show

it. Wash yourselves, express your appeal to God for a clean conscience,

and this is a way to do it. It always did mean that.

But you see, the significant thing is that until John the Baptists came,

no Jew had ever been baptized. Technically, only gent towns were baptized.

And this is because to the Jew it was the gent towns who was unclean,

who were unclean, they were the ones that needed washing. It was

the gentile who needed to get his past washed away, and so the jew

were The Jews were quite happy to baptize the gentiles when they came to the

synagogue, but they will not baptize another Jew. After all, if you

were a Jew, you already had been circumcised man right, and you had

been true all the ceremonies, no right from your years, all your barbetsi

etera, et cetera. Technically you are all belong So the most startling thing

about John the Baptist is he's actually saying that whoever who's gone through all those

religious ceremonies whatnot, technic you still need to repent and be baptized for the

forgiveness of your sins. It's strong he's teachings because it's not just outwardly that

you belong to God. You've got to do something on the inside as well.

And this is what John was saying to the people, and it was

very offensive to them because they all have been circumcised, and not outwardly,

they had being circumcised. They're like, I'm a Jew, and I'm a

Jew now a day, all cuting Mariady. So in a way, this

was John's mission. It was too mature, morally responsible people who are guilty

and needed cleansing. And that's why John's baptism is called the baptism of repentance.

If you read the scriptures, you will see that. And so just

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

There's a lot that we can glean. But what is even more in

reaching is not just what John the Baptist mission was, but who is the

central focus of his ministry of missions. That's the next thing that we have

to ask. John actually declared, after me will come one more powerful than

I, the tongus of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and

untie. Again. This is all from the scripture, and this is quite

an enlightening insight because if you think about it, in the order of slaves

back then, they actually had some sort of a grading system like your cust

system do they Even slaves in India has got different cast levels. Basically,

each slave has a certain duty and the slave the jobs for the slave who

is second last, second from bottom usually is the one that unties shoes,

second from bottom. But after that slave had untied the shoes, the bottom

of the bottom slave basically bottom feeder. I don't know what you call it

in some terms, but as low as you get that that's a slave that

actually washes the feet of the people. Does that not speak to you about

the humility of Christ. So what was John essentially indicating was that he was

not even fit to be the second from bottom, But when Jesus came,

he came to be right at the bottom. It's an amazing, amazing thought.

Then John said something else. No, the Mighty One who was coming

after John was needed by men because he could give a baptism that John could

not give. He actually said that he John said, I baptize you with

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

a baptism that we all need as well. So there actually two baptisms mentioned

at the beginning of the Gospel itself. One is a physical one, the

other is a spiritual one. One is an outward thing, the other is

an inward thing. One deals with your past, the other deals with your

future. And one is connected with pardon, and the other one is connected

with power. Holy is powers so that you can live your life well and

right in God's eyes as you walk through 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 you will need the Holy Spirit. That's

what he's trying to tell all of us. No I baptize you physically,

but there comes another one who will baptize you in the Holy Spirit. So

John's work was basically to do this to connect people to God. Isn't that

what missions is all about, is to connect people to God. He was

baptizing them and 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? And as we read on, we realized if John was going

to connect Israel with Israel's king, he needed to be in contact with both,

and so far he only had contacted Israel technically. So on one particular

day, John sees his cousin, and Jesus is his cousin just saw that,

you're aware of the Actually, I think their moms were sisters or cousins

or something like that. So the second cousins maybe, but they were related.

So John saw his cousin coming along the river, Jesus, and then

to John's astonishment, Jesus says, I need you to baptize me. And

the simple fact is that Jesus was baptized, and if Jesus was, and

then he calls us to be baptized. Do you think we can refuse baptism.

I don't think we can, and we should as believers of Christ.

Jesus to ever refuse baptism because he went through the waters of baptism itself.

But okay, this is not a teaching on baptism. I will probably teach

one day. But there were three unique features about jesus baptism. Okay,

let's go through. First, Jesus saw the heaven being torn open, which

means that the clouds parted. And then there was a white derth that came

right. This white derth not technically the symbol of peace, which sometimes we

think no white dirth is peace, but it's actually the symbol of God's power

because the derth is the same derve that hovered over a chaotic world in Genesis

chapter one, verse three and technically brought the order of the universe out of

chaos, and the derve therefore brings order and power. And so this is

the derve that represents the anointing of the Holy Spirit. So Jesus did not

preach a single sermon or perform a single miracle before this moment, and of

course we asked why not. Well, because being a real human being as

well as the son of God, he could not do it without the Spirit's

power. And so Jesus needed an anointing of the Holy Spirit with power to

do what he did thereafter. So that's the first thing that we will take

notice of, because you don't see him in active ministry prior to this baptism.

Second, there was a voice, and obviously it's a voice from God,

okay, and it actually said, you are my beloved son in whom

I am well pleased. So here God actually quotes the Old Testament twice,

well, technically, he quotes himself twice. And what he says is actually

quite interesting because the first part of it is taken from Psalms two, verse

seven, and the second part of it from Isaiah forty two, verse one.

And he actually refers to two things that he had said many many years,

hundreds of years earlier. One was this you are my son, which

in the context of Psalms Chapter two, you realize that it is actually in

the context of a coronation service for a sovereign. Basically, it's like an

anointing or a service to appoint a king. So you are my son.

If you go back and read Psalms chapter two, verse seven, you realize

that it's in the context of a coronation service. But in Isaiah for the

two one you actually find the same words in whom I am well pleased,

or some translation says in whom I like, And then you realize in that

context it doesn't refer to a coronation service. It actually refers to a servant,

doesn't refer to a sovereign. It refers to a servant. And this

is what's remarkable. Psalms to seven concerns the highest place that man can have,

a sovereign You are my son. But Isaiah forty two, in whom

I Delight, that's where we get it from, actually concerns the lawers.

And so you realize this. When Jesus was baptized, we see that the

father wanted him to combine the highest and the laws, the greatest sovereign and

the humblest servant in his ministry. And that is why that is what his

baptism men to Jesus. It meant taking on the responsibility of king of kings

and servants of servants. And how do you combine the two? We we

only know that when we look at the life of Jesus. That's how we

actually see the combination of the highest and the lowest perfectly combined together. We

see someone who can wash the feet of his fellow believers, and we see

someone who can wear a crown with equal dignity. It's amazing. When we

read the scripture, we see someone who fits anywhere in the social skill.

We see someone who is equally at home with the highest, and he's equally

at home with the lowers, with the religious and political leaders, and also

with the people and the women on the street. That is Jesus. And

from their relationship we know, we know John and Jesus had a good relationship

and they were definitely not rivals. Yet at the same time, when you

read the scripture at chapter one, you realize that some people try to make

them look like they were rivals, and they came to John the Baptist one

day and they pointed out that Jesus was getting a bigger congregation or trying to

instill like the first survey, is a bit bigger, and loves to set

people of God against each other like this. But John's reply to such talk

was along the lines of this, now it doesn't matter. I came to

get ready for him, and if I get smaller and he gets bigger,

then it is as it should be. If I become less and He becomes

greater, then that is the right thing to happen, and that's the proper

thing to happen. What a big man for John the Baptist to actually say

that he has done all he needed to do to get people ready, and

so now Jesus must start. You see, in the ministry of missions,

we can never be bigger than Jesus. Make sure that that never happens,

as John the Baptist did. So that was something that I learned from John's

ministry. We can't be bigger than Jesus in whatever missions work that we are

doing. So from John the Baptists we learned the ministry of missions involves pointing

people to Christ, true repentance and baptism, and that missions is about and

no one else. Amen. Okay, I'm done with the first part.

I got another ten minutes brief brief. So as we read Mark chapter one,

you will realize that the focus then turns towards Jesus after talking about John

the Baptist, And now we learn from Jesus what the ministry of missions is.

And there may be some overlaps here and there, but there are three

features of Jesus's ministry of missions that we can actually glean from all the verses

that were read just now, and I've broken it down, so I hope

y'all will be able to see. And I want to tell you this not

why we do what we do, is because we are following what Jesus has

taught us or basically what he has shown us. So the first is to

take note of the pattern of Jesus's ministry. Okay, I broke it down

to three peas, but we did the three passe la breaking down. Okay,

so multiple breakdowns. First thing is the pattern of jesus ministry. What

did he actually do? And the answer is very simple. In his grace

and in his power, he met the threefold needs of men, which is

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

the whole person, it was for the whole world. And we find this

balance no, because he preached to meet all three kinds of needs. And

I will show it to you. You take the first thing up, preaching.

Jesus believed in preaching. He ran around preaching, and this was the

fundamental priority of his ministry. He did not begin with healing. He did

not begin with doing anything else, but he began 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. That was healing, and that

was teaching. But they always begin with preaching. They did not begin by

opening a school or opening a hospital, but they began with preaching, and

then other things followed. And this is the emphasis of our Lord's ministry,

because this is the way in which God actually meets the deepest needs of men.

And as we saw earlier, I told you there were some overlaps.

What is the deepest need of every man and every woman here on earth is

the need for forgiveness. And that is what our soul and our spirit.

Men and women need, we need forgiveness. Why did Jesus begin with preaching

Because the world is still in the grip of Satan, and Jesus came to

set men free from that grip. So the world it's full of vice,

is full of crime, is full of disease, is full of death,

is full of pain, is full of suffering. You will you won't be

able to run away from this. But all these things were caused by one

thing only, and that's because it's in the grip of the devil. And

therefore Jesus was going to tackle that. He came preaching about this, and

he came preaching the Gospel, and that means the good news of freedom to

those who have been bound by an enemy. So Jesus actually came to preach

that God is doing something for you. He has come to set you free.

When you read the Old Testament, you find that people recognize that the

world was not good right from the very start. They all know, Alama,

this world rosa, there's something not right with it. It's a broken

world. It's not good. And for centuries they were actually longing for God

to do something. Read the Old Testament. They're always praying, set us

free from these, Set us free from these, Set us free from this.

Jesus came at the right time to fulfill things that people have longed for

centuries. Actually because there is an urgency even in his own message. And

this is because the world is not the kingdom of God. And actually Jesus

teaches that, according to him, the world actually is in the grip of

Satan, is the kingdom of Satan. And that is why our newspapers are

filled with things which are not right. What doesn't report all things great?

Most of the time news is quite set on. That's the reality of it.

No, that's last. There's cruelty, there's bloodshed and suspicion, that's

hatred, there's wars. Because this 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 within the reign of God. Therefore, God is starting to reign

over his life. That is the good news that Jesus preached, and that

is why he's saying, the Kingdom of God is actually breaking into the world.

Now you enter it. Now you can live under God's power. Now,

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

that is what Jesus is preaching. That is the good news. That is

tremendous news. That is the gospel. So Jesus came preaching that the Kingdom

of God is at you can actually receive it right now, even though this

world is in the grip of the devil. So how can we hope to

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

we do not want him to deal with our sins. We need to allow

Jesus to deal with our sins. How can I ask God, No,

God, get this disease out of my life if I do not want victory

over my bad temper. In other words, you cannot have God help you

with one enemy if you want to hang on to another enemy. And 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. You see, I told you they are overlaps in what Jesus is

doing and what John the Baptists did in calling people to repent. Jesus was

saying exactly what John the Baptists said, 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 hate the things that we have done which is wrong, so that

we can choose to do what is right. And so Jesus was preaching first

to our spirit, our soul, and he's saying that you need the forgiveness

of seein. You need to give this up, you need to repent.

Amen. The second pattern we see in Jesus's ministry, So that's the first

preaching, preaching to meet the needs of the spirit and the soul. The

second pattern we see in Jesus's ministry of missions is this he wants to meet

the need of our mind. And one of man's greatest needs is to obtain

truth, to know the difference between true and falls right and wrong right.

And that's why we need teaching. So the synagogue was actually a place of

teaching in Israel, and Jesus God on one day knowing the synagogue to teach,

and then we are told her that the congregation was so astonished because he

did not quote anybody else. He just told them what was right and what

was wrong in his own authority, quite power, Jesus. And then when

Jesus thought, he not only taught as having the authority of one who knew,

who did not have to look at books and do not have to make

reference like I am making reference too, but he spoke and then things happened.

So not only did Jesus have the authority of knowledge, he also had

a unique authority. He spoke and things happened. And this is the authority

of power as well as the authority of knowledge. Jesus had them both.

And so the people knew this because in the middle of the synagogue service,

someone actually challenged him, go back and read your scripture again. Okay.

It was a man who was possessed by demon who got up and then he

started yelling, Hey, what do you want with earth Jesus or Nazaev?

How have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the

Holy One of God. So that's what this person did know. 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 something and things were done, and they were so amazed. They

had never seen any teaching like that. Amazing. So that's the second pattern

that we see. The third pattern of Jesus's ministry is this all the best

five mets. I don't know why I can get it in five minutes,

but I will do my best, okay. The third pattern of jesus ministry

of missions was the healing of the body, and all of us faced sickness

sooner or later. We find that whatever sickness Jesus encounters, sometimes acute conditions,

sometimes fevers, and as chronic sicknesses, Jesus was able to deal with

them all. Usually he did something physical, he might touch the sufferer,

and there was no situation that was beyond his control. So just imagine what

would happen if a man arriving or town who could cure every known disease.

Those who think health is everything would do all in their power to get near

him, and people actually flocked to him. So the pattern of our Lord's

ministry is actually wonderfully balanced. All the needs of mankind, physical, mental,

spiritual came within his reach, and he was meeting the needs of men,

and therefore our ministry of missions following what Jesus did, must also be

balanced, must also seek to meet all the needs of men in his mighty

name. Amen. Okay, I think I'm gonna I'm going to just continue

and then I will fly to im punk. Okay, So the second of

the three features I told you the three features. The first is the pattern.

The second of the three features of jesus ministry is this Jesus also had

partners, so not just pattern, but you notice he also had partners in

his ministry. And Jesus was a unique individual, but he wasn't an individualist,

no, and we must think about both his human partners and his divine

partners. So let's consider his human partners. No, because to further his

ministry, Jesus called other people to share it. That would mean expanding it

in sp when he was still here on Earth. Basically, Jesus had his

own limitations, right, He couldn't be in multiple places at multiple times,

and so he had partners while he was here who could expand his ministry in

space and also extending it in time after he left Earth. Because once he

left Earth, his ministry could only continue with the people who were present,

extending it in time, and so he called men to be his disciples and

apostles. I don't know whether you realize this, but basically the church started

when Jesus was walking along the Sea of Galilee, and then he called a

few fishermen, and that's when the beginning of church. Basically he said,

come follow me, and here we are today the outcome of the first church

being started. So it is remarkable that the church should actually started that way,

started with four fishermen and Jesus walking along the seashore. And then you

were realized they were young, probably in your teens or early twenties. They

didn't have much education. There were no bodies, but Jesus actually chose no

bodies and said follow me. And in reality everything that they would be was

because of him. Then it is ultimately that reminded that we are no bodies,

but because we follow him, we can be everybody and anybody in and

true Jesus. Amen. And then you notice this, he actually makes a

demand and an offer simultaneously, and he likes to do that. The demand

was follow me. It's unconditional. It was going to be a kind of

slavery, like follow me, but with perfect freedom. Yet at the same

time, because you read the disciples followed him with perfect freedom, the offer

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

fishers off men. And so they were pretty good at handling nets. So

they were good at fishing. But Jesus did not call them to an easy

life. I think fishing would have been an easy life. Fishing for men

is probably the most difficult thing you can ever do. But yet that was

what they were called to. He did not call us to a easy life.

He called them to a difficult life to fish for men. But if

they followed him, they could do a job that they had not been doing

before. And that was the offer. And so these were the human partners

in Jesus ministry. That's why when we do ministry we follow the same pattern.

When we go on missions, we go we preach. We preach to

different people's needs, especially for the forgiveness of seeing what are we preaching.

We are preaching Christ Jesus, the one who's crucified and the one who is

resurrected. We teach when we are out in the mission field, we have

to teach them to obey God's laws. That's something that's very very important.

We lay our hands on people whenever we are out on missions to declare God's

healing over them. Follow the blue print. That is what I'm trying to

tell of us. And we always have partners as well. Don't do it

alone. Go out firstly two by two, and then when you're on the

ground or so, partner partner, human partners, but more than just human

partners. No, Jesus also had the divine partner. And it's very easy

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

Jesus never did that because prayer was more important to him than sleep.

It's in the scripture in Mark chapter one. And he will get up very

early in the morning and he will get alone in the Father, who was

his other partner. And he had human partners, He had the divine partners.

He was down to earth with the man he chose, but he was

also up in heaven with the Father he loved. That is Jesus. That

is the secret of ministry. To get it right among the ordinary folk,

to love them as God loves them, and then to get it right away

from them and then to love God. You need to draw that balance.

It's so important. It is this combination of getting into society and then out

of it again that marks the life of Jesus. And we must learn the

balance in Jesus's ministry. Amen. So it's so much easier not to get

unbalanced in 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

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

kept it all well balanced. And this also comes out in the third feature.

And the third feature of Jesus's ministry of missions is this he had problems.

So not only was there a pattern for us to follow, not only

do we realize that he had partners, but he had problems. And I

find that quite reassuring that Jesus himself had problems. And it's an interesting thing

that is mentioned, but this is the reality of it. What crisis is

actually mentioned here? And the clue actually lies in the fact that three times

in this short passage he actually told people to shut up. Do you realize

that you don't be quiet? Actually, that's you're very polite. Bible translates

it as quiet, be quiet, but some of the Bible sociation like shut

it. Basically, So why did Jesus say that? Surely he wanted the

world to know right about him? Why did he stop some of them from

declaring who he was? And then you realize there are two things, No,

there are two things here. One concerns with demons and the other one

concerns with disease. Okay, I will explain. First of all, take

the demon possess. Okay, So demon possession, we know it's a spiritual

problem. And here was Jesus up against someone who had fall knowledge in the

synagogue and this man say, I know who you are, the Holy One

of God. And then nobody had told him known, but the demons knew

of course, Actually the demons knew who Jesus was, and the spirits knew

who he is, and Jesus told them to shut up and come out of

him. Why did he do that? You see, Jesus was the promised

king of the Jews, and he would have been devastating, not dangerous,

if this knowledge actually came out at that stage, because people want him to

automatically take over free them of all their circumstances. Already, the Jews were

waiting for a political leader to set them free. They would their minds weren't

developed enough. They wanted a political king to come and get rid of the

Romans and so that we can be free again. So he knew the timing

was not right because he wouldn't he would not be able to continue on his

ministry if this revelation was made known, and then worse still, is made

known by a demon and such things. If you were to realize that this

is the Son of God, should not be coming from evil spirits. It

should be coming from the holy goals. It should be coming from the Holy

Spirit. And that's why Jesus commanded silence and all through the tree years.

He had the problems with all these demons who actually knew who he was,

and he did not want people to know before the right time. So that

was one of the problems that he faced. The second problem that he faced

was this disease. And again I said, physical needs always dominates our spiritual

needs. That's the reality of it. So if a man who could cure

your disease came in, this man will have a full time job just healing

you, because everyone will flock to you, and we will flock to that

person. And that is why Jesus he could have spent the rest of his

three years of ministry doing nothing but healing people. And that was that was

a problem to him, actually, because the Father told him that he must

preach, so he must go somewhere else and leave those sick people. And

the disciples found him on the hills and they told him that everybody was looking

for him, but he told them that they were going to go to other

towns to preach. That was Jesus, and this is the constant battle Christians

have had ever since, and which the Church is having today to a greater

degree than before. Now we are so aware of all the physical needs of

men, and everyone comes with different physical needs, and that's the reality of

it. Whether his food needed here, whether it's medicine needed there, whether

it's doctors and nurses hospitals required. Physical needs can really overwhelm people actually say

health is the most important thing in life, But how is it that we

come to forget that holiness is actually the most important thing to God? Holiness

And so Jesus was facing this crisis and he realized that he had to decide

now that preaching was going to come first, and then healing follows. So

they left Capitanom. They left the street full of sick people, and Jesus

went on to preach, and of course the tragedy was that he met a

leper, and this man with astounding faith, asked, if you're willing to

heal me, And then, of course Jesus says, I'm willing be clean.

But this is a tragedy. Of course, this man was disobedient.

He didn't follow at Jesus tole him to Jesus, just go and take your

certificate, get it endorsed by the synagogue, that you are clean right now.

No, he went and he told everyone, and then Jesus said,

see, he told him, see that you don't tell this to anyone.

He gave that order because he was trying to preach. He told him to

go to Jerusalem, but he did more than and so Jesus could not even

get into towns after death. He had to keep away from them. And

we see this problem again and aglam. But yet he balanced it all wonderfully

in his mission. Amen. So while he had deep compassion for people in

physical pain, and suffering. He had a deeper compassion for people in sin,

people who were facing a suffering and eternal suffering in the next world.

And that's why Jesus had to carry on preaching. And so here then is

the ministry of Jesus, as far as the pattern goes. He balanced their

physical, their mental, and their spiritual needs as far as partners. When

he balanced the divine and the human, the earthly and the heavenly, and

what a balance it was. And even with the problems, he balanced between

what was eternal and what was temporal, what was temporary, and he weighed

out perfectly. And can I tell you this all the digestion occupies just three

days of his ministry. Of the three year ministry that Jesus had from about

thirty to thirty three was when he actually ministered to the people, and then

he had to fulfill what he had to fulfill three days and he continues till

today. We hope you've been blessed by this message. For more information on

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week ahead for you. God bless