We have the witness of Scripture which declares this truth, Galatians 4:4-7 " 4 But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. 5 God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. ⁶ And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.”  7 Now you are no longer a slave, but God’s own child.^. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir."

You are Free in Christ Jesus, not to exercise your will against God, but to live!  To live without the fear and uncertainty that pursuing your own "dark" way brings.  What hope have we in our own way?  Can we see beyond this very second of our lives?  Can we by the force of our will overcome the Chaos that rises up within us.  The answer is "NO", emphatically and completely "No"!  Yet we have a Freedom which gives us Great and Marvelous Hope!

Freed From Enmity = Free to Love!

Because this is true, God declares to us in Galatians 5:1, 5&6   "¹So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.  ⁵ But we who live by the Spirit eagerly wait to receive by faith the righteousness God has promised to us. 6 For when we place our faith in Christ Jesus, there is no benefit in being circumcised or being uncircumcised. What is important is faith expressing itself in love."  God declares us free to live in Faith, Free to Love without the desire or need to condemn others.  The Freedom we have is born of Christ and not of our own will.  We have the blessing and benefit of living in Christ's freedom.  Your separation from God has been handled by our elder brother, Jesus Christ. 

Now we express our Faith in God through Christ by the Love we demonstrate and show through our relationships.  We serve in Love, we forgive in Love, we hope for healing in Love, we encounter and engage other's brokenness in Love; all with the hope and expectation that God is working through us in LOVE.  You are Free to Love; freed from the enmity which judging others brings. Listen to your freedom as expressed in Galatians 5:13-14 13 For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love. 14 For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Freed From Death and Chaos = Freedom to Create!

God causes Paul to cry out in Romans 7:24&25 "²⁴Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? 25 Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin."    His cry is to our benefit.  We hear the cry and should know that it is the cry of all the redeemed. We see in his outpouring, that there is hope only in Jesus Christ for Freedom.   You are called to live in Freedom.  The challenge, the struggle is that we are empowered to do so in a world that is dominated by fear and slavery to Sin.  Our minds are being sanctified, cleansed and yet there remain in us remnants of desire to will our own way.

Is there hope for us who are like the songwriter says are, "Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love..."  "Yes! there is HOPE, THERE is POWER! " God continues through Paul in Romans 8:1&2  "¹There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.  2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." You are free from the control of Chaos and the death it brings.    We are free because we have the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus who guides us and redirects us when we have failed in Faith to God by pursing our own way.

We can say because of Christ "Let us stoop and build again the things that have been broken with worn out tools."  There is power yet to be experienced, joy yet to be felt, graces yet to be known, because we have been freed to create.  Create to the Glory of God, a kingdom of the redeemed. Women and men whose lives were almost gone, who have realized that we cannot and must not boast in our own abilities, but make our boast in the Lord and through Him alone create life for the dead to rise.

Freed From Fear = Free Live in Faith!

We are never so far from the Hope of restoration and recovery from our failings that we can be condemned, because we are kept by the power of the Holy Spirit.  We may feel the weights of life, and feel the downward pull of our worries and the fear they inspire.  We may even be attacked and abandoned those we love and trust, but we must share the confidence expressed in 2 Corinthians 4:8&9, " ⁸ We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. 9 We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed." 

Jesus Christ has single-handedly, without our permission or participation, opened the doors of His Kingdom to people who were fit only for the grave.  Because He has made a path through the graveyard for us; we can live in Faith knowing that though death is part of our daily and inevitable experience, it is not the sum of our lives nor the end of our living.  We live in Faith not in Fear.  The power of Faith gives us the ability to look beyond the dark shadows of our circumstances and see the light of the Son, shining, calling us forward through the shadow to the marvelous light.  The Chains of fear, death, chaos and enmity have been broken by the liberating hand of Christ and you Are Free Today and To Eternity! Amen! 

[1] Enmity means -  a feeling or condition of hostility; hatred; ill will; animosity;

[2] A reference to Rudyard Kipling's iconic poem, "IF"

To be sure, there is nothing wrong with thought; it is a gift from God.  The Scriptures declare in the latter portion of Philippians 4:8 "Think on these things." Yet if you look at the full text of Philippians 4: 6-8 you see that belief must precede thought to give thought value and substance. 

God writes through Paul, "6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. 8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. 9 Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you."

If we hear the counsel of Scripture, then we see that it is belief that must precede thought.  Now to be certain you can engage in thought without having learned much of anything. Yet the value of what we say about things we have not learned is greatly diminished by our ignorance.  I often advise people, "Let people talk because when they are speaking their brain is on parade."  Then and only then will you truly see who they are by what they declare about themselves as they think openly by talking. 

Believe then Think!

The Psalmist wrote, "I believed therefore I have spoken" (Ps.116:10a).  It is belief that inspires thought.   Some may hear these words and "think" that this is backwards.  Have you ever asked someone, what they "think" about a specific incident and their response was, "I don't know enough about it to have an opinion."  Did you think that response odd, or did you respect the fact that the person wisely reserved their comments about a topic which they had no knowledge?

We must read, study and meditate on the Word of God to arrive at conclusions; in other words we form our beliefs.  Out of these beliefs we can speak with authority because they should be tied to the authority of Scripture.  Can you speak with confidence about something you do not know?  Certainly, you can speak, but can you speak with confidence that what you are saying has value and substance?  What is the Truth out of which your Belief springs.  Is it your "personal truth" or is it a Truth that is greater than the narrows of our puny personal universes?

Belief is the Root, Truth is the Ground

What do you believe?  Regardless of what you believe, if it is grounded in nothing, then what you believe has no strength or power.  Beyond your own ability to speak with conviction about your groundless belief, there is no substance.  Ask yourself what is the ground from which my belief springs? 

God declares in the opening verses of the Psalms 1 these words: " 1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.  2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.  3And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper."

There's a lot of meat this bone plucked from The Bible, but let's zero in on one truth, "The man is blessed who loves the Word of God and meditates upon it."  He is planted in ground that offers all the nourishment he needs to prosper.  The man in Psalms 1 is planted in a truth greater than his thinking could produce.  There could be no beauty in his leaf without the nourishment of the ground into which he is planted.  His leaf or "Belief," the fruit of his connection to the ground in which he is planted is green continually and never withers.   No Ground, No Leaf is equal to No Truth, No Belief.

The strength of the tree is found in the root system, which is only barely visible above the ground.  The plant and flower may be beautiful, but if the roots are not deep  in the ground from which it draws nourishment, then it will soon wither.   The deeper the roots in the ground, the stronger the tree and  the more beautiful the leaves.  The deeper your roots in the Truth of the Scriptures, our Bible; the whole Counsel of God, the stronger you will be and the more beautiful your beliefs .  Now, "How deep are your roots?"

The danger of simple statements that are offered in response to not-so-simple questions is clear.  Behind the question is another question, "Why Worship?"  The question is one that should be answered for every blood bought believer and settled in our spirits so that we might move on to the "weightier matters" of discipleship.  

Worship is more than Psalms/Songs, Shouts of Praise and Preaching.  Worship is an extension of Prayer.  What we do in private prayer is now joined with others in collective celebration of our redeemed relationship with the God who is Mighty To Save and Strong to Deliver.  Prayer is the private act of fellowship that is expressed in Worship as a community act of fellowship.

The Genesis of Worship

Worship began in the Garden of Eden.  Though many will find this statement strange, it is no less true.  The Scripture records, in Genesis 3:8 "And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden."  We see in the witness of Scripture that God came to fellowship with His created children.  Apparently, this was no strange event, but something that happened regularly.   So regular in fact that when Adam and Eve hid themselves because of their shame, the Word records this response from God: "And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?"

God asks, "Where are You?" not because He did not know where they were physically; what God was asking is "Why are You Out of Your Proper Place?"  Our proper place before the advent of the Knowledge of good and evil was in innocent, trusting relationship and fellowship with God. 

Anything that is not in its proper place is "Lost" whether it's our house keys or the created children of God.  The true spirit of worship was distorted and disfigured by our Sin and our Shame.  We hide ourselves from God because we see our wretchedness.  We have cut ourselves off from God because of our shame.  We experience the poverty of spirit because we flee the pleasure of God's presence that can only be known in the fellowship of "Worship".

Worship Restored in Christ

Hebrews 10:19-25 tells us, "And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. 20 By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. 21 And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, 22 let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water."

It is by the Sacrifice of our Elder Brother and Lord, Jesus Christ that true worship has been restored.  Our shame has been handled and we can present ourselves to the Father in worship free from the shame and guilt of our sin.  God delights in our Faith and Trust in Him as we stand before Him experiencing the blessings only available in relationship and fellowship with Him. 

In worship we are present with God as Adam and Even were in the Garden.  Innocent and naked before God.  What is the purpose of our Worship?  By worship we say, "We fully Trust God."  By worship we express our Faith in God and we benefit because we experience the blessing of His Presence and the motivation to service and the encouragement of other beloved believers in the assembly of worship.  We worship because we are blessed to do so in "Spirit and in Truth".

^"23 Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. 24 Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. 25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near."

Worship is not the Act of assembling, but an Act of Faith.  The act of assembling, of drawing close together and touching and agreeing upon the same thing represent  the Spirit of Love, Relationship and Fellowship we first experienced in the Garden, lost in our rebellion and regained in Christ's obedience.

The Scripture further records that God sent His Word to dwell in the midst of humanity in the bodily form of the man, Jesus.  Finally, His Word has been given to us in written form and canonized into one book which forms The Book, “The Bible”.   It is important to note that the physical pages, ink and cover of a Bible are not holy.  While the power of God resides in the recorded word, we must resist the temptation to exalt the physical book which we hold in our hands.  We must take care not to make an idol of the printed text we call the Bible. 

Seeing the Big Picture in Scripture

If we step back from the pages of the Bible and look at it with a broad, panoramic view we can see two things particularly occuring within the Bible.  The Bible 1.) points us to our coming Christ who then 2.) points us to The Father.  The Bible is the history of God’s actions in human history to restore His human children in a redeemed relationship to Himself.    If we fail in our understanding of the intent of the Scriptures, then we will miss most of its power. 

The Bible is the point from which our study and meditation departs.  We begin our study in the Bible and we conclude our study by meditating on the wisdom of God we have experienced.  It is through study and meditation that the power of God which resides in the Scriptures is transferred in to our “hearts/minds” and becomes the wisdom out of which we live.  Once the Wisdom of God enters our “KEEP”, it becomes the source of the issues of our life. (See Proverbs 4:23.)

We must study the Word of God as part of our discipline as followers of Christ because we cannot know the Will of God unless and until we have studied His Word to discover it.  Even our prayer will be impotent.  The responses we believe that we have received will be in question if we have not studied the Word of God to know first, His voice, and second, His Will.  ESSENTIAL POINT:  There are some things that God will not say in response to your prayer. 

We have all heard people say, “I prayed about it…and God told me…”  We cannot trust this response unless we can see in it the Will and Way of God as expressed in Scripture.  God tells us this in Romans 12:2.  God says,

“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”  KJV

The New Living Translation interprets this passage of scripture in the following way. 

“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”

Clearly, we are transformed by the renewal of our thoughts.  The only means by which our thoughts can be renewed is through Study and Meditation upon the wisdom we receive in study. The renewed minds of the disciple will seek the Will of God in prayer and will be able to distinguish the voice of God in response to the prayer from their own inner thoughts. 

Just as a “false-positive” pregnancy test suggests that a woman is pregnant when in fact she is not, people often pray and hear their own voice in response.  The voice confirms our heart’s desire, which may not in actuality be the Will of God for us.  The result is that we decry the actual voice of God because it competes with our inner voice. We experience false-positives in our prayer because we have not invested in the Study and Meditation necessary to distinguish between God’s voice and our selfish inner thoughts.

No Idols Allowed

God says of humanity and our incessant desire for idols,

“The whole human race is foolish and has no knowledge! The craftsmen are disgraced by the idols they make, for their carefully shaped works are a fraud. These idols have no breath or power.  Idols are worthless; they are ridiculous lies!”  Jeremiah 51:17&18 (NLT)

Today, sex is worshipped, money & conspicuous consumption are worshipped, and “star-powered” personality is worshipped.  The demands of these idolatrous religions are heavy, their burdens are not light.  They are exacting task masters who promise pleasure, but in fact only offer dulled, numbed senses and bondage to the Flesh. 

These godish idols like those of Biblical History are mere fabrications of the depraved human imagination.  We possess the beautiful capacity to see what is not, and call it into reality through the vividness of our thoughts.  Our subconscious minds can not distinguish between something experienced in reality and something vividly imagined.  Both the actual experience and the vivid imagination are registered as memories. 

And so, we create gods wherever we desire, on the stage, in the pulpit, in public office, in our bank accounts.  Our weakness and our strength are found in the Living God’s gift of creative imagination.  Both Faith and Fear find their power in this gift.  Worship and praise of the Only True and Living God as well as the false gods, the inanimate idols is seated in the power of our imagination, our creative ability to see. 

John Calvin said of idolatry,

“Man's mind is like a store of idolatry and superstition; so much so that if a man believes his own mind it is certain that he will forsake God and forge some idol in his own brain.”

We must rely upon the truth of God’s Word to maintain the proper perspective. God has given us the power of intellect and the profound gift of creative imagination. We are vessels filled with power, but the power is not our own. (2 Corinthians 4:7).  If we shine, it is because we are reflections of Him and that He is the Light (John 1:4) 

We keep the proper perspective and overcome contemporary idolatry by, “keeping our eyes on Jesus on whom our faith depends from start to finish.”

“It exposes us for what we really are.”  Verse 13 picks up and says, “Nothing in all creation can hide from Him.  Everything is Naked and exposed before His eyes.  This is the God to whom we must explain all that we have done.”  

We are already exposed.  We don’t have to hide behind our masks and become less than we really are in Christ Jesus.  The illusion of righteousness through good behavior must be replaced and supplanted through righteous submission to the truth about Jesus and by the Grace of God that leads us to Love and serve more completely.  We are already exposed for who we are and none of us can hide. 

This is true even though we won’t openly admit our depravity and our sickness, and many of us wear an illusory mask of righteousness that only shrouds our conflicted spirit from the casual glance of the fellow disciples.  God sees the real, true you, the conflicted deeply troubled you, who at some levels hates yourself, and other levels doesn't know what to do with this God-thing that you feel so drawn to. 

The Good News Is …

The truly good news is We have a High Priest in Jesus Christ.  God clarifies verses 12 &13 with the verses that follow and close out this chapter.  

14 “That is why we have a great High Priest who has gone to heaven, Jesus the Son of God. Let us cling to him and never stop trusting him. 15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same temptations we do, yet he did not sin. 16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it.”

We languish in spiritual poverty because we don’t want to submit to the surgery performed by the Living Word of God upon our lives.  We try to become righteous by "living right," "attending church" and "paying" our Tithes and Offerings.  The reality is that we cannot become righteous by any means other than acknowledging, who we are under the penetrating light of God’s Life-Giving Word and trusting in Jesus Christ to intercede on our behalf.  Trusting Jesus is the source of our Righteousness.  Embodied in our trust is a mandate to be obedient and to follow the model of behavior and to adopt the attitude of meekness and humbleness we see in Jesus.

We are called to do this not because we will appear righteous, but because of our Love and Trust in Jesus.  Our Love of Christ and Trust in Christ are the pure Intents of the Heart that the Scripture penetrates our hearts to find. In the final analysis we must answer the question of ourselves, what were and what are the intents of my Heart?  Only then can we begin the wholesale destruction of the illusion of our personal righteousness.

“In Him was Life; and the Life was the light of men.” 

 What we find here is that Jesus was both the Word of God and the Life of God at the same time.  John 1:14 says that the Creative Power of God, His

“…Word was made Flesh and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” 

The Word of God is the life and light giving force that God expressed in Creation.  This same creative force was present in Jesus and remains in the substance of the Bible, God’s Word. 

The very power that formed the Universe is present and active in the Word of God for us to read/ingest, study/digest and live/invest.   God’s Word is the source of Power and Life that every person needs to live a truly fulfilled and Empowered life.

What We Don’t Know About God’s Word That’s Killing Us!

It is the truest challenge that demands to be addressed.  It must be addressed because there is so much pain, suffering and strife in this world.  We experience the struggle at the most intimate levels in our homes and neighborhoods.  The reality is that this problem could be overcome if we would engage the LIFE-Giving Force of God’s Word.  The old saying that “What you don’t know can’t hurt you.” is proved wrong by the fact that ignorance is one of, if not the most prolific and effective killers on the planet today. 

The truth is, What you don’t know will almost always hurt you; especially if you need to know it to live healthy and well.  The scripture tells us:

“For the Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12 KJV

This is the beginning of our problem.  Most of us don’t want to be pierced and opened up to the scrutiny of God’s Word even though it promises to heal us and make us whole.  We prefer to remain in our miserable half-life state, because we have grown accustomed to the discomfort and have found some semblance of comfort in it. 

One of the most unique features of God’s creation, the human being, is that we are extremely malleable.  We can adapt to virtually any circumstance, if we live in it long enough.  Why do most disciples steer clear of Bible Studies across the country? Is it because they don’t want to engage the Bible at a deep life-changing level?  

Would a deep penetrating study of God’s Word require the painful removal of destructive habits and life conditions to which we have happily adapted.  It has been said, "People prefer an known hell to an unknown heaven!"  Are we living in a comfortable and familiar “Hell”?

We read in the New Testament letter 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 16 & 17: “16 “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, (teaching*) for reproof, (disciplinary action*) for correction, (corrective measures*) instruction in righteousness (doing what is right and Life-giving*)” KJV

The New Living Translation interprets the same passage as: 16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives.  It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 17 God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.”

If we take this passage of Scripture at face value, then we must conclude certain things about the purpose and value of The Bible for our lives. The King James Translation says that the Bible PROFITABLE. The only reasonable conclusion that we may draw from this statement is that God’s intent and purpose for constructing the Bible for human consumption is to produce a return in the lives of believers. If we fail to experience the benefit and the profit available in Scripture, then the indictment is not upon God or the Scriptures, but upon us. The first point of agreement must be: God gave us the Bible so that the Bible would produce a return in our lives.

What return on investment (ROI) is expected?

God says that the Bible is profitable to teach us, indicating the method by which the Word of God is invested in the heart of the believer. There are many things that people get from their reading and study of God’s Word.

Oftentimes they arrive at seemingly fanciful conclusions that seem more like superstitions than Biblical Truth. Yet there are times when our reading of the Bible is so accurate and so profound that it is as if God had pressed His lips to our ear and whispered His truth to us directly. How can we have such wildly different experiences with the Bible; more importantly, how can we maintain a consistent experience with the Bible that is an accurate, true, truthful and profound reading of the text.

If we hope to arrive at intelligible and accurate conclusions about the Power and Substance of God’s Word, then we must begin with God’s Word to find our answers. God’s Word says about itself the following: “For the Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12 KJV

The Bible is an exacting force that probes the depths of human life and thought and lays it bare before you. To ignore or deny the truth that you see yourself in the pages of the Bible is to refute the authority of the Bible over your life. This attitude is borne out of our naturally rebellious spirit and is the source of our impotence and weakness. What do we make of this passage of scripture and how do we conform to the truth of God’s Word, so that we might enjoy full weight of God’s Graces and Promises while we yet live on earth?

If we look at the Bible and particularly this passage of scripture we will find a series of truths that can and will through our obedience fill us with the Power to live and the strength to endure. Let’s look at this passage in detail. The New Living Translation interprets this passage in the following way: “For the Word of God is full of Living Power. It is sharper than the sharpest knife, cutting deep into our innermost thoughts and desires. It exposes us for what we really are.” Hebrews 4:12 NLT

We have a powerful example in the Lord Jesus Christ as he begins His public ministry. Following the wilderness temptation experience, the Master returns to Nazareth. Luke 4:14 relates what follows,

“Then Jesus returned to Galilee, filled with the Holy Spirit’s power. Soon He became well known throughout the surrounding country. He taught in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. When He came to the village of Nazareth, His boyhood home, He went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the Scriptures. The scroll containing the messages of Isaiah, the prophet was handed to him, and He unrolled the scroll to the place where it says: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for He has appointed me to preach Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that the captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the downtrodden will be freed from their oppressors, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.’ ” He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. Everyone in the synagogue stared at him intently. Then He said, “This Scripture has come true today before your very eyes!”

Examining this passage of scripture as the official announcement of Jesus’ public ministry as it has been called, yields a great many clues as to the meaning and substance of ministry. Why do we find the best clues to ministry here? Simply put, the Church of Jesus Christ is the continuing incarnation of the Living Christ in the world.

We dare not take this statement to lightly. We must not forget that we have this ministry because Jesus Christ has given it to us. 2 Corinthians 5:20 ought to convict us as we think about ministry and the work that the church is engaged in doing. If in reality, everything we do as His Church is as His ambassador, then how can we take lightly His words? Jesus says he was appointed by the Holy Spirit to do works that are life-giving and liberating.  Jesus says His ministry is to:

• Preach Good News To The Poor
• Proclaim Release To Captives
• Make The Blind Will See
• Freedom For the Oppressed

The King James translation translates this passage in the following way.
Jesus says His ministry is to:

• Preach Gospel To The Poor
• Heal The Brokenhearted
• Preach Deliverance To The Captives
• Recovering Of Sight To The Blind
• Liberate Those Who Are Bruised

If we look at these four or five things and examine the ministries of our churches across this nation and world; how many of them would come close to Jesus’ statement as announces His work and objectives to His contemporaries.

We must avoid all temptations to over spiritualize or de-spiritualize, what Jesus is saying here about ministry. Rather than interpret these critical elements of Jesus’ earthly ministry and therefore our continued calling to ministry in a vacuum, we must look for examples in Jesus’ life for each of these and align our works of ministry with the examples we discover in Scripture.

Preach the Gospel to the Poor

For centuries the Christian faith was regarded as the religion of the poor and disconnected masses. In fact, we know that the Faith of Christ is for all who Hear God’s call to Salvation. A large portion of Jesus’ ministry was spent in and among the poor and those who felt disadvantaged by birth, mental or physical handicap.

In order to understand the Christ’s ministry to the Poor, we must first understand what the Gospel or Good News constitutes. Luke 18:18ff relates the experience of the Rich Man with Jesus and the response of the disciples. The disciples’ response to Jesus statement illustrates the need for Good News/Gospel.

In the minds of disciples, wealth and privilege are associated with the blessing of God and poverty and disadvantage are considered the blight of God. The message of Jesus is that neither is true and more importantly, that God in fact favors the poor and disadvantaged. Jesus says, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call sinners to turn from their sins, not to spend time with those who think they are already good enough” Luke 5:31 (NLV) The poor have hope in Jesus Christ because He represents God’s favor and promise to those who have no hope. In Christ the humanly impossible becomes divinely possible. Luke 18:27

“He said to his disciples, “The Harvest is so great, but the workers are so few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest, ask him to send out more workers for his fields.” (NLT)

Yet the words that precede this passage of scripture in the pericope Matthew 9:35-38 tell the true challenge of people in need of ministry. Verse 36 tells us, “He (Jesus) felt great pity for the crowds that came, because their problems were so great and they didn’t know where to go for help. They were like sheep without a shepherd.

The Demand of Ministry has both an intention and an expected outcome. What does God intend to communicate and accomplish with ministry.

The intention of God’s ministry is simply:

To communicate the Love and Grace of God as offered to sin burdened people through faith in Jesus Christ.

Ministry tells the story of Jesus through the lives of the believers in their acts of service. In a very real way disciples are offering themselves as a sacrifice through ministry to God as Jesus Christ offered himself as a ransom for us.

Romans 12: reminds us of this as it tells us:

“I Beseech you therefore, brethren by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service.” (KJV)

God makes plain to us the outcome of ministry in this passage. It is here that we find the power in ministry. Ministry at its best is an act of sacrifice and is therefore an act of worship.

All of this is designed to help us understand the value of and the power of serving in ministry. We must not fail to remember that each of us is called to ministry and that it is part and parcel of what we do and who we are as disciples.

“And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and has committed unto us this word of reconciliation. Now we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. 2 Corinthians 5:18-20 (KJV).

There is much confusion about the work of ministry in the church and therefore, there is little real effective ministry being done in most churches. Remember that confusion creates paralysis or impetus activity. James 3:16 tells us that where we find confusion we also find its parents, Jealousy/Envying and Selfish Ambition/Strife.

The confusion is caused by an incomplete understanding of Biblical ministry. I am convinced that this grievous condition has been caused by the father of lies himself. We have believed that ministry is only one thing, preaching/pastoring. The Word tells us that ministry extends beyond those two and reaches into areas that we have for years neglected to our detriment.

The goal and purpose of this study is to open the Bible and to rediscover the God’s models of ministry. We want to identify the ministries that God in Christ has placed in the church and seek the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit as we fully implement the full spectrum of ministry that God intended.

Paul provides a list of the members that God has placed in the body of Christ: He says,
“First are apostles,
second are prophets,
third are teachers
then those who do miracles
those who have the gift of healing
those who can help others
those who can get others to work together
those who speak in unknown languages.”

Found in 1 Corinthians 12:28 this list should be the foundation of all church related ministry development. God provides models of ministry throughout His Word and by His Grace we will discover and understand them as we study God’s Word and experience His will in it.

Next: The Roots of Ministry In Scripture