The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. Luk4:18-21
How did Jesus read this scripture that day that called for attention? Everybody knew someone was reading something quite different from the way it’s been read. They read scriptures everyday probably someone had read that same portion before yet Jesus read it there was immediate attention.
Any grace teaching that do not call the attention of men both physically and spiritually to Jesus is fake. Their eyes were fastened on him i.e there was an immediate turn around in their focus, a supernatural deliverance took place in their physical connection. Tongues… tongues… tongues…
All this grace teachings that is decaying lives, removing the consciousness of men in their walk with the Lord, bringing lukewarm in their spiritual lives is not the grace delivered unto us at first.
The great mystery of grace is the supernatural revelation of Jesus that breaks down the works of flesh in men on daily basics until they be made like Jesus. Until then can you quote this scripture: looking unto Jesus the author and the finisher of our faith. This is not a confessional scripture it is a professional scripture i.e an activity or a proof of a daily encounter via a spiritual walk with the Lord. Therefore very important to know the difference between confessional scriptures and professional scriptures.
When John the Baptist saw this grace (Jesus), he said he must increase, but I must decrease. John 3:30
Presenting the mystery of Grace
When presenting grace it is therefore very important to be careful in our presentations, so that it will not be killing godly principles laid down in the scriptures and also reducing the physical and spiritual focus on men from Jesus. Grace has a physical and spiritual side and if your teachings neglect one for the other then it’s incomplete. We must learn to balance our teachings.
The Word Mystery of Grace
Apostle peter speaking “thou hath the eternal word of life” therefore they couldn’t leave Jesus. What stick men to Jesus is the quality of the words spoken. When the eternal word is absent in any church you see the church employing the world strategies in keeping men in church eg giving comedians slot during Sunday services, bread and tea competition in services etc for Christ sake and when you ask the pastor how is ministry work you hear them say ministry is expensive. When the world strategies are the basics facilitating your ministry it is bound to be expensive. Paying comedians, buying stuffs to amuse men, too much of external song ministers are very expensive indeed since the ministry has no eternal word to keep them. Am a socio pastor also, there are times for that but world influences are too much in churches. What Jesus asked us to do is to preached word with our mouth, it was you and I that desire big auditorium, expensive chairs, television and radio programmes, internet facilities etc if it’s needful in your ministry the master will surely provide without a drop from your pocket but mostly ministry becomes expensive when you run it from your own finances. To young ministers if Jesus called you he will give resources for your startup, learn to live within these resources because any attempt to go beyond these resources will make life difficult for you. Learn to live by resources given, don’t desire fame in a rush.
So Apostle peter spoke “It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables Act6:2.” We are called into laboring in the word of God for an effective stabilization of flocks, and ofcourse table issues comes as the church increases. But have said it over and over again that nothing reduces the effectiveness of the grace of our Lord Jesus in churches today like building the faith of men on mere knowledge with decaying power of Gospel. If that power that enforces the knowledge in men for productivity is missing then our labour becomes futile. That power has been eaten up by moth and locust in many preachers unknowingly, so the grace teaching is ineffective in the life of men.
Hereafter I will not talk much with you; for the prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me. John 14:30 Jesus had to reduce his talking because his words contain his spirit and the devil is looking for loopholes for sowing the seed of darkness so that during transference of spirit the plantation of the devil goes along with it. Actually when a preacher is faulty or err in the word of truth he suppose to excuse the pulpit for proper purging and come back to continue his work.
Many grace teachings are correct, not really extreme but the issue is the power needed to provoke or bring the reality of the knowledge for the world to see the light of that knowledge is missing.
Except we begin to be conscious of our lifestyles the enemy will plant seeds in us that will reduce the effectiveness of the message. Checking your car engine doesn’t mean you are conscious of accident (sin) it’s a normal precaution for a reasonable driver.
The Soul and the Spirit
There are two places the devil can have possession in humans; the soul and the spirit man. The most dangerous one is the spirit man which is technically difficult to notice or observe and that’s why Heb4:12 is very important in dealing with mistakes and error that might occur in our walk with the Lord.
Please I will continue these series from here. Joseph Sam.
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God bless.
