Friday 6th September 2019 Prayer Devotion
Scripture Reading:- Acts 8:1-13
Topic:- Christ Teaching On The Mount About The Kingdom [5]
Text:- Luke 9:2
C. Preaching The Kingdom Of God:
1. The main assignment that Jesus gave the Church is to preach and teach the Kingdom of God and its righteousness and concentrate on the Apostles’ Doctrine.
2. The Kingdom of God is already with us. But what the Church teaches today are such things as Jesus heals, Jesus provides, Jesus delivers etc. are common in the Churches. YES! This is good but this is not the main assignment that Jesus gave the Church.
3. When Jesus sent His Disciples out to preach as written in Luke 9:1-2. He sent them out to preach and teach the kingdom of God and heal the sick. Then he called his twelve Disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure disease. And he sent them to preach the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick. See Luke 9:1-2.
4. We are therefore commissioned to preach and teach the kingdom of God and heal the sick. That is the commission that He gave us. See Matthew 28:19-20.
5. The totality of Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount was that we should concentrate on getting these divine attributes, which He listed here, then preach and teach the Kingdom of God and its righteousness, (or holiness) and heal the sick.
6. We must concentrate on developing these divine attributes that Jesus mentioned and evangelism to win the souls into the Kingdom. Our focus should be to win souls, heal the sick and make disciples who will have these attributes for the Kingdom. We must teach the principles and their application of these principles of the Kingdom.
The Kingdom message is so important that it was what Jesus preached while He was here on earth as you can see in the followings:
a. Matthew 4:23 says Jesus went about teaching in their synagogues and preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom.
b. Mark 1:14 says Jesus came into the Galilee preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.
c. Luke 4:43 says Jesus said, I must preach the Kingdom of God in other cities also for therefore I am sent.
d. Luke 8:1 says He went about throughout every city and village preaching and showing the glad tidings of the Kingdom of God.
e. Even after He rose from the dead and was around for forty days, He was speaking of things pertaining to the Kingdom as we can see in Acts 1:3.
f. Acts 1:3 says Jesus appeared for forty days after His resurrection speaking of things pertaining to the Kingdom of God. So we can see that the Kingdom of God was the focus.
g. After Jesus left, the disciples also focused themselves on the Kingdom Gospel as we are told that Phillip did in Acts 8:12
h. Acts 8:12 says Phillip was preaching the things concerning the Kingdom of God. Paul also did the same thing in Acts 19:8, Acts 20:25 and Acts 28:31
i. Acts 19:8 says Paul went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for the space of three months disputing and persuading the thing concerning the Kingdom.
j. Acts 20:25 says that Paul said, I have gone preaching the Kingdom of God among you.
k. Acts 28:30-31 says Paul dwelt two years in his own hired house preaching the Kingdom of God and teaching those things, which concern the Lord Jesus Christ. We also ought to concentrate on those things that Jesus and the disciples emphasized.
7. Jesus actually accused and cursed the religious leaders of His time, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, of not preaching nor teaching the principles of the Kingdom of God to the people. Look at what He said in Matthew 23:13.
8. That is what most of the Churches do today. They preach the bread and butter messages to the people but do not preach or teach the Kingdom of Heaven and its Righteousness to the people. They do not teach that we should expect persecution as a result of our righteousness.
9. Preaching the Kingdom of God means to teach the members the laws of the Kingdom, the principles, the government of the Kingdom, the culture of the Kingdom, the dos and don’ts of the Kingdom and the consequences of becoming a citizens of the Kingdom, both the benefits and constraints.
a. For example we must teach the principle of faith, healing by the word and many of the other principles of the Kingdom and their practical applications.
Prayer Point:- Oh Lord God, give me power and grace to be able to obey command in winning souls for You henceforth by fire, in the name of Jesus Christ.
Happy Weekend! www.timogundelejesu.com
