From the instructions
that Jesus gave to His disciples we see two things that He told them to do.
a)
To preach the gospel of the Kingdom of God.
The gospel is good news.
It is the good news of the Kingdom of God. It is the good news that the Kingdom
of God has come. It is good news about what Jesus has already accomplished at
the Cross. It is not a message about what God is going to do or what He is
planning to do. It is good news about what He has already done and is finished.
It is not in the future. It is in the past and is our present. It is about what
is available to us now.
b)
To minister to people’s needs.
The second part of the
commission was to minister to people’s needs. It is not enough to tell people
about the good news of the Kingdom of heaven. It is not enough to get people
‘saved’ so that they can go to heaven. We also have a mandate to demonstrate
the arrival of the Kingdom now. And the way we do this is by healing their
sicknesses, cleansing the lepers, raising the dead, delivering the oppressed,
mending the broken hearted, blessing the poor and doing good.
This is a twofold
commission. First you preach the god news of the Kingdom of heaven and then you
demonstrate the power of the Kingdom of heaven by meeting the needs of the
people.
Why is it important to preach the gospel first?
Romans10
11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him
shall not be ashamed. 12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the
Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. 13 For
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. 14 How then
shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they
believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a
preacher? 15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written,
How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring
glad tidings of good things! 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For
Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? 17 So then faith cometh by
hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
It is the hearing of the
good news that produces faith in people’s hearts. When people hear the good
news of what Jesus has accomplished for them at the Cross. When they hear about
the love of God that was shown in the fact that He gave His only beloved Son to
die for us. When people hear that Jesus has become their righteousness and that
in Him they qualify for all the promises and blessings of God without having to
earn them, their faith arises.
Acts14
8 And in Lystra a certain man without strength in his
feet was sitting, a cripple from his mother's womb, who had never walked. 9
This man heard Paul speaking. Paul, observing him intently and seeing that he
had faith to be healed, 10 said with a loud voice, "Stand up straight on
your feet!" And he leaped and walked.
Here we see an example of
how the gospel brings faith. As Paul was preaching this crippled man heard the
good news of the Kingdom of God and believed it. Paul looked at him and
perceived that this man was receiving the good news and had faith to be healed.
So he went ahead and ministered to him personally. He commanded him with a loud
voice to stand up straight and the miracle happened there and then.
The signs had followed
those who believe in the name of Jesus. Just as Jesus had promised they would.
This is the same method
that Jesus employed. He preached the good news of the Kingdom, the people
believed, and then He healed the sick and did mighty miracles, signs and
wonders.
In fact, there are only
fourteen individual healings that Jesus did recorded in the bible. Of course
when you read they sound a lot more than just fourteen but that is because they
were recorded many times throughout the four gospels. And also there are
several times when He healed multitudes.
Those we cannot establish how many got
healed. But on individual basis we can count fourteen.
Now out of those
fourteen, we find that in nine of them Jesus told those people that their faith
that would bring about or had brought about their healing. They would come to
Him and He would ask them to believe in Him, He would ask them if they believed
He could do it, He would tell them to have faith in God, or He would tell them
that their faith had them whole.
It wasn’t magic. He did
not have magic hands. He did not have a special anointing, He didn’t have a
healing anointing, a miracle anointing, a deliverance anointing or anything
special as many preachers claim to have today. Which is nonsense.
Jesus formula was simple.
He preached the good news of the Kingdom, people believed it and received the
faith that comes with hearing the good news (Romans10:17). Then He ministered
to them by laying His hands on them and touching them. This released the power
of the Holy Spirit in Him and healed the people who believed. It was that
simple. And it is the same with us today.
Another way of saying
this is that the majority of miracles in Jesus’ ministry were a result of
faith. And not His faith, but the people’s faith. He simply shared the good
news with them, they heard it, believed it and then were able to receive the
miracles and healings they needed because faith had come by hearing the good
news.
In fact, where the people
did not receive His message like in Nazareth His home town where they rejected
Him because they knew Him as the carpenter, He couldn’t do much for them.
Mark6
5 Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He
laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6 And He marveled because
of their unbelief. Then He went about the villages in a circuit, teaching.
The Gospel answers the most important question people
have
The number one question
that people have when it comes to receiving from God whether it is a miracle,
healing, wholeness, provision, deliverance etc. is this;
Am I qualified? Will God
really do it for me?
We struggle with
qualification. We don’t believe that we deserve God’s best. We don’t believe
that we are worthy of good. We expect God to reject us. To disqualify us. To
hurt us or be indifferent to us. We feel that we are not good enough
And the reason we think
and feel like this is because of righteousness. Righteousness is the most
fundamental and most important issue of the heart. Everything else comes back
to this issue. And God has solved this issue once and for all through Jesus.
Colossians 1
12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to
be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13 He has delivered
us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of
His love
Father has qualified us
to be partakers of His inheritance. He has already done it. It is past tense.
We are qualified to receive God’s best. I am qualified. You are qualified. If
you are in Jesus, if you have believed on the Lord Jesus, you qualify. Father
has already qualified you. He Himself is the one who has done it. It isn’t you.
It is Him who has made us righteous. That is why the Bible calls this
righteousness the righteousness of God. It is His righteousness. Not ours. Our
job is simply to believe it and receive it.
Romans 1
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for
it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew
first and also for the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed
from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by
faith."
This is why the gospel is
so powerful. It produces salvation (safety, wholeness, wellness, deliverance,
healing, and prosperity) in all who believe it. And the way the gospel produces
this salvation is by revealing and showing the righteousness of God for all who
believe.
Another way of saying
this is that the gospel shows people that they qualify for God’s best. It shows
people that God has already made available to them whatever they need because
of Jesus. The gospel shows people that healing is already theirs, deliverance
is already theirs, success is already theirs, wholeness is already theirs,
safety is already theirs and that all they have to do is believe and receive
what God has already done.
And when people hear the
gospel and believe it, it will answer their most important question. They will
know that they are qualified in Jesus.
Once a person believes
that they are qualified in Jesus, they can receive anything they want or need
from God. the faith they need to receive whatever they need will be present in
their heart.
That is when laying of
hands is done. We lay hands on people because they believe and have faith to
receive what they want or need. We lay hands to release the power of God that
is always available because we have the Holy Spirit in us and upon us.
In that moment, the faith
in their heart allows the grace of God to come alive in them and empower them
to experience and walk in the healing, wholeness and prosperity of God.
1Timothy 5:22 tells us to
‘Lay hands suddenly on no man’
Do not be quick to lay
hands on people and to pray for people. First share the good news. First build
up their faith. Give them the opportunity to see for themselves that they are
qualified in Jesus for whatever they need. Allow them to connect to the grace
of God that is available to them. Let them receive faith by hearing the good
news. Once they do, lay hands on them and they will receive their miracle.
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