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Vol. 13 / Issue 4 / August 6 2009
Contents of this issue
1Cor 12:28, "And God has set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues."Next ministry is of governments. When we think about government we understand that the government is for the welfare of people. There are different departments and different people working in different departments. They make plans, they put funds and they implement their plans so that it could directly benefit the people of the land. God has also ordained the ministry of governments in the Church so that the body of Christ could be benefited by these ministries. When God appeared to Paul in a vision on his way to Damascus, God said to him that He will make him a minister of the Gospel. Act 26:16, "But rise and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you." I believe that Paul's ministry was drastically different from many of the Pastors we see today. What was Paul's ministry after all? In Rom 15:15-20 he says, "Nevertheless, brethren, I have written more boldly to you on some points, as reminding you, because of the grace given to me by God, that I might be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Therefore I have reason to glory in Christ Jesus in the things which pertain to God. For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ has not accomplished through me, in word and deed, to make the Gentiles obedient-- in mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and round about to Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. And so I have made it my aim to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build on another man's foundation." In these verses we can see an outline of Paul's ministry. He preached the Gospel to the gentiles with signs and wonders, he made the Gentiles to obey on the living God and preached in those places where Jesus' name had not reached. Because of his preaching many turned to Christ, many repented from their sins and found eternal life. Though he suffered much for the sake of Christ yet he was very much zealous to take the Gospel to the un-reached and to those who had never heard about the forgiveness of sin through the shed blood of Jesus.In the first Church there was not only a spiritual ministry but also a ministry to take care of the physical needs of the people. We read about this ministry in the book of Acts 6th chapter. When the need arouse to feed the needy they chose Stephen and others to serve them. We read in Act 6:5, "And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch." Stephen was full of faith and of the Holy Ghost so did his companions. One side God used them mightily with signs and wonders and on the other side they served tables for those who were in need.Yes, God appointed these ministries in the Church and the ministry of Government was one of these ministries. These church ministries were ordained for the welfare and blessings of the people. But most of the churches have abandoned these ministries while it should have been an important ministry of the Church. Do our churches really care for people who have spiritual and physical needs? But look at the first Church they had answer for the spiritual and physical needs of people.
As we have seen from the last two weeks, poverty is in no way a blessing and in no way the grace of God but is a Curse. Many believe that Jesus and His disciples lived in utter poverty but if we read the Bible carefully we understand that they were not poor.Jesus was not poor but He had a treasurer who took care of His money. Jhn 12:6, "This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it." If Jesus was poor, why He needed a treasurer? Jesus traveled extensively in Israel. How He met all the expanses of traveling if He was poor? The disciples of Jesus owned boats which are like owning a car in these days. We read in Luke 5:3, "Then He got into one of the boats, which was Simon's, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat." Then we also read that when Jesus called His disciples James and John, sons of Zebedee, they left their father and the hired servants in the boat and went after Jesus as we read in Mar 1:19, "When He had gone a little farther from there, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the boat mending their nets. And immediately He called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went after Him."You can see that Simon Peter owned boat(s) and that the other disciples were also from a wealthy background who could afford to have hired servants in their establishment.Not only that, when Jesus was crucified, the soldiers divided His garments among them. We read in Mar 15:24, "And when they crucified Him, they divided His garments, casting lots for them to determine what every man should take." If His garments were not costly why anybody wanted to have them? When Jesus was gone and when Church was founded, they lacked nothing as we read in Act 4:34, "Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold,"Then we read about Paul and Peter that they traveled to many places. For all those travel expanses from where money came? Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 2:9, For you remember, brethren, our labor and toil; for laboring night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, we preached to you the gospel of God. Also in 2 Thessalonians 3:8, nor did we eat anyone's bread free of charge, but worked with labor and toil night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, Paul worked himself and paid for his expanses. He was not poor but he had enough to pay for all his travel expanses. Now read what Jesus said about having food, clothing and essential things of life in Mat 6:25-31, "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'Human life is valuable more than the grass of the field and more valuable than the birds of the air and if God cares for them, He will care for us more than them.
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As the Bible says in Ezekiel 22:30 "So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it." And also the Bible says in Numbers 16:48, "And he (Aaron) stood between the dead and the living; so the plague was stopped." We have fasting prayer every second Tuesday of each month. Our next fasting prayer meeting will be conducted on 8th May. 2012
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