Jesus preached one gospel: The kingdom of God. It wasn’t the gospel of salvation, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, healing, or prosperity. Those are all good, but they are not the gospel. Instead, they are portions of the gospel of the kingdom of God.
Jesus prayed for God’s kingdom to come and His will to be done. Everywhere Jesus went, He healed the sick, cast out demons, raised the dead, prophesied, and lived a life of signs and wonders confirming the Truth being preached. Jesus is the unchanging Word. Holy Spirit is the action confirming the Word. When we receive the fullness of God, we are empowered to speak the Word and, in faith, confirm the Word through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Advancing the kingdom requires faith. Don’t think of faith as a noun. In the kingdom, faith is more like a verb. We are to pray in faith. Faith requires action. Without faith it is impossible to please God. Jesus never commissioned anyone to preach the gospel of the kingdom without telling them to heal the sick.
Healing is a representation of the finished work of the cross. We are free from sickness as we are free from sin. It doesn’t mean we don’t sin (verb) but Jesus became sin (noun) when He died on the cross. When He was resurrected, sin did not come alive again. Sickness did not come back to life. By His stripes we were healed. Faith reaches into that moment and retrieves the healing available. We are free because the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead has filled us without limit.
The kingdom of God is righteousness, joy, and peace in the Holy Ghost. The kingdom isn’t warfare, striving, begging, wailing, impoverished or burdened. When Jesus said seek first the kingdom of God and all His righteousness, He was putting a double emphasis on righteousness. We are now the righteousness of God in Christ, not by our works, but by His grace. Jesus is righteousness. He is the king. The kingdom isn’t a means of gaining control or influence over people. The kingdom is Jesus and the kingdom lives inside of you: a temple without sin, sickness, pain, infirmity, addiction or transgression. In the kingdom you are free. As you go, preach the kingdom, heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons, and cleanse the lepers. Freely you have received, now freely give.
No comments:
Post a Comment