A verse of scripture that is well known among believers is 2nd Corinthians 5:17, which says “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new”. It is an amazing statement – if we stop even for a few moments to meditate on what it means and the reality that it presents to us, we will be wonderfully amazed. I would imagine that most of us have at the very least one thing in our life that we want to change… and that is exactly what this verse is offering through Jesus Christ.
Even so, most people never see the reality of this in their life – they are still very much entrenched in the old; they are still bound by who they used to be, instead of who they are in Christ Jesus. There are a great many believers still spiritually living in the past, hanging out in the graveyard of what now is dead, instead of living in the newness of life which Jesus brought. So today we will be studying how to live in the present reality which Jesus has brought, and to live in it now without any more delay. If you have been looking for a breakthrough in your life, this study will set you free through Christ today.
Some time ago, I read a book detailing the difficulties in ministry. It highlighted the many challenges people are faced with in sharing their faith, as well as the pitfalls that ordained ministers face in dealing with members of their congregation. These challenges of-course are nothing new… people have always had difficulty sharing their faith with others – whether it is fear of being ridiculed, or just general shyness, or even concern about not being educated well enough to present a good discussion.
These are the concerns that people share with me repeatedly. They genuinely want to be good witnesses for Christ, but they are hindered by their perceived shortcomings – and notice that I said perceived shortcomings. Because the truth, my dear friend, is that the Bible depicts a much better scenario. Like much everything else in the Gospel, man has complicated what God has made simple. We try to inject our own reasoning and self-effort into something which Jesus effortlessly supplies to us. Today in this study, we will be examining how to have an effortlessly ministry supplied by Jesus.
One day someone asked me straight out “what is the ministry of the spirit?” – now this man was a believer, and as embarrassing as it may seem, I hadn't actually considered that there were believers today which did not know what the Bible says about the ministry of the spirit, or even that there has been a change in ministry. So his question caught me a little bit off-guard. Since that time, I've come to realize that the majority of believers also have the same question, unaware that there has been a change in ministry due to Jesus Christ.
This is what we are going to be studying today, seeing the change that has occurred in our ministry. It's important to see this truth for two reasons: first because as ambassadors for Christ, we should know what the message from our King is! And second, this will also help us to distinguish between truth and falsehood in ministry.
We have previously studied how walking uprightly according to the truth is not about performance, but it is about believing rightly the Gospel of Jesus Christ and receiving His righteousness. It is the understanding and acceptance of this truth that enables us to truly live the abundant life in Christ, free from uncertainty, worry and fear. Yet many people are not experiencing this, because for the most part, this truth is not taught in today's culture. We are not hearing the original Gospel that Paul preached and received from the LORD Jesus, and therefore we are not experiencing the same results from the Gospel either.
That's why in this study today, we will be examining what the true Gospel is, and how by believing and receiving the message of truth, we can live the abundant life of Christ as we are meant to.
Did you know that you have a ministry? Whether you are an ordained minister or not, regardless of your age, education, ethnicity or background, a ministry has been given to you, and for you. It is a ministry first and foremost for you to receive personally in your own life, and then it is a ministry to share with others. Many people do not realize that this ministry is for them, assuming that it is only for the super-spiritual or special holy men, but the Bible makes it clear that this ministry is for everyone.
Today in this study, we are going to be examining this ministry; what it is, how we receive it, and then how we are to share it, because even though the Bible says that it is ours, if we do not know that we have it or what it is, it doesn't do us any good.