5 Smooth Stones

Chapter Eighteen

THE GIFT OF THE EVANGELIST

W hen Jesus came on the scene in public ministry he was preaching the Kingdom of God. He said, “The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time the kingdom of God has been preached...” (Luke 16:16). History and the bible record the amazing e ff ect that His preaching had wherever He went. “The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them.” (Ma tt hew 11:5). The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus wrote, “About this time lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man. For he was the achiever of extraordinary deeds and was a teacher of those who accept the truth gladly. He won over many Jews and many of the Greeks. He was the Messiah.” (Antiquities 18:63). The Arabic translation of this section says, “And those who had become his disciples did not abandon his discipleship. They reported that he had appeared to them after his cruci fi xion and that he was alive; accordingly, he was perhaps the Messiah concerning whom the prophets have recounted wonders.” Jesus was the most extraordinary man who ever lived and His preaching brought about profound e ff ects where ever He went. The results that followed His preaching were signs, wonders, healings, cures, and great joy wherever he went and preached the gospel of the Kingdom. On His fi rst day of public ministry in the Synagogue in Nazareth Jesus stood and read from the scriptures in Isaiah 61:1, 2a, publicly declaring his ministry saying, “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD” (Luke 4:18, 19). Luke 4:16 “So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was wri tt en: 18 The Spirit

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