Holy Boldness

Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. (Matt 10:5, 6) The first campaign of the apostles was to be to the lost sheep of the house of Israel . Jesus came to fulfill the Old Testament promises. God always starts a campaign with a small group of people. That people was Israel. The Jews were the first recipients of the promises of God. The children of Israel were uniquely equipped and chosen to put God’s glory on display before the nations. But Israel as a nation failed to sufficiently understand and implement God’s will for them. Losing understanding they also lost their purpose. Jesus was born as a son of Abraham of the tribe of Judah and was originally commissioned to His own people. He was given a specific and narrow mandate that defined and restricted His activity and Jesus submit ted to that mandate. On a couple of occasions, Jesus initially refused to minister to Gentiles who were seeking His help. This was based on the restriction of His mandate. Here is a critical key to God’s authority. A person must go where he or she is sent. The apostles were commissioned to a certain place and sphere. They were not given all authority but a designated authority . “And as you go preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.”’ (Matt. 10:11) Jesus gave the apostles as their primary mandate the preaching of the kingdom of God. There is no way to estimate the significance of this message. The church for many centuries completely lost this emphasis of Jesus. Concentrating primarily on Paul’s message of salvation by faith, instead of Jesus’ message of the Kingdom, many scholars commenting on the apostolic letters of the New Testament misunderstood their basic meaning because they overlooked or misunderstood the context of Jesus’ preaching. Nothing in the New Testament can be accurately understood apart from Jesus’ message! The message of the Kingdom of God was and is the critical topic of the Gospel. The kingdom message announces the presence, influence, and governance of God on the earth. It declares emphatically that God’s will governs the affairs of men and that divine justice is the backdrop of history. It is an astounding declaration. God’s involvement in the earth changes everything.

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