"8 Characteristics of the Gospel Ministry" From the Book of 2 Corinthians 2: 14 THROUGH 6:10
In the Book of 2 Corinthians, Paul addresses the “New Covenant” and gives detail description and purpose of the gospel ministry by showing us in his letter written to the Church of Corinth from Chapters 2:14 to Chapter 6:10 the relevance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Not only is it the power of God unto salvation…to everyone that believes it… but the gospel is just as relevant today as it was during Paul's time. Paul shared "8 truths" concerning a God ordained ministry that continue to shape the church es in today's society.
1. The Gospel Ministry is a “New Covenant Ministry” whose flagship statement is 2 Corinthians 5:17: "Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new". The Ministry is triumphant in Christ. That’s why Paul said in Chapter 2:14: Thanks be unto God which causes us to triumph in Christ and make manifest the savor of His knowledge of us in every place…
2. The Gospel ministry is an “accredited ministry”…”Accredited” because it is God that causes the preacher who answered the call and dedicate themselves to Christ and the ministry to succeed whenever the Gospel is preached. …Let me tell you something… Gospel preaching has never failed to convert a “repentant” sinner to salvation …God made man a “free moral agent” with the power to make his own choices… ”Rejection” of the gospel on our part does not make the Gospel message a failure….We fail if we refuse to heed the Gospel…that ole traditional saying is oh so true…Jacob will not lose his reward if Israel refuses to hear …If anyone goes to hell….it was their choice and it’s because they "rejected Jesus"…
The reason you and I live according to the Gospel is we heard the voice of Jesus say…come unto Him and rest….Lay down thy weary one lay down….your head upon my breast…And guess what….We came to Jesus….just as we were….weary… wounded…and sad…and we found in HIM a resting place…and HE had made us glad…Now…I feel the same way Paul does….I’m not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ… for it is the power of God…unto salvation…to everyone that believes it…It was preached to the Jews first…but a sad thing happened…John tells us in John 1:11: He…I’m talking about Jesus….came to His own…the Jews.. and as a nation and HIS chosen people….they received HIM not…but and the fact that you and I are saved is concrete evidence of the ministry’s accreditation….because as many of us that did receive Him…whether Jew of Gentile….HE gave power to become the sons of God….even unto them that called upon His name…
3. The Ministry is “spiritual and glorious, not “legalistic”…It’s spiritual and glorious because as ministers of the New Testament and of the New Covenant that’s in Christ Jesus, we are not driven by the letter….we are driven by the Holy Spirit. Paul said the "letter of the Law"… is "a killer", but the "Holy Spirit" gives life…As glorious as the Law is and it is glorious, because the Law came from the righteousness of God and in its truest sense being God’s code of conduct to man…cannot be abolished… .but that glorious Law gave way to something even more glorious..It gave way to the living “Lawgiver” Jesus Christ who said: I came not to destroy the Law but fulfilled it, and by fulfilling it in love…HE left us 2 “Love Laws by which all the Law and the prophets hang upon. The Love we must have for God and the love we must show toward our fellow man…
4. The Ministry (that came from God) is "honest and not deceitful". Paul said the reason this is so because it is revealed through the preaching of the gospel, that we obtained mercy from God, and in God granting mercy, Paul said as sincere ministers, we have renounced or distanced ourselves from the "hidden things" of dishonesty. We are to refuse to walk in craftiness…nor handle the Word of God in a deceitful manner, but by the manifestation of the truth, we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience. Remember, we don’t preach ourselves, we preach Jesus Christ. the Lord. We preach Christ because it is in Jesus Christ that God commanded the light to shine out of darkness.
5. The ministry is a "ministry of suffering"…Paul said we are always bearing "the dying" of the Lord Jesus in our bodies so the life of Jesus might be made manifest in our bodies. The songwriter Vickie Wymans said it this way: we are lied on….cheated...talked about….mistreated…we are buked…scorned…talked about as sure as you’re born….We’re up….we’re down…almost leveled to the grown but long we got King Jesus….don’t need nobody else…
6. The Ministry is “ambitious”. It’s “ambitious” because one day we have both a “death date” and a “court date”…Paul said For we know if our earthly house…this physical tabernacle were dissolved ....and it will dissolve….we have another building…a house of God …not made with hands…and eternal in the heavens. We all have an appointment with death….unless we happen to be alive when the rapture takes place. And we’re changed in the moment and a twinkling of an eye….Like it or not…this is not our permanent home…This physical flesh of bones, tendons, sinews… water …muscles…mucus… blood and skin will one day decompose and return to dust…. Lord said: from dust thou art and from dust we will return ….but…as children of the Most High God…we also have a “court date”. We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that everyone may receive the things done in their bodies…based on what they did in these bodies …whether it was good or bad. That day will be known asI: the Believers Award’s Day Ceremony…Our trophies and ribbons will be handed out…Some of us will have a little ….some of us will have a lot…but all of us will be saved…who have been washed in the blood of the Lamb…The Pastor and I are ambitious…that you get the “Jesus message” of the Gospel… as ministers of the Gospel…we ‘re called to compel you to read it ….take heed to it…..live your lives by it….and go somewhere and share it with somebody else….
7. The Ministry has a "primary motive": The "motive" of the Gospel ministry is to persuade men…to compel them to come into the sheep fold…to understand that the purpose of preaching the Word of God and having the living testimony of Jesus Christ is to tell a sin-sick dying world that Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation… Tell them that Jesus died for us all that we might have hope and a right to the tree of life. And because HE did for us all…we should no longer seek to live for ourselves, but strive to live a "Jesus filled" life, to become ambassadors for Christ, to understand what a songwriter once wrote: that "a charge" to keep we have….a God to glorify….who gave His Son….our souls to save and fit it for the sky… Yes…we got to serve…this present age our calling to fulfill….Oh…made it all…our power engaged….to do Our Master’s will"…
8. The Ministry is “supernatural”…Jesus founded the church….Jesus said: Upon this rock…I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it…Paul said : “Called preachers” work together with Christ and we plead with you that you have not received the grace of God in vain... In other words…that you don’t profess one thing…. but live another…saying that you belong to Jesus but live in a way that diametrically opposite of your profession of faith. This ministry calling is holy and divine and must be treated as such. Satan is going to go out of his way to derail your part of this mission and will present many temptations and challenges to you in his feeble attempt to foil God's overall plan for the world and people. Know that whatever he attacks you with and whatever angle he attacks you from, God can and will deliver you from and out of each and every one of them. Jude 24-25 putit this way: "Now unto HIM that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before His presence with exceeding joy. To the only wise God our Savior be GLORY AND MAJESTY...DOMINION AND POWER BOTH NOW AND EVER...AMEN...
Dr. William Edward Boddie
1. The Gospel Ministry is a “New Covenant Ministry” whose flagship statement is 2 Corinthians 5:17: "Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new". The Ministry is triumphant in Christ. That’s why Paul said in Chapter 2:14: Thanks be unto God which causes us to triumph in Christ and make manifest the savor of His knowledge of us in every place…
2. The Gospel ministry is an “accredited ministry”…”Accredited” because it is God that causes the preacher who answered the call and dedicate themselves to Christ and the ministry to succeed whenever the Gospel is preached. …Let me tell you something… Gospel preaching has never failed to convert a “repentant” sinner to salvation …God made man a “free moral agent” with the power to make his own choices… ”Rejection” of the gospel on our part does not make the Gospel message a failure….We fail if we refuse to heed the Gospel…that ole traditional saying is oh so true…Jacob will not lose his reward if Israel refuses to hear …If anyone goes to hell….it was their choice and it’s because they "rejected Jesus"…
The reason you and I live according to the Gospel is we heard the voice of Jesus say…come unto Him and rest….Lay down thy weary one lay down….your head upon my breast…And guess what….We came to Jesus….just as we were….weary… wounded…and sad…and we found in HIM a resting place…and HE had made us glad…Now…I feel the same way Paul does….I’m not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ… for it is the power of God…unto salvation…to everyone that believes it…It was preached to the Jews first…but a sad thing happened…John tells us in John 1:11: He…I’m talking about Jesus….came to His own…the Jews.. and as a nation and HIS chosen people….they received HIM not…but and the fact that you and I are saved is concrete evidence of the ministry’s accreditation….because as many of us that did receive Him…whether Jew of Gentile….HE gave power to become the sons of God….even unto them that called upon His name…
3. The Ministry is “spiritual and glorious, not “legalistic”…It’s spiritual and glorious because as ministers of the New Testament and of the New Covenant that’s in Christ Jesus, we are not driven by the letter….we are driven by the Holy Spirit. Paul said the "letter of the Law"… is "a killer", but the "Holy Spirit" gives life…As glorious as the Law is and it is glorious, because the Law came from the righteousness of God and in its truest sense being God’s code of conduct to man…cannot be abolished… .but that glorious Law gave way to something even more glorious..It gave way to the living “Lawgiver” Jesus Christ who said: I came not to destroy the Law but fulfilled it, and by fulfilling it in love…HE left us 2 “Love Laws by which all the Law and the prophets hang upon. The Love we must have for God and the love we must show toward our fellow man…
4. The Ministry (that came from God) is "honest and not deceitful". Paul said the reason this is so because it is revealed through the preaching of the gospel, that we obtained mercy from God, and in God granting mercy, Paul said as sincere ministers, we have renounced or distanced ourselves from the "hidden things" of dishonesty. We are to refuse to walk in craftiness…nor handle the Word of God in a deceitful manner, but by the manifestation of the truth, we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience. Remember, we don’t preach ourselves, we preach Jesus Christ. the Lord. We preach Christ because it is in Jesus Christ that God commanded the light to shine out of darkness.
5. The ministry is a "ministry of suffering"…Paul said we are always bearing "the dying" of the Lord Jesus in our bodies so the life of Jesus might be made manifest in our bodies. The songwriter Vickie Wymans said it this way: we are lied on….cheated...talked about….mistreated…we are buked…scorned…talked about as sure as you’re born….We’re up….we’re down…almost leveled to the grown but long we got King Jesus….don’t need nobody else…
6. The Ministry is “ambitious”. It’s “ambitious” because one day we have both a “death date” and a “court date”…Paul said For we know if our earthly house…this physical tabernacle were dissolved ....and it will dissolve….we have another building…a house of God …not made with hands…and eternal in the heavens. We all have an appointment with death….unless we happen to be alive when the rapture takes place. And we’re changed in the moment and a twinkling of an eye….Like it or not…this is not our permanent home…This physical flesh of bones, tendons, sinews… water …muscles…mucus… blood and skin will one day decompose and return to dust…. Lord said: from dust thou art and from dust we will return ….but…as children of the Most High God…we also have a “court date”. We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that everyone may receive the things done in their bodies…based on what they did in these bodies …whether it was good or bad. That day will be known asI: the Believers Award’s Day Ceremony…Our trophies and ribbons will be handed out…Some of us will have a little ….some of us will have a lot…but all of us will be saved…who have been washed in the blood of the Lamb…The Pastor and I are ambitious…that you get the “Jesus message” of the Gospel… as ministers of the Gospel…we ‘re called to compel you to read it ….take heed to it…..live your lives by it….and go somewhere and share it with somebody else….
7. The Ministry has a "primary motive": The "motive" of the Gospel ministry is to persuade men…to compel them to come into the sheep fold…to understand that the purpose of preaching the Word of God and having the living testimony of Jesus Christ is to tell a sin-sick dying world that Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation… Tell them that Jesus died for us all that we might have hope and a right to the tree of life. And because HE did for us all…we should no longer seek to live for ourselves, but strive to live a "Jesus filled" life, to become ambassadors for Christ, to understand what a songwriter once wrote: that "a charge" to keep we have….a God to glorify….who gave His Son….our souls to save and fit it for the sky… Yes…we got to serve…this present age our calling to fulfill….Oh…made it all…our power engaged….to do Our Master’s will"…
8. The Ministry is “supernatural”…Jesus founded the church….Jesus said: Upon this rock…I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it…Paul said : “Called preachers” work together with Christ and we plead with you that you have not received the grace of God in vain... In other words…that you don’t profess one thing…. but live another…saying that you belong to Jesus but live in a way that diametrically opposite of your profession of faith. This ministry calling is holy and divine and must be treated as such. Satan is going to go out of his way to derail your part of this mission and will present many temptations and challenges to you in his feeble attempt to foil God's overall plan for the world and people. Know that whatever he attacks you with and whatever angle he attacks you from, God can and will deliver you from and out of each and every one of them. Jude 24-25 putit this way: "Now unto HIM that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before His presence with exceeding joy. To the only wise God our Savior be GLORY AND MAJESTY...DOMINION AND POWER BOTH NOW AND EVER...AMEN...
Dr. William Edward Boddie
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