THE MESSAGE PART 3. ONE MESSAGE, different topics and emphasises

THE MESSAGE PART 3. ONE MESSAGE, different topics and emphasises
We have seen so far that Christ is our message. He is the only message.  The scriptures testify about Jesus. What about Jesus? The sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. All these have been explained in the part one and two of this  series. Click here to read part 1 and part 2 if you have not read it.
In this part of the series , we will look at sameness of the message. I have heard people say everyone has his message. Everybody has the voice he is crying. Some are grace preachers. Some law teachers. Some fire shooters.  some motivational speakers.  All from the same Bible. The question is how true is this claim that everyone has his message? The claim that everyone has his message is the beginning of wrong teachings. Instead of being diligent  to know the truth, one just look for a verse of the Bible and starts preaching it as HIS MESSAGE.  The Bible  doesn’t allow anyone  to have his OWN message. The message remains Christ no matter what the topic is.
2 Timothy 3
4  But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;
15  And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
16  All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
17  That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
Notice verse 14 of the above scripture, Paul admonished Timothy to continue in the things that he learnt and he is assured of. One major reason for people’s deviation from the message of Christ is in the bid to sound different and unique. You are already unique in the way you talk and your mannerism.  If you learn a correct message centred on Christ, why try to be different?  Example, you learn you are the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21). You shouldn’t try to be creative by saying you are not really the righteousness of God, you have to do something to be righteous. Notice you don’t do that for other books like any Science text book when you are taught by a teacher. You stick to what you are taught in as much as it is true.
Verses 15 and 16 state the essence of the scriptures. The scripture is able to make you wise unto salvation in Christ. The essence of the scripture is to show you salvation in Christ. This is another way of saying the scriptures teach the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow as we explained in part 2. Notice verse 16 says all scripture is given by the inspiration of God. This talks about the documentation of the scriptures being inspired. We saw in part 1 that everything in the Bible is rightly stated as it was said and done. But, not everything stated is the truth. Animals and even Satan spoke in the Bible.
The profit of the scriptures is in doctrine that is, teaching and explanation. We don’t just make profit with something. Something has to be done for profit to be seen. This was said earlier in 2 Timothy 2 : 15.  15  Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.   Paul admonished Timothy to be diligent to show himself approve rightly dividing the word of truth. To rightly divide as used here means to dissect, to cut through, to excavate. We are to excavate for the word of truth. We are not to innovate or add to it. This is the same way we dig for oil. The oil is already there. The digging is to see it. The truth in Christ is already in the Scriptures. It is even well explained in the epistles. Written in mystery form in Genesis  to Malachi. All we need do is to read and see the explanation of truth already given to us in the epistles. For more on how to rightly  study the Bible click here.
HOW THEN DO WE PREACH SAME MESSAGE DIFFERENT TOPICS AND EMPHASES?
We have seen so far that we don’t have the licence to preach whatever we like. Acts 5: 42  And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.
The apostles preached only Christ. So if you have any topic or emphasis to preach, it must not contradict the sufferings of Christ  and the glory that should follow. It must be in line with the sacrifice of Jesus and who we have become because of that sacrifice.
Example, in teaching forgiveness of sins, it should not contradict with what Jesus has done. In Christ, we have forgiveness of sin. We are told to forgive others because we are forgiven not so that we would be forgiven. Ephesians 4: 32  And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.  This is also stated in Colossians 3:13.  You cannot in a bid to emphasis forgiveness now say that our sins are not forgiven in Christ. So, we forgive others to the degree we are forgiven. It is an unconditional forgiveness we have in Christ. It is the same we show to others.  For detailed explanation of this, study our series on the forgiven ones. Part 1, part  2 and part 3.
When you want to teach power. You must realise that Christ  has been made unto us power via the spirit of Christ in us. You can not now emphasis power to the extent of contradicting this our  reality in Christ. We pray to manifest the power we have in Christ. We don’t pray to have power, we pray to know how to use the power we have.  Read Acts 1:8. We have power in that we are the temple of God’s spirit. We are the shrine, the living deity carrying God. God executes His power on earth through us. Notice this is how to balance your message on what has been done and who we are because of what He has done. We have several series on power like the story of the God’s part 1 and  part 2 . You can study them.
What if you want to talk on holiness and righteousness?  If you want to talk about holy living, it must be based on the truth that He has made us holy and righteous in Christ. It is because we are holy in nature, we are told to be holy in our conduct. God made us a holy nation in Christ. 1 Peter 2:9.  We have the gift of righteousness in Christ. It is our nature. God so made us right that we are the proof of God’s righteousness. He is the justifier of the ungodly. 2 Corinthians 5:21. Romans 5: 17.  Note
What of sanctification and consecration ? God has sanctified us. He sets us apart unto Himself.
Hebrews 10:  10  By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
14  For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
So it was what God did for us. He did this once by the offering of Christ. We are to reckon ourselves as such. What of consecration? It is walking in the spirit that we have received. We allow our conduct be a reflection of  who we are.  For a detailed explanation on this, see our series on the holy ones part 1 and part 2 We are told to have good conducts to reflect who we are not to become who we are. Apostle Paul in correcting the Corinthian church called them temple of God. So as God’s temple, they should not commit fornication. He didn’t tell them to avoid fornication to become God’s temple. 1 Corinthians 7:15-19.
If you say you are a holiness preacher, you must preach Christ as our holiness. You are a righteousness preacher, you must preach Christ as our righteousness. Christ is the centre of our message, No matter what your topic is. You may say, But when God called me, He said I should make my people rich. Ensure you are teaching the people  the riches they have in Christ in that they have the spirit. I was called to raise holy generation, ensure you show them how pure and holy they are in Christ.  Your message is to deal with ENEMIES ? God called you to deal with ENEMIES. Remember how God deal with enemies is by saving them. So God cannot call you to deal with ENEMIES by killing them. That can never be God.
So what if I want to talk on giving ?  It should not be against who we are in Christ. You cannot in a bid to get money start telling people to give for what they already have in Christ like saying, we should sow seed for righteousness which we have as a gift in Christ.  Giving is taught compulsorily in the epistles (the explanation of the scriptures) as an act of love because we are blessed. We give  to promote the gospel, we give to ministers who have blessed us, we give to the poor. It must never be out of threat to break generational curses that you have been delivered from in Christ. We don’t give so that God will rebuke devourers for us. The devourer has been rendered powerless by what Jesus has done. Therefore if we sense any of his work around us, we rebuke him. If you wait for God to rebuke the devil for you, you will continue to be under the oppressions of the devil.
ONE MESSAGE DIFFERENT  TOPICS AND EMPHASES.  It’s this message which is the knowledge of the son of God that equips believers.  If you are not preaching Christ, you are not doing ministry.  Watch out for part 4 of this series which is on, the ministry is in the message.
Hope this blesses you. Please do well to share to others.
By OBIAZIKWOR EMEKE MODESTY
www.emekemodesty.com
A generation has risen who will stick only to the message of Christ with mighty signs.  For in this generation, those that will not preach this message are loosing their relevance. You are that generation that will give your all to ensure the message of Christ is preached. Jesus must have what  He paid for.

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