HE GAVE US TICKET TO THE NATIONS, HE SAID "GO"

 HE GAVE US TICKET TO THE NATIONS, HE SAID "GO"

Become A Studious Leader For People In All Nations 

𝒟𝒶𝓎𝓈𝓉𝒶𝓇 𝒥𝒞𝐻𝑀

To begin with — Jesus COMMANDED us to GO and preach to all nations, then in the later part of the scriptures, we're told God now COMMANDS all men to repent. One minister of God put it this way “He said I should go, wow, such a privilege, I scratch my head — what did He mean ?!” 

My dear, GO!, move forward because they will RESPOND. The hearts of men are under obligation (a command) to respond to the gospel in your mouth. Wow! He said GO — and make students of the nations, TEACHING THEM TO OBSERVE , but why?, because they're born blind spiritually. Wow! He said GO — don't ask Him how — He's THE WAY to GO. Now, the Way to Go lives inside you. Yes, you can preach. O' Hallelujah, Wow!

The word of God is the most accurate literary work in all the world, but not being aware of the choice of words and figures of speech used will throw you off grid, denying you full appreciation of what it has to offer in communication.

Vast portions of the holy scriptures are poetic in nature, they're stuffed with words licensed by the Spirit of God Himself — some of the lines you read in the bible are expressions of metonym, metaphor, alliteration, circumlocusion, hyperbole, synecdoche, allegory, symbolism, personification, et cetera 

    — this explains why there's this pressing need of being widely read which is expected of you as a minister of the gospel, it will help and guide you to rightly divide, appreciate, and explain the word of truth without flaws and contradictions.

In 2 Timothy 2:15|AMP, Apostle Paul writes to young Pastor Timothy, educating him on the necessity of studying and having a firm grip on accurate knowledge. These were his words, 

  — “Study and do your best to present yourself to God approved, a workman [tested by trial] who has no reason to be ashamed, accurately handling and skillfully teaching (dividing) the word of truth.”. 

Your work as a minister of the gospel is to study and contemplate the scriptures concerning God's mind for the present (the prophetic moment), that's your primary labour in God's vineyard — a labour to enter His rest, that's your work. 

Find out what He's already done, thus what is available for you through study and let it work for your leadership. Rest and let grace work for you — Accurate knowledge that comes through study will cause your leadership to achieve more than you ever imagined. The reward of (accurate knowledge through) study is rest, always remember that. 

Paul vividly knew that studying (thus being widely read) will definitely result in a ministers effectiveness in accurately handling and skillfully teaching the word of truth. This was why he didn't hesitate to inform young Pastor Timothy to give himself to study. 

     — It was said of the three Hebrew boys (Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego, excluding Daniel) in Daniel 1:4, that they were “young men ..... gifted in all wisdom, possessing knowledge and quick to understand, who had ability to serve (minister) in the king’s palace (high places), and whom they might teach (thus were willing to be taught) the language and literature of the Chaldeans”.

Reading Daniel 1:3-4 from The Living Bible (TLB) translation, the communication is more precise and direct, 

         — “Then he (Nebuchadnezzar) ordered Ashpenaz, who was in charge of his palace personnel, to select some of the Jewish youths brought back as captives—young men of the royal family and nobility of Judah—and to teach them the Chaldean language and literature. “Pick strong, healthy, good-looking lads,” he said; “those who HAVE READ WIDELY IN MANY FIELDS, are WELL INFORMED, alert and sensible, and have enough poise to look good around (thus fit) the palace.”

This particular TLB rendering emphasises on the need to study and be widely read in many fields of knowledge as a minister (servant) of God — don't be ignorant, the Holy Bible contains all the knowledge you'll ever need, but you can only enjoy the full benefit of what it makes available if your mind is trained to receive the depth of what it offers. 

If perhaps you're still skeptical and uncertain as to what exactly to study, I suggest you dedicate time to the historical events surrounding the time individual books of the bible were written, and why some of those events do not apply in these present times.

For example, understanding the historical difficulties and pressures that mounted on Christian couples in the Imperial Roman Age will help you understand why Paul was often biased and non-encouraging on the subject of marriage at that time. 

In 1 Corinthians 7:28, Paul writes, 

 “..... Yet those [who marry] will have troubles (special challenges) in this life, and I am trying to spare you that”. 

   — the special challenges he was referring to weren't the petty misunderstandings amongst couples 

, and why he suggests they escape that route in life, no! 

He was rather referring to the fierce persecutions that raged from the emperors and governors at the time — also considering the terror of distress that rained on ministers and their immediate family. 

Paul knew that these beastly Roman officials had purposed in themselves that if they couldn't stop the men from preaching in the name of the risen Christ, capturing their wives and confiscating their basic needs of survival will provoke great distress, derailing the focus of these ministers. 

It was on this note of account and possibility that Paul gave such a suggestion on the subject of marriage, he was in no way against the concept of marriage because it was instituted by God Himself 

  — these words of counsel at the time were still time bound, dispensational, so they do not apply in these times except for ministers in nations where fierce persecutions are still on the rise. 

To simply put, his counsel on marriage wasn't an unbending law, it was a mere suggestion that had no consequence from God. 

Paul knowing the strategies of these narcissistic emperors and governors felt it was expedient to hold on marriage for ministers in particular — which is why he also didn't marry. 

Sadly, it's on such verses that some Christians in these present times base their indifference towards marriage — whereas marriage as an institution was the first social concept God Himself established in Eden by consummating Adam and Eve as one flesh, and on that note He calls marriage a good thing. 

In Genesis 2:18|AMP, the Lord God said, 

      — “It is not good (beneficial) for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper [one who balances him—a counterpart who is] suitable and complementary for him.”

For everything God made in Genesis, He saw and said "it was good" — but for just this one thing, where He saw Adam all alone, it'll amaze you how He described the condition of the perfect man He'd made — He said "it is not good for man (thus the perfect man he'd made) to be alone", this was the only thing He admitted as a condition that was unacceptable — this clearly confirms God's thoughts, views, acceptance and support for marriage. 

Such verses are not applicable in these times — sadly, ignorance of these historical blueprints and parchments will make you a blunt preacher, unable to rightly divide the word of truth.  

Failure to fully understand the concept and application of scriptures by the Spirit will cost you so much in the ministry — you'll be like a blind minister leading other blind congregants into a ditch of deceit. 

There are ministers today who tell their congregation that some of them are born eunuchs (and not for marriage), they make the truth of God a lie with their ignorance — forgetting the fact that Jesus' words in the synoptic gospels (excluding the prophetic statements that were in reference to the end times) was a message primarily directed to the Jews in context, they weren't in reference to the church which was to be born after His resurrection. 

Not everything in scripture is the word of God, it's only the words that reveal His grace which are profitable for doctrine and instructing God's children in righteousness — Some statements were allowed into the bible by the Spirit of God so we know how God dealt with the generation that lived in ignorance because they couldn't be born again in that Jesus hadn't yet died to make salvation (and the God kind of faith) a possibility. 

Always remember this, not everything in scripture are the very words of God — for example, when Job said "God gives and God takes", he wasn't under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit because he wasn't speaking truth (the proof of God's nature). In John 3:16 we come to know that God is a giver because He gave His only Son to the world of men who hated Him, it's clear He's a giver and not a taker— meaning He'll never take a life. He's a life giving Spirit, and life cannot coexist with death. 

God doesn't take, satan does, only he comes to steal (take what doesn't belong to him), kill and destroy — God only shows up when there's something to be received from Him as a supply. Jesus came that we might have the light of life. He didn't come to take from any man. This truth is very important because it'll establish you in the walk of faith. 

Also in 1 Corinthians 15:26 we're told “death is the last that will be destroyed”, though it's already been defeated in relation to the new creature. 

This verse is so vocal on the subject of death in relation to God. He will never use death as a tool to teach man a lesson, He's the author of life, death on the other hand is an enemy of God, never forget that, 

  — knowing these revelations and truth helps you to stay focused on what exactly is right to teach God's children as a minister. Detailed study brings light and clarity into your words.

It's only through study that you'll get to know it's Dr Luke who wrote the book of Acts, and not Paul — it's through same that you get to understand that the church was born circa AD 30 — it's also through wide study that you know it's Emperor Nero who ordered that Paul be beheaded — it's through Study that you get to know it's the same King Aprippa in Acts 26:28, who was affected (in AD 58-59) by Paul's preaching in the presence of Festus who later offered asylum to the Jews in Pella when Titus Vespasian besieged to destroyed the city of Jerusalem and the temple in AD 70.

It is also through study that you get to calculate how long it took (thus 11-12yrs) for Agrippa to be fully affected by Paul's message to stand in support of the Jews.

These historical events are not written verbatim in the holy scriptures, but wide study in fields relating to ministry grants you the tool of precision in appreciating what you're reading in the holy scriptures — and sometimes, what you're reading isn't a direct speech but a figure of speech. Inability to recognise this will rob you a great deal of understanding. 

An example is where faith was compared to a mustard seed in Mathew 17:20 — the mustard seed was a figure of speech used to explain something which was negligible, hence despised and neglected by natural men (as explained in 1 Corinthians 1:28), 

   — Jesus wasn't saying our faith is as tiny (in size) as a mustard seed, He was only speaking of how that mighty thing (faith) you have in your spirit can be despised simply because it's not a visible substance for the natural senses to appreciate.

There are ministers of the gospel who know nothing about government, nor the laws of the nation they're living in. That's wrong because you're only very useful to God in high places of this world if your faculties are well equipped with knowledge to direct revelational knowledge in a way that's applicable to the government and justice system of your day, 

   — Daniel as a minister of God could work in the Kings Court (known as Parliament in our day) because he was widely read on the acceptable customs of the state of Babylon. What you read makes you ready for anything, it prepares you mentally, it grants you tenacity for the ride of life.

And even as you study wide, what you must remember is that God's word is paramount and first, it's above any other kind of knowledge. Choose what it says, especially when other kinds of knowledge tries to contradict. 

The spectrum of literary training under which you subject the mind as a leader will go a long way to help you recognise the need to appreciate accuracy with respect to the choice of language, figure of speech and literature devices used in the scriptures — having a broad spectrum and hold on the various aspects of knowledge that throws further light on historical events surrounding scripture is a goldmine for you as a minister of the gospel.  

Buy books, invest in knowledge, read and repeat the process, buy books that primarily side with truth. If you're in bliss as to what truth means, get my book "You Should Have Listened", I dedicated one full chapter to expatiate what truth means. 

    — You're really not the first to ask that rhetoric, even Pilate asked Jesus, "what is truth?" 

Invest in knowledge, spend your time on the Internet wisely, add value to yourself — I remember when I was a little younger, I'll visit book shops to buy books, and there was this time where I'd left campus in my college uniform to buy books, I recollect vividly there was this known singer who also happened to join at the shop — he was so amazed at the number of books I'd come to purchase, so he asked "Young man, I'll like to pay for them". I remember the occasion faintly but it was memorable. I was an avid reader and I still am, you should do same. 

Always adhere to Proverbs 23:23 instructively, it says

    — “Buy (invest your resource in getting) the truth, and do not sell it, Also (buy, invest in) wisdom and instruction and understanding”.

Equip your mind with the prerequisites of success in the ministry, it's too important, and the chief of these prerequisites is knowledge that only comes through study, it's non-negotiable, read so you can rightly divide the word of truth without contradicting yourself. 

   — decide to become an avid reader today!