Weekly Pursuit – June 2, 2013-June 8, 2013
Verses:
Rom 15:16
That I might be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, a labouring priest of the gospel of God, in order that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, having been sanctified in the Holy Spirit.
1 Thes. 2:7
But we were gentle in your midst, as a nursing mother would cherish her own children.
We also need to serve in the Spirit according to the divine revelation. In the past, did we serve in the Spirit according to the Scriptures? The Spirit surely did not guide us and lead us to serve in the old, traditional, and unscriptural way of meeting and serving. We have to change our way to the new way of meeting and serving. Human culture changes and advances as time goes on, and people need to change to live in this culture. By saying that we need to change, I do not mean that we have to follow the world or fashion ourselves according to the world.
Our serving in the Spirit should also be according to the divine revelation in the Scriptures. We should consider how the Bible tells us to preach the gospel. The scriptural way is to preach the gospel by contacting people one by one. Then we need to be like nursing mothers to feed the new ones (1 Thes. 2:7) and like teaching fathers to raise them up in home meetings (2:11). We also need to have group meetings to perfect them so that they can do the work of the New Testament ministry as the apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers do (Eph. 4:12). We also need to have larger church meetings, encouraging everybody to prophesy (1 Cor. 14:23-25, 31). This is the biblical way.
We all need to function as priests of the gospel. We have seen the truth revealed in Romans 15:16 concerning the priesthood of the gospel. In this verse Paul said that he was a priest of the gospel of God, presenting the saved nations as sacrifices to God. Preaching the gospel is not merely a matter of getting sinners saved or of winning souls; it is a matter of gaining sacrifices to offer to God. When we go out, we must serve in the Spirit according to the Scriptures as priests of the gospel of God.
The World Situation and the Direction of the Lord’s Move (Chapter 4)