THE WORD on The Word of Faith (a GroupBlog)

Have you ever sat down and read the New Testament in one day? Or have you ever listened to the New Testament on CD all the way through? I highly recommend that you do so. Last night Coni had trouble sleeping, so she got up and read all the Epistles straight through. A reading on the New Testament will reveal that the central message of God to His church is one of having faith towards God and love for mankind. The emphasis is taking on the character of Christ and doing the works of Jesus. Love, forgiveness, conduct, prayer, servitude, dying to ones self, resisting sin, esteeming others as better than ones self, feeding the poor, following the Golden Rule. It seems to me that many of us faith preachers have majored on the minors and minored on the majors. As a Word preacher I have been guilty of this myself without knowing it for years. I majored on “believing you receive”, sowing and reaping for finances, having a vision and such. These truths are in the New Testament, but they are the MINORS of the Gospel. Jesus majored on loving God, dying to your self, taking up your cross, feeding the hungry and having character. If you will do as I have done and listen to the New Testament all the way through you will hear a different message than the one being taught and preached so heavily these days on the TV and radio. Today’s Gospel is being preached primarily as a self-help Gospel of what God can do for you. How can God bless me, how can I get rich, how can I prosper, how can I increase, how can I believe God for more? That is not what the Lord Jesus and the Apostles emphasized. They emphasized the total opposite. Jesus warned over and over on the deceitfulness of riches, the pursuit of wealth and the concern for image and popularity. He was humble. He sought the Kingdom. He sought the poor and the afflicted. He made himself of no reputation, sought no fanfare. He rode a donkey one time and walked as a peasant among the needy throughout his ministry. He emphasized good works. He emphasized the Kingdom of God. He spoke of selling all that you have and giving it to the poor. He talked about dying, not vision. He talked about selling out, not increasing. He came that we might be rich towards God. What profits a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul? Life is more than clothes and food. As you read the whole New Testament in one sitting the theme is faith in the blood of Jesus, a right standing with God and doing good works. It is all about serving God and our neighbors with love and good works. It is about us developing the character of Christ in our lives. There is very little teaching on prosperity. No teaching on “speaking” things into existence as far as finances. No teaching on your words coming to pass just because you speak them. No teaching that our words are creative deity in themselves. The New Testament commands us to humble ourselves. Jesus taught humility. John the Baptist said to be content with your wages. He said “I must decrease that He may increase”. The true Gospel is that God loves us and sent Jesus to die for our sins. We are forgiven and have received eternal life. We have peace with God! We get to have a one on one relationship with the Almighty God! Right standing with the Almighty! All is forgiven! God loves us unconditionally. Jesus paid the full price. That is the Gospel!
I want to major on what Jesus majored on, not what is being preached and taught by so many today. I want to major on the majors and minor on the minors. Developing the character of Christ, putting “self” to death and living to serve.