REASONS 4 BELIEVING

Christ Preaching His Kingdom

“And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.” – Matthew 4:23

There are three actions words that stick out.  They are: teaching, preaching, and healing.  These three actions are different and yet they purposely come together in the Kingdom ministry of Jesus Christ. 

First, teaching.  The Jewish synagogue was the central place for the community to worship God and to teach about God.  The synagogue is where King Jesus showed up to teach about His Kingdom. 

Next, King Jesus went about preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom outside of the synagogue.  Preaching is different from teaching.  Preaching is declaring abroad what has already been taught.  Teaching passes on information about God, while preaching proclaims God with an impassioned cry out to the people declaring God’s truth – whether people want to believe it or not.  Understand that King Jesus is the example that there is never preaching without teaching and there is never teaching without preaching.  That’s why the churches who do both are usually fewer in number.  Obviously, we can get a large numbers of people in church buildings with games, give-aways, programs, pot-luck dinners, and music-laser shows.  However, if you follow the simple example of Jesus and teach and preach the Gospel of the Kingdom sadly there is little interest. 

Lastly, we read that King Jesus came healing every kind of sickness and disease.  Obviously He had compassion upon the people.  However, the healings first of all confirmed that His message of the Gospel of the Kingdom has come down from heaven.  The healings were signs proving that what He was teaching and preaching was true, and that He is the King of this Kingdom.  Understand that miraculous healings are not everyday occurrences.  That’s what makes it a miracle.   Yet we have these self-proclaimed healers taking the name of God in vain.  If they were authentic then why don’t they walk the halls of the nursing homes and the children’s cancer ward?  Why don’t they go out into the community like Jesus did teaching, preaching, and healing?  Only God heals, if He chooses to do so, but it is not in the quality and quantity as in the first century, and there is a reason.  It is because those were signs for that day confirming the Gospel of the Kingdom. 

Understand that teaching is true information about the Kingdom.  Preaching is the true declaration about the Kingdom.  Healings are the true evidence that the Kingdom has come (Matthew 12:28).  King Jesus’ message was and is very simple.  In His Kingdom, there is forgiveness of sin, salvation from hell, mercy for the guilty, grace for the needy, hope for the hopeless, and love for the unlovely, and that He takes the guilty, needy, hopeless, and unlovely sinner and makes them a beautiful child of the Majestic God (1 John 3:2).  Yes, He makes the believer royalty (1 Peter 2:9). 

David C. Hale, pastor

Published in the Marshall County Tribune, Lewisburg, TN

Christ Preaching His Kingdom (Audio)