Jesus entered the room the disciples enclosed themselves in a room for fear of the Jews. Jesus entered and spoke peace to them.
Fear and doubt is one of the greatest weapon of the devil after deception.
The first thing that Jesus seeks to give us is His peace. Peace and fear cannot live in the same heart. If you have no peace in your heart, your heart is full of fear, anxiety, doubt and guilt, if you truly turn to God in brokenness and repentance, confessing your fears, God will fill your heart with peace and joy. Peace is the normal lifestyle of a true disciple. Pursue it.
Jesus showed His hands and sides and disciples saw it was the Lord. Jesus spoke peace to them the second time, and sent them, just as the Father sent Him.
The first thing is peace, the second is that we have a mission.
How did the Father send Jesus?
At a specific time, for a specific purpose, in a specific place, for a specific people, at a specific duration of time in a specific generation. Gal 4:4, Acts 17:26-27.
We have a specific purpose God wants each one to fulfill in our generation. Jesus fulfilled His purpose because God gave Him everything He needed. Remember we saw in John 17:23 that God loves Jesus' disciples exactly the way He loves Jesus. We therefore conclude that He is willing to the disciples everything they need, be it wisdom, knowledge and understanding, counsel, guidance, strength, encouragement and warnings, health and resources and all the gifts, both natural talents and spiritual gifts. a disciple need to fulfill all of God's purpose for His in His generation no matter their background or their past life, so that at the we can say that, we have done the work you gave me to do. John 17:4. We must walk in Jesus footsteps in we are to receive all the forementioned
Not the work other men give, but the work God gave you. This means you must receive instructions from God yourself. Your pastor or prayer partner cannot find out Gods will for you. You must go to God yourself know His will for your life. Just like a father with many children, the Father desires to tell each child on their own what he wants them to do without sending the other. Everyone must have a direct connection with God. Not through anyone but by yourself.
Remember, bo mortal man can find out Gods will for you, they may guide you, but you will have to go to God yourself.
The role of a pastor, prophet, evangelist, apostle or teacher is only one. To build up the body of Christ for the work of the ministry. Eph 4:11-12
Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do His work and build up the church, the body of Christ.
He breathed on them and said, receive the Holy Spirit. This is the secret to fulfilling God's purpose in our lives. Being filled with the Holy Spirit.
Remember at the beginning of Jesus ministry, Matthew 3&4, Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit and tested before commencing His ministry.
In the same way, the disciples must first be filled with the Holy Spirit and tested, before serving their God given purpose. We have to first pass the tests.
He also said that If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.
In forgiveness, there are two aspects, the horizontal and the vertical aspect. For every sin, there is a circle of those affected. God is always in that circle and for every sin, God is in that circle. When you sin in your thoughts, you only sin against God. When you steal, you sin against God and the person from whom you have stolen. You may steal someone's reputation by slander and gossip. You must ask for forgiveness from the person and God.
Sins must be confessed in the circle in which they have been committed. If you sin against someone, you have to ask for forgiveness from God and the person you have sinned against. Asking God to forgive you without going to the person you have sinned against is not repentance, and God will not listen to you unless you are willing to go and ask forgiveness from the person or people you have sinned against. Mathew 5:23-24, 18:15-17.
Going back to the statement of Jesus, the disciples forgiving sins, it is in the horizontal aspect not the vertical aspect.
If you ask someone to forgive you, they can choose to forgive you or not, but if they refuse to forgive you after asking for forgiveness, you can still go to God and God will forgive you.
You are blessed to be a blessing
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@Blessed Mshindi Mambo
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