And they were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
Mark 1:22
Jesus was not the first person to teach the Scriptures to a group of disciples. The people in Jesus’ day had heard other teachers of the Scriptures. What set Jesus apart was that He taught with authority. To many of the scribes, the Scriptures were meaningless, dry collections of theological speculation, but Jesus taught them as the living words of God.
Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?”
Judges 6:14
In Gideon’s mind, victory over the Midianites was an impossibility, and he was absolutely right! The Midianites, along with their allies, overwhelmed the feeble Hebrews. Yet the moment God told Gideon to fight them, victory was no longer an impossibility! When Jesus commanded His small group of followers to make disciples of all nations, was that possible? (Matt. 28:19).
As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.
Proverbs 27:17
The Christian life is a pilgrimage. At times the road is difficult, and we get lonely. Sometimes we may become discouraged and consider abandoning the journey. It is at such times that God will place a friend alongside us. One of God’s most precious gifts to us is friends who encourage us and lovingly challenge us to “keep going.” According to Scripture, a friend is one who challenges you to become all that God intends.
“So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘ We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.’”
Luke 17:10
The servant carries out the master’s will. The servant doesn’t tell the master what to do. The servant does not choose which tasks to perform for the master, nor does the servant suggest days or times when it would be convenient to serve the master. The servant’s function is to follow instructions. The master, on the other hand, gives directions.
Here’s a great discussion by a Theologian, a Pastor, and a New Testament Scholar on the Gospel of Paul and the Kingdom of Jesus
It’s very important, I think, to get “the gospel” correct. There is a push today to include a whole bunch of stuff that people want us to do and call it “gospel.” Even if it’s a good thing, that doesn’t make it part of the “good news”
I also like this quote by Carson interacting with “The Hole in Our Gospel”
Some studies have shown that Christians spend about five times more mission dollars on issues related to poverty than they do on evangelism and church planting. At one time, “holistic ministry” was an expression intended to move Christians beyond proclamation to include deeds of mercy. Increasingly, however, “holistic ministry” refers to deeds of mercy without any proclamation of the gospel—and that is not holistic. It is not even halfistic, since the deeds of mercy are not the gospel: they are entailments of the gospel. Although I know many Christians who happily combine fidelity to the gospel, evangelism, church planting, and energetic service to the needy, and although I know some who call themselves Christians who formally espouse the gospel but who live out few of its entailments, I also know Christians who, in the name of a “holistic” gospel, focus all their energy on presence, wells in the Sahel, fighting disease, and distributing food to the poor, but who never, or only very rarely, articulate the gospel, preach the gospel, announce the gospel, to anyone. Judging by the distribution of American mission dollars, the biggest hole in our gospel is the gospel itself.
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