Epaggelia

“Eve – The Mother of Humanity” (Genesis 3:20)

God’s creation of humanity in His image is lacking without a woman, Genesis 1:27 & 5:1-2. God’s women are just as equally essential, equally loved & equally valued as God’s men, 1st Cor. 11:8-12. They should be honored for their privileged position in bearing children and completing our humanity in God’s image.

Eve was God’s created “Helper”, Gen. 2:18-20, for Adam. Without her “help”, Adam would become hopeless, helpless and only half the man God intended him to be. The word Helper in Hebrew is “EZER – the aid and/or giving succour”. Both the Psalmist and Isaiah call God our “Helper”, and in the New Testament, the Holy Spirit is our Helper and/or Comforter, (John 14:16, 26, 15:26, 16:7) It is a great honor to be designed as a Helper/Comforter in God’s eyes, as He is a Helper too. God’s first woman was described by God as a Helper before Adam named her Eve, meaning “life giver and/or living” – HAUA in Hebrew, Gen. 3:20

When Eve had her firstborn, Cain, she acknowledged God’s source of power as the LORD of life, Gen. 4:1. Every woman that wants to be a woman of God should profess and confess that Christ is the source of her life-giving ability, Colossians 1:16-17. None of this means that a woman who is not a mother can not be a woman of God because He has used different women in the Bible for great good effect, i.e., Deborah, Jael & Esther. In the N.T., Lydia is on record as having a household, but that doesn’t mean she had children, she was a business woman and God used her to great effect to spread the gospel. The most blessed woman of God, the mother of Jesus, credited God as the holy life-giving power when she rejoiced with Elizabeth in her pregnancy, Luke 1:41-49. When women of God do this, they glorify God and He blesses them! If God had not worked this miracle through Mary & Elizabeth, would we learn to give God the credit in our own reproduction? Or would we take all the credit for ourselves by our own knowledge in biology? See Isaiah 49:5 & Jeremiah 1:5. Eve started this wisdom of God with her firstborn! Our life begins with the opportunity to credit God for our life. Every good parent should reinforce and reiterate that to their children. If we decide to refuse or neglect devotion of ourselves to Christ, we will be emulating Eve’s greatest mistake, 2nd Corinthians 11:3. Eve’s deception caused her to fall for the devil’s tricky lie, that God doesn’t really mean what he says, see Genesis 3:1-4. Jesus says the devil is the father of lies because he first deceived Eve the mother of humanity, (John 8:44) Eve was duped by the Devil, but she was also betrayed by Adam, as he was with her when she fell (Genesis 3:6) It was his responsibility to protect and remind her that God really does mean what he says. Therefore Adam must take more responsibility and become a better spiritual leader. See 1st Timothy 2:11-15. The first sin entering into the world was not a sin of commission by eating the forbidden fruit. The first sin was of omission as Adam did not stop her, he was an eyewitness to her tragedy and remained silent as Satan insidiously tricked her into eating. Husbands are supposed to help Wives spiritually, while Wives are supposed to help Husbands physically.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you…

(Matthew 28:19-20)

What is our strength in the ability and confidence to deliver the good news message of Jesus?

Define Faithfulness, (Gk) Pistos, “trustworthy, believing, sure or true” – Strongs Dictionary

There are many different ways to “GO”, but however we try to deliver the good news, in some way, we are becoming a good news bringer, which is the root definition of an Evangelist, (Gk) Euaggelistes, “preacher” – Strongs Dictionary. Or “messenger of good news, a title given to messengers who were not apostles in the New Testament” – Thayers Dictionary. The Greek verb is “Euaggelizo, “to preach or bring or announce good news” – Thayers Dictionary.

The method of learning how to catch people spiritually is to imitate Jesus as best you can. Jesus said, “Follow Me”.  What would Jesus say, if he met a visitor in the assembly? Some of us do not feel confident enough about our faith, to put ourselves in the Master’s shoes, in order to try to emulate Him.  So we need to get to know our “net”, (The Gospel), in order to use it well. 

The Gospel of God, 1st Peter 4:17.  Is about how good God is and how much we need Him.

The Gospel of the grace of God, Acts 20:24. Is about how God treats us like as if we had no sin!

The Gospel of your salvation, Ephesians 1:13.  Is about the many ways and means of His deliverance of our soul into eternal life, see Philippians 2:12.

The Gospel of peace, Ephesians 6:15.  Is about how God makes friends with all of us, even though we were at one time, his enemies against Him. Ephesians 2:14.

The Gospel for the circumcised and the gospel for the uncircumcised, Galatians 2:7.  Is about how God never plays favorites and shows no partiality to race, nationality or culture. See Colossians 3:9-11

The Glorious Gospel of the Blessed God, 1st TImothy 1:11 & 2nd Corinthians 4:4-6

How do we talk about the Good News from God?  Do we pray about sharing these truths?

“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”  ~ John 11:25-26

In this world, no one likes to pay a ransom to free victims, because we are afraid the kidnappers will get what they want, while killing the victim. But God paid the ransom price because the resurrection guarantees the kidnapper (Satan) will not get the victim or the price! Satan does kidnap people and victims do not want the ransom paid when they fall victim to their kidnapper Satan. In this world Patty Hearst, Natascha Kampusch & the original four Kreditbanken Hostages in Stockholm (1973) fell victim to what is described by doctors as “the Stockholm Syndrome”. Spiritually, there are many different reasons humans fall prey to the lies in our sinful world which trap us to sympathize with Satan and/or sinners that actually become our demise. This takes place today physically in the form of human smuggling. There are hundreds of victims that the police never find, which die and are forever lost. God will not force the ransom money to be paid if the lost kidnapped person does not want it. If we fall in love with Satan’s ways, loving this world instead of God, we assign ourselves to the kidnappers’ evil trap & destiny of destruction. We must convince people that we need to accept the ransom price as paid and apply it to our soul, obeying from the heart this good news of the crucified Christ resurrected. This releases us from the slave-ship of Satan.

THE RESURRECTION IS REAL: Christ’s proof that the redemptive price paid is powerful, Romans 6:16-22

1. The Change in 12 disciples becoming apostles & the change in Saul to Paul, 1st Corinthians 15:1-17 & 2nd Corinthians 11:22-28
2. The Empty Tomb, guarded by Temple Soldiers that had Roman authority from Pilate, Matthew 27:58-66, and also publically known by Joseph of Arimethea on the Sanhedrin.
3. Fulfilled claims of Jesus & prophecies in the Old Testament, John 2:13-22
4. Hundreds of Eye-witness accounts of His resurrection, 1st Corinthians 15:3-9. Paul the apostle had many critics accusing him of being a liar and false-apostle. All his critics needed was for just one single eye-witness to deny the resurrection, and then Paul could be proved a liar, but it never happened because it’s true!

 This gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come ~ Mt. 24:14

Evangelism is defined by dictionaries as “the activity of persuading people to become Christians, often by traveling around and telling people about your beliefs”. But this is not evangelism as defined by Jesus in the above verse in Matthew 24:14. It is not about our beliefs as a Christian, it is about the Kingdom of Christ.

The apostle Paul defined it as “do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry”, it involves labor as a service that involves your own personal efforts, talents and/or skills. See 2nd Timothy 4:3-5. In other words, the good news of the Kingdom can be shared by our own personal actions in public, just as effectively as it can by words. 

The message of the Kingdom can be stolen by “the evil one” and never take root in a person’s heart, if our heart is too hard, Matthew 13:19. This message has 3 virtues in this single verse.

1- K_____________ .       2 – G_______________ .    3 – S___________________ .

In John 18:36-38. Jesus forcefully let Pilate know that His Kingdom was not worldly to fight a physical fight, but his Kingdom’s purpose and message was in this world with a spiritual truth that some people will listen to. His voice is part of His Kingdom, so when we speak about the good news of his Kingdom, it should only be about whatever Jesus says, because only Jesus has authority to define the Kingdom’s message. To Pilate, Jesus was clearly claiming to be King, and for that, Pilate let the Jews sentence him to death. Do you as a Christian, understand the spiritual nature of the Kingdom, please read Luke 17:20-21.

 “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, 

‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the ___________

 of _______.” 

When the apostle Peter describes us in 1st Peter 2:9-10, he defines the purpose of our existence as PROCLAIMERS. What exactly are we supposed to be proclaiming?

 “the excellencies of _______ who called you out of darkness into his marvelous ______ 

Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received

 mercy, but now you have received __________. 

Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!

Jesus Christ ~ Luke 11:28

An essential part of being a growing congregation is learning how to react to different attitudes in the world towards the Bible. Peter knew this when he wrote we should “set Christ apart as Lord in your hearts and always be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks about the hope you possess. Yet do it with courtesy and respect, keeping a good conscience, 1Peter 3:15-16

Here are 3 different attitudes responding to the “hope”, we possess as Christ in the Scriptures.

1 – “Whatever it’s glorious truths, the Bible looms as an intimidating, hard-to-understand book full of esoteric names and mystifying practices” – (G. Gallup Jr., “The Next American Spirituality” Jan. 2002). There are five words that are now becoming the mantra of the new millennium: “I’m into spirituality, not religion”… More and more people are viewing the Bible as more about feeling good and not being good, more about stress reduction than salvation, more therapeutic than theological. The world sometimes treats the Bible as being as much about the body as it is the soul, they lose the emphasis God has on the soul and not the body. What should a Christian’s reaction be?

Everyone then who hears these words of mine and _________  ________ will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ~ Mat.7:24  A Rock for what? The body or soul?

2 – “The Bible is outdated, mistranslated and not essential for learning the truth”. Many agnostics are of this view. What should a Christian’s reaction be?

Man shall not ________ by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God ~ Mat. 4:4. Helping people understand how truth is discerned from scripture, see Psalms 119:160.

3 – “You can trust the Bible, but not it’s interpretation”. This false view is sometimes found in the Church and abounds in the denominations. What should our reaction be?

________________ them in the truth; your word is truth – John 17:17

Interpretation is best approached with Peter’s advice in 2nd Peter 1:20-21. Our view of the Bible directly affects how we use the Bible, “Know This First…” (v20) Charles Spurgeon said, “How do you defend the Bible? The way you defend a lion, open up the cage and let it out!” Remember there are two lions in the world, the Lion of the tribe of Judah (Gen.49:9-10 & Rv. 5:5) and the roaring lion (1Pt.5:8) Peter says he is seeking to devour any of us. In the Bible, the spirit of Judah’s lion wants to exercise His power and word on your heart and the hearts of others we talk to.

But what about you?” Jesus asked. “Who do you say I am?”

Matthew, Mark 8:29 & Luke all record Jesus asking this same question about his identity (Lk. 19:18 & Mt. 16:15)  Even the gospel of John emphasizes the identity of Jesus by highlighting his 7, “I Ams” and is the only gospel that states plainly his purpose for writing based on Christ’s identity, John 20:30-31. This fundamental fact should lead us to ask “How or Why Do We Talk About The Identity of Jesus”?

1. The Most Important Person in Human History, Luke 2:1-4 & 3:1-2. It is very advantageous to be knowledgeable of Josephus, Mara bar Serapion & Tacitus writing about Jesus, and also Suetonius & Pliny the Younger writing about the first Christians.

2. The Perfect Price Paid As Our Savior, John 1:29-35

3. The Perfect Revelation of God The Father, John 12:44-50 & 14:8-11

4. The Perfect Example of Service To Follow, John 13:14-17

5. The Pre-existent Presence in Creation (Logos), John 1:14-18

6. The “I AM” (Bread, Light, Door, Shepherd, Vine, Way, Truth, Life & Resurrection)

7. The Judge, John 12:48 & Acts 10:42-43

How do we relate our own experience of Jesus to others? How has Jesus and his teachings affected our life? How do we talk about our faith in who Jesus is? 

We are witnesses of God with a testimony in our life, 1st John 5:8-11. Many believers in denominations talk about “giving their testimony”, but we don’t talk about Christ affecting our life to the same extent. If not, why not?

Are we guilty of pointing people to the Scriptures, while ignoring what Jesus has done in our life personally?

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The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

Matthew 20:28 & Mark 10:45 

Why would a Ransom need to be paid for “MANY” ?

Why would Jesus make this statement in the context of serving others?

When a ransom payment is procured and accepted as payment, what does the Apostle Paul call it? See Hebrews 9:12-15 in the NIV.

R __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ 

Where can anyone find it? (see Romans 3:24)

When will our redemption be fully realized and shown to be glorious? (see Ephesians 4:30)

Why do you believe Christ’s blood is so unique, valuable and empowered to actually procure our redemption? (see Eph. 1:7 & Col. 1:14)

According to 2nd Timothy 2:25-26, who has taken people captive?

What should we do about this kidnapping?

What did the Apostle Paul do about it? (See Romans 10:1)

How can Christ guarantee the price of his blood will be applied to your soul forever? 

(see Ephesians 1:13-14)

When do you think you may get the opportunity to talk about “the Price” ?