2. Our Lord’s Template for Ministry
THE PATH BEFORE US!
Our Lord’s Template for Ministry
Matthew 4:23-25

3. One Solitary Life
“Let us turn now to the story. A child is born in an obscure village. He is brought up in another obscure village. He works in a carpenter shop until he is thirty, and then for three brief years is an itinerant preacher, proclaiming a message and living a life. He never writes a book. He never holds an…

4. …office. He never raises an army. He never has a family of his own
…office. He never raises an army. He never has a family of his own. He never owns a home. He never goes to college. He never travels two hundred miles from the place where he was born. He gathers a little group of friends about him and teaches them his way of life. While still a young man, the tide of popular feeling turns against him. One denies him; another…

5. …betrays him. He is turned over to his enemies
…betrays him. He is turned over to his enemies. He goes through the mockery of a trial; he is nailed to a cross between two thieves, and when dead is laid in a borrowed grave by the kindness of a friend. Those are the facts of his human life. He rises from the dead. Today we look back across nineteen hundred years and ask, What kind of trail has he left…

6. (Dr James Allan Francis in “The Real Jesus and Other Sermons” 1926)
…across the centuries? When we try to sum up his influence, all the armies that ever marched, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned are absolutely picayune in their influence on mankind compared with that of this one solitary life…”
(Dr James Allan Francis in “The Real Jesus and Other Sermons” 1926)

7. He calls Us as a Church to follow in that template!
The Path Before Us!
The Lord Jesus had a clear understanding of what Faith, the noun, should look like!
He calls Us as a Church to follow in that template!

8. Matthew 4:23-25
“And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with…

9. Matthew 4:23-25
…various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them. Great multitudes followed Him—from Galilee, and from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan.”

10. Specific In His Efforts
Teaching!
“You call me Teacher and Lord, and rightly so, for that is what I am” John 13:13

11. Specific In His Efforts
Preaching!
“From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Matthew 4:17

12. Specific In His Efforts
Healing!
“And he healed all the sick.” Matthew 8:16

13. Strategic In His Ministry
His Message!
Extended God’s Love & Grace by Faith

14. Strategic In His Ministry
His Message!
“And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.”
1 Timothy 1:14

15. Strategic In His Ministry
His Method!
Engaged People at their Point of Need

16. Strategic In His Ministry
His Method!
“But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.” Matthew 9:36

17. Significant In His Impact
Local Presence; Global Vision!
“Another parable He put forth to them, saying: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all the seeds…

18. Significant In His Impact
Local Presence; Global Vision!
…but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.’”
Matthew 13:31-32

19. Significant In His Impact
Universal Appeal;
Personal Touch!
“And laying his hands on each one, he healed them.”
Luke 4:40

20. So…
On this Labor Day Weekend will you join me in committing ourselves to His great work?

21. Our Lord’s Template for Ministry
THE PATH BEFORE US!
Our Lord’s Template for Ministry
Matthew 4:23-25