THE foundational apostles preached the Gospel of Christ over 2024 years ago with such passion, urgency and fervency that Jesus was coming any time soon.
Years have gone by and many preachers and martyrs have come and gone.
Gullible believers who don’t know their right from the left think heaven is Western ideology or falsehood to capture their minds.
Apostle Peter guides in 2 Peter 3:9, Amplified, “The Lord does not delay [as though He were unable to act] and is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is [extraordinarily] patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”
God is providing for everyone to receive the Gospel or for us believers to be more intentional and aggressive to reach all the corners of the world with the Message of Christ or God’s saving Grace.
God the Father’s investment of His life in Jesus Christ’s substitutionary sacrifice should not by any means leave others without hearing the Good News or Glad Tidings.
1 Timothy 2:4, tells us, “Who [God] will [desires to] have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.”
All men, including women, should be saved. Christianity is not an exclusive club but an open invitation to the whole world to be saved.
- Rightly dividing the Word of Truth
- Dead to the law
- We grow in grace by more knowledge
- The Gospel of Christ and the Kingdom of God (2)
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Jesus tells us in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” It is for whosoever. That is everyone.
Hell is not for human beings. It is for the devil and his angels. Unfortunately those who are going to deny Jesus will find themselves in the same predicament.
Rhetorically, God asks in Ezekiel 18:23, “Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?”
Receive the Gospel and live. We quote Jesus again in John 3:17, “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”
Enter into the open arms of God the Father.
We cannot be indifferent to the urgency of the Gospel. During the formative stages of the Church 1 John 2:18, Amplified, tells us, “Children, it is the last hour [the end of this age]; and just as you heard that the antichrist is coming [the one who will oppose Christ and attempt to replace Him], even now many antichrists (false teachers) have appeared, which confirms our belief that it is the last hour.”
We are opening up the subject of the evolution of the Church and see how things have shaped up over the years and what has transpired so that we are equipped. It will take us a couple of weeks.
There has been break ups or splits of denominations and intermarriages of denominations. So called mainline churches have had interdenominational fusion with the Charismatic Church wrongly called Pentecostal.
The gifts of the Holy Spirit have found expression across the board.
We will look at interesting stories where false teachers who by divination used to correctly tell comers their village, ancestry and other details to evolve into high-tech and tell mobile numbers.
They migrated from the villages and bushes to towns and cities. Are we denying true prophets? Certainly not.
We need to define the Church before we go much further.
Wikipedia tells us, “For many Protestant Christians, the Christian Church has two components: the church visible, institutions in which ‘the Word of God purely preached and listened to, and the sacraments administered according to Christ’s institution’, as well as the church invisible — all ‘who are truly saved’ (with these beings members of the visible church).”
“In this understanding of the invisible church, ‘Christian Church’ (or catholic Church) does not refer to a particular Christian denomination, but includes all individuals who have been saved.”
“Most English translations of the New Testament generally use the word church as a translation of the Ancient Greek romanised ecclesia, found in the original Greek texts, which generally meant an ‘assembly’ or ‘congregation’.”
“The Four Marks of the Church first expressed in the Nicene Creed are that the Church is one, holy, catholic (universal), and apostolic (originating from the apostles).”
I have to mention here that we should not confuse Catholicism with Catholic. As stated, Catholic simply means the Body of Christ not any denomination.
All denominations, ministries or church groups qualify. However sects are not part of the universal Body of Christ.
Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever.
Amen. Grace and peace be multiplied to you through knowledge.
- All Bible quotations are from the King James Version unless otherwise stated.
- Fellowship with Pastor Makarimayi on Facebook and on www.twitter.com/PEMAKARIMAYI.
