LABC Update – Thursday, February 16, 2023

A Good Word From Pastor BK Woodson –

And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. Matthew 4:23
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I was reading the Gospel of Matthew and hit verse 4:25. It is right before the Beatitudes. You know the part that begins with the “Blessed are the…” riddles. That 25th verse says that “great multitudes were following Jesus.
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I was wondering where the great multitudes came from? Matthew, to this point, has been brief on any ministry Jesus did. The first chapter is mostly genealogy with a Joseph vignette. The second chapter is about the wise men from the east and an escape to Egypt. The third is about John the Baptist and Jesus’s baptism. Then the fourth has the story of Jesus being tempted, relocating to Galilee and calling the disciples.
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So where did the great multitudes come from, I wondered? And then I found verse 23.
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There, in that verse are the three things Jesus did that resulted in the multitudes. Namely, Jesus taught, preached and healed.
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That is the recipe for legitimate kingdom ministry. That’s the recipe for the multitude.
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There are a lot of things that can bring crowds to our churches. We can get into show business. We can have a circus or a carnival. Shucks, we can simply feed folk or give things away to draw a crowd.
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But true, Christ like ministry, will equally balance three things. The first is healing, so that people can claim agency over their own lives and enter community.
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The second is preaching so that people will choose to follow the risen Christ.
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And the third; teaching so that people don’t become dependent or subservient.
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So, what is your church like?
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Let’s pray; Lord, I would like to be a part of a balanced ministry that does what you did. Wow and Amen.

Pastor Carolyn will lead Together In Spirit tonight at 6:00.

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