SUGAR & SPICE

JESUS' MINISTRY

Jesus officially began His ministry at the age of thirty.  John the Baptist came preaching and baptizing in the wilderness, saying, “Repent: Prepare yourselves for the Lord.”  John was the messenger the prophets had foretold would announce the coming of the Savior. Jesus came to the Jordan river to be baptized by John. When John saw Jesus coming, he said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world.” When Jesus was baptized,
He came up out of the water. When this happened, the heavens opened to Him and He saw the Spirit of God descend like a dove and light on Him. A voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

    After Jesus was baptized, He went into the wilderness for forty day. Satan tried ways of tempting Jesus- but Jesus would not sin. Finally, satan took Jesus to an  high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.  Satan then said, “All these things I will give to you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Jesus answered, “Get away from me, Satan: because God has written that, you shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.”

     Jesus lived on earth in the form of a man, He was tempted in all the same ways we are, yet He never sinned.  Adam failed but Jesus  succeeded. This showed that Jesus indeed could be the Savior of mankind—the lamb sent from God.

      In Matthew 4:17 He says "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand " From this point on, we see the growth and expansion of His ministry as recorded in the four gospels; Matthew, Mark Luke, and John. In these writings combined, we are presented with Jesus' purpose and mission for His ministry. Luke records Jesus' purpose in Luke 4:18 when Jesus says: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed;" And again in Mark 1:38 Jesus' restates His purpose - ... "Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also, because for this purpose I have come forth."

     Matthew reports Jesus' mission in two places. First, Matthew 4:23 - 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.  Second, Matthew 9 35 - Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. On the basis of these scriptures and others similar to them, we realize that everything Jesus did and said was driven by His divine purpose and mission for coming to this earth. Thus we can examine Jesus' ministry from four major perspectives:

1. Jesus Teachings

2. Jesus Parables

3. Jesus Sermons

4. Jesus Miracles