Bible Study Week: The work of the apprentice in the Kingdom of God
Updated: Aug 20, 2023
Greetings to all our readers from around the world. My prayer is that this week's Bible study will be of value to your spiritual growth in the Divine knowledge of the Kingdom of God. Well, a recap of last week's article, where the discussion revolved around the topic of baptism and how to enter the Kingdom of Heaven as stated in John 3. In retrospect, if now for instance, you are born again are you content with remaining an infant drinking milk for the rest of your life and never reaching a point of maturity?
Let me give you a small scenario to give you a portrait of the point I am making. Suppose your ambition is to become an expert farmer. Now you have carried out all the necessary studies on how to be a good farmer but you have nothing to show for it since you have never practically grown anything in your entire life and had a perfect result. So now its time to test what you know and so off to the fields we go. Many people are counting on your success because they rate you as an expert. Instead of you going to the fields to go through the actual process, you just study the soil, curse at the soil and expect to reap a harvest. Well, that is the story with a lot of us believers. We get to the door but never open the door and use the available facilities.
Now that we are enrolled in this farming school together, how best can we become better farmers than to participate in all the required activities. In the book of Luke chapter 4 verse 33, Jesus said to a crowd that was following him, " I must preach to the other cities also because it is for this purpose I have been sent". My question now is if Jesus is our master teacher and his assignment was to preach the gospel, where do we stand? Are we just staring at a piece of good real estate with fertile soil, hoping that a seed will plant itself in the ground for us to reap?
Ok, so this is where things get interesting, the account of Mathew in the 10th chapter verse 1 leading up to verse 7 we see our practical teacher Jesus sending out the disciples two by two and in verse 7, he reiterates on what must be preached when going into where God has sent us. I don't know what your job description is and where you have been sent but if you are not talking to your colleagues or family about the Kingdom of heaven my suggestion would be to go and read both Luke 10 and Matthew 10. I enjoy the depiction of this scene on the popular Christian series, Chosen.
But that is not all, Jesus in his departing words in Matthew 28, went on to give a set of instructions to his disciples, and emphasized on the authority he carries both on earth and in heaven. Well, if Jesus has the authority both on earth and heaven then why are we so quick to give credit to the kingdom of darkness which in its very core is an illegal entity without authority? Have we been oppressed by sin for far too long?
Looking back at the book of Genesis chapter 1 up to 3, we see the fellowship between God and man being established through Adam. However, that fellowship was broken in chapter 3 as a result of disobedience and this cycle repeated itself over the years that followed. But through one man Christ, the firstborn of all creation, have we been redeemed.
In principle, this portion of our life on earth is, I believe, is a training program for all age groups to participate in the Kingdom of God. The church or ecclesia as it was first coined in the book of Acts, is the blueprint of the vehicle by which this mandate can be achieved. Our corrupted thought processes inherited from worldly ideologies are rectified by the Holy Spirit during this training program. Which is why Ephesians 4 verse 11, contains a vital message of what the church should be doing both as individual members and as a whole. Now if you are reading this message I would like you to pause a minute, and honestly evaluate if your gift has been applied by you in God's kingdom today?
In a nutshell, I encourage you to do some self inspection this week and to look around you evaluating if you have been a good apprentice so far. Have you been developing your area of gifting and shared it with the brethren? Don't just observe the soil and curse at the soil. Start sowing seeds and develop your divine knowledge to the point of maturity. With that being said it's goodbye for this week. Until next week keep sowing some seeds.
