JESUS FOLLOWED THE RULES

 TEXT: ACTS 10:38, MATTHEW 3: 13-17

“ How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil because God was with him.

(Act: 10: 38).

“Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”

 Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfil all righteousness.” Then John consented.

As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.  And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him, I am well pleased.”

The scripture advised all followers of Jesus to be Christ like. What does this mean? It means the mind and character of our Lord Jesus Christ. When Jesus came to this world as the son of man, he had the power to do as he pleased- because nobody living on earth was greater than him both in power and in wisdom.

Being the son of man in human form, he could have used his power to intimidate and oppress people. However, Jesus the Son of God that has been given ALL power was humble and submissive to authority. (Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me- Matthew 28:18).

Jesus was humble, caring, selfless, non-partial, nonjudgemental, and approachable. He led without favouritism or pride.

In the anchor scripture, we can see how Jesus started his earthly ministry- he waited to be anointed with Holy Ghost and power, before going around to fulfil his purpose.

In the second scripture (Matthew 3: 13-17) Jesus Christ humbled himself to be baptised by John the Baptist, this is the height of humility. Jesus followed the rules to the letter. During that time, John the Baptist was the only one God appointed to baptise people into His kingdom. Hence, John was not comfortable to baptise the saviour of the world, because he knew who Jesus Christ was. Therefore, as a sign of honour, John felt he was not in the position to baptise Jesus. Jesus insisted that all protocol must be followed- things should be done according to the rules. Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfil all righteousness.” Then John consented.” (Matthew 3:15).

However, in Christendom these days, people are so impatient and eager to start their ministry without waiting for the leading and the direction of God. Many go into ministry without waiting to be equipped with Holy Ghost and power, and they end up struggling in ministry.

Pride had eroded many children of God of their breakthrough. They have allowed pride to limit them from getting to the height that the Lord wanted to take them to.

Many church leaders are partial and they show favouritism in their relationship with their members. If they don’t like you or they “find” anything wrong with you, your “growth” will be retarded!

These are not attributes of our Lord Jesus, Jesus is our role model, we are called to be like him in ALL our ways. Do not break or bend the rules because Jesus never did. Let us examine ourselves and amend our ways. Shalom!

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