Triumphant Life Church

By Apostle Isidore Agoha

The ministry of Jesus is God’s benchmark. No person in the human history can lay claim to any kind of service to God that can compare with the ministry that Jesus the Son rendered to God the Father by the Holy Spirit. God’s servants in the Old Testament were called to primarily foretell the unique ministry that God had anointed Jesus to fulfill in the fullness of time. Likewise, all of God’s servants in the New Testament, beginning from early church till the end of the age, are called not develop new ministries or standards of ministry but to build on the ministry of Jesus. Thus, the ministry of the Lord Jesus is God’s solid foundation for all present and future ministries called to the service of God and God’s people.

Human involvement in Christian ministry is only a manifestation of God’s grace, the endowment of a human vessel with the power of God to do something that only God can do. The only person who is qualified on the basis of His own personal merits to do ministry for God is Jesus. But out of His love and grace, He invites and shares His ministry with redeemed humanity. This vision of grace was not fully grasped by believers in Corinth to the extent that Apostle Paul had to sternly address this shortsightedness 1 Corinthians 3:1-10.

The Lord Jesus Christ is indeed God’s foundation and God never hesitated to testify to this at every critical point in His earthly life and ministry. Consider this incident which occurred at Transfiguration. Jesus had just being transfigured before three of His apostles, Peter, James and John., when two of the most outstanding prophets of the Old Testament, Moses and Elijah appeared. Peter, basking in the excitement of the moment, suggested that three tabernacles be built, one each for Moses, Elijah and Jesus. This would have implied the building of the foundations of the law (Moses), the prophets (Elijah) and of grace and the kingdom (Jesus. It also indicates an equality of these three persons and ministries, which Peter thought was correct. However, God’s response clearly defined the uniqueness and divinity of Jesus as His Son. Moreover, it sets apart the ministry of Jesus as most pleasing to God, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him" - Matthew 17:5.

Notice that God had to interrupt Peter and overshadow all that were present with a bright cloud, which was a manifestation of the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, God’s attestation about Jesus was made in the presence of an unusual audience, the combines gathering of Old and New Testament saints.
If, therefore, we want to understand God’s purpose, plan and method for any form of biblical ministry, Jesus is our perfect, unchanging pattern. The ministry of Jesus, while He was on earth was both broad in its scope and deep in its intensity and degree.

Contemporary Christian ministry, therefore, should not depart in any way from the pattern and methods employed by the author and finisher of the Christian faith, the Lord Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, in numerous ministries and in many sections of professing Christendom, there have been grave departures form the ministry methods and patterns of Jesus. There are many possible factors that could lead to such fruitless departures. The most common are unbelief, dependence on the flesh or self, fear of man (the desire to be accepted by others), ignorance about the promises of God in His Word and also pride. Interestingly, all these attitudes are motivated by demons.

No one can improve upon the ministry of Jesus. And since Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith, wisdom demands that we learn from Him and continue to use the blueprints He designed, tested and proved in His earthly ministry. It was His lifestyle of obedience and desire to do God’s will in His personal life that gained Him God’s approval, abiding presence and supernatural attestation.

Apostle Isidore Agoha is the Senior Pastor at Triumphant Life Church in the Bronx, N.Y.

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