The Gospel 3

The Gospel 3

By Apostle Felix

15  He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? 
16  And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 
17  And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. 
18  And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Matthew 16: 15 – 18

The church has been built on Christ, the Son of the Living God. Christ, as already alluded to in yesterday’s devotional, is the anointed One and His anointing. The anointing is the yoke breaking, burden removing power of God. It is impossible for the church of Jesus Christ to be in bondage. The gospel is the message of freedom.

1  Let me be clear, the Anointed One has set us free—not partially, but completely and wonderfully free! We must always cherish this truth and stubbornly refuse to go back into the bondage of our past.
Galatians 5: 1

Christ has set us completely free. The freedom is not delivered in installments. Any message that may suggest otherwise is not the gospel. It is what apostle Paul called, ‘Another gospel.’ Freedom is not something that is conducted, but it is taught and preached. Most of these false churches, there is less preaching and more deliverance activities. The reason is simple, people receive complete deliverance through preaching. Jesus taught deliverance, and He never conducted any deliverance service. He taught and preached, and then He cast out the devils after they were exposed by His presence and the word. The gospel is the message of deliverance in Christ. Deliverance is a relocation from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. Do not confuse the two, deliverance and casting out. Deliverance only happened when Jesus died and rose from the dead. It was not possible for anyone to experience spiritual deliverance before the cross. While, casting out is an exercise of expelling someone or something undesirable from a specific space. The casting out of demons took place before the cross. Demons were cast out of people but the people had not experienced deliverance. It is possible to cast out demons from an individual who is not yet delivered from the kingdom of darkness. Jesus explained it in the following scripture.

43  “When a demon is cast out of a person, it roams around a dry region, looking for a place to rest, but never finds it.
44  Then it says, ‘I’ll return to the house I moved out of,’ and so it goes back, only to find that the house is vacant, warm, and ready for it to move back in. 

Matthew 12: 43, 44

Jesus was describing a situation in which a demon had been cast out of an individual but the individual is still in the kingdom of darkness. He is not delivered out from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. Then a demon came back only to find a person still in his kingdom. Jesus was not referring to someone who had been delivered from satan’s kingdom and is not yet filled the Holy Spirit.

13  He has rescued us completely from the tyrannical rule of darkness and has translated us into the kingdom realm of his beloved Son.
Colossians 1: 13

Any gospel that is suggesting otherwise is not the gospel. Any person in Christ is a new creation, the old is gone and the new has come. The nature of that person has been recreated in Christ. The gospel of Christ, does not promise a salvation that is inconsistent. The salvation through the gospel of Christ is complete and perfect. There is nothing left pending, or some satan’s residue. Some treat salvation like something that is of consequential. Meaning, it can be made complete after certain activities are observed. This gospel is the power of God unto salvation.

Some of the testimonies from the brethren who served satan at some point, have downplayed the power of God. Their testimonies are more based on what satan does than what the Lord Jesus has done. They will then propagate a gospel that may appear as though Jesus is constantly battling with satan. Sometimes, satan is made to appear powerful and as one who is very resistant. Jesus is the all-powerful one, who permanently defeated satan once and for all. Satan is no equal to Christ. And the gospel carries equal power and authority.

Col 2:15  Then Jesus made a public spectacle of all the powers and principalities of darkness, stripping away from them every weapon and all their spiritual authority and power to accuse us. And by the power of the cross, Jesus led them around as prisoners in a procession of triumph. He was not their prisoner; they were his! 

Colossians 2: 15