How Jesus Preached

God is a lover of simplicity, and not surprisingly that is what this article is about. I’m talking about the manner in which Jesus preached. There were actually only two elements that went into the preaching of Jesus, and it is very important that we know what these elements are, because in fact anyone who truly has been anointed and appointed of God to preach his Gospel must and will preach by means of these two elements. Jesus told what these two elements were when he reproved some high ranking ‘preachers’ of his day for not having these elements in their supposed ministry, when they presented him with a question to try to trick him: “And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God?” (Mk. 12:24). The Sadducees were the very elite of the religious hierarchy in Israel when Jesus came, but as he said, they did not truly understand the scriptures; and they knew nothing personally about the power of God. But on the other hand Jesus knew a whole lot about both. And those two elements are the very essence of the true ministry of the true Gospel of Christ. Jesus preached scripture, and he preached it with the authority and power of the holy Ghost. When the Pharisees sent men to Jesus to bring him back to them, they returned empty handed. When they were questioned by the Pharisees as to why they had not brought him back, they merely said; “Never man spake like this man” (Jn. 7:32,45,46). Truly there has never been a man that has spoken quite like Jesus, and yet his preaching was not the result of some kind of formal religious schooling or training, as the scripture states: “And the Jews marvelled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?” (Jn. 7:15). When he was tempted by Satan in the wilderness, Jesus used scripture to overturn the devil’s spirit of error. And when Satan used scripture on Jesus, he countered his erroneous usage of scripture with more scripture according to the right understanding. Jesus prayed much and sought his Father diligently, and was rewarded with “quick understanding in the fear of the Lord” (Heb. 5:7; Heb. 11:6; Isa. 11:2,3).

Jesus obviously studied the scriptures in great detail and was fully yielded to the Father, and the Spirit of truth that dwelt in him taught him everything he needed to know. When Jesus decided to shut the Pharisees mouths for good, he asked them a scriptural question that they simply could not answer without condemning themselves; and the result was as follows: “And no man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions” (Mat. 22:46). So Jesus did not preach according to any mysterious means, or by any intellect or education he learned of man’s wisdom or institutions. He preached by consistency of the scriptures and by the power of the holy Ghost that he was submitted to. And that sounds like what the apostle Paul said about his own preaching: “And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God” (I Cor. 2:1,4,5). Although Paul did learn in the religious institutions of his day, he did NOTpreach according to those means: ”Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee… But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ” (Philip. 3:4,5,7,8).

Neither Paul nor any of the other apostles preached by any means other than those employed by Jesus; that being the scriptures and the power of the holy Ghost. Peter put it this way: “But unto us they [the prophets] did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the Gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven" (I Pet. 1:12). The apostles preached Christ strictly from the old testament scriptures, and that is in fact how the new testament scriptures were written. The new testament writings are comprised mainly of old testament scriptures set in right order to magnify Jesus and what he has done. There is a right understanding of the scriptures that can only be obtained by submitting one’s self to the power of God’s Spirit, and thereby being taught by that same Spirit of truth (Jn. 16:13; I Jn. 2:20; I Jn. 2:27). When someone has been anointed and appointed to preach the Gospel of Christ, they will have that understanding and will be able to preach with a constant flow of scripture with authority from heaven. And they will preach scripture that goes with scripture, along with experience of the power of God that goes along with scripture. When someone is NOTpreaching by those means, it is because they do NOT have authority from God to preach what they are preaching. That is why so many so called ministers have to hide behind religious education, languages, traditions of men, and mysterious things that cannot be confirmed plainly and simplistically by the scriptures. And that is why the minsiters of Christianity follow erroneous Christian tradition rather than the simplistic, consistent truth of the scriptures, and the power of God. Friend, the only thing left is to ask this question: Do you really know what you are listening to and following after, and is it based only on those two vital elements of the Gospel that fueled the ministry of Jesus and the apostles? If not then you should do some praying and considering about it. Amen.