Apostolic Preaching & Teaching - a Vision for More!

There is something MORE in the Kingdom than the type of teaching and preaching that normally is happening in the church.

Some have called it "Apostolic preaching".

A study of church history finds many examples of teaching and preaching that had an impact that we are not seeing very often today. Maybe we've heard stories of the preaching and teaching of people like David Brainerd, John Wesley, and Charles Finney. When anointed preaching and teaching took place, people would begin to weep, cry out, fall down, repent, etc. 

Some referred to this as "unction", others refer to it as "the anointing" - what we can all agree upon is that when this type of teaching or preaching took place, the results were supernatural. Far beyond the normal teaching or preaching of their day and even our day.

Looking at a few verses in the Gospel of Mark when we are LOOKING for a theme, looking for this phenomenon, such as this type of preaching or teaching, I believe we find it although the other miracles surrounding it might obscure it to some degree.

Mark 6:2 - And on the Sabbath, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands?

Question: What type of teaching was Jesus engaging in that had devout Jews, who were accustomed to regular teaching in the synagogue, ASTONISHED? wondering from where He got His teaching, His wisdom? And of course, the "mighty works" that were being done along with His teaching blew their minds!

Mark 6:6b - ...And he went about among the villages teaching.

Mark 6:12-13 - So they [the disciples] went out and proclaimed that people should repent. And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them.

Jesus modeled this type of teaching - we see Him going from village to village TEACHING in v. 6 - and then we find His disciples doing exactly the same thing! They are preaching, we learn in v. 12 that they preached a message of "repentance" - and what accompanied this preaching of theirs? Exorcisms and healings.

Mark 6:30 - The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught.

We find in v. 30 a little phrase that I would have missed, had we not been focusing in on the TEACHING aspect of the Apostolic ministry. The disciples return to Jesus after the ministry trip that had blown their minds and they not only told Jesus about the miracles that they had been doing, but they also reported to Him "all that they had...TAUGHT". Of course, He would have known what they were teaching in terms of the content, for He had taught it to them. But I believe here we see that they are reporting to Him the IMPACT their teaching had on the people who heard it. It wasn't the normal type of teaching that they would have been familiar with. They were teaching in a way that had people "astonished" as in v. 2. This phenomenon of anointed Apostolic preaching was AS IMPRESSIVE TO THEM AS THE MIRACLES OF EXORCISM AND HEALING.

Mark 6:34 - When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.

Some final thoughts that were highlighted to me this week in my personal Bible Study - Jesus' motivation for Kingdom Apostolic ministry was compassion. And that must also be our motivation. 

I find myself often frustrated and angry over the past couple of years - I've watched fear grip the planet, a virus that the vast majority survive cripple the world AND THE CHURCH. I've watched false narrative after false narrative being peddled and believed by Christians. And I know that one of the needs of the hours is for APOSTOLIC PREACHING AND TEACHING to be released. And I am convicted because it must come from a place of compassion and not some of the other places that I've highlighted  - anger, frustration, disappointment, etc. 

Jesus in v. 34 TAUGHT THEM MANY THINGS...and today, many things need to be taught. Truth needs to be taught. The strategies of the enemy exposed. Deception revealed. And it isn't normal teaching that is needed. What is needed to break through and to deliver people from the lies, from the spirits of fear, from the deception, etc. is a type of preaching and teaching that has been largely absent from the planet, at least the parts of the planet that I am aware of.

Apostolic preaching and teaching is one of the needs of the hour - will God's people get desperate enough and do whatever it takes to see God release it on His sons and daughters? Will we fast and pray? Will we get so desperate that we refuse to move forward unless God will give us what are longing for?

For such a time as this...