Name It and Claim It – Part 8

Review

For the last couple of weeks, we’ve looked at the relationship between the Word of Faith doctrine and race.

Specifically, we began to explore what it meant to link the prosperity movement to the African-American church.

And in our case, we are a predominately African-American church in a community that is primarily non-African-American.

Here’s what we focused on last week:

The purpose of all cultures is to advance the Kingdom of God, the center of which is Jesus (Acts 17:26-28).

You might say that one function of a missionary is to focus on nations and peoples.

This is for the purpose of drawing them Jesus, but also drawing their contribution to God’s redemptive plan for the world.

In this regard, Israel is our lead

Jesus’ earthly ministry focused on people; He was very clear about this, stating it (Matthew 15:24).

Jesus earthly ministry was not .

He did not get on a boat, like Paul the Apostle, and the world.

Rather, He remained in a limited geographical area focused on ministry to the people of His own .

When Jesus ministered to non-Jews, they were . They sought Him out; He didn’t seek them out.

While the woman might be considered an exception to this rule, remember that Samaritans were of Jewish heritage, a mixture of Assyrian and Jewish.

While Jesus eventually sent His disciples to minister to the Gentiles, He first sent them to minister to Jewish people (Matthew 10:5, Matthew 28:19-20).

Key Take-Aways

Here’s the lesson from this: Jesus’ ministry focused on Jewish people, but He still won the world.

People assume that a focus, is, by default, the best context for ministry.

This is only true if God you to do that.

Ministry success is premised on what God you to do.

What Jesus demonstrated is that you can be sent to a group of people while still reaching the entire world.

This ministry’s focus on African Americans is not merely to respond to the of African Americans.

Rather, it is to enlist them into work to reach the world.

Though this ministry places a special emphasis on African Americans, it will still draw groups of people here.

Jesus ministry focused on Jews, yet it attracted Gentiles.

Overcome the Healing-Blocker

The key to receiving from Jesus, whether you are a Jew or Gentile, is not to be by His assignment and message (Matthew 13:14-15; Matthew 13:53-58).

Additional Clarity on Zoe’s Ministry Focus

• What I Am Not: a Rastafarian, a Five-Percenter, a Black Hebrew Israelite, a convert to the Nation of Islam
• What I Am: An Evangelical Christian who tells the truth, A missionary to African Americans, A spark plug for national and global revival

When we are wise in our dealings, we can the curse

• From servant to ruler (Proverbs 17:2)
• From poverty to royalty (I Samuel 2:8)
• The Joseph Story (Genesis 37:27-28; Genesis 41:37-44)
• The Esther Story (Esther 2:8-9; Esther 2:12-15; Esther 2:16-17)
• The Daniel Story (Daniel 1:1; Daniel 1:3-5; Daniel 2:46-49; Daniel 6:1-3)

One Greater Than Solomon

• I Kings 4:29-34
• Matthew 12:42
• I Corinthians 1:30-31

Joshua D. Smith, Ph.D., 2020