THE FORERUNNER AND HARBINGER OF GRACE-APOSTLE PAUL

Apostle Paul hailed from the tribe of Benjamin. A Roman citizen, he was born in Tarsus and he expanded most of his early life in Jerusalem as a student of the renowned and celebrated rabbi, Gamaliel.

He was also a Pharisee,a member of the strictest Jewish sect (a group of people with somewhat different religious beliefs from those of a larger group to which they belong). He was miraculously converted while on his way to Damascus to seize believers who professed Christ backed up with legal authority. He was apprehended by God and afterwards he began to proclaim the gospel message. After narrowly escaping from Damascus with his life, Paul spent three years in Arabia, during which he received much of his doctrine as direct revelation from God.

More than any other individual, Paul was responsible for the spread of Christianity throughout the Roman Empire. He made three missionary journeys through much of the Mediterranean world, tirelessly and assiduously preaching the gospel that he had once sought to destroy.

After Paul returned to Jerusalem bearing an offering for the needy in the church there, he was falsely accused by some Jews, ferociously and brutally beaten by an angry gang, and arrested by the Romans.

Felix and Festus, who were Roman governors, as well as Herod Agrippa did not find him guilty of any crime, but pressure from the Jewish leaders kept Paul in Roman custody. After two years, the Apostle exercised his right as a Roman citizen and approved his case to Caesar.

Through a traumatic and distressing trip, including a violent two-week storm at the sea that culminated in wreckage, Paul reached Rome. Eventually, he was released for a brief period of ministry, but was later arrested again. He eventually suffered martyrdom (execution/slaughter) at Rome.

In addition to being physically unimpressive, Paul was not an imposing person. He suffered hardships and ailments that were related to his own physical weakness. Paul possessed an inner strength (asset) granted him through the power of the Holy Spirit. The Grace of God proved sufficient to make available for his every need, enabling this noble servant of Christ to successfully finish his spiritual race.

The false teachers added Paul's physical defects to their long list of claims they had against him and stated that he was unfit for leadership. They also commented on the sound and tenor of his voice, his rhetorical and oratorical skills and his style of delivery and academic level of its content. He was not an attractive man. He wasn't anything special.

He was demeaned and denigrated for:
. His physical imperfections
. His human weakness
. The way he looked
. The manner in which he spoke coupled with his contemptible speech
. The bodily weakness he had

Paul's gospel was the message of Jesus's life and glory that he was apprehended by God to minister. Peter and the others promoted it, but Paul was the distinguished steward of it. Peter and the other disciples as part of the twelve bore their testimony to Israel but were rejected like their Lord, and then became witness to the heavenly call of the church.

The vision Peter had in Acts 9, would have made this easy for him to see, that God had also sanctified the Gentiles: the four-footed beast was let down from heaven, and taken up again into heaven. This was a symbol of the mystery hid from ages. It denotes that the church had been of old written in heaven and hid there with God, but now for a little season was manifested here, and in the end was to be hid in heaven again, having her glory and inheritance there.

To Paul, a dispensation of the Gospel was committed to him, and woe to him if he did not preach it (1 Cor 9:16, 17). Though, as he speaks, it was even against his will. yet he must preach it. Jesus was revealed in him for this very purpose, that he might preach/teach Him among the gentile/heathen (Gal 1:16). His commission from God was "Rise and stand upon thy feet, for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of theses things which thou hast seen, and those things in which I will appear unto thee." The ministry of Paul should then be profitable to Christians discerning rightly because his ministry was thus one stage in the Divine process of laying out the plans/purposes of God.

After his office was defined by God, immediately he refuses to confer with flesh and blood- refuses to go up to Jerusalem to them that were Apostles before him. He was not to get himself sanctioned there or by them, because before his commission, the twelve had all authority. The Apostles were nothing to him and his ministry, they had not cast the lot to elect him as one of them and therefore were not in the right place to send him forth.

The Holy Ghost will therefore say "separate unto me Paul and Barnabas for the work whereunto I have called them" and having thus received grace and apostleship from the Lord. in the glory, and being now sent forth by Holy Ghost, in full consistency with all this, he and Barnabas receive recommendation to the grace of God, from the unconsecrated hands of some unnamed brethren at Antioch. All this was a grievous breach upon that order that was to establish the earth in righteousness, beginning at Jerusalem.

Not only was Paul's Apostleship and mission thus independent of Jerusalem, and of the twelve;but the gospel, which he preached was also devoid of Jerusalem, he didn't learn from them or with them. He once mentioned that he did not get his gospel from man neither was he taught by man, but by revelation of Jesus Christ.

He went up from Antioch to Jerusalem, to confer with the other disciples/apostles about circumcision, but before he did, he withstood some, though they had come from James and rebuked Peter before them all. These things were ordered in the provident wisdom of the Spirit; just as Jesus rebukes his mother. The Spirit of the Lord , foreseeing the boasts in the flesh, which would arise from both these sources, from Mary and Peter, thus as give him these signs of his heavenly path.

The Lord appeared to him in those things of which he was to be a minister and witness. Paul did not confer with flesh and blood- he did not become a debtor to any but to Himself for his gospel. For as the dispensation was to allow no confidence in the flesh, neither was Paul's Apostleship. All that was to be gained in the flesh was be counted loss.

The confidence with those who had seen and heard,eaten and drunk with Jesus, might have been gain;but all this was set aside.Paul would thankfully be refreshed in the Spirit by mutual faith of himself and humblest disciple. The earlier pillars of the ministry could not be used to support his ministry. THE JEWISH ORDER WAS GONE.

Paul's ministry had no respect for the status quo because the Jewish order was earthly and of the flesh. The message of the Gospel interfered with it. He wrote as one inspired by Holy Spirit as the Jewish order was revoked. He became the subject of attack from evil men who were moved by Satan to inflict upon him bodily harm and infiltrate the church with false teachers and false teachings.

To know the mind of the Spirit, one would need to understand the letters of this Apostle. Jesus said he could not say some things to His disciples but advised on the office of the Holy Spirit for the message to the church.

If we are saved today, it will be because we have yielded to this Gospel, which the Apostle presented when he wrote to the church at Rome. Romans 2:16

If there is a Church today in the world, it would have been formed by the Holy Spirit through the letters/writings of this martyr APOSTLE PAUL, because he hols a distinguished place in the Church. He introduces Himself as Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an Apostle and separated unto the Gospel of God. I wish I knew his surname.




K Surakat

Are we going to the same heaven with this Paul?

christemmbassey: Are we going to the same heavem with this Paul?

^^^^^^^^ what do you mean by that question? please be more explicit.

shdemidemi:
^^^^^^^^ what do you mean by that question? please be more explicit.

he said heavem, and not heaven, so take a chill pill, ok?

sylve11:

he said heavem, and not heaven, so take a chill pill, ok?

u should know that was a typo. @demi, i mean, look at bro Paul's life and ours, i mean the avg naija christian, our attitude of turning christianity to ladipo market, we sell prayers, prophecies, deliverances, tapes/cds, books most of which are 'other gospels', we even sell husbands/wives, children, healings, peace, employment, charms for business and exams successes etc. I think this is dif from Paul's gospel and christianity.

^^^
@christemmbassey,

You are right bro.
Personally, I believe false prophets are God's judgement on our lust.
But, we have a job to do cos Christ said 'the son of man has nowhere to rest His head', we need to spread the gospel of Christ to form a unified mystical body.

christemmbassey: u should know that was a typo.

ofcos i do.

shdemidemi: ^^^
@christemmbassey,

You are right bro.
Personally, I believe false prophets are God's judgement on our lust.
But, we have a job to do cos Christ said 'the son of man has nowhere to rest His head', we need to spread the gospel of Christ to form a unified mystical body.

my brother, stomach inspired gospel aka prosperity messages does not allow ppl to listen to salvation nsg again o. You must talk about money, car, husband, business etc, but we thank God for the holy spirit. God bless .

FALSE PROPHETS ARE GOD'S JUDGEMENT ON OUR LUST - DEMI

The above should be placed on billboard on every corner of this country!

DrummaBoy: FALSE PROPHETS ARE GOD'S JUDGEMENT ON OUR LUST - DEMI

The above should be placed on billboard on every corner of this country!

Obadiad/Buzugee put it better sometime last year...

buzugee: The lord sees the heart of every nigerian, their intentions, their desires, the priority in their lives, what they worship. He knows all these things. The lord knows 99 percent of nigerians only go to church because they see it as a means to get rich. they see it as a means to success. maybe the lord will bless me with immense wealth and a mercedes benz. maybe the lord will get me a house in lekki so i can oppress people. maybe the lord will get me a rich husband. maybe the lord will get me gucci shoes and armani shirts so i can oppress. this is what over 90 percent of nigerians go to church for. the lord knows this. every spirit in every human in the world belongs to God (ecclesiastes 12 vs 7). each spirit has a ying and a yang side. satanic and godly. they balance each other out.  So what does the lord do to these nigerians whose sole purpose is to go to church and seek him so they can get wealth ? he ushers in a new wave of preachers called prosperity preachers who will focus on the scripture (malachi 3 vs 10). you have to pay your tithes if you want to be blessed immensely by the lord. basically the lord is using these preachers to do the opposite of the desires of the heart of these people.he makes sure that whatever it is you go into church for, you will get the opposite of it. you go in there because you want to get rich while you are hiding under the lie that you are there to seek him ? he will use the preachers he has put in place (proverbs 16 vs 4) to make sure that the little money you have will be collected from you in tithing and offerings, and then you will return home worse off than you came to church. he just blessed you with the opposite of your hearts desires because you went seeking wealth and not him. Nothing goes on in this world without the lords sanctions. he is absolutely in charge of everything. oyedeopo, oyakhilome, fireman, tb joshua, okotie, etc etc. they all work for and against the lord. they are pawns for the lord. they were uplifted by the lord to the positions they are in so that they can teach the wealth seeking church going masses a lesson. Of course these men had the freewill to reject the mission if they were genuine men of God. They accepted the mission (hence the lord is killing two birds with one stone). setting greedy people up against each other. when the harvest is ripe enough he will harvest with his sickle. Shalom Israel. My brothers and sisters from the tribe of JUDAH BENJAMIN AND LEVI.


The point here is, genuinely seek the lord, and everything else will be added on to you.

christemmbassey: u should know that was a typo. @demi, i mean, look at bro Paul's life and ours, i mean the avg naija christian, our attitude of turning christianity to ladipo market, we sell prayers, prophecies, deliverances, tapes/cds, books most of which are 'other gospels', we even sell husbands/wives, children, healings, peace, employment, charms for business and exams successes etc. I think this is dif from Paul's gospel and christianity.

Man of God, you too funny o! But no be laughing matter at all o. You're inspired, I know it and I confirm it!

shdemidemi: ^^^

Personally, I believe false prophets are God's judgement on our lust.
[size=3pt]But, we have a job to do cos Christ said 'the son of man has nowhere to rest His head', we need to spread the gospel of Christ to form a unified mystical body.[/size]

You are inspired and we know it. Keep the good work bro. I might change my signature to the above.

musKeeto:


Obadiad/Buzugee put it better sometime last year...

WOW I HAVE BEEN PUTTING IN WORK FOR THE LORD FOR A WHILE NOW ON THIS FORUM. EARNING MY STRIPES SO TO SPEAK. THAT POST WAS A YEAR AGO OR SO. ALL PRAISES TO YAH FOR KEEPING THE ZEAL IN ME AND KUDOS TO BROTHER MUSKEETO FOR REFRESHING ME ON PAST EXPLOITS