JESUS WENT: To all the Towns and Villages

Hi, this is Bernie Dake. Welcome to the Salvation Army's Words of Life. Welcome to Words of Life. I'm Cheryl Gillum, and I'm here with my special guest cohost for this series, my best friend and husband, Tim Gillum. Welcome, Tim. It's exciting to be here.

I can't wait to go through this series with you. Yeah. Well, as you can tell, Bernie's not here right now. He had surgery, and so he's recovering from that surgery and doing very well, and we can't wait to have him back in the studio with us. But Bernie, we just want you to know we're praying for you, wishing you well, and praying God's blessings upon your life and your healing. And Bernie, you can relax. I have no desire to take over your spot at Words of Life.

I'm simply keeping your seat warm until you get back. Absolutely. Well, today we are launching our five-week Easter series with our friend Major Luis Melendez. He's going to be discussing the places and people to whom Jesus went and how his actions should be reflected in our own lives. Luis is such a fun, loving, full of life character, and he and his wife, Laura, have actually shared a common appointment. They were in McAllen, and we still have some associations and relationships with people in McAllen who still talk about them and talk about their ministry down in the Rio Grande Valley.

Yeah, absolutely. I think people are going to enjoy his teachings. He's full of life, and we just look forward to what God has to say through him during this session.

And Bernie, as we alluded to at the beginning of this, we are continuing to pray for you, and we can't wait to see and hear you back behind this microphone. Christ belong, left a joyful song. Yeah, Christ for the world we sing. The world to Christ we break.

All of His suffering untold. Every tribe and tongue to the strong arms of God. Christ for the world, Christ for the world we sing. With us a word to share, with us we approach to dare. With us the cross to bear in one accord.

With us a word to share, with us we approach to dare. With us the cross to bear for our Lord. Christ for the world we sing. The world to Christ we bring.

All of His suffering untold. Every tribe and tongue to the strong arms of God. Christ for the world, Christ for the world we sing.

Oh. Hello, and this is Major Luis Melendez. I'm from the Salvation Army, and I'm with the Evangelion Booth College. We're doing our Easter series, and I just want to let our listeners know that where this Easter series will be under the theme Jesus Went. As we look at the Great Commission, Jesus said go and make disciples, or go and preach the good news, the message to the whole world. So it's almost like if he's telling us to go, I'm pretty sure he went somewhere.

So that's what we're going to be looking at throughout this series. Places that Jesus went that we as Christians, followers of Jesus Christ, can also go and continue that action, that movement forward of spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let's do that during this Easter series by going to those places that Jesus went. Today in this first episode we're just going to look at Jesus went to all, all the towns and villages.

We have heard so many times about the Great Commission, and we at the Salvation Army, we have responded with action, or might I say positively. Let's be reminded of these specific words of Jesus Christ from the Gospel of Matthew 28 verse 19. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations. The Gospel of Mark 16 puts it this way. Jesus said go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Now that's a hefty task.

It should keep us busy. The Great Commission can be wrapped up with the expression, I believe so, go to all. That is quite clear, directive and imperative if you ask me. Sounds like a command, an order, a charge, an instruction to obey. Now the Salvation Army has gone to many places in the world, 131 countries to be exact, sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ while doing the most good.

Now you may ask, how can this be done? Well do we have an example of this? Of course we do. We have Jesus Christ set before us, and he is our Lord and our Savior and our servant leader. Did you know that when Peter the disciple of Jesus visited Cornelius the centurion recorded in Acts chapter 10, he preached to the Gentiles at the house saying, I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation, anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea beginning in Galilee after baptism that John preached, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power and how he, Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil because God was with him. This is how the gospel becomes a message for all the nations by doing what Jesus did, and that is that Jesus went. Jesus went around doing good, doing his father's will, according to Albert Schweitzer.

The three most important ways to lead people are by example, by example, and by example. So Matthew chapter 9 verse 35 records that Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. We must do what Jesus did. He went everywhere through all the towns and villages, and he did what he taught.

He proclaimed. In other words, he preached and he healed. This verse summarizes Jesus's ministry in nearly the same words as Matthew 4 23 does the introduction to the Sermon on the Mount.

Note the verbs. Jesus goes about teaching, proclaiming and healing. He commissions the disciples to become his partners in these activities. The ministries of the disciples thus grows naturally out of the ministry of Jesus. Jesus provides the shape that their ministry will take, first by the example of his ministry, and secondly by this commission to go and preach the gospel. In the IVP Bible background commentary of the New Testament, Dr. Craig Keener from Asbury Theological Seminary writes, and I quote, Both Jesus's proclamation and practical acts of compassion go beyond what many Christians call ministry today. Our communities are ravaged by demonic forces, violence, injustice, and all kinds of human pain. While the church often remains irrelevant, except to the few who venture through our doors to follow Jesus's model of ministry, more Christians must stop simply going to church and learn to become the church among our communities in evangelism and ministry to social needs.

End quote. So are we sensing the compassion of Jesus to go everywhere? Wherever there was a synagogue, a place of prayer and worship to teach about God, he was there. He preached the gospel of the kingdom, one of peace and forgiveness, reconciliation and salvation, freedom and righteousness to all who believe and accept. And Jesus went healing physically and spiritually the needs of many, paralytics, blind, lepers, deaf, mute, and freed the demon-possessed.

Besides healing the sick, Jesus Christ did many more miracles, like turning water into wine of the highest quality, walking on rough water during a storm, raising several people from the dead, multiplying food into an abundance for many thousands of people who were hungry, and on and on we go with the many miracles. So the intended mission of Jesus was promoting the well-being of men wherever Jesus went. He did miracles for the bodies of men, healing the sick, supplying physical wants, but more so he sought to promote the highest spiritual good of the people, teaching, rebuking, and loving them. This was his business. Above all things, he had this at heart. He came into the world. He came to do good and not evil, to bless and not to curse, to fill the world with peace, love, and happiness, to forgive the sins of the lost by dying on the cross.

What greater good than this? Jesus went around doing good. Be mindful of our mission statement. The salvation army, an international movement, is an evangelical part of the universal Christian church. Its message is based on the Bible. Its ministry is motivated by the love of God. Its mission is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in his name without discrimination.

So the questions arise. If Jesus went during his earthly ministry to every major city, town, and village without discrimination, let me put it this way. If there was a town and people lived there, Jesus went. So I ask, are you going? Are you teaching and preaching and healing those in need in your communities?

Are we following the example that Jesus set before us, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? Can you hear him calling? The song that comes to my mind is, Where He Leads Me, I Will Follow, the one written by Ernest W. Blandly, which goes, Where he leads me, I will follow. Where he leads me, I will follow. Where he leads me, I will follow. I'll go with him, with him, with him, all the way.

I would like to maybe rephrase that. I'll go with him, with him, where he went. So go and teach. Go and preach. Go and witness. Go and make disciples. Go and heal. Go where Jesus went. Go to all the towns and villages and cities that you know and preach, teach, and heal in Jesus' name. Or write us at P.O.

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