Acts 10:38 – “You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good, and healing all who were oppressed by the devil; for God was with Him.”  NASB

The more I study the Bible and study the ministry of Jesus, the more convinced I am most of the modern church is light years away from what He taught and did.  That may sound incredibly negative, but I hope to take that statement and propel us into a biblical way of looking at everything.  If I can be remotely successful, this endeavor will produce benefits far beyond what I or any can imagine. 

Here in Acts, Peter calls our attention to the ministry and life of Jesus.  Jesus went about.  That is about as far as some get in their consideration of the commission of the LORD to us.  They go!  But Jesus went about doing something. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil.  I believe that is one of the best summations of the Life of Jesus here on earth that we can find.  This is Him living His life as a True Human being and demonstrating our purpose.

I do believe that Jesus was and is the Son of God and was manifested in the flesh.  However, I also believe that as He lived among us, He was among us as a True Human Being and never once did He draw upon His Deity in what He did.  He came as man and did what He did as and for man.  He lived and worked under the anointing of the Holy Spirit.  He was our example and pattern.  I want to call your attention to several important and powerful passages of scripture.

John 5:19 – “…Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.” 

John 8:28 – “…When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me.” 

By His own declaration, of His own self, He could do nothing.  He was dependent on the Father and it was through the Power and Anointing of the Holy Spirit that He functioned.  That is exactly how we are to live and function.  He ‘went about’, but not just haphazardly but with clear direction and as directed by the Father through the Holy Spirit. 

In that mode, whenever He came upon “needy” human beings, He “did good,” and that frequently manifested itself in deliverance from bondage and healing of sick bodies.  He healed those who were oppressed by the devil and we live in a world full of oppression.  He ‘went about’ as the one who had the ability to draw upon the Shalom of God and He was able to dispense it, through obedience.

Jesus lived among human beings with all the ills, woes, griefs, sorrows, trials, and temptations mankind is subjected to.  He was able to and did Bless them.  Wherever He came upon people He ‘did good’, He ‘blessed’, and He ‘healed.’  That sums up the Life and Ministry of Jesus.  He was a DOER!

If you recall Jesus began His earthly ministry quoting Isaiah and said that was exactly what He was going to do.  The list in the passage is a description of every way The Blessing of His Covenant is expressed in the lives and needs of people. 

Luke 4:18-19 – “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are downtrodden, 19 to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” 

Unfortunately, too much of the Body of Christ today has a four-walls mentality and we are trying to get to heaven so that we can be like Jesus.  I suggest that if we do not become like Jesus here and now, we either won’t get to heaven or we will be red-faced when we get there and discover or error.

Jesus began His ministry with this view.  He conducted His ministry with this view.  When He came to the end of His earthly ministry, He commissioned His follows to adopt this view and GO and DO exactly as He did.  If we take His command seriously, we need to discover how and what Jesus did.

For us to even scratch the surface of understanding we will have to spend multiple devotionals on this subject.  I am always concerned in blog devotionals that drawn-out teaching will extend beyond the attention of the readers.  However, this is so important that I am willing to take that risk.

God bless you as you enjoy this day and we will dig a little deeper in the next devotional.