Matthew 4:18~22
God is almighty and omnipresent. God revealed Himself through Jesus, His only Son, whose life was full of miracles and power, but also full of hardship and sacrifice in order to save man (Isaiah 53:5~6). Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and accomplished the great event of salvation for mankind by the Holy Spirit. Jesus’ life was a series of miracles and hardship, and at last He died on the cross for our sins (Matthew 4:1~2, Matthew 4:17). When Jesus started His public life, He called some fishermen in the Sea of Galilee, and made them fishers of men. Jesus let them be with Him, let them win many dying souls who hadn’t known Jesus and hadn’t believed in Him, and let them drive out the demons who had ruled over and tortured them. Jesus worked to give us spiritual and physical happiness (Mark 3:13~15). The ministry of Jesus was to save and free man who would have perished, because they were being held by the working of the devil, Satan, demons and sin (1 John 3:8, Hebrews 2:14~15). Hence, the ministry of His disciples was also to win many people, and the Holy Spirit worked through them. He let them do the same things that Jesus had done for the salvation of the whole world. Just as Jesus was conceived and started His public ministry by the Holy Spirit, so His disciples healed the sick, cast out demons and raised the dead, with exactly the same power and miraculous signs by the Holy Spirit. The purpose for which the Holy Spirit has made some people overseers of His church, is to complete the task of winning souls through the church, which Jesus bought with His own blood (Acts 20:28). The ministry of the disciples was to save those who were perishing because they hadn’t understood the grace of salvation achieved by Jesus’ death on the cross. To us, the most blessed ministry is also to win a great number of people through Jesus. By His grace we are also called to be His disciples. Dear brothers and sisters, the most glorious thing for us to do in this world is to work together with Jesus for winning dying souls. From the first month of 2012, let us be evangelists called by the Lord. Let us drive out demons with Jesus, and perform many miraculous signs by faith in order to reproduce the living Jesus' life, and to be a true witness of Him with the same passion for winning souls. With His uncompromising passion for winning souls, let us be His co-worker for this sacred work, which no one can limit or make compromises for. Even now, a multitude of people are going to hell, because they don’t know Jesus. Let us be fishers of men with all our lives in order to win many souls from the beginning of this year.
