 Hello, this is David Diga Hernandez and you're watching Spirit Church here on the Encounter TV Network. You know, there was a very specific strategy that Jesus used when carrying out his ministry here on Earth. We're going to look at that strategy so that we can copy it. So Jesus did in fact carry out a specific strategy when ministering here on Earth. Now, some believers are dismissive of strategy. They're dismissive of methodology. But remember this, strategy can be spiritual. Just because something is strategic doesn't mean that it can't be spirit-led. Now, of course, I'm not talking about being rigid or being completely reliant upon systems. Rather, I'm talking about a godly order. I'm talking about Christ-like methodologies. You see, while Jesus was ministering, while Jesus was implementing certain methods of ministry, which I'm going to show you in a moment, he kept an open line of communication with his father so that while he carried out the strategy, he continued to hear from his father. John chapter 12 verse 49 says, I don't speak on my own authority. The Father who sent me has commanded me what to say and how to say it. So when carrying out a spirit-inspired strategy, it's important to still be sensitive to the Holy Spirit's voice. So let's take a look at this key verse found in Matthew chapter 23 through verse 25. Now, this is a very key portion of Scripture because in this portion of Scripture, we see the ministry strategy of Jesus laid out for us like a blueprint. And if we can learn to copy this strategy, then we will see powerful results. Jesus traveled throughout the region of Galilee, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the good news about the kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness. News about him spread as far as Syria and people soon began bringing to him all who were sick. And whatever their sickness or disease or if they were demon-possessed or epileptic or paralyzed, he healed them all. Large crowds followed him wherever he went, people from Galilee, the 10 towns, Jerusalem, from all over Judea and from east of the Jordan River. So here we see that Jesus, number one, was teaching in the synagogues. Number two, he was announcing the good news. Number three, he was healing the sick. And number four, he was casting out demons. These were the methods that he used to carry out his ministry here on earth. So again, number one, he was teaching the Scriptures. Now we're going to look at what is known as the Great Commission. And it's found in Matthew chapter 28. I'm going to read verses 18 through 20. Watch this. These are the directions that Jesus gives to us as the pattern of ministry that we are to follow. These are his parting instructions that he leaves to us. He says, this is how you do ministry. Matthew 28, 18 through 20. Jesus came and told his disciples, I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. So here he says to go and make disciples. Well, how do you make disciples? You make disciples by teaching the Word. You make disciples by communicating the truths that Jesus himself communicated. Now, I've often seen ministers treat the Word very flippantly. I've been in services where the minister will say, well, I was going to preach a sermon, but now I'm throwing the notes out and I'm going to allow the Holy Spirit to do what he wants to do. Now, I understand that there are times when the Holy Spirit will change the agenda. And there are times when the Holy Spirit will interrupt your sermon and tell you to do something else instead, like prophesy or pray for the sick. And that's a good thing when the Holy Spirit instructs it. However, we shouldn't be of this mindset that the less of the Word that we read, that the more spiritual the service is. We shouldn't be of this mindset that in order for God to move, that we must lay aside the teaching and instead go right to the demonstration. In fact, it is the teaching of the Word that lays the foundation for the demonstration of power. You need the Word. So this idea of just, I'm going to throw out my notes and let the Holy Spirit move. Oh, wait a minute. The Holy Spirit most often moves through the Word. So those notes you should probably keep unless you've heard very clearly from the Holy Spirit. We must be broken away from this mindset that if there is teaching or if there is talk of the Word or if there's study of the Word that that somehow prevents the Holy Spirit from moving. No, he moves through the Word. It's essential to building the people of God. 2 Timothy chapter 3 verses 16 and 17 say, All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip His people to do every good work. The Word of God is how you build people. The Word of God is how you make disciples. The Word of God is how people grow spiritually. We began posting videos on YouTube around 2007. When we started posting videos on YouTube, we would only post clips of healing and deliverance and people being slain in the Spirit, people receiving the baptism with the Holy Spirit and worship clips and people loved those videos. We would get views, we would get clicks and likes and comments and shares and people enjoyed that content. But they would just come, watch the videos and then leave. You see, we didn't see our subscriber rate go up. We didn't see people really connecting with the ministry. We didn't see longevity in our connections with the people until we began to post teachings from the Word of God on a weekly basis. And this is something I would say to anyone who is in ministry. Demonstrations of power are wonderful. You see them on this channel all the time. You see them at our services. I believe in the power of the Holy Spirit. I believe in praying for the sick. I believe in casting out demons. I believe in people being slain in the Spirit, receiving the baptism with the Holy Spirit. That is all wonderful. It's heavenly. But if you truly want to grow a ministry, if you truly want to connect with people in the long term, if you truly want to see your support base grow, people get behind what you're doing and pray for what you're doing and connect to what you're doing, then preach the Word. You have to feed the people of God the Word. If you feed them the Word and you make it a good meal, I'm talking diligent study. I'm talking going deep into the Scripture. I'm talking sound doctrine, presenting Scriptures for your points. Let the Word of God build the ministry that he's given you to steward. Teaching the Word lays the foundation for all other kinds of ministry. Luke 4.44 says, So he continued to travel around, preaching in the synagogues throughout Judea. Luke 1947, after that, he taught daily in the temple. Luke 21, 37 and 38. Every day, Jesus went to the temple to teach and each evening he returned to spend the night on the Mount of Olives. The crowds gathered at the temple early each morning to hear him. They came to hear him teach. So yes, Jesus healed the sick. Yes, Jesus drove out demons. Yes, Jesus would even do ministry in the streets and in people's houses and on the roads. But primarily, Jesus' focus was to teach the Word in the temple. And it was the teaching of the Word that drew the crowds. It's when they heard him teach with authority that they were amazed. It was that teaching of the Word that drew the people in and it was there that he performed the miracles. So what he would do is he would set up with a teaching and then he would pray for the sick. Then he would drive out demons and people would come early in the morning to hear him teach. I imagine there were lines around the temple. Hours before Jesus even arrived. The people waiting in anticipation to hear heavenly revelation. That hunger for the Word, people have it. Even people who don't truly know the Lord, hunger for the Word, they want to know about God. They want to know about who we serve. The Word of God is the foundation for the ministry. So Jesus did teach. We can't just dismiss teaching as something that we do sometimes when God isn't moving. We can't just treat teaching as if it's something that prevents the Holy Spirit from moving. No, no, it lays the foundation. And we saw Jesus teaching every single day. Number two, preaching the gospel. Now, this is a different verse, but it's still the same great commission. Mark chapter 16 verses 15-18 says this. And this portion of scripture will be the anchor scripture for the next three points that I make. And then he told them, go into all the world and preach the good news to everyone, the gospel. Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned. These miraculous signs will accompany those who believe. They will cast out demons in my name and they will speak in new languages. They will be able to handle snakes with safety. And if they drink anything poisonous, it won't hurt them. They will be able to place their hands on the sick and they will be healed. Go into all the world. That's what I want to glean first and foremost from this portion of scripture in Mark. Go into all the world and preach the gospel. Preach the gospel. Jesus taught the scriptures, but he also preached the good news. One of the commitments we've made as a ministry is to preach the gospel message of salvation at many of our ministry events. The saving of souls is the greatest miracle. There is no greater miracle than salvation. So when you make souls your agenda, God will give longevity to your ministry. You want to see longevity? You want to be at this for years? Make souls a priority. Make soul winning a priority. When you make souls a priority, God will give your ministry favor because souls are the heart of God. Second Peter chapter 3 verse 9 says, the Lord isn't really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. God's heart is souls. If you're not winning souls, you're missing a very important piece to ministry. Jesus would teach the scriptures and he would preach the gospel. We must preach the gospel message of salvation continually, simply, with conviction, preach the gospel of salvation. Number 3, healing miracles. So teaching of the scripture, the preaching of the gospel, and healing miracles. And we see this in that same portion of scripture in Mark chapter 16. They will be able to place their hands on the sick and they will be healed. It's the ministry of the supernatural. Every true spirit-led ministry has a supernatural element attached to it. The supernatural must be central, not secondary in your ministry. The supernatural is not just to be tolerated, but rather foundational to ministry. Signs are a part of ministry. Now some will say, didn't Jesus say a wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign? Yes, but he was saying that to people who wouldn't believe even if they were given a sign. But signs are biblical and healing miracles are one of the signs that God uses to back his ministries. And so we must allow for the healing of the sick. We must pursue that in our services. No, I'm not saying that miracles must become the message, but miracles must come with the message. Let me say that again. I'm not saying that miracles must become the message. I'm saying that miracles must come with the message. Just because you preach about healing doesn't mean you're distracted by healing. Just because you preach about miracles doesn't mean that you've made miracles your only focus. It's possible to preach the gospel message, to teach the scriptures those primary functions while also believing in the supernatural healing power of God and pursuing that, not as a main pursuit, but as something you're looking for God to do as you carry out those foundational ministries of preaching and teaching. Healing miracles are God's will. And God will back ministries to put a stamp of approval on them with demonstrations of power. Number four, delivering the captives. So far we have, number one, teaching the scriptures. Number two, preaching the gospel. Number three, healing miracles. And number four, delivering the captives. And again, we're going to use that reference in Mark chapter 16. Remember, these are Jesus' parting instructions. He's giving us the blueprint for how to carry out ministry. And here the scripture says they will be able to handle snakes with safety. And if they drink anything poisonous, it won't hurt them. Now what does this mean to handle serpents or snakes? Look in Luke chapter 10 verses 18 through 20. We see a very clear comparison here. Yes, he told them, I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning. Look, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy. And you can walk among snakes and scorpions and crush them. Nothing will injure you. But don't rejoice because evil spirits obey you. Rejoice because your names are registered in heaven. So the serpents, the snakes and the scorpions are symbolic. They are metaphors for demonic powers. So Jesus absolutely drove out demons from people who were demon-possessed. And I have news for you. Demons still exist. And people can still become demon-possessed. This is why we must carry out deliverance ministry. So there must be the teaching of the word. There must be the preaching of the gospel. There must be the healing of the sick. And there must be the deliverance for the captives. Mark chapter 1 verse 39 says, So he traveled throughout the region of Galilee, preaching in the synagogues and casting out demons. Matthew 8 16 says, That evening many demon-possessed people were brought to Jesus. He cast out the evil spirits. I love this with a simple command. And he healed all the sick. In carrying out deliverance ministry, we must carry out deliverance ministry like Jesus carried it out. We can't add our own superstition. We can't add our own tradition. We can't take from people's experiences and contradict the word of God. If we're going to practice deliverance ministry, we must do it like Jesus did it. And Jesus did it very simply. When he drove out a demon, he never got a checklist out, went down the line and got the person's history. That's more like something you would do in psychology rather than in deliverance. Jesus didn't interview the demons back and forth. There was maybe a couple instances in Scripture where he asked about the name. And upon finding the name, he drove that evil spirit out. But generally speaking, the primary way which Jesus drove out demons was not through interview, not through interrogation, not through back and forth, not through complicated rituals and methods. Rather it was with a simple command. It was an instant deliverance that took place. Also, please take note that not once in Scripture do we see a genuine follower of Jesus needing to be delivered from demonic possession. Not once do you ever see it. And so we must carry this out with balance, recognizing that A, we have ultimate authority over demonic powers and B, that the believer does not need to be afraid of having some demonic spirit and then why? Because you have the Holy Spirit. Now I've taught on this before and I highly recommend that you go and listen to my e-course that I did on demons deliverance and spiritual warfare. I go really in depth there. But for now I just want to make a simple point that we must carry out deliverance ministry and we must do it in the way that Jesus did it. I can't tell you how many times demon-possessed people have come to our services and they get delivered not in minutes or hours but rather in seconds. And I don't say that to boast about me, I had nothing to do with it. Rather it's the presence of the Holy Spirit that drives out demonic beings. In every instance that I've seen deliverance in the past several years since I started doing it like Jesus does it every deliverance I've seen has been instant. There's no fight to be had there's no back and forth it's simply the power of the Holy Ghost and I encourage you to carry it out in the same way. So to recap here number one, teaching the scriptures number two, preaching the gospel number three, healing miracles and number four, delivering the captives. That's how Jesus carried out his ministry. Now go and do likewise. Father in the name of Jesus I pray you would anoint that one watching use them for your glory I pray I ask you now that the anointing of the Holy Spirit would come upon them in a fresh way I want you to stretch your hands toward mine there's an impartation that's taking place right here right now and some of you will sense the power of God on you as we pray. Father I thank you that you're giving your people authority that you're giving your people the power to do that which you have called them to do and I pray you touch us in a fresh way in a new way ignite our hearts for you again and use us for your glory we pray in the name of Jesus and I want you to say it because you believe it say amen well that is it for the lesson I want to welcome now the new members of spirit church there you are up on the screen we love you we are praying for you I always say that because I always mean it you like information on how you can join the spirit family the spirit church which is our online church community simply go to davidhernan'sministries.com slash spirit church and now I want to read your comments and these comments come from the teaching discover your spiritual gift now and in parentheses it says three keys now this was the conclusion of a series that I did on the gifts of the Holy Spirit and I really encourage you to go and watch this one because this one actually instructs you how to find a special spiritual gifts test that we put together just for you so make sure you go and check out this teaching while you're at it make sure you're following us across all platforms and when you subscribe to us on YouTube be sure to click that notification bell so that you can be notified of when we release new content leave a comment in the comment section right now and I may read it on an episode of spirit church so now here are the comments on discover your spiritual gift three keys because Said writes I love you and your ministry very much pastor David I just took the test for the service gifts and my result was 100% correct this is an amazing testing system that your team has built again that's a very interesting thing that our ministry team did it's a test that uses biblical principles that will help you to discover your spiritual gift so make sure you go and watch that clip Kasia Z writes I have taken the test and it has been eye-opening to me my strongest result was the gift of faith and I must say that I didn't acknowledge it before but my sister in Christ pointed it out to me I took it for granted and didn't consider it as a meaningful gift so many people are discovering that they've had spiritual gifts all along they had overlooked because Charles Sundar writes thank you pastor David for the test to identify our spiritual gifts it was very helpful and your teachings always encourage me to desire the spiritual gifts to serve in the kingdom Ryan D. Neely writes brother David my favorite pastor thank you so much for this short and powerful teaching on discovering my spiritual gifts and healthy living with CZ writes thank you Steve for your beautiful worship and David for the powerful sermon when you walk in wisdom God blesses your life wisdom brings the favor of God wisdom brings fruitfulness and I want to show you something from the book of wisdom the book of Proverbs chapter number three I'm going to read verses nine and ten honor the Lord with your wealth and with the best part of everything you produce then he will fill your barns with grain and your vats will overflow with good wine now this is a bit of an older terminology that's being used here of course most of us don't have barns filled with grain and most of us don't have vats that need to be filled with good wine but what we do have are resources that God has given to us and what we do have are jobs and careers are academic pursuits are investments that's what we have and the truth is the Bible teaches that when you honor the Lord with your resources that God turns around because of the way you honored him and blesses you financially I call this financial fruitfulness now I know these teachings have been abused and some preachers preach these things to an unhealthy extreme but here's the simple truth when you give to the gospel God will increase you so that you can continue to give to the gospel and help ministries take that gospel all around the world so will you join me right now in honoring the Lord that's why we give of course we understand that our giving helps to win souls our giving helps to spread the gospel around the world our giving helps in many different ways it helps to expand the kingdom but we give because we love him we give because we honor him it's a gift we give him it's us saying Lord here is some of the best of my resources thank you for giving me the ability to bring forth these resources I put them back into your hands and I ask you to bless it and use it for your glory and in doing so you're honoring the Lord when you give to this ministry you're helping us to continue with all the things that we do you're helping to keep the Holy Spirit school online open you're helping us do all of our live streams you're helping us with all of the media and the content that we produce and all of the general expenses of the ministry but most importantly when you give to this ministry you're honoring God now I know some of us look at that and we read the verse honor the Lord with your wealth and we say well I'm not very wealthy we don't the way we live today in the modern world we live very wealthy lives whether we realize it or not and even if you really are in a place where you're not experiencing the kind of wealth that scriptures talking about all of us can do something to honor the Lord whether we have much or whether we have little we can honor the Lord with what we have by giving the best that we're able to do as much giving the best means something different for the person who has little but all of us when we give from our heart and we give to the work of God we honor him and so do it today honor the Lord with me help us fulfill our mission help us to expand this ministry help us to keep going and growing strong go to davidhernandezministries.com slash donate right now go to davidhernandezministries.com slash partner to become a monthly ministry supporter if you do partner with us there are benefits that we want to give back to you because those monthly supporters really help us to plan for the future go to davidhernandezministries.com slash partner to see the latest partner offer that we have and I know it will be a blessing to your life and there are many different benefits but the main benefit is that we're honoring the Lord and we are winning souls together so one more time one time gifts go to davidhernandezministries.com slash donate to become a monthly supporter go to davidhernandezministries.com slash partner get behind this ministry stand with us help support us and let's win the world for Jesus together well that is it for this edition of Spirit Church here on the EncounterTV Network until next time remember nothing is impossible with God also help us spread the gospel of Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit make a one-time donation or become a monthly supporter by clicking on the donate link now