The Central Message

# 59 Today's Prime Time Devo comes from: 1Ti 2:5-7, “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time, 7 for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle--I am speaking the truth in Christ and not lying--a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. (1 Tim 2:5-7) Paul, in the midst of a dissertation on how churches ought to pray, seems to go off on a tangent of basic Christian doctrine and reiteration of his calling as an Apostle to the Gentiles. But he has good reason. He is leaving this earth soon and this message needs to be passed on to the church for the ages. There is One God and One Mediator between God and men, The Jews don't have one God and the Gentiles another. Christians don't have One Mediator and Buddhists another. Just as there is One God, there is only One Mediator and the name that Paul uses for that Mediator says it all! “The Man Christ Jesus.” The man, (He was fully human) “Christ” (The Messiah, the Anointed One...fully God!” “Jesus” (The one who would save people from their sins!) This is the central teaching of the church and must never be muddled with syncretism amongst the Jew or Gentile! “Who do you say I am” and Peter replied, “You are the Christ the Son of the Living God! And Jesus speaking of Peter's confession said, “and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” (Mt 16:18) And of course we can't repeat Joh 14:6 enough, “Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” There is only one way for Jew and Gentile alike! The ransom that Jesus paid on the cross was for all men, for all time! This ransom was to be testified to in due time and that time was now! Hence Paul was commissioned to bring the message to the Gentiles! There is no more important message from God to the world than this, there is no other message that the devil desires to intercept and prevent from reaching ears and hearts of the unsaved, and therefore must be of utmost concern in our church prayer life. Preach it! Teach it! Pray it! Because the Gates of Hell cannot stand against it!