Let us begin with a word of Prayer.
Our Father who art in Heaven, you are very Holy, Holy, Holy. Most Holy One of Israel, I repent of my sins and the sins of all those who are going to read this. We are not even worthy to give you our worship, in heaven you are already worshipped in the beauty of your Holiness. Please cleanse us with the Precious Blood of JESUS, the ultimate sacrifice you provided for the church. As we fellowship your word, please provide to us your Holy Spirit; the Spirit of Truth. And our life will never be the same again from now onwards. In the Mighty Most Holy name of JESUS, we have prayed and believed. Amen.
Even as we begin precious people. Let us understand, that the priestly role is not a joke. A priest can send an entire generation to hell or heaven. And that is the reason why the priests, evangelists, bishops and all those who teach the word will be judged more severely. (James 3:1). Right away, now let us begin.
John 13:5 After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” 7 Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” 8 “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”
Our lead scripture is John 13:8. And JESUS told Peter, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”. You can imagine, if you are not part of the Messiah then whose part are you? If you are not part of the Living GOD, then whose part are you?
John 8:44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him.
If you don’t belong to GOD, then you belong to the devil. If you do not worship JESUS, if you cannot worship GOD now, then you are worshipping the devil. If you cannot submit to the authority established by GOD, then whose authority have you submitted to? Talking of the established authority, am talking of a heavenly-focused rule established by GOD.
Without losing focus. We see THE LORD entrusted the disciples to continue with the ministry of Christ. Perhaps you’re reading this and you are an evangelist, pastor, bishop or member of a church, and you love sharing the Gospel of JESUS; continuing with the ministry of Christ. This message is for you today. Today we’re learning of the requirement for anybody to continue with the Ministry of Christ. To be clear, the Ministry of Christ was heavenly focused, therefore the message you preach should focus your audience to the heaven.
John 13:9 “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!” 10 Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.”
I love Peter’s response. Looks funny and sweet, he wanted to partake in the Ministry of Christ. If you’re laughing, now stop and see this. In HIS response, I see another hidden message. It is as if he was saying, “LORD don’t only wash me, anoint me too. I need your anointing. Anoint me, LORD.” In our mind, many of us would have said, “Peter, that is now taking a bath!”. So in verse 10, JESUS answered us. But later we are going to see, Peter also asked for anointing of the Holy Spirit.
The ministry of the Messiah is not a joke or a child’s play like others are doing and collecting money. Continuing with the Ministry of the Messiah is not a joke. Verse 10 of John 13, those who have bathed need only to wash their feet. Taking a bath comes first before the washing of the feet. What also emerges that we will look at later, is that some people will refuse to be made clean after being bathed. Therefore, to continue with the Ministry of our LORD JESUS.
- One must be bathed by OUR LORD JESUS
- Their feet must be washed by OUR LORD JESUS
(a) Be bathed by JESUS (Born Again)
John 3:5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Ephesians 5:26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.
Our lead scripture is John 13:8. JESUS, OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR. Said that unless he washes us we have no part in him, we have no share in his inheritance, we have no share in his coming Kingdom, we have no share in his glorification. Remember it was about washing of the feet. But HE said, “Unless I wash you”. This means you cannot skip bathing and go to straight the washing of the feet. It begins with JESUS washing you. We see the power of the word(water) in Ephesians 5:26. The word has the power to make anybody who was totally in sin, to be Holy, even if that person’s life showed no signs of hope. The word has the power to make the church holy and blameless, without stain or wrinkles. But when you look at the church from the priesthood, you see stains, you see sin; you see immorality, lies, idolatry; you see sin. How can you run to preach the Gospel of JESUS, without being cleansed by the word of GOD total? Unless you are running your ministry, but if you running the Ministry of GOD, HE, HIMSELF must wash you, making you clean and ready for the battle.
(b) Your feet must be washed by JESUS
Washing of the feet means, being commissioned to run a ministry. And because it is the ministry of JESUS before going out, JESUS must wash your feet. Meaning that ministry should be Holy and blameless; without stains or wrinkles.
John 13:13 “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.
THE LORD said now that HE had washed their feet, they have now been entrusted to go and wash other people’s feet. He was telling them, that outside there are other ministries that are not HIS. Outside there, they will find people worshipping the devil, and sin. Outside there are people in sexual immorality, idolatry, the love of money, the love of self. Verse 15. And the standard of preparing the church has been set by GOD himself. Meaning when they go out there they must preach to them purely the words of JESUS (John 3:5) a heavenly-focused message of eternity.
Acts 1:4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with[b] the Holy Spirit.” ... Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
The church went out to transform the world. But instead, they are the ones who were swallowed by the world.
John 13:10 Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” 11 For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.
But there are some people, who even after being bathed will not be clean. Why? Verse 11. Because they will betray JESUS, even now, many are doing so. Betrayal. Meaning, they heard and knew the way JESUS ordained for them, but they deliberately picked to walk on another way (Mathew 7:13-14).
1st John 2:15-16; and the word spoken to them said do not love the world or anything in it. But you will find them in the church, they love money more than GOD. They are even preaching money and prosperity in the Church, the priests, the practitioners of the gospel. Ah! And the word spoken to them said, flee from sexual immorality. But these days the Pastors are lusting and sleeping with worshippers in the church. They are even walking naked and sitting in the front seats at the church, that their pastor may find interest in them or that man. Even though they know that GOD judged Sodom and Gomorrah because of homosexuality, they have now brought it inside the church. Some pastors you will now find are homosexuals. What are rape cases and doing in the church? They have turned to betrayers. They are even lying at the pulpit, and yet they know THE LORD struck Ananias and Saphira; they are even blackmailing the Holy Spirit. They have turned to false prophets. In the church. In the church.
They received the word. But they refused to obey, to believe. They are taking the entire church to Hell.
Mathew 23:15 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are Jude 1:4 For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord. Galatians 1:6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! 9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!
Bishops, pastors, evangelists and practitioners of the Gospel. We must repent. We must return to the way ordained for the church.