THE HEART OF THE FATHER 

John 14:7-11

If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” Philip said to Jesus “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.”

Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.

Every believer needs to understand that the predominant function of the life and ministry of Jesus was to unveil to the lives of humanity the heart of the Father.

Every word spoken, every healing, and each account of deliverance executed through the life of Jesus was the manifestation of the will of the father.

In Luke 4:18-19, the father’s care and provision for the poor is given specific significance and importance.

It would not be against the Spirit of the Word to declare that preaching the gospel to the poor was given priority.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and the recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,  To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

Matthew 11:2-5.

Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, and they said unto Jesus, are You He that should come, or do we look for another?  Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and show John again those things which you do hear and see:  The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.

This was never intended as an after thought, but as confirmation that gospel ministry is incomplete if the poor are excluded.

Matthew 19:16-22.

And, behold, one came and said unto Jesus, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?  And Jesus said unto him, Why do you call Me good? There is none good but one, that is, God: but if you would enter into life, keep the commandments.

He said unto Jesus which? Jesus said you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, Honour your father and mother, and love your neighbour as thyself. The young man said unto Him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? Jesus said unto him, If you would be perfect, IF YOU WOULD BE COMPLETE, go and sell that which you have, and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven: and come and follow Me. But when the young man heard that saying, he left sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

The Ministry Of Believers To The Poor.

Mark 14:3-7.

And being in Bethany in the house of Simon, the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious, and she broke the box and poured it on his head.  And there were some that had indignation within themselves and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made?  For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor.

And they murmured against her.  And Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble you her? she has done good work on Me. For you will have the poor with you always, and whensoever you will, you may do them good: but Me you have not always.

Luke 14:12-14.

Then Jesus said to him that bade Him, When you make a dinner or a supper, do not call your friends, nor your brethren, neither kinsmen, nor your rich neighbours; lest they also bid you again, and a recompense be made unto you. But when you make a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind:  And you shall be blessed; for they cannot recompense you: for you shall be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.

Jesus commanded his followers to care for the poor to reveal openly the heart of his Father to those in need