Lives Christ Changed with His Visionary Declarations

The following Scriptures take us into stories of lives Christ changed with His visionary declarations:

“Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.”

Matthew 16:18

“But he replied, ‘I must preach the Good News of the Kingdom of God in other towns, too, because that is why I was sent.’”

Luke 4:43

“The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep. A hired hand will run when he sees a wolf coming. He will abandon the sheep because they don’t belong to him and he isn’t their shepherd. And so the wolf attacks them and scatters the flock.”

John 10:10-12

The scriptures above are a demonstration of how Christ was casting vision to the disciples, enhancing their hope and building a legacy. 

The young and old are well integrated into Christ’s ministry. Jesus himself is an example of a youth who had ministry capacity. We can follow this example to provide vision and hope to the younger generation. Jesus was twelve years old in this account (Luke 2:40-49):

There the child grew up healthy and strong. He was filled with wisdom, and God’s favor was on him. Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Passover festival. When Jesus was twelve years old, they attended the festival as usual. 

After the celebration was over, they started home to Nazareth, but Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents didn’t miss him at first, because they assumed he was among the other travelers. But when he didn’t show up that evening, they started looking for him among their relatives and friends. When they couldn’t find him, they went back to Jerusalem to search for him there. 

Three days later they finally discovered him in the Temple, sitting among the religious teachers, listening to them and asking questions. All who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. 

His parents didn’t know what to think. “Son,” his mother said to him, “Why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been frantic, searching for you everywhere.” “But why did you need to search?” he asked. “Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?”