In our effort to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, is there a portion that we have forgotten? Is there a part we left out? What is the whole gospel? Let's look at the Gospel of Luke and find out:

And he [Jesus] came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias [or, Isaiah]. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,

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

And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all of them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.

And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.
(Luke 4:16-21)

I want you to notice that Jesus did not simply make the statement, "This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears." It says, "He began to say unto them."

Verses 18 and 19 are a summary of what He said. I believe that they are a short outline of a sermon that he was about to preach. Verse 22 says, "And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth."

Obviously, He continued to speak.

In the light of this scripture, the gospel has never been preached to the poor. I'm not talking about the new birth. I'm talking about each of the categories that Jesus mentioned in these scriptures.

He was anointed to preach. To the captives, He preached deliverance. To the brokenhearted, He preached healing. To the blind, He preached recovery of sight. He outlined here that the gospel covers many areas.

We have preached healing, recovering of sight, deliverance and the new birth to the poor; but we have never preached the gospel to the poor.

The Gospel To The Poor
What is the gospel to the poor? The gospel to the poor is that Jesus has come and they don't have to be poor anymore! Not very many poverty-stricken people have ever heard the whole gospel.

Most of them have heard that they are supposed to live a meager existence. That is what the missionaries who preached to them believed!

When I was in Africa, the Lord told me that He is holding the body of Christ in every nation responsible for winning their own lost. It takes money to finance a revival. How can they believe for any prosperity in Africa or India, where drought and famine have become a way of life?

That is a major part of my calling. I'm responsible for teaching the nations to observe to do all that Jesus commanded.

There are always some missionaries who will become upset about it. They'll argue, "You can preach abundance in the United States, but don't come to Africa and preach it." Or, they tell me, "It won't work in El Salvador." "It won't work in Nicaragua," etc.

But when you are preaching the Word of God, it works. God could care less whether anyone listening has a dime or not. He didn't base His gospel on what government happens to be in power at the time.

All God is looking for is faith!

There is enough undiscovered wealth in the poorest nations of this world to turn their poverty into abundance, if they would just believe the gospel.

Besides, if there wasn't, God is more than able to put it there.

Source: Prosperity: The Choice Is Yours by Kenneth Copeland.
Excerpt permission granted by
Eagle Mountain International Church, Inc.
aka: Kenneth Copeland Ministries