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Category: 4 Gospels + Good News of the NEW Testament

What are the Gospels?

FOUR Gospels:

GOOD NEWS! (That’s what Gospel means.)

Matthew, Mark, Luke & John begin the New Testament proclaiming the Good News of Israel’s long-awaited Messiah and talk of JESUS Christ.

The four Gospels are first hand witness + proclaiming GOOD NEWS

  • by two Jewish Apostles of the Messiah JESUS, Matthew & John
  • Two gentile (non-Jewish) followers of THE WAY of Jesus Christ, Mark & Luke, who proclaim the GOSPEL recorded from witness of Peter, Paul and other Apostles and disciples of JESUS in the first century.

READ the Good News of the Messiah and Savior Jesus from accounts of His twelve Apostles & others witnessing the resurrection of the Lord Jesus from the four Gospels of the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

SHARE the Gospel

  • with your Christian friends and those who do not yet believe in JESUS CHRIST.
  • Comment on a Talk of JESUS post and SHARE in your social media world.
  • Fully Trained – 2

    Fully Trained – 2

    The gospel of Luke carefully records truth from eyewitness accounts of numerous historical citizens of the first century.

    The following is a fictional representation continued from our previous episode of such eyewitness of one of Jesus’ first disciples.

    As I said before, we followed Jesus when the angry crowd drove him from our hometown Nazareth. Some of my friends accompanied us hoping to hear more of Jesus preaching like in our synagogue. I brought my wife along and our young daughter. Others brought their families as well.

    It was evening of the Sabbath (you will recall). A group of us with Jesus settled in for the night in nearby hills, safe from robbers and the like.

    Early Sunday morning Jesus prayed with us, talked with a few of the men and then we set off to the east. He led us down a familiar road through the hills descending toward the Sea of Galilee, then north along its western coastline. Most of the men among us had traveled this road to Capernaum before, about a nine or ten hour journey without women and children.

    Jesus teaching by shore

    Jesus in Capernaum

    Luke 4:

    31 And he went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee.

    A week later on the next Sabbath some of our friends came to Capernaum. Of course some of us had returned to Nazareth to work during the week, but once again made a return trip hoping to hear Jesus in their synagogue. Of course our tradition is to welcome rabbis from other towns and tribes to speak in our local synagogues. Everyone especially wanted to hear this great new teacher of Israel – in Capernaum, in Chorazin, in Nain. Word about the Messiah spread quickly.

    And he was teaching them on the Sabbath, 32 and they were astonished at his teaching, for his word possessed authority.

    Jesus taught these Capernaum Jews from a different scripture, also from the Prophet Isaiah, given to him by the head rabbi. Jesus’ teaching had the same authority with which He had taught in Nazareth. But this time something happened that interrupted Jesus’ teaching.

    33 And in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, 34 “Ha! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us?

    Now we had all seen crazy people before, but no man dared to speak out in such a manner in a place of worship. It was what came out of this man’s mouth that amazed all:

    “I know who you are—the Holy One of God.”

    Confirmation. Even a crazed man with a demon witnessing that this is the awaited Messiah!

    35 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent and come out of him!”

    And when the demon had thrown him down in their midst, he came out of him, having done him no harm.

    +

    The mad man was no longer the same. Now he had peace – a smile on his face, thanksgiving in his eyes and muscles still as a windless sea. The man now sat still on the floor of their synagogue as we looked at him and then to Jesus with unfathomable awe.

    36 And they were all amazed and said to one another, “What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!”

    +

    We all witnessed it: the Messiah ordered unclean spirits to silence. Jesus ordered the demons to come out of the man… and out of the man they went, as he now sat before us in great peace.

    37 And reports about him went out into every place in the surrounding region.

    To be continued…

  • Fully Trained – 1

    Fully Trained – 1

    …everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.

    – Luke 6:40b

    What do these followers of Jesus look like? Would you recognize a disciple in a crowd?

    When the Lord, Christ Jesus began His three-year teaching mission He called disciples and from them appointed twelve Apostles, an inner circle of leaders among many disciples to be sent out with the gospel.

    Jesus immediately glorified as a teacher of Galilean Jews

    Luke 4:14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country. 15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.

    The gospel of Luke carefully records truth from eyewitness accounts of numerous historical citizens of the first century.

    The following is a fictional representation of witness of one of Jesus’ first disciples. 

    “I was in our synagogue the day our rabbi handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah to Jesus. He read part of a passage so familiar to most of us:

    Luke 4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
    He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
    and recovering of sight to the blind,
    to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
    19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

    Isaiah had prophesied even more of what we had prayed for through many generations:

    To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified. – Isaiah 61:3

    How we all hoped that this radiant new rabbi before us would offer such hope.

    Perhaps He would be the one to save us from our captivity by the Romans. And do you know what He said?

     “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

    – Luke 4:21b

    Yes! Of course this Jesus seems in every way to be our promised Messiah.

    But then He said some things which were not too nice about Israel (our former country before we were defeated). Most everybody got angry. Some of them even tried to run him out of Nazareth where we all grew up with him. But not me… and not some of my friends.

    No, we knew Jesus was much more than just a carpenter; really, we always saw that anytime we encountered Him. You could tell. Jesus was pleasantly unlike no other man, yet so much like us… like the men we wanted to be.

    So Jesus of Nazareth (as the Judeans would later call Him out of disrespect) slipped out of town right through the middle of the crowd near me and my friends.

    We looked at one another and right then decided we needed to hear more of Jesus’ teaching.

    What did He mean when in the synagogue Jesus said, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing?”

    So some of us gathered our families together to follow this promised Teacher of Israel into the mountains to hear more and later into nearby towns like Capernaum. We just had to hear what Jesus had to say.

    holy-land--mount-tabor-munir-alawi (1)

    To be continued…

  • Resurrection: So What?

    Resurrection: So What?

    Do you believe in Jesus’ Resurrection?

    Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”

    It was her own brother who had just died..

    Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life.

    Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

    John 11:24-26

    Do you believe this?

    Do you believe that Easter is a celebration of life like no other?

    Lots of talk about resurrection; some even call it ‘Resurrection Day.’

    ‘So What’ skeptics of Christ’s Resurrection

    As a kids we easily turned a phrase for things of which we were skeptical. My quick answer to a parent or someone in authority: “So what?”

    What answer quickly rolls off my tongue? What reactive thought tumbles around in my head about things I choose not to think about?

    “So what?”

    As one finally bowed down before Almighty God who calls Christ Jesus my Lord, I contrinued to be a little surprised by the ‘so what’ look of so many wandering souls I encounter in my everyday mortal life.

    Their non-consideration of Easter and frequent rebellion at even a mention of the name of Jesus affirms their ‘so what,’ as common era reaction to faint hope that the resurrection of Jesus is real.

    These with hearts hardened to God will always turn against any hope that Christ’s cross and the resurrection are most real and relevant answers to sin. Judgment for sin and punishment of a second death are the furthest thoughts removed from the flesh of self-worshiping humanists.

    Jesus was rejected and crucified by a religious establishment that made up their own rules about God. Jesus came to a world that did not seek God. Jesus came to save sinners. Jesus came as a sacrifice for our sin. And Jesus is resurrected from the grave, because He IS the LORD God! He came to man to show us the mercy required to save us from death with the grace of reward for eternal life we do not deserve.

    for Church members:

    Recall of a church? WHY do that? SO WHAT IF WE preach what WE want? Pictured Medieval church bell tower during sundown in valley
    The photo to the left & cover photo have been added to the original post along with some minor edits, including this question below from our earlier series on Doctrine of the Church.

    SO WHAT if we do NOT insist that JESUS is the ONLY way of eternal life because of the Cross?

    Gentle believer, fellow saint of Christ’s own body,

    Our own sacrifice is small and our reward great for our touching of hearts with the healing love of Christ Jesus. Sure, the world says of the resurrection, ‘so what?’

    Yet even in these last days of evil we have hope in the resurrection to share with others who also never believed that Jesus would die for them.

    As long ago as the first century and first generation of witness of the gospel, men were still evil. Yet the letters of the Apostles spoke to the Jew and the nations alike, all who would listen about the Messiah Jesus.

    1 Corinthians 15:

    Paul lived in Corinth for a time and wrote of the resurrection to the church, encouraging us in Christ. HERE is his answer to the so what skeptics and listeners in the public arenas of hostile crowds:

    12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

    13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.

    14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.

    Mention Jesus Christ and you get a tough crowd, don’t you? And most with their face against God show you that ‘so what’ look.

    It was no different in Corinth when Paul taught the gospel to the church there in person or by letter.

    Commentary on a ‘so what’ culture of Corinth

    John MacArthur gives us this background: 

    Even by the pagan standards of its own culture, Corinth became so morally corrupt that its very name became synonymous with debauchery and moral depravity. To “corinthianize” came to represent gross immorality and drunken debauchery… Like most ancient Greek cities, Corinth had an acropolis (literally. “a high city”), which rose 2,000 feet and was used both for defense and for worship. The most prominent edifice on the acropolis was a temple to Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love. Some 1,000 priestesses, who were “religious” prostitutes, lived and worked there and came down into the city in the evening to offer their services to male citizens and foreign visitors.

    • CAN YOU THINK OF A 21ST Century of the Common Era CITY LIKE THAT?
    • CAN YOU THINK OF A TEMPLE TO GLORIFY US & our gods?
    • ARE THE CITIZENS AND VISITORS OF OUR BEST CITIES LIKE CORINTH?

    Yet Paul preached to the church in Corinth (and all the other believers) about the resurrection:

    17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

    If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

    1 Corinthians 15:19 ESV
    SO WHAT? they say, but IF WE ARE RIGHT..

    Are you like those without hope in the resurrection?

    Does your earth-friendly, Christian-persecuting community “corinthianize” the pulpits of truth with compromises of false faith?

    Roger@TalkofJESUS.com +

    Guard against it, as Paul warned.

    For we have Christ crucified, died and resurrected. We hold to certain hope of eternal life in worship of God our heavenly Father and Jesus Christ in the Kingdom of the new heavens and the new earth without sin.

    Christ has been raised from the dead!

    20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep..

    26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death…

    The only ‘so what’ question

    Are you looking to your own resurrection?

    Do you share the Good News of Christ’s resurrection with others?

    Do you even Talk of JESUS to anyone — even others in your gatherings ‘at church?’

    “Who was Jesus?” they may ask; for the world hears little of our Lord in these last days.

    This might be the only ‘so what’ question you ever get from your unbelieving friend or loved one. Jesus rose from the dead! Over five hundred witnesses. Furthermore, Jesus promised He will return for you and me, if you would like to have him as your Lord too.

    Here's how Paul continued with the Good News of Jesus' resurrection to Corinthians of the 1st century:

    35 But someone will ask,

    “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?”

    36 You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain.

    38 But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body…

    42 So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable;

    what is raised is imperishable.

    43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

    I know resurrection is a lot to think about. Has a lot more to do with your body and soul than bunnies and eggs. Jesus has a lot to say about it. You should read one of the gospels about Jesus. 

    (John, for instance, tells us a lot about why God sent Jesus to the world.)

    50 I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

    51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.

    53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.

    54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

    “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
    “O death, where is your victory?
    O death, where is your sting?”

    56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

    But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

    58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.