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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.

a Gift You Cannot Touch & a God You Can Embrace

What are your expectations for Christmas? What are your memories of gifts and special moments past seasons? What gift have you given? What gifts will you receive?

We hope anew for each Christmas to bring light into the darkness of our disappointments, discouragement of days past, present and future.

Cortland Roller Rink c.1955

What was it like when you were a child? What special gift remains in your memory in great detail, what special moment of Christmas yet warms your heart with love and joy?

Or perhaps your warmest memories are from a special moment of a gift you gave to your own child, hugs of a Pooh Bear or love overflowing through a well-planned shared moment of opening a Christmas gift.

So many of us rely on and turn back to our memories of Christmas. I remember Christmas pageants and little angels elbowing each other, as well as well-rehearsed Christmas carols bringing a chuckle of joy over an unplanned solo or lyric not just quite right.

In the year of our Lord, 2015, Christmas seems so out of reach…

We have ordered even more of our gifts from those online warehouses. We have sent less Christmas cards, made less phone calls, cancelled caroling and planned less dinners with others (at least that’s how it seems here).

I have ordered gifts that may or may not arrive on time to loved ones I may or may not see. I have missed the touch of picking out personal gifts and handling them; wrapping them in a carefully chosen paper and seeing the look on their faces when my gift is opened. Rather, I hope these too many untouched gifts make it to far away places by Christmas.

I have my Charlie Brown Christmas this year and Rudolph…

We have so many lights and a big tree (but it isn’t real & I didn’t cut it down myself as I once did).

Oh, and we do have a Nativity scene on the mantle. (We all get a little distracted by Christmas, don’t we?)

Our church has already had a wonderful Christmas program. We invited guests; about half of them came. Carolers were going to come to our neighborhood this year from the Christian school, but that got rained out. (Less than half of the homes here even have Christmas lights.)

Christmas is named for Jesus Christ

Why, I suppose most would wonder? Why have Christmas? Why does a busy world like ours even need Jesus Christ?

Of course our neighbors, rebellious family and unbelieving friends certainly don’t want to hear about the Cross of Jesus Christ and Easter. (More than enough violence in the world we would rather avoid.) But Christmas, that’s a holiday we can sell. (People like the lights and gifts and all. Makes us all feel good and remember nice stuff, right?)

Just as Christmas has become a time of sending gifts we cannot touch, Christmas has also become a time of Jesus most of us cannot share.

May I gently remind you here that I have shared Christmas messages with friends, family & strangers every year AND that so few of you have responded positively by even registering on my web site?

I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. – 1 Corinthians 9:23

Very few of us SHARE anything about Jesus with others or have any COMMENT on the Christian Social Witness of our brothers and sisters in Christ our Lord.

We live in very impersonal times. Others wear headphones attached to their devices so that they will not have to hear us. The world is engaged in buying gifts for our selfish pleasures more than sacrificing things for the joy of a few others. Christmas is just another buying season, and a big one at that.

Yet when we silence the music, turn off the virtual visual distraction of the games and news and entertainment; when we sit silently for once, peering into the opened gift of our beating heart, we find a void for the Gift of God better understood as the Baby Jesus in a manger, than a fearsome Father God at the Throne of Judgment.

Fear Not!

Fear not! Do you fear a Babe in a manger? Certainly not.

Our GOD is a loving, compassionate and forgiving God, though He IS HOLY.

Mankind feared the Presence of Almighty God, even more than a Father looking over you. Man fears any spirit, which we cannot see and do not understand, let alone the Spirit of the Living God when the LORD has made Himself know in time and place.

Therefore, even angels, who worship and obey Almighty God; angels as messengers sent to the sons of Adam; powerful angels all men fear begin their announcement of the Messiah with: Fear not.

Luke 2:

10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

14 “Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

Is the LORD pleased with you this Christmas, in His year 2015?

You were made in the very image of God.

No man or woman can reflect the Perfect loving righteousness of the LORD. By our sin we openly rebel against our Heavenly Father, who has created all things. By the distraction of our misguided hopes and dreams of self-righteous accomplishment, we reject the Spirit of God and forget to number our days.

Even so, in His loving plan of redemption for those who will turn back to the LORD,

God sent His only Son to a Manger, that we might embrace HIM.

When Jesus’ beloved Disciple John once more beheld the Risen Christ in a Revelation of God’s plan, what were His first words of comfort?

Fear not,

I am the first and the last, and the living one.

I died, and behold I am alive forevermore,

and I have the keys of Death and Hades.

Revelation 1:17b-18

Perhaps you fear other men or circumstances. Maybe you fear your own death. You might even have reverence for God our Father and occasionally give Him a small portion of the glory God deserves.

Yet this Christmas, even by your confession, I adjure you to embrace Jesus as your Lord; embrace Christ Jesus just as you would lovingly hold a baby in a manger.

Merry Christmas, beloved.

Roger

December 24, 2015
A voice was heard in Ramah
A baby born in a manger.. What a peaceful scene to make us think of children.

What does Christmas, in the year of our Lord, 2015, have to do with the birth of Christ in a manger in Bethlehem?

Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rachel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.

– Jeremiah 31:15

Matthew 2:

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, ²saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” ³When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; ⁴and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. ⁵They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:

⁶“‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
    are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
    who will shepherd my people Israel.’”

⁷Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. ⁸And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.” ⁹After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was.

What has war between the nations changed over the millennia, except the suffering of innocents by the hands of the sinful?

King Herod of Judea was a ruthless and savvy political leader, not unlike those who vie for power over the innocents in this post-modern day.

Herod had already executed his brother-in-law and High Priest Aristobulus III and also ended the rival rule of the Hasmonean kings of Judea by killing Hyrcanus II. source

After the three Wise Men from the East (Jews from former Seleucid lands) came with news of the Messiah, Herod did what any ruthless ruler does (then and even now). He sought to kill off any King who might come against him and take away his power. Herod ordered a killing of innocents.

Herod Kills the Children

¹⁶Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. ¹⁷Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah:

18 “A voice was heard in Ramah,
weeping and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.”
c. 5 B.C. at the time following the birth of Jesus Christ
- Best estimates of the number of children under two ordered to be killed by Herod was 20
IS – Voice of the Martyrs
December 2015
- 265 Children under age one have been killed in the war in Syria since 2011.
- One in eight babies are born in conflict zones, 16.6 million in all
- Violence has forced 60 Million people from their homes
- Victims of Muslim sectarian violence & Christians must flee or pay a tax to live in fear at home
- Up to 50% of IS & terrorist funding comes from forced taxes & they control all local trade
- More than 980,000 people have applied for asylum in EU countries this year alone!
Syrian, Saudi, Iranian and Russian despots are no less ruthless than King Herod. Yet the LORD God Almighty sent his only Son, Christ Jesus, into a place and time of danger – a humble manger in Bethlehem of Judea.

What has this changed for the world?

Did Jesus rule with an iron fist and the Power of Almighty God for a mere few acres of earth in the Middle East?

NO! A loving God our Father sent his Son, the Messiah of Israel and the hope of the Nations (including atheist and arab nations) to save beloved chosen individual souls from our sin and from eternal punishment and death. Jesus Christ did not fight for a homeland, but for Heaven above. Christ Jesus lived and died that you may have life eternal.

Joseph and Mary rescued baby Jesus from Bethlehem and Herod. They fled with the Messiah to Egypt.

The baby Jesus was a refugee.

Matthew 2:

19 But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, 20 saying, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” 21 And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee. 23 And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.

Just two more thoughts: first about IS, Boko Haram & other evil men, and secondly, the refugees of 2015 who have fled from violent and powerful leaders of nations, from violent and powerful zealous misled Muslims:

Love Your Enemies

^{Matthew 5:43}“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. ⁴⁶For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?

Show your love to a child like Jesus

Matthew 25:37-38

Then the righteous will answer him, saying,

‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?

And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?

When did you?

Help Syrian Refugees

To be contimued

This post is part of the continuing series of post for Christmas, in the year of our Lord 2015, by Roger Harned.
December 18, 2015
The Burden of the Word of the Lord
The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi.

מַשָּׂא דְבַר־יְהוָה אֶל־יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּיַד מַלְאָכִֽי׃

We have heard it before: a ‘burden,’ a weight laid upon the back of a mortal soul, an oracle from the LORD laid upon the tongue of a Prophet. Malachi was the last Prophet of Judah. Israel (Samaria) had already fallen. Defeat of the Jews and a silence of the LORD prevails until the voice in the wilderness of John the Baptist.

The LORD had spoken severely to disobedient sons and daughters through many Prophets. In fact, the argument of the burden of leading the LORD’s chosen goes all the way back to Moses.

Numbers 11:11

Moses said to the LORD, “Why have you dealt ill with your servant? And why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me?

Leading a people or a family steeped in our own righteousness is not an easy thing.

How quickly we forget what the LORD has done to redeem us, how He saves us from the slavery of our past.

Before the Lord came to us in a manger in Bethlehem in the Person of the Messiah, a great silence would follow the chastening of the Prophets.

Malachi wrote to the Jews of the Persian province of Judea about 500 years before the Christ. The burden of the LORD on Malachi is a heavy correction even of our own thinking.

Malachi 1:

2 “I have loved you,” says the Lord. But you say, “How have you loved us?”

Isn’t that our own question to God our Father? Are we not disrespectful in asking how God has loved us? We are impudent spoiled children to ask our Creator, “How have you loved us?”

The Priests’ Polluted Offerings
6 “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. But you say, ‘How have we despised your name?’

If Moses had been burdened by the leading of a rebellious people, surely these rebellious sons of Levi offered no purification for our sins before God our Father. Who could even imagine that the LORD would allow His Chosen People, the Jews, to be ruled by Egypt once more!?

10 Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand. 11 For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts. 12 But you profane it…

14b For I am a great King, says the Lord of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations.

Malachi 2:

Judah Profaned the Covenant
10 Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers? 11 Judah has been faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the Lord, which he loves…

The Messenger of the Lord
17 You have wearied the Lord with your words. But you say, “How have we wearied him?” By saying, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them.” Or by asking, “Where is the God of justice?”

Malachi preaches repentance to the Jews, captured by Babylon and now ruled by Persia. The word of the LORD is a hard burden on the Prophet, in these days prior to re-building a Second Temple by Ezra and Nehemiah. Yet even the Second Temple would fall.

Judea of Persia:
- Alexander the Great will conquer Persia in 331 B.C.
- Alexander the Great will conquer Egypt a year earlier in 332 B.C.
Judea of the Macedonian Kingdom:
- Ptolemy I rules Judea
- Alexander the Great rules the world
- The Hebrew Bible is translated into Greek (Septuagint) in Egypt
Judea of the Ptolemaic Kingdom:
- The Ptolemy successors of Egypt rule Judea once more until 198 B.C.
- Political upheaval brought the Seleucids to power from 321 B.C. until 64 B.C.
- Ptolemy VIII (170-163 B.C.) and Cleopatra II (170-142 B.C.) vie for political power in Egypt
- The Maccabean revolt in Judea defeats the Seleucids (166-142 B.C.)
Judea of the Hasmoneans
- Judas Maccabeus begins the line of Hasmonean rule (166-160 B.C.)
- Pompey annexes Judea to Rome (63 B.c.)
Judea under Rome
- C. Octavius (later Augustus) was born on 23 September, 63 BC
- Herod the Great (37-4 B.C.) gains political power in Judea as an ally of Rome.
- Egypt, under Cleopatra VII, falls to Octavian (30 B.C.)
- Rome (27 B.C.- A.D. 395) rules much of the world under Octavian
- Judea is under the jurisdiction or Syria, part of the Roman Empire under Caesar Augustus.
- Herod, funded by Rome, builds strategic roads for his Roman administration and rules over Judea with ruthless political savvy.
The Prophet Malachi has foretold with accuracy these difficulty for the Jews in the time between the Temples and the coming of the Messiah.

Malachi 3: “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.

To be continued…

This post is part of a series in preparation for Christmas in the year of our Lord, 2015.
December 12, 2015