Talk of JESUS . com

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.
  • as to a lamp shining in a dark place

    as to a lamp shining in a dark place

    Perhaps you look at Biblical prophesy as something of darkness from the past. Maybe in this 21st century we just don’t believe the lives and words of men like Jeremiah or Isaiah could shed any light on the struggles of our life.

    If God has spoken through certain men of old, why send Jesus to fulfill the many prophesies already given over the millennia? Why would God have to send a Messiah to the mortal men of the world?

    The Apostle Peter gives us an insight into what God has spoken through Jesus as a Prophet.

    2 Peter 1:

    • Prophets as light
      Prophets predicted the Messiah of God, Christ Jesus

      we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ

    • we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
    • he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,”
    • we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven

    19 And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, 20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation.

    21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

    The Apostle Peter proclaims that God provided a first-hand witness, an intimate look at the Person of God Incarnate. Twelve Disciples witnessed the daily life and teaching of Christ Jesus. The rabbi, Jesus, spoke more than just a retelling of words of God.

    Though Jesus the Messiah prophesied, He IS more than a Prophet.

    • The most powerful predictions of Jesus Christ augmented even His highly acclaimed miracles.
    • Jesus not only explained the scriptures, He taught how He fulfilled them.
    • Christ foretold His own death on the Cross.
    • Jesus amazingly told of HIs resurrection from the dead in 3 days!
    • As a Prophet, the Messiah Jesus tells of His return.

    The Disciples continued to preach the Gospel, the Good News that God IS involved in our lives in the Person of Christ Jesus.

    The return of Christ Jesus in these last days will be a final fulfillment of all prophesy and perfection of God the Father’s plan of grace.

    After His resurrection and even now, He sends true followers into the world to tell the Good News (Gospel) until the number of the elect will fill the streets of a glorious New Jerusalem.

    Many are called; few are chosen.

    Believe in the Son of Man: born as a lowly babe in a manger. Believe in the Christ child who become a refugee to Egypt in Mary’s arms. Believe in the witness of His glory on earth by sinners like Peter, Levi, prostitutes and Pharisees. Believe in Jesus crucified on a Cross by gentile Roman soldiers, convicted by corrupt religious rulers manipulating mob-ruled injustice.

    Believe: Jesus IS risen from the dead! Believe scripture when we are told Jesus’ resurrection from the grave was witnessed by over five hundred mortals. He IS the Messiah of God, prophesied to return once more to rule in righteousness and love.

    In the year of our Lord, 2015, we see only though a mist these dark days of so many suffering souls.

    Let us be a light in Christ, a flicker of hope in the darkness of the sin so pervasive in the hearts and acts of mankind. Lord let your church and bride shed more than a flicker of hope on those lost souls who do not know the love of your great Light.

    To be continued…

    This is the fourth in a series of Christmas messages by Roger Harned. Please share the Gospel with others through your social media witness.
  • Imperfect Family

    Imperfect Family

    The Son of Man – an imperfect family man

    Have you ever thought of Jesus as an imperfect ‘family man?’

    ‘What?’ you may react! God Incarnate in the Person of Jesus imperfect as a ‘family man?’ I thought Jesus is supposed to be God the Father’s Perfect Human (Son of Man) example to each of us.

    John 2

    an imperfect family man, Jesus at a wedding feast in Cana
    an imperfect family man, Jesus at a wedding feast in Cana

    … there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples.3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4 And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” 

    He was known as a son of the deceased Joseph of Nazareth and his widow Mary, who raised His younger brothers at home.  Jesus was not a married man who could invite His friends over to His house. His Disciples met at Peter’s house, feasted in the homes of others or even gathered in fields on hillsides or park-like olive groves. Jesus seemed always to be a guest and never the host.

    In many ways Jesus can NOT provide a perfect example for us in every life situation.

    As a husband, does any human experience of Jesus show you how you should behave toward your wife? (Of course Jesus was not married to a woman.) Jesus does not model the role or place for a woman.  This Son of Man who had no children didn’t write a book of how to deal with your teen’s technology or your terrible two’s tantrums.

    In a sense, Jesus was just like us in that He was imperfect as a family man.

    Jesus loved celebrating with loved ones. He had to choose which parties He would attend and the company with whom He would spend His measured mortal time. Jesus celebrated as a guest with those He loved.

    Luke 5:

    Jesus at the home of Matthew
    Jesus at the home of Matthew

    29 And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. 30 And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” 31 And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

    Mathew Levi had just left everything to follow Jesus! [v.28] What a wonderful reason to celebrate with a feast.

     

    Who should I spend Thanksgiving with?

    Jesus had to make difficult choices  in everyday life just like you and me. We cannot be everywhere and with everyone at once. (Neither could the Son of Man, until the pouring out of the Holy Spirit.)

    Our difficult relational choices require our time with a certain loved one instead of another beloved.

    You and I cannot spend Thanksgiving or Christmas, a certain wedding or obligatory funeral with all at once. My own choices for this upcoming week include situations that never fit into the ‘imperfect family life’ Jesus faced. (You or I need not detail reasons for exclusion of others from our time, but we all must make these relational decisions.) Here are a few questions I must answer now:

    • Should I have Thanksgiving dinner with my beloved wife?
    • Should I visit my beloved daughter?
    • Should I travel to see my aging Dad?
    • Should I find a way to visit my widowed Mother-in-Law?
    • How can I at least acknowledge my dear step-children in several different states?
    • How could I possibly see my brothers, sister and their families in so many different states?

    These are the kind of questions which confront each of us at times of celebration set aside for family. Unfortunately, the family of Jesus may not help us to find answers to these heart-felt questions.

     

    Why do I celebrate Thanksgiving?

    I could stay home with my wife, who is unable to travel this holiday.  I could drive to my dad’s or dine with my daughter. What’s so special about today? After all, can’t we eat turkey anywhere?

    Is Thanksgiving just another day off? Or an excuse to overeat and party with friends and family? Is it the day that launches our christmas buying frenzy? Perhaps Thanksgiving is all of that and more.

    In one moment of forgotten selfishness, we may give our time or food to others, family or even the hungry. Yet one purpose of Thanksgiving may still be lost on most of us.

    If we have not thanked God for our many blessings, no act of charity will outweigh the bounty of our greed.

     

    Only — the righteous give thanks to Thy name,

    The upright do dwell with Thy presence!

    Psalm 140:13 YLT

    It was the Lord who blessed me with a warm place to live and put food on my table when I was homeless and without work. By mercy of what I did not deserve, Christ shared with me from the overflowing bounty of the Table of the King of Kings.

    Thanks be to God for all before us on the day of this Thanksgiving feast and every other day.

    Psalm 107

    Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!

    Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness,
    And for His wonderful works to the children of men!

    For He satisfies the longing soul,
    And fills the hungry soul with goodness.

    Happy Thanksgiving, beloved.

    May the LORD of all creation fill your table with His bounty, your soul with His great mercy, and your days with great grace though His only Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ.

    Amen.

    Roger Harned

  • Hate

    Hate

    Paris – 13 November, 2015

    It seems that hatred headlines will overwhelm the news once more. Not that it ever left our consciousness, but often hate will lose momentum in the mundane or even be displaced by love’s compassion.

    Desperate followers of evil men willingly sacrifice innocents by the intentional lie-driven sacrifices for the glory of their own lives of hopelessness. These terrorists die praising a god who does not exist, except as a god of hatred.

    Why do self-serving leaders of a false prophet worship a dead god of no hope? Why would desperate men follow these so-called religious-political leaders to die as icons of their failure to lead any to a place other than sin and death?

    A look back over the centuries would reveal such wars have never led to any lasting victory for any victorious leader.

    Evil has long been resident in this world. Evil and hatred will continue to raise their ugly heads until the return of the LORD to judge our souls.

    Do you believe in good vs. evil?

    Only God is good. All men (and women) are filled with the capacity to do great evil.

    Hate does not surprise us because of hatred dwelling deep in our own hearts.

    How difficult it is to love what we would so easily hate. Yet that is exactly what God has called upon us to do.

    Jesus, the Messiah of God Almighty, did not come to the world to take over the world. Christ came to the world to save sinners. (That would be you and me.)

    The Son of God had a different approach to hate. In fact, Jesus had a different approach to love and all mankind. Be comforted by His words, while heeding His call to follow Him. He died for your sins. He did not send His disciples against Rome with weapons of death to create chaos in the streets. Rather, He suffered and died on a cross!

    “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

    (He did not promise lies of virgins of flesh to dead warriors for a cause.)911-vi

    “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

    Surely those who mourn these deaths will be comforted as those who yet remember 9/11.

    “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

    Yes, certain Jews believed their Messiah would boldly take Jerusalem, as certain misled Muslims believe a dead prophet can deliver Jerusalem even in this day.

    “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

    Are you satisfied with righteousness? Or must might make right? Have you the eternal patience to wait for the judgement of GOD?

    “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

    “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

    “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

    Who will be God’s peacemakers in these difficult days ahead? It is not often Christians? Yet are Christians not the most persecuted of those forced from their homes in the Middle East?

    Saeed Abedini faith“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

    “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

    Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God who was crucified and died on a cross for our sins, and who was raised from the dead after three days will return in glory to judge the living and the dead.

    Can you face GOD for any of your sins, let alone all of them?

    We know neither the hour, day nor year of our Lord’s return to establish a new Kingdom on earth. Yet we know heaven is will NOT be ruled by hate. God IS love. Jesus taught love. Read more about this most unusual sermon you will not hear in a mosque of hatred,

    Matthew 5:

    Hear the words of Jesus Christ about our attitude toward a day of hatred as the world has just witnessed:

    Love Your Enemies

    43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so 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. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?

    Yes, these enemies of Paris, enemies of the U.S., enemies of Israel, enemies of Almighty God and all righteousness need our prayers.

    Do good and do not hate your enemy. Leave revenge and judgment to the Righteous One, Almighty and Eternal God.

    Jésus-Christ est le Seigneur. attend le. il rendra.