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Tag: God

Truth for Gentiles who turn to God
How will the Jerusalem Council judge Gentiles according to the Jewish Law of Moses?

Acts 15

6 The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter.

Simon Peter has testified.

“Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe.
Acts of the Apostles 15:7b ESV

And all the assembly fell silent, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.
Acts of the Apostles 15:12 ESV

Response of Jerusalem’s Pastor James

¹³After they finished speaking, James replied,

“Brothers, listen to me. ¹⁴Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name.

Leaders and Witnesses of the Jerusalem council

Let’s be clear who is speaking and which leaders have witnessed the truth of events leading to a church meeting about the gentiles.

Simon Peter.

In verse 14 the King James and English Standard versions translate Συμεών from the Greek as Simeon; however the NKJV, NIV and other versions use “Simon” while the NLT uses the most familiar identification of the Apostle, “Peter.”

Barnabas and Paul

Their mission journey has brought about this council and clearly both are leaders in their testimony of the Holy Spirit to the Gentiles and leadership of the church at Antioch Syria.

James

And let’s not miss who now speaks a the representative pastor and leader of the local church at Jerusalem where the council meets.

It is none other than James brother of Jesus who was raised with the Lord, yet did not believe that his half-brother was the Christ, the prophesied Son of God until after Jesus’ resurrection at which time James became a faithful disciple called to lead the Jerusalem Church.

Witness of the Prophets

James refers to the Prophet Amos from ~760 BC and Samuel Prophet of David three hundred years before that.

“Brothers, listen to me. ¹⁴Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name. ¹⁵And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written,

¹⁶“‘After this I will return,
and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen;
I will rebuild its ruins,
     and I will restore it,
¹⁷that the remnant^[a] of mankind may seek the Lord,
    and all the Gentiles who are called by my name,
     says the Lord, who makes these things ¹⁸known from of old.’

In A.D. 49, James witnesses the promises of God to David a thousand years before. Now it seems that the kingdom promised to David is all but defeated.

The Temple of Solomon was destroyed, the Jews were captured and taken to Babylon and Persia. The distant hope witnessed by Amos and the Prophets seems near to slipping away once more at the hand of Rome (which will again destroy Jerusalem and Herod’s temple in A.D. 70).

Yet Scripture is true and God’s word comforting to those faithful few who wait for the Lord to save — for the Lord to redeem the captives who hold to His Name — saving them from God’s judgment of sin and eternal punishment and granting His true worshipers the glory of the kingdom of the root and the son of David. Yes, even the Nations of the world beyond the hills of Jerusalem.

Amos 9:

I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said:
“Strike the capitals until the thresholds shake,
and shatter them on the heads of all the people;
and those who are left of them I will kill with the sword;
not one of them shall flee away;
not one of them shall escape.

8 Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are upon the sinful kingdom,
and I will destroy it from the surface of the ground,
except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,”
declares the LORD.

“For behold, I will command,
and shake the house of Israel among all the nations
as one shakes with a sieve,
but no pebble shall fall to the earth.

All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword,
who say, ‘Disaster shall not overtake or meet us.’

This was just one judgment of Jerusalem!

Amos had prophesied it.

Twenty years earlier, the Sanhedrin of Herod which meets in this same Jerusalem as today’s council had crucified Jesus Christ, brother of James and Son of David. The leaders of a semi-captive Israel disregarded the revealed will and written word of the Lord God.

The Jewish council of Herod’s Temple had also slain the Apostle James by the sword, another politically expedient death which it thought would prevent the sword of Rome from overtaking their city of sin.

It didn’t. (For as most of us know Rome would destroy Jerusalem just twenty-one years from this time of the Christian Council in Jerusalem.)

Amos 9:11-12 (to which James refers)

“In that day I will raise up
the booth of David that is fallen
and repair its breaches,
and raise up its ruins
and rebuild it as in the days of old,

that they may possess the remnant of Edom
and all the nations who are called by my name,”
declares the LORD who does this.

It is a remnant of Edom. Yes even a remnant of Judah and Israel after these many centuries — only a remnant who remember the Lord their God and look for the redemption paid on the Cross for “all the nations who are called by my name, says the LORD.”

Judgment for the Gentiles

You have probably never thought of James, brother of Jesus, pastor of the Jerusalem church and author of a New Testament letter to the church as a Judge.

But this is his role here with the Council at Jerusalem.

The accusations (concerning circumcision) have been presented. Several witnesses have presented evidence about the truth of events where gentiles have interacted with Jewish witnesses (including the Apostles).

A defense of the truth by Barnabas and Paul recounts incidents for which some Jews have accused them of breaking the Law of Moses.

Pastor James, head of this Christian Sanhedrin gathering of Apostles and other leaders has even preceded his decision as Judge with Scriptural prophesy of their very actions concerning the gentiles. So here is his verdict speaking on behalf of this council at Jerusalem as its leader:

19 Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God
Acts of the Apostles 15:19 ESV – Verdict of the Council of Jerusalem pronounced by James

The verdict pronounced by James on behalf of the Council at Jerusalem, however, is conditional. Addressing the concerns of which Gentiles have turned to God by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, he continues with clarification of what the Council must do to go into the Gentile world with the Gospel.
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NEXT, God-willing, we will join James and the Council of Jerusalem as they take action by way of a letter and messengers sent on another mission trip to the Gentile Nations.
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January 9, 2023
The Lame Walk a Sign from God
A Sign of Faith in Capernaum

~A.D. 27 – Jesus in Galilee

“Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins have been forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?
Gospel of Luke 5:43 LSB

“But, so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,”—He said to the paralytic—

“I say to you, get up, and, picking up your stretcher, go home.”
Good News of Luke 5:44

Of course, a paralyzed man obeying Jesus’ command to ‘get up and walk’ is a miracle to the man who can now stand up and walk AND a sign of God to those who witness it!

Who can say such a thing to one born handicapped?

And immediately he rose up before them, and picked up what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God. And astonishment seized them all and they began glorifying God; and they were filled with fear, saying,

“We have seen remarkable things today.”

But this was a sign to the Jews.

Luke records [5:17]:
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And it happened that one day He was teaching; and there were some Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem, and the power of the Lord was present for Him to perform healing.
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After having healed others as well Jesus answered the Prophet John who had been baptizing in the wilderness of Judea with Good News sent by his messengers:
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“Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: the BLIND RECEIVE SIGHT, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the POOR HAVE THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO THEM. 

Blessed is he who does not take offense at Me.” - Gospel of Luke 7:22b-23, LSB
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But of course, these signs from the LORD God to the Jews were done by JESUS the Messiah.

These signs for the Jews where witnessed in regions of Roman Syria AND that had been years ago.

It’s about two decades later that Paul and Barnabas will enter Lystra.

A.D. 30’s – The Apostle Peter

We are Beggars in the House of God

But when Peter, along with John, fixed his gaze on him, he said, “Look at us!” – Acts 3:4

And seizing him by the right hand, he raised him up; and immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened. And leaping up, he stood upright and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.

And all the people saw him walking and praising God; and they were recognizing him, that he was the one who used to sit at the Beautiful Gate of the temple to beg alms, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. – Acts of the Apostles 3:

More recent signs from God
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Keep in mind that Luke's two-part account of these events is recorded for a Roman-Hellenist world after A.D. 60, 
+ some thirty years after Jesus' resurrection [~A.D. 30],
+ perhaps twenty-five years after Saul's encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus,
+ about seven years [~A.D. 40] after the Apostle Peter baptizes a Roman Centurion in Caesarea Syria.
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No Longer Paralyzed: Walking in Lydda

And Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you. Rise up and make your bed.” Immediately he rose up. – Acts 9:

And all who lived at Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.
Acts of the Apostles 9:35 LSB

The Gospel of an Angel to Cornelius

Roman Caesarea [pictured] where Peter baptized Roman believers who received the Holy Spirit!

And what had Peter heard from the angel of God?

“Get up..”

ἀνίστημι – anistēmi

It’s a command of some significance — a command by faith also used by Peter and the Lord Jesus. And it is part of what the Apostle Paul is about to say to the lame man in Lystra.
- to rise, stand up
  1. of persons lying down, of persons lying on the ground
  2. of persons seated
  3. of those who leave a place to go elsewhere [of those who prepare themselves for a journey]
  4. of the dead
GOD’S signs have many witnesses among the gentiles by the time Barnabas and Saul enter Lystra.

~A.D. 48 –

In Lystra The Lame Walk!

Acts of Faith in Lystra 14:

And at Lystra a man was sitting who had no strength in his feet, lame from his mother’s womb, who had never walked.

This man listened to Paul as he spoke, who, when he fixed his gaze on him and saw that he had faith to be [made well] said with a loud voice,

“Stand upright on your feet.”
Acts 14:10 of Paul commanding a lame man in Lystra

And he leaped up and began to walk.

And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they raised their voice, saying in the Lycaonian language,

“The gods have become like men and have come down to us.”
Acts of the Apostles 14:11b – LSB

In fact, these Lycaonian pagans were partially right.

For the Gospel of Paul and Barnabas would reveal that the One God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ sent his only Son down to us for redemption of sins for those who have faith to believe — even pagan gentiles.

“Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins have been forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?
Gospel of Luke 5:43 LSB

Acts of the Apostles in Lystra — To be continued…
November 17, 2022
GOD’S WORD for His Church
IN THE BEGINNING

God created the heavens and the earth.

IN THE BEGINNING

was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;

in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’
Gospel of Mark 7:6b-7a RSV

Doctrine for lost sheep of Christ’s Church

Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding.

For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law.

Proverbs 4:1-2 King James Version

From a chief of sinners zealous for the Word of Scripture:

To my beloved fellow believers of our Lord Jesus Christ:

Why must a believer study doctrine?

In the scriptures of the New Testament the Apostle Paul encourages the Romans of the church, so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
- Since I have shared several studies of Doctrine from the Bible I will not rehash these in today’s conclusion to this study of Church Doctrine; however if you would like to learn more click continue reading below.
https://talkofjesus.com/what-is-doctrine
- My more recent concern for Church doctrine addressed deconstruction of Bible-based Doctrine presented as a new way to make the church relevant.
A 21st c. RECALL of the CHURCH

These include: Did God really say, Church?, Everythingology for an all-inclusive church & several more..

Why should the sheep become theologians?
- In this current series we have glanced at doctrine from several esteemed theologians, pastors of different churches.
  - Disclaimer: I am NOT a pastor but a church member zealous for the word of the Lord God and Jesus Christ.
  - To any extent you seek to study God from Scripture you become a theologian studying the will of the Lord.
“Now why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?
Gospel of Luke 6:46 Legacy Standard Bible – Question of Jesus Christ to his followers

Can our Pastor Preach a self-defined Jesus?

Best NOT Preach This

For no one can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. – 1 Cor. 3:11

And I might add from the Apostle’s letter to the church at Corinth quoted in this previous post:

Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise.
1 Corinthians 3:18

Why YOUR shepherd should preach Scripture

In Paul’s letter to Timothy about preaching the Apostle says:

.. you have known the sacred writings which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
2 Timothy 3:15b Legacy Standard Bible

All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness
[Therefore, I ask, what justification can any shepherd of the church offer for correcting God’s word while preaching ‘the bible says..?’]

Applying Scripture to the Church
- Scripture may apply only to the time in which it was written OR
- Old or New Testament Scripture may apply to these last days since the Apostles OR
- a Scripture may apply only until a day it is fulfilled.
But the BIBLE says what God says; nothing more, nothing less and certainly not anything other than the Scripture you may read for yourself.

Whenever the written word of God points to the church the godly must humbly obey. But of course you must know your Bible in order to apply God’s inspired word appropriately.
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(Don't just take some preacher's word for it that 'the Bible says' what he says.)
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In the Apostolic Age

Scripture of Christ by the hand of His Apostle John:

from The Apocalypse of John from Jesus Christ writing to seven churches:
Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come..
- God WAS and IS and WILL BE–the Father of all, the Son Christ Jesus the Ever-living Word of Salvation to redeemed sinners and the Holy Spirit of the Holy God who breaths life into the lifeless souls of sinful man.
- The Lord speaks to His Church through the Spirit and the Word of Scripture.
Scripture of Christ by the hand of His Apostle Paul:

Instead, we have renounced secret and shameful things,

not acting deceitfully or distorting the word of God, but commending ourselves before God to everyone’s conscience by an open display of the truth.

But if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case, the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

For we are not proclaiming ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’s sake.
Second letter from the Apostle Paul to the Church at Corinth 4:2-5 Christian Standard Bible
- How many Christians are there in your local VISIBLE CHURCH?
  - NOT as many as most claim.
    
    For many are perishing, blinded by the god of this age.
In earlier centuries of these last days

.. the Bible possesses reproving power to correct all error unaligned with its teaching.
The Bible Convictions of John Wycliff
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MORE about the Bible translator John Wycliff
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A Doctrine to Die for (as Christ also died for His Church)

No human leader–not even the Pontiff of Rome–can claim to be head of the church on earth. Sovereign headship belongs to Christ alone. “The greater part of the clergy is heretical and the highest are the worst.”
John Wycliff , who hand-copied the first version of the Wycliff English Bible in the year of our Lord, 1382 – source

While it is yet today–until the day of reckoning
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For Yahweh of hosts will have a day of reckoning
Against everyone who is proud and high
And against everyone who is lifted up,
That he may be made low.
- Isaiah 2:12 LSB
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Once more I will defer to the theological trumpet of John Stott from THE RADICAL DISCIPLE

But fundamental to Christian behavior is the lordship of Jesus Christ. “Jesus is Lord” remains the basis of our life.

.. Is the church the lord of Jesus Christ so that it has liberty to edit and manipulate, accepting what it likes and rejecting what it dislikes?
The Radical Disciple on the challenge of ethical relativism

“He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.”
Gospel of John 14:21

Christ’s Commandment for the Church

And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch. – Acts of the Apostles 11:26

Search the Scriptures and you will find this the only place followers of the way of Jesus Christ, disciples of His teaching and doctrine are called ‘Christians.’

ἐκκλησία – ekklēsia or church is used 114 times in the New Testament.
- If you are a disciple of the teachings (doctrines) of the Lord Jesus Christ do you suppose God’s inspired word chooses to call us out as a church rather than referring to a building for Christians?
What must we do?

Conclusion: Christ’s Doctrine for His Church

The Gospel of Matthew 22:

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”

And He said to him,

“‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’
- Do you do that, my fellow disciple of the doctrines of Christ Jesus?
And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said,

“Behold My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother.”
Gospel of Matthew 12:49-50 LSB

Matthew 18:

“Now if your brother sins against you,

go and show him his fault, between you and him alone; if he listens to you, you have won your brother.
- My beloved brother or sister of the Church, do you do that?
“But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES EVERY FACT MAY BE CONFIRMED.
- Do you, my fellow disciple of Jesus, call upon one or two other followers of Jesus from your church to witness such a word against a member of the Lord’s body broken for you?
“And if he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church;
- Can you, my fellow brother in Christ, actually take such a serious division of doctrine or belief to your church?
and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as the Gentile and the tax collector.
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Of course this analogy of Jesus spoke to times before the risen Christ baptized gentiles into the Church. 
The charge of Jesus is to throw him out and have nothing to do with this unrepentant sinner who would lightly claim to be a christian.
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The DOCTRINE of the CHURCH is a life and death issue.

“Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?”
Gospel of Matthew 19:16
- Do you, my fellow disciple of Jesus, know what happened to the man who asked our Lord this question?
Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” .. he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property.

And He is the head of the body, the church; Who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.

For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,

And through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross—through Him—whether things on earth or things in heaven.
Colossians 1:18-20

The Doctrine of the Church is a LIFE and DEATH issue. And also at issue is not only death, but JUDGMENT.

We are NOT SAVED simply by calling ourselves ‘christian,’ clinging to grace yet hiding from God.

“You are My friends if you do what I command you.
“This I command you, that you love one another.
Gospel of John 15:14,17

God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. To Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.
October 29, 2022