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Tag: Gospel

The Gospel is Good News to all who will humbly accept Jesus and listen to His teaching.

We refer to the four books of the Bible which tell the story of Jesus Christ as the Gospels. These books are named for their authors: Matthew, a Jewish Apostle; Mark, a disciple of the first generation who recorded accounts of Peter and the Twelve; Luke, a gentile Physician and disciple of the first century; and John, one of the Twelve Jewish Apostles chosen by Jesus.

  • Jesus’ Commandment

    Jesus’ Commandment

    “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” – John 15:13 – NKJV 

    Christ Jesus, who would lay down His life for us as sacrifice and redemption for our sins, tells the Disciples how God’s love is unconditional and how God’s love is overflowing beyond description.

    But what about our love for God? What about our love for Jesus?

    I cling to my flesh; I remember my sinful desires. I believe that Jesus died for me, but if He wants me to “follow” Him, I don’t think I can do it. (Isn’t this what we all think when we resist doing what we know God wants us to do?)

    While we brandish our ‘freedom’ to choose to do whatever we want (perhaps even as ‘grace’), most of us struggle with two principles of relationship taught by Jesus Christ: sacrifice and obedience.

    We want to ignore the advice of Jesus (whom we call, ‘Lord‘) when he said:

    “Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” – John 12:25

    And:

    And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” – Luke 9:23

    These sound a lot like ‘conditions’ from Christ Jesus (whom we call, ‘Lord‘). For that matter, another thing Jesus said (which we would rather ignore) is:

    “… whoever does not obey [apeitheō] the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” – John 3:36b

    Are you apathetic about Jesus Christ, the Son of God?

    Jesus asked the crowds who claimed His Name:

    “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?” – Luke 6:36

     

    Someone (of a higher authority) gives a command and having no choice, you choose to obey. (But you don’t like it, do you?)

    If GOD, the ALL-POWERFUL Creator of life, accountant of your days and judge of your soul – if the LORD GOD gives you a command, can you choose anything but to obey?

    Of course… we often (and regrettably) do not obey our Lord.

    I remind us of all this to point to what Jesus said just prior to His oft-quoted “Greater love has no man than this…” application, which He did fulfill for us on the Cross.

    “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. – John 15:14

    Imagine Jesus ‘commanding’ you to love other Christians as He has loved you. Can you do it?  (Many of us are most difficult to love.)

    We expect the grace of this Savior we call ‘Lord’ to cover our lack of love for others, but we must not  imagine that Jesus has only suggested it.

    Our Lord has spoken it to us as His “command.”

    Once again, think of yourself as a ‘follower’ of Jesus (even to the cross, if you must… even at some personal sacrifice, if you must) – put yourself in the well-worn sandals of Jesus’ Disciples and hear our ‘Lord’ in the eyes of your heart:

    John 15:12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

    13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

    14 You are my friends if you do what I command you.

    15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.

    17 These things I command you, so that you will love one another.

    Lord, you have commanded me, your saint and servant, heir to the life and the love of the house of the LORD, forever.

    Have you ever lamented: “Where are my ‘christian’ ‘friends? Have you ever wondered, “Where are my’ fellow ‘saints’ who would lay down their life for me?”

    It is to our shame that any member of our church should have to ask for the love of Jesus in us.

    For our ‘Lord’ and Savior has spoken His commandment to you and to me:

    “…love one another as I have loved you,”

     

  • Is that all there is (of my life)?

    Is that all there is (of my life)?

    And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. – Hebrews 9:27-28 ESV

     

    What is the meaning of MY life?

    The paradox of purpose to a soul given our meaning by God:

    “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
    and before you were born I consecrated you;
    I appointed you … (to your purpose and your meaning), says the LORD.

    In Jeremiah 1:5 the LORD reveals His specific holy consecration and appointment of Jeremiah as “a prophet to the nations.”

    The LORD also knew you (as the LORD knows me). He has appointed you to HIS purpose. In HIM only will you find YOUR meaning.

    Why does the prodigal child ask a friend of the world and not the Father of all creation?

    “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise) – Ephesians 6:2

    Is that all there is wineWhy does the prodigal wife drown her meaninglessness in booze asking: ‘Is that all there is?’ rather than remembering the blood of Christ, whom she once called, “Lord?” Why does she betray her vow to her husband and to her ‘Lord?’

     1 Corinthians 11

     3 But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.

    11 Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman; 12 for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God.

    Here is your relationship of a man and his wife; the living and loving relationship of Christ Jesus and His family.

    Yet do you, dearly beloved, remember the significance of this “family relationship?”

    Ephesians 5:31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

    And remembering the three-strand relationship of husband and wife in Christ, we return to the symbolism of of this great mystery in which we share (returning to First Corinthians 11):

    23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said,

    “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

    25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying,

    “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

    26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
    27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.

    —

    When in our homes our children have seen and have lived in the instruction of holy scripture, which by our New Covenant in Christ Jesus sets us aside from the world for the glory of God; when in our christian homes our christian children have seen their christian fathers and their christian mothers live first in their meaning and purpose to the LORD; when husband and wife live as one to each other, forsaking ALL others (worldly work friends, worldly neighbors, the worldly influencers of unsaved family); when WE the prodigal children who claim Jesus as Lord do actually desire obedience first to HIS purpose and meaning in our lives: then our children, seeing Christ in us will no longer ask: “Is that all there is?”

    —

    John 12:26 If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

    John 13:34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

    John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

    John 15:26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.

    John 18:37 Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king.
    For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”

    —

    • What is God’s purpose for you, beloved husband & father? 
    • What is the Lord’s purpose for you, devoted wife & mother?
    • What is the Father’s purpose for you, blessed child of God, honoring your Christ-like parents?

    Pray in the spirit and let the light of our Lord Jesus Christ shine into the caverns of your broken heart.

    1 Corinthians 2:

    9 But, as it is written,

    “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
    nor the heart of man imagined,
    what God has prepared for those who love him”—

    10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.

    11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

    12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.

    —

    Think about these things.

    Pray also for me.

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  • PK’s, EK’s, DK’s: Our kids; God’s kids

    PK’s, EK’s, DK’s: Our kids; God’s kids

    The purpose of my instruction is that all believers would be filled with love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and genuine faith.  – 1 Timothy 1:5 NLT

    If you haven’t guessed, our focus is on ‘Preacher’s Kid’s, Elder’s Kids and Deacon’s kids and the focus of scripture is Paul’s letter to Timothy, Paul’s son in the faith and pastor of a church. So as to not get entangled in particular setting and certain persons, here it is in part.

    1 Timothy 1

    Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope…

    To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

    To begin, note Paul’s greeting to this preacher’s kid (of a sort). Note Paul’s endearment of Timothy as not only his colleague in the faith who happens to be the pastor of an important church, but his public building up to the congregation (or gathering of his church) of Timothy as: “my true child in the faith.” Although Timothy was not a biological child of Paul, certainly the church would acknowledge him as a disciple of the Apostle, just as in an earlier time the Prophet Elisha would have been known as a disciple of the Prophet Elijah.

    The church would be watching this ‘preacher’s kid’ to see how he would get about when the preacher was no longer present. He would soon be as a Joshua after Moses in leading the church through the difficult territory of the place of faith after the Apostles were martyred for Christ Jesus.

    Paul continues:

    I urged you… to … remain … so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine,  nor to devote themselves to myths… rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith.

    5 The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

    Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion,  desiring to be teachers … without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.

    Paul, by this introduction to the church, sets up a structure of leadership and accountability for the leaders chosen by the church. We have many names for these (in our different traditions): Pastor, Reverend, Rector, Father, Bishop, Brother, Elder, Deacon, Minister. 

    Although Paul, Peter, James, leader of the church of Jerusalem in the first century and John, only surviving Apostle to the churches who though not martyred was persecuted, tortured and exiled – although the Preachers of the early church entrusted the Gospel into the hearts of faithful disciples of their teaching; these prescribed neither hierarchy nor anarchy of committee for the direction of the church.

    Rather, the Apostles and early leaders of the church agreed in the Spirit to continue in preaching Christ crucified, died, resurrected in the body and present in the Spirit for continuation of the Gospel to all the ends of the earth. It is never: Peter’s church or Paul’s church, Apollos’ teachings or John’s churches, John Mark’s writings or Timothy’s preaching.

    For no leader or over-seer is of ANY importance in the light of the Gospel of Christ Jesus.

    The church is no longer – in the sense of the Jews being the chosen family of God through Abraham, Isaac, Joseph, Moses, David (and oh, did I mention Jacob, who God renamed: Israel?) – the congregation or gathering of the believers of God to worship is no longer a family in the sense of genealogy and ancestry; but a holy family in the true relational sense of being part of the household of God the Father and a brother of the Son of God, King and heir of the Throne of Glory, of which He IS a part, along with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

    Neither is the church to regard a holy family of Jesus in the worship of earthly ancestry. Worship the LORD only in the light of the Gospel of Christ Jesus, who together with the Father and the HOLY Spirit is glorified. No angel, no departed saint and no ancestry of example of faith is worthy of the worship deserved ONLY by God Incarnate, in the Person of Christ Jesus.

    In a true sense of our family connected by the grace of Christ Jesus and the gospel of our certain hope by faith in the resurrection and our own eternal life, we are children living in witness of the Living God, a preaching member of the Royal Household of our Heavenly King, Christ Jesus, who IS and will return to this temporal earth once more in victory over sin and death.

     To be continued… (Saturday, 28 June, 2014, God-willing)