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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.

  • The Gospel: Preached by Peter

    The Gospel: Preached by Peter

    “Listen carefully, all of you…

    Acts 2:

    Peter’s Sermon at Pentecost

    14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. 15 For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. [That is, 9 a.m.]

    16 But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel:

    The Spirit echos God’s voice through the Prophet Joel.

    IF God speaks to us through the Prophets of the Old Testament, do we then seek to understand how God warns us even now of the refinement to come?

    Peter spoke to these men of Judea of what is written in the Prophets centuries earlier. By the Spirit, Peter then preaches the Gospel: Jesus IS the fulfillment of scripture. He IS the Messiah of God!

    “LISTEN,” Peter instructs. This moment in the spectrum of God’s eternal time is important to your eternal soul. You know the scripture… (Do you?) … here is how God the Father used Jesus the Son as the Sacrifice for our sins.

    22 “Men of Israel, hear these words:

    Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— 23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.

    24 God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.

    Peter is saying through the Spirit, ‘YOU crucified the Very Son of God!’ Yet even though you did, it was God’s plan. AND God raised Jesus from death!

    IMPOSSIBLE; yet NOT for GOD.The SON of GOD cannot be held even by death.

    Peter then continues by the Spirit to point to the proof of Scripture, referring to David from a Kingdom a thousand years earlier.

    29 “Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, 31 he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.

    32 This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses.

    33 Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.

    THINK about this, Peter instructs. David predicted this of Jesus, his descendant.

    34 For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says,

    “‘The Lord said to my Lord,
    “Sit at my right hand,
    35 until I make your enemies your footstool.”’

    Jesus frequently referred to himself as, ‘Son of Man;’ literally meaning a ‘son of Adam.’ Jesus, through the womb of Mary (God incarnate) was a son of man, just like me… just like you.

    Jews (like us, so often overlooking our sin and remembering only the heritage of our forefathers) often referred to themselves as: Sons of Abraham, or Sons of Moses, or Sons of David.

    Many of us are proud of our heritage of birthright.  We hide our heritage that SIN came into this world as Sons of Adam.

    Jesus came into the world so that we might have a new heritage to a sinless second Adam.

    Remember: ‘Israel is God’s new name for Jacob. Remember: ‘Judah’ is a son of Jacob (not just the place of Jerusalem). Peter speaks to these CHOSEN men as chosen followers of the Living God. Peter preaches why WE, chosen by God, must bow down to Christ Jesus, the ONE risen from death by God the Father.

    36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

    37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

    What will YOU DO, to make Jesus your Lord?

    (It is not enough just to say so, while you continue to live in the ways of the wickedness of the world.)

    38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

    39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”

    40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.”

    41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

     We are sorry that Jesus had to go to the Cross for our sins. What must we do?

    “Repent and be baptized…”

    Repent: to change one’s mind for better, heartily to amend with abhorrence of one’s past sins

    Baptized:  the act of baptizing produces a permanent change…

    Have you truly repented of your daily sin?

    Have you been ‘permanently changed’ in the name of Jesus Christ?

    What must you do?

     

     

  • Fire of the Living God

    Fire of the Living God

    Exodus 3: 2 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed… God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!”

    And he said, “Here I am.”

    5 Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” 6 And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”

    And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

    Numbers 9: 15 On the day that the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony. And at evening it was over the tabernacle like the appearance of fire until morning.

    16 So it was always: the cloud covered it by day and the appearance of fire by night.

    Ezekiel 1:4 As I looked, behold, a stormy wind came out of the north, and a great cloud, with brightness around it, and fire flashing forth continually, and in the midst of the fire, as it were gleaming metal.

    Malachi 3:2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?

    For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap…

    5 “Then I will draw near to you for judgment.

    I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.

    Matthew 13: And his disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.”

    37 He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.

    38 The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom.

    The weeds are the sons of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil.

    The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.

    40 Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age.

    41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, 42 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

    43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.

    He who has ears, let him hear.

     Mark 1:8 KJV I indeed have baptized you with water:

    but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.

     

  • for our God is a consuming fire

    for our God is a consuming fire

    Hebrews 12:18 For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest 19 and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them.

    22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23 and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant…

    25 See that you do not refuse him who is speaking.

    For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven.

    26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.”

    … thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire.

    How much reverence and awe do you have for God Almighty?

    Do you, dear believer, sometimes fail to remember in fear and trembling the Power of the risen Lord, Christ Jesus?

    (It is no wonder that Jesus greeted fearful Apostles with the assurance: “Peace.”)

    It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. – Hebrews 10:21

    The Disciples finally realized that Jesus had not established God’s Kingdom in Jerusalem at the time He entered its gates prior to His crucifixion; yet the Apostles knew that Jesus will return on the clouds as Judge of the Heavens and earth!

    Prior to becoming Disciples of Jesus, some were disciples of John the Baptist who had preached:

    Matthew 3:

    10 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

    11 “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

    12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

    If the burning fire of the conquering Christ was prepared by John; if the burning fire of the conquering Jesus was prepared by the Cross; if the Judgment and Kingdom were close at hand; then how much nearer now? You with ears to hear, hear.

    Jesus’ Disciples wanted to know when, but the Lord would not reveal it.  Never-the-less as Jesus rose into the clouds promising His return, the Disciples were filled with awe and reverence for the risen Son of Man.

    Well they knew all of what our Lord Jesus had warned and cautioned:

    John 15:6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.

    Luke 24:51 While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. 52 And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, 53 and were continually in the temple blessing God.