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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 Beatitudes and the Multitudes – Part 3

    The Beatitudes and the Multitudes – Part 3

    MERRY CHRISTMAS.

    Merry Christmas.

    Such a joyful greeting from a Christian to another.

    Returning our thoughts to the multitudes hearing Jesus’ teaching:

    Matthew 5

    King James Version (KJV)

    Verse 13

    • You are the salt of the earth.

    Salt is plentiful and worthless, except that it makes our food to last and seasons its flavor to make our food more palatable.

    • But if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted?  It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and trodden under the foot of men.

    I am trodden under the foot of man. But of what worth am I to this man (who calls himself the Son of Man)? What does he mean that I am the salt of the earth?

    • Ye are the light of the world.
    • A city set on an hill cannot be hid.
    • Neither do men light a candle, and but it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light to all that are in the house.

    What can all this mean? What does it mean to meet God on a hill overlooking the city?

    Dearly beloved believer and seeker of the Lord God,

    I leave this to your own conviction of the Spirit. Yet I challenge the context of your hearing the blessings or beatitudes of Jesus once more in considering His calling. Jesus speaks to the multitudes. The believing church sits in the crowd as a light on a hill or a candle lifted on a candlestick to light the whole house.

    Many will hear the Word and wander off back into the darkness and destruction and death. Many will not see the Lord on the hill again until the call of the trumpet to Judgment, of which Jesus further warns the multitudes (immediately after these verses) of the fulfillment of the Law and Scripture in Him.

    To the multitudes, our Lord further speaks of repentance for the sin we have done. He calls us to righteousness exceeding the appearance of the most respected representatives of God’s Law.

    He tells us how to exceed the righteousness of rules by the intention of our heart and the thoughtfulness of our actions. Jesus forbids divorce. Jesus forbids anger without cause. He commands reconciliation between brothers (now he speaks to the church), before thinking that our offering to God is acceptable.

    Jesus tells the crowd and the church how by our actions Christians are to demonstrate God’s light to the house and to the world. He proceeds to tell us how we, as God’s house and God’s city, and God’s people must do more than the Law, to go the second mile.

    Further, He concludes:

    Matthew 5:44

    • Love your enemy.

    • Bless them that curse you.

    • Do good to them that hate you.

    • Pray for them that despitefully use you.

    • And (pray for them that) persecute you.

    Is this the church you signed up for?  Is this the light on the hill you are among men?

    It’s difficult, if not impossible, isn’t it?

    Jesus then says (in verse 45) that we have to do it to be children of the Father.

    Then he says essentially (in verse 46): If you love only those who love you, even the politicians do that. Ouch!

    Then our Lord calls on us to do something that we cannot do:

    Be ye therefore perfect, as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

    How?

    Repent! Be obedient children of adoption by our Father in Heaven, who did send Christ Jesus to the Cross as perfect redemption for our sins.

    ‘Go; and sin no more,’ as our Lord has called upon us to do. (John 5:14; John 8:11)

    Jesus’ teachings of ‘Blessed are you…” or ‘Happy are you…’ give us, perhaps, a little different than usual perspective on the reason for God to send His only Son to a manger in Bethlehem.

    Have you ever thought of the Nativity of Bethlehem with the baby in a manger to be the beginning of His destination of His place for you on the Cross?

    Do you think of the Cross when you wish someone (perhaps an unbeliever), “Merry Christmas?”

    Do others see Christ’s Light in the salt of your joyful greeting?

    To be continued…

  • The Beatitudes and the Multitudes – Part 1

    The Beatitudes and the Multitudes – Part 1

    Matthew 5: KJV And seeing a multitude, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came to him: and he opened his mouth and taught them saying:

    Blessed are they… Happy are those… etc.

    You may have even memorized the following verses, according to the Bible version of your upbringing; but let us set the scene properly.

    John Wesley begins his commentary of the scene: ‘And seeing the multitudes – At some distance, as they were coming to him from every quarter, He went up into the mountain. – Which was near, where there was room for them all.’

    Do you see it? Jesus has sent the Disciples out into the towns and the countryside. The response of the people has been miraculous. It seems that everyone wants to hear what the Teacher and Messiah has to say.  The crowds approach from every direction in numbers exceeding the services of the popular mega-church.

    They are Jew and gentile alike. They are rich and poor alike. They are believers and unbeliever alike. They are Galilean and Judean, Samaritan and Roman, businessman and farmer, resident and traveler. The multitudes have, by the power of the Holy Spirit, come to hear what a Savior might say.

    Who will listen?  Who is this Jesus of Nazareth? What will He say? What will He do?

    Is His teaching for me? Will the Lord bless me? Will Jesus bless me?

    Before we begin, understand that Jesus is NOT preaching to the church. He is not recruiting members for the church. He is not even giving advice and direction for the church. Jesus is teaching the multitudes. Jesus is telling truth to all. The church and followers must come later – on their own – each believer – each who understands and would worship the Lord as He IS come to our salvation.

    He will suffer and die for our sins. He IS our Shepherd.

    (Have you ever thought this of the baby in the manger?)

    The multitudes have come to the Shepherd on the mountainside. He will lead by the Word of God. Some will reject Him immediately. Some will follow and stray soon. Some will follow and stay after they have understood the cost. Some, a few, will remain faithful. All will listen. Each must decide.

    To be continued…

  • Blessed be God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ

    Blessed be God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ

    PRAISE & WORSHIP GOD! (as faithful worshipers have blessed God and been blessed by God for generations…)

    • Genesis 1:21 And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”
    • Genesis 5:2 Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created.
    • Genesis 9:1 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.
    • Genesis 14:19-20 And he [Melchizedek] blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!” And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.
    • Exodus 18:10  Jethro said, “Blessed be the LORD, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh and has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians.
    • Exodus 39:43 (after the building of the Tabernacle for worship of the LORD) And Moses saw all the work, and behold, they had done it; as the LORD had commanded, so had they done it. Then Moses blessed them.
    • Leviticus 9:22 Then Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them, and he came down from offering the sin offering and the burnt offering and the peace offerings.
    • Deuteronomy 12:7-9 And there you shall eat before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your households, in all that you undertake, in which the LORD your God has blessed you. “You shall not do according to all that we are doing here today, everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes, for you have not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance that the LORD your God is giving you.
    • 2 Samuel 6:18 And when David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD of hosts.
    • 2 Chronicles 2:12 Hiram also said, “Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, who made heaven and earth, who has given King David a wise son, who has discretion and understanding, who will build a temple for the LORD and a royal palace for himself.
    • 2 Chronicles 30:25-27  The whole assembly of Judah, and the priests and the Levites, and the whole assembly that came out of Israel, and the sojourners who came out of the land of Israel, and the sojourners who lived in Judah, rejoiced. So there was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem. Then the priests and the Levites arose and blessed the people, and their voice was heard, and their prayer came to his holy habitation in heaven.
    • Nehemiah 8:6 And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God, and all the people answered, “Amen, Amen,” lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.

    Psalm 34:8

    Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good!
    Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!

    Matthew 21:9 And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”

    Worship the Lord your God!

    2 Corinthians 1

    English Standard Version (ESV)

    Greeting

    1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

    To the church of God that is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia:

    2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

    God of All Comfort

    3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. 6 If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. 7 Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.

    1 Peter 1

    English Standard Version (ESV)

    Greeting

    1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,

    To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:

    May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

    Born Again to a Living Hope

    3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

    Ephesians 1

    English Standard Version (ESV)

    Greeting

    1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,

    To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus:

    2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

    Spiritual Blessings in Christ

    3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known[c] to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

    11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

    Thanksgiving and Prayer

    15 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

     A doxology (from the Greek δόξα [doxa] “glory” + -λογία [-logia], “saying”) is a short hymn of praises to God in various Christian worship services.

    Doxology – worship video & music of David Crowder