Talk of JESUS .com

Tag: Jesus

God our Father estranged from Trinity
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..
Letter of Paul to the Ephesians 1:3 ESV

christianity-lite Doctrines of the Christ-less Era

WE began our series by asking, Are christian pulpits erasing Christ’s Biblical line of DOCTRINE?

The Trinity and Doctrine of the C.E. Church

‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ..’
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+ FOCUS ON THE TRIUNE GOD the Father, Son and Holy Spirit? 
OR 
++ FOCUS on OUR EXPERIENCE as worshipers?
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I introduced this series on DOCTRINES of the Common Era by quoting scripture from the first letter of the Apostle Peter to the Church.

christianity-lite – ERASING Scripture, “It is written..”

Last time I strongly suggested that Scripture has NOT changed.

We looked at several Scriptures from Before Christ and in New Testaments from the years of our Lord written during the A.D. 1st century.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 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.
Second Letter of the Apostle Paul to the Church a Corinth 1:3-4 ESV
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Our overriding question is this:
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What changed in C.E. church worshipers?

‘SOMETHING CHANGED, but I’m not certain when.
Roger@TalkofJesus.com

I listed some facts from the A.D. 1960’s and changes in OUR thinking as a church.
- The minimum wage was $1.00
- Farmers made up 8.3% of the U.S. labor force..
- about 65% of Americans were churchgoers.
- first commercially produced birth control pill was forbidden by many churches
  - EVEN for married couples (a man and a woman)
- Christian CHURCHES, pulpits and doctrines PREACHED, TAUGHT and encouraged:
NO SEX before marriage, Divorce is discouraged and THOU SHALT NOT ABORT a baby living in its mother’s womb under ANY circumstances!

COULD IT BE THE COMMON ERA CHURCH THAT HAS CHANGED?

Although GOD has NOT changed it seems that worship and OUR Common Era approach to worship may have.

THUS our lite approach to a cultural ME-focused church calling OURSELVES ‘christian.’

What changed (in Common Era preaching)?
- It wasn’t God.
- it was not Jesus Christ
- Neither did the Holy Spirit change in the six decades since the 1960’s.
Doctrine of God in a Common Era of christianity-lite

NO Doctrine of the COMMON ERA or any other millennia will stand the test of time without defining GOD truthfully.

Scripture of the New Testament since the A.D. 1st century Gospel always points to the Trinity of God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost (Holy Spirit).

GOD IS!

The LORD reveals Himself through His creation, the Holy Scriptures, the HOLY Spirit and IN THE PERSON of His Only Son JESUS CHRIST.

WE THE COMMON ERA CHURCH drift dangerously with the chaff of every worldly sin upon prevailing cultural winds of these last days.

“His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

Gospel of Matthew 3:12 LSB

so what must WE do?

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Gospel of Matthew 28:19-20 ESV – Commission of the crucified, risen and returning Christ to His Disciples

The Common Era challenge of Trinity

Holy & unholy ghosts & spirits

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1452049838875053

Anyone can preach!

You can preach in the Holy Spirit and shout out in the Holy Ghost! (Preach it, pastor.)

– BUT – is the word of the Spirit truly that from Almighty God?

– OR – is the preacher moved by a different spirit, perhaps a ghost of the past or demon opposed to the angels of the Lord God and Jesus Christ?
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I have witnessed the Holy Spirit for a time with a woman preaching or by a man sharing the cup of communion with the beloved saints. Yet it's mysterious power wandering flocks will follow. Beware if false preachers who also claim power from the pulpit or aisles of cloaked darkness. 

Test the spirits and quantify their truth by the Word and by Scripture. - RH
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For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.
1 John 5:7 King James Version

‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.
Revelation of Jesus Christ to John 3:20-21 LSB

Will preaching any imagined Jesus do?

‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’” – Rev. 3:22

The Apostle John preaches Jesus Christ as ‘the Word in the flesh.’

YET even from the apocalypse of the risen Word many churches of the Common Era will preach and imagine ONLY those events which draw in the crowds.

.. I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne…

What a gracious and POWERFUL KING Jesus HE is! And just so WE Common Era christians can claim our part of this inheritance.

Jesus welcomes ALL sinners with the love of a friend. This Common Era king embraces sinners of ALL cultures and beliefs without requiring any turn toward His righteousness and away from The Life of this world.

JESUS did many miraculous things for real people when He came to earth.

And now that HE is in heaven after he died on a cross for ME and MY sins, all is well with MY faith.
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In the years of our Lord prior to this Common Era a remnant of pastors
have preached JESUS in the context of Scriptural exhortation to every believer. For the 'knock at the door' passage of Christ's Revelation is a call of repentance to a lukewarm church.
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‘Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline. Therefore be zealous and repent.
Revelation 3:19 LSB (the Word to those on the other side of the door)

Many worshipers lack the Spirit and christians of every era fail to have ears to hear the very breath of the Word.

Will your Common Era Pastor preach that some standing inside the door on which your ‘king Jesus’ knocks ‘do not know that you are wretched and pitiable and poor and blind and naked‘?

And there YOU stand without His white robes believing HE is ready to embrace YOU!

Through all the years and recent decades of our Lord, few 21st century christians have a problem with JESUS..

since by omitting the hard parts WE can preach his gospel with so many variations.

Our estranged Father in Heaven

Common Era christians ESTRANGED from fathers

What changed (in Common Era preaching)?

If not our worshipers lifting up with the chaff in the Holy Spirit

— if not our re-imagining a jesus to our liking —

THEN certainly our all-too-common era trouble with the Trinity must lie in a single broken relationship: that of Common Era christians with God the Father.

Revealed Honor to God the Father of Glory

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which Yahweh your God gives you.

‘You shall rise up before the gray-haired and honor the aged, and you shall fear your God; I am Yahweh.
From the Book of the Law – Exodus 20:12; Leviticus 19:32 LSB

“I kept looking
Until thrones were set up,

And the Ancient of Days was seated;

His clothing was like white snow
And the hair of His head like pure wool.

His throne was ablaze with fire,

Its wheels were a burning fire.
Daniel’s vision of the Ancient of Days 7:9 LSB

a few more facts of Common Era worshipers

‘SOMETHING CHANGED, but I’m not certain when.’
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Do YOU know? Can YOU contribute a comment with YOUR opinion?
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- The 1960 Census showed a record proportion married, 67.4 percent, among persons 14 years old and over.
  - In 2022, about 132.3 million or 49.3% of Americans age 15 and over were unmarried, according to the Current Population Survey. [compared to ~33% in 1960]
- JULY 2023 C.E.
  - Of the 63.2M parents living with their children
    
    <18, 76.1% lived with a spouse,
    
    15.1% had no spouse/partner present.
    
    The rest [~ ONE in TEN PARENTS] lived with a cohabiting partner.
    
    Note: Direct identification of both parents began in 2007, resulting in the ability to identify children living with two unmarried parents.
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Source: Census.gov library
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How do YOU react to God the Father?

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.

“.. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son desires to reveal him.
Gospel of the Apostle Matthew 7:21,11:27b CSB

“I and the Father are one.”
Testimony of Jesus from the Gospel of John 10:30 Christian Standard Bible

Do YOU have a problem with THAT, dearly beloved Common Era christian estranged from GOD our FATHER?

NEXT: More on this doctrinal challenge of the Common Era… God willing.

Comment on Scripture + Share the Gospel
November 11, 2023
Evil spirits, exorcism, possession of Power
ACTS 19:

..and the evil spirits went out of them.
Acts of the Apostles 19:12c KJV

Acts of God, evil spirits and exorcists

In his account of Paul’s third missionary journey the physician Luke now records signs YOU may find hard to believe.

DO YOU BELIEVE THIS, 21st Century believer in the Lord Jesus Christ?

..they were healed of their diseases, and evil spirits were expelled.
Acts of the Apostles 19:12b NLT

Previously, in Luke’s account:

Lectures about God in Athens’ University of Idols

Back in Athens Paul had lectured about the futility of worshiping things made by man as having the power of God.

Powerful Preaching to powerless Christians

Luke tells us how (as an itinerate preacher) Paul had encountered some believers who had not received the power of the Holy Spirit.

Powers of Preaching

Apollos had preached the word with power prior to departing Ephesus for Corinth. Paul then arrives in Ephesus and proclaims the Gospel in the local synagogue for three months.

BUT in the meantime, some itinerate Jews have heard ot these men attracting a following and so sought to imitate their techniques and powers of persuasion.
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As you may know it doesn't go so well for them, even as some time ago on Paul's first missionary journey Bar-Jesus lost his evil influence on events in Cypress.

AND you probably have a Hollywood-tainted image of a ritualistic Roman Catholic ceremony.
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Jewish Exorcists

But there were some itinerant Jewish exorcists who attempted to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus when dealing with those who had evil spirits. They would say, “I command you in the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches.”
ACTS 19:13- J.B. Phillips New Testament paraphrase – The violence of evil and the power of the “name”

“I command you in the name of Jesus!

CAN ANYONE DO THIS? OR CAN A PRIEST OR PREACHER COMMAND EVIL SPIRITS?

YOU probably have your 21st century of the Common Era doubts.

But what happened to these exorcists?

Mostly nothing at all — just like the Pentecostalism preached on some 20th century television stages. AND of course no authentic healing of the sick like JESUS had done so often.

Luke’s account however does give us one powerful example of what did happen:

Acts 19:

14 Now seven sons of one named Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. 15 And the evil spirit answered and said to them,

“I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?”

16 And the man, in whom was the evil spirit, leaped on them, subdued all of them, and utterly prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
Acts 19:14-16 Legacy Standard Bible
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Don't YOU just want to say, 'GOOD!' They got their just due?
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BUT WAIT A MINUTE!

IF WE ACKNOWLEDGE WHAT LUKE TELLS US ABOUT SEVEN PRIESTS RUNNING OUT OF A HOUSE NAKED AND DEFEATED BY AN EVIL SPIRIT, THEN WE MUST ACCEPT AN IMPACT OF EVIL SPIRITS ON ORDINARY MEN AND WOMEN.

Miracles and Power!

Luke now moves on from the ethereal teaching of Tyrannus and Mars Hill to the aetheris winds beyond that which is seen by man.

Most of us don’t really believe in miracles, do we?

WE know of the unexplainable, but rare is any occasion of seeing the unseen.

Sinful men and women want power!

Seven priests talked a good game, but when the higher unseen truth is told, they were humiliated and exposed as frauds.

POWER has a source — as does life and spirit.

And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that cloths or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out.
Acts of the Apostles 19:11-12 LSB

THEOS (Greek word for God) was performing extraordinary MIRACLES! — dynamis, from which (in English) we get DYNAMITE!

NOT Paul, but God by the hands of Paul.

And as a consequence of GOD using these lifeless items and Spirit-filled Christians, the Lord Jesus Christ became known for HIS MIRACLES among the Gentiles of Ephesus.

KJV Translation Count — Total: 120x
The KJV translates Strong’s G1411 in the following manner:

power (77x), mighty work (11x), strength (7x), miracle (7x), might (4x), virtue (3x), mighty (2x), miscellaneous (9x).
inherent power, power residing in a thing by virtue of its nature, or which a person or thing exerts and puts forth; power for performing miracles; moral power and excellence of soul; the power and influence which belong to riches and wealth; power and resources arising from numbers; power consisting in or resting upon armies, forces, hosts
Strong’s G1411 – dynamis – BlueLetterBible.org

evil spirits

Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God.

And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people.

Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the LORD your God.
Leviticus 19:21; 20:6-7

confronted by Jesus
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“Aw, let us alone! What to us and to you, Jesus the Nazarene? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!”

But Jesus rebuked it, saying, 
“Be quiet and come out of him!” 

And when the demon had thrown him down in the midst of the people, it came out of him without doing him any harm. And amazement came upon them all, and they were talking with one another saying, 
“What is this word, that with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits and they come out.”

And the report about Him was spreading into every place in the surrounding district.

Gospel of Luke 4:34-37
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So you say you don't believe in evil spirits? 
The Law of Moses addresses them AND
JESUS *cast them out of possessed men [*exorcism] and commanded unseen spirits with Authority.
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confronted by Paul

And certain of the wandering exorcist Jews, took upon them to name over those having the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, ‘We adjure you by Jesus, whom Paul doth preach;’
Acts 19:13 Young’s Literal Translation

and the evil spirit, answering, said, ‘Jesus I know, and Paul I am acquainted with; and ye — who are ye?’
Acts of the Apostles 19:15 YLT

SPIRIT – pneuma – from ‘breath’ or ‘of the wind‘

Holy or unholy? Good or evil?

Can the HOLY SPIRIT or an EVIL SPIRIT indwell a mortal man [anthrōpos]? (OR perhaps influence intellectual reasoning or affect any actions of a man or women of flesh?)

By what POWER may a mere mortal become an EXORCIST of EVIL (ponēros) and healer of diseases?

Questions of the first century Ephesians.

Yes, even questions for 21st century christians of the Common Era, perhaps skeptical of Scripture and miraculous signs through the Apostles which God gave to witness the Lord Jesus Christ.

And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.
Acts of the Apostles 19:17 KJV

ACTS of the Apostles — To Be Continued…

NEXT:
and fear fell upon them all

Comment on Scripture + Share the Gospel
October 5, 2023
Lectures in the School of the Master
Acts 19: Paul Teaching in Ephesus

Powerful Preaching to powerless Christians

Previously, Luke tells us about Apollos leaving Ephesus as the Apostle Paul arrives and begins preaching to the Jews.

Two Schools of Thought in Ephesus
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The School of Our Master the Lord Jesus Christ is led by the lecturer Paul; known as the Apostle to the Gentiles and formerly known as Saul of Tarsus.

Picture this setting & scene in either the 1st century A.D. where it took place OR in a more Common Era scene in a University of this time:
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‘We haven’t heard from Paul in a while. I heard that he has been teaching in the School of Tyrannus. Is that so?‘

‘Let’s go over to the big lecture hall and see.‘

Paul has already encountered various schools of thought at several points on his missionary journeys. His Pharisaical School in Jerusalem had taught different doctrines than an exclusive School the Sadducees. So the renounced Jewish scholar comfortably challenged other beliefs and philosophies.

And just like back in Corinth Achaia, Paul must reconcile perceptions of Christ with the Greeks and Yeshua Messiah of the Jews to followers of The Way in Ephesus.

Now that he resides in this key city of Asia Minor where the Holy Spirit initially had prevented Paul from going, Paul will no doubt need to answer many questions about our Lord Jesus Christ.

AND let’s not overlook Paul’s perseverance during several months of Apostolic teaching in Ephesus that took place here which Luke covers in just a few summary verses.

A brief reminder:

Paul began his journey to Ephesus in ~A.D. 52 by land from the church in Antioch and will not return from this 2700 mile mission for about five years.

As is his general practice the Apostle first teaches the Good News of the Messiah Jesus to the Jews.

And he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God.
Acts of the Apostles 19:8 ESV – Luke’s account of Paul upon arrival in Ephesus

The first three months

Twelve converted disciples join Paul, listening to the Gospel as the Apostle teaches fellow Jews how Jesus fulfilled the Scriptures as the Promised One. Many Jews believe during this time of Paul’s proclaiming Jesus in the synagogue and consequently follow The Way.

Yet like everywhere else, some remain immovable by truth or any other teaching than that which serves them.

But when some became stubborn

and continued in unbelief,

speaking evil of the Way before the congregation..
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[A familiar pattern of stiff-necked men standing firm on their shaky ground of unreasoned truth and false doctrine.]
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.. he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus.
Acts of the Apostles 19:9
NOTE: Although this picture is NOT the School of Tyrannus, don't miss the significance of this School in the city of Ephesus as a university where men could gather to hear lecturers in order to learn and discuss their teachings.
~A.D. 53 – A.D. 54

Let’s look a root problem of unbelievers from the Greek root words Luke chooses translated from the NASB:

But when some were becoming hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way before the [multitude]..
Acts 19:9a NASB20
- ἐσκληρύνοντο – to make hard, harden, metaph. to render obstinate, stubborn
- ἀπειθέω – apeitheō [Does any familiar English term come to mind?] –
  - to refuse or withhold belief
  - to refuse belief and obedience
  - not to comply with
Men APATHETIC to sound doctrine and truth of the Gospel may claim to be religious men. Stubborn and stiffnecked sinners TURNED AGAINST Christ’s Apostle of Good News and they will turn against YOU as well for your witness of JESUS Christ as your Lord.

Apparent apathy to Christ and disobedience to the very word of God go hand in hand.

“The one who believes in the Son has eternal life;
but the one who does not G544 [apeitheō] obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”
Gospel of John 3:36

THREE MONTHS Paul had reasoned with the Ephesian Jews in his manner of quoting Scripture and applying the Old Covenant to their Messiah JESUS. A remnant is saved and follow. The rest will continue in their false faith for refusing to look up to the LORD from the wilderness of their refining.

The heart-hardened enemies of the Gospel murmur to the multitudes against the followers [disciples] of the Way, the Truth and the Life redeemed through Christ our Lord.

in the hall of Tyrannus

DAILY, from the fifth hour to the tenth (that is, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.) according to some manuscripts

Lecture Hall

The lecture hall of Tyrannus is an important place of teaching Roman cultural context in a Roman community of the empire.

21st century believers may not understand the openness in a university-type forum from the teaching and disciples of Paul OR even the Lord Jesus. So in order to understand this PLACE of Paul’s CLASSROOM better we will examine it from the Greek which Luke records in just one of today’s three verses:

ὡς δέ τινες ἐσκληρύνοντο καὶ ἠπείθουν κακολογοῦντες τὴν ὁδὸν ἐνώπιον τοῦ πλήθους ἀποστὰς ἀπ᾽ αὐτῶν ἀφώρισεν τοὺς μαθητάς καθ᾽ ἡμέραν διαλεγόμενος ἐν τῇ σχολῇ Τυράννου
Acts 19:9 Morphological Greek New Testament

scholē tyrannos

Τύραννος – tyrannos – A provincial form of the derivative of the base of κύριος (G2962)

Its base word and root Christians may recognize but have never considered in this context of first century A.D. controversy in witness to the Gospel in the Roman Empire.
- Tyrannus = “sovereign“
- kyrios – From kuros (supremacy)
It’s the ‘sovereign school’ OR School of the Sovereign.

Is Paul now teaching in the highest school, so to speak, in Ephesus, an environment we would understand to be a University?
- scholē – probably feminine of a presumed derivative of the alternate of G2192; properly, loitering (as a withholding of oneself from work) or leisure, i.e. (by implication) a “school” (as vacation from physical employment):—school.
OR

Does the SCHOOL NAME imply a particular Sovereign for whom it is named?

(And, let the hearer understand, Ephesus, like Jerusalem, Corinth or Rome itself has only ONE SOVEREIGN.)

But they cried out,

Away with him, away with him, crucify him.

Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King?

The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.
Gospel of John 19:15 King James Version

κύριος – kyrios – Strong’s G2962 – masculine noun From kuros (supremacy)

Lord, Lordship:

properly an adjective, signifying “having power” (kuros) or “authority,” is used as a noun, variously translated in the NT, “‘Lord,’ ‘master,’ ‘Master,’ ‘owner,’ ‘Sir,’ a title of wide significance, occurring in each book of the NT save Titus and the Epistles of John. It is used
Vine’s Expository Dictionary

WHAT DID THE APOSTLE PAUL PREACH IN EPHESUS?

Luke does not say specifically in these four verses, but we must believe that in one form or other that the Apostle proclaims the Gospel, JESUS IS LORD.

Paul said, “John baptized with a baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” When they heard this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord G2962 Jesus.
Acts of the Apostles 19:5 NASB20

Asia Minor

This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord G2962, both Jews and Greeks.
Acts 19:10 of the Apostle Paul in Ephesus

NEXT: Paul I know…
September 25, 2023