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Tag: Matthew

  • Go into all the world (and SHARE the Gospel) – 1

    Go into all the world (and SHARE the Gospel) – 1

    God came into the world as a man in the flesh to save sinners, yet so many do not know Jesus or turn away from the incarnate and risen Lord. 

    He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. – John 1:10”

    If you believe, what did the Lord command his servants (that is, you and me)?

    Go into all the world

    The Gospel of Mark, which closes with Christ’s Great Commission to “Go into all the world..” opens with his summary overview:  The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God,”

    son of God

    Term used preeminently of Jesus Christ, as enjoying the supreme love of God, united to him in affectionate intimacy, privy to his saving councils, obedient to the Father’s will in all his acts.

    used to describe Adam (Lk. 3:38)
    used to describe those who are born again (Lk. 20:36) and of angels and of Jesus Christ
    of those whom God esteems as sons, whom he loves, protects and benefits above others
    in the OT used of the Jews
    in the NT of Christians
    those whose character God, as a loving father, shapes by chastisements Heb. 12:5-8)

    Mark 1:

    ‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
    make his paths straight..’”

    4 John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

    9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

    …

    14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying,

    [ctt title=”“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”” tweet=”Jesus Christ, Son of Man proclaims in the Gospel of Mark 1:15″ coverup=”z5edx”]

    The Lord Rules the World

    He raises up the poor from the dust;
    he lifts the needy from the ash heap
    to make them sit with princes
    and inherit a seat of honor.
    For the pillars of the earth are the LORD’s,
    and on them he has set the world. – 1 Samuel 2:8

    Let all the earth fear the LORD;
    let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him! – Psalm 33:8

    I will punish the world for its evil,
    and the wicked for their iniquity;
    I will put an end to the pomp of the arrogant,
    and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless. – Isaiah 13:11

    [ctt title=”The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one..” tweet=”The words of Jesus, Gospel of Matthew 13:38” coverup=”bP8Uh”]

    Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. – Gospel of John 14:27

    I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father.” – John 16:28

    I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” – John 16:33

    The Mission

    Some may recognize the theme of our post here as the beginning of the Great Commission.  Praise the Lord God, Creator of the heavens and earth, all that is seen and unseen. Believe  from the scriptures that God has so loved the world that he sacrificed his only Son, Christ Jesus, for our sins. We are adopted into the loving eternal family of the Lord. Receive the Holy Spirit of the triune God to guide your heart and refine your flesh.

    If you believe, are you listening to the Lord?

    Here the words of Jesus, risen Son of Man:

    John 5:25-29 “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.

    For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man.

    Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

    Resurrection of the body, commission to save souls

    Mark 16:

    15 [ctt title=”And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” tweet=”https://ctt.ec/_0d4q+ NEW Christian Social Witness mission via facebook” coverup=”_0d4q”]

    To be continued…

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  • Beyond Nineveh

    Beyond Nineveh

    Taking the long view – Beyond Nineveh and Nazareth

    “Do you think that I like to see wicked people die? says the Sovereign LORD. Of course not! I want them to turn from their wicked ways and live. Ezekiel 18:23 NLT

    You may remember the story of the Prophet Jonah, a ‘follower’ of God who turned a different direction when the LORD sent him to save foreigners. A later Prophet from Nazareth would refer to Jonah, by comparison:

    “The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. – Matthew 12:41 & Luke 11:32

    What do we know beyond this reference of Jesus of Nazareth about Jonah?

    Jonah of Gath-hepher, a town of Lower Galilee, about 5 miles from Nazareth

    We do know this: religious leaders remain unrepentant because of their own sins, just like Jonah booking a ship away from the city where the LORD wanted him to preach.

    Wickedness and unrepentance remain as issues today. Jonah spoke it of the Ninevites and Jesus spoke to it in all of us. We, too are not sent to the righteous, but to sinners. Like Jonah and like Jesus we do not preach or prophesy only to the chosen, but to the nations.

    Assyria at the time of Jonah

    Nineveh

    Jonah 3:

    Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth. 4 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” 5 And the people of Nineveh believed God.

    760-750 B.C. Hosea & Jonah Prophets in Israel

    These were tumultuous times in the 8th c. B.C. A mere 200 years after Israel had separated from Judah, by the end of Jonah’s century Israel would disappear from the map. Assyria was expanding from east of the Tigris and Euphrates beyond the borders of Judah, even further than the Nile. Prior to it’s own fall in about 625 B.C., Nineveh, Assyria’s capital was known as ‘the mistress of the East; but for her great luxury and wickedness, the prophet Jonah was sent, more than eight hundred years before Christ, to warn the Ninevites of her speedy destruction.’ source

    It was the largest city in the world for some fifty years [thus, the 3-day journey to travel through Nineveh] until the year 612 BC when, after a bitter period of civil war in Assyria, it was sacked by a coalition of its former subject peoples, the Babylonians, Medes, Chaldeans, Persians, Scythians and Cimmerians. Its ruins are across the river from the modern-day major city of Mosul, in the Ninawa Governorate of Iraq. source

    Jonah and Israel certainly believed that the Lord had no desire to save sinners in a far away city in a land of unbelievers.

    The compassion of the Lord reaches well beyond borders, His power beyond the horizon and beneath the depths of the sea.

    Yet time would tell a story of Israel destroyed, Jerusalem destroyed. The centuries from the falls of nations reveals the unseen power of the Lord to turn sinners to repentance and save the helpless from the powers of evils and the perils of sin and death.

    To be continued…

     

  • Who are my brothers?

    Who are my brothers?

    Family! Gotta love ’em

    I have two brothers and a sister, not to mention other challenging family members who generally disagree with my considered path which seldom offers the least resistance. Lately we’ve had some ‘family disagreements.’ Has that ever happened with you?

    We’re all hard to convince on important points of life, so in general most of us just go about our own way until someone comes to us mentioning that your brother or your mother (or father or cousin) wants to see you.

    What could be so important? Interruptions by brothers or family happen to all.

    Perhaps you recall an incident like this mentioned in a couple of the Gospels about Jesus. When I first read of it, I thought that Jesus seemed rude to ignore His family members. Now, after many such interruptions of my own agenda by family members I’m not certain that ‘rude’ is the best description, though I’ll bet my family frequently thinks I’m rude.

    Matthew 12:46-48 ESV

    While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him. But he replied to the man who told him,

    “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?”

    Jesus had been teaching and had had a rough day. (More about that later.)

    Doesn’t it always seem like your brother or a family member shows up with an issue when you are busiest?

    Mark 3:31-34 BSB

    Continuing just a bit further in the same story as recorded by Mark:

    Then Jesus’ mother and brothers came and stood outside. They sent someone in to summon Him, and a crowd was sitting around Him. “Look,” He was told, “Your mother and brothers are outside, asking for You.”

    But Jesus replied, “Who are My mother and My brothers?”

    Looking at those seated in a circle around Him, He said, “Here are My mother and My brothers!

    Jesus’ Brothers Before & After the Resurrection

    We’ll visit the prior scenes and conclusion later, but moving ahead in our story here, authorities doubting the true identity of the Messiah ask:

    Is not this the carpenter’s son?

    Is not his mother called Mary?

    And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? – Matthew 13:55

    They mention Jesus’ sisters, question His wise teaching and mighty miracles and they even took offense to him.

    Once again Jesus makes a seemingly disrespectful comment about his community and family.

    “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.” – Matthew 13:57b

    The world around Him is trying to disrespect the Lord, associating Him first to His brothers and sisters and mother. Have you ever experience that?

    Later John would reveal something of Jesus’ brothers and others who had witnessed the Lord’s teachings and healings. Even Jesus’ own brothers (half-brothers, really) challenged Jesus:

    “… If you do these things, show yourself to the world.” – John 7:4b

    Then John observes,

    For not even his brothers believed in him. John 7:5

    After Jesus’s resurrection and fifty days of witness on earth, observe Jesus’ brothers at Pentecost. The brothers (and sisters) of Jesus had proof. They then lived lives of witness along with the Apostles, but at first they had no faith.

    Acts 1:14

    All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers [adelphoi may refer either to men or to both men and women who are siblings].

    True Brothers

    Brothers in a larger sense are ones connected to you closely, ones united by family and life and circumstance.

    [ctt title=”Even a prodigal brother may roam from the security and promise of those who were once inseparable.” tweet=”Are you a true brother to the Lord by your obedience to His will?” coverup=”zfRWy”]

    Some won’t change even if the Lord appears

    Some believed Jesus and they followed. He called these disciples brothers, even the many faithful who followed our Lord in addition to the Twelve. Yet looking back at Jesus’ day leading up to His half-brothers and mother beckoning the Lord from His teaching, we see the importance of His work.

    Let’s trace back the Lord’s teaching of the day He was interrupted by family.

    Matthew 12:

    46 While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him.

    • 43 “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none… and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.”
    • 42 The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.
    • 41 The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.
    • 34 You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks… 36 I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, 37 for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
    • 28 But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
    • 22 Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the man spoke and saw. 23 And all the people were amazed, and said, “Can this be the Son of David?” 24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.”

    It had all started with Jesus doing good: powerful healings. Jesus proved to eyes which would not see and ears that refused to hear: He IS the Son of Man, the Messiah!

    Jesus healed a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath.

    14 But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him…

    15 Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed them all 16 and ordered them not to make him known.

    Now moving forward once more to hearing Jesus’ question, “Who are my brothers…?”

    [ctt title=” “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” – Matthew 12:48-50″ tweet=”For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”” coverup=”w41LB”]

    49 And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

    Do you have a brother closer than those of your own blood?

    By the Blood and Sacrifice of Christ Jesus for our sins, we are redeemed into the family of God our Father.

    As beloved sons, beloved daughters, co-heirs of our same eternal inheritance in Christ, are these not our nearest brothers and our dearest sisters?

    Who is your brother, your sister, dearly beloved one of the Lord?

    Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ invites us into His Own Royal Family of the Most High! Even unsaved family and loved ones may join the Lord. They may by believing join our true brothers?

    Won’t you allow the Lord to speak into your life? For like in this story, He will have a place for you always at the time of His joyous return.

    Pray for our dear family in Christ, beloved. Pray also for me.