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Tag: witness

  • The Gospel: Preached by John

    The Gospel: Preached by John

    Behold our shield, O God;
    look on the face of your anointed! – Psalm 84:9

    John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

    15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”)

    16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

    Speak: and your tongue does witness the word of your soul.

    I have a ‘word’ for you: “logos.” 

    John uses Logos for the Person of Jesus as God’s Very Word spoken in the Holy Flesh of Christ Jesus.

    In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

    He was in the beginning with God.

    Jesus IS the ‘I AM‘ in the flesh!

    Exodus 3:13-14 Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?”  God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.”And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

    John’s Gospel preaches that God the Father sent God the Son to the people of Israel (and to gentiles of the nations as well). When they ask, “What is his name?” the reply is that of Jesus.

    John 8:58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”

    The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

    Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

    Acts 2:37

    The Revelation of Jesus Christ to John:

    … His eyes were like a flame of fire, 15 his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters.

    16 In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.

    17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead.

    But he laid his right hand on me, saying,

    “Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18 and the living one.

    I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.

     

  • The Gospel: Preached by Stephen

    The Gospel: Preached by Stephen

    Acts 6: Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number…

    The multitudes were now part of the way and living as disciples of the risen Christ Jesus. The twelve Apostles (with Mathias appointed to replace Judas) need the help of others. They appointed deacons – seven more men fully filled with the Holy Spirit to serve as additional leaders.

    … and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit,

    and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. 6 These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.

    7 And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.

    8 And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people.

    When God multiplies the numbers and faith of believers, without fail opposition to God will test the faith of believers. The truth of our witness by the Spirit will convert the enemies of Christ to trust in His overflowing love.

    9 Then some … rose up and disputed with Stephen. 10 But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking.

    11 Then they secretly instigated men…  12 And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council, 13 and they set up false witnesses…

    15 And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

    Filled with the Power of the Holy Spirit, Stephen now preaches to his false accusers the gospel of Christ Jesus.
     Acts 7

    ur to haran to caanan map “Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, 3 and said to him, ‘Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.’ 4 Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran.

    And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living. 5 Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot’s length, but promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, though he had no child.

    goshen and egypt map6 And God spoke to this effect—that his offspring would be sojourners in a land belonging to others, who would enslave them and afflict them four hundred years.

    Israel, the Hebrew people, chosen by God, were proud of their heritage through Abraham.

    Again, remember that Joseph, son of Israel (Jacob) became a savior to his people by bringing them into Goshen of Egypt as sojourners.

    Stephen continues with Joseph’s story and their history in Egypt, which every Jew knew so well from scripture:

    17 “But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt 18 until there arose over Egypt another king who did not know Joseph. 19 He dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants, so that they would not be kept alive.

    20 At this time Moses was born; and he was beautiful in God’s sight. And he was brought up for three months in his father’s house, 21 and when he was exposed, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. 22 And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds.

    hebrew brick makers23 “When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. 24 And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian.

    God used Moses to save Israel. God gave the Hebrew people the Law through Moses. These are the first five book of Scripture.

    Moses, even more than David, is revered by the Jews. Yet hear what Stephen points out about the relationship of the Hebrews to Moses and scripture from Moses to point to this parallel to Christ Jesus.

    35 “This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years.

    37 This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.’ 

    41 … And they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. 42 But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven…

    44 “Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness… 45 Our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua…

    … So it was until the days of David, 46 who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.

    solomon's temple47 But it was Solomon who built a house for him.

    48 Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says,

    49 “‘Heaven is my throne,
    and the earth is my footstool.
    What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord,
    or what is the place of my rest?
    50 Did not my hand make all these things?’

     

    Yes, we are proud of our great houses of worship, aren’t we?

    So were the Jews of the first century proud of the Temple Herod built, the Temple where they worshiped Abraham and worshiped Moses and worshiped David and worshiped their long-established traditions…

    Are we so different?

    Yet Stephen, by the Power of the Holy Spirit, quotes scripture reminding us that GOD is the Creator and has no need of any house of other provision of man. (This is from the Prophet Isaiah.)

    Steven then reminds his accusers, who have rejected Christ Jesus, of their sordid history of opposing the will of God:

    51 “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit.

    As your fathers did, so do you.

    52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute?

    And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, 53 you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”

    Are you so caught up in ‘church’ that you forget Jesus?

    Can you be so stiff-necked and uncircumcised in your heart and ears that you resist the gospel of the Holy Spirit being preached from the pulpit and written before you in a dust-covered Bible?

    Could you be just as one who stood by while Stephen preached the gospel?

    What must YOU do?

    REPENT! and be changed permanently by the Name of Jesus Christ.

    Do not resist the Holy Spirit.

    You with ears to hear and eyes to see Scripture, hear and see the Gospel.

  • 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.