Tag: word

  • Speaking the Word of God with Boldness

    Speaking the Word of God with Boldness

    Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness

    Acts of the Apostles 4:29 NIV

    The Believers Pray for Boldness

    • DO YOU?
    • How do YOU ACT Confidently in Christ Jesus?
    Solomon's portico with view of the Temple and crowds

    παρρησία – parrēsia

    Now as they observed the confidence G3954 of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus.

    Acts of the Apostles 4:13 NASB20 – Reaction of the rulers and elders of the people to Peter preaching at Solomon’s Portico, filled with the Holy Spirit

    Luke’s account of events in Jerusalem has already revealed boldness in the Apostles not seen before Pentecost.

    (Of course if YOU had seen the RISEN Crucified Christ Jesus in His flesh and received the HOLY SPIRIT in Jerusalem’s upper room, YOU would have had some added confidence as well.)

    • Invite the Holy Spirit of God and Christ Jesus into your life; and then boldly ACT for Him.
    After having been arrested, imprisoned overnight and then released, Peter, John and the Apostles will continue to preach with boldness.

    ACTS of Confidence and Boldness

    ACTS of Jerusalem’s First Century Believers 4:

    The believers continue to lift their voices together with the Apostles to God:

    30 Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

    After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

    ACTS of the Believers in Jerusalem 4:31 NIV

    Where will 21st. Century Christians find such BOLDNESS?

    Christian confidence seems hard to come by in this world opposed to GOD and Jesus Christ, doesn’t it?

    The Apostles and many first century saints who became their disciples gained such boldness because they knew Jesus Christ personally.

    And like us, first century believers receiving the Holy Spirit came to know Christ through the Holy Spirit. New believers met the Apostles as living witnesses, God’s anointed shepherds of Christ’s living Church.

    ALL feared God and basked in the light of Christ’s grace and unfailing eternal love.

    Roger@TalkofJESUS.com

    παρρησία – Strong’s G3954 parrēsia

    • all out-spokenness, i.e. frankness, bluntness, publicity; by implication, assurance:—bold (X -ly, -ness, -ness of speech), confidence, × freely, × openly, × plainly(-ness).
    1. freedom in speaking, unreservedness in speech
      1. openly, frankly, i.e. without concealment
      2. without ambiguity or circumlocution
      3. without the use of figures and comparisons
    2. free and fearless confidence, cheerful courage, boldness, assurance
    3. the deportment by which one becomes conspicuous or secures publicity

    Conspicuous Confidence of Christian Witness

    The fear of their Messiah in the flesh and blood always infected the multitudes who surrounded Jesus, along with recognition of God’s love in His Person.

    The Apostle John tells us in his Gospel:

    And there was a great deal of talk about Him in secret among the crowds: some were saying, “He is a good man”; others were saying, “No, on the contrary, He is misleading the people.”

    However, no one was speaking openly [G3954] about Him, for fear of the Jews.

    So some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, “Is this man not the one whom they are seeking to kill? And yet look, He is speaking publicly [G3954] , and they are saying nothing to Him.

    Gospel of John 7:12-13, 25-26a NASB + talk of JESUS at the Feast of the Booths in Jerusalem

    And just two months earlier in Jerusalem, at Jesus’ trial (when Peter cowered secretly beyond the gaze of official witness by the powers that be who cross-examined Jesus):

    The high priest then questioned Jesus about His disciples, and about His teaching.

    Jesus answered him, “I have spoken openly  G3954 to the world; I always taught in synagogues and in the temple area, where all the Jews congregate; and I said nothing in secret.

    Gospel of John 18:19-20 NASB + True testimony of Jesus before the Jewish High Court prior to the Passover Sacrifice

    This is Annas, the same High Priest who now recognizes Peter and John as Jesus’s Disciples.

    More Miracles and Boldness

    • ACTS 2:2 And suddenly a noise like a violent rushing wind came from heaven, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.
    • 2:3 And tongues that looked like fire appeared to them, distributing themselves, and a tongue rested on each one of them.
    • 3:8 And leaping up, he stood and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them..
    • 4:4 But many of those who had heard the message believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.
    • 4:13b-14 ..they [Annas, the High Priests and ruling Council] were amazed, and began to recognize them [Peter and John] as having been with Jesus. And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they had nothing to say in reply.
      • 22 for the man on whom this miracle of healing had been performed was more than forty years old.
    • 4:31 And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken,
    • and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.
    • 4:33 And with great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus,
      • and abundant grace was upon them all.
      • 34-35 For there was not a needy person among them, for all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales and lay them at the apostles’ feet, and they would be distributed to each to the extent that any had need.

    A Witness of Grace by the saints

    Five thousand disciples of the Apostles of Christ SPEAK the word of God with much BOLDNESS!

    These confident new Christians share Christ’s love as a community of faith in Jerusalem SHARING all blessings of the Lord God as if their money is not their own, but solely the LORD’S. And the saints, disciples learning of Christ JESUS from the APOSTLES trusted them completely with EVERYTHING.

    From his introduction to the church in Jerusalem in second account, next Luke will insert a caution to believers about NOT being ‘ALL IN.’ But for our conclusion noting these ACTS of BOLDNESS we will proceed just a little ahead in Luke’s list of signs and boldness of ALL.

    Returning to Solomon’s Portico

    We’ve been there before; but Peter & John, who had stirred the crowds with a healed lame man at their sides, were NOT supposed to come back.

    Acts 5:

    Solomon's portico with view of the Temple and crowds

    The apostles performed many signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade.

    ACTS of the Apostles 5:12 NIV

    Why does the NIV translate this in the past tense?

    5:12  διὰ δὲ τῶν χειρῶν τῶν ἀποστόλων ἐγίνετο σημεῖα καὶ τέρατα πολλὰ ἐν τῷ λαῷ καὶ ἦσαν ὁμοθυμαδὸν ἅπαντες ἐν τῇ Στοᾷ Σολομῶντος

    destruction temple ad70

    Luke wrote ACTS of the Apostles about three decades after these signs in the Temple.

    AD 44 Judaea is annexed as a Roman province after the death of Herod Agrippa.

    Luke’s readers may not have seen the temple prior to it’s destruction.

    Opposition to our Boldness

    Many signs and wonders were being done among the people through the hands of the apostles. They were all together in Solomon’s Colonnade. No one else dared to join them, but the people spoke well of them.

    Acts 5:12-13 CSB

    The NASB states:

    But none of the rest dared to associate with them

    Acts 5:13A NASB20

    WHY NOT,’ Luke’s readers must have wondered?


    Do you ever feel like the crowds do NOT want to associate with you once you boldly claim faith in Jesus Christ?

    14 Believers were added to the Lord in increasing numbers—multitudes of both men and women. As a result, they would carry the sick out into the streets and lay them on cots and mats so that when Peter came by, at least his shadow might fall on some of them.

    ACTS 5:14-15 CSB

    Luke tells us that these accompanying signs of miracles from God also occurred in towns surrounding Jerusalem as well. But of course, ALL of this had taken place prior to Rome completely eliminating any threat of these Judean Jews.

    Luke then makes the opposition to Christian boldness in Jerusalem apparent to any now persecuted by Rome. Once again, the powers that be in JERUSALEM meet to reign in the boldness of these ‘Galileans.’

    Their persecution of these BOLD opponents begins

    Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy.

    They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail.

    ACTS of the Apostles 5:17-18 NIV

    Arrested AGAIN!

    To be continued...

  • God’s Love Through John: In the Beginning

    God’s Love Through John: In the Beginning

    The Gospel of John

    John 1:1 ESV In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

    1:1  ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος

    The Apostle John begins his Gospel prologue with inspired, nearly unparalleled words pointing back to Genesis 1. Every Jew who knew God knew the beginning of the the Pentateuch.

    In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.


    Genesis 1:1  בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֵת הָאָֽרֶץ׃

    Bereshit bara Elohim et hashamayim ve’et ha’aretz.

    John connects creation with logos, literally the word for word in the GreekJesus is the Person of the spoken Word of Elohimאֱלֹהִים

    2 He was in the beginning with God.

    In essence John proclaimed:

    Jesus IS in the beginning, Jesus is with Elohim, Jesus IS Elohim!

    Basic Belief: Do you believe in God?

    John begins by categorically stating that Jesus IS the One True God.

    This is Good News to those who believe. Yet even if you do not believe in the One God, John proclaims this Gospel as challenge to our misconceptions of the Creator.

    Every Greek knew the importance of logos. A secondary use of the word logos, familiar to unbelieving Greeks who claimed many gods, is its use as respect to the MIND alone. 

    Think about this, John tells those who do not know God.

    Reason through it and try calculating the logic of this relationship between a Power you cannot measure and a Person whom we have regarded. And again, John points to creation:

    3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

    John 1:3 CSB

    The First Letter of John

    In his first letter to the church John begins in a similar fashion when addressing those who already follow Christ Jesus in the first century.

    What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have observed and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life …

    1 John 1:1 CSB

    The Disciple Jesus loved gives followers of The Way a testimony of his own witness of ‘God in the flesh’ in the Person of the Messiah of God.

    Orazio Fidani, Saint John the Apostle, c. 1640-56

    John, now a fully mature Elder, tells his churches, gatherings of believers in Christ:

    We know that Jesus IS who He says He IS. We are witnesses to the facts and preach our testimony to you you. 

    Jesus IS God and we have personally seen, heard, observed and touched the Living God!

    Good news for believers.

    4 ‘We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete,’ John writes to believers.

    Jesus, the Christ, a personal Lord who loves and ministers to sinners.

    The Beginning and the End

    John’s Gospel and three letters reveal Jesus as the Christ, Almighty God as One with the eternal Person of the Son of Man.

    The Revelation of Jesus Christ to John speaks to the beginning of Creation, in addition to providing troubling imagery of the apocalypse of the heavens and earth.

     “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “the one who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

    Revelation 1:8 CSB

    John’s Vision of the Risen Lord

    I, John, your brother and partner in the affliction, kingdom, and endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.

    The Apostle John, whom we picture as a young man mentored by Jesus, reveals much more about the Lord.

    Almighty God, Creator of the heavens and earth, in whose image man is made, IS; in the Person of Jesus, a Savior to eternal life to those He loves.

    Jesus will also judge rebellious sinners and cleanse creation of all unrighteousness. The LORD will make all things right.

    John, through Christ, reveals the ending:

    Revelation 21:3b Look, God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with them. They will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and will be their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away.

    John’s Good News

    Jesus loves you. This is John’s message. God is immeasurably more than an understood Power. Jesus shows God as a loving Father who also gives freedom to mankind to choose eternal life or deserved punishment for sin. 

    Do you believe in One God? Can you relate to Almighty God as a loving Father of a chosen family? In Christ Jesus we have seen the Lord!

    John gives us both brief glimpses and detailed accounts of the Logos, the Very Word of God.

    No mere mortal can fully fathom the ever-existent Creator of all things and of all men, even in the personal witness of John. Yet John reveals even more of the completeness of the One True God through consideration of the Spirit of God, the subject of our next look at understanding the Lord through the eyes of the Disciple Jesus loved.

    To be continued...

     

  • 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.

     

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