Meditation

10/05/2020

“After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. The time has come, he said. ‘The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!’” (Mark1:14–15)

Jesus is the supreme pattern of gospel proclamation. Upon the imprisonment of John the Baptist, He stepped into the spotlight to preach. He announced that the kingdom of God was at hand. People were to enter that kingdom through repentance and faith. As Jesus demonstrated, the ministry of proclamation involves the announcement of eternal truth and the call for personal commitment.

Jesus preached that persons should believe the good news about the arrival of God’s kingdom in His own life and ministry. Belief centers on whether we accept Jesus’ coming as the ultimate good news God has for the world. Do you?

PRAYER FOR THE DAY:

Precious Abba, these verses from 2,000 years ago challenge us still today, that we must believe that You sent Jesus, Your Son to this earth, to teach and preach the good news of salvation to Your people of the time and to all generations leading up to today. Each of us at one time or another were faced with a decision to believe Your call on their lives and that from that point on, the daily decisions we have are to repent of our sins, and believe that our faith in You is real and always has been. Therefore, in Jesus’ holy name, we pray that You will continue to reaffirm the truth to us, and our response be to continue to believe, in faith, that we only come to You through Jesus, our Lord and Savior. Amen

THOUGHT OF THE DAY:

“The Lord can do great tings though those who don’t care who gets the credit.”

KNOWING GOD:

“Peter and the other apostles replied: ‘We must obey God rather than men! The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead—-whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.’” (Acts5:29-32)

Whenever we have to choose between obeying God and religious authorities, we should obey God. The Holy Spirit is God’s gift to those who obey Him. Jesus had promised His disciples that when they were on trial because of their faith, the Spirit would give them words for self-defense. That promise was fulfilled before the Sanhedrin. The apostles defended themselves simply by preaching Jesus as the crucified and risen Savior. The Spirit always reminds Christians of Christ and help to them to preach Christ to one another and to the world.

The Spirit bears His witness and is thereby enabled to give its witness concerning Jesus. All who hear this witness and accept it are given the Spirit, and thus become equipped to proclaim Christ.

I AM:

“Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him—-to the only wise God be glory forever trough Jesus Christ! Amen.” (Romans 16:25–27)

Paul affirmed the revelation of God in Jesus Christ as a mystery unveiled through His preaching the gospel to the Gentiles. The mystery of God’s plan for all persons to find salvation in Christ fulfilled the prophet’s writing but was not properly understood until Christ came. Thus, Paul showed that Christ gave new meaning to the Old Testament, all of which must be read in light of His ministry, death, and resurrection.

Paul’s doxology praising God (verses 25-27) appears in important early New Testament manuscripts at different placed in the text of Romans. Some manuscripts have it both here and after 14:23. Others place it only after 14:23. A papyrus manuscript from 200 AD has the doxology after 15:33.

Second Thought of the Day:

“A faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time, and at this appointed season he brought his word to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior.” (Titus1:2-3)

God never breaks a promise. His eternal purpose before creation was to provide for His people. He fulfilled this in Jesus Christ, a fulfillment revealed to the world in Paul’s preaching.

Such preaching came at God’s command, not from human pride. Revelation comes in God’s way at God’s time for God’s purposes through God’s chosen proclaimers.