The Most Excellent Announcement<\/p>\n
(These are the things that the apostles taught people first!)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cHear, ye!\u00a0 Hear, ye!\u201d<\/p>\n
This is how an old English king\u2019s herald might begin to tell the king\u2019s subjects some important announcement from the king.<\/p>\n
Please hear!\u00a0 Please hear \u201cthe Most Excellent Announcement\u201d of peace through Jesus Christ (10:36)!\u00a0 The greatest of all kings – God Himself – continues to make this extremely important announcement of peace to mankind through His heralds (10:36)!<\/p>\n
First of all, believe that there really is a God and that this God is a rewarder of those who seek Him (Hebrews 11:6). This God made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and all things in them (14:15; 17:24).\u00a0 Since the creation of the universe God\u2019s invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that were made, so those who deny Him are without excuse (Romans 1:20).\u00a0 Since God is the Creator, He is the master of heaven and earth (17:24).<\/p>\n
God does not dwell in manmade temples (17:24).\u00a0 God is not served by human hands (17:25).\u00a0 God needs nothing (17:25).\u00a0 We ought not think that God is a being that we have devised (17:29).<\/p>\n
Rather, it is this God who gives life, breath, and all things to all living things (17:25).\u00a0 We people also are God\u2019s offspring (17:28).\u00a0 In connection with Him we ourselves live and move and exist (17:28).<\/p>\n
In the former generations God allowed all the ethnic groups to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless, He did not leave Himself without witness; He has been good to mankind.\u00a0 He makes the sun to rise on the evil and on the good.\u00a0 On both the just and the unjust He sends rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness (14:16,17; Matthew 5:45).<\/p>\n
From one blood God made every ethnicity of mankind to dwell on the earth (17:26).\u00a0 God has marked out our appointed times and the boundaries of our dwelling places (17:26).\u00a0 God\u2019s purpose in setting the ethnicities in these various places at these various times is that we might seek the Lord, if perhaps we might grope for Him and find Him (17:27).\u00a0\u00a0 But, actually, God is not far from each of us\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (17:27).\u00a0 Furthermore, He does not show partiality to anyone in any particular ethnicity (10:34).\u00a0 Indeed, ANYONE who fears Him and does what is right is acceptable to Him (10:35)!<\/p>\n
God sent \u2018the Most Excellent Announcement\u2019\u2019 [i.e. the Gospel]<\/em> of peace through Jesus Christ initially to the descendants of Israel through John the Baptist (10:36). John was God\u2019s herald before the public appearance of Jesus (10:37).\u00a0 John heralded a baptism from repentance<\/u> [i.e. a change of thinking]<\/em> for the forgiveness of sins<\/u> [i.e. the ways that people miss the mark in their thinking and doing]<\/em> (Mark 1:4; Acts 10:37). John urged the people of Israel to change their thinking [i.e. to repent],<\/em> \u201cfor the kingdom of heaven was<\/em> at hand\u201d (Matthew 3:2).<\/p>\n He told the people to change their thinking about such things as \u2013<\/p>\n He said to the people that they should believe in \u2013<\/p>\n John identified Jesus of Nazareth as the Lamb of God Who would take away the sins of the world. (John 1:29).<\/p>\n God the Father anointed [i.e. \u2018christ<\/u>ened\u2019]<\/em> His Son (Mark 1:11), Jesus of Nazareth, with the Holy Spirit and with power (10:38).\u00a0\u00a0 Then Jesus Himself, the greatest of all anointed prophets, also began to herald \u2018the Most Excellent Announcement\u2019 throughout all Judea, starting from Galilee (10:37), saying, \u201cThe time is fulfilled!\u00a0 And the kingdom of God is at hand!\u00a0 Repent!\u00a0 And believe the Excellent Announcement!\u201d (Mark 1:15).<\/p>\n God the Father demonstrated that Jesus was His own beloved Son with miracles, wonders and signs which God performed through Him among the Jews (2:22).\u00a0 He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him (10:38).\u00a0 The apostles were witnesses of all the things He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem (10:39)<\/p>\n The Jews, having taken Him with lawless hands and affixed Him to a wooden cross, murdered Him (2:23; 10:39).\u00a0 At the same time, this Man was delivered up by the established purpose and foreknowledge of God (2:23).<\/p>\n Jesus Christ, the greatest of all anointed priests, was offering Himself as a sacrifice in behalf of all mankind (Hebrews 7:26-27).\u00a0 He died for our sins (1 Corinthians. 15:3).\u00a0\u00a0 That Christ would die for our sins was prophesied (1 Corinthians. 15:3). \u00a0For example, Isaiah prophesied about Jesus.\u00a0 He wrote about a Lamb that was to be slaughtered for the rebellion of His people, Who was to be cut off from the land of the living (Isaiah 53:7-8; Acts 8:32-33).\u00a0 Jesus is that Lamb!<\/p>\n To Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins (10:42)!<\/p>\n Christ was buried (1 Corinthians 15:4).<\/p>\n Then Christ was permanently raised to life from among the dead ones by God the Father on the third day after His death (Acts 10:40; 1 Cor. 15:4)!\u00a0 In this way God put an end to the birth pangs of death for us, since it was impossible for Christ to be overpowered by death (2:24).\u00a0 That Christ would rise to life again was also prophesied (1 Corinthians. 15:4).\u00a0 David, an ancient Jewish king, prophesied the resurrection of one of his descendants, \u2018the Holy One\u2019 \u2013 that God the Father would not abandon the soul of His Holy One in Hades nor would He allow His flesh to see decay (Psalm 16:10; Acts 2:25-31).<\/p>\n Then God granted that His Son became visible,\u00a0<\/sup>not to all the people, but to witnesses whom God had chosen beforehand (10:40).\u00a0 Christ appeared first to one of His disciples named Mary (Mark 16:9), then, to the apostle Peter, to all of the apostles, to five hundred disciples at one time, and to the apostle Paul (1 Corinthians. 15:5-8).\u00a0 Many of these witnesses ate and drank with Him after His rising up from among the dead ones (10:41).<\/p>\n Forty days after His resurrection (1:3) Jesus was exalted to the right hand of God (2:33). You see, God had also promised David that He would raise up the fruit of his loins according to the flesh to sit on his throne and to rule as a king forever (2 Samuel 7:12-16; Acts 2:30).\u00a0 David himself had prophesied that Jesus would sit at God\u2019s right hand and that all of His enemies would be placed under His feet (Psalm 110:1; Acts 2:34).<\/p>\n The\u00a0 Kingdom of God had arrived!\u00a0 The greatest of all anointed kings began to sit on His throne and sits there now, having been given all authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18)!<\/p>\n Therefore, let all know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ – this Jesus whom the Jews crucified (2:35)!<\/p>\n Having ascended to the right hand of the Father, Jesus has received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit (2:33).\u00a0 Jesus began to pour out the gift of the Holy Spirit (2:33) fifty days after He arose.<\/p>\n The prophet Joel prophesied the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 He wrote, \u2018And it shall be in the last days,\u2019 God says, \u2018That I will pour forth from My Spirit on all flesh; And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, And your young men shall see visions, And your old men shall dream dreams (Joel 2:28, Acts 2:17-18).\u00a0 John the Baptist and Jesus Christ also prophesied about this outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Mark 1:8; John 7:37-39; Luke 24:49; Acts 1:5,8).<\/p>\n Jesus ordered the apostles who had witnessed these things to herald these things to the people (10:42).<\/p>\n God also ordered these witnesses to solemnly testify that Jesus is the One Who has been appointed by God as Judge of both living ones and dead ones (10:42; 17:31), of both the righteous and the wicked (24:15). God has furnished proof that there will be a resurrection of all dead ones by having raised this Man from among the dead ones (17:31).\u00a0 God is about to judge the inhabitants of the earth in righteousness in connection with this Man (17:31).\u00a0 God has fixed a day in which He will judge the inhabitants of this earth (17:31).<\/p>\n God has graciously overlooked our times of ignorance; but He is now declaring these things to people, so that all people everywhere might change their thinking [i.e. repent]<\/em> (17:30).<\/p>\n But no matter what we do or don\u2019t do, this great day of judgment is certainly coming!\u00a0 It is as though Jesus already has His winnowing fork in His hand and is about to thoroughly clear His threshing floor.\u00a0 Soon He will gather the wheat into His barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire (Luke 3:17).<\/p>\n So \u2013<\/p>\n \u201cBe saved from this crooked generation!\u201d (2:40)<\/p>\n On the day of Pentecost Peter proclaimed the promise that \u201cyou will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, for the promise is for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself\u201d (2:38-39).<\/p>\n And now, why do you delay?\u00a0 Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on Jesus\u2019 name (22:16)!<\/p>\n \u201cHe who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned\u201d (Mark 16:16).<\/p>\n \u201c<\/sup>God loved the world so much that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17\u00a0<\/sup>For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him (John 3:16-17).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n This presentation of \u2018The Most Excellent Announcement\u2019 by Martin H. Koestler is essentially a synthesis of four apostolic presentations of \u201cthe Most Excellent Announcement\u201d in Acts 2:14-41, Acts 10:34-48, Acts 17:23-31, and 1 Corinthians 15:3-8.\u00a0 Relevant information was also gleaned from Mark 1:4-8, Acts 8:30-38, Acts 14:15-17, Hebrews 11:6, and several other passages, bearing in mind the six elementary teachings of Christ enumerated in Hebrews 6:1,2 \u2013<\/p>\n All the things that you have read are in the Bible.\u00a0 The biblical references are in parentheses ().\u00a0 Where you see only numbers, the reference is to a passage in the Acts of the Apostles.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Copyright \u00a9 Second Edition 2015 Lyra Publications, USA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Most Excellent Announcement (These are the things that the apostles taught people first!) \u201cHear, ye!\u00a0 Hear, ye!\u201d This is how an old English king\u2019s herald might begin to tell the king\u2019s subjects some important announcement from the king. Please hear!\u00a0 Please hear \u201cthe Most Excellent Announcement\u201d of peace through Jesus Christ (10:36)!\u00a0 The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":4,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/firststepsontheway.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/195"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/firststepsontheway.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/firststepsontheway.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/firststepsontheway.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/firststepsontheway.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=195"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/firststepsontheway.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/195\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":197,"href":"http:\/\/firststepsontheway.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/195\/revisions\/197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/firststepsontheway.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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