The Peoples Plot in Vain

The apostles of Christ had been arrested for healing a man and for teaching about Jesus Christ and his gospel message. They were brought before the authorities and they were questioned about what they had done and were doing. And Peter used this opportunity to share with them the gospel. But then the authorities ordered the Lord’s apostles to speak no more in the name of Jesus. So Peter and John replied, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” (See Acts 4:1-22).

“When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, ‘Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit,

“’”Why did the Gentiles rage,

    and the peoples plot in vain?

The kings of the earth set themselves,

    and the rulers were gathered together,

    against the Lord and against his Anointed”—

for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.’” (Acts 4:23-30 ESV)

We live in a day and age when there is a tremendous effort being made to mischaracterize God – Father, Son (Jesus Christ), and Holy Spirit – in order to make him/them more appealing and acceptable to the ungodly and to human flesh. Especially this effort is being focused on Jesus Christ, where he is being mischaracterized in TV programs, TV ads, movies, cartoons, song lyrics, sermons, social media memes, and all sorts of forms of media. And many people are following after this false persona of Jesus Christ and of his gospel and of his church to their demise, because they are believing the lie.

For we live in a fast food society, at least here in America, where biblical messages are often now being conveyed in altered, diluted, and twisted forms, and in some of the shortest forms, and thus they are often missing necessary context for correct biblical interpretation. But it appears that more and more people are preferring the quick and easy to anything of length and detail, and so they are accepting these messengers and messages, which are being altered, shortened, and taught out of context, without testing what they are hearing by studying the Scriptures in context for themselves.

So, if you are someone who is still sharing what the Scriptures teach in context, to the best of your understanding, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and so you are sharing the unadulterated truth of the gospel as was taught by Jesus and by his NT apostles, then you are probably in the minority, not the majority. And you are most likely up against much opposition and even personal attacks against you because you still hold to the truth of the Scriptures and you have not compromised the truth to be popular and well liked and well received.

And your opposition may be coming from the same kinds of people who opposed Jesus Christ – some from his family, his community, his own race, people who professed to be of the same faith as him, and the religious rulers within the gatherings of the faith community. And they may reject you, persecute you, be mean and cruel to you, hate you, cast you out, abandon you, and plot evil against you and even betray you. And they may attack you because you are speaking the truth of God’s word and not the lies which are tickling people’s itching ears and which are easing their consciences.

So, we need to have the same mindset as these Christians who understood that what happened to Jesus was necessary for our salvation. And we need to understand that we will also be hated and persecuted as he was if we follow him in truth and if we do what he says to do and if we speak what he spoke and what his NT apostles spoke (in the proper context). But this is to humble us and to make us strong and determined to keep speaking the truth and to not yield to opposition. And so we need to pray, too, for the boldness to keep speaking the truth of God’s word despite all opposition.

[Matt 5:10-12; Matt 10:16-25; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 6:22-23; Lu 21:12-19; Jn 15:1-21; Jn 16:33; Jn 17:14; Ac 14:22; Rom 5:3-5; Phil 3:7-11; 1 Pet 1:6-7; 1 Pet 4:12-17; 2 Tim 3:12; 1 Thess 3:1-5; Jas 1:2-4; 2 Co 1:3-11; Heb 12:3-12; 1 Jn 3:13; Rev 6:9-11; Rev 7:9-17; Rev 11:1-3; Rev 12:17; Rev 13:1-18; Rev 14:1-13]

And what is the truth of the gospel that we must be sharing? Jesus said it well when he said that if anyone would come after him he must deny self, take up his cross daily (die daily to sin and to self) and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to our lives of living in sin and for self, we will lose them for eternity. But if for Jesus’ sake we deny self, die daily to sin, and follow him in obedience to his commands (New Covenant), then we have the hope of eternal life. For Jesus also said that not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING the will of God.

[Lu 9:23-26; Matt 7:21-23; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-24; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-11; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:23-31; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15] 

I Surrender All  

Hymn lyrics by Judson W. Van De Venter, 1896

Music by Winfield S. Weeden, 1896

… Lo, we have left all, and have followed Thee. (Mark 10:28)

All to Jesus I surrender,

All to Him I freely give;

I will ever love and trust Him,

In His presence daily live.

All to Jesus I surrender,

Humbly at His feet I bow;

Worldly pleasures all forsaken,

Take me, Jesus, take me now.

All to Jesus I surrender,

Make me, Savior, wholly Thine;

Let me feel the Holy Spirit,

Truly know that Thou art mine.

All to Jesus I surrender,

Lord, I give myself to Thee;

Fill me with Thy love and power,

Let Thy blessing fall on me.

All to Jesus I surrender,

Now I feel the sacred flame;

Oh, the joy of full salvation!

Glory, glory, to His Name!

I surrender all,

I surrender all;

All to Thee, my blessed Savior,

I surrender all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2BnL_zI7uw 

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