Monday, December 28, 2015
The Early Church Eras (Acts 1:18-20): Betrayer
Topic: Act of Apostles
Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out. And it was known unto all the dwellers at Jerusalem; insomuch as that field is called in their proper tongue, Aceldama, that is to say, The field of blood. For it is written in the book of Psalms, Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein: and his bishoprick let another take. (Acts 1:18-20 KJV)
Acts 1:18 needs to be correlated with Matthew 27:3–10. The simplest explanation may be found in the principle that, whereas in Acts Luke records all events (such as the acts of Judas), Matthew distinguishes between what Judas did and what the priests did. Remember, Judas betrayed Jesus by handed Him over to Roman emperor and the priests tried to make Him guilty to abolish the Law of Moses. Priests did not understand that He came to the world to fulfill the laws.
In Matthew 27:3-10, we see that Judas betrayed Jesus with thirty pieces of silver, and he came to realize what he did was wrong. Have we ever betray Jesus with the worldly possession? Even we cannot give Jesus away to FBI or Supreme Court, we put Him in a small box with our favorite things to do, such as Sunday Night Football or going on a shopping spring.
Romans 3:23 tells us that we all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. It is necessary to realize that we are the sinners. Don't blame Adam and Eve to bring the sin nature of this world. They already shared their false. It is our turn to repent our sins to God. We have turned away from God and rely on the things of this world. I John 2:15-16 says, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world." We cannot embrace the love of this world with God. This is the problem with today's Christian artists. Some of their songs have emerge with worldly tunes. Instead, their songs are praising and honoring God, their songs draw to the world and make multimillionaire.
Do we have darkness spots in our hearts? We can clean that spots that are inside of us with the blood of Jesus.
Do you have your relationship with the Heavenly Father? If not, I like to encourage you to develop your personal relationship with Jesus Christ today. First, confess your sins and invite Jesus Christ to your life. Paul said in Romans 10:9-11, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” There is no sinner prayer formula. Instead, you just talk to God at where you are now. Secondly, I’d like to encourage you to find a good solid biblical teaching church and Christian friends. They can help you to build strong relationship with God. If you’d need further assistance, you can email me at mgjcministries@mgjcweb.org or visit my ministries website at www.mgjcweb.org for further resources.
Posted by MGJC Web Ministry
at 10:13 PM EST
Tuesday, September 1, 2015
The Early Church Eras (Acts 1:15-17): Obtaining the Works of Ministry of Jesus Christ
Topic: Act of Apostles
And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said,
(the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty,) Men
and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas, which was guide to them that took Jesus. For he was numbered with us, and had obtained part of this ministry. (Acts 1:15-17 KJV)
When we began this portion of the Scripture previously, we studied on how does the corporate worship impacts us physically and spiritually. It is important for us to have fellowship each other as having personal time with God. We need both personal time with God and fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ.
As we read in this passage of the Holy Scripture, we must understand why Peter thinks missing a member is important to obtaining the works of the ministry. Even though God doesn’t care about the number, one missing person is important to the whole group. Jesus said in a parable in Luke 15:4-7, “What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.”
Also, the number twelve means government. We need a governmental structure to lead the lost souls into Christ. As we see today, our governmental structure is broken into many pieces. Many people do not know what is right from sinning against God. Recently, we let Supreme Court ruled over homosexual agenda over this country. Many people think that they are doing God’s favor, even though it is against His Words. We need to restructure our government system, not depend on our view, but God.
Our land needs another spiritual awakening. We are, I believe, walking away from God. Every e-mail update, I receive from ACLU, is concerning our nation. Right now, ACLU is fighting against the Planned Parenthood and the pro-choice. I am tickle when people tried to reword abortion with these word phrases to make sound good. There is nothing to say good about it. People are murdering their unborn children before they’d come out from mothers’ wombs. I don’t understand why people are concerning more about crime activities in the streets, but less concern about abortion. Again, we need to restructure our government system with the Holy Words of God.
Do you have your relationship with the Heavenly Father? If not, I like to encourage you to develop your personal relationship with Jesus Christ today. First, confess your sins and invite Jesus Christ to your life. Paul said in Romans 10:9-11, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” There is no sinner prayer formula. Instead, you just talk to God at where you are now. Secondly, I’d like to encourage you to find a good solid biblical teaching church and Christian friends. They can help you to build strong relationship with God. If you’d need further assistance, you can email me at mgjcministries@mgjcweb.org or visit my ministries website at www.mgjcweb.org for further resources.
Posted by MGJC Web Ministry
at 12:01 AM EDT
Thursday, August 6, 2015
The Early Church Eras (Acts 1:9-12): Sign of His Second Coming
Topic: Act of Apostles
And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day's journey. (Acts 1:9-12 KJV)
After Jesus promised His disciples on the Holy Spirit and their next mission assignment, it was His departure to be with His Father. Remember, Jesus promised us to return to the earth to take us to Heaven. In the Book of Revelation said that we will be governing the new earth with Him. So, we don't need to be wondering about our future plan with Him. God left us with His Words of Promise-the Bible (Basic Information Before Leaving the Earth).
Let's read what Paul said about the second coming of Christ in I Thessalonians 4:16-18: "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words." In this passage of the Holy Scripture, Paul said that all the people will see His returning. Even though the word "rapture" in the Bible, those who believe in Him "shall be caught up together with them in the clouds." Just stop and think a moment about what Paul had seen in his vision. It would be our reunion with Jesus Christ.
So, why His disciples should be surprise about Jesus' ascending to Heaven? They didn't need to be surprise. Everything what Jesus taught them was leading up to their turn to continue to do His mission. Whole Book of Acts is not about the birth of Christianity, because, as I said previously, God is careless about our religious group title. We don't hear the teaching on the Second Coming of Christ enough. It's all about our needs, not establishing our relationship with Jesus Christ. As we see and hear today's news, there are many global tragedies are happening, especially in Middle East as the prophecy is revealing to us. If your church would not be teaching on the Second Coming of Jesus and other biblical prophecies, you'd be missing very point about why we see many tragedies around the globe today.
Are you ready to meet Jesus Christ? God is holding back His judgment against America, but it would not last. Do you have your relationship with the Heavenly Father? If not, I like to encourage you to develop your personal relationship with Jesus Christ today. First, confess your sins and invite Jesus Christ to your life. Paul said in Romans 10:9-11, "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." There is no sinner prayer formula. Instead, you just talk to God at where you are now. Secondly, I'd like to encourage you to find a good solid biblical teaching church and Christian friends. They can help you to build strong relationship with God. If you'd need further assistance, you can email me at mgjcministries@mgjcweb.org or visit my ministries website at www.mgjcweb.org for further resources.
Posted by MGJC Web Ministry
at 2:29 PM EDT
Thursday, July 23, 2015
The Early Church Eras (Acts 1:8): To be Evangelism
Topic: Act of Apostles
But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. (Acts 1:8 KJV)
Now, we have arrived to the main theme or thesis verse of the Book of Acts, which it is evangelism or spreading of Christianity. Before He left His disciples, Jesus commanded them to go out to the world to teach others what He taught them to do. Throughout the books of Gospel, He showed them what their faiths can do if they'd believe in Him. Jesus also demonstrated them how to develop with God and people. Jesus said in Matthew 22:37-39, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."
The words Christian appears twice (Acts 26:28 and I Peter 4:16) and Christians appear only once (Acts 11:26) in the King James Version. The other modern translations of the Bible may have more verses, which they constrict from the original translation of the Bible, KJV. As we see, God is careless about which religious group we belong to. It's about our relationship with God and people. By the way, there is no single verse that contains with the word Christianity
Why Jesus commanded His disciples to be worldwide evangelists to the world, starting in Jerusalem? Unlike today, they walked hundred miles or more to share the Gospel of Jesus to several villages. While they proclaimed the Words of God, these disciples faced many hardships from unbelievers, as we read throughout the Book of Acts. They faced many persecutions from other religious leaders and groups. Did persecution stop? No! We still hear that many today's pastors faced persecutions because of their faiths in Jesus Christ. We want to thank God that we have American Center for Law and Justice to assist them to protect their Christian faiths. But ACLJ has limited resources for you to be a witness for Jesus Christ. Even though we believe that our nation was built by the biblical principles, it doesn't guarantee that we wouldn't face tribulations in our lives.
Look America today. This nation has turned against God more aggressively every day. Our primetime TV programs have filled with violence, sex, and foul languages rather than they are for family and children. Today's education system is filled with other religious and moral values than Christian and family values. If the child would draw a picture of Christian symbol, then the child would get trouble by her/his teacher. However, when the child would draw her Islamic or other religious symbols, then it doesn't matter as long as it's not related to Christianity. Churches have compromised with the world; we may don't realize what the truth is.
We have lost to reach other parts of the world to share the Good News of Jesus Christ. Nowadays, many preachers use satellite to reach other locations to preach the Gospel. Some American preachers, such as Bishop TD Jake, have three or four churches that use the satellite for him to do church services from his main location. We have to be like disciples, who travelled hundred or more miles with their feet, to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Thank God that we have airplane to travel to the next
destination, but we need to get dirty to do the Great Commission (Mathew 28:18-20). We need to make our standards higher. God doesn't want us to be lazy on the Lazy Boy furniture. We are His voice to share the messages on the grace of God through Jesus Christ. When we accept Jesus as our personal Savior, we become priests to represent God.
Do you have your relationship with the Heavenly Father? If not, I like to encourage you to develop your personal relationship with Jesus Christ today. First, confess your sins and invite Jesus Christ to your life. Paul said in Romans 10:9-11, "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." There is no sinner prayer formula. Instead, you just talk to God at where you are now. Secondly, I'd like to encourage you to find a good solid biblical teaching church and Christian friends. They can help you to build strong relationship with God. If you'd need further assistance, you can email me at mgjcministries@mgjcweb.org or visit my ministries website at www.mgjcweb.org for further resources.
Posted by MGJC Web Ministry
at 12:56 PM EDT
Updated: Thursday, July 23, 2015 9:29 PM EDT
Sunday, June 28, 2015
The Early Church Eras (Acts 1:6-7): Time is Ticking
Topic: Act of Apostles
When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. (Acts 1:6-7 KJV)
In this passage, we see that the disciples asked a question concerning the nearness of Christ’s literal kingdom, which it is not incongruous with Old Testament promises (Is. 9:6, 7; Dan. 2:44, 45), nor with the gospel teachings (Luke 19:11; 21:31; 22:18). In Matthew 24, Jesus gave them a long sermon about His second coming. Again, as we see, these disciples were concerning about the timing of the event.
I believe that Jesus didn’t give us time of His returning for following reasons:
1) God called us to spread the Gospel to whole nations without for us to worry about timing.
2) If God would announce His date of returning, Satan would be ready to fight against Him.
However, Jesus left us some signs before His returning. First, He left us the sign of Israel. Since the people of Israel reestablished their land as nation in 1948, they are still dealing with issues from other nation. Ezekiel 38-39 predicts that the nations from north would plan to attack Israel and start Battle of Armageddon.
Why the whole world would attack Israel? First, it’s a battle between God against Satan. Second, there was a history of family rivalry since the lives of Abraham and Sarah. Even though God had a plan for their lives, Abraham and Sarah decided to have a child through their Egyptian servant, Hagar (Hebrew word for wandering). Hagar became a mother of Ishmael by Abraham, which represents the world. Due to their disobedience, their two children, Ishmael and Isaac, split into two separate families, which resulted in the birth of two nations—Israel and Arab nations. Even today, we continue to see that the Arabs and Israelite nations continue to fight against each other. This is why the two nations continue to feud in Israel. As Apostle Paul declares in Galatians 4:22, “…that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.” He was referring to Hagar (mother of Ishmael), who represented the bondmaid and Sarah (mother of Isaac) as the freewoman.
We currently see that our relationship with the Israelite nation is not doing well. President Obama currently pushes Israel to give up their land to Palestine. When the Israelite Prime Minister visit and spoke to US Congress, President Obama was absent from his presence; then, he did not follow through with the Prime Minister. What’s wrong with this picture?
We need to reestablish our relationship with the people of Israel. As we see from this past Friday, we let our Supreme Court ruled over homosexual agenda. Now, people can have marriage with same sex, children, or animal. If you read the fine print of this law, it’s more than gay marriage. We let the sin take over this godly nation.
Now, we, as body of Christ, need to wake ourselves up and spread the Good News of Jesus Christ throughout the land. It’s ashamed for us to see that other nations come to do evangelization, even though we have churches in every corner throughout all 50 states.
Do you have your relationship with the Heavenly Father? If not, I like to encourage you to develop your personal relationship with Jesus Christ today. First, confess your sins and invite Jesus Christ to your life. Paul said in Romans 10:9-11, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” There is no sinner prayer formula. Instead, you just talk to God at where you are now. Secondly, I’d like to encourage you to find a good solid biblical teaching church and Christian friends. They can help you to build strong relationship with God. If you’d need further assistance, you can email me at or visit my ministries website at www.mgjcweb.org for further resources.
Posted by MGJC Web Ministry
at 12:01 AM EDT
Sunday, May 31, 2015
The Early Church Eras (Acts 1:1-4): Background of the Book of Acts II
Topic: Act of Apostles
The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen: To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God: And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. (Acts 1:1-4 KJV)
The church didn’t begin in the Book of Acts. It began with Jesus’ announcement about building a church in Matthew 16:18. Matthew 16:18 is the misinterpret about the establishment of the church. If you’d ask Roman Catholic Church who built a church, they will say Apostle Peter, because Jesus gave him the keys of the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 16:19). However, Jesus didn’t ask Peter to become a pope of the church. If we look up the word church in Greek, it means “a gathering of citizens called out from their homes into some public place.” This is why Luke said in Acts 1:4, “And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem.”
The biblical scholar believed that Luke wrote his second book, The Acts of the Apostles, from 62 AD to the middle of the second century. Bruce Wilkinson and Kenneth Boa explained, “Twentieth-century archaeological discoveries have strikingly confirmed the trustworthiness and precision of Luke as a historian and show that his work should be dated in the first century. Luke’s perplexingly abrupt ending with Paul awaiting trial in Rome has led many to believe that Acts was completed prior to Paul’s trial (a.d. 62). If it was written after this crucial event, why didn’t Luke mention the outcome? Luke may have had a reason, but the simplest explanation of his silence is that Paul had not yet stood before Caesar. Acts gives no hint of the persecution under Nero (a.d. 64), Paul’s death (a.d. 68), or the destruction of Jerusalem (a.d. 70).” (Talk thru the Bible.)
The Acts is the historical link between the Gospels and the Epistles. Throughout this book, we shall see many works of the Holy Spirit who work through the apostles. Jesus promised in John 14:26, “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” Again in Mark 16:15-18, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” The Book of Acts is still unfold church history book until God would close the book.
There is one survey that indicates American churches are going more into secular. Prophecy News Watch wrote, “Pew conducted two surveys between 2007 and 2014 on religion in America and discovered the number of Americans who claim atheism, agnosticism, or no particular faith grew from 16 percent to 23 percent. During that time frame, the number of Americans laying claim to Christianity fell from 78 percent to 71 percent.” As we see in today’s society, we usually don’t hear enough about people are getting saved and heal the sick than in the previous generations. If we’d look up the history during 1800s or earlier, we noticed that many people received the gift of salvation and healing. They heard more uncompromising messages from the pulpit than in this generation. Nowadays, most preachers may don’t preach about sin, hell, repentance, and God’s wrath anymore. American government slowly begins to prejudice against Christians if we’d preach against the homosexual marriage and LGBT activists’ agendas.
We need to stand firm more than ever. Within twenty or fifty years from now, our Christian freedom would become useless in this country. The government may give us to accept the faith in Antichrist or face the death penalty because of our faiths in Jesus Christ.
Where are you? I’m not just writing this blog to help you to understand the history of Christianity. We need to prepare whatever problem this world would give us. We are living in a sinful world until God would refurnish this world and make it as Garden of Eden again.
Do you have your relationship with the Heavenly Father? If not, I like to encourage you to develop your personal relationship with Jesus Christ today. First, confess your sins and invite Jesus Christ to your life. Paul said in Romans 10:9-11, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” There is no sinner prayer formula. Instead, you just talk to God at where you are now. Secondly, I’d like to encourage you to find a good solid biblical teaching church and Christian friends. They can help you to build strong relationship with God. If you’d need further assistance, you can email me at or visit my ministries website at www.mgjcweb.org for further resources.
Posted by MGJC Web Ministry
at 12:01 AM EDT
Sunday, May 24, 2015
The Early Church Eras (Acts 1:1-3): Background of the Book of Acts I
Topic: Act of Apostles
The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen: To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God… (Acts 1:1-3 KJV)
Last four messages, which I blogged, was on the end time. Even though we don’t know the date and hour of Jesus’ returning to the earth, we must be prepared to meet Him. As we read in Matthew 25, there are two groups of people to meet the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet, as we see the result, the first five of people made to the wedding feast and another group had missed their opportunities to the feast due to their laziness.
In this new series, we will look at the history of Christianity in early church era to our generation. I believe that we are the last generation before the return of Jesus Christ. As the clock is ticking, we physically see what is happening in Middle East today, especially in Israel. Our own president (Obama) has shown disgraced to the people of Israel; and our nation continued to go far away from God by legalizing every ungodly laws for the people can abide into. Our Supreme Court system had been messed up that our judges don’t know what is right from wrong. Our public educational system is corrupted by removing God (Jesus Christ) from the Christian students; and bringing other religious systems into campuses. We continue see the progress of deception in our churches, homes, and politic arenas. Again, Paul said in I Timothy 4:1-3, “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.” We need to search the scriptures daily (Acts 7:11), so that we can be witnesses to those who don’t know our Lord.
The Book of Acts is a continuation from the Gospel of Saint Luke. In his first book, Luke wrote very in-depth details of our Lord’s birth, ministry, death, and resurrection. Theophilus probably was a Roman official, since Luke designates him as “most excellent Theophilus” (Luke 1:3). The Greek term (kratistos) is used only three other times in the New Testament. Each of these is used to address a Roman official: Felix (23:26; 24:3) and Festus (26:25). One of facts in this book is that Luke did not conclude the church era entirely. The church era has not ended until Jesus would return to the earth and take His Church to His wedding feast.
Originally, this book was called The Act of Apostles. But all available Greek manuscripts designated it by the title Praxeis or Acts. This Greek word was commonly used in Greek literature to summarize the accomplishments of outstanding men. While the apostles are mentioned collectively at several points, the book really split into two parts, the acts of Peter (1–12) and of Paul (13–28).
In the next session, as we continue to study Acts 1:1-3, we want to know who started the church. Was it was built by Peter or Jesus? This is a conflict issue between Roman Catholic Church and Protestant Church.
Do you have your relationship with the Heavenly Father? If not, I like to encourage you to develop your personal relationship with Jesus Christ today. First, confess your sins and invite Jesus Christ to your life. Paul said in Romans 10:9-11, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” There is no sinner prayer formula. Instead, you just talk to God at where you are now. Secondly, I’d like to encourage you to find a good solid biblical teaching church and Christian friends. They can help you to build strong relationship with God. If you’d need further assistance, you can email me at or visit my ministries website at www.mgjcweb.org for further resources.
Posted by MGJC Web Ministry
at 12:01 AM EDT
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