Jesus’ Gospel: Searching for the Core of Jesus’ Message

Description

by Joshua N. Tilton

We are excited to offer you Joshua Tilton’s new electronic book Jesus’ Gospel. This 127 page e-book (PDF format) brings a new and fresh voice to the discussion of Jesus and his message while on this earth.

This is an easy to read and understand book which will challenge, encourage and strengthen what you believe about Jesus’ message.

We are able to offer this book for $12.95!

Here are some excerpts:

I suppose the main reason I’m writing this little book is because I think it shouldn’t have to be so hard to discover Jesus. It seems such a shame that Jesus’ message isn’t better known and appreciated by the Church. We so often seem to get sidetracked, focusing all our energy and attention on a message about how people need Jesus for their personal salvation instead of listening carefully to Jesus’ own message. Or worse still, we end up focusing on theological controversies like explaining the trinity, debating free will versus predestination, or proving Jesus’ divinity—none of which has anything to do with the message Jesus discussed with his followers. The result of such otherworldly speculation is that we lose sight of Jesus’ own message of hope and redemption for this world.

Today when we hear the word ‘gospel’ we tend to think of a message about Jesus that tells people how to ‘get saved.’ But in the ancient world in which Jesus lived the word ‘gospel’ had quite a different meaning. ‘Gospel’ (ευαγγελιον: ev-an-gel-i-on in Greek) literally means “good news,” but the term was applied to good news of a certain type. When people in the ancient world heard the word ‘gospel’ they understood it to mean a royal proclamation that someone had become king….

There is a Jewish background to the word ‘gospel’ as well. In the days of Jesus the Children of Israel were ruled by foreign kings. The Roman governor had a royal palace in the holy city of Jerusalem, and the Temple itself was guarded by the Antonia fortress: even in their homeland the Jews were under Roman control. The Jewish experience under foreign rule was hardly ideal: often the Jews were permitted to live according to their particular customs, even if they were regarded as strange and barbaric because of them, but sometimes foreign rulers tried to force the Jews to forsake their ancient customs and to worship other gods. When the Jews refused, the result was often bloody persecution. The Children of Israel, therefore, longed for freedom from foreign rule. In their Scriptures the prophets promised that one day God would gather up his people and bring them back to their ancient homeland and on that day the LORD himself would rule in Jerusalem….

For Jesus the Kingdom of Heaven was not a static doctrine [but] a new period in history which has dawned, the Kingdom of Heaven is also an activity which God is doing in this new period of history, and the Kingdom of Heaven is also a growing movement, led by Jesus himself and made up of his followers, a growing movement of people who participate in God’s reign in this new period of history.

The Table of Contents includes:

Chapter 1: Discovering Jesus
Chapter 2: Jesus’ Gospel
Chapter 3: Whose Kingdom Did Jesus Proclaim?
Chapter 4: The Good News of the Gospel
Chapter 5: The Kingdom Breaks Forth
Chapter 6: What Kind of Kingdom?
Chapter 7: The Way of the Kingdom: Qidush HaShem
Chapter 8: The Way of the Kingdom: Piquah Nephesh
Chapter 9: The Way of the Kingdom: Discerning the Divine Image
Chapter 10: The Way of the Kingdom: Love
Chapter 11: The Way of the Kingdom: Peace
Chapter 12: The Way of the Kingdom: Forgiveness
Chapter 13: The Gospel About Jesus
Chapter 14: Following Jesus in the Way of the Kingdom
Appendix: Jesus Sources