Mark (Program #35) – The Preparation of the Slave-Savior for His Redemptive Service (9)

Just two days prior to His death the Lord Jesus gathered with His disciples in a small house in a tiny village of Bethany just outside of Jerusalem.

This little house, the house of a leper that Jesus had cleansed in the beginning of His ministry has become His dwelling place during His final days. Each night He would depart Jerusalem and return to this very humble and simple home. Now as the hours of His death approaches one of the great encounters in all the scriptures take place. Let’s read the account in Mark 14:1-8

“Now the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were two days away. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking a way to seize Him by craftiness and kill Him,  For they said, Not at the feast, lest there be a tumult by the people.  And while He was in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as He reclined at table, a woman came, having an alabaster flask of ointment, of very costly pure nard, and she broke the alabaster flask and poured it over His head.  But there were some who were indignantly commenting among themselves: Why has this waste of the ointment been made?  For this ointment could have been sold for over three hundred denarii and given to the poor. And they were infuriated with her.  But Jesus said, Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a noble deed on Me.  For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you do not always have Me.  She has done what she could; she has anointed My body beforehand for the burial.
And truly I say to you, Wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what this woman has done shall also be told as a memorial of her.”

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Mark (Program #15) – The Move of the Slave-Savior’s Gospel Service (2) & (3)

Mark chapter 6 presents us with 4 seemingly unrelated cases. To our shallow understanding these 4 cases seems to be merely 4 separate stories of events that took place during the Lord’s earthly ministry. However if we receive even a little enlightenment we can see that once again the sequence in the divine record of how these events are unfolded is really marvelous.  And that when taken together these 4 cases really are layers of meaning and significance.

So here are 4 cases, 2 negative and 2 positive. That individually show us the rejection, hatred and justice even martyrdom that typifies the world’s response to the gospel. But collectively they fill us with encouragement, conviction and even a renewed determination to go forth to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom to the whole inhabited earth.

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Mark (Program #12) – The Parables of the Kingdom (2)

All genuine Christian believers love to hear the preaching of the gospel. We admire greatly those whom the Lord had raised up with the gift of evangelism and most of us prayed fervently for the spread of the gospel.  But as such believers we should also asked ourselves a couple of basic questions regarding the gospel.

First, what is the gospel?  Then, what is the goal of the gospel?  If our answer to the first question did not incorporated the realization that the gospel really is just Christ Himself then we need some further enlightenment.  And if our answer to the question in regarding to the goal of the gospel was something along the line that the goal of the gospel is to save sinners so that they can go to heaven then we should pray as Paul the apostle prayed that the Father in His mercy would grant us a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Him.

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Mark (Program #8) – The Ways the Slave-Savior Carried Out His Gospel Service (3)

After opening with the clear picture of meaning and contents of the glad tidings of the gospel. The book of Mark then give us the 5 cases in which the Lord Jesus carries out the gospel in His dealing with so many fallen people. The first of these cases involved a paralytic man who not only received healing from the Lord, but even more importantly at least in its’ significance was the forgiveness of sins.  We then had the case of a saved sinners, Matthew, the tax collector preparing a feast for His Savior and for many of His friends. This case was a case of enjoyment.

Three additional cases followed in chapter 2, and the first part of chapter 3. Each one depicting the carrying out of His gospel service. A gospel not only of forgiveness and of enjoyment but of joy, of satisfaction and freedom as well.

We come to another enjoyable, joy-filled, satisfying and liberating message from this life study of Mark.

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Mark (Program #6) – The Ways the Slave-Savior Carried Out His Gospel Service (1)

The gospel of Mark is unique in many ways among the four gospel accounts of the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus on the earth. One of the unique aspects of Mark, is that, it is arranged according to the actual historical sequence of events. Well, this can make it more difficult to study and understand but the divine and sovereign arrangement is really quite marvelous.

Chapter 1 for example, presents us with the complete contains of the gospel.  And chapter 2 follows then with 5 cases illustrate how the Lord Jesus as the slave savior carry out the gospel in His service to all the weak, hungry and needy people.  The first of these 5 cases is a really marvelous account that when understood correctly open the way for all us, fallen sinners to enter into the rich gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Mark (Program #3) – The Beginning of the Gospel and the Initiation of the Slave-Savior (1)

Matthew, Luke and John all begin one way or another with the origin of Jesus Christ.  Matthew shows us His kingly genealogy.  Luke, His human genealogy.  And John, His divine, eternal origin as the Son of God.  But Mark begins not with the genealogy rather with the gospel. “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ.”  What is the gospel?  Well, Roman tells us that the gospel is the glad tidings, the good news. The reality of that good news is Jesus Christ our savior. And as Mark shows us the slave of God serving His people.

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Isaiah (Program #44) – The All-Inclusive Christ in His Four Stages (2)

When we read the account of Christ’s crucifixion, whether in the New Testament gospel or in a rich prophetic passage such as Isaiah 53, we are elated and comforted with the fresh realization that Christ was resurrected.  That means our salvation is secured.  But Isaiah 53 goes on to show us the issue or the result of His resurrection.  The issue is a seed, a seed that satisfies God.  Stay with us today as we explores the riches in Isaiah 53 as Christ is revealed from the pages of the Old Testament prophet Isaiah on life study of the Bible.

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Isaiah (Program #24) – Christ as the Servant of Jehovah (11)

The gospels unveil Jesus Christ coming in the flesh to mankind.  This was His first coming and it was foretold in many passages of the Old Testament.  As Christians today most of us are eagerly awaiting His second coming and this too was clearly alluded to in ancient Scripture such as Isaiah.  But to see these prophecies clearly at times require a skillful and experienced guide.  Watchman Nee and Witness Lee was such guides to the church in this age.

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Jude (Program #6) – The Basic Structure of the Epistles of Peter and Jude (2)

The epistles of 1 and 2 Peter and Jude have occupied us now for the past nine weeks on this program. And today we conclude the life study of these three short but very significant books in the divine record. But not with the systematic or academically summary but rather by following the spiritual thread that links these three books. Though they are separated in the canon scripture by the three epistles of John in their subject and basic structure they bear a striking similarity and easily warrant being considered as a group.

All three were written against the back drop of the degradation and decline of the church, a time of apostasy. And therefore all three can be considered as an inoculation against the heresies that were damaging the testimony of the church at that time. Yet they also shared a basic structure that is one hundred percent positive and absolutely in concert with the central focus of the entire New Testament. And that is that we would all be brought into the real enjoyment of the Triune God. In order that through His operation in us we would be transformed that we would be built up into His spiritual habitation so that He could indwell us and that we would express Him for eternity.

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Jude (Program #5) – The Basic Structure of the Epistles of Peter and Jude (1)

Through the centuries believers and Bible scholars alike appreciated the epistle of Peter for giving us a clear presentation of God’s government. Surely this point is the subject of these books. But woven through out Peter’s epistles as well as the epistle of Jude is a basic structure, a central line of focus that if we neglect will leave us far removed from the reality of living a life that is actually under God’s government.  It’s this basic structure of these three books that is our subject for the final two programs.

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