Mark (Program #51) – A Life Fully According To and For God’s New Testament Economy (8)

The gospel of Mark is a biography of a person, that person is Christ, Who lived according to God’s New Testament economy.

In order to understand this biography we need to realize that every event recorded in it is meaningful.

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Mark (Program #34) – The Preparation of the Slave-Savior for His Redemptive Service (8)

Mark chapter 13, is a chapter that’s difficult to understand. In this chapter the Lord Jesus was speaking to His disciples by way of prophecies concerning events that must occur before the ushering in of the kingdom age.

Many people studied this chapter focusing on these prophecies while missing the real significance of His speaking.  For in this chapter He is not just predicting the future events in order to entice us to follow the prophecies but rather He was preparing the disciples as well as all those who would follow the disciples to become His believers in future generations. This preparation was with a definite goal and purpose. Not merely to strengthen our faith in His word by accurately predicting future events. No.  Much more than that.; His speaking in this portion of scripture is to prepare all His seeking ones for the producing and bringing forth of the New Man.

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Mark (Program #25) – The Move of the Slave-Savior’s Gospel Service (14)

Most of us remembered from our childhood the story of the rich man who came to Jesus asking what he must to do in order to have eternal life. The Lord’s answer instructing the man to go and sell all that he possessed and to give the proceed to the poor was more than the young man could bear. So he turned away and in despair of his inability to do what seems to be required.

The Lord’s disciples also expressed their dismay over His words to this young ruler to which the Lord answered, “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.”

This passage from Mark chapter 10 though famous as a Bible story is also one that has perplexed many students of the Bible for there is no place in the scripture where we were given of such a requirement in order to be saved. Our salvation is by faith and not according to our works, such as selling all and giving all to the poor. And how should we understand such a story?

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Mark (Program #14) – The Move of the Slave-Savior’s Gospel Service (1)

Mark chapter 4 verses 35 through 41 say, “And He said to them on that day when evening had fallen, Let us go over to the other side.  And leaving the crowd, they took Him along, just as He was, in the boat; and other boats were with Him.  And there arose a great windstorm, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already beginning to fill up.  And He was in the stern, sleeping on the cushion. And they woke Him and said to Him, Teacher, does it not matter to You that we are perishing?  And having awoken, He rebuked the wind and said to the sea, Be silent! Be still! And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.  And He said to them, Why are you cowardly in this way? How is it that you do not have faith?  And they became greatly frightened and said to one another, Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”  Today we see the move of the Slave-Savior gospel service in the book of Mark.

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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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Jude (Program #4) – Charges to the Believers (2)

The short epistle of Jude concludes with a marvelous charge to the believers. A charge that includes, “…building up yourselves upon your most holy faith,” and “praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God,” of course the Father, “awaiting the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ“, the Son.

The result or issue of this four fold charge is that it will be unto eternal life.  Actually some consideration of this passage may give raise to a very meaningful question. Is this really a formula for how to receive the eternal life?  Or rather is it a charge to those who already possessed the eternal life, is that how they should have their daily living in the eternal life that they already received?  A profound question.

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Jude (Program #3) – Charges to the Believers (1)

Jude a short book of only one chapter with twenty five verses is known primarily for the classic call in verse three “to contend for the faith”.

Yet in addition to this well known passage it also contains some marvelous utterances that help bring the believers into a rich and glorious experience of the divine life. And even some practical help on how not just to live a godly manner but how to live in the Triune God Himself. Listen to verses 20 and 21 – “But you, beloved, building up yourselves upon your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, awaiting the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”

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Jude (Program #2) – Evils of the Apostates and Their Punishment Under the Lord’s Judgment

Jude charges the believers in verses three and four in his epistle,  “…to earnestly contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints. For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who of old have been written of beforehand for this judgment, ungodly men, perverting the grace of our God into licentiousness and denying our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”

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Jude (Program #1) – Contending for the Faith

Jude verse 3 says, “Beloved, while using all diligence to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you and exhort you to earnestly contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints.“

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