John (Program #49) – Life Processed for Multiplication (4)

Let us all let the wind blow where it wills. And, instead of trying to systematize or schematize the experience of the Spirit, let’s experience the Spirit for the carrying out of God’s economy, letting God truly be God.

John 20 is in many respects, a chapter of realization or actualization. By using these terms, I’m trying to say, that in this chapter we have the reality in actual experience of what the Lord revealed concerning His process elsewhere in the Gospel. He made it emphatically clear in chapters 14 through 16 that He needed to go, that is, die on the cross, and come again, that is come into the disciples as the pneumatic Christ in order to indwell them. He had, as the first half of the Gospel emphasizes, become flesh and tabernacled among human kind. But, God’s goal is to be in His chosen and redeemed people, not merely among them.

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John (Program #45) – Life’s Prayer (4)

Because of the deceit of religion and the darkness of politics, He was delivered to death. He was proved to be without fault, but religion and politics were exposed to be dark, deceitful, and corrupt.

We’ve come today to the section of John 18 through 20 dealing with the Lord’s death on the cross and His resurrection. Generally, we consider the Lord’s death in relationship to the work of redemption. But we will see once again today that this Gospel, though certainly not minimizing the redemptive aspect, has another emphasis; the release and multiplication of life which resulted from Christ’s death.

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John (Program #40) – The Work of the Spirit unto the Mingling of Divinity with Humanity (1)

Acts 13:33 tell us that on the day of resurrection, He was begotten by God. His humanity was actually born into divinity to make Him the first born Son of God.

These 3 chapters (John 14, 15, 16) are very rich and very meaningful because these 3 chapters are the contents of the Lord’s final message given in His earthly ministry before He went to the cross, was crucified, and then resurrected. In these 3 chapters, what we see s God’s heart’s desire and God’s eternal purpose.

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John (Program #35) – The Dispensing of the Triune God for the Producing of His Abode (3)

People think that the Lord Jesus has gone to prepare a big mansion for us in heaven. As though God had two dwelling places, or two buildings, God only has one building. Not one on heaven and one on earth. He has one building.

This chapter (John 14) is very mysterious I admit, and it’s very misunderstood. But, this chapter is really the last message that the Lord gave to His disciples. And, here He’s talking about going away. Many people misunderstand this. But, He’s just talking here about His going to the cross. And, when He goes to the cross, He is also promising that He will come again. His coming again of course is after His resurrection. He will come back to them. And when He comes back to them, He will be the Spirit because in His resurrection He becomes the life giving Spirit.

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Luke (Program #53) – The Man-Savior’s God-man Living (1 & 2)

Here is an interesting point to ponder; in creating the entire universe, God took only six days, resting on the seventh. Yet when it came time to redeem and save man, He spent thirty-three and a half years, living a genuine human life before going to the cross.

Why would all that time needed for redemption and salvation? Could He just  miraculously appeared as a man and died the next day or next month to accomplish our redemption?   Well, the salvation that this Ones came to accomplish was more than just as a sacrifice to save us from our sins. This One had to live the life of the first God-Man in order to save us, not just to the heaven, but as the Bible says, save us to the uttermost.

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Luke (Program #47) – The Death of the Man-Savior (2)

Let me post a question, that at first it may seems quite simple but in reality is not so simple, “who killed Christ?”  As I said, it seems simple enough, we know He was placed on the cross by Roman soldiers at the instruction of the corrupt Roman politicians but this was done by the instigation of the subtle religious leaders. So, who killed Christ?  As we will discover today in Luke Chapter 23, we have to see the real hand behind the scene may have been the righteous and Holy God Himself.

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Mark (Program #42) – The Death and Resurrection of the Slave-Savior for the Accomplishment of God’s Redemption (4)

As Jesus was hanging there on the cross for six agonizing hours bearing the reproach of man and the judgment of God, He did so as a genuine man. Yes, He was unique among all mankind in that He was without sin even of Himself, but His humanity was the same as ours in every other way.

Yet at the same time He was also God and despite the fact that for the final three hours of His suffering, God as the economical Spirit had to forsake Him, while He took upon Himself the sins and transgressions of every man.

Yet intrinsically and essentially He was and still is God.  This is Christ Jesus, the Lord our Savior. The immortal Who put on mortality.  And this mysterious and marvelous God Man died a death that accomplish what no other death could ever accomplished.

His death accomplish far more than just the forgiveness of sins as we will see today. And in addition to dealing with all the negative things, His death also release the divine life to create the New Man, the New Creation and ultimately to bring in the kingdom of God.

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Mark (Program #41) – The Death and Resurrection of the Slave-Savior for the Accomplishment of God’s Redemption (3)

On the day of His crucifixion, the Lord Jesus Christ hung on the cross for six hours, from nine in the morning until three in the afternoon.  During the first three hours, He suffered mocking, slander and humiliation at the hands of all manner of men even though He was dying to redeem.

But beginning at twelve noon something remarkable happen and is recorded in Mark chapter 15 verses 33-34, “And when the sixth hour came, darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is interpreted, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

During the final three hours of His time on the cross, the Lord Jesus was no longer been judged by evil mankind. He had taken upon Himself the sins of mankind to such an extend that God the Father even had to turn away from His beloved Son in righteous judgment, as Christ offered up Himself, an eternal sacrifice for all.

As believers we cherish this story and never tired of hearing it. But beyond this message of redemption and hope, this story also bears consideration for what it says about the inner relationship of the three divine persons in the Godhead.

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Mark (Program #28) – The Preparation of the Slave-Savior for His Redemptive Service (1) & (2)

At the end of a nearly three years long journey with His disciples the Lord Jesus at the end of His gospel ministry makes a triumphal entry into Jerusalem.  Just six days before the time of His sacrificial death on the cross the Lord Jesus surprises His disciples confounds His opposers and thoroughly captivated the hearts of the people of the great city of Jerusalem.

During these final days, Jesus was finished performing the miracles, the great teachings, the casting out of demons even the healing and the cleansing of lepers. For now He is totally focus on the preparation necessary for His death, His burial, His resurrection and ultimately His ascension.  Mark chapter 11 gives us a marvelous account of these six days of preparation.

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Mark (Program #27) – The Move of the Slave-Savior’s Gospel Service (16) & (17)

The second half of Mark chapter 10 brings us to the city of Jericho. The Lord Jesus has arrived at this place very near Jerusalem, near the end of the long journey He had taken with His disciples. Jesus knew that the time of His appointed death on the cross to be the real Lamb of God was only days away and He would not be kept from that hour.

Twice before on this journey on the way to Jerusalem the Lord had spoken to His disciples of approaching rejection and death in Jerusalem. But the disciples never seem to hear the words. And so here the Lord mentions it again for the third time. But still the disciples had neither ears to hear nor eyes to see as these verses in Mark 10 so clearly illustrate. Beginning at verse 32-37:

“Now they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus led the way before them. And they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. And He took the twelve aside again and began to tell them the things that were about to happen to Him:  Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and to the scribes. And they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him to the Gentiles, And they will mock Him and spit at Him and scourge Him, and they will kill Him. And after three days He will rise. And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Him, saying to Him, Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask You.  And He said to them, What do you want Me to do for you?  And they said to Him, Grant to us to sit, one on Your right and one on Your left, in Your glory.“

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