1 John (Program #25) -The Virtues of the Divine Birth to Practice the Divine Love (1)

When the believers in Christ are born again at the time of their salvation the divine seed is sown into their being. This seed is the divine life and the divine life has the divine nature.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS

1 John (Program #24) – The Virtues of the Divine Birth to Practice the Divine Righteousness (2)

In the epistle of first John there are three main sections. The fellowship of the divine life from the beginning of the book to 2:11. The teaching of the anointing starting in 2:12 through 2:27 and the virtues of the divine birth from 2:28 to the end of the book, 5:21.

The sequence of these three sections is important and it indicates the fellowship of the divine life and the teaching of the anointing bring us into the virtues of the divine birth.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS

1 John (Program #23) – The Virtues of the Divine Birth to Practice the Divine Righteousness (1)

The book of 1 John though short in length is anything but short in its’ spiritual content.  This short epistle conveys some of the richest and deepest thought in all of the New Testament. Even its’ sequence is marvelous. Beginning with the divine life and the fellowship of the life which is our participation in God’s life. It then moves on to the teaching of the anointing. Which as we had already seen and is crucial to the experience and growth of every believer. Finally it come to the last main section that of the virtues of the divine life that we possess by the divine birth. And it is here that we see the progression brought to its’ consummation. That the children of God become His eternal expression and counterpart. All in this short book of 1 John.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS

1 John (Program #17) – The Teaching of the Divine Anointing (1)

John first epistle is a short book but very rich in contain. It is composed of three main sections. First it presents the fellowship of the divine life in a marvelous way. The second section covers the teaching of the anointing while the third develops the virtues of the divine birth.

Today we come to section two the teaching of the anointing from chapter two.  2:27 gives us a wonderful summary of this critical matter in the Christian life.

27 “And as for you, the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone teach you; but as His anointing teaches you concerning all things and is true and is not a lie, and even as it has taught you, abide in Him.“

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS

1 John (Program #16) – Conditions of the Divine Fellowship (9)

John first epistle as a continuation of his gospel stresses the eternal life. And specifically the fellowship or flow of this divine life that is available for all of us as His children to experience.

But though our salvation is unconditional there are conditions for us to stay in the fellowship of life experimentally. The first of this condition is found in chapter one and this is a basic requirement for every believer to maintain their enjoyment of Christ as life.

1 John 1:7, 9
7 “But if we walk in the light as He 1is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from every sin.”

9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Keeping sure account by confessing our sins before God is vitally important. But John brings us another important condition for maintaining the fellowship of life and that is to love the brothers.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS

1 John (Program #15) – Conditions of the Divine Fellowship (8)

The two conditions of the divine fellowship involves sin on the negative side and love on the positive side. On the negative side we need to deal with sin, on the positive side we need to exercise ourselves to love God and love the brothers.

Therefore sin must be dealt with and love must be perfected. If we deal with sin and exercise ourselves to love God and the brothers, we shall fulfill the conditions of keeping ourselves in the fellowship of the divine life.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS

1 John (Program #5) – The Fellowship of the Divine Life

We all should realize by now that John the apostle had a particular emphasis in all of his writings.  That emphasis was that what God desires for men above all else  is that men would receive Him as life.  “I have come that they may have life”, he writes in his gospel and “he that has the Son has the life“, he says in his epistle.  But we should also realize that this divine, eternal, uncreated life has an issue or an outflow, which John calls “the fellowship of life”.  If we want to know Him as life and experience the greatest of all divine gifts, we should pay our full attention to the “fellowship” or “flow of life” from the One who is life.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS

1 John (Program #4) – The Divine Life (2)

In all of the writings of the apostle John we see a continual emphasis on the divine life.  One of the aspects of the divine life that John stresses again and again is that it is eternal, even calling it the eternal life.  Many readers of the Bible and even many translators of the Bible equate the term “eternal life” with everlasting life.  Though this thought is not altogether wrong, it is incomplete at best and it can lead us to a shallow realization of all that we received in Christ at the moment of our salvation.  The eternal life is our subject today as we continue our life study in the book of 1 John.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS

1 John (Program #3) – The Divine Life (1)

The apostle John was one of the primary contributors to the New Testament.   Of course, best known was his gospel which was rightly called the gospel of life.  But he also give us 3 epistles and a concluding word to the entire canon of scripture, the book of Revelation.  They all have their unique place and function in the Bible but they bear a common thread or emphasis and that is the divine life which is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.  Listen to his marvelous opening to his first epistle, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we beheld and our hands handled, concerning the Word of life.”  Stay with us today as we enjoy this tasty appetizer and see how it typifies the focus and burden of all of John’s crucial writings.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS

1 John (Program #1) – A Word Concerning the Writings of John (1)

In all of the New Testament the writings of the apostle John are perhaps the most striking.  They are also the most mysterious because more than any of the other New Testament books, John’s gospel, epistles and his concluding book Revelation unveiled to us many of the divine and mystical things. His books are mysterious because they focus not on historical facts or on doctrines or on teachings but rather on the divine and mystical realm revealing Christ as the very divine life available for us to receive and experience day by day.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS