Friday, 10 July 2015

The Meek King Coming to Save

Don't Fret Because of Evildoers
10Yet a little while and the wicked man will be no more; And you will look carefully for his place and he will not be there. 11But the humble will inherit the land And will delight themselves in abundant prosperity. 12The wicked plots against the righteous And gnashes at him with his teeth.…




Bible Verses


Mark 11:7  And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their
garments on it, and He sat on it.  8  And many spread their
garments in the road, and others spread layers of branches
full of tender leaves, having cut them out of the fields. 
9  And those who went before and those who followed cried out,
Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! 
10  Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!
Hosanna in the highest!



 Words of Ministry 

In Zechariah 9:9, and Psalm 118:26 we have the prophecy 
concerning Christ as the meek King mounting a donkey’s colt 
and entering Jerusalem triumphantly, to whom the crowds cried, 
“Blessed be He that cometh in the name of the Lord.” This 
prophecy is actually related to Christ’s death. The Lord 
purposely went back to Jerusalem not to minister but to 
present Himself as the Lamb of God to be crucified. Therefore, 
His mounting a donkey’s colt and entering Jerusalem 
triumphantly was for His wonderful, all-inclusive death.

Garments [in v. 8] signify the human virtues of people’s 
conduct. The disciples honored the lowly King by putting their 
garments on the donkey and colt for Him to ride on, and the 
crowd honored Him by spreading their garments in the road for 
Him to pass through. In verse 8 we are told that others cut 
branches from the trees and spread them in the road. These 
were branches of the palm tree (John 12:13), signifying the 
victorious life (Rev. 7:9) and the satisfaction of enjoying 
the rich produce of this life as typified by the feast of 
tabernacles (Lev. 23:40; Neh. 8:15). A palm tree is rooted 
deeply in hidden springs and grows prevailingly upward into 
the air. This signifies the victorious life. In honoring the 
meek King with whatever they were, the people recognized that 
He was the One with the victorious life.

The Hebrew word hosanna means “save now” (Psa. 118:25). In the 
warm welcome of the King, the people shouted out a quotation 
from Psalm 118:26: “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the 
Lord.” According to Psalm 118, only the One who came in the 
name of the Lord was qualified to be praised in such a way. 
Thus, the spontaneous praise of the people sovereignly 
indicated that this meek King came not in His own name but in 
the name of Jehovah. Those who welcomed the King indicated 
through their praise that He was the One sent by the Lord, 
thus the One who came in the name of the Lord. 

Friday, 5 June 2015

What Kind of Life Does Christ Want to Give Us?



 Bible Verses 
John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life;
10:10 I have come that they may have life and may have it
abundantly.
1 Cor 15:45 ...the last Adam [Christ] became a life-giving
Spirit.





 Words of Ministry
What is this life that the Spirit gives? We know that there 
are many forms of life. In this world there are the plant 
life and animal life. The plant life is lower and the animal 
life is higher. Even higher than these two kinds of life is 
the human life. All these forms of life are wonderful; but 
there is a fourth kind of life—the divine life, which is 
God's uncreated life.

Being divine means being of God, having the nature of God, 
and being transcendent and distinct from all others. Only God 
is divine, so His life is divine. Furthermore, God's life is 
eternal and uncreated; it has no beginning and no end. All of 
us were born at a certain time and all of us realize that our 
human life will have a definite ending in death. However, 
God's life has no beginning, and it will continue in 
perpetuity. God's eternal life not only endures forever, but 
in quality it is absolutely perfect and complete, without any 
shortage or defect.

This eternal life is also indestructible and indissoluble. If 
you put the human life into the grave, it will soon decay and 
decompose. But if you put the eternal life into the grave, 
the grave will burst. If you place this life in any negative 
situation, that situation will be powerless to hold it down. 
The eternal life of God is an indestructible life, and 
nothing on earth, in heaven, or in hell can destroy it.
This is the life that Christ as the Spirit gives to us. It is 
much better than the religion that man has invented.

Rivers of Living Water



Bible Verses
John 7:37-39 Now on the last day, the great day of the feast,
Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirsts, let him
come to Me and drink. (38) He who believes into Me, as the
Scripture said, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers
of living water. (39) But this He said concerning the Spirit,
whom those who believed into Him were about to receive; for
the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been
glorified.


 Words of Ministry 
In the Gospel of John, at the end of the greatest religious
festival of that day, Christ stood up and said that if any
man was thirsty, he could come to Him and drink. In saying
this, Christ was speaking about the Spirit. It is strange
that the people could still be thirsty at the end of a great
religious festival. But the truth is that no outward
religious observances can satisfy a man's inner thirst. 

The
more we observe religious practices, the more we

 will be thirsty. 
What we need is a drink of the living water. 
Here
the Spirit is likened to “rivers of living water.” This 

living water was not there at the time Christ spoke these
words, because He had not been processed through His death
and resurrection [i.e. “glorified”]. But after His death and
resurrection, the process was completed, and today the Spirit
as the living water is here. In other words, He has passed
through the process of becoming a man, living a human life,
dying on the cross, and resurrecting to become the life-
giving Spirit. Now we do not need to sweat and struggle to
reach Him; He has become so enjoyable and accessible to us.
Now we can freely drink of the Spirit. This living water
fully quenches our inner thirst. 

Going to Jerusalem to Fulfill God’s Purpose -I










Going to Jerusalem to Fulfill God’s Purpose -I 

 Bible Verses 



Mark 10:1  And He rose up from there and came into the borders 
of Judea and beyond the Jordan…  32  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:

 Words of Ministry
[Part 1 of 2]
We need to ask ourselves why, after He had been ministering in 
Galilee for about three years, the SlaveSavior suddenly rose 
up and went to the south, to the district of Judea and beyond 
the Jordan. He did this because the time of His death was 
approaching. He had to die in the year prophesied by Daniel. 
Furthermore, according to the type of the Passover Lamb, He 
had to die on the Passover, that is, on the fourteenth day of 
the first month of the Jewish calendar. Therefore, it is a 
very significant matter that, according to 10:1, the Lord left 
Galilee and went to Judea.

The Slave-Savior had been ministering in His gospel service 
for over three years in the despised region of Galilee, far 
from the holy temple and the holy city, the place where He had 
to die for the accomplishment of God's eternal plan. As the 
Lamb of God (John 1:29), it was necessary for Him to be 
offered to God at Mount Moriah, where Abraham offered Isaac 
and enjoyed God's provision of a ram as a substitute for his 
son (Gen. 22:2, 9-14) and where the temple was built in 
Jerusalem (2 Chron. 3:1). It must be there that He would be 
delivered, according to the counsel determined by the Trinity 
of the Godhead (Acts 2:23), to the Jewish leaders (Mark 9:31; 
10:33), and there be rejected by them as the builders of God's 
building (8:31; Acts 4:11). 

It should also be there that He would be crucified according 
to the Roman style of capital punishment (John 18:31-32) to 
fulfill the type concerning the kind of death He would die 
(John 3:14). Moreover, that very year was the year that 
Messiah (Christ) would be cut off (killed) according to 
Daniel's prophecy (Dan. 9:24-26). Furthermore, as the Passover 
Lamb (1 Cor. 5:7) He had to be killed in the month of the 
Passover (Exo. 12:1-11). Hence, He had to go to Jerusalem 
before the Passover (John 12:1; Mark 14:1), so that He might 
die there on the day of the Passover (14:12-17; John 18:28) at 
both the place and the time foreordained by God.





Christ, the Slave of Man -II 

 Bible Verses

Mark 10:45  For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, 
but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.
Luke 22:27  For who is greater, the one who reclines at table 
or the one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at 
table? But I am in your midst as the one who serves.
Luke 12:37  Blessed are those slaves whom the master, when he 
comes, will find watching. Truly I tell you that he will gird 
himself and will have them recline at table, and he will come 
to them and serve them.





 Words of Ministry 

[Part 2 of 2]
The Lord says, "I am the light of the world" (John 8:12). What 
can serve man better than light? The Lord says, "I am the 
bread of life" (John 6:48). What can serve man better than 
bread? Whoever eats this bread shall live forever. Whatever 
the Lord does is for the purpose of serving. Hallelujah! We 
have a Lord who serves us. When we face a difficulty or when 
we do not have any way to work out a problem, it gives the 
Lord an opportunity to serve us. He is so great that He is 
able to serve us in everything. There is one more thing. The 
Lord washed His disciples' feet. This was something that Peter 
would "by no means" allow the Lord to do. But the Lord washed 
their feet; He served them (John 13:4-8).

I wonder how many people know how to enjoy the service of 
Christ. Many times we are misled to think that we should serve 
Christ. Have we ever asked Christ to serve us? Some brot
hers 
have said that their prayers are too cold and that they have 
to do something to stir themselves up again. At such times 
they should realize that Christ can serve them in that very 
matter. Some have felt that they have no interest in the Bible 
and worry about what they should do the next day. They should 
realize that in that very matter, Christ can serve them also.

This is too gracious! How can this be possible? However, the 
Lord said He will serve us again in the future [Luke 12:37]. 
Once we were indebted to the Lord and received His grace 
freely. We will forever be indebted to the Lord and will 
forever enjoy His grace. God has given Christ to us for the 
purpose of serving us. From the day that Christ was crucified 
on the cross until eternity, Christ will serve us. Although we 
do not quite understand this, we can enjoy it. 

The Forgiveness of Sins – Solving Our Problem



          Bible Verses 


Rom 5:12  Therefore just as through one man [Adam] sin entered
into the world, and through  sin,  death ; and thus death
passed on to all men because all have sinned--
Mark 2:5  And Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the
paralytic, Child, your sins are forgiven.





       Words of Ministry 

As fallen human beings, our basic problem is our sin. When God created man, man was pure, clean, and without sin. Man had
been created in the image of God and according to the likeness
of God. Furthermore, God breathed into man the breath of life,
and man became a living soul (Gen. 2:7). This breath of life
became the spirit of man within him. Therefore, man in God's
creation has the image of God, the likeness of God, and a
spirit within him. As a creature, he was clean, pure, and
complete. However, according to Genesis 3, the evil one, the
Devil, the enemy of God, came in to poison the man created by
God. Man was "bitten" by the serpent, and sin was injected
into man's being.

                       All the problems of mankind are the result of sin. Because of 
            sin, the situation of fallen mankind is hopeless. Because of 
                           sin, everyone has been corrupted. Do you not believe that 
 mankind, including you, has been corrupted? Do you not believe 
that your neighborhood, your city, and your country have been 
corrupted by sin? The whole world has been corrupted by sin. 
Therefore, in carrying out the gospel service, the first thing 
we must do is to show people how they may have their sins 
forgiven. Because all the problems of mankind are the result 
of sin, sin must be dealt with if people are to be restored to 
God.

Many of us can testify that in the past we tried our best to 
get a good education so that we might have a promising future. 
Nevertheless, the problem of sin remained unsolved and caused 
more and more corruption. But on the day we believed in the 
Lord Jesus and received Him, our sins were forgiven. This was 
the reason the Lord said in 2:5, "Child, your sins are 
forgiven!"

Monday, 1 June 2015

The Secret to Counteracting Anxiety



 Bible Verses 

Phil. 4:6  In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;  (7)  And the peace of God, which surpasses every man's understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.  (11)  Not that I speak according to lack, for I have learned, in whatever circumstances I am, to be content.  (13)  I am able to do all things in Him who empowers me.

           


        





                                           Words of Ministry
anxiety, anxious, bible, bible verse, christ
If we have learned the secret, we shall know how to
counteract anxiety. If you are in poverty, there is no need
for you to be anxious or to worry. The Lord is still at hand,
and He will take care of you. By nature, we are given to
worry, to anxiety. This is true as much of the rich as it is
of the poor. Those who are poor have their particular
worries, and those who are rich have theirs. Only those who
are truly in Christ in their experience and who are inwardly
empowered by Him have no need to worry or to be anxious.

As a human being, Paul did undergo suffering with respect to
material needs. Paul was not an angel, and he was not like a
lifeless statue without feelings. No doubt, he had learned
the secret of sufficiency in Christ. When he was in want and
was tempted to worry about his situation, he applied this
secret. Then, in his experience, this secret eliminated his
worry. Therefore, he could have the boldness to testify that
he knew both how to be abased and how to abound. The very
fact that Paul knew how to be abased indicates that he
experienced feelings of abasement. He knew what it was to
have worry and anxiety in times of suffering. But at those
times he applied the secret of the indwelling Christ. He
applied the very Christ in whom he could be found. This
Christ is real, living, near, available, and prevailing. This
was the Christ who was Paul's secret.

Using a Stoic term, Paul could say that he had learned, in
whatever circumstances he was, to be content. Although Paul
used a Stoic word, he was by no means a Stoic. On the
contrary, he was a person in Christ, and he experienced
Christ and applied Him in all circumstances. Paul could be
content not because he had been instructed by the Stoics, but
because he applied the very Christ in whom he lived and in
whom he remained. Again I say, this Christ became Paul's
secret.

Tuesday, 26 May 2015

A Living That Is True and Dignified



 Bible Verses

Phil. 4:8  Finally, brothers, what things are true, what 
things are dignified, what things are righteous, what things 
are pure, what things are lovely, what things are well spoken 
of, if there is any virtue and if any praise, take account of 
these things.

          Words of Ministry

The first governing aspect of a life that lives Christ is 
"whatever is true." The word true here means truthful 
ethically, not merely true in matter of fact. In the 
expression of a life that lives Christ there can be no 
falsehood, no lying. Everything we do or say must be 
truthful. No one who lives Christ should practice falsehood 
of any kind. A life that is the expression of Christ is a 
truthful one.

The second aspect is "whatever is honorable." The Greek word 
rendered honorable means venerable, worthy of reverence, 
noble, grave, implying the idea of dignity, which inspires 
and invites reverence. A life that lives Christ will be 
honorable, noble, grave, solid, weighty, and dignified. We 
should not think that only older people should be weighty. 
All the young people, even the teenagers, should also have 
dignity. Even a young brother in junior high school should 
have dignity, for he has God within him. He is a vessel 
containing God as his worth, weight, and dignity.

To have dignity is not to act important; it is to live God. A
jewelry box containing a diamond ring has dignity not because
of the box itself, but because of the diamond. It is the                        
diamond in the box which gives dignity to the box. In like
manner, we are a vessel containing Christ. If we live Him, we       

shall have true dignity. When others see us 

bearing such a 
dignity, they will have a deep respect for us. 

The dignity
implied in the Greek word for honorable always

 inspires a
profound respect. This dignity is the second 

governing aspect
of the expression of a life that lives Christ.