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!"

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

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.