Mark (Program #13) – The Parables of the Kingdom (3)

The Bible is a book of life. In Mark chapter 4 the crucial item related to the parables of the kingdom of God is that there is a gene or a seed of life sown into man that is growing and developing into the kingdom of God.

We are bringing you a special meaning today to the word “life“.

Mark (Program #12) – The Parables of the Kingdom (2)

All genuine Christian believers love to hear the preaching of the gospel. We admire greatly those whom the Lord had raised up with the gift of evangelism and most of us prayed fervently for the spread of the gospel.  But as such believers we should also asked ourselves a couple of basic questions regarding the gospel.

First, what is the gospel?  Then, what is the goal of the gospel?  If our answer to the first question did not incorporated the realization that the gospel really is just Christ Himself then we need some further enlightenment.  And if our answer to the question in regarding to the goal of the gospel was something along the line that the goal of the gospel is to save sinners so that they can go to heaven then we should pray as Paul the apostle prayed that the Father in His mercy would grant us a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Him.

Exodus (Program #60) – The Blessing Received by the Loving Seekers of God Through His Law as His Living Word (2)

In the Bible, God promises many different blessings to His people. We may seek outward blessings of material prosperity or physical health. But of all the blessings He may bestow on us, the highest blessing is that He would become our portion. What is it to have God as our portion?

We return again today to the book of Exodus, the remarkable journey of God’s people out of the bondage of the worldly captivity and through the wilderness.  We are going to divert a little bit today specifically in this life study of Exodus and spend most of our time at Psalm 119. This psalm fits very well into this examination of the law of God that was given in Exodus. There’s no portion of God’s word that speaks so exhaustively and completely concerning the law of God in Psalm 119.

We’re going to begin today by considering the law or the commandments from the point of view of a testimony – a testimony of a person that gives or makes the law. What does it mean that the law of God shows us God?

The law of God in Exodus chapter 30 is called God’s testimony. When it was put on stone tablets it becomes tables of testimony. When they were put in the ark, it becomes the Ark of the Testimony and the ark was put in the tabernacle, it becomes the tabernacle of testimony. The word “testimony” means it testifies or tests to what God is. The idea is that by God’s law, He describes who He Himself was. The kind of law a person makes demonstrates what kind of person or being they are. So, God by revealing the law to Moses was a kind of love letter telling Moses and the children of Israel what kind of a wonderful person he was and the kind of person when expressed in humanity lives like this. It’s called the tables of testimony showing us what kind of God we have.

Mark (Program #11) – The Parables of the Kingdom (1)

The true gospel of God always issues in the kingdom of God. In the gospel of Mark chapter 4 there are 4 parables of the kingdom of God.

Prior to chapter 4 we had seen the beginning with its contents in Mark chapter 1 and the ways of carrying out the gospel service with the auxiliary acts in chapter 2 and 3.  So the simple message here is that the gospel issues in the kingdom of God.

Exodus (Program#59) – The Blessing Received by the Loving Seekers of God Through His Law as His Living Word (1)

The Bible is the most wonderful book of books.   God revealed that the words in it are the very breath and that He himself is embodied in it.  Yet to some, all they see are the controversies and seeming inconsistencies.  Even to us Christians at times,  it seems to be merely a book of history and hard to understand proverb.   Should we settle for this or do we need to be desperate to contact the living God each and every time we come to His word?

On this particular program, we encourage everyone who is listening to pray this prayer “Lord, while I am listening to this broadcast, help me to turn my heart to You all the ways.”

The Bible should always be something beneficial.  It’s the bread of life.  It’s God’s word.  Surely, it should always bring some kind of help to us.  But we all know at times, we come away seemingly with nothing.  Even sometimes we don’t touch God and we only see may be history or events.  And at other times it seems like there may be even contradictions that plague us and bother us, just leave people questioning whether it is even true or not. Is this what Paul the apostle meant in 1 Corinthians 6 when he said “the letter kills but the Spirit gives life”?

Exodus (Program#58) – The Function of God’s Word as His Living Word to His Loving Seekers

Have you ever wondered why to some people the Bible can be full of sweetness and satisfaction, even encouragement; while to others it can be quite the opposite – it may seem harsh, demanding or may be just boring. Even within a single person, it may be one moment the former and in another moment the latter. What changes?  Well, God’s word is eternally the same and it is His very breath. Whether we experience it as life or death altogether depends on us. If you’ve ever struggled to enter into the richness and sweetness of God’s word, please don’t miss this classical presentation on today’s life study of the Bible.

All believers have struggled with this matter at one time or another in their Christian life. Maybe the Bible was very living, very sweet when we first got saved. But then something seems to change and we can’t seem to get the same burst of spiritual energy or nourishment from simply reading and studying. This is probably very common for most believers. It doesn’t have to be this way. It’s not supposed to be this way. The reason it is this way is not by with the Word of God itself but with our situation or our condition when we come to the Word. We really need to come with a pure heart seeking the Lord, loving Him. We need to come with a heart turned to the Lord, open to Him. So we need to consider just what is happening in us and to us as we read the Word and what is the Word to us in our experience – is it merely letter that actually kills? or is it light and life and spirit and food to us?

Mark (Program #1) – The Slave-Savior’s Auxiliary Acts for the Gospel Service (1) & (2)

The gospel of Mark is not a book concerning the great doctrines of the Christian faith.  Much more it is a book of many cases that illustrate the reality of the gospel being carried out even lived out by the Slave Savior Jesus.

Early on in the book on the third chapter there is an account of the Lord instructing His followers to prepare a boat so that He can escaped the large crowd, the pressing throng that had come out to Galilee to see this One who was performing miracles and healing the sick.  It was because of the pressing of this large crowd had become a frustration to the real seeking ones who did not desire to be part of great new religious movement but rather longed for a simple, intimate touch with the Lord Jesus Himself.

Chapter 5 shows us such an intimate encounter, “When she heard the things concerning Jesus, she came up in the crowd behind Him and touched His garment, And immediately Jesus, realizing in Himself that power had gone out of Him, turned around in the crowd and said, Who touched My garments?“

Mark (Program #9) – The Ways the Slave-Savior Carried Out His Gospel Service (4)

By the time Jesus was ready to begin His earthly ministry, a well established God ordained religious system was firmly entrenched in the land of Palestine.  But as the very God Himself who was the fulfillment and reality of all of the components of that established religion you would think that He would had taken a great care to approach the leaders of that religion and to bring them into His ministry.

But the record of the New Testament reveals quite the opposite.  The gospels, in particularly the gospel of Mark revealed that Jesus showed no interest in maintaining the old religion with its’ traditions and rituals.  Even those were among the ones that God had originally instituted such as the Sabbath.

Rather, Jesus  offended the religious community to the uttermost by breaking the Sabbath regulation repeatedly and revealing that as the Lord of the Sabbath He was well within His authority to use the Sabbath to care for His people instead of as a  religious fetter to bind them and even to kill them.

Exodus (Program #57) – How the Old Testament Seekers of God Enjoyed His Law (2)

On the mountain of God in the wilderness between Egypt and Canaan, God gave the commandments to His people.  Yet if we would look at how the Lord give the law to His people, we would see the law came with God’s presence.  If we can come to His presence whenever we come to the Word, the Bible will be a much different book to us.

Again we’re going to look at the law of commandments or the ten commandments that were delivered to the people in Exodus 19 and 20.  Usually these commandments are thought of in a heavy and burdensome way but today’s fellowship is going to bring our listeners into a much different appreciation of the commandments.

Mark (Program #8) – The Ways the Slave-Savior Carried Out His Gospel Service (3)

After opening with the clear picture of meaning and contents of the glad tidings of the gospel. The book of Mark then give us the 5 cases in which the Lord Jesus carries out the gospel in His dealing with so many fallen people. The first of these cases involved a paralytic man who not only received healing from the Lord, but even more importantly at least in its’ significance was the forgiveness of sins.  We then had the case of a saved sinners, Matthew, the tax collector preparing a feast for His Savior and for many of His friends. This case was a case of enjoyment.

Three additional cases followed in chapter 2, and the first part of chapter 3. Each one depicting the carrying out of His gospel service. A gospel not only of forgiveness and of enjoyment but of joy, of satisfaction and freedom as well.

We come to another enjoyable, joy-filled, satisfying and liberating message from this life study of Mark.