Blog Archives

14 Jan 2023 Mark (Program #14)

Mark (Program #14) – The Move of the Slave-Savior’s Gospel Service (1)

Mark chapter 4 verses 35 through 41 say, “And He said to them on that day when evening had fallen, Let us go over to the other side.  And leaving the crowd, they took Him along, just as He was, in the boat; and other boats were with Him.  And there arose a great windstorm, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already beginning to fill up.  And He was in the stern, sleeping on the cushion. And they woke Him and said to Him, Teacher, does it not matter to You that we are perishing?  And having awoken, He rebuked the wind and said to the sea, Be silent! Be still! And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.  And He said to them, Why are you cowardly in this way? How is it that you do not have faith?  And they became greatly frightened and said to one another, Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”  Today we see the move of the Slave-Savior gospel service in the book of Mark.

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13 Jan 2023 Mark (Program #13)

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“.

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12 Jan 2023 Ezekiel (Program #20)

Ezekiel (Program #20) – The Temple and Side Chambers

The gospel of John gives us the unforgettable picture of Jesus coming into the temple in Jerusalem. And in the display of the most righteous anger, the sight of God’s house being turned into a place of merchandise and commerce, He cleanses the temple – overturning the tables and chasing the peddlers away. Immediately following this comes a profound exchange between the Lord Jesus and the religionists. In John 2:18-21, “The Jews then answered and said to Him, What sign do you show us, seeing that you do these things? Jesus answered and said to them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then the Jews said, This temple was built in forty-six years, and You will raise it up in three days? But He spoke of the a temple of His body.” What makes this word so meaningful is that John clearly identifies Jesus as the real temple, the real house of God. This means even as we consider the temple in the Old Testament such as in Ezekiel’s great vision in chapters 40 to 48, we must realize that this is a type of the Lord Jesus Himself and of the church, the New Testament, the enlargement of God’s house.

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12 Jan 2023 Mark (Program #12)

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.

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11 Jan 2023 Ezekiel (Program #19)

Ezekiel (Program #19) – The Altar

God’s eternal purpose is to have a building and the center of that building is the altar. This is a picture of the cross of Christ – apart from which we cannot have the church.

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11 Jan 2023 Mark (Program #11)

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.

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10 Jan 2023 Mark (Program #10)

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?

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09 Jan 2023 Mark (Program #9)

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.

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08 Jan 2023 Mark (Program #8)

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.

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07 Jan 2023 Mark (Program #7)

Mark (Program #7) – The Ways the Slave-Savior Carried Out His Gospel Service (2)

Mark chapter 2 gives us the account of the Lord Jesus as the Slave-Savior carrying out His gospel service to care for the need of fallen people. It’s a marvelous chapter that shows us 5 cases or incidents, each one demonstrating this loving care in a particular way meeting the need of all manner of weak, sick and sinful people.

What a picture of the glad tidings being lived out in their midst!  Of course, not all the people are eager and happy to see such a manifestation of the reality and the enjoyment of God.  The scribes and the pharisees, the self-righteous and religious among the people were indignant that their own the authority and their time on the traditions were completely ignored by the Lord Jesus.  For as He Himself told them, “those who were strong have no need of a physician but those who are ill. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.

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