1 John (Program #32) – The Virtues of the Divine Birth to Practice the Divine Love (5)

All of the apostle John’s writings in the Bible stress the divine birth through which the divine life is imparted into the believers.  In his gospel he says you must be born again.  In chapter 3 of his first epistle, John says,  3:9 “Everyone who has been begotten of God does not practice sin.” And once again the stress is on the divine birth.  But in chapter 5 he gets even more specific about not just the fact of the divine birth, but the location of the divine birth. When he says,  5:4 “For everything that has been begotten of God overcomes the world;”

Why does he change everyone in chapter 3 to everything in chapter 5?   The answer reveals very much about the key to overcoming not just sin and the world but all of the negative things surrounding us in our day to day living.

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1 John (Program #31) – The Virtues of the Divine Birth to Practice the Divine Love (4)

In his first epistle the apostle John talks very much about love.  Chapter four particularly places a strong emphasis on love. But if we examine John’s presentation of this most visible virtue of the divine birth we realize that the love spoken of in this book is not a vague or general love nor is it a natural love, a love that finds its’ source in the human heart. It is the love that flows from the divine source from God Himself.  In verse 8 of chapter 4 John puts it this way, “He who does not love has not known God, because God is love.“

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1 John (Program #27) -The Virtues of the Divine Birth to Practice the Divine Love (2) & Proving the Spirits (1)

The apostle John gave us a long word in His first epistle about loving the brothers but right in the middle of his fellowship about love he inserts six verses in chapter four that start out,  “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but prove the spirits whether they are of God,..”

An enlightening program today that makes the connection between loving the brothers and proving the spirits.

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1 John (Program #26) -The Virtues of the Divine Birth to Practice the Divine Love (3)

1 John 3:19-21 say
19 “And in this we will know that we are of the truth, and we will persuade our heart before Him, Because if our heart blames us, it is because God is greater than our heart and knows all things.  Beloved, if our heart does not blame us, we have boldness toward God;“

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.“

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2 Peter (Program #6) – The Divine Provision (6)

Second Peter chapter one is one of the most weighty and profound passages in all of scripture. Phrase after phrase in these few verses convey the progression and development of the divine life as it germinates, matures and comes to full growth.

Along this long progression or path all of the attributes of God divine life become the virtues that developed and are ultimately expressed through us. Of course while God supplies the divine power according to Peter which enables us to escape the corruption of the world that work through lust and to become partakers of the divine nature, there are some basic conditions that we need to meet, such as having a full knowledge of all the divine things pertaining to life and godliness.  And in addition we need to add all diligence to co-operate with the divine power operating within us.  The result of  this marvelous development is that God is expressed through us and we in turn are supplied a rich and unshakable entrance into God’s kingdom.

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2 Peter (Program #5) – The Divine Provision (5)

2 Peter 1 leads us through a wonderful progression or development of the precious faith that Peter mentions to us in his first epistle.  This faith, our divine inheritance is like a divine seed imparted or planted into our being.  As with any seed, deep within resides all the attributes of the life of that seed.  Peter clearly tells us that the life in the seed of faith is the very life of God.  It’s Christ Himself.  So the attributes which Peter goes on to describe are the marvelous virtues of God’s life as expressed in Christ.  Following this line these verses in 2 Peter open to us the progressive development of the divine life within the seeker.  As we move from faith to virtues to knowledge to self-control to endurance to godliness and then to brotherly love with the final stage of this life maturity being the very agape love, God’s own love being expressed.

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