Last Sunday we heard John the Baptist introduce Jesus to the Jews by proclaiming: BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD WHO TAKES AWAY THE SIN OF THE WORLD.
Every miracle, every sign Jesus performed during His entire ministry on this earth was done so with a very specific purpose. God never does anything without a specific purpose. In this case, the Apostle John is revealing to us that Jesus did this signs and miracles not for their own sake but to point to something that was SIGNificant. These signs always pointed to Jesus Himself, the only one able to represent God’s kingdom. The only one God the Father ever said: THIS IS MY BELOVED SON IN WHOM I AM WELL PLEASED.
Why did God chose a wedding for His son to perform the first sign during His earthly ministry? And why did God chose to turn water into wine for thirsty guest? Why not turning water into grape juice?
WHAT SIGN?
He became the only acceptable sacrifice for our sins. He has done away with the Old Testament requirements. No animal sacrifices, no temple tax, now show bread, no altar of incense, no Holy of Holies, no ark of the covenant. He nailed it to the cross for good. He is the firstborn of many brethren. NOW THE CHURCH IS THE TEMPLE OF THE LIVING GOD.
What sign do you show us? For you and me, it means to be reminded that we are the newly raised temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in us, and because of that we are here to glorify God in our body and in our spirit.
Jesus’ signs pointed toward something much more SIGNificant than the sign itself, it pointed toward the glorious truth WHO HE REALLY IS, the Redeemer, the Savior of the World, the Only begotten Son of God, fully man, fully God. The KING OF GLORY.
Why did John call for a water baptism?
The ritual of water baptism was applied to Gentiles, unclean people, who wanted to convert to Judaism. Ritual baptism was never administered to Jews, only to non-Jews who converted to Judaism. Why? Because Gentiles were considered unclean and needed to go through a purification rite, to take a bath – in order to be welcomed and received into the covenant community of Israel.
However, John the Baptist primarily directed his calls for repentance to Jews. With that, he told Israel “the Messiah is about to arrive but you are not ready for Him. It is you, the people of Israel,that are unclean. That’s the reason why John called the Jews to submit to a ritual of cleansing that up to this point had been administered only to Gentiles. The typical procedure when a Gentile was going through the proselyte baptism, he was never baptized by a Levite or by a priest, who normally performed all the other purification rites in Israel. The convert was to baptize himself. No wonder the religious leaders asked themselves: Who does this man think he is, to call us, the children of Abraham, to undergo a cleansing rite?
The Lamb of God is also prefigured in the Passover, when God prepared to bring His final plague on the Egyptians, the death of every firstborn male of the Egyptians, including the crown prince of the Pharaoh (Exodus 12:3-31). Just as the blood of the lamb caused the people of Israel to be spared from God’s wrath, the Lamb of God redeemed His people from the penalty that was due for their sin.
When Jesus is talking about the treasure, he means the WORD OF GOD. God communicating to his creation, unlocking the mystery of who God is, why we human beings are here on earth, and how we should live on this earth.
We read the Word of God because it is God’s treasure entrusted to us. When we read in His treasure, we will get to know God better. In it our heavenly Father communicates with us, revealing to us His heart and vision for our lives. Where else could we learn about God’s holy character, or about His kingdom established in our hearts, or about the grace of God, the unconditional love of God for us. Apart from such a treasure, we would never know anything about God’s nature, God’s plan for us, God’s future for us, God’s purposes for us.
In other words, this treasure, God’s Word, shows us the way we should go. It also shows us what will happen if we do not treasure God’s advice.
The psalmist clearly points out that by treasuring His Word in our heart, we will be able to live under its daily influence and experience the blessings that come with it.
The Bible, the written word of God, is the only book in the entire world, especially the only religious book in the world where hundreds of prophecies have been recorded when they were spoken and then recorded hundreds of years later when they have been fulfilled exactly as predicted.
“My hands shook as I started to unwrap one of them. I read a few sentences. It was written in beautiful biblical Hebrew. The language was like that of the Psalms, but the text was unknown to me. I looked and looked, and I suddenly had the feeling that I was privileged by destiny to gaze upon a Hebrew Scroll which had not been read for more than 2,000 years. ” Hebrew University Professor Eliezer Lipa Sukenik
Oh, let us never come to a point to read the greatest treasure like most of the religious leaders did when Jesus walked this earth. Searching the Scripture to find eternal life, yet never understood that the very text was testifying of the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
WE CAN LIVE OUR LIFE UNDER TWO KINDS OF INFLUENCES. And whatever we choose, one or the other, will not just have a major impact how we live, how we behave, how we interact with one another, but also HOW WE INFLUENCE ONE ANOTHER.
John 6:63 says it is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.
In other words, the Holy Spirit makes life worth living. The flesh, this world, and all religious activities apart from the Spirit of God are of no help at all.
This whole world is under the influence of the wicked one. Jesus introduces to us the ruler of this world as the Father of lies. In other words, the whole world is under the influence of the master LIAR. We are being bombarded daily with news on TV, Internet, Facebook, text messages, phone calls, magazines and books produced by people that are under the influence of the ruler of this world. They are being used by Satan to conceal the truth, to hide the truth, to distort the truth, to make the lie look like the truth. Notice have Jesus introduces the Holy Spirit as the SPIRIT OF TRUTH, which the world cannot receive. Those who are of the world are being influenced by the ruler of this world and are unable to see the truth.
The Holy Spirit was in control of Jesus life. It is this same Holy Spirit whom the Father sent to us as our helper to make us see the truth.
The world cannot see the truth. They are under the influence of the ruler of this world and life and act accordingly. They have given the ruler of this world control over their lives. The child of God is confronted with this truth and must make a decision to GIVE TOTAL CONTROL OF THEIR LIFE OVER TO THE SPIRIT OF THE LIVING GOD. You can decide to give some control to the Holy Spirit, and leave the rest under the influence of the ruler of this world. Such a Christian life is a very hard life indeed. Full of worldly influence, full of schisms, battles of confusion, anxieties, depressions and despair.
Notice that no one had to force these new converts to read the bible, to show up for fellowship, to participate in a meal together, or to encourage them to pray.
WHY? Because a Holy Spirit controlled Christian does not have to be forced to read the Bible or to pray. The Holy Spirit gives them the understanding of truth and the more they understand the more hungry they become. Remember the Old Testament saints proclaimed HOW SWEET GOD’S WORD IS TO THEM. You come under the influence of the WORD OF GOD because the Holy Spirit gives you understanding, which allows you to apply the Word of God in your life. You can literally see it at work. SUCH ACTIVITY GLORIFIES JESUS.
We need to come under the influence of the Holy Spirit, the one who searches all things, the deep things of God, the hidden things of God. And it is then when we surrender control of our life to the Holy Spirit, that we are able to influence the world around us by letting His light shine through us. There is just no other way.
Since God is love and God never fails, LOVE cannot fail. God and Love are everlasting. It is interesting to know that God’s love in the Greek language is called AGAPE. This is a GREEK word that can only be found in the Bible. This word was specifically coined to describe a supernatural love, because it describes a supernatural Being, God Himself. The other Greek words that are translated into the English word Love are EROS AND PHILEO. Both of these love actions are temporary, originate with human beings and will be done away with one day. In other words, Eros and Phileo are not everlasting, therefore they will fail. Listen, God cannot fail, Agape love cannot fail, because God and His love is everlasting. All the other responses to people’s actions are temporary. They have no eternal value.
When we are troubled on every side, when things go wrong and people do us wrong, when we are hurting and frustrated, it is very difficult to see the eternal value of Agape Love. But that’s just us. Our eyes are fixed on the wrong thing. On people and on emotional and conditional love and acceptance.
When we are involved in the spiritual battle and it seems that our relationships with brothers and sisters in the Lord are going up in flames, we immediately go into the defensive mode. We will become REACTIONARIES.
And all our reactions are based upon EROS OR PHILEO LOVE. Remember, they are temporary, they don’t solve any problems. They simply ask for a truce. For the moment we have decided, even if it kills me, not to go on the attack. UNTIL NEXT TIME.
Not so with AGAPA LOVE. God is love and he is eternal. HIS LOVE IS ETERNAL. It never reacts to any circumstances. It is eternal, always there always available, never failing.
When we are willing to endure all things through the LOVE OF GOD, we then can be the LIGHTS THAT SHINE IN THE DARK WORLD.
Yes, God’s love ENDURES ALL THINGS FOR THE SAKE OF ETERNITY.
God created all of us. We are His creation and He has a specific purpose for all of us. However, it is not our job to find our purpose in life. Because finding our purpose and our place in this life IS NOT OUR GREATEST NEED.
Our Greatest Need is TO BE UNCONDITIONALLY LOVED.
This need can only be met by Our Creator Himself. It is God’s love, His AGAPE love that loves us unconditionally. He loved us while we were yet sinners, the Bible declares. In other words, God loved us just the way we are.
We are loved regardless of our mistakes and failures.
1 Corinthians 10:1-12 1. The instructions from the past are PRESCRIPTIVE AND DESCRIPTIVE 2 Chronicles 7:12-15 The first one happened under Kings Asa and Jehoshaphat 2 Chronicles 15:1-15 2 Chronicles…
Everything pertaining to life and godliness, all the power we need to live a life that glorifies God has been given to us. All the power we need to overcome the corruption of this world, to overcome the deceptive power of self-help, to overcome the destructive power of false religion, has been supplied by our Lord.
As a soldier of Christ, we don’t have the luxury to fall asleep on our job. The battle is raging and is intense. Everything we need to win the battles has been supplied to us. Now it is our job to get properly equipped.
Moses saw for a few seconds the back of God and immediately Moses’ face began to reflect the divine glory that just walked by him. In other words, God’s glory was bounding off the skin of Moses. However, each passing day this glory on Moses’ face started to fade, because it was only a reflected glory.
Not so on the mount of transfiguration. JESUS CHRIST NEVER REFLECTED GOD’S GLORY, BUT AS JOHN WROTE LATER: WE BEHELD HIS GLORY, THE GLORY AS OF THE ONLY BEGOTTEN OF THE FATHER, FULL OF GRACE AND TRUTH.
This is what Peter is pointing out in his second Epistle, they have seen His glory and heard the voice of God audibly.In other words, they did not tell people about legends and myths or what others were saying about Jesus. PETER, JAMES and JOHN witnessed the glory of God Almighty in JESUS CHRIST.
Today, too many Christians lack of sense of the greatness and awesomeness of God Almighty, which I believe is directly linked to the church’s ignorance of the Old Testament.
We cannot really understand the New Testament apart from the Old Testament. Peter says that we must obey the prophetic word and regard it as a LIGHT THAT SHINES IN A DARK PLACE, UNTIL THE DAY DAWNS AND THE MORNING STAR RISES IN YOUR HEARTS.
At the Diet of Worms, when Luther was called to recant, he said: “Unless I am convinced by sacred Scripture or by evident reason, I will not recant, because my conscience is held captive by the Word of God, and to act against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand. I can do no other; God help me.”
As one man once said:
“I am a soldier. I am not a baby. I do not need to be pampered, petted, primed up, pumped up, picked up, or pepped up. I am a soldier. No one has to call me, remind me, write me, visit me, entice me or lure me. I am a soldier. I am not a wimp. I am in place, saluting my King, obeying His orders, praising His name and building His kingdom. No one has to send me flowers, gifts, food, cards or candy, or give me handouts. I do not need to be cuddled, cradled, cared for or catered to. I am committed. I cannot have my feelings hurt bad enough to turn me around. I cannot be discouraged enough to turn me aside. I cannot lose enough to cause me to quit.
When Jesus called me into this army, I had nothing. If I end up with nothing, I will still come out ahead. I will win. My God has and will continue to supply all my need. I am more than a conqueror. I will always triumph. I can do all things through Christ. The devil cannot defeat me. People cannot disillusion me. Weather cannot weary me. Sickness cannot stop me. Battles cannot beat me. Money cannot buy me. Governments cannot silence me, and hell cannot handle me. I am a soldier. Even death cannot destroy me. For when my commander calls me from His battlefield, He will promote me to captain and then allow me to rule with Him. I am a soldier in the army, and I’m marching claiming victory. I will not give up. I will not turn around. I am a soldier, marching heaven-bound. Here I stand!” Unknown Author
You say; well I did not sign up as a soldier, all I wanted is to get to heaven. Well, you will not get there without a war. Jesus came into this world to win that war once and for all. But not everyone knows about it. WHY? We fight the greatest war that has ever been fought. This war started long before God created Adam and Eve. It started in heaven, and eventually came to this earth. And this war is not over until all His enemies are made His footstool.
The objective of that warfare was very clear. Get rid of the promised Messiah, the one who would break the chains of bondage in the lives of people; the one who came to set the captives free. There is another spiritual warfare going on that is not primarily focused on spiritual beings, but ON OUR MIND. The Apostle Paul was exposing an entirely different warfare that was raging especially in the church at Corinth.
People crept into the church at Corinth that were false teachers, accusing Paul of living according to the flesh. They said that when personally present among them, he would not have the courage to confront them, but once gone away, he then would write them a strong rebuke in form of a letter. They said that such a person is a coward. They accused this man of God to be motivated by evil self-interest, interested in money and power.
TWO IMPORTANT POINTS IN SATAN’S DOCTRINE WERE ANNOUNCED BY HIM IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN WHEN HE FIRST APPROACHED THE WOMEN.
First, there was a bold denial of a statement God Himself made
Second, there was Satan’s assurance that if she would act independent from God, they would be as gods.
How can we take down such fortresses? Remember, the Objective of true warfare is to make people change the way they think. And such can only be done BY USING THE WEAPON, THE SPIRITUAL WEAPON GOD HAS GIVEN US.
THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT, THE WORD OF GOD. IT’S ONLY THE TRUTH THAT WILL SET US FREE FROM OUR OWN PRISON, FROM OUR OWN FORTRESSES. They either become our prisons and eventually our tombs, or they need to be demolished by the Truth, the word of the living God.
It is extremely valuable for all of us the be reminded why we are here on this earth, why we have been called into His kingdom and why we have been placed by the Holy Spirit into this local church, Victory.
God the Father sent His son Jesus Christ to this earth with a VERY SPECIFIC PURPOSE. Everything God does He does with a specific purpose in mind. As His children, we ought to follow His example.
The Apostle Paul reminds us that we SHOULD HAVE THE MIND OF CHRIST. During His earthly ministry, Jesus constantly reminded His disciples and His followers that He came WITH A PURPOSE. No one could side track him, no one could lead Him down another path.
If we want to believe in Him, we must embrace everything He ever said.
If we want to believe in Him, we must accept the Word of God as THE WORD OF GOD and not the Word of Man.
If we want to believe in Him, we must OBEY HIS WORD, not the words of man, religious leaders or denominations. OBEYING HIS WORD IS ALL THAT COUNTS.
We need to be reminded of this simple truth on a regular basis. Victory is not hear to entertain you. We are not here to make you feel good or to tell you what an incredible species you are. We are not in existence to make a social impact or to lead political rallies. That’s not the local churches job. Our job is to lead you to Christ and once you are in the kingdom of Christ, to equip you for the work of the ministry, to do the works of God.
This is the work of God that you believe in Him whom He sent.