COME TO HIM AND OBTAIN LIFE
Friday – December 14, 2018, Tevet 6, 5779
Greetings and welcome back to this engaging, faith building Bible Study of the Book of John. Is this Word of God burning within us? Once we realize there is nothing more valuable nor is there anything more powerful than the Word of God spoken by an Anointed voice perhaps, we can become more serious about the Word. The featured picture today is of yours truly taken a few years ago when I wore glasses and was a little heavier than I am now. I don’t know about you but I seem to have a rather flexible waist line. I really need to get my pictures updated but this is close, you could recognize me on the street. Okay, time to get serious and turn our attention to the Bible Study at hand. Our victory is not in my picture or waist line issues but the eternal Word of God. Let us read our primary text from the Book of John aloud getting it in our eyes, in our mouth, and in our ears. Remember, faith comes by hearing, and our hearing (spiritual and physical) becomes better with the more we hear the Word of God (Romans 10:17).
John 5:37-43 (KJV)
37 And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.
38 And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not.
39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
40 And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.
41 I receive not honour from men.
42 But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you.
43 I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.
As you will recall I left off yesterday with some discussion of verses 39 and 40 above. I also had pointed out to us all the straight forwardness of how Jesus shared, taught, or preached the Truth. Today we are apparently too thin skinned and need a softer and less effective approach. The kindest most loving thing a person can do in our lives is help us make a course correction away from disaster and towards the fulfilment of the good things of God. Jesus has just told the Jews, those who want to kill Him, that they believe there is eternal life in the Scripture, the Scripture speaks of Him, yet they refuse the very source of that life who stands in their presence. As we can see from the text Jesus is referring to their search for eternal life in the Scripture and all of it points to the One, they are angry at that day. Let me ask, when we accept Jesus as Lord when does our eternal life start? Does it start that moment, or at the Catching Away (Rapture) or some other point? Keep in mind there is eternal death and eternal life. Before salvation we were abiding in eternal death. As I have noted before spiritual death does not mean nonexistence or a lack of consciousness but means we are not alive and able to communicate with God, we are separated from Him condemned to Hell eternally when we leave this life. That condemnation is not of God and it is not of the devil, it is of our own choices. Consider the following Scripture.
John 10:10 (KJV)
10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
When we are in the kingdom of darkness, the kingdom of this world ruled by the deceptions of the evil ones, we are open to stealing, killing, and destroying in our lives. This stealing, killing, and destroying also goes on in the life of the Christian who is not obedient to the will of God. Jesus came that we could receive, believe, and walk in the Word and have an abundant life here and in the life to come. That is not to say we will not have challenges or storms in this life as we walk obediently before our God. What it does mean is that we can walk impervious to those storms going straight ahead with our assigned agenda (assigned of God). When you see a person with stealing, killing, and destroying all around them yet it is not changing their direction and mission you have witnessed a person in obedience to God and entered into that secret place, of the abundant life. Let us determine that the devils can take their best shots but we will not stagger in our commitment to the Word of God and our assignments from the Throne of Heaven.
Let us examine ourselves and be sure that we have come to Him (verse 40) and are not doing it our way, that the doctrine we follow is not flawed (corrupted). If there is stealing, killing, and destroying in our life we must come before the Lord being careful not to enter into any condemnation and inquire as to our direction. Remember, each of us even in a marriage in the end answer for ourselves and determine the course of our individual lives. This of course can greatly impact the covenant partner whether it be for better or worse. Our first focus is God, our second is our Covenant partner (wife or husband). I for one want to enter into and stay in the abundant life that Jesus paid for with His most precious Blood. This walk with our Lord is not one of loss but one of gain, not simply gaining Heaven which is critical but achieving abundance in every area of life both here and in the life to come. As I finish for today and this week consider the account of what is commonly called “The Rich Young Ruler”. This man was doing the commandments but Jesus by the revelation of the Holy Spirit identified that this man worshipped money and that had to be broken because neither he nor we can worship God and money (mammon). Jesus did not tell him to give to the poor to make him poor but to make him richer still. The following passage is what Jesus taught after the man left.
Mark 10:29-30 (KJV)
29 And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel’s,
30 But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.
Did you notice the “now in this time”?! God wants us all, His children to be very rich so quit spiritualizing it, it is impossible to be rich in the spirit and not in the physical.
Until our next publication, as a Bible Teacher and Prophetic Voice I speak this blessing over each and every one of you, receive it by faith in Jesus name!
Numbers 6:24-26 (AMP)
24 The Lord bless you and watch, guard, and keep you;
25 The Lord make His face to shine upon and enlighten you and be gracious (kind, merciful, and giving favor) to you;
26 The Lord lift up His [approving] countenance upon you and give you peace (tranquility of heart and life continually).
By: Dr. David Wood, Author, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
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