The Word of God – The Letter Kills but the Spirit Gives Life

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Verses for Today

2 Cor 3:6 Who has also made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant, ministers not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

2 Cor 3:14a But their thoughts were hardened; for until the present day the same veil remains at the reading of the old covenant.

Fellowship

Reading the Bible is a necessary practice for all believers. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says that, “All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for conviction, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, That the man of God may be complete, fully equipped for every good work.” Therefore, what is found in the Bible is the best content available in the whole world. Do not think that you can scroll on your electronic device until you find something better than what is found in the Bible; you cannot. We wholeheartedly recommend the reading of the Bible.

Having said this, we have to know that there are two ways to take the Bible into us. One way results in life and the other way results in death. Let us check our experience. Why is it that we sometimes don’t delight in reading the Bible as much as we should? If the Bible is so rich in content, why is it that it can sometimes even give us a dead feeling? Some ardent studiers of the Bible can even become enemies of God and begin to breathe out threatening and murder. This is because, when taken in for mere knowledge, the letter of the Bible can become death to us.

On the contrary, when we pray to contact Jesus Christ who is the life-giving Spirit, the words of the Bible can become spirit and life to us. We experience something like a flowing river, refreshing us and supplying us. One way is to take the words for knowledge, and this results in death. This is just like Adam and Eve taking from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The other way is to come to the Lord Jesus while we read, seeking to receive life. This is just like man coming to eat of the tree of life.

As Paul said of the Jews, there is a veil upon their heart in the reading of the Scriptures (2 Cor. 3:14). They are veiled by their tradition and by their natural concepts. In their experience the Bible thus becomes a book of dead letters. Like the ancient Pharisees, scribes, and Judaizers, they handle the Word without directly contacting the Lord. Instead of exercising their spirit, they rely on their natural understanding. Furthermore, they are often zealous to maintain their religious tradition. But whenever we come to the Word, we need to contact the Lord. As we come to the Lord in the Word, we need to hunger and thirst for Him and seek to enjoy Him. This seeking after the Lord is well expressed in the lines of hymn 812:

I come to Thee, dear Lord,
My heart doth thirst for Thee;
Of Thee I’d eat, of Thee I’d drink,
Enjoy Thee thoroughly.

Just to behold Thy face,
For this my heart doth cry;
I deeply long to drink of Thee
My thirst to satisfy.

In our reading and pray-reading of the Word, we should seek the Lord’s glorious, radiant face. Then in our experience the Word of God will be a source of life supply and nourishment… (Life Study of Exodus, Msg 56, Section 4)

Gospel of Matthew – Matthew 16:18 – I Will Build My Church

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In this Bible study we have 3 questions and two readings. We will dig deep into the significance of the church in this and the following few Bible studies. We believe this is the right time for the Lord to unveil us further concerning the church. Let us get into it in a prayerful way.

Questions for Fellowship

1. When you were a kid, what did you think was the meaning of
the word “church”?
2. How has your realization of the church changed over the
years?
3. If someone asks you for some steps they can follow to begin
to have a personal time with the Lord, how would you answer
them?

Readings

Seeing The Church

Matthew 16:18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

The Church as the Body of Christ

Ephesians 1:22-23 And He subjected all things under His feet and gave Him to be Head over all things to the church, Which is His Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all.

Bethel

 

Gospel of Matthew – The Divine Trinity in Chapter 6

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Before getting into the attached slides, enjoy these tasty verses revealing the Divine Trinity in chapter 6 of Matthew and His wonderful 3-fold wish.

Matthew 6:9-13 You then pray in this way: Our Father who is in the heavens, Your name be sanctified; 10 Your kingdom come; Your will be done, as in heaven, so also on earth. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

Psalms 8:1 O Jehovah our Lord, / How excellent is Your name / In all the earth, / You who have set Your glory over the heavens!

Revelation 11:15 And the seventh angel trumpeted; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever.

[The reality of these verses] is being fulfilled in this age, and it will be ultimately fulfilled in the coming kingdom age, when the name of God will be excellent in all the earth (Psa. 8:1), the kingdom of the world will become the kingdom of Christ (Rev. 11:15), and the will of God will be accomplished. Our heart is beating and blood is pumping through our veins to fulfill this threefold desire of the Triune God—that His name would be excellent in all the earth, the kingdom of the world would become the kingdom of Christ, and the will of God would be accomplished fully in this universe. We have to pray for this to happen, and we need to ask the Lord as the Spirit of reality to guide us into this reality in our daily life for the church life. (Crystallization Study of Matthew, Vol. 1, Message 4, Ed Marks)

In this Bible study we have 3 main parts, followed by an extra excerpt.

  1. The 3-Fold Wish of the Triune God
  2. The Alpha and the Omega
  3. Application in our Daily Life

Download the full Bible study here:

The Divine Trinity in Matthew Chapter 6 – PDF
The Divine Trinity in Matthew Chapter 6 – PowerPoint Slides
The Divine Trinity in Matthew Chapter 6 – PDF – Extra Excerpt

Gospel of Matthew – They Shall Call His Name Emmanuel

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This Bible Study jumps into the intrinsic significance of the name Emmanuel, God with us. Today, God being with us is certainly for our encouragement as believers. But God being WITH us means much more than just God being for us.

The attached slides first speak of the meaning of Emmanuel, “God with Us”. Then They go on to speak of the Presence of the Triune God, the Spirit of Reality. Certainly, God being with His people is a theme throughout the whole book of Matthew and even the whole New Testament.

The deepest appreciation and most intimate application of God being with us is His dwelling in our spirit. We must know our spirit, the dwelling place of God today. This is what is covered in the final slide. It is covered in a way that college students can relate.

God’s intention, from His dealings with His people in the Old Testament, through the birth of Jesus as Emmanuel and His wonderful salvation, is that He wants to be one with man. Although not included in the slides, we leave you with this powerful verse from the concluding sentences of the whole Bible.

Revelation 21:3 And I heard a loud voice out of the throne, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will tabernacle with them, and they will be His peoples, and God Himself will be with them and be their God.

Please download the full Bible study in your preferred format.

They Shall Call His Name Emmanuel – PDF

They Shall Call His Name Emmanuel – PowerPoint Slides

Our Human Spirit – The Lamp of the Lord

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The Lord Jesus who is God and who is also the Spirit not only lives in our human spirit, but is mingled with our spirit. The Bible says that God’s Spirit and our human spirit have become one spirit!

“…He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit” – 1 Corinthians 6:17

By this mingling, there is shining. As Christians we want to be the shining ones! Our mingled spirit really is the lamp of the Lord.  Read on to find out how to become so shining! 

Download the full Bible Study in your preferred format:

The Lamp of the Lord – PDF

The Lamp of the Lord – PowerPoint Slides

Morning Revival Exercises – Pray Reading the Word

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Verses for Today

2 Corinthians 3:17 And the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

John 4:24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truthfulness.

Ephesians 6:17 And receive the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which Spirit is the word of God,

Ephesians 6:18 By means of all prayer and petition, praying at every time in spirit and watching unto this in all perseverance and petition concerning all the saints,

John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.

Fellowship

The goal of morning revival is to get revived and we can get revived by touching the Lord. Because 2 Corinthians 3:17 tells us that the Lord is the Spirit, we know that we have to use our own human spirit to contact Him. Our human spirit corresponds to the Lord as the Spirit. The Lord Jesus even instructs us in John 4:24 to use our human spirit to contact Him!

Did you know you had a human spirit? This is a spiritual organ deep inside you. When you call on the name of the Lord you are exercising your spirit. When you tell Him you love Him you are exercising your spirit. Essentially, whenever you turn your being to the Lord and direct your heart and your speaking to Him, you are exercising your spirit. Reading only with our eyes and our mind, like we do for school, is not enough for us to touch the living Christ who is the Spirit today. What we need is to pray to contact our dear Lord Jesus all the time, even while reading His word.

Here are some examples. If you reply to the Word of God with an “Amen Lord,” that is to contact the Lord. If you begin to read a verse with, “Oh, Lord Jesus,” and then read the verse, then this is also an excellent way to contact the Lord, that is, to touch the Lord through prayer as you read. 

There is not one way to pray-read. Ephesians 6:18 shows us that we should receive the Word by means of all prayer. This means all kinds of prayer. When pray-reading, you can be calling on the Lord, confessing, or petitioning the Lord. All prayer is good. In fact, using John 6:63 as an example, you can say to the Lord, “Lord, It is the Spirit who gives Life; Lord, You are the Spirit and You give life. Lord, give life to me!”

Those who have tried pray-reading have discovered that it is one of the quickest ways to get out of our selfishness and into the enjoyment of God. God has put His very thoughts into the Bible. By praying and reading the Bible, His selfless, loving, and pure thoughts get into us and can even become our thoughts. This is a part of sanctification. By pray-reading, we are being sanctified! Moreover, John 6:63 tells us that the Spirit gives life. Therefore, whenever we pray-read, we not only receive God’s thoughts, but even His life.

Do practice contacting the Lord while reading His word. If there are several verses that you read, pick one and linger there, praying with the words from that verse, and contacting the Lord Jesus. This is an excellent way to be revived morning by morning. 

Morning Revival Exercises – Telling the Lord that you Love Him

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Verses for Today

Mark 12:30 And you shall love the Lord your God from your whole heart and from your whole soul and from your whole mind and from your whole strength.

1 Corinthians 2:9 But as it is written, “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard and which have not come up in man’s heart; things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”

Fellowship

When we we wake up in the morning, our heart may not be turned to the Lord and our mind may naturally rush to things other than the Lord. We always need to warm up our heart with love toward the Lord. Telling Him that we love Him surely warms our heart and turns it toward Him! In fact, this is one of the easiest yet most enjoyable exercises we can do! Try to do this every day when you wake up, before you do anything else, even before you get out of bed: say, “Lord Jesus, I love You!”. What a sweet and even romantic start to your day! “Lord Jesus, I love You!” You wont’ become a religious Christian in this way. You’ll become a romantic Christian.

Then once you are up and begin having a definite time with the Lord you can try telling the Lord once again:

“Oh Lord I love You, I really love You.”

Other Suggested prayer:

“Lord, I love You. Attract me, that I may love You more. Rekindle my love for You this very day. Every day I want my love for You to be fresh and sweet. Come and make Your home in my heart. You are the One I desire.” (Life Messages, vol. 2, p. 206)

Here is a song you can sing to the Lord!

You shall love the Lord with all your heart
You shall love the Lord with all your soul,
You shall love the Lord with all your mind,
With all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind.

Oh, Lord I love You for all the things You are!
Oh, Lord I love You for all the things You do!
Oh, Lord I love You. Help me love You more,
With all my heart, with all my soul, with all my mind.