Showing posts with label Holy Spirit of life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Holy Spirit of life. Show all posts

October 19, 2016

a new message for Yom Kippur 2016 meditation (6): New Manna in the Wilderness

Romans 6 Tree of Life Version (TLV) Who Is Your Master?
6 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may abound? 2 May it never be! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Or do you not know that all of us who were immersed into Messiah Yeshua were immersed into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried together with Him through immersion into death—in order that just as Messiah was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have become joined together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also will be joined together in His resurrection— 6 knowing our old man was crucified with Him so that the sinful body might be done away with, so we no longer serve sin. 7 For he who has died is set free from sin.
8 Now if we have died with Messiah, we believe that we shall also live with Him. 9 We know that Messiah, having been raised from the dead, no longer dies; death no longer is master over Him. 10 For the death He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life He lives, He lives to God. 11 So also continually count yourselves both dead to sin and alive to God in Messiah Yeshua.
12 Therefore do not let sin rule in your mortal body so that you obey its desires. 13 And do not keep yielding your body parts to sin as tools of wickedness; but yield yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your body parts as tools of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! 16 Do you not know that to whatever you yield yourselves as slaves for obedience, you are slaves to what you obey—whether to sin resulting in death, or to obedience resulting in righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching under which you were placed; 18 and after you were set free from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness.
19 I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you yielded your body parts as slaves to uncleanness and lawlessness, leading to more lawlessness, so now yield your body parts as slaves to righteousness, resulting in holiness. 20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free with regard to righteousness. 21 So then, what outcome did you have that you are now ashamed of? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now, having been set free from sin and having become enslaved to God, you have your fruit resulting in holiness. And the outcome is eternal life. 23 For sin’s payment[a] is death, but God’s gracious gift is eternal life in Messiah Yeshua our Lord.
Footnotes:
1.    Romans 6:23 Or the wages of sin.
John 6 Tree of Life Version (TLV) New Manna in the Wilderness
6 Afterwards, Yeshua went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also known as the Sea of Tiberias. 2 A large crowd kept following Him, because they were watching the signs He was performing on the sick. 3 Then Yeshua went up the mountainside and sat down there with His disciples. 4 Passover, the Jewish feast, was near.
5 Lifting up His eyes and seeing a large crowd coming to Him, Yeshua said to Philip, “Where will we buy bread so these may eat?” 6 Now Yeshua was saying this to test him, for He knew what He was about to do.
7 Philip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii[a] isn’t enough to buy bread for each to get a little bit!”
8 One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him, 9 “There’s a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish—but what’s that for so many?”
10 Yeshua said, “Make the people recline.” There was much grass in the area. So the men reclined, about five thousand in number. 11 Then Yeshua picked up the loaves. And having given thanks, He distributed bread to everyone who was reclining. He did the same with the fish, as much as they wanted.
12 When the people were full, Yeshua said to His disciples, “Gather up the leftovers, so nothing is wasted.” 13 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with broken pieces from the five barley loaves, which were left over by those who had finished eating.
14 When the people saw the sign that Yeshua performed, they began to say, “This is most certainly the Prophet who is to come into the world!” [b] 15 Realizing that they were about to come and seize Him by force to make Him king, Yeshua withdrew again to the mountain, Himself alone.
The Savior on the Sea
16 Now when evening came, Yeshua’s disciples went down to the sea. 17 Getting into a boat, they set out to cross the sea toward Capernaum. By now it had become dark, and still Yeshua had not come to them. 18 A great wind began to blow, stirring up the sea.
19 After they had rowed about twenty-five or thirty stadia,[c] they catch sight of Yeshua walking on the sea, approaching the boat. They were terrified! 20 But Yeshua says to them, “I am. Don’t be afraid.” [d] 21 Then they wanted to take Him into the boat, and right away the boat reached the shore where they were headed.
The Bread from Heaven
22 The next day, the crowd remaining on the other side of the sea realized that no other boat had been there except the one, and that Yeshua hadn’t gone into the boat with His disciples, but that His disciples had gone away alone. 23 Some other boats from Tiberias came close to the place where they had eaten the bread after the Master had given thanks. 24 So when the crowd realized that neither Yeshua nor His disciples were there, they got into the boats and set off for Capernaum to find Him. 25 When they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said, “Rabbi, when did You get here?”
26 Yeshua responded to them, “Amen, amen I tell you, you seek Me not because you saw signs, but because you ate all the bread and were filled. 27 Don’t work for food that spoils, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on Him, God the Father has put the seal of approval.”
28 Then they said to Him, “What shall we do to perform the works of God?”
29 Yeshua answered them, “This is the work of God, to trust in the One He sent.”
30 So they said to Him, “Then what sign do You perform, so that we may see and believe You? What work do You do? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘Out of heaven He gave them bread to eat.’”[e]
32 Yeshua answered them, “Amen, amen I tell you, it isn’t Moses who has given you bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is the One coming down from heaven and giving life to the world.”
34 So they said to Him, “Sir, give us this bread from now on!”
35 Yeshua said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in Me will never be thirsty. 36 But I told you that you have seen Me, yet you do not believe. 37 Everyone the Father gives Me will come to Me, and anyone coming to Me I will never reject. 38 For I have come down from heaven not to do My own will but the will of the One who sent Me.
39 “Now this is the will of the One who sent Me, that I lose not one of all He has given Me, but raise each one on the last day. 40 For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who sees the Son and trusts in Him may have eternal life; and I will raise him up on the last day.”
41 Some of the Judeans[f] started to grumble about Him, because He said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They were saying, “Isn’t this Yeshua the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can He now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”
43 Yeshua answered, “Stop grumbling among yourselves! 44 No one can come to Me unless My Father who sent Me draws him—and I will raise him up on the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets, ‘They will all be taught by God.’[g] Everyone who has listened and learned from the Father comes to Me. 46 Not that anyone has seen the Father except the One who is from God—He has seen the Father.
47 “Amen, amen I tell you, he who believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat and not die. 51 I am the living bread, which came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever. This bread is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
52 Then the Jews began arguing with one another, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?”
53 So Yeshua said to them, “Amen, amen I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. 54 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
55 “For My flesh is real food and My blood is real drink. 56 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. 57 Just as the living Father sent Me and I live because of the Father, so the one who eats of Me will also live because of Me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven—not like the bread your fathers ate and then died. He who eats this bread will live forever.”
59 He said these things while teaching at the synagogue in Capernaum.
Fallout from a Hard Teaching
60 So when many of His disciples heard this, they said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can listen to it?”
61 But Yeshua knew His disciples were murmuring, so He said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 Then what if you see the Son of Man going back up to the place where He was before? 63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no benefit. The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and are life! 64 Yet some of you do not trust.” Yeshua knew from the beginning who were the ones who did not trust, as well as which one would betray Him.
65 Then He told them, “For this reason I’ve told you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by the Father.”
66 From this time, many of His disciples left and quit walking with Him. 67 So Yeshua said to the Twelve, “You don’t want to leave also, do you?”
68 Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life! 69 We have trusted and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God.”
70 Yeshua answered them, “Didn’t I choose you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is the adversary!” 71 Now He was speaking of Judah, the son of Simon of Kriot—for he, one of the Twelve, was about to betray Him.
Footnotes:
1.    John 6:7 One denarius was the daily wage for a laborer.
2.    John 6:15 cf. Dt. 18:15.
3.    John 6:19 About three or four miles, halfway across the sea.
4.    John 6:21 Lit. I am. Don’t be afraid; cf. Jn. 8:2418:6.
5.    John 6:31 Ps. 78:24; cf. Exod. 16:4-36Neh. 9:15.
6.    John 6:41 Perhaps Galileans.
7.    John 6:45 cf. Isa 54:13.
end of footnotes
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.

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April 6, 2016

“It is the Spirit who gives life”

What/who gives life? This is the question today. Jesus told us that “it is the Spirit who gives life.” (John 6:63) He is talking about the Holy Spirit. A Chinese woman had just jumped down from a high-rise building in  a busy prosperous modern city and ended her life. She just came back to work from her maternity leave. She worked  in a big corporation with lots of staff who hardly had time to know each other. She was away for sometime and had just returned to work. She just had a baby. But she suddenly ended her life.
According to some Chinese tradition of ancestors’ worship this is the time of the annual tomb festival and they go to visit their ancestors’ cemeteries and perform their filial rituals there. It is a bit like the All Souls’ Day (Day of the Dead) practiced by some Christians in the West. Although many treat this as a traditional or even cultural event to remember the dead loved ones, there is spiritual implication and influence in the spiritual realm which can manifest in the physical realm and affect lives on earth, as I have written before. The apostles have warned Christians about such evil that affect minds. (James 4:7; 1 Peter 5:8-9; 2 Corinthians 10:3-5; Ephesians 6:10-18; Philippians 4:8)
What should Christians do on such mass celebration of the dead? I believe we can find Bible verses to guide us. Christianity does not focus on the dead. Jesus talks of life and life more abundant. He has given many words about Hi giving life and the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of life, His words are life. He speaks of His resurrection from the dead. He tells us that we shall be resurrected too. Believers of Jesus  shall not remain dead when Jesus returns. We shall not taste the second death the rest of the world will go into. The whole Bible actually focuses on the life that God has given to mankind and the born again life that the Holy Spirit will give to those who believe in Jesus. Jesus speaks of His mission as, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10)
Bible verses: James 4:7; 1 Peter 5:8-9; 2 Corinthians 10:3-5; Ephesians 6:10-18
Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—
Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.
Philippians 4:4-7
Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Today's faith action verse: cast all your cares on Him

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