12”How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer….
13 For you have said in your heart:
“I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God,
I will also sit on the mount of the congregation
on the farthest sides of the north;
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
I will be like the Most High.” Isaiah 14:12-14

4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.
5 “For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:4-5

The above scriptures describe mankind’s problem. The following scriptures give us the solution to mankind’s problem. 20 “I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. Galatians 2:20 14 For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died: 15 and He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. 2Corinthians 5:14-15 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. Romans 6:6,18 From [... read more...]

One of the two most important reasons why Jesus died on a cross was to get us unstuck on ourselves. You might say, “Well, He died so that we can be forgiven for our sins.” Right. That is also why Jesus died. There are probably quite a few people that you know, where you would love to stick the title of this teaching on their refrigerator door, or on their desk at work. You, yourself, might need to look into this a little further. I intend to give lots of scriptures to prove the validity of the above title. There is absolutely nothing so freeing as to be unstuck on one’s self so that God can use a person for his God ordained purposes in life. There is absolutely nothing so freeing as letting God’s Spirit use me; instead of being all caught up in what people think of ME; or thoughts about how well I am doing as compared [... read more...]

Many, many Christians consider the John 6 discourse on the Bread of Life to be the meaning for the bread of the Lord’s Supper. I want to point out the difference between the manna which the Bread of Life message is based on, and the unleavened bread which is the basis for the bread of the Lord’s Supper. Not only are these two different kinds of bread, but they stand for two different aspects of the Christian experience. Let’s look at some scriptures that link the Bread of Life message of the New Testament to the manna.

31Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, “He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”‘
32Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” John 6:31-33

49Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. 50This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. 51I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.” John 6:49-51

58This is the bread which came down from heaven–not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.” John 6:58

The unleavened bread is a ceremonial bread used to remember a historical event. It is used and eaten to remember the Hebrew’s deliverance out of Egypt. 3You shall eat no leavened bread with it; seven days you shall eat unleavened bread with it, that is, the bread of affliction (for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste), that you [... read more...]

The Holy Spirit hovers and broods over the message of the cross. By the word, “cross,” we mean His finished work on the cross. Jesus said in John 19:30b, “…It is finished!…” The two great truths of the cross, forgiveness and deliverance, are standing offers for all people until He comes back. Willing believers claim and experience these basic truths and all of the other truths of the cross. What the Holy Spirit Does When we present the Lord’s Supper with understanding, the Holy Spirit will brood over the truths of the cross being proclaimed. The Holy Spirit is convicting us of our sin. He is pointing out the truths of the cross. He is applying pressure on us to confess our sins and take them to the cross (by faith apply the truths of the cross to a particular sin or death problem). Whatever sin we confess and take to the cross, the Holy Spirit will seek to replace [... read more...]

There are two great pictures of the cross in the Exodus story. The first picture is well known. The blood of the Passover lamb applied to the doorposts of the Hebrew houses is clearly understood to be a picture of the forgiveness we now have because of the blood of Jesus. The Hebrews applied the blood to the doorposts so that the death angel would see the blood and pass over the household. The Hebrews were thus spared and shielded from a terrible judgment. Let’s look at a simple but very important point here. The Hebrew firstborns were delivered from the judgment of the death angel for the purpose that they might live. The goal delivering them from death was so that they might live. Similarly, Jesus suffered death for us so that we might experience life. This life is in heaven and we get to experience measures of this life down here on earth. By faith we need to [... read more...]