John 12:24

John  12:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

According to the principle of the nature, if a grain of wheat is never sown into the earth, it will remain forever as one grain of wheat; but if this grain of wheat is buried into the earth, then it will bear much fruit. 

In the same principle, the Lord Jesus had to go to the cross to die in order to bear much fruit. As the result of the life-releasing death and life-dispensing resurrection of the Lord Jesus, we have become the many sons of God, simply by believing into Jesus and receiving the divine life. Hallelujah! we are the "much fruit"!

今日いち-2024年12月15日

So hot…. The summer is really here now
I have free sauna in my car

Experiencing, Enjoying, and Expressing Christ (1) - 9

Message Title: Christ as the Resurrection and the Grain of Wheat

the Lord needs to train us to the extent that, in whatever situation we are facing, we will not trust in ourselves, but in the God who is resurrection. 

we need to be renewed so that we can be delivered out of our oldness and staleness. how can we be renewed?

1. by the cross

2 Corinthians 4:12 So then death operates in us, but life in you.

when the death, which is the cross operates in us, we will be releasing and imparting life, which is the resurrection life into others. also, we ourselves are being renewed.

2. by the Holy Spirit

Titus 3:5 Not out of works in righteousness which we did but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit,

3. by the mingled spirit

Ephesians  4:23 And that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind

4. by the word

Ephesians  5:26 That He might sanctify her, cleansing her by the washing of the water in the word,

5. the Lord's table

Matthew 26:29 But I say to you, I shall by no means drink of this product of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in the kingdom of My Father.

the Lord nevers an old table meeting. whenever we come to the Lord's table, we need to be fresh and new. what makes us old when we come to the table? not forgiving each other, and holding on to the offences. we need to ask others to forgive us, to seek to be forgiven, and we also need to forgive others. 

I. We can experience, enjoy, and express Christ as the resurrection 

John 11:25 Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes into Me, even if he should die, shall live;

in order to live in resurrection, we must see the unveiled truth concerning Christ's resurrection:

1. in resurrection, Christ was begotten to be the firstborn Son of God

Acts  13:33 That God has fully fulfilled this promise to us their children in raising up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, “You are My Son; this day have I begotten You.”

2. all the believers of Christ were regenerated by God the Father through the resurrection of Christ for the producing of the church as His Body, His reproduction.

1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has regenerated us unto a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

3. Christ as the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit

1 Corinthians 15:45 So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul”; the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.

Numbers 17:5 And the rod of the man whom I choose shall bud, and I will put a stop to the murmurings of the children of Israel against Me, which they murmur against you.

In Numbers chapter 16, there was the rebellion against Moses and Aaron, God commanded from each tribe, a rod of the leading one should be placed beofre Him overnight. then the next day, Aaron's rod became budded and bore ripe almonds. all the twelve rods were leafless, dry, and dead. but the one chosen by God budded and bore fruit. this shows that resurrection is the basis of God's selection and that the basis of service is something apart from our natural life. Aaron's budding rod was put within the Ark, showing that resurrection is an eternal principle in our service to God. Resurrection means that everyting is of God and not of us. 

II. We can experience, enjoy, and express Christ as the grain of wheat

in the resurrection of Christ, the enlarged, divine-human, universal incorporation of the processed Triune God with the regenerated believers came forth from Christ as the transfigured grain of wheat in three aspects:

1. the Father's house for His rest, satisfaction, and manifestation

John 14:2 In My Father’s house are many abodes; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.

2. the true vine for God's enlargment, spreading, and glorification

3. the child of the Spirit, the new man, to carry out God's eternal economy

Philippians 1:5

Philippians  1:5 For your fellowship unto the furtherance of the gospel from the first day until now,

The saints in Philippi had fellowship unto the gospel, participating in the furtherance of the gospel through the apostle Paul’s ministry. This participation included their financial contributions to the apostle (Phil. 4:10, 15-16), which issued in the furtherance of the gospel. This kind of fellowship, which kept them from being individualistic and diversely minded, implies their oneness with the apostle Paul and with one another. This gave them the ground for their experience and enjoyment of Christ, which is the main point of this book. The Christ-experiencing-and-enjoying life is a life in the furtherance of the gospel, a gospel-preaching life, not individualistic but corporate. Hence, there is “the fellowship unto the furtherance of the gospel.” The more fellowship we have in the furtherance of the gospel, the more Christ we experience and enjoy. This kills our self, ambition, preference, and choice.

- "Life Study of Philippians" P13

今日いち-2024年12月12日

Matcha latte
Almond croissant
Date scone
So good to start the day with this