The Fountain of Life

 

"And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." (Revelation 22:17)

 

The fourth verse of "Jesus, Lover of My Soul" speaks of the mature Christian’s desire for purity and victory over sin, and looks forward to the ultimate victory in eternity.

 

Plenteous grace with Thee is found, Grace to cover all my sin;
Let the healing streams abound; Make and keep me pure within.
Thou of life the Fountain art, Freely let me take of Thee;
Spring Thou up within my heart, Rise to all eternity.

 

How Does the Death of Jesus Save?

Chuck Swindoll

One way to understand the meaning of the death of Jesus is to imagine a courtroom scene in which we are on trial for our sins and God is the judge. Our sins against God are capital crimes. God Himself is our judge, and according to divine law our crimes deserve the death penalty. Death, in a spiritual sense, means eternal separation from God in unending torment. That's a very serious judgment.

By shedding His blood on the cross, Jesus took the punishment we deserve and offered us His righteousness. When we trust Christ for our salvation, essentially we are making a trade. By faith, we trade our sin and its accompanying death penalty for His righteousness and life.

In theological terms, this is called "substitutionary atonement." Christ died on the cross as our substitute. Without Him, we would suffer the death penalty for our own sins....

Is Your Miracle Passing You By?

Kenneth W. Hagin

To download a free PDF of this book, click here.

And they came to Jericho; and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging.And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and

Chapter 1
‘THY FAITH HATH MADE THEE WHOLE’

And they came to Jericho; and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, Thou son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee. And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus. And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way. —Mark 10:46–52

What We Can Learn From God's Silence

SCOTT HAGAN

(© Theodor38 / StockFreeImages)

I recently uncovered the amazing mysteries of tranquility while excavating a lost sermon of Jesus. I’d been overlooking it in my gospel quarry for years. Once I knew where to dig, it became a simple discovery—one I invite you to make for yourself.

Take a few moments with your New Testament and look up every passage detailing the crucifixion. Once you’ve found them all, write out the statements recorded as coming from the lips of Jesus while He hung on the cross. Now, slowly repeat those statements aloud, one after the other. You’ll find they barely fill one minute of spoken conversation when strung together. Seven one-liners!

What was Jesus saying during the rest of His six hours on the cross?

There is much He could have said. He could have ended the opening argument of His extradition with an ear-splitting sermon or offered up a plateful of prophetic thunder as a parting shot for Pilate. He could have unloaded an earful at the elders. He could have undressed with righteous rhetoric the Roman cohorts who stripped His clothes, and then showered condemnation on those who spat upon Him. He could have bellowed out a few shots from Jeremiah’s prophecies to wayward Israel or ordered up a few hungry bears as Elijah did.

Checkmate?

“The King is the most important piece. When he is trapped, his whole army loses. The King can move one square in any direction. The main goal of chess is to checkmate your opponent’s King. The King is not actually captured and removed from the board like other pieces. But if the King is attacked (‘checked’) and threatened with capture, it must get out of check immediately. If there is no way to get out of check, the position is a ‘checkmate,’ and the side that is checkmated loses.”We all know what the game of chess involves. Now there used to be a painting in the Louvre art museum called "Checkmate", painted by Friedrich Moritz August Retzsch. It is now in private hands after being sold at Christie’s in 1999. This painting depicts 2 chess players, one is satan whom appears arrogantly confident, and the other player is a man who looks forlorn. If satan wins, he gets the man's soul.

The Old Covenant

If ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people. —Exodus 19:5

After four hundred years of bondage in a pagan nation, the Israelites did not understand God. Soon they returned to idol worship. From Mount Sinai, God gave them a set of laws (engraved on tablets of stone) to help them learn how to live holy lives. Yet, the first thing that Israel did was build a golden calf, breaking the first commandment. The Law reveals our sin but cannot empower us to be obedient or righteous.

Living under the old covenant clearly revealed the need for a new and improved covenant (Hebrews 8:7). The old covenant foreshadowed the greater one to come.

Jesus instituted a better and more perfect contract signed in His blood. God’s commandments no longer lie rigid and cold in stone, but now live and breathe inside us (2 Corinthians 3:3).

Be Skillful

"The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing." (Psalm 34:10)

Did you know that, according to the Word of God, there is no lack in the Body of Christ? Everything we could ever need, every problem we could ever face has been covered by the blood of Jesus. His exceeding great and precious promises have supplied it all.

Why then do many of us keep on suffering lack? Because we haven't, as Hebrews 5:13 says, become skillful in the Word of righteousness.

It takes skill to apply the Word of God. Sometimes we just sling the Word around and try to use it any old way. We pray some ignorant prayer and then say, "Oh well, God knows what I mean" and expect it to be answered.

Healing Testimony : Aquilla Nash

Aquilla Nash was dying when she met God in 1961. Complications following the birth of her second son resulted in acute hemorrhaging. In spite of the efforts of several physicians to revive her, she began to feel her life ebbing away. In those moments, she turned to God and committed her life to him. That dramatic and decisive confrontation with God also led to her healing.