Participants: Bill Liversidge
Series Code: IHS
Program Code: IHS000001A
00:13 Eat the bread, you will have life.
00:16 Eat My flesh, you will have life. 00:19 Drink My blood, you will have life. 00:22 The evidence is our willingness to hear 00:24 and to obey the Word of the God, 00:26 especially since we realize this is God speaking. 00:33 This is not an ordinary book 00:35 we are talking about this morning 00:38 this is the word of life. 00:40 This is the Word of God we have in His presence. 00:47 The Holy Spirit's ability to inspire. 01:01 Let's bow our heads together 01:02 as we get into the word this morning. 01:06 Our loving Father in heaven, You are a gracious God. 01:10 We just pray that You're word 01:11 will be so clear this morning Father, 01:14 that our hearts will be touched, 01:17 our minds will be strengthen with in us 01:19 and we will just know with an absolute certainty 01:22 that there is a God in heaven who loves us unconditionally 01:27 and who is willing to share Himself for us 01:30 and in us every single day. 01:33 Thank You and anticipation of your word coming to life 01:35 again today in Jesus precious name, 01:40 Amen. 01:41 Theopneustos, well, what a huge word 01:45 that is to being with here in Auburn. Theou, 01:51 which you're all familiar with 01:55 is the Greek word for God. 01:59 It's the word for God. 02:03 And Pneustos, the "P" is silent. 02:08 This is the word inspired now, inspired is Theopneustos 02:15 and this is the word, if you look at pneu there 02:18 you think of pneumatic. 02:20 What do you think about in English 02:22 when you think of pneumatic? 02:24 You think of air. Yes, you do indeed. 02:27 Pneumonia a diseases of the air in the lungs. 02:33 This is the word breathed. 02:39 It's the same word from Genesis Chapter 2 02:44 where God breathed into man 02:47 and man became a living soul. 02:53 So if something is inspired by the Holy Spirit 02:58 it means God breathed. 03:02 Isn't that exciting? 03:05 Oh, I thought I heard a response there from-- 03:08 That must be an Auburn, okay. 03:11 Isn't that exciting? 03:14 Thank you, Lord. Yes. Thank you, Lord. 03:18 So whatever we speak about being inspired this week 03:23 it is God breathe 03:25 and I remind you, turn with me to Genesis Chapter 1, 03:30 Genesis Chapter 1 03:31 because there is something about God breathe, 03:34 this is also by the way the same word for Spirit. 03:40 Because the breathe of God 03:41 is associated with the Spirit of God. 03:47 Genesis 1:26, notice it begins 03:51 with "And God said," 03:56 are you catching that? God said, 03:59 so whenever we see Theopneustos 04:03 the Word of God is always present. 04:07 God spoke, God said. 04:11 I'm always fascinated 04:13 by the first time things occur in scripture. 04:17 It's the basis of course for understanding all symbols 04:20 in the Book of Revelation. 04:22 You trace them back to the first time 04:25 they pop up in scripture. 04:28 And this is the first usage of speaking in scripture 04:34 and its God said. Each day of creation God spoke. 04:41 And here we are on the sixth day of creation 04:44 and what did God say? Notice it carefully. 04:48 "God said, Let's" He didn't say let Me. Did He? 04:55 Even though there is a whole movement around 04:57 today trying to reduce the us to me. 05:01 Let us, He is trying to tell us something 05:04 about Himself, isn't He? 05:06 That God is a plural, God head. 05:09 "Let us make man in our" don't you love that? 05:16 I don't know why we got to struggle 05:18 so much over the trinity? 05:20 "Let us make man in our image," 05:26 and then notice what happens 05:28 as you going down to chapter 2 and verse 7, 05:32 where its repeated again. 05:34 "The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, 05:38 and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life 05:42 and man became a living soul." 05:45 So I'm wanting you to catch the meaning of inspired 05:49 right from the beginning this week. 05:52 Every time you see the word inspired 05:54 you are going to think, God breathed 05:56 and you are gonna say to yourself, my goodness, 05:59 God breathed after He had spoken. 06:06 Amen. 06:13 Hallelujah, I'm not prepared for this. 06:15 This is Auburn, isn't it? 06:19 God breathe after He had spoken. 06:25 Whenever you see the word inspired 06:28 I want you to think the Word of God 06:31 and the breath of God. 06:35 Let those two things come together, 06:40 the Word of God and the breath of God coming together. 06:46 And I have news for you this morning 06:48 and this is a time to drop that bomb on you 06:52 that this is not just the word about God, 06:57 this is actually the Word of God. 07:03 Amen. 07:05 Who was that? You should be sitting up the front. 07:09 This is not just the word about God, 07:12 this is the Word of God. 07:18 Beautiful little statement by the way 07:20 from six, Testimonies, page 393, 07:23 listen very carefully to this. 07:26 "The word of the living God 07:27 is not merely written, it is spoken. 07:33 The Bible is God's voice speaking to us, 07:38 as surely as though 07:40 we could hear it with our own ears. 07:42 If we realized this, with what awe 07:46 would we open God's word, 07:49 and with what earnestness would we search its precepts!" 07:53 Now listen to this last statement. 07:55 "The reading and contemplation of the word would be regarded 08:01 as an audience with the Infinite One." 08:05 Amen. 08:07 What was that? Six, Testimonies, 393. 08:11 Isn't not a beautiful statement? 08:12 Amen. 08:15 The reading and contemplation of the Scriptures 08:19 would be regarded as what? 08:21 An audience with the Infinite One. 08:26 Amen. 08:28 We are right in the presence of the Infinite One 08:32 this morning because we are in His word. 08:35 Amen. 08:37 We are in the presence of the throne 08:40 of the Majesty of heaven. 08:45 This blows me away whenever I think about it. 08:47 This is not an ordinary book we are talking about this morning, 08:52 this is the word of life. 08:54 This is the Word of God, we are in His presence. 09:00 It's the breath of God. 09:02 If you are hearing the word this morning 09:05 and you make a conscience choice to act upon it 09:09 you will walk out of this church-- 09:13 oh, hallelujah, 09:14 oh, I like you very much, a living soul. 09:18 You will have the breath of God in you. 09:22 You will have the spirit of the living God in you. 09:27 You will be alive in Christ for another day of your life. 09:32 Amen. 09:33 That's why Jesus taught in John 17, 09:37 "Sanctify them through 09:40 thy truth, thy word is" 09:45 do you notice the two things coming together there, 09:48 sanctify and word? I don't know 09:52 why it took me so many years 09:54 to put those two things together. 09:57 You know, we are not in the Pentecostal tradition. 10:01 We don't just raise our hands and say, God, zap me, 10:04 through me. Make me holy. 10:06 Oh, that it was that easy, ah? 10:08 I wish it was that easy. 10:11 God has designed it so that His breath, 10:14 His spirit comes into us as we digest His word. 10:20 Amen. 10:22 If you want confirmation of that, 10:24 turn over to 1 Peter this morning. 10:28 I know, of no clearer statement in scripture than this one 10:31 on this subject. 10:32 1 Peter Chapter 1, it's good to hear 10:34 those pages rustling this morning. 10:37 Praise God. We are here to be in the word, aren't we? 10:42 And I'm reading 1 Peter 1:22, 23. 10:47 "Since you have in obedience to the truth" 10:54 done what? 10:59 "Purified your souls." That's what I kept missing, 11:03 the relationship between obedience to the truth 11:08 and the purification of our souls. 11:11 What other word came through in John 17 11:14 that means purification of your soul? 11:17 Sanctification, thank you. 11:19 You are sharp this morning. 11:21 Indeed sanctification comes about 11:25 as we act upon the Word of God 11:30 because it is the living Word of God. 11:36 It's not just a set of rules, it's not some good advice 11:40 that God has given us. 11:43 This is God in His word. Do you believe it? 11:49 No wonder the devil 11:51 wants to keep attacking the Word of God 11:55 because He doesn't want us to cross the line 11:58 and start believing that it's actually God. 12:02 It's His voice, 12:03 it's His ability to breathe in us. 12:09 If I can succeed this morning in communicating 12:11 that one point to you we've had a successful morning. 12:16 I'm gonna repeat it again. 12:19 The relationship between hearing 12:23 and acting on the Word of God 12:26 and receiving the breath, the Spirit, 12:32 the very life of God Himself 12:36 in the person of the resurrected Jesus Christ 12:40 being brought into our lives for another day. 12:44 Wow, what a privilege that is? We can be God breathed people 12:50 every day of our lives 12:53 just by hearing the word 12:57 and acting upon it. What word here 13:00 tells us that the action is important? 13:03 Oh, thank you, obedience. 13:05 It's an ugly word to many people today 13:08 but we can even obey without God in us, can't we? 13:12 It's not even possible. It's God who puts faith in us. 13:16 It's God who makes it possible for us to respond to His word. 13:23 Took me years to realize its Jesus in me 13:26 who is responding to His Father so willingly. 13:29 It's not me getting more willing every day, 13:33 its Jesus in me who has such a willing 13:36 response to His Father. Not my will, Father. 13:41 Even if it's to lay down my life, it's not will. 13:46 This is Jesus and if He is in you 13:48 and He is in me you will have a great willingness 13:50 to hear the word and to act upon it 13:53 because you will know this is God's means of bringing 14:00 sanctification, inspiration, 14:02 he added again, our theologian here. 14:06 It's God's means of bringing His life. 14:12 His very life into us. 14:19 Wow. 14:22 And I know all kinds of people wish to shortcut that. 14:25 They beg God to give them His life 14:27 and I tell them don't waste your breath. 14:30 Simply hear His word, act upon it, 14:33 you will have the life of God in you every single day. 14:39 Amen. 14:41 How is your faith this morning? 14:42 Amen. 14:44 To the most deadly thing we could ever do of course, 14:48 dangerous thing to do is to hear the Word of God 14:51 and make a deliberate choice not to act upon it. 14:57 Deadly dangerous because we are cutting ourselves 15:02 off from the source of life 15:05 even though we might be loud in our proclamations 15:07 about how we believe in Jesus and His soon return. 15:11 The evidence is our willingness to hear 15:14 and obey the Word of God especially 15:16 since we realize this is God's speaking. 15:21 It enables God to come into us through the Holy Spirit. 15:26 The speaking and the breathing go together 15:30 and they all cement themselves in the word inspired. 15:35 This is the inspired Word of God. 15:38 God has breathed into the minds of individuals 15:41 and this is what they hear God saying. 15:44 Isn't not exciting? That is really exciting. 15:48 So Jesus is the great expert on this. 15:53 John Chapter 6, open your Bibles to John 6. 16:03 Powerful passage here. John Chapter 6, 16:07 this is our big passage this morning, John 6. 16:12 John 6:33, I want you to notice something 16:18 quite fascinating this morning. 16:19 I'm gonna have three columns here 16:22 and the first one is going to deal with the symbol. 16:26 Jesus loves symbols. So beginning with verse 33, 16:29 what symbol does He now introduce? 16:33 The bread. The bread of God. 16:39 And where does that come from? Heaven. 16:44 Does it have any result in verse 33 let's see. 16:48 It gives life to the world. 16:52 It gives life. 16:56 This is the result. 17:00 This is action here on our part here by the way. 17:02 There is no action on our part in verse 33. 17:05 It's just a beginning statement. 17:07 Jesus is introducing the subject by using bread. 17:11 What could be more common or more simple 17:15 than an illustration like that the bread of heaven 17:18 comes down from heaven and it gives life to the world. 17:23 Notice already the connection between bread and life. 17:32 I wonder where Jesus is going with this. 17:36 I think it's becoming quite apparent. 17:38 Already moving on to verse 35, 17:42 the symbol intensifies now in verse 35 17:45 because Jesus identifies 17:47 the bread as I am. 17:53 I am the bread. Well, verse 35. 17:58 So He actually gone beyond the symbol here. 18:00 He is putting some meaning into the symbol. 18:04 I am the bread of life 18:08 and what incredible result comes about now. 18:12 Is there any action on our part first of all? 18:15 Coming and, coming and believing. 18:21 Wow. 18:23 Whoever comes to Me, 18:28 well, shall not hunger 18:33 and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 18:39 So there will be no hunger 18:43 and no thirst. 18:46 Wow, you notice how the picture is expanding step by step. 18:52 I'm actually the bread, if you come to Me 18:56 you will never be hungry. 18:59 If you believe in Me you will never be thirsty. 19:02 Now jumping down to verse 51, 19:06 something different pops up now. 19:09 Takes a whole chapter for him to get this out. 19:13 In verse 51 19:16 there is another action involved on our part. 19:22 He reminds us again, I'm the living bread 19:24 coming down out of heaven 19:26 but whoever eats, any other action there? 19:32 I think that's it, isn't it? 19:34 Whoever eats this bread shall live forever. 19:43 Notice the use of the term eat. 19:47 Is that impacting anyone here this morning? 19:51 Whoever eats this bread, who is being impacted by that? 19:54 What's it saying to you? Taking it in. 19:58 When you eat something you assimilate it. 20:03 It spreads through your whole body. 20:06 So the eating becomes very significant. 20:08 And at the end of the verse 20:10 He throws us a curve, the symbolism intensifies. 20:17 This bread is actually My flesh. 20:25 Notice how we progressed. 20:28 We've gone from bread-- 20:32 it's actually My flesh. 20:34 I'm sure nobody listening to this understood 20:36 what He was saying. 20:39 The New Guineans used to love this verse. 20:44 It was their favorite verse because they were eating flesh. 20:50 They love the fact that Jesus said, it's My flesh. 20:55 And notice how He expands on that in verse 53 20:59 and we're just in verse 53. 21:02 "Truly, truly, I say to you, 21:05 unless you eat the flesh " I'll put 53 here as well." 21:12 Unless you eat the flesh and drink My blood." 21:19 Wow, that's the verse they especially enjoyed. 21:24 If you ate My flesh and drink My blood, 21:31 you have no life in yourselves. 21:34 Have you proved that about yourself? 21:37 We do not have life in ourselves. 21:40 Amen. 21:43 We don't even have the capacity 21:45 of generating life within ourselves. 21:50 This kind of life can only be generated 21:52 when you ate the bread 21:55 which is the equivalent of eating My flesh 21:59 and drinking My blood. 22:03 But notice where He goes now. 22:07 Verse 54, "He who eats My flesh 22:12 and drinks My blood has eternal life, 22:16 and I will raise him up." 22:20 So he has eternal life 22:24 and will be raised up. 22:28 Wow, has eternal life and will be raised up. 22:34 It's about to get much better. Look at verse 55, 22:40 "For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink." 22:46 So it's true food and true drink. 22:52 Wow, now He is about to pull up together. 22:56 Notice it very carefully. 22:59 Verse 56, 23:04 "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood" 23:07 this is a huge transition now. 23:11 If you eat and drink, this is verse 56. 23:15 What does it mean spiritually? 23:19 You abide in Me, 23:23 and I in you. 23:27 Did you hear that this morning? 23:30 If you eat My flesh and drink My blood 23:37 you are abiding in me and I'm abiding in you. 23:45 And now the cream on the cake verse 63, 23:49 this is the most amazing, amazing message. 23:54 Verse 63, the key verse now. 23:59 First of all it was the bread that gave life, 24:02 then it was the flesh that gave life, 24:04 then it's the blood that gives life 24:06 and now it turns out its actually 24:10 it's the Spirit who gives life. 24:15 Wow. It's actually the Spirit all alone who gives life 24:22 and not only is it the Spirit its not over yet, 24:25 there is one more step. 24:28 Notice it there at the end of verse 63, 24:33 the words that I have spoken unto you they are? 24:38 "The words that I have spoken 24:42 unto you are spirit and" they are? 24:44 Life. 24:46 Are you hearing it this morning? 24:49 Are you hearing it? 24:52 Eat the bread, you will have life. 24:54 Eat my flesh, you will have life. 24:57 Drink my blood, you will have life. 25:00 It's actually the Spirit. It's actually the spirit 25:05 and it's really My words. 25:12 The words that I speak unto you they are Spirit. 25:21 You want the Holy Spirit in your life for another day? 25:23 Amen. 25:26 What step you are gonna consciously take today? 25:29 You not only gonna read it, you not only gonna hear it 25:32 from some preacher that's in town. 25:35 What are you gonna do with it? 25:36 We are gonna act upon. 25:38 You are gonna act upon it 25:40 and as you do God's breath will come into you. 25:47 You will have the very life of God in you 25:52 for another day of your life 25:55 and this is how God incredibly 25:57 grows us into His divine image. 26:03 Isn't that simple and yet so beautiful? 26:06 And all in one little message that Jesus brings out beginning 26:09 with the loaf of bread confusing us all 26:13 with these references to flesh and blood 26:17 and finally telling us hey, its actually My spirit 26:19 but that's not even the end of it. 26:22 It's the words that I speak unto you they are Spirit. 26:27 That's what I missed for 25 years. 26:30 The words are spirit and the words are life. 26:36 Let's have our prayer together 26:38 and then we're going to warp things up. 26:42 Father in heaven, what an incredible God You are. 26:48 What a remarkable teacher You are, Father. 26:51 Your Son was the most profound teacher 26:55 and we've learned this morning 26:57 that the words of Jesus are indeed words of life 27:02 and we pray for grace today not just to hear 27:06 but to act upon those words Father, 27:09 so that Your very life can become our lives 27:13 and we can be transformed totally into Your divine image. 27:18 Bless this camp meeting, bless this congregation. 27:21 May this be an exciting journey together in the word today? 27:26 We pray earnestly in Jesus precious name, amen. 27:32 If you would like more information about this ministry 27:34 or how you can obtain a copy of this entire series 27:37 and other resources by Pastor Bill Liversidge 27:40 please contact us. 27:42 Creative Media Ministries 27:43 proclaims the full ministry of Jesus through the sanctuary. 27:46 With the growing cost of TV production 27:48 and broadcasting this dynamic ministry 27:51 needs partners committed to spreading the good news 27:53 throughout the entire world. 27:55 You are invited to prayerfully 27:56 making a tax deductible donation 27:58 to Creative Media Ministries. 28:00 Contact us online at www.creativemediaministries.org 28:06 That's www.creativemediaministries.org 28:11 By mail at Creative Media Ministries, 28:13 P.O. Box 1981, Palm Springs, CA 92263 28:19 or call us at 888-744-0443, 28:24 that's 888-744-0443. |
Revised 2015-08-27