Judges (Program #1) – An Introductory Word

The first chapter of the book of Judges records the marvelous story of Judah and Caleb fighting against the Canaanites after the death of Joshua. Jehovah displayed again that He was with Israel and that they can trust Him to fight with and for them against their enemy. But just as an unfaithful wife forsake her husband thereby damaging their marriage Israel eventually forsook Jehovah.

Listen to Judges 2 : 11-13  “And the children of Israel did what was evil in the sight of Jehovah and served the Baals. And they forsook Jehovah, the God of their fathers, who brought them out from the land of Egypt; and they followed after other gods from among the gods of the peoples who surrounded them; and they worshipped them and provoked Jehovah to anger. And they forsook Jehovah and served Baal and the Ashtaroth. Then the anger of Jehovah burned against Israel, and He delivered them into the hands of plunderers; and they plundered them. And He sold them into the hand of their enemies around them, and they were no longer able to stand before their enemies.”

From this point on the book of Judges becomes an ugly history a failure and humiliation for Israel as she turned from the purity and enjoyment of her days as a bride to Jehovah, becoming a harlot in His eyes.

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Ephesians (Program #21) – Once Far Off, but Now Near

Let me ask you a question, before we were saved, what was our status before God?   Well, yes, we were sinners condemned to judgment. But actually according to Paul in Ephesians we had 2 major problems: first our nature.  We were dead in offenses and in sins, that’s verse 1 and 2 of Chapter 2.  But our problem also involved our status before God. As he points out in verses 12-13 “That you were at that time apart from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who were once far off have become near in the blood of Christ.”  So, we see that our problem before God extend far beyond sins and even beyond our being dead before Him. We have a status problem.

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Joshua (Program #3) – Spying Out the Land

The books of history in the Old Testament like Joshua are rich with stories but if we view them in light of the entire divine revelation, we see them far more than just great and inspiring stories. We see God in the move of His economy in Christ, working in, with and through His chosen people to possess Christ, to gain Christ and even to spread Christ.

Joshua chapter 2 is one of these portions in the Bible where it’s easy to be caught up in the marvelous story, the story of a harlot Rehab and two spies but it is also a chapter rich in revelation of God’s move on earth. Yes, the story of Rehab, the gentile harlot who exercised faith to join herself to God’s move and to His people and eventually had a honored place in the genealogy of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

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Ephesians (Program #20) – Saved by Grace to be the Masterpiece of God (2)

Genesis chapter 1 tells us that God created all things, the heavens, the earth, the universe, man and all the living creatures. And how even a simple gaze at  creation often fills us with awes as we consider His creation.  But not until the New Testament book of Ephesians are we told what is at the very top of all that He has done and even all that He is doing. Or use Paul’s language in Ephesians what is His masterpiece.  Listen to Ephesians chapter 2:10 “For we are His masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand in order that we would walk in them.”  We, are His masterpiece, we, meaning the Church.

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Joshua (Program #2) – God’s Commission

Whenever we look at history, we should be able to see the hidden history within history. Because the history of mankind is actually the history of God in His move to accomplish His eternal purpose. He created man for this purpose. And from that day unto the present day God has moved in, through and with man. First to redeem and then to from His redeemed into His corporate counterpart, the Church.

The Old Testament prophet, Ezekiel describes this move as the move of a great wheel turning upon the earth as God moves ever closer to His ultimate goal. Even as we read the history of His people, Israel we need to see this move. As we come again today not just to the book of Ezekiel but specifically to the book of Joshua where we see His move as we’re about ready to take a major advance. more…

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Ephesians (Program #19) – Saved by Grace to be the Masterpiece of God (1)

We all know that God is a loving God, in fact the Bible says that God is love. But what does it mean when it says “but God been rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us.”  Well, it means in our fallen natural condition we were so low, that not even God’s love can reach us, we needed something more. We needed God’s mercy to reach into the depths of our lowest state and bring us to a place where His love could affect us in His most marvelous and complete salvation.  This is the message that the apostle Paul brings in Ephesians Chapter 2 and this is also our topic on our program for today.

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Joshua (Program #1) – An Introductory Word

Much of the Old Testament is devoted to history, the history of great men, the history of great nations, especially Israel and the history of God’s people. But you may not realize it is also God’s history, the history of His move to carry out and accomplish His eternal purpose.

The books of Joshua, Judges and Ruth are among the books of history in the Old Testament and even in these books with their rich and colourful stories, if we have eyes to see, we can see the history of God in the move of His economy. That would be our focus for the next several weeks as we come to these wonderful books and see Christ in them, in the light of His eternal economy.

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Ephesians (Program #18) – Dead in Offenses and Sins

The first Chapter of Ephesians presents us with one of the highest, most substantial views in the entire Bible. Because it presents us with the heavenly view of God’s eternal purpose in the universe and our place in it. Chapter 1 ends in the most glorious way as well with the Body of Christ been built up and the Church been produced out of the transmission of the ascended Christ from the heavenlies into us, His redeemed. This surely is the view from the top.

But Chapter 2 gives us the view from the bottom up, from the condition of the fallen men. And we will get into this view today.

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Joshua (Program #14) – Three Particular Matters Concerning the Allotment of the Land and the Departure of Joshua

The two concluding chapters of the book of Joshua concern his departure and his deep burden to charge the children of Israel not to forsake Jehovah as they were endeavoring to possess the land of Canaan. If they did he warned the ungodly nations that were in the land will become a snare to them. What a fitting conclusion coupled with an equally fitting warning. A warning that is still be heeded by God’s people today.  We will consider the final chapters of Joshua on our life study today and several meaningful points in our fellowship as we look back over this book.

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Ephesians (Program #17) – The Triune God Dispensed Into Us and Wrought Into Us

Ephesians Chapter 1 is truly a wonderful portion of the scripture. It begins with God’s blessing to us, the believers and concludes with the Church, Body of Christ as the fullness of Christ. The implication is that everything in between, all that God in Christ has passed through and accomplished has an issue or a result and that result is the Church. But what this Chapter also reveals is that it is not just the doctrines or teachings of this marvelous things that has such an issue, it is the transmission of them by the Spirit to the Church. This transmission or dispensing is the focus of our program today.

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