2 Corinthians (Program #38) – The Minister’s of the New Covenant (11)

2 Corinthians is a marvelous book giving us both a detailed biography of the apostle Paul and a clear understanding of the goal of the New Testament ministry.  The goal as we have seen is for the believers and unbelievers alike to be fully reconciled to God.  That means that both in fact and in our experience, there is no barrier, no hindrance, nothing separating us from enjoying God and living Christ.  This is the ministry that Paul and the other apostles were commissioned with.  Further, it should be the goal of our own Christian life.  We have been saved many years ago, having settled that question of our eternal destiny once for all.  But do we live a life that’s fully reconciled to God?  This was Paul’s question to the believers in Corinth as well.   Listen 5:20 of  2 Corinthians say:

“On behalf of Christ then we are ambassadors, as God entreats you through us; we beseech you on behalf of Christ, Be reconciled to God.“

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Leviticus (Program #28) – Uncleanness in Human Birth

What does it mean to be clean in the eyes of God?   Does it mean that our behaviour is proper and according to His principles?  Or does it mean that we get down on our knees and determine before Him to be a better person or even a better Christian?   Well the Bible says that regardless of our behaviour or our determination there is no way to be clean if the source of what we are offering Him is the natural life we were born with regardless of how good we may think it is.   So what is God’s view of us and all mankind in our natural life?  We will see today that the very source of all human life is depicted in this riveting account in chapters 11 and 12 of Leviticus.

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2 Corinthians (Program #37) – The Minister’s of the New Covenant (9 & 10)

Any study or serious consideration of 2 Corinthians brings you to Paul’s explanation of both the New Testament ministry and the New Testament ministers.  The ministry in chapter 5 is called the ministry of reconciliation and the work of the minsters was to fully reconcile both unbelievers and believers fully into God.  In chapter 6 the focus now turns to the ministers themselves.  And what these ones were and what really we all should be in our being.  In another word, we get a very detailed view of the kind of living that qualifies one to be a genuine minister of the New Covenant and an ambassador of Christ.

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Leviticus (Program #27) – Abstaining from Death

Leviticus chapter 11 is concerned with the matter of diet, the matter of eating.  But this chapter also is very much concerned with death.  The word “carcass” is used at least 13 times in this chapter.  The fact that this chapter speaks of eating in relation to the death that results from contacting something unclean means that Leviticus chapter 11 is very much like the whole Bible is a book of life and death.

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2 Corinthians (Program #36) – The Minister’s of the New Covenant (8)

2 Corinthians is a book dealing with the New Testament ministry and the New Testament minsters.  As this ministry is comprised of the essentials of God’s economy carry out His eternal purpose, we might well think that the apostle would place particular emphasis on the ministry in such a book.  But actually he devoted only one chapter to the ministry of the New Covenant.  While he devoted four chapters to the qualifications and characteristics of the New Covenant ministers.   Why such emphasis on the ministers rather than on their work?  Because God cares much more for what we are than what we do.  We may do many things for Him or in His name, but the question is “does our living, does our experience of Christ really match our words or even our works?”

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Leviticus (Program #26) – Discernment in Diet

We’ve all heard the term “Kosher” and probably realize that kosher has to do with the approved or acceptable diet of Orthodox Jews. But you may not know that the origin of kosher dietary regulations is in Leviticus chapter 11. Though we are not here to discuss the nutritional benefits of such a diet we do want to see the spiritual significance that these dietary regulations have for all of us in the New Testament regardless of what we chose to eat.

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2 Corinthians (Program #35) – A New Creation in Christ Becoming God’s Righteousness (2)

The New Testament Ministry described in the epistles of Paul is characterized as the ministry of reconciliation and the ministry of the Spirit. While the Old Testament Ministry is called the ministry of death and the ministry of the letter.

The apostle according to 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and ultimately the believers as well become ambassadors of this New Covenant ministry of reconciliation.

2 Corinthians  5:20, “On behalf of Christ then we are ambassadors, as God entreats you through us; we beseech you on behalf of Christ, Be reconciled to God.”

What is it to be fully reconcile to God according to this verse?  We will explore the New Testament ministry of reconciliation today.

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Leviticus (Program #25) – A Concluding Word on the Offerings and the Priesthood

Hebrews is a marvelous New Testament book that contains many passages that are well-known and often quoted by Christians. Yet the book as a whole remains a mystery to a great many believers. The key to understanding Hebrews may well be found in the Old Testament book of Leviticus. As we will see today that the book of Hebrews is an exposition of Leviticus.

In Hebrews 9:11-14 says “But Christ … not through the blood of goats and calves but through His own blood, entered once for all into the Holy of Holies, obtaining an eternal redemption/ For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who are defiled sanctify to the purity of the flesh/ How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” more…

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2 Corinthians (Program #34) – A New Creation in Christ Becoming God’s Righteousness (1)

By the end of chapter 4 in 2 Corinthians the apostle Paul was very matured in the Christian life. His being has been largely transformed to the extend that regardless of his outward circumstances he remained in the peace and rest of the Lord’s presence. Realizing that through the Spirit within him God was working through all things to form him and shape him according to His eternal plan.

Listen to his testimony in verse 16 and 17,  “Therefore we do not lose heart; but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For our momentary lightness of affliction works out for us, more and more surpassingly, an eternal weight of glory,”

Surely this is the testimony of one who is longing to meet the Lord. Yet one thing remain in Paul’s spiritual journey is, as we will see in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, his longing to have his earthly body or tabernacle replaced with a heavenly one.

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Leviticus (Program #24) – The Lesson and the Regulations for the Priests

Chapter 10 of the book of Leviticus is a wonderfully intriguing and interesting chapter. It begins with a day full of glory and a day full of blessing and enjoyment because God has accepted the offerings of the priests, the sons of Aaron. But then something severe happens to Aaron – two of his sons bring themselves under God’s judgment and the scene changes to one of God’s righteousness and holiness only to be turned again to God’s mercy. We invite you to stay with us for this life study of Leviticus today, as we look at chapter 10, a chapter that reveals God’s mercy and His holiness.

Chapter 10 follows a wonderful section that we cover yesterday in chapter 9 with the four issues of the priestly service.  But in this chapter there is a sad, even tragic event that is told and it has to do with these two sons of Aaron, Abihu and Nadab.  The account is found in the first 11 verses of chapter 10 and we are going to see how this tragic story really applies to us today in our situation.

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