Acts (Program #26) – The Conversion of Saul (2)

One of the classic lines of New Testament scripture is when Paul, anticipating martyrdom, declares, “I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision”. And, surely he did remain faithful to the vision. But, when did he receive this heavenly vision? And, can we enter into the same vision?

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Acts (Program #25) – The Conversion of Saul (1)

One of the many magnificent stories recorded in the passages of the New Testament is the account of the conversion of the fierce persecutor of the church, Saul of Tarsus. The book of Acts gives a rather detailed account of how the Lord gained this fierce opposer. These details, when opened up from the scripture and in God’s shining, afford us one of the most inspiring accounts in all the Bible.

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Zechariah (Program #14) – The Prophecies of Encouragement (5)

Any careful consideration of the history of God’s people, Israel, reveals that for much of that history, Israel has suffered. Paul, even spoke in Romans, of Israel’s heart being hardened until the age of the Gentiles will be fulfilled. We know that, that fulfillment is complete at the Lord’s second coming, so what about Israel after that time? Well the prophet Zechariah is full of encouraging prophecies concerning the eventual household salvation of Israel at the Lord’s return especially in chapter 12. Listen to Zechariah in one of the sweetest verses in all of Scripture: “And I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and of supplications; and they will look upon Me, whom they pierced; and they will wail over Him with wailing as for an only son and cry bitterly over Him with bitter crying as for a firstborn son.”

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Jeremiah (Program #5) – The Intrinsic Content of Jeremiah

In Hebrews, the New Testament book, the apostle Paul who is the likely writer of Hebrews quotes the prophet Jeremiah. Listen to Hebrews 8:10-11 “For this is the covenant which I will covenant with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will impart My laws into their mind, and on their hearts I will inscribe them; and I will be God to them, and they will be a people to Me.” This marvelous prophecy from the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah revealing the coming new covenant impressed the apostle enough to include it in the New Testament. But this is certainly not the pointer in this Old Testament book to what God in His divine economy has in store for His elect.

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Ecclesiastes (Program #1) – Vanity of Vanities

The book of Ecclesiastes was written by King Solomon after his fall as described in 1 Kings 11:1-8 in his following after the foreign wives. Ecclesiastes begins, “The words of the Preacher, the son of David, the king in Jerusalem. Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; Vanity of vanities; all is vanity. What advantage does a man have in all his work which he does under the sun? A generation goes and a generation comes, But the earth stands forever. Also, the sun rises, and the sun sets…All things are wearisome; No one is able to tell it; The eye is not satisfied with seeing, Nor is the ear filled with hearing. What has been is what will be, And what has been done is what will be done, And there is nothing new under the sun…I have seen all the works that are done under the sun, and indeed, all is vanity and a chasing after wind…“

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Proverbs (Program #7) – Coming to Proverbs to Cultivate Our Regenerated New Man

Paul, the apostle tells us that the Bible has the potential to affect us when we read it in two very different ways. In 2 Corinthians 3:6 he says “Who has made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant, ministers not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” Do we have this realization when we come to the word of God?  The same words can either become Spirit and life to us or they can become dead letters to us. It all depends on how we come to the Bible and what kind of persons we are that will determine what we receive. We’re all fallen creatures with an old fallen nature and an old life the Bible calls the old man. When this old man comes to the Bible in order to find help to improve itself before God, the result will be predictable, the result of death.

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Philemon (Program # 2) – A Brother Recommended for the Acceptance of the New Man

A picture is worth a thousand words. Today we have a wonderful picture from the book of Philemon illustrating the believers equal status in the New Man.

The apostle Paul gave the teaching of this in Colossians 3:11 where he said, in the New Man “… cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free man, but Christ is all and in all.”  But in the real life story of Philemon with his slave Onesimus we see this illustrated in a beautiful way.

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1 Timothy (Program #8) – A Good Minister of Christ

The apostle Paul reached the highest peak in his letter to young Timothy when he wrote at the end of Chapter 3:16 ” And confessedly, great is the mystery of godliness: He who was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Preached among the nations, Believed on in the world, Taken up in glory.”

Surely godliness is a great mystery but in Christ this mystery become manifested. Following this marvelous revelation to Timothy, Paul goes on to warn him of the degradation that was about to befall the church. And then Paul gives Timothy a direct and personal exhortation with some very clear speaking that would equip Timothy to be a genuine minister of the New Testament Economy.

4:6 “If you lay these things before the brothers, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, being nourished with the words of the faith and of the good teaching which you have closely followed.“

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1 Thessalonians (Program #10) – The Reward of Fostering

Of all the writings in the New Testament, perhaps the deepest and most profound are those of the apostle Paul. To Paul it was given to unfold many of the great truths of the Christian faith and to make known the eternal purpose of God. But his letters to the church in Thessalonica are striking in their simplicity. Because to the new believers in this city Paul became a nourishing and cherishing parent, fostering the growth of his spiritual children.

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