Blog Archives

21 Oct 2024 Philippians (Program #6b)

Philippians (Program #6b) – Magnifying Christ by Living Him (2)

In Philippians 1:20 the Apostle Paul says, “according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be put to shame but with all boldness as always even now Christ shall be magnified in my body whether through life or through death.”  The apostle Paul wrote these words as he was in prison in a Roman jail and his exhortation to the Philippines was to follow his pattern of experiencing and enjoying even magnifying Christ regardless of his outward situation.

As we continue our fellowship from yesterday, another message covering Paul’s experience, magnified Christ by experience Him even through sufferings. There are much more here as we are able to cover a message of remarkable depth and incredible insight and so much encouragement for us.

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21 Oct 2024 1 & 2 Kings (Program #18)

1 & 2 Kings (Program #18) – The Reign of Manasseh, Amon, & Josiah over Judah

A picture is worth a thousand words and in the Old Testament God gave us many pictures.  Today we are continuing the life study of Kings and in the life study of Kings we are seeing the picture of God’s economy through the history books, the books of history.

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20 Oct 2024 Philippians (Program #6a)

Philippians (Program #6a) – Magnifying Christ by Living Him (1)

Philippians is a book that shows the reality of experiencing Christ. The apostle Paul presents himself as the living witness as the one who experience Christ in the depth of his being regardless of his outward circumstances or sufferings. Paul had learned the key not just how to endure hardship but how to allow every situation to become an opportunity for Christ to be magnified and expressed even in his body. A wonderful glimpse into the life of a person who was experiencing being one living with our Lord Jesus Christ

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20 Oct 2024 1 & 2 Kings (Program #17)

1 & 2 Kings (Program #17) – The Reign of Hezekiah over Judah

During the long history of the kings of Israel and Judah recorded in the Old Testament spanning a period of several hundred years, there are very few positive accounts.  Of course, we remember David, who was according to God’s heart though he himself was not without his own serious failure.  But not until we come to Hezekiah near the end of the account in 2 Kings do we find another who was nearly as positive as David.  Yet despite this dark negative period in the history of God’s people, God maintained His thin line of overcomers, mainly among the prophets such as Isaiah.  In fact the book of Isaiah gives us a direct linkage to God’s New Testament economy and even to Christ Himself.  As Isaiah focuses our attention on Christ, we want to focus on Him in His New Testament economy today.

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19 Oct 2024 Philippians (Program #5)

Philippians (Program #5) – The Bountiful Supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ

The bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ is a crucial expression and it would be our focus on today’s life study of the the Bible from Philippians.

We want to discuss this bountiful supply which is Paul found out can cause negative situation to actually turn out to salvation.

We want to begin by looking at the meaning of the Greek word as we find it in the text here. It’s translated in the Recovery version of the Bible as “the bountiful supply”. The word in Greek refers to a chorus leader, the leader of a chorus.  In Greek term probably pronounce as “choragus” And this is the one who supply all of the needs of the chorus. In fact in ancient time this choir leader or ” choragus” supply not just the needs of the group in a general way, but also provided for every need of each individual chorus member. It is a marvelous example how the Spirit of Jesus Christ takes care of us.

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19 Oct 2024 1 & 2 Kings (Program #16)

1 & 2 Kings (Program #16) – The Reign of Hoshea over Israel

As the kings of both houses of Israel slid further and further into degradation and failure, the Old Testament provides us with a parallel account of the prophets that God had raised up during the same period to carry on the line of His testimony and of His economy.  Often the prophecies of these ones touch the very center and focus of God’s New Testament economy in His eternal purpose which was embodied and manifested in the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.  The prophet Isaiah particularly is rich with references to both Christ’s incarnation, His marvelous and all-effective redemption.Yet the challenge for us as believers today is not to stop with Christ’s wonderful redemption but rather to take it by faith as God intends as a starting point for our Christian life and walk.  This is what we hope to touch in today’s life study.

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18 Oct 2024 Philippians (Program #4)

Philippians (Program #4) – The Different Preachings of Christ

In Philippians 1:15 the apostle Paul says, some indeed preach Christ even because of envy and strife and some also because of good will.  Our topic today on this life study program is the different preachings of Christ.

We all heard it said that as long as Christ is been preached everything is OK. But in this book, the book of Philippians there are quite a few different ways of preachings Christ and they are not ALL OK as we will find out.

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18 Oct 2024 1 & 2 Kings (Program #15)

1 & 2 Kings (Program #15) – The Reign of Azariah, Jotham, and Ahuz over Judah

The history of Israel and the various kings over Israel is recorded in the book of Kings and 1 Chronicles and other history books reveals again and again how Israel and its kings failed God and His expressed intention for them as His people.  Yet even when their failure reached extraordinary levels forcing God to temporarily abandon the nation of Israel, there always remain a line of faithful ones.  Ones that would stand with God for His purpose and for His testimony.  The prophets were such ones, prophets like Nathan and Elijah, Elisha and even Isaiah.  The New Testament has a name for such ones; it is overcomers.  In the book of Revelation, this title appears seven times, most of which sounding like this reference in Revelation 2:7, “he who has an ear, let  him hear what the Spirit says to the churches, to him who overcomes, to him I will give to eat the tree of life which is in the paradise of God.”

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17 Oct 2024 Philippians (Program #3)

Philippians (Program #3) – Paul’s Suffering for the Gospel and His Enjoyment of Grace

Through out the ages many people had suffered for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Among these the apostle Paul stand prominently. In fact in many of his Epistles they are specific references and even details regarding not only his suffering but also the suffering we may experience as well. Philippians gives us such an account not just the suffering because of his willingness to preach the gospel in a general way.

Today on our life study of the Bible we will see Paul as an example not just of suffering but as one who also had the enjoyment of grace under suffering and the high gospel for which he had suffered.

This phrase” enjoyment of grace under suffering”, almost sounds like kind of contradiction to our natural ear…

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17 Oct 2024 1 & 2 Kings (Program #14)

1 & 2 Kings (Program #14) – The Reign of Jehoahaz, Jehoash, and Jeroboam over Israel

In reading the Old Testament it’s easy to become lost at times in page after page of history because much of the Old Testament is devoted to telling this history, the history of God’s people Israel in both their triumphs and in their many failures.  To study it in this way does have some values, but if that is the extend of our realization of the Old Testament, we will miss a lot.  In fact, we will miss the Lord’s burden for us in that portion of Scriptures.  For both the Lord Jesus Himself in His direct speaking concerning the Old Testament and the apostle Paul in example after example of how he applied the Old Testament made it clear that in reality the Old Testament is a book of types and symbols that if properly understood reveal Christ to us in marvelously clear pictures that can often convey more of the spiritual reality than even the direct and condensed passage of the New Testament.  One of the great types of Christ in the books of history surely is the prophet Elisha, who typified Christ in his living, his ministry and as we will see today even in his death.

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