Ephesians (Program #33) – To be Filled unto All the Fullness of God

The church means a variety things to different people.  Its’ lowest perception is that of a building on the corner. Higher yet is there is the gathering of the people of God.  Then to more enlightened students of the Bible is the Body of Christ. This is a more abstract term but certainly a higher understanding.

But finally we come to Ephesians especially Chapter 1, 2 and 3 where we see the highest definition of the Church. The Church which is His Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all and to know the knowledge surpassing love of Christ that you may be filled unto all the fullness of God. To see it in this light as the fullness of God requires more than simply Bible study.  As we study today, it requires a vision even revelation.

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Ephesians (Program #14) – A Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation and the Eyes of Our Heart

Ephesians is a book filled with marvelous spiritual facts, it reveals the mystery of the will of God. Yet to many people even Christians, Ephesians is a closed book; though they read it and understand the words, they do not gain the vision that is conveyed in this book. That’s because to see spiritual truth in reality is different from mere mental comprehension. That’s why the apostle prayed so earnestly in the first chapter that the readers would have all the necessary tools to see and enter into the vision that he is presenting in his letter. Listen as he prays in verse 17 & 18, “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Him. The eyes of your heart having been enlightened that you may know what is the hope of His calling and what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.”

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Galatians (Program #35) – Sow unto the Spirit to Reap Eternal Life

What is the aim or goal of your Christian life? Maybe it’s just to be saved, and to some day go to heaven. Maybe it’s to be the very best person that you can be. These are just a couple of the more common answers we might get from Christians today, and these are okay. But do they match the goal and the aim that are presented to us in the divine revelation of scripture?   Galatians is a book that has much to say about the aim and goal of the Christian life. We will look at what the Bible reveals as the goal of the Christian life on today’s life study of the Bible.

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Galatians (Program #10) – No Longer I, but Christ Living in Me

We have come to an extreme crucial verse in the New Testament economy. Today we’re on Galatians 2:20:

“I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”

This is a mysterious verse to be sure, but one that contains crucial revelation of what it means to live the Christian life. Some people have used the expression “an exchanged life” to help describe the truth that’s being conveyed here. Is this a valid way of looking at it?

No. It’s not a valid way, even though some of us at one point considered using this expression. The reason I say it’s not valid is because it doesn’t apply to the whole verse…

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Galatians (Program #4) – The Revelation of God’s Son in Us

As Christians, we may read or even study the Bible. But when we do, what do we come away impressed with? Miracles? Inspiring stories or teachings? The central revelation of the entire Bible is Christ. The Apostle Paul says in Galatians that it pleased God to reveal His Son in me. Do you see this wonderful Christ throughout God’s Word? Please stay with us as we focus on the revelation of God’s Son in us on today’s life study of the Bible.

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2 Corinthians (Program #29) – The Minister and the Ministry Becoming One

What is the difference between the New Testament Minister and the New Testament Ministry? According what we see so often today there is apparently a discrepancy. But according to the revelation of 2 Corinthians, they are actually the same.

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2 Corinthians (Program #2) -Introduction (2)

The apostle Paul was a remarkable person. He was used by the sovereign God to unveil much of the New Testament revelation. He also performed wondrous miracles and was a mighty evangelist. Yet in the book that had been understood to almost be his autobiography, he tells us that his only boast was in the singleness or sincerity or purity with which he and his co-workers lived and served the faithful God by living Christ. Listen to his words to the church in Corinth in 2 Corinthians chapter 1,

12 “For our boasting is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in singleness and sincerity of God, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and more abundantly toward you.”

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1 Corinthians (Program #51) – Dealing with the Gifts (7)

When we come to a topic it’s crucial and central in the Bible as the church, we would naturally assume that the Bible has much to say on how the meetings of the church should be conducted. Surprising however the Bible is almost silent on the subject. Except from one particular portion in 1 Corinthians chapter 14 especially verses 26-40. And even though the section has 15 verses it is really just one verse that show us the basic principle for how the meetings, the gatherings of the believers should carry on. Listen to 1 Corinthians 14:26 “What then, brothers? Whenever you come together, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.”

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1 Corinthians (Program #37) – Dealing with Eating of Sacrifices to Idols (2)

Paul’s way of writing in 1 Corinthians chapter 9 indicates that the church in Corinth had doubts and questions about him and about his apostleship. Why else would he opened the chapter in such a bold way?

“Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?  If to others I am not an apostle, yet surely I am to you; for you in the Lord are the seal of my apostleship. My defense to those who examine me is this.”

Here is a striking account of the apostle commission with the majority of the New Testament revelation forced to make a bold defense of his own apostleship. But in so doing much was reveal about the Corinthians that were doubting him and much is revealed about us as well.

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1 Corinthians (Program #19) – Growth in Life Needed (2)

In first Corinthians the apostle Paul confronts the difficult situation in the church there in a very wise way. He first identifies that their problems would due primarily to a shortage of the growth in the divine life. Although they had received the initial gifts of the divine life and the Holy Spirit they were still infants or babes in Christ.

He then unveils to them the marvelous progression of God’s economy. First they need to realize that they are all plants growing on God’s farms. Then the goal is to be built up together into a building and finally that this building is destined to become God’s dwelling place, His temple.

How about you and me? Have we received such a vision, such a revelation or are we like the Corinthians satisfied to remain in our spiritual infancy and hang on to personal preferences in our own traditions?

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