Genesis (Program #50) – Living by Faith (1)

This one should be very instructive and helpful to anyone desiring to live by faith.  We’ve seen before that we really need to look at Abraham, Isaac and Jacob collectively if we are going to get a full picture of God’s calling.

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Genesis (Program #49) – The Progress in Answering God’s Calling

Our life study today is dealing with progress in answering God’s calling.  A central item in God’s call to Abraham was the necessity for him to cross a river.   What does this mean?  The explanation should take into account both literal and the spiritual significance of this.  Literally, Abraham had to cross a great river in order to go from one realm, the land of Chaldea into the realm, the good land into which God was calling him.  Spiritually speaking, this points to the reality of the experience of baptism.   Elsewhere in the Scriptures, when God’s people were to go from one realm to another, they pass through water.   Noah passed through water to get into the realm of God’s new creation.  The children of Israel passed through the water of the Red Sea and again through the water of the Jordan.  All of these may be understood and rightly as types of baptism.  When God calls us, we began in an old fallen realm.  God wants to bring us out of that realm into a realm where Christ is everything to us.  In order to make this transition by the Lord’s grace, we need so to speak to cross a river.  We need to pass through water which spiritually signifies death and resurrection.  So in summary, Abraham’s crossing the river indicates our need to go through death and resurrection in Christ signified by baptism in order to be transferred out of the realm of old creation into the realm of God’s new creation…

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Luke (Program #65) – The Man-Savior’s Ascension (3 & 4)

The Gospel of Luke concludes with one of the mysterious and difficult to understand items in the entire New Testament and that’s the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ to the heavenlies, some forty days after His resurrection. Luke 20:4 says “while He blessed them He parted from them and was carried up into heaven and they worship Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple blessing God.”  One of the reasons that seems to be mysterious and difficult is that it appears to be very removed even remote from us. Yet when we see His ascension properly in view of the entire New Testament revelation we realized that it has tremendous implications for us.

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Genesis (Program #48) – The Motive and Strength of Being Called

Today we are going to look at the God of glory appearing to Abraham.   When you consider Abraham’s entire life, when you look at him in his entire history.  You’re looking at a person just like us.  He is called the father of faith.  There seems to be quite an impression from the Word that he is really a person of faith.  But when you look at the details of his living, he was a person just like us and actually very unbelieving.  If it weren’t for the appearing of God, he would just be in his unbelief.  But the very appearing of God infused him to the uttermost.   In principle, I would say, what kind of person was he?  He was really like a kind of unbeliever; the Lord would say something, he would say yes but then actually he just live out the opposite.  Really what was required, what was needed for God, the God of glory to appear to him over and over and over again and it’s just like us.  I am so grateful that the Lord came to me again and again and again so that we can be infused with Him as the unique faith in this universe.  Abraham is called the father of faith but actually he did not have one drop of faith.  All of his faith came from the appearing of the God of glory, infusing him with Himself as the very believing element.  This is the kind of person he was, apart from the God of glory, he had no faith.  He was not a believing person.  But Hallelujah, the God of glory appear to him over and over and over again, so he has been infused with this dear person as the very believing element.

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Luke (Program #64) – The Man-Savior’s Ascension (1 & 2)

The final Chapter of the Gospel of Luke is marvelous. It begins with the Lord Jesus revealing Himself to His dear ones, that He had resurrected from the dead. Then we see Him in resurrection appearing and disappearing repeatedly in order to train them to experience His invisible presence and finally He brings us to this concluding words that He uttered to His disciples:

Chapter 24:46, “And He said to them thus it is written that the Christ would suffered and raised up from the dead on the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaim in His name to all the nations beginning from Jerusalem. And behold I send forth the promise of my Father upon you. But as for you stay in the city until you put on power from on high.”

24:51 “And while He blessed them, He parted from them and was carried up into heavens.” Here was His promise that He would cloth them with power from on high. But not before His visible ascension to the third heavens.  What happen in that ascension? And why is it important for us to know about it?

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Luke (Program #63) – The Man-Savior’s Resurrection (6)

“He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today, He walks with me and talks with me along life’s narrow way.

He lives, He lives, salvation to impart, you ask me how I know He lives, He lives within my heart.”

This well known song hymn answers the question many people have today, “how do you know Christ lives?”  Today on life study of Luke we are going to focus on the wonderful Christ in resurrection who lives in us.

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Genesis (Program #47) – The Background and Origin of God’s Calling and the Experience of the Called Ones

Genesis is broken into three sections and now we are just beginning to get into the third section, a very encouraging section that deal with God’s calling.

Although Genesis is a rather lengthy book, it is divided into 3 main sections.   The first concerns God’s creation.   The second deals with Satan’s corruption and his leading man into a corrupted state.  The third concerns God’s coming in to save man through His calling and His all-sufficient grace.  God’s creation deals not only with the original creation but as we have pointed out in several earlier messages, God’s re-creation and further creation climaxing in mankind created in God’s image.

The second section concerns Satan’s activity mainly behind the scene to lead man further and further into the fall in at least 4 stages.  Man fell in Genesis 3 away from God by disobeying Him.   Man fell again in Genesis 4 by turning away from God’s ordain means of salvation.  In Genesis 6, man fell unto the flesh and became polluted and then even after the flood and the institution of human government, man continue to fall and the whole human race rose up in defiant rebellion against God.  At that point, God no longer dealt directly with humanity as a whole but determine to work along another line by calling out a new people, a new race for Himself…

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Genesis (Program #46) – The Significance of God’s Calling

Our life study today is dealing with the significance of God’s calling.

For our introduction today, we will say something about the relationship between the great figures of the Old Testament in the accomplishment of God’s purpose.  God had a fresh start with Noah in chapter 9 and He seems to be starting new again here in chapter 12 with Abraham.  What is the significance of these new starts?

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Luke (Program #62) -The Man-Savior’s Resurrection (4 & 5)

Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her that’s Ephesians 5:25.  Many people are familiar with John 3:16 which says, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.”  But how many are familiar with the church that which He gave Himself for?  He also gave Himself for the church. The church is not just a building with a steeple on the corner, most people know that.  But how many people really know what the Church is, and what process Christ went through to give Himself for the Church? This is a very critical matter and we want to see it today on our life study of Luke.

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Luke (Program #61) – The Man-Savior’s Resurrection (3)

The Triune God is a mystery. He is One and yet He is Three. But don’t think this matter is just relegated to the theologians. We as the believers all should enter into the experience of the Triune God. And today we have a very enlightening, encouraging program.

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