Galatians (Program #5) – The Formation of Paul’s Apostleship

The New Testament contains many references to the Apostles. We know that Jesus selected 12 of them originally, and one ultimately betrayed Him and was replaced. After Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection, Saul of Tarsus was gained by the Lord and became an Apostle. Tradition teaches that the list stops there, but what does the Bible have to say on the subject? And more importantly, what is the pattern that we see in Paul’s life and his apostleship that is relevant to us? Don’t miss today’s life study of the Bible.

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2 Corinthians (Program #45) – The Apostle’s Fellowship Concerning the Needy Saints (4)

2 Corinthians chapters 8 and 9 are often used in campaigns for money-raising for various Christian causes or ministries.  But it’s interesting, although they both deal with the matter of giving, they don’t focus on the word “giving”.  In chapter 8, Paul refers to our giving as a kind of gathering, as the children of Israel gathered manna each day for their daily supply.   In chapter 9, our giving is called sowing, as a farmer sow seeds in order to produce a crop, in order to meet his family’s daily need.  Gathering and sowing, this is the renewed thought concerning the offering of material items to meet the needs in the Body of Christ.

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2 Corinthians (Program #44) – The Apostle’s Fellowship Concerning the Needy Saints (3)

The apostle Paul devoted two chapters in 2 Corinthians to  the matter of taking collections for the needy saints in Judea.  It must have been something weighing heavily upon him to devote the better part of two whole chapters.  But actually these two chapters present all believers with some very profound principles that should guide and direct the matter of giving.

In chapter 8, Paul liken our giving to the gathering of manna in Exodus 16.  In chapter 8 verse 15 he writes “..He who gathered much had no excess, and he who gathered little had no lack.”  Then in chapter 9, our giving is liken a farmer, sowing seeds to produce a crop.  Chapter 9 verse 6, “now this I say, He who sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly; and he who sows bountifully shall also reap bountifully;”  But the verse that follows is the concluding word for both of these portions; chapter 9 verse 7, “Each one as he has purposed in his heart, not out of sorrow or out of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

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2 Corinthians (Program #40) – The Minister’s of the New Covenant (13)

2 Corinthians chapter seven is very unique in the New Testament. It’s hard to find even a thread of teaching or doctrine in this chapter. But rather we are allowed into Paul’s heart to touch the deep and intimate feelings that he has regarding the believers in Corinth.

7: 3…”you are in our hearts...”
7:4… “I am filled with comfort, I overflow with joy in all our affliction.”

This is the apostle, fully restoring and fully reconciling those whom he had previously rebuke for their many failures and sins in his first epistle to the Corinthian church.

Although we may only see his tender emotional feelings been expressed here. Under all is his strong desire for the church in Corinth even all the believers and the entire body of Christ to be brought up to the standard that he revealed in another of his epistle, Ephesians. Ephesians 4:16

16 “..all the Body, being joined together and being knit together through every joint of the rich supply and through the operation in the measure of each one part, causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love.”

To see this link between 2 Corinthians 7 and God’s eternal purpose in Ephesians is rare glimpse into the depth of the riches in God’s word.

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Acts (Program #66) – The Propagation in Asia Minor and Europe through the Ministry of Paul’s Company (32)

God’s faithful servant, the Apostle Paul, remained in the custody of the Roman governor in Caesarea for two long years. Though this may have seemed like a waste to have the mighty Apostle detained. In God’s economy, it proved to be a most profitable use of his time. We invite you to journey with us back to the first century as it’s unfolded in the pages in the book of Acts on today’s life study of the Bible.

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Acts (Program #59) – The Propagation in Asia Minor and Europe through the Ministry of Paul’s Company (25)

Paul, the great Apostle of the New Testament, experienced many life threatening situations as he journeyed to the remote parts of Asia and Europe announcing the Gospel of Christ. But, none of those situations compared with what he encountered on his final trip to Jerusalem, the religious capital at the time and the home of the first and largest Church. Stay with us for a rich and enlightening life study of the Bible today.

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1 John (Program #32) – The Virtues of the Divine Birth to Practice the Divine Love (5)

All of the apostle John’s writings in the Bible stress the divine birth through which the divine life is imparted into the believers.  In his gospel he says you must be born again.  In chapter 3 of his first epistle, John says,  3:9 “Everyone who has been begotten of God does not practice sin.” And once again the stress is on the divine birth.  But in chapter 5 he gets even more specific about not just the fact of the divine birth, but the location of the divine birth. When he says,  5:4 “For everything that has been begotten of God overcomes the world;”

Why does he change everyone in chapter 3 to everything in chapter 5?   The answer reveals very much about the key to overcoming not just sin and the world but all of the negative things surrounding us in our day to day living.

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1 John (Program #31) – The Virtues of the Divine Birth to Practice the Divine Love (4)

In his first epistle the apostle John talks very much about love.  Chapter four particularly places a strong emphasis on love. But if we examine John’s presentation of this most visible virtue of the divine birth we realize that the love spoken of in this book is not a vague or general love nor is it a natural love, a love that finds its’ source in the human heart. It is the love that flows from the divine source from God Himself.  In verse 8 of chapter 4 John puts it this way, “He who does not love has not known God, because God is love.“

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1 John (Program #30) – Proving the Spirits (2)

In 1 John we are warned to prove every spirit to see whether it is of God. The apostle John was inoculating the believers against the spirit of Antichrist. Just the term “spirit of Antichrist” probably give raise to thoughts of immense evil and wickedness. Yet John tells very simply that any spirit that denies that Jesus has come in the flesh is the Spirit of Antichrist.  What is the significant of denying that Jesus has come in the flesh?

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1 John (Program #12) – The Divine Light and the Divine Truth (5)

The aged apostle who wrote one of the last books of the New Testament surely knew the trouble Christians have in their experience of dealing with sins. And that’s why the apostle John wrote in his first epistle in 2:1 “My little children, these things I write to you that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous;”

We have an outstanding life study radio program today focusing on Christ’s wonderful care for us.  If you are interested in how to deal with sin and sins after becoming a Christian, you will want to stay with us for the next half hour, as we dig into the experience of apostle John’s word to us, believers.

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