2 Corinthians (Program #50) – Paul’s Vindication of His Apostolic Authority (5)

At the end of 2 Corinthians the apostle Paul was compelled to make a vindication of his apostolic authority.   In the course of this defense, he described much of the sufferings and poverty that seem to be his constant companions during his ministry.  Judging his ministry by today’s common standards, it might seem to some that his work lack the Lord’s blessing.  Listen, “three times I was beaten with rods” he writes, “once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I had spent in the deep, In journeys often, in dangers of rivers, in dangers of robbers, in dangers from my race, in dangers from the Gentiles, in dangers in the city, in dangers in the wilderness, in dangers in the sea, in dangers among false brothers; In labor and hardship; in watchings often; in hunger and thirst; in fastings often; in cold and nakedness.”

This kind of hardship and shortage even of the basic material supplies might seems strange to some.  How could this be the case of a genuine servant of the Lord?  But to Paul, it was quite the opposite.  For to his realization the Lord Jesus during His earthly ministry similarly suffered and Paul considered it an honor that the Lord would find him worthy to share in the sufferings.

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Acts (Program #48) – The Propagation in Asia Minor and Europe through the Ministry of Paul’s Company (14)

The book of Acts is a unique book in all of scripture. Unveiling, not the Christ of the Gospels in its earthly ministry, but the Christ in resurrection: living, working, and spreading through His members as the Church was established in the remote regions of the inhabited earth in the first century.

The life study of Acts is the basis of our program today. This week, we’ve been seeing the second great missionary journey, as it’s called, of the Apostle Paul. We begin the life study of Acts by seeing that Acts is a book of the propagation of the resurrected and ascended Christ through His disciples…

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John (Program #40) – The Work of the Spirit unto the Mingling of Divinity with Humanity (1)

Acts 13:33 tell us that on the day of resurrection, He was begotten by God. His humanity was actually born into divinity to make Him the first born Son of God.

These 3 chapters (John 14, 15, 16) are very rich and very meaningful because these 3 chapters are the contents of the Lord’s final message given in His earthly ministry before He went to the cross, was crucified, and then resurrected. In these 3 chapters, what we see s God’s heart’s desire and God’s eternal purpose.

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Luke (Program #38) – The Ministry of the Man-Savior in His Human Virtues with His Divine Attributes from Galilee to Jerusalem (18)

Have you ever noticed how often the Lord Jesus spoke in parables to illustrate various aspects and great truths that He was presenting during His earthly ministry?   Parables are in effect pictures in words, pictures that can convey deep and profound truth with a simple story.  Some of the parables especially in Luke have a mysterious quality about them. Such as in Luke 16 when a story about an unrighteous steward who is praised for his unrighteous action was presented. This steward it turns out typifies us, servants of God, serving with Him to bring in His kingdom.
Now we come to Chapter 18, and a parable that represents God as an unrighteous judge.  Is He really unrighteous? and should we really serve Him unrighteously? well, surely not.  But the discovery of what this parable do depict is the focus of our life study today.

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Luke (Program #36) – The Ministry of the Man-Savior in His Human Virtues with His Divine Attributes from Galilee to Jerusalem (16)

It’s interesting that the greatest difficulties that the Lord Jesus had in His earthly ministry was not dealing with sin.  It was dealing with religion.  We would think that religion should help people come to God.  But all too often what we find is the same thing that the Lord Jesus found; not only the religion not help us to find God it frustrates and even stumbles us from coming to God.  It is in this context in Luke 17 that the Lord said “woe to him who stumbles.  It’s more profitable if a millstone is put around his neck and he is hurled into the sea than to stumble the little ones.”

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Luke (Program #19) – The Ministry of the Man-Savior in Galilee (10)

In chapter 4 of Luke as the Lord Jesus was initiating His earthly ministry, He stood as was His habit in the synagogues and read from the Old Testament book of Isaiah, “the Spirit of the Lord is upon Me because He has anointed Me to announce the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to send away in release those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, the year of jubilee.” This was the announcement, the proclamation, the declaration of the acceptable year of the Lord, the year of Jubilee.  When we come to chapter 9 as we are today on our life study from the gospel of Luke, we find that Jubilee not just proclaim and announce but apply and spread.

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Luke (Program #11) – The Ministry of the Man-Savior in Galilee (2)

After passing through a full and thorough preparation, and even an inauguration, the Lord Jesus was ready to begin His earthly ministry.  He does so by quoting from the Old Testament pages of Isaiah, speaking words of grace to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, ushering acceptable year of the Lord, the Jubilee.  Well, these words were amazing to the Jews of Galilee as they are to us today.  But as we will see today and the coming days as we continue on this life study from the gospel of Luke, His living and His ministry became a living portrait of this Jubilee and in Him, all we as the real captives and the real blind ones find our freedom and our sight.

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Luke (Program #10) – The Ministry of the Man-Savior in His Human Virtues with His Divine Attributes in Galilee (1)

The Bible is full of inspiring stories recounting the miracles performed by the Lord Jesus during His earthly ministry.  Surely this demonstrates Christ is none other than the Son of God.  Yet it’s interesting that many of the touching stories are the ones not demonstrate not His divinity but His humanity.  It is His humanity that attracts us and causes us to love Him.  The gospel of Luke is particularly meaningful in this regard for in Luke more than any other book of the Bible, we see Christ as the Man-Savior.

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Luke (Program #7) – The Preparation of the Man-Savior with His Divinity (6)

In America, every four years after the legal election of a new president, we pass through the ritual known as inauguration. On one hand, the person is thought of as president immediately following his election; but it is the inauguration that actually makes him president. Do you know that the Lord Jesus passed through a kind of inauguration as he began his earthly ministry? It’s true and it’s recorded in Luke chapter 3, we will look at the inauguration of the Man-Savior in today’s life study of the Bible.

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Mark (Program #17) – The Move of the Slave-Savior’s Gospel Service (5)

During His earthly ministry the Lord Jesus was continuing harassed by professional opposers. These religious zealots who did not know God in reality but had only the outward trappings of religion and tradition had no way to counter the great and mighty deeds that the Lord accomplished or the rich and nourishing words that He spoke to so many seeking ones. So they were left to try and find any weakness or failure in Him that they may latched onto to discredit Him in His ministry.

Mark chapter 7 gave us such an account and a very interesting one. The opposers were convinced that they had finally discovered something that they might use against Him. Well, what was this grievest deed you might ask?   The Lord Jesus allowed His disciples to break the tradition of the elders and eat their food with unwashed hands.

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