Colossians (Program #41) – Having Died With Christ And Having Been Raised With Christ

The Bible tells us that, in Christ, we are dead to sin and to the world and even to ourselves. Not only so, it also tell us that we also have been raised in Christ and made alive to God in Christ. This is truly wonderful when we treasure verses like these that point us to the spiritual facts that are true in Christ. But, does simply knowing these facts help us in our day to day walk?  Is our experience parallel what is true in Christ? Well, I think we all know the answer to this question and the struggle and the anguish that most serious believers go through trying desperately to experience in us what is factually true in Christ.  As we come back again to consider how to bring into reality, the reality of being in Christ.

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Colossians(Program #38) – In Christ and According to Christ

What does it mean to be “in Christ”? Many places in the New Testament, especially in the letters of Paul the Apostle, use this term. Well, the easiest answer is to say that according to the facts, whatever is true of Him is true of us. For example, we died in Him and we were made alive in Him. As I said, these are the facts. But, what about our experience?  If we’re regenerated, born again. Then without doubt, we have these divine facts as our spiritual history, but we may not have a corresponding experience: being in Him and living according to Him.

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Colossians (Program #31) – Identified with Christ by Being Grafted into Him

We all realize that the air we breathe is all around us. So, is it fair to say that we are in the air? Of course it is. But, there’s another aspect of the air that’s also obvious, and that is that as we breath it, it fills our lungs. So, it’s also true to say that the air is in us. Without us first being in the air, there’s no way that the air could be in us. Well, what does this all have to do with the Christian life you say? Well, the Bible says that we are in Christ. But equally worth our attention, it tells us that Christ is in us as well. Identified with Christ by being grafted into Him. That’s our topic today on this life study of the Bible from Colossians.

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Colossians (Program #13) – Presenting Every Man Full-Grown In Christ

It’s a marvelous feeling to share Christ with someone, even pray with them as they accept the Lord Jesus for the first time. But typically, what happens to them after this initial step. Colossians 1:28 says, “[Christ] whom we announce, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man full-grown in Christ;” We need to check within. Are we satisfied just to lead someone to salvation, or are we, as Paul was, burdened, even consumed with their being brought on to maturity.

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Colossians (Program #7) – Christ-The Firstborn Of All Creation

The Bible says in Colossians chapter 1 that “all things have been created in Christ, through Christ, and unto Christ”. This must mean that Christ is the very Creator. Yet He is also called the firstborn of all creation. Now here is the mystery, is He the Creator or is He the creature?

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Galatians (Program #42) – Walking by the Spirit According to to the Elementary Rule to Live

Galatians 3:26 identifies us as the very sons of God through faith in Christ. That means that we have become members of God’s household or His folks we could say. We could also say this is tremendous. But by chapter 6, these sons have now become God’s prince, the Israel of God. This goes beyond tremendous, and this is also the focus of today’s life study of the Bible.

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Galatians (Program #28) – Crucifying the Flesh to Walk by the Spirit

To walk in Spirit is to live, move, even have our being according to the Spirit. In essence, it means we live as genuine sons of God, matching our Father in His life and nature. For this, we’ve been saved. And for this, we’ve been positioned in Christ. So what is it that keeps this wonderful sonship from being our day by day practical, real experience?   Don’t miss today’s very helpful and enlightening life study of the Bible.

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Galatians (Program #26) – Getting Rid of the Leaven

Galatians 5:1 tells us that it was for freedom that Christ has set us free. Yet later, we see how this freedom can actually turn out to be a stumbling to both ourselves and others around us. How to safeguard the freedom we have received in Christ is our focus on today’s life study of the Bible.

Galatians 5 brings us to the daily walk of God’s children. And, it’s quite good to see that in chapter 5 verse 4, Paul’s letting them know, don’t be taken away from Christ; You should not be brought to nothing from Christ; and you should not fall away from grace. In our daily walk, God has jealously betrothed us to Himself in Christ. And, we should not be brought to nothing from Christ. Neither, should we fall from grace.

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Galatians (Program #21) – Baptized into Christ and Putting on Christ

The thought in this chapter (Galatians 3) is quite deep and the thought is also divine. And, it’s one thing to be in the first couple of chapters with more objective matters, precious but yet rather basic concerning the fundamental truth of the Gospel and being justified by faith through grace and not out of the works of the law. But in chapter 3 and also chapter 4, which is not that much easier than chapter 3, we’re at the heart of this book. And, we’re deep into the experiential aspect of this book.

Let me try to summarize. We have received the Spirit, not by works of law, but by the hearing of faith. By receiving the Spirit, we receive the reality of the blessing God promised to Abraham. Having received the Spirit and having been brought to Christ through the law as a child-conductor, we are now sons of God and true sons of Abraham. We have believed into Christ. We have been baptized into Christ. We have put on Christ. And, by so doing, we have put off all natural distinctions. And, this is all for the carrying out of God’s economy for us to be in Christ and for Christ to be in us, that we may be the corporate expression of Christ.

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Numbers (Program #22) – Fighting (3)

In the Old Testament book of Numbers there is the story of a gentile prophet named Balaam.  The Moabite king Balak had hired him to curse and prophesy against God’s people Israel, who Balak the king greatly feared.  Yet at each instance, as much as Balaam desire to please the king, whatever he spoke concerning Israel turned out not to be a curse but a blessing.  These parables recorded in Numbers 22 through 24 had a greater impact than just the Lord’s frustration of a heathen king with an evil intention towards God’s people.  These parables actually revealed how God views His people, whether the nation of Israel in the Old Testament or the church in this age despite the failures and weaknesses.  God sees the church as glorious, victorious and beautiful.  How can this be?  it’s because He sees the church, the believers, in Christ.

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