Ephesians (Program #11) – The New Testament Believers to the Praise of God’s Glory

Three times in the first chapter of Ephesians, the apostle Paul uses an expression like “to the praise of His glory”. The first time in verse 6, the praise is offered by us – the believers – as the issue of our sonship. The second mention, however, in verse 12 also deals with our sonship but the praise is not offered by us but rather it is the angels even the creation itself that joins in praise to God because of what He has accomplished in us – His sons. Now, not just sons in name and position but sons of God in life and nature.

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Galatians (Program #42) – Walk by the Spirit in the Enjoyment of Christ in our Spirit

To many people, the main item of the book of Romans is justification by faith and the main item in Galatians is to be free from the bondage of the law. Although both of these truths are present in these two books, the real goal and focus of both books is something else. For both Romans and Galatians reveal that God’s purpose or economy in justifying us and freeing us is for one thing – to make forgiven sinners into genuine sons of God in life.

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Galatians (Program #40) – Walking by the Spirit as The Essence of our Life

The book of Galatians gives us a clear contrast; the wonderful person of Christ is contrasted with the harsh and demanding law of the Old Testament. Surely all of God’s saved ones love this Christ. But, why then in our living do we embrace the principle of living by law rather than living by this attractive, divine person who came to replace the law?  This is our focus as we look at walking by the Spirit to live Christ on today’s edition of 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 #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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2 Corinthians (Program #49) – Paul’s Vindication of His Apostolic Authority (4)

Remember back to the very first problem that affected mankind in the Bible.  It was the serpent tempting the woman to eat of the tree of knowledge instead of the tree of life.  Now consider Paul’s word to the Corinthians addressing the impact that those claimed to be apostles upon them as they minister different Jesus to the believers in Corinth.  Chapter 11 of 2 Corinthians verse 3, “But I fear lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your thoughts would be corrupted from the simplicity and the purity toward Christ.” Paul’s fear was that the teachings of the so called apostles would have the same result as the serpent’s deception in Genesis 3, to distract the believers away from the enjoyment of Christ’s life and bring them to another tree, a tree that leads to death.

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Leviticus (Program #20) – The Law of the Meal Offering

Psalm 36:9 says, “For with Thee is the fountain of life/ In Thy light we see light.” The Old Testament offerings from Leviticus when properly applied in our New Testament walk with the Lord will bring us to experience Christ as the very fountain of life. This life brings us into the light, God’s light. In His light, we see even more clearly our true condition and how short we are and how in need we are of the very Christ God has provided us to be our offering, to bring us more into God’s presence.

The meal offering is the wonderful offering for us to enjoy Christ which is related to the cycle of life, and that is related to our walking in the light. God is light!  This really is the Christian life – we walk in the light, God shines in us, this leads us to enjoy Christ as the offerings, then we have more life and this life brings us more light and we get more shining, more brought to Christ as our offering…

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2 Corinthians (Program #21) – Shining the Glory of the New Covenant (2)

Two items are marvelously connected in 2 Corinthians that you may have never noticed or linked before. These two things are the New Covenant and the shining of the glory of Christ.

The Old Covenant was a Covenant of law and of letters with the affect of bringing us into spiritual death. The New Covenant on the other hand has everything to do with the Spirit and life. And to be brought into the reality of the New Covenant is to be brought into the glory of the face of Jesus Christ.

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2 Corinthians (Program #18) -Competent of Christ as the Alphabets to Write Living Letters with the Life-giving Spirit of the Living Lord (1)

Most genuine Christians in the protestant traditions owe a great debt to such courageous reformer such as as Martin Luther. Luther was used much by the Lord to recover the great truth of justification by faith, even risking his life for the sake of this foundational truth of the Christians faith. But this is not the only truth that had been lost and in need of recovery. Other reformers went even further, realizing that justification must have a result beyond the mere objective fact. The Bible reveals that the issue of justification is life. It is life, divine life, operating subjectively in the believers that constitute us members of Christ and it is the Spirit of life through the New Testament ministry that also makes us living letters of Christ. Living letters inscribe with the living Spirit of the living God. Hallelujah for the recovering of the divine life.

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1 Corinthians (Program #35) – Dealing with Marriage Life (3)

When the Lord Jesus was on the earth, it was very hard for those around Him to discern that what He was speaking was actually God’s word. Because unlike the prophets of the Old Testament He spoke as a normal man with normal language and never one time does the Bible record Him using the phrase “doth saith the Lord”. Yet He was the Lord and every one of His word was the word of God. What set Him apart from those of the Old Testament dispensation was incarnation. He wasn’t just speaking for God in the way of prophesy, He was God.  God incarnated to be a man. This principle of incarnation is the unique characteristic of the whole New Testament. Not just man under the influence or inspiration of the Spirit speaking for God but man so one with God in their life, in their living and even in their speaking that their words were God’s words.

1 Corinthians 7 is the chapter that illustrate this principle of incarnation. Not only is it applied to the Lord Jesus but even as it applied to the apostles and the apostle Paul specifically.

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