1 & 2 Kings (Program #14) – The Reign of Jehoahaz, Jehoash, and Jeroboam over Israel

In reading the Old Testament it’s easy to become lost at times in page after page of history because much of the Old Testament is devoted to telling this history, the history of God’s people Israel in both their triumphs and in their many failures.  To study it in this way does have some values, but if that is the extend of our realization of the Old Testament, we will miss a lot.  In fact, we will miss the Lord’s burden for us in that portion of Scriptures.  For both the Lord Jesus Himself in His direct speaking concerning the Old Testament and the apostle Paul in example after example of how he applied the Old Testament made it clear that in reality the Old Testament is a book of types and symbols that if properly understood reveal Christ to us in marvelously clear pictures that can often convey more of the spiritual reality than even the direct and condensed passage of the New Testament.  One of the great types of Christ in the books of history surely is the prophet Elisha, who typified Christ in his living, his ministry and as we will see today even in his death.

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Ephesians (Program #47) – Living in the Relationship Between Wife and Husband

If you’ve been to any weddings lately, you very likely may have heard this passage quoted from Ephesians Chapter 5, “Wives, be subject to your own husbands as to the Lord; For a husband is head of the wife as also Christ is Head of the church,… Husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her.”

Yes, this is the exaltation that nearly every Christian couple begins their married life with. Yet as good as these verses are, they neglect one important thing.  How can we do it? How can wives submit? How can husbands love to such a degree? If we don’t offer couples these verses in the context of Chapter 5, including verse 18, we may not be serving them faithfully, in fact we may be setting them up for failure.

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Ephesians (Program #46) – Living by Being Filled in Spirit

Have you ever picked up the Bible hoping, wishing even praying that it would just tell you in plain language what God’s will is for you?  Well, in truth probably all of us have this experience or something similar.  But in fact there is a very clear word in Ephesians 5:17 and it says “Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” and it goes on in verse 18 to tell us, “And do not be drunk with wine, …. but be filled in spirit,”  That’s it! God;’s will is clear. for you and me – be filled in spirit. But what it is to be filled in our spirit?

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Ephesians (Program #45) – Living in Love and Light

Human beings are very good imitators.  We all tend to copy the behavior of the others that we esteem highly. We teach our children to imitate. And even society as a whole is all the time encouraging positive role models.

The apostle Paul tells us that we should imitate his pattern. But he goes further in Ephesians 5 where he commands us not just to imitate him or even other apostles but to imitate God. Ephesians 5:1 “Be therefore imitators of God.”

Well, much as we may want to as mortal man we simply cannot do it. Even as Christians is beyond our reach. But there must be a way or else the word of God would not command us to do it. The key lays in the second half of the verse. Listen carefully, “…Be therefore imitators of God, as beloved children.”

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Galatians (Program #9) – Dead to Law but Living to God

Did you know the Bible tells us that in Christ, not only have we died to sin, but we’ve also died to the law? In Christ we are free from sin. Wonderful! But equally in Christ, we’re free from law. Do these two spiritual truths describe your condition and your experience? Please stay with us today as we see our organic union with Christ and how this union can become our living reality.

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Galatians (Program #6) – Paul’s Faithfulness and Peter’s Unfaithfulness to the Truth of the Gospel

The New Testament book of Galatians reveals much about the Gospel of Grace and the freedom that believers have in Christ. But if we read it carefully, we will also see a marvelous pattern for all believers; the living and manner of the Apostle Paul. This epistle shows us one who was bold and faithful to the truth, yet humble and careful before the Lord to preserve the oneness of the Body of Christ without ever falling into politics. Stay with us for this enlightening life study of the Bible.

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2 Corinthians (Program #55) – Final Exhortations, Greetings, and Blessings (2)

The book of 2 Corinthians has a wonderful conclusions.  Paul after unveiling so many aspects of his own living and his own experience of Christ in this book, concludes with this 3-fold blessing.  2 Corinthians 13:14 “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”  But this is not a blessing given in a merely religious way.  It’s a blessing that brings us into the very Triune God that Paul himself experienced, enjoyed and even lived out in his daily life.  Grace, love and fellowship were his portion and daily enjoyment of the very Triune God.  May we have Him as such a portion as well.

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2 Corinthians (Program #37) – The Minister’s of the New Covenant (9 & 10)

Any study or serious consideration of 2 Corinthians brings you to Paul’s explanation of both the New Testament ministry and the New Testament ministers.  The ministry in chapter 5 is called the ministry of reconciliation and the work of the minsters was to fully reconcile both unbelievers and believers fully into God.  In chapter 6 the focus now turns to the ministers themselves.  And what these ones were and what really we all should be in our being.  In another word, we get a very detailed view of the kind of living that qualifies one to be a genuine minister of the New Covenant and an ambassador of Christ.

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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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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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