1 Timothy (Program #12) – A Man of God

“But you, O man of God, flee these things, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, meekness. Fight the good fight of the faith; lay hold on the eternal life, to which you were called and have confessed the good confession before many witnesses.”

That was 1 Timothy 6: 11 & 12. And the title of today’s life study of Timothy program #12 is “A man of God”.

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2 Thessalonians (Program #23) – A Word of Correction of the Misconception Concerning the Day of the Lord’s Coming (1)

The subject of Paul’s second epistle to the Thessalonians were encouragement and correction concerning the holy life for the Church life.

Verse 3-5 of chapter 1 say : “We ought to thank God always concerning you, brothers, even as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly and the love of each one of you all to one another is increasing, So that we ourselves boast in you among the churches of God concerning your endurance and faith in all your persecutions and the afflictions which you bear, a plain indication of the righteous judgment of God that you may be account worthy of the kingdom of God for which also you suffer.“

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1 Thessalonians (Program #15) – Cooperation with the Divine Operation (1)

As we are caring for new believers, we likely often follow the pattern of the apostle Paul as he cared for the young Church in Thessalonica by giving them encouraging and hopeful passages from the Bible.

In the Thessalonians, it was Paul’s word concerning the coming rapture of the believers at the end of the age and the Lord Jesus promise return from the heavens to the earth that fill them with hope. But if we are fully faithful  to the pattern of the apostle will also bring them to the words of warning and sobriety that Paul concluded the book of 1 Thesssalonians with Chapter 5. Listen to this lengthy passage at the beginning of Chapter 5 of 1 Thessalonians 1-11:

“But concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need for anything to be written to you; For you yourselves know perfectly well that like a thief in the night, so the day of the Lord comes. When they say, Peace and security, then sudden destruction comes upon them, just as birth pangs to a woman with child; and they shall by no means escape. But you, brothers, are not in darkness that the day should overtake you like a thief; For you are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. So then let us not asleep, as the rest do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep during the night, and those who get drunk are drunk during the night; But since we are of the day, let us be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love and a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath but to the obtaining of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us in order that whether we watch or sleep, we may live together with Him. Therefore comfort one another, and build up each one the other, even as you also do.“

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Song of Songs (Program #5) – Called to Live in Ascension as the New Creation in Resurrection

In the second stage of the Song of Songs, the lover of Christ learns three basic lessons: the power of resurrection, the riches of resurrection, and, the life of the cross. Today in our program, we will go on to the third stage of the lover of Christ in the lover’s experience of pursuing Christ which is the call to live in ascension as the new creation in resurrection. This covers Song of Songs chapters 3:6 – 5:1.

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Song of Songs (Program #4) – Called to be Delivered from the Self Through the Oneness with the Cross

Hebrews 12:2 tells us, “Looking away unto Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down on the right hand of the throne of God.”

The Song of Songs is a picture of a lover of the Lord Jesus Christ in the pursuit of Him and there are four stages of that pursuit. The theme of Song of Songs is satisfaction of satisfactions. This book portrays the four stages in the experience of the lover of Christ and can be summarized by the following four sentences:
1) A lover of Christ should be one who is attracted by His love and drawn by Him in His sweetness to pursue after Him for full satisfaction.
2) A lover of Christ should be one who is called by Him to be delivered from the self through his oneness with the cross of Christ.
3) A lover of Christ should be one who is called by Him to live in ascension as the new creation of God in the resurrection of Christ.
4) A lover of Christ should be one who is called by Him more strongly to live within the veil through His cross after the lover’s experience of His resurrection.

When we’re loving the Lord, we need to learn how to look away unto Jesus, look away from ourselves.

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Song of Songs (Program #3) – Drawn to Pursue Christ for Satisfaction (2)

The Song of Songs contains a great picture of a seeking Christian’s pursuit of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the opening chapter, there is a description of this pursuit in verses four through eight:

“Draw me; we will run after you- The king has brought me into his chambers- We will be glad and rejoice in you; We will extol your love more than wine. Rightly do they love you. I am black but lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, Like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon. Do not look at me, because I am black, Because the sun has scorched me. My mother’s sons were angry with me; They made me keeper of the vineyards, But my own vineyard I have not kept. Tell me you whom my soul loves. Where do you pasture your flock? Where do you make it lie down at noon? For why should I be like one who is veiled beside the flocks of your companions? If you yourself do not know, You fairest among women, Go forth on the footsteps of the flock, And pasture your young goats by the shepherds’ tents.” (Song of Songs 1:4-8)

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Song of Songs (Program #2) – Drawn to Pursue Christ for Satisfaction (1)

“Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!
For your love is better than wine.” (Song of Songs 1:2)

This intimate and tender language might be thought to be from a great love sonnet from Shakespeare or Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Yet it’s actually from the opening lines of the book Song of Songs in the Old Testament. Why is a love poem given precious space in the pages of the Bible? There seems to be no way to understand such a book by studying in a doctrinal or theological perspective. It is purely a book of experience and to understand it properly we must learn to interpret the types and figures.

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1 Thessalonians (Program #11) – Encouragement for Faith, Love, and Hope

When the apostle Paul first passed through Thessalonica and established the Church there, he set the young and new believers on a solid footing not just preaching the gospel to them but also anchoring them in the three strong elements of their life in Christ, faith, love and hope.

Chapter 1:3, “Remembering unceasingly your work of faith and labor of love and endurance of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, before our God and Father;”

Then some months later, Paul found himself excessively burden to see how the young Church in Thessalonica was progressing. So much so he can bear it no longer, so he sent his faithful co-worker, Timothy to help foster their faith and encourage them.  Chapter 3:1-2, “Therefore when we could bear it no longer….. we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s fellow worker in the gospel of Christ, to establish and encourage you for the sake of your faith.”

These are precious words. We want to have a chance to really look into the heart of the apostle and the lives and the experiences of these young believers in Thessalonica.

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Song of Songs (Program #1) – An Introductory Word and Drawn to Pursue Christ for Satisfaction (1)

“The Song of Songs, which is Solomon’s.
Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!
For your love is better than wine.
Your anointing oils have a pleasant fragrance;
Your name is like ointment poured forth;
Therefore the virgins love you.” (Song of Songs 1:1-3)

Thus opens one of the most remarkable and mysterious books of the entire Bible – The Song of Songs. It’s the third of three books composed by legendary King Solomon, the son of David and the builder of the first temple of God in Jerusalem. It is neither a book of history, law, prophecy or gospel as are nearly all of the other books of the Old Testament; rather, it is a book of poetry – a beautiful poetic story of the love and romance between a great and mighty king and a poor and lowly country maiden. How are we to understand such a book? The key is to realize that this book is a book of figures and symbols.

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Psalms (Program #41) – The Expressions of the Saints Before Jehovah in Different Directions and Final Prayers of David

As we had been carefully considering the book of Psalms for these past 40 programs it has become very clear that the Psalms are difficult to categorize.  Though they are all poetic, and most often lofty in their language. The thoughts and sentiment expressed are widely varied. At times they express the most common of human concepts, at other times they touched the height of God’s divine thought and frequently they revealed Christ in type, in shadow, and in prophecy with striking details and clarity. But at the end what we find are not dramatic revelations or high points but rather the earnest and heart felt prayers of men who bored once striking characteristics and that was their nearness and closeness to God and their deep love and care for the things of God.

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