Galatians (Program #23) – The Need for Christ To Be Formed

In Galatians 1, the Apostle Paul points us to the Christ who is revealed in us. In chapter 2, we have the Christ who lives in us. But in chapter 4, the focus is on the Christ who is being formed in us. Yes. Christ has been revealed in us; even, He is living us. Yet the questions remains, has He been formed in us? This is the deep burden of the Apostle Paul in Galatians, and it’s our topic on today’s life study of the Bible.

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Luke (Program #49) – The Resurrection and Ascension of the Man-Savior (1)

There is a marvelous account in the Gospel of Luke following the Lord’s death and resurrection that surly is a favorite of many believers.   It’s the story of two men who were walking on the road to a village named Emmaus, and they were discussing among themselves the incredible event that had recently taken place. When the third person joined them in their walk, and joining their conversation and ultimately to be revealed as the very Lord in resurrection of Whom they were speaking. And the verse that I think is burnt in many of our hearts, found in Chapter 24:32 “and they said to one another, was not our heart burning within us while He were speaking to us on the road, while He was opening to us the scripture.”

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Zechariah (Program #11) – The Prophecies of Encouragement (3)

Zechariah is one of those hidden treasures in the Old Testament. As a book of prophecy it does seem mysterious and rather vague to many readers of the Bible. But as with all Scripture, with the Spirit’s illumination and the right keys to unlock our understanding, it reveals marvelous treasures. The main treasure in Zechariah is how compellingly and marvelously Christ is revealed. We see Him as the Shepherd of God’s flock in chapters 11 through 13, as He comes in, in an intimate way to feed and supply God’s suffering people. But we also see how this One was fully rejected, attacked, judged and ultimately crucified as well.

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Mark (Program #38) – The Preparation of the Slave-Savior for His Redemptive Service (12)

Ephesians chapter 1:7-9 tells us that Christ’s all redeeming death was part of God’s eternal plan and purpose. Yet on occasion after occasion when the Lord Jesus spoke concerning His coming death to His disciples especially Peter, they continually express their natural thought that such a thing should never happen to Him.

Furthermore, on the night before His death they one by one declare to the Lord, that they would never deny Him even at the cost of their own lives. Of course we all know the story, Peter representing all the disciples within a few short hours was repeatedly denying the Lord.

On one hand it seems hard to believe that after the Lord had revealed so much to His disciples, that they can still behave in such a way. In fact Peter and his failure is representative of all our natural strength and fleshly concepts.  Yet by the Lord’s mercy, Peter and eventually even all of us His weak and frail seekers are led through a process of Christ’s death has become much more than just an objective fact. We must become those who like Peter enter into His death so that we can ultimately be ushered into the reality of His resurrection.

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Ezekiel (Program #23) – The Priests and the Offerings

The Lord revealed to Ezekiel that above all, He desires a place on the earth where He can put the soles of His feet that would also be the place of His throne. In other words, God desires to have a dwelling place, a place of rest and satisfaction; and, a place where He can administrate His heavenly rule and His divine move over the entire earth. This is the real significance of the house of God as revealed to Ezekiel and as revealed to us, the church, which is the reality of the house of God in the New Testament. But after we receive such a high revelation concerning the significance of God’s building, we need a further realization as to the kind of persons that are qualified to serve Him in His house.

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Jeremiah (Program #16) – A Full Picture of God’s Economy by His Dispensing

The book of Jeremiah reveals God’s righteous judgment upon His people, Israel, for their many sins and the idolatry that had overtaken them. But if we look carefully and consider this book in the light of the entire Bible, we see that in the midst of all this negative history, God’s economy – that is His desire to dispense Himself and His riches into His chosen people that they might be reconstituted with Him and become His very corporate expression, is also revealed. In the first pages of Jeremiah’s account, God commissions him to tell all the people that their greatest evil is that they have forsaken Him not as their Creator nor even as their God, but as the fountain of living waters.

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Jeremiah (Program #14) – Jehovah’s further Commission to Jeremiah (1)

The prophet Jeremiah was one with the Lord in many regards. So much so that during the troubling and tumultuous time in which Jeremiah lived, God used him as His own mouth. Bringing Jehovah’s direct speaking to the apostate and rebellious people of Israel. Yet despite being the Lord’s called and anointed prophet, Jeremiah also suffered greatly, sharing in Israel’s judgment. It’s understandable then at times he was given to complaining and bitterness. Yet the Lord was continually with him, comforting him and encouraging him not to speak “worthless things” as the people did. But to speak words that matched the preciousness of Jehovah and all that He had revealed to Jeremiah.

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Jeremiah (Program #11) – A Word concerning Israel’s History

On Mount Sinai, Israel was in the dawning of a divine revelation. God had revealed the law to them as a portrait, a picture of Himself. And opened His heart’s desire to them that He would be everything to them, even a Husband that they would be a people to Him and eventually become even His duplication. But the history of Israel reveals how quickly they have departed from this revelation and this sunrise soon became a sunset, leaving Israel in darkness and under the chastising hand of Jehovah. This was the situation when God had to call a young boy to be a prophet for Him. Jeremiah was raised up by the Lord because Jehovah found no one among His kings, princes or even His priests that would be faithful to Him and speak His word to the people. To see Israel in the sunset of the divine revelation becomes a sober warning to us today – never to forsake Him, the fountain of living waters.

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1 Peter (Program #4) – The Full Salvation of the Triune God and Its Issues (2)

In his epistles the apostle Peter frequently mentions the matter of salvation.   but he does so in a context that somewhat different than how most Christians normally think of salvation.  For example  in chapter 1:5 he say “a salvation ready to be revealed at the last time.”  Of course, our common thought is that salvation was revealed to us when we believed and received Christ as our Savior.  Then in chapter 2:2, Peters says that salvation is something that we grow into.  Once again, the typical thought is that salvation is what we received once for all at the moment we believed.  Well in fact there is a real measure of truth to the salvation that we received when we first expressed our faith in the Lord Jesus.  But, and this is a crucial but,  the salvation that Peter refer to repeatedly in his writings involves much more than just our initial salvation.

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