Philippians (Program #25) – Awaiting Christ for the Transfiguration of His Sufferings

What is the body of our humiliation referred to by the apostle Paul in Philippians 3:21?  Many people are trying to excessively glorified their physical body today and make it more honorable by indulging in the enjoyment of the material things. But the Bible says it’s not until the Lord comes that we would be conformed to the Body of His glory.

The believers in Philippi have been saved of course and regenerated in their spirits but there is still the need for them to care for the two others parts of their being; the soul and the body.  We will see in some greater details today.  The background of this book is that the Philippians believers were been hampered or frustrated by two different groups of people. One was the Judaizers, which Paul had called dogs in the concision in the some other very derogatory name. The other group is the group called Epicureans.  Why were these two groups so damaging?

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Philippians (Program #8) – Standing Firm in One Spirit Striving Together with One Soul

In Philippians 1:27 the apostle Paul says, “that you stand firm in one spirit with one soul striving together along with the faith of the gospel.”  We need to not only stand firm in one spirit for the experience of Christ but also to strive together with one soul in the faith of the gospel. To be with one soul for the gospel work is more difficult then to be in one spirit for the experience of Christ. This unique use of term would be our focus today on the life study of the Bible from the book of Philippians.

Concerning our standing it says we need to be firm in one spirit and then concerning our striving together we need to be with one soul. So this verse shows us an exercise of both the spirit and the soul. Many believers, many Christians may not realize or perceive the critical difference between these two portions or aspects of our being, the spirit and the soul. So, to clarify, to reveal this very basic and important understanding.

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Lamentations (Program #3) – The Third Lamentations (2)

The prophet Jeremiah in the Old Testament had much to be sorrowful for.  For all around him is God’s judgment.  This judgment fell upon God’s people Israel because of their degradation and their unfaithfulness.  It also fell upon the nations that surrounded Israel for opposing God’s people and His purpose.  And finally God’s judgment fell upon the prophet himself, not so much for his own failures and sins but rather because the prophet Jeremiah properly identified with his people Israel and thereby shared in their judgment.  It was these sufferings that brought him to pour out his heart and soul to Jehovah in the short book called Lamentations.  But in so doing, we see some wonderful passages that can be immense help to those of us in the New Testament economy.  For Jeremiah learned to practice three marvelous things that sustain him and likewise can sustain us.  We will look at these three in today’s program.

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Lamentations (Program #2) – The Third Lamentations

The book of Lamentations was written by the prophet Jeremiah after he had witnessed the devastation that had befallen on the nation and people of Israel.  Altogether he includes five lamentations in this short book.   The third of which is perhaps the most important for us, God’s New Testament people because this lamentation is one of the prophets being identified with the rebellious people of God, the apostate nation of Israel.  Even though Jeremiah himself had remained utterly faithful to the Lord.  Yet because he still was an Israelite, God was demonstrating to him that every true prophet must identify with God’s people even in their chastisement and suffering.  But another striking element of this lamentation bears a uniquely New Testament quality and even hints of God’s desire to restore His chosen people, even to impart Himself to the deepest part of their being.

With that in view, now listen closely to Jeremiah’s own words in this third lamentation. “It is Jehovah’s loving-kindness that we are not consumed, For His compassions do not fail;They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. Jehovah is my portion, says my soul; Therefore I hope in Him. Jehovah is good to those who wait on Him, To the soul that seeks Him.“

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Song of Songs (Program #6) – Living in Ascension by Discerning the Spirit from the Soul

The theme of the book in the Bible with the title “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 sections:
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.

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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 #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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Psalms (Program #30) –  The Psalmist’s Love for the House of God with Christ

Psalms 84 is a lovely expression of the Psalmist’s intense love and longing for God’s house.  “How lovely are Your tabernacle.” he writes.  “Oh Jehovah of hosts, my soul longs even faints for the cores of Jehovah.”  As this wonderful Psalm develops it becomes clear just what it is regarding God’s house that draws him so.  For it’s here, in God’s habitation which in His time was the tabernacle but today we realizes it’s the church that we find Christ.  It is Him that we long for and desire above all else.  Of course, this Psalm also shows us that on the way to God’s house, the journey brings us through many stations, like a valley of weeping and eventually to the two altars that reside in the tabernacle,.

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Hebrews (Program #32) – A Kingly High Priest, Perpetual and Great

To most people, the words soul and spirit are interchangeable, even to many Christians.  But Hebrews 4:12 tells us that not only are they not the same, but the word of God can divide them apart.  To miss this distinction is to miss one of the keys to experiencing Christ.  We will look at the human spirit on today’s life-study of the Bible.

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1 Thessalonians (Program #21) – To Be Sanctified Wholly with our Spirit, Soul, and Body Preserved Complete (1)

1 Thessalonians 5:23 says:“And the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Do you really know what it means to be sanctified wholly and to be preserved complete?  You know many things in the Bible apparently are understood. But what did the apostle Paul really mean?

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