Job (Program #7) – The First of the Three Rounds (3) and (4)

In Job’s unyielding vindication under his extreme sufferings, he said in Job 10:1-2, “My soul loathes my own life; I will let my complaint have free course in me; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. I will say to God, Do not account me wicked; Make known to me why You contend with me.”

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Philippians (Program #6b) – Magnifying Christ by Living Him (2)

In Philippians 1:20 the Apostle Paul says, “according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be put to shame but with all boldness as always even now Christ shall be magnified in my body whether through life or through death.”  The apostle Paul wrote these words as he was in prison in a Roman jail and his exhortation to the Philippines was to follow his pattern of experiencing and enjoying even magnifying Christ regardless of his outward situation.

As we continue our fellowship from yesterday, another message covering Paul’s experience, magnified Christ by experience Him even through sufferings. There are much more here as we are able to cover a message of remarkable depth and incredible insight and so much encouragement for us.

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Philippians (Program #6a) – Magnifying Christ by Living Him (1)

Philippians is a book that shows the reality of experiencing Christ. The apostle Paul presents himself as the living witness as the one who experience Christ in the depth of his being regardless of his outward circumstances or sufferings. Paul had learned the key not just how to endure hardship but how to allow every situation to become an opportunity for Christ to be magnified and expressed even in his body. A wonderful glimpse into the life of a person who was experiencing being one living with our Lord Jesus Christ

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Ephesians (Program #15) – The Hope of God’s Calling and the Riches of the Glory of God’s Inheritance in the Saints

Hope can be a tremendous thing. If a person has hope, then their ability to withstand hardship and suffering is immeasurably enhanced. And as Christians, we above all people should live a life that is full of hope and therefore equipped to handle whatever may come our way. Paul, the apostle, experienced many hardships and knew much about hope; and in his letter to the Ephesians he opens up his earnest prayer to God on behalf of all the believers. One of the items that he prayed for strongly was that we all would see clearly and truthfully what is the hope of our calling. Where hope is a wonderful thing but our hope needs to be founded in truth and in the reality that the Bible conveys and not in something fanciful or simply according to the popular thought of the day.

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2 Corinthians (Program #50) – Paul’s Vindication of His Apostolic Authority (5)

At the end of 2 Corinthians the apostle Paul was compelled to make a vindication of his apostolic authority.   In the course of this defense, he described much of the sufferings and poverty that seem to be his constant companions during his ministry.  Judging his ministry by today’s common standards, it might seem to some that his work lack the Lord’s blessing.  Listen, “three times I was beaten with rods” he writes, “once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I had spent in the deep, In journeys often, in dangers of rivers, in dangers of robbers, in dangers from my race, in dangers from the Gentiles, in dangers in the city, in dangers in the wilderness, in dangers in the sea, in dangers among false brothers; In labor and hardship; in watchings often; in hunger and thirst; in fastings often; in cold and nakedness.”

This kind of hardship and shortage even of the basic material supplies might seems strange to some.  How could this be the case of a genuine servant of the Lord?  But to Paul, it was quite the opposite.  For to his realization the Lord Jesus during His earthly ministry similarly suffered and Paul considered it an honor that the Lord would find him worthy to share in the sufferings.

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Romans (Program #20) – Heirs of Glory (2)

The sufferings of Christians in this age related to the glory that they will receive in the next is a subject that is not well understood by many Christians. Today we will see how God works to produce these heirs of glory.

If you have found yourself as a Christian in a difficult experience and really at a loss to explain or understand what’s happening to you, this is the program that you don’t want to miss today as we have another life study of the Bible from the book of Romans.

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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 #1) – Introduction

No two books of the Bible are probably more linked than the Old Testament books of Jeremiah and Lamentations.  Jeremiah, a book of God’s judgment and punishment upon His rebellious people Israel is followed by the prophet Jeremiah’s lamentations over the sufferings of Israel.  Listen to his word in the first of these lamentations, chapter 1:1-2 “How the city sits alone That was full of people! She who was once great among the nations Has become like a widow; She who was a princess among the provinces Has become tributary.  Bitterly she weeps in the night, And her tears are on her cheeks. There is no one to comfort her Among all her lovers; All her friends have dealt treacherously with her; They have become her enemies.”  This was Jeremiah’s speaking of the utter destruction and devastation that had been visited upon the city by the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar.  And the suffering of Jeremiah reflects that of all of God’s people, especially no doubt the few righteous among them.

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1 Peter (Program #27) – The Mighty Hand of God and Its Goal (2)

1 Peter is a book written with a specific view to God’s governmental dealing with His people.  It also lays out very clearly as God’s people we should expect sufferings and persecution from time to time in our Christian life.

But Peter did not just leave us with a sober realization that God will measure to us sufferings and trying circumstances in order to discipline us.  Actually the book opens with and concludes with grace.  In fact all throughout the book Peter encourages the believers with grace, not a superficial religious expression but marvelous expressions that convey to us four divine acts of grace to be our supply, our strength and our empowering, to be kept in perfect peace regardless of the outward situation we are faced with.

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1 Peter (Program #23) -Christian Life and Its Sufferings (11)

1 Peter 4:17 say “For it is time for the judgment to begin from the house of God.”  If first from us, what would be the end of those who disobey the gospel of God?  The judgment spoken of in this verse surely cannot be the judgment for eternal perdition reserved for those who disobey the gospel.  What then does the judgment of the believers spoken of in the New Testament refer to?  We will explore this and the big topic of God’s depositional judgment in our life study of 1 Peter.

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