Ephesians (Program #65) – God’s Economy—To Work Christ into Us

Once we are saved and had believed into Christ receiving Him as our redeemer and savior, what is God most interested in seeing in our lives?  Good Christian conduct? Christians virtues, such as kindness, patience, love and generosity? Well, what about seeing us been gifted and powerful in our service? Well, how about full knowledge of the Bible?

Well, all of these things are surely wonderful, spiritual. But here is the great surprise. Though all of these things are mentioned in the Bible none of them are of that much interest to God. I said, none of them are of that much interest to God.  Because what He desires above all else in His people is to see Christ, the first born among many brethren making His home in our hearts, and living His life in us, through us and out of us.

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Genesis (Program #92) – Being Transformed (1)

Today we are coming back to the goal and the subject of the entire Bible.  There is a definite focus in this program, the life study of the Bible; to see that every portion of the Scriptures is consistent and always leading to one goal and one purpose.   This really is the Bible isn’t it?

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Ephesians (Program #13) – The Pledge of Our Inheritance

In ancient times when one purchased a piece of land, upon payment of an initial deposit, the seller would then give the buyer a bit of the ground as a pledge or guarantee that the property was in fact the very same parcel agreed upon. The apostle Paul picks up this custom to help illustrate one of the important functions or aspects of the Holy Spirit in God’s plan or economy. In Ephesians 1, Paul referring to the Holy Spirit says in verse 14, that the Spirit is actually the pledge of our inheritance. We will explore just what it is that we get when we receive this pledge.

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Ephesians (Program #2) – Three Aspects of Well Speaking

Of all that God possesses and does on the earth, the single most important thing to Him is the church. In fact, the church is the unique subject and perhaps the highest book in the New Testament Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians. But if you were asked, “what is the church?” How would you answer? Well that is what we want to see today – “What is the church?” not from our perspective but from God’s perspective.

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Galatians (Program #44) – Walking by the Spirit as Sons of God (1)

Galatians, much like the book of Romans, reveals God’s salvation to us in a most dynamic and marvelous way. We are saved by faith, through grace and fully according to the operation of the Spirit and not by the works of law. But the revelation of the New Testament and of these books especially does not stop here. There is a goal to this salvation, a wonderful goal, that should become our goal as well. This was the deep burden of the apostle Paul in Galatians.

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Galatians (Program #42) – Walk by the Spirit in the Enjoyment of Christ in our Spirit

To many people, the main item of the book of Romans is justification by faith and the main item in Galatians is to be free from the bondage of the law. Although both of these truths are present in these two books, the real goal and focus of both books is something else. For both Romans and Galatians reveal that God’s purpose or economy in justifying us and freeing us is for one thing – to make forgiven sinners into genuine sons of God in life.

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Galatians (Program #21) – Baptized into Christ and Putting on Christ

The thought in this chapter (Galatians 3) is quite deep and the thought is also divine. And, it’s one thing to be in the first couple of chapters with more objective matters, precious but yet rather basic concerning the fundamental truth of the Gospel and being justified by faith through grace and not out of the works of the law. But in chapter 3 and also chapter 4, which is not that much easier than chapter 3, we’re at the heart of this book. And, we’re deep into the experiential aspect of this book.

Let me try to summarize. We have received the Spirit, not by works of law, but by the hearing of faith. By receiving the Spirit, we receive the reality of the blessing God promised to Abraham. Having received the Spirit and having been brought to Christ through the law as a child-conductor, we are now sons of God and true sons of Abraham. We have believed into Christ. We have been baptized into Christ. We have put on Christ. And, by so doing, we have put off all natural distinctions. And, this is all for the carrying out of God’s economy for us to be in Christ and for Christ to be in us, that we may be the corporate expression of Christ.

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Zechariah (Program #15) – The Prophecies of Encouragement (6)

We all have our own favorite verses throughout the Bible. For many of us, some of our favorite verses are found in pages of the Old Testament. And we tend to avoid the Old Testament often in terms of its bigger meaning because it does seem to be somewhat veiled and obscure. However, the real meaning of all of our verses in the Old Testament match that of the revelation in the New Testament. And, that is that at the heart of God’s desire is an economy. In the life study of Zechariah, God’s economy is summarized: “The center of God’s economy is to have a Body to express Christ. Eventually, this Body will be Christ’s Bride to match Him as His counterpart and to come down to earth with Him to carry out the final step of God’s economy. Today, the world situation is ready for His coming, but the Lord has not yet gained His counterpart. Therefore, He has no way to come back. He is still waiting.”

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Zechariah (Program #5) – The Visions of Consolation and Promise (4)

Zechariah is full of mysterious visions revealing Christ. Listen to the first four verses from Zechariah chapter 4, “Then the angel who spoke with me returned and roused me as a a man is roused from his sleep. And he said to me, What do you see? And I said, I see that there is a lampstand all of gold, with its bowl on top of it and its seven lamps upon it, with seven pipes for each of the lamps on top of it; And there are two olive trees beside it, one to the right of the bowl and one to the left. And I answered and spoke to the angel who spoke with me saying, What are these, sir?”

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Daniel (Program #16) – The Visions of the Overcoming Daniel (6)

Anyone who has ever studied history realizes that throughout the ages Israel has been a land of wars and destruction.  Yet it survives and even today after so much turmoil but once again it is the center of the world’s attention and occupies so much space in our newspapers and newscasts.

Daniel saw prophetically that Israel will be such a land of distress.  He also saw how God’s purpose and His people will ultimately prevail as Christ Himself will come to that very place to rule and reign on this earth for a thousand years.

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