Job (Program #6) – The First of the Three Rounds (2) – Job’s Vindication

God put the book of Job into the Bible as a black background. The speaking of Job and his friends indicated that although they were apparently godly men, they were short of God and they did not express God. Job and his friends came together to debate not to fellowship.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS

1 John (Program #35) – The Virtues of the Divine Birth to Overcome the World, Death, Sin, the Devil, and the Idols (3)

The final few verses of 1 John serve as a strong conclusion to a book that stress over and over, the divine birth and the divine life that all believers received at divine birth.  Closely associated with the divine birth are the divine fellowship and the divine anointing and all of the virtues that flow out of the divine birth.  Of course, the source of the divine life is the divine being, God Himself and His Son Jesus Christ.  And part of the heritage that we received at the divine birth is the capacity to know, experience, enjoy and ultimately even to possess God,  not merely in an objective way but in reality.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS

Job (Program #5) -The First of the Three Rounds in the Debates Between Job and His Three Friends (1) – Eliphaz’s Answer to Job by Rebuking

In Job chapter 4 and 5 Eliphaz, the first of Job’s three friends opens up the first of three rounds of debates concerning Job’s sufferings. Job held the concept that he was right but Eliphaz corrected him. Referring to Job in chapter 4:17 Eliphaz asked him, “Can a mortal man be more righteous than God? Can a man be purer than his Maker?”

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS

1 John (Program #34) – The Virtues of the Divine Birth to Overcome the World, Death, Sin, the Devil, and the Idols (2)

1 John is a book that focuses on the divine eternal life that we all as believers received by faith.  It is the fellowship of this life that empowers and enables us to live the Christian life.  And in 1 John it is unveiled marvelously as well as practically.  John also warns us and instructs us to be on guard concerning those things that disrupt this fellowship of life, such as sin.

In chapter 5, he even instructs us that it is possible, in the Lord to be able to discern the deep spiritual condition of other members of the Body of Christ, to more effectively pray and even to become a channel of the divine life for them.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS

Job (Program #4) – Job’s Cursing of His Birthday

In Job chapter 3, Job cursed the day of his birth. He was a good man and he was trying to keep his perfection, uprightness and integrity. But due to his vexation he could not contain himself and he didn’t know what to do. Job’s suffering was so intense and most of the book of Job is a debate about why God would allow such a good person to suffer so much. And this debate continues today. At the end of chapter 2, Job painfully sat in silence for seven days and nights. And then in chapter 3 Job broke the silence and initiated the debate, which is most of the book of Job, by cursing the day of his birth because of his suffering of this very great pain.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS

1 John (Program #33) – The Virtues of the Divine Birth to Overcome the World, Death, Sin, the Devil, and the Idols (1)

1 John, a book that stresses divine eternal life, reveals that prayer is crucial in maintaining the fellowship of the divine life.  In chapter 5 it particularly shows us that as members of the Body, we need to pray for the other members.  No doubt it’s common practice among believers to pray for healing for someone in the church who may be sick or for financial blessing for those who may be suffering material shortage.  But do we pray as the apostle John instructs us for the Lord to supply the weaken members with life?  Listen to chapter 5:16 “If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin not unto death, he shall ask and he will give life to him, to those sinning not unto death… “

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS

Job (Program #3) – The Trials of Job (2)

Job 2:1-3 say, “Then one day, when the sons of God came to present themselves before Jehovah, Satan also came among them to present himself before Jehovah. And Jehovah said to Satan, Where have you come from? And Satan answered Jehovah and said, From roving the earth and going about in it. And Jehovah said to Satan, Have you considered My servant Job? For there is none like him on the earth, a perfect and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil. And he still holds fast his integrity, though you have moved Me against him to destroy him without cause.”

This book of Job has been a real mystery to all those who have read it for centuries and it’s a wonderful thing to have the opportunity to explore this book from the standpoint of God’s New Testament economy. To look at this book, this Old Testament book, from the perspective of the New Testament.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS

1 John (Program #32) – The Virtues of the Divine Birth to Practice the Divine Love (5)

All of the apostle John’s writings in the Bible stress the divine birth through which the divine life is imparted into the believers.  In his gospel he says you must be born again.  In chapter 3 of his first epistle, John says,  3:9 “Everyone who has been begotten of God does not practice sin.” And once again the stress is on the divine birth.  But in chapter 5 he gets even more specific about not just the fact of the divine birth, but the location of the divine birth. When he says,  5:4 “For everything that has been begotten of God overcomes the world;”

Why does he change everyone in chapter 3 to everything in chapter 5?   The answer reveals very much about the key to overcoming not just sin and the world but all of the negative things surrounding us in our day to day living.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS

Job (Program #2) – The Trials of Job (1)

The Old Testament book of Job tells the story of a man whom God allowed to be touched and even damaged by Satan himself. The natural or even religious thought would say that this must have been because of God’s judgment upon Job due to some some sin or failure at his part. But let’s consider for a moment what the Bible has to say about this man, Job. In chapter 1:6-8, “Then one day, when the sons of God came to present themselves before Jehovah, Satan also came among them…And Jehovah said to Satan, Have you considered My servant Job? For there is none like him on the earth, a perfect and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil.” It’s remarkable isn’t it? For not only does the Bible reveal that Job was not a sinful man, quite the opposite it says that he was perfect and upright; and one in whom God even boasts of his goodness. So the age old question persists – Why then did God allow Satan to strip this righteous man of his possessions, his family, his health and even his most prized attainment, his integrity? That’s the subject not just of our program today but really this entire life study of the book of Job.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS

1 John (Program #31) – The Virtues of the Divine Birth to Practice the Divine Love (4)

In his first epistle the apostle John talks very much about love.  Chapter four particularly places a strong emphasis on love. But if we examine John’s presentation of this most visible virtue of the divine birth we realize that the love spoken of in this book is not a vague or general love nor is it a natural love, a love that finds its’ source in the human heart. It is the love that flows from the divine source from God Himself.  In verse 8 of chapter 4 John puts it this way, “He who does not love has not known God, because God is love.“

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS