Romans (Program #65) – Transformation and Conformation by the Grafted Life (1)

Today we would see although God created man in His own likeness in Genesis, still we would need the process of transformation and conformation to express Him as the sons of God.

Most of us recall the account of creation in Genesis that man was created in the image of God  and with His likeness,  the real purpose of this similarity between man and God is what we are exploring on today’s life study.

In Romans 12 we see the words, conform and transform and we are going to see there is definitely linkage between what the apostle Paul developed in Romans and the marvelous way that God created man in His own image. The obvious question is why are we created in God’s image? more…

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Ezekiel (Program #4) – The Four Living Creatures

Ezekiel is a book of figures or pictures that portrays spiritual things. For example in the beginning of the book, in the first 4 verses it says, “The word of Jehovah came expressly to Ezekiel the priest…And I looked, and there came a storm wind from the north, a great cloud and a fire flashing incessantly; and there was a brightness around it, and from the midst of it, there was something like the sight of electrum, from the midst of the fire.” These four items, the wind, the cloud, the fire and the electrum actually depict various aspects of how we experience God. God is like a wind to us, He overshadows and broods over us like a cloud; At times He’s a burning refining fire to purify us; and He’s also like a shining glowing electrum of gold and silver depicting His divine nature and Christ’s redemption. But if we genuinely experience God in these aspects, it will also produce something which we also come to today in verse 5, “And from the midst of it there came a likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: They had the likeness of a man.”

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Jeremiah (Program #12) – God’s Economy with His Dispensing in Jeremiah (1)

The Bible consummates with the revelation of the city of New Jerusalem. This indicates that the New Jerusalem is God’s goal. In fact every book in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation is in some way related to the New Jerusalem as God’s goal. And as the ultimate goal of His plan and purpose with man, the New Jerusalem is just too wonderful for us to imagine. So God reveals this matter bit by bit. First by the Bible’s own words and then the stories, types, history, shadows and figures make it more and more clear to us. The Old Testament of Jeremiah is rich in the aspect of God’s economy that are revealed throughout. In Jeremiah, God’s goal of having a group of human beings that have been filled with Him and that bear His image and likeness to become His corporate expression for eternity is very much on display. And this vision unlocks all the riches and treasures in this book.

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1 & 2 Chronicles (Program #3) – The Highest Point of God’s Gospel

It is clear from the first two chapters of the Bible that the center and focus of God’s creative work was man.  Genesis 1:26 “and God said let us make man in our image after our likeness.”  In Zechariah God focus is even more graphic, in chapter 12 verse 1 it says “the burden of the word of Jehovah concerning Israel thus said Jehovah who stretches forth the heavens and lays the foundation of the earth forms the spirit of man within him.”  God’s goal was with man.  His eternal purpose was with man.  But Old Testament declaration like these refer to man’s status before he fell.  So the question for us today is “did the focus, the center and the plan of God changed with the fall of man or is the original purpose still intact?”  The New Testament answer this question with crystal clarity.  Ephesians 1:9 “making known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself unto the economy of the fullness of the times to head up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth in Him.”

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Hebrews (Program #16) – Partners of Christ

As believers in Christ, we have a number of statuses – we’re the children of God, we’re the servants of God, we’re the disciples of Christ, we’re the sons of God, we’re members of Christ’s body and as we will see today, we are also partners of Christ. For God to accomplish His purpose requires the coordination and involvement of all three of the Godhead; but surprisingly, it also requires the involvement of Christ’s partners. Who are His partners?

It’s been wonderful to see both from Romans and now from Hebrews that we are Christ’s brothers, this is quite a realization to our Christian life. But today we find out that we are also His partners. Why does the eternal and all-powerful God need partners?

Though God is eternal and all-powerful, we must see also that He is very purposeful and He’s chosen to accomplish His purpose by His infinite wisdom. God’s intention was really with man even in eternity past. If you remember back in Genesis, it talks about God having a council saying “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness”. When He first created man, His intention was to get into man, to be life to man – and therefore, He needs man. He needs these partners to carry out what He’s doing. more…

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