1 Corinthians (Program #36) – Dealing with Eating of Sacrifices to Idols (1)

After opening the book of 1 Corinthians in a very spiritual way, the apostle Paul then turned his attention to several practical matters in the middle chapters.

Chapter 7 for instance deals with marriage. Chapter eight with eating, our diet. These are some of the most basic and practical of all human items. Yet as he begins this fellowship on eating in chapter 8 he inserts a very wonderful and very spiritual phrase. Listen to the first verse of chapter

8:1 “Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.”

Building up, a theme that runs through out this book. And a very important theme for all of us God’s people to understand.

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1 Corinthians (Program #32) – Dealing with the Abuse of Freedom (3)

The Bible is so rich so infinitely beyond man’s ability to compose. How can we hope to understand it with our mere mental apprehension?   We need the Lord’s gracious shinning to illuminate and unveil the truth in the Bible. Often this is done through the eyes of those who had gone before us to unlock the treasures that are contained in passages of scripture both obscure and familiar.

A well know and oft’ quoted verse 1 Corinthians 6 is an example has much more to convey to us than a simple glance revealed.

6:19 “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.”

Sounds familiar? Well it sounds clear enough as well. But reading the whole passage can’t help but impress us that there is much more been spoken of here. Listen to the verses surrounding this verse.

15 “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?”

17 “But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.”

19-20  “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price. So then glorify God in your body.”

Three marvelous truths are contained in these verse. These rich verses contain in 1 Corinthians 6.

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Luke (Program #65) – The Man-Savior’s Ascension (3 & 4)

The Gospel of Luke concludes with one of the mysterious and difficult to understand items in the entire New Testament and that’s the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ to the heavenlies, some forty days after His resurrection. Luke 20:4 says “while He blessed them He parted from them and was carried up into heaven and they worship Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple blessing God.”  One of the reasons that seems to be mysterious and difficult is that it appears to be very removed even remote from us. Yet when we see His ascension properly in view of the entire New Testament revelation we realized that it has tremendous implications for us.

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Ezekiel (Program #15) – The Outward and Inward Recovery by Life

Ezekiel chapter 36:26-27 are classic verses in the entire Old Testament that are essential for us to understand and to know the Lord in an intimate way. They tell us, “I will also give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will take away the heart of stone out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and My ordinances you shall keep and do.”

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Ezekiel (Program #1) – Introduction (1)

One book in the Bible that always seem to stir interest is the book of Revelation. This book gives the account of the apostle John receiving the revelation from God. This revelation actually came as John saw vision after vision, prophetically revealing the key elements of God’s eternal plan. But if one is really to understand the book of Revelation, it is equally important to know the parallel Old Testament book, the book of Ezekiel. Ezekiel and Revelation go together in many critical aspects as you’ll see in the coming weeks.

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Jeremiah (Program #10) – A Word concerning Israel’s History

Many people think the book of Jeremiah is not easy to read nor to understand. Well, it maybe hard to ready because it seems to be full of the failures and degradation of God’s people, Israel. Yet despite page after page of such failures, there are wonderful crystals of God’s economy and of the new covenant and of Christ Himself. It’s hard to understand because much of it is based on the history of God’s people and what has led up to the time when God called a young man, even still in his mother’s womb to be a prophet for Him and speak on His behalf to the rebellious and unfaithful people of Israel. This was the prophet Jeremiah.

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Psalms (Program #22) – The Psalmist’s Intensified Enjoyment of God in His House and City Through the Suffering, Exalted, and Reigning Christ (3)

The Bible contains many symbols and types.  We regard these symbols and types as pictures or photographs.  The reason for the photographs in the Bible is that Bible unveils many heavenly spiritual things and the photographs help us understand these invisible and mysterious things.  Today’s life study from Psalms 45 is a glorious picture that you will want to stay with us for.  It’s very special today.

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Nehemiah (Program #4) – The Reconstitution of the Nation of God’s Elect (2)

The books of Ezra and Nehemiah bear a strong intrinsic significance for the Lord’s recovery today. We should not think that the Old Testament is unrelated to us. The Bible is written in two sections – the Old Testament and the New Testament. The first section contains pictures while the second section contains the fulfillment of what is signified by the pictures. Without an intrinsic understanding of the Old Testament types, it is not easy to understand the fulfillment of God’s economy in the New Testament.

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1 John (Program #21) – The Teaching of the Divine Anointing (2)

At the very heart of the Christian faith is the truth concerning the nature and essence of God Himself. The Bible very clearly reveals that our God is Triune. It’s from this truth that we derive the word Trinity, which means three-one. Our God is uniquely one yet is eternally three.

Over the centuries various terms had been used in an attempted describe this essential characteristics of God. The most common of these borrowed terms may be persons. We often hear the word persons used in referenced to the three of the God-head. God the Father, God the Son, who is the Jesus Christ and God the Spirit. Though this term does help us in some regard to understand one aspect of the Trinity. It’s critical to keep in mind that the Bible itself never uses this term in such a context. And further, we should always use this term careful when apply to God. Because it’s over or incorrect used can lead us into the serious error of having three gods, either consciously or unconsciously.

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1 John (Program #20) – The Anointing

Of all of the great wonders of the Christian’s faith, perhaps none exceed the Trinity. Our God is uniquely one yet eternally three, Triune. God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit, co-exist and co-inhere from eternity to eternity yet not as three Gods working together but as one God. This mysterious and marvelous reality is revealed in so many aspects and with so much implications through out scriptures.

But because man had sought through the ages to understand, comprehend and explain this greatest of divine mysterious with mere human words and analogies many errors concerning the truth had invaded the Church over the centuries. Should we then avoid the subject all together or should we allow ourselves to be taught by the Spirit Himself concerning the very Triune God in both our understanding and our experience?   This was the apostle John’s clear word to us in His first epistle when he wrote,

2:27 “And as for you, the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone teach you; but as His anointing teaches you concerning all things and is true and is not a lie, and even as it has taught you, abide in Him.“

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