Monthly Archives: July 2012

Paul’s Prayer for the Church

Paul’s Prayer for the Church that the saints may see the hope of His calling

Ephesian 1:17  that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,   18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, 

The big word here is “See the Hope”.  There is a lot of hope in His calling, we just need a spirit of wisdom and revelation to see it.    Revelation is something that has been covered up and now is revealed.

Even in Revelation 1:1  it says “The revelation of Jesus Christ..”  so revelation is needed to see Christ.  And here the Holy Spirit helps us to understand the Word of God.

1 Cor 2:9-10  9 But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”   10 But God has revealed [them] to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.     

The Holy Spirit illuminates us so we can get supernatural information.  Paul wants us to receive divine information and understanding by searching through the word of God and understanding the character of God.

Another powerful verse is Romans 8:16  The Spirit bears witness to our spirit that we are the children of God.

Faith, Love, Thanks and Prayer

Paul’s Thanks for the Church – faith, love, thanks and prayer

Ephesians 1:15  Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints,   16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers:   

Let’s get a little into the context of the book of Ephesians.  Paul wrote this letter to impart a high vision of what Christ has done and yet wants to do through the church.  The first 3 chapters are the vision with Christ in the heavens after accomplishing redemption for us on the cross.  Then the last 3 chapters are a lot of application about Marriage, family life and how we get along with other and ourselves.

Paul particularly was thankful for his readers’ faith and love. Faith finds its focus in Christ and expresses itself in love to others. Such love is the evidence of genuine faith.

In verse 15 Paul mentions 4 items:  faith, love, thanks and prayer.  Paul is thanking God for the Church composed of those in Ephesians who have faith in the Lord Jesus, and those who love the saints.

Its very interesting that Paul focuses on God and thanks God, rather than focusing on the problems that might have plagued the Ephesians.  Was Paul blind to the believers issues, or did he see something higher in what Christ accomplished that drove him to just thank the Lord for the saints who just loved each other in this city.  Sometimes a prayer meeting with just praises can do more than itemizing all the problems, but of course both are real prayer.

Notice also that Paul mentions first their faith, then their love and then thanks.  Why does he not mention sin, that the believers are just sinners saved by grace.  It seems in chapter 1 of Ephesians Paul does not even give a hint of sin, but he sure does in chapter 2 where he says “dead in trespasses and sins”.  So Paul in chapter 1 mentions faith, then love, but chapter 2 death and sin.

Passages of Scripture that Point to Jesus Christ

Passages of Scripture that Point to Jesus Christ

We are going to comment on some passages of Scripture that point to Jesus Christ.  If we read and study the Bible without coming to know Christ in a real way then we have missed the whole point of the Bible. The entire Bible talks about Jesus Christ.  I don’t know if you remember the story recorded in Luke 24.  After Christ died on the cross, there were rumors that He had risen from the dead. Two of His disciples were so sad because the One who had been with them for three years and had ministered in so many amazing ways was gone.  As they were walking and discussing these things, Jesus joined them, but they didn’t even recognize Him!  They poured out their hearts to Him, telling Him about this awful thing that happened.  And Jesus asked them, “What happened?” They told Him how this Jesus had died and how some said He had risen from the dead.   Jesus replied to them, “Don’t you realize that all the Scriptures talk about Christ?” He was rebuking them in a way.  He began with Moses (the first 5 books of the Old Testament, and then went to the prophets and the Psalms, teaching them about all the things written in the Bible concerning Himself.  I don’t know if you remember the story of when He went to the temple and read from the Old Testament book of Isaiah. The passage He read from said, “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek.” (Isaiah 61:1). Jesus was reading a passage from Isaiah that pointed people to Christ Himself!

Let’s talk about another place in the Bible where Jesus gave a clear indication that the Scriptures should point people to Christ.  In John 5 Jesus was talking to the religious people and He rebuked them saying, basically, “You guys search, study, and research the Bible that talks about Me, but you won’t come to Me!”  He indicated that those people knew the Bible, knew about the Bible, and could even quote Bible passages that clearly presented Jesus Christ as the Son of God, but they wouldn’t come to Him for eternal life.  A lot of times that happens with us as well.  We may have heard Bible stories or even read them ourselves.  The Bible should lead people to Christ, to know and to experience Him.  If your reading, Bible study and Scripture memorization doesn’t lead you to Jesus Christ then the whole purpose of those activities has been defeated.  When we read the Bible, when we read the Scriptures, it should lead us to know Christ in a real and living way.

There is another place in the Bible that points to Christ.  It is a story I think you’ve probably heard about, especially around Christmas time, and it is the story about the birth of the Lord Jesus.   Perhaps you remember the story of the Magi, or the Wise Men from the East.  They followed a star as far as Jerusalem and inquired about this King who had been born of the Jews because they wanted to go and worship Him.  Herod learned of their inquiries and summoned them to himself.  Herod, of course, was threatened by the thought of another king who might compete with Him.  He called together all his religious experts and demanded of them where this King was to be born because he secretly wanted to kill Him. These religious experts knew from Micah, a book in the Old Testament, that this King was to be born in Bethlehem and informed Herod of that fact.  You would expect these people of Israel to go and see the King, but they didn’t go. The Magi or Wise Men, on the other hand, had hearts that were seeking after Christ, seeking after the Messiah, or the King. They went to see Him and gave Him gifts, but the people who knew the Bible, understood the Bible, and could even quote from the Bible didn’t go to see Him. Their understanding of the Bible should have brought them closer to Christ, but it did not.

The Book of Revelation is about Jesus Christ

The Book of Revelation is about Jesus Christ 

In the Bible, the Book of Revelation starts out with the phrase, “The revelation of Jesus Christ”.  The central point of this book is a about a person, and that person is Jesus Christ.  Now as I was preparing this lesson and the outlines I really wanted to find out about John.  John wrote the book of Revelation, but he also wrote the gospel of John the epistles of I, II, and III John as well.  What kind of person was John? What type of relationship did John have with Jesus Christ? Did John just know Him in an objective way?

“Oh my, this is quite a book!”  So many things are mentioned in the twenty-two chapters of Revelation.  Christ is portrayed in a rather mysterious way and there is also a discussion of the Antichrist. You’ve got the Tribulation and God’s judgment on the world.  Babylon is discussed in detail and then you have this city at the end of the book referred to as the New Jerusalem. There are a lot of mysterious things in this book.  I began to prayerfully read through it just to get an idea of what it all boils down to.  I noted that the first three words in the Greek text of Revelation are:  revelation, Jesus, and Christ.  What is this book really about? Is it about prophecy? Yes, there is prophecy in it.  Is it about the Antichrist? Yes, it talks about the Antichrist and the mark of the beast and all these things.  I came to realize that this book talks about one person and that one person is Jesus Christ.  In order to understand the book of Revelation properly we need to see Jesus Christ.

The book of Genesis is a very proper beginning to the Bible and Revelation is a proper conclusion to the Bible.

Who is Jesus?

How do we talk about this Jesus who lived on the earth about 2000 years ago in the land of Israel?

Jesus Christ is perfect God and perfect man in one person.  Jesus,  the Son of God,  was sent by God to deal with the problem of sinful man. Without Jesus, sinful man has no way to approach the holy God.  To the Christian,  Jesus Christ is the Redeemer, Savior, Healer, Comforter, Teacher, and the example of a perfect human life.  He is also the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  (John 1:29)   The important highlights are: His birth, human living, 3 year public ministry, death on the cross for sinners, resurrection from the dead, ascension and His still anticipated Second Coming.

The Bible has two great sections that talk about Jesus Christ.
1. the Old Testament – which foretold or prophesied about the coming of Jesus Christ.
2. the New Testament – which talks about His birth, life, teaching, disciples, death, resurrection and the growth of the Christian church.
Both Old and New Testament sections talk about His anticipated Second Coming.

It is a difficult concept to understand that He is both fully perfect God and perfect man, and all in one person.  There are many verses in the Bible to show this.

Jesus Christ is God – Colossians 2:9 For in Him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,    Revelation 22:13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.

Jesus Christ is man –  Matthew 1:18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary…    Luke 24:39 See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”

Tell Me About God

Let’s talk a little about God.

God has a plan for your life and has made a way through Jesus to make sinners like you and me right with God.

Let us consider several facts about God. First, God is love. Not everyone sees God as the God of love.  This at first may seem a little different than what people think about God.  Some think that God is out to “get” people, but the Bible says God is love. God is also righteous and must judge sin.  To deal with the sin problem, God sent His son Jesus Christ.   Romans 8:3-4. … God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Consider these brief eleven points about God:

1. God exists – Romans 1:20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.

2. God loves and is love – He loves people. John 3:16  “For God loved the world in that: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.  1 John 4:8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

3. God Created everything from nothing  – He created the universe, Genesis 1 – In the beginning God created the  heavens and the earth.

4. God can be known – John 17:3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

5. God is eternal – Jude 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever.

6. God is Spirit – John 4:24 God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

7. God is perfect and beautiful – Jesus tells us in Matthew 5: 48, “Your heavenly Father is perfect.”    Psalm 27:4  …to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord

8. God knows and understands all things. 1 John 3:20  For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.

9.  God is good — Luke 18:19   And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God.

10. God is Holy (and man is sinful)  Psalm 99:9 Exalt the Lord our God,  and worship at his holy mountain;  for the Lord our God is holy!

11. God is righteous — Romand 1:32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

There are many, many other aspects of God that could be talked about.  The word “God” is mentioned over 3000 times in the Bible.

So when someone says “Tell me about God“, now you have something to describe this wonderful God.  God is love, He is the creator and He exists.

What is Death?

According to to the Bible, physical death is a transition and not the end.

John 5:24 “ Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.”

This verse indicates the confident hope that the person who was believed in Jesus Christ enjoys.

Daniel not only talks about the hope the believer has, but warns the person who rejects Jesus Christ of eternal judgment.
As Daniel 12:2 explains,  ”…those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, Some to everlasting life, Some to shame and everlasting contempt”

I hope this short answer to the question “What is Death” has helped you prepare for this transition.

How Do You Find God?

What a great question! How do you find God, and where is He. God is real, God is present. One just needs to simply talk to Him, and that talking is called prayer. Put aside all your thoughts about formal prayers, formal places to pray and just talk to God. “Hello God, sorry if you are busy but I have a need.” Talk to God just like a close friend. He understands you just the way you are.

Consider this simple prayer found in the Bible. Psalms 18:6 I called to the Lord in my distress, and I cried to my God for help. From His temple He heard my voice, and my cry to Him reached His ears.