Transformed By Grace

For years, the church at Philippi was the only assembly that had faithfully supported Paul and his pioneering efforts in bringing the gospel to Europe and establishing it. In this episode, we see the apostle expressing his heartfelt gratitude to … Continue reading →

In this episode, we learn that Paul continued to instruct and encourage the Corinthians about the collection for the poor saints in Jerusalem, after the Corinthians’ original zeal for giving, which spurred the Macedonian believers to give so sacrificially, had … Continue reading →

2 Corinthians, chapters 8 and 9, are two of the most important chapters on biblical giving for this current age of grace. Grace giving is not mandatory but voluntary; it stems from the heart. This episode chronicles the taking up … Continue reading →

In Malachi chapter 3, we learn of the consequences when the nation of Israel did not adhere to God’s commandments concerning tithes. As this episode reminds us, God’s relationship with His favored nation under the law was conditional—obey and be … Continue reading →

Here in Deuteronomy, God’s law concerning the tithe was clarified and explained. In addition to the initial tithe that went to the Levites, we also learn of two additional tithes: a festival tithe to support all Jews on the three … Continue reading →

With the establishment of the Law of Moses came the command from God, exclusively to the nation of Israel, for the tithe (or “tenth”) to be instituted and paid only to the tribe of Levi and its priesthood. In this … Continue reading →

The topic of tithing has caused a great deal of discussion, debate, and division over the years. Many churches teach that tithing is mandatory and that Christians must give 10 percent of their income to the church, from rich and … Continue reading →

What fills us, controls, motivates, and moves us, and it influences both our actions and our reactions. In this episode we learn that being filled with the Holy Spirit in this current age of grace is far different from how … Continue reading →

From God’s point of view, there are only two categories or camps of people in this world, the “saved” and the “perishing.” As we spread the good news of salvation and are a witness of Christ and His cross, the … Continue reading →

What started out as an ordinary, still night suddenly turned into an evening of astonishing events that brought forth the Son of the Highest to the earth. Amidst the lowly and poor shepherds, who were the first to be informed … Continue reading →

The grace-age believer’s life is not about keeping the law or a list of rules. Rather, living the Christian life is all about our personal relationship with our living Head, Jesus Christ. We learn in this episode that when we … Continue reading →

While Romans 7 details the believer’s war with the flesh, Romans 8 reveals the peace we can have through the power of the Spirit. This episode imparts that when our minds are set on the things of the flesh and … Continue reading →

As we continue on in Romans 7, the Apostle Paul shows us that sin conducts a military operation against us in life—not a skirmish or a one-time battle, but a long-term, lifelong campaign. In this episode, Paul demonstrates by his … Continue reading →

To some, grace is license and the cause of sin, and the law is the solution for it. But to the Apostle Paul, it was the opposite: legalism is what inflames sin, while grace alone is what overcomes it. This … Continue reading →

In Romans 7, the Apostle Paul teaches us about the law and sin. He demonstrates the danger of “the sin that dwelleth” in us, and the spiritual defeat it can bring to our Christian lives. We learn in this episode … Continue reading →

There is an on-going battle between law and grace, and legalists often lash out and persecute and mock those who trust, rejoice in, stand for, and live by the grace of God. This is due to the fact that grace … Continue reading →

As believers, we are placed into a status of privilege in Christ. We are not children in bondage under the law and its rigid rules. By His grace, God has set us free from the law and placed us as … Continue reading →

Many have been sold on thinking that they have to live by the law today, which attracts them to legalism and rule-keeping. But, through His promised Seed to Abraham, God has set us free from the law, and we are … Continue reading →

How did you receive the Holy Spirit? By doing or by believing? By the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? This episode reaffirms that the Christian life starts by grace through faith in Christ, and that … Continue reading →

Galatians 2:20 makes it clear that the Christian life is not a matter of legalism, carefully checking off a list of dos and don’ts. Neither is it about human effort to bring about greater morality. Rather, it is divine life … Continue reading →

God desires that the Church looks to the “standard” of the doctrinal unity of the Spirit, and its truths, to bind our hearts together. This episode breaks down the seven foundational doctrines outlined in Ephesians 4:4-6, which the Apostle Paul … Continue reading →

This is a question that many of us believers ponder, and think about more and more as we grow older. The Bible does not go into great detail, but it does give us some peeks into heaven, as in Revelation, … Continue reading →

After being “delivered prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans,” the Apostle Paul arranges a meeting with the Jewish rulers of the synagogues in Rome to explain why he was a prisoner there and, chiefly, to share the … Continue reading →

On the return leg of his third apostolic journey, with his destination being Jerusalem, the Apostle Paul makes a stopover in Miletus to meet with the elders of the Ephesian church to give them instruction, warning and encouragement. This episode … Continue reading →

Paul’s second apostolic journey brings him to Athens, the intellectual center of the Greek world at that time. While there, he engages in dialogue in the synagogue with Jews and Gentiles about Christ, and also in the marketplace, where he … Continue reading →

As the Apostle Paul continues his talk in the synagogue at Antioch of Pisidia to both Jews and some Gentiles, he turns to the heart of his message—the resurrection of Christ—and how it was the fulfillment of prophetic promises in … Continue reading →

In Acts 13, the Apostle Paul is on his first apostolic journey, during which he faithfully and boldly proclaimed God’s Word primarily to the nations. In our lives and ministries, we, too, need to bring the truth of the Word … Continue reading →

Many in Christendom mistakenly lump the Apostle Paul in with the twelve apostles and say they all preached the same message, and that Paul’s apostleship and ministry was just an extension of the twelve’s. It is also incorrect to say … Continue reading →

In this episode, we see Jesus comforting His distressed disciples—following the troubling news of betrayal, denial, and His impending departure—with truth concerning their future hope with Him in the millennial kingdom on earth. When Thomas questions the way, Jesus declares … Continue reading →

If the Jews weren’t convinced as to Christ’s previous claim of deity with His “I am” statement, it certainly was reinforced with His pronouncement, “I and My Father are one.” We see in this episode Christ beginning His discourse with … Continue reading →

John 8:31-59 is the account of the Jewish leaders’ outrage over one of the most powerful statements in the Word of God as to the deity of Jesus Christ: “Before Abraham was, I am.” With this climactic and dramatic self-proclamation, … Continue reading →

The title, Son of God, is in reference to Christ’s deity as the second member of the Godhead and that He is fully God. The title, Son of man, refers to His humanity as the Messiah and that He is … Continue reading →

As we continue with our series on “Who is Jesus?” we see in this episode, through Jesus’s interaction with the Samaritan woman at the well, that He is “the Christ, the Saviour of the world.” The woman was caught off … Continue reading →

The identity of Jesus was made clear early on when He was baptized by John the Baptist. Here, at the dawn of His ministry, Christ was greeted with words prophesying and declaring His destiny. The title “Lamb of God” foreshadowed … Continue reading →

On the day when Haman’s genocidal decree was to be executed, we see in this episode the effects of Mordecai’s counter-decree, which empowered the Jews across the provinces to assemble, defend themselves, and strike down their attackers. The Jews killed … Continue reading →

This episode begins on the day of Haman’s execution, during which King Ahasuerus also rewards Queen Esther with Haman’s entire estate and promotes Mordecai to chief officer by giving him the same royal signet ring that Haman once used to … Continue reading →

In this episode, the scene opens at Queen Esther’s second banquet, where she courageously reveals to King Ahasuerus that she and her Jewish people have been “sold” to be slain and destroyed (echoing Haman’s own decree), pleading for their lives, … Continue reading →

This episode opens as a sleepless King Ahasuerus has the royal chronicles read and discovers that Mordecai had exposed an assassination plot five years earlier yet received no reward; at that exact moment, Haman arrives to request Mordecai’s execution. The … Continue reading →

In this episode, we see how Queen Esther courageously stands uninvited in the inner court of the palace; when King Ahasuerus sees her, he extends the golden scepter, which spares her life. Esther calmly invites him and Haman to a … Continue reading →

This episode details Mordecai’s public mourning, after learning of Haman’s irreversible decree to annihilate every Jew throughout the provinces. Queen Esther becomes alarmed at Mordecai’s grief and later learns of Haman’s evil plot. Mordecai urges Esther to approach the king … Continue reading →

Following Queen Esther’s coronation and Mordecai’s saving of King Ahasuerus, in this episode we discover the unexpected promotion of Haman to the highest office in Persia, which brings about the command for all officials to bow and give him divine-level … Continue reading →

Three years after Queen Vashti’s removal, the Persian king Ahasuerus accepts his servants’ plan to gather beautiful young virgins to select a new queen. In Shushan, the Jewish exile Mordecai had raised his orphaned cousin Esther as his own daughter; … Continue reading →

Esther is one of two books of the Bible named after women, with Ruth being the other. It’s fascinating to note that Esther is the only book in Scripture in which there is no explicit reference to God. But while … Continue reading →

This lesson describes the betrayal and arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, where Judas leads a large force of Roman soldiers and temple officers to seize Jesus, whom Judas identifies with a kiss. Jesus, the great “I AM” who spoke … Continue reading →

The second part of this series contrasts the Garden of Eden—where the first Adam disobeyed God, choosing his own will and bringing sin and death to all humanity—with the Garden of Gethsemane, where the last Adam (Jesus) submitted to the … Continue reading →

This episode presents John 17 as the true “Lord’s Prayer,” prayed by Jesus the night before His crucifixion in the upper room, contrasting it with the model prayer in Matthew 6:9-13 that was given as a pattern for Israel during … Continue reading →

This episode recounts the biblical account in Luke 2:21-38, where Joseph and Mary bring the infant Jesus to the Jerusalem temple for the ceremonies of circumcision, presentation of the firstborn, and Mary’s purification. There, the Holy Spirit leads the devout … Continue reading →

This episode focuses on 1 Corinthians 8, where the Apostle Paul addresses the then-pertinent conflict of eating meat sacrificed to idols. While emphasizing that knowledge “puffs up” and love “builds up,” Paul explains that knowledgeable believers rightly understand idols are … Continue reading →

Expounding on Colossians 1:12-19, this episode urges believers to give thanks to the Father for: qualifying us (by grace, not works) for our heavenly inheritance, delivering us from Satan’s power of darkness, and permanently translating us into the kingdom of … Continue reading →