Bible Studies

May 24, 2019

Pastor Roger Redmond

Review from message 1

Php 1:5  For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now;  Partners with Christ and with others.  Every servant of the LORD builds upon the work of previous saints and with those saints living.   

At President Trump's inauguration, all the Ministers prayed in the name of Jesus Christ.  I don't think that has ever happened before.  Fellowship depends on what you believe about Jesus Christ the Son of God/The Son of Man, (Jesus calls Himself the Son of man in John 3:13,14).  He had to become the Son of man to be the Lamb of God taken from among men.  Salvation is by Grace alone through Faith alone in Christ alone.  And when the Gospel of God is altered there is no fellowship.  There was unity of fellowship in the offering of prayer for our President.

There is no doubt Donald J. Trump is set by God as President to bring into focus the end time.  An example is the moving of Israel's capital to Jerusalem:

And in doing so he said to Israel you will need to give some in the negotiations of the peace treaty, which means the establishment of a Palestine State.

(Also, remember the signing of the Peace Treaty starts the seven (7) years.)  Dan 9:27  And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

See Matthew 24: 16ff.  Why flee from Judea?  Because they are in the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority because of the two-state agreement.

According to some of my study in the building of the Temple that is to be built.   You would have the Holy of Holies and there is sufficient room to leave the Dome of the Rock in the court without, See Rev. 11:1-2

                                             What I am saying? the time of these things is upon us.

First, The day of Christ Jesus is nigh us,  He is standing before the door   Jas 5:8  Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Jas 5:9  Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door.

We should always be looking for that day but not exactly for the day rather for Christ to come. 

Heb_9:28  So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation

2Pe_3:14  Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.

Php_3:20  For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:   -

For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ;  Waiting for what?  For our Christ to come and to take us to our home in heaven.  Is your citizenship in heaven today?  Have you been born again, 1 Peter 1:23.

It is different when you are looking for the Person rather than the day!  It is different when you believe on a person; It is different when you are walking with a person

We live on earth as a people whose home is in heaven. Php 1:27  Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; 

Second, His Presence is nigh to us now. His Witness within and our Advocate on High,

His Witness, John 16:7-14

Our Advocate  1 John 2:1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 

He has reconciled us to Himself, brought us near to Him, 2Co 5:19  To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

He has committed unto us a ministry,  "and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation."  2Co 5:20  Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.

Third, Our Ministry is received from Christ, 2 Cor. 4:1  Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;

V 5 " For your fellowship in the gospel…"   "Fellowship"=  [1]2842/koinonia ("the sharing of something held in common") refers to the unique fellowship (community) of Christians because they are in Christ, i.e. mystically engrafted together into His very body (1 Cor 12:13). For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

"From the first day:"  They started [2]the day they had received the Gospel, more than ten years before.  Some people have never started.   The life of the saved is their participation in the gospel. 

2Co 13:14  "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all. Amen"  Communion = focuses on your fellowship with the LORD ( if you are in communion with the Holy Spirit  you are fellowshipping with the LORD)

People who serve the LORD bring blessing,  1Th 1:2  We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers; 1Th 1:3  Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;  They bring blessing from the LORD on themselves.  They bring blessing to others.  They bring the answer of a good conscience for the Day of the LORD

1:6   Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:  This work begun is the LORD's doing! 

It is done by His Power, by His Presence, and according to His Purpose, 2Ti 1:8  Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God; 2Ti 1:9  Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, 

The LORD had started this work in the Philippians at the church at Philippi.  Christ is the beginning and the ending – The Author and the finisher of our faith. 

The LORD sees our life as a sacrifice ready (now at this moment) to be offered to Jesus Christ.  It is the same truth here as Paul pictures in Roman 12:1-2.

The faith:  the Christian life is a work.  The Gospel is to be defended by work and service.  It is people of grace and faith that are labours with God, Hebrews Heb 6:10  For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister. 

We are labours together with God in the defense of the faith, Jud_1:3  Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.

We are labours together in the suffering for the gospel. Jas_5:10  Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience. 

The Word said to look at the Prophets for an example of suffering and affliction and of Patience, V 5:11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy

How was his patience seen and how did he endure?  [3]He endured in faith: Few have spoken such passionate words as he did, but the great fact about Job is that, in spite of all the agonizing questionings which tore at his heart, he never lost his faith in God. 'See, "though he slay me"; His hope was in the LORD.  (Job 13:15). 'Even now, in fact, my witness is in heaven, and he that vouches for me is on high' (Job 16:19). 'For I know that my Redeemer lives' (Job 19:25). Job's is no unquestioning submission; he struggled and questioned, and sometimes even defied, but the flame of his faith was never extinguished

There may be a faith which never complained or questioned; but still greater is the faith which was tortured by questions and still believed. It was the faith which held on grimly that came out on the other side, for 'The Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning' (Job 42:12).

The gospel must be defended in word, 1 Peter 3: 15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:  Paul always stood and spoke in His defense, Acts 26fff

                                                                What Is the Gospel, Exactly?

Some have suggested that words are not necessary.  I saw on a church sign these words.  "Preach the Gospel and use words if necessary"   If you are to defend the gospel, you must proclaim the gospel.  Preaching and teaching are the proclamation of the gospel, 1Co 1:18  For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. 

Consider Christ's Summary of the Gospel: Acts 26:15-18 And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.  But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. 

To open their eyes

and to turn them from darkness to light,

and from the power of Satan unto God and from the power of Satan unto God

that they may receive forgiveness of sins,

and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. 

[4]"Paul addresses his people as saints in Christ Jesus. No one can read his letters without seeing how often the phrases in Christ, in Christ Jesus, in the Lord occur. In Christ Jesus occurs forty-eight times, in Christ thirty-four times, and in the Lord ?fifty times. Clearly, this was for Paul the very essence of Christianity. What did he mean? In his commentary, Marvin R. Vincent says that when Paul spoke of the Christian being in Christ, he meant that the Christian lives in Christ as a bird in the air, a ?sh in the water, the roots of a tree in the soil. What makes Christians different is that they are always and everywhere conscious of the encircling presence of Jesus Christ."

 Php 1:7  Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace. 

"Confirmation of the gospel" Confirmation = example: your appointment has been established and it is upon the authority of their word. And you receive word from the doctor's office that your appointment is confirmed. 

So, there should be no doubt you have an appointment, and it has been confirmed.  

That is if you agree with the appointment! So, in like manner the promises of God are confirmed to you, Heb. 6:16-20, 

You have God's Word and His Oath, two immutable things, that it was impossible for God to lie.  The promise of salvation is confirmed unto you.  John 6:47  Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. 

That is if you are in agreement with the LORD? V18 That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: And also, it is being confirmed that there is suffering with the fellowship of the gospel.

Ye are all partakers with me of the grace—i.e., of the privilege described in Ephesians 3:8. "Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ."  Philippians 1:29; "To you, it is given"—that is (in the original), "given as a grace"—not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake."  It is given to you to suffer for Him ( it is grace given);

We labour together with Christ, 1:8  For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels (heart) of Jesus Christ. 8 For God is my witness, how I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. (See Jer 31:20  "Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels( My heart – my tender mercies – my feeling for him) are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the LORD."

God has great affection for you as seen in the giving of Christ Jesus His Son, as in the giving of Word, the Promises made, as in the giving of the Holy Spirit.  It is the LORD who works in you,

2:13   For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure

You must believe Him in the testimony of His Salvation for you, 1Jn 5:10  He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. 1Jn 5:11  And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 1Jn 5:12  He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. 

And you say," if I just knew I had the Son?  And God answers: I gave my Son! 

a good work—Any work that God begins, He will surely finish (1 Sa 3:12). " In that day I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his house: when I begin, I will also make an end."

Not even men begin work at random. Much more the fact of His beginning the work is a pledge of its completion (Is 26:12). LORD, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou also hast wrought all our works in us. 

The perfecting of their fellowship in the Gospel (Php 1:5;  [5]Ephesians 4:12: "the work of the service" is a ministry. The word translated "service" is diakonia - a service-orientation designed to do what is best for others, to bring them what they need, or to assist when needed. The focus of this passage is on the teaching, learning, and application of Bible doctrine to bring spiritual maturity, stability, church unity, and growth.

.[6]Grounds for his "thanking God" (Php 1:3): "For your (continued) fellowship (that is, real spiritual participation) in (literally, 'in regard to') the Gospel from the first day (of your becoming partakers in it) until now.   Believers have the fellowship of the Son of God (1 Co 1:9) and the Father (1 Jn 1:3) in the Gospel, by becoming partakers of "the fellowship of the Holy Ghost" (2 Co 13:14),

Heb 13:16  But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.

To communicate = the same thing he was saying back in Phil 1:5.  Your participation in the gospel.   People are in need of the gospel.  Rom. 12:13; 15:27; Philip. 4:15. Gal 2:9-10. (People in need receive the gospel more quickly than those without need. 2 Co 9:13;

 We are told to mind eternal things (people) not temporal ( earthly) but yet that is what ninety percent out time is spent on, things.  But it is people the LORD seeks.  You can not be a servant to things and to the LORD at the same time, Romans 6:16.

It is people that we are sent to minister unto, not things.[7](2) He cites the example of Jesus Christ. For Paul, the sacri?ce of Jesus did not begin on the cross. It did not even begin with his birth. It began in heaven when he laid his glory to one side and consented to come to earth. Paul's challenge to Christians is: 'With that tremendous example of generosity before you, how can you hold back

God loveth, etc. From Prov. 22:9, where the Hebrew is, a kind man shall be blessed. Sept., God blesseth a man who is cheerful and a giver

He hath dispersed abroad (?s???p?se?). As in sowing, ver. 6; Ps. 112:9. Almost literally after the Hebrew and Septuagint.

There are at least four ways in which a gift may be given.

[8]"(1) It may be given out of duty. We may discharge the claims of generosity but do so as if paying an account or sending remittance to a tax-collector. It may be done as a grim duty and with such bad grace that it would be almost better not to do it at all.

(2) It may be given simply as a way of ?nding self-satisfaction. We think far more of the pleasant feeling that we get when we make the gift than of the feelings of the person who receives it. Some people will give money to a beggar because of the glow of satisfaction they get rather than from any real desire to help. Such giving is in essence sel?sh; people who give like that give to themselves rather than to the recipient.

(3) It may be given from motives of prestige. The real source of such giving is not love but pride. The gift is given not to help but to glorify the giver. The chances are that it would not be given at all if it were not seen and praised. It may even be that the giving is done to pile up credit with God—as if we could put God in our debt.

(4) None of these ways of giving is wholly bad, for at least the gift is made. But the real way to give is under love's compulsion, to give because one cannot help giving, to give because the sight of a person in need wakens a desire that cannot be ignored. This is to give in God's way; it was because God so loved the world that he gave his Son (cf. John 3:16).

Paul's great desire is that the gift of the Corinthians should be ready and not have to be collected at the last moment. An old Latin proverb says: 'He gives twice who gives quickly.' That is always true. The ?nest gifts are those made before they are requested. It was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us (cf. Romans 5:8). God hears our prayers even before we speak them. And we should be to one another as God has been to us."

V6 -15 Proverbs 11:24   There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty

V12  When the needs of man are met it not only gives relief but it creates thanksgiving toward the LORD.

V 13 Whiles by the experiment t(experience) of this ministration (service) they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto them, and unto all men; 

2Co 9:14  And by their prayer for you, which long after you for the exceeding grace of God in you. 2Co 9:15  Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.