2 Peter (Program #6) – The Divine Provision (6)

Second Peter chapter one is one of the most weighty and profound passages in all of scripture. Phrase after phrase in these few verses convey the progression and development of the divine life as it germinates, matures and comes to full growth.

Along this long progression or path all of the attributes of God divine life become the virtues that developed and are ultimately expressed through us. Of course while God supplies the divine power according to Peter which enables us to escape the corruption of the world that work through lust and to become partakers of the divine nature, there are some basic conditions that we need to meet, such as having a full knowledge of all the divine things pertaining to life and godliness.  And in addition we need to add all diligence to co-operate with the divine power operating within us.  The result of  this marvelous development is that God is expressed through us and we in turn are supplied a rich and unshakable entrance into God’s kingdom.

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Zechariah (Program #10) – The Prophecies of Encouragement (2)

In Zechariah 10:3, Jehovah promised to visit His flock and make them like His horse of majesty in battle. This is a wonderful picture of the Lord’s loving visitation to His people and quite an encouragement to all believers in Christ today.

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2 Peter (Program #5) – The Divine Provision (5)

2 Peter 1 leads us through a wonderful progression or development of the precious faith that Peter mentions to us in his first epistle.  This faith, our divine inheritance is like a divine seed imparted or planted into our being.  As with any seed, deep within resides all the attributes of the life of that seed.  Peter clearly tells us that the life in the seed of faith is the very life of God.  It’s Christ Himself.  So the attributes which Peter goes on to describe are the marvelous virtues of God’s life as expressed in Christ.  Following this line these verses in 2 Peter open to us the progressive development of the divine life within the seeker.  As we move from faith to virtues to knowledge to self-control to endurance to godliness and then to brotherly love with the final stage of this life maturity being the very agape love, God’s own love being expressed.

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Zechariah (Program #9) – The Prophecies of Encouragement (1)

About 2500 years ago, the prophet Zechariah’s burden was to help the returned people of Israel to see God’s purpose. Today, God’s intention and His desire is that we will be one with Him. He’s brought us back to the very site, to the ground, even to the foundation of the temple typified by the recovery back to Jerusalem from Babylon in Zechariah’s day. Now God wants us to see that His interest, His desire and His burden are to finish the building of the temple, to build up the Body of Christ.

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2 Peter (Program #4) – The Divine Provision (4)

Most of the time Christians are satisfied if their behavior before the unbelieving world reflects a proper ethical conduct and high moral. In fact if we spend our entire day living in such a way surely at the end of our day we will be peaceful and probably feel quite good about ourselves and our testimony.

But the Bible declares what God is seeking from His people is not mere ethics and morality but a life that expresses Godliness, which means a life that expresses God Himself. This is much different, much higher than mere morality.  Listen again to 2 Peter 1:3 “Seeing that His divine power has granted to us all things which relate to life and godliness, through the full knowledge of Him who has called us by His own glory and virtue.“

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Zechariah (Program #8) – The Advice to Israel to Turn from the Vanity of Their Ritualistic Religion to the Reality of a Godly Life and the Desire of Jehovah to Restore Israel

God wants His people to turn from the vanity of their ritualistic religion to the reality of a godly life. Is your religion full of vanity and rituals or are you really in the reality of a godly life?

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2 Peter (Program #3) – The Divine Provision (3)

In a very real sense the first few verses of second Peter encapsulate much of how God will accomplished His eternal plan or economy. Beginning with the gift of faith, we have God’s righteousness, the righteousness of Christ, grace and peace being multiplied in the full knowledge of God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Then the divine power operating in the believers in conjunction with their co-operation leading to their escape from lust. Then God’s own glory and virtues and our being called through them and to them. Further we have God’s precious and exceedingly great promises, all of which lead us to become partakers of His divine nature resulting ultimately in our transformation in full salvation. What a tremendous beginning to this short but thoroughly crucial portion of the holy word.

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Zechariah (Program #7) – The Visions of Consolation and Promise (6)

God cares about His chosen people and God is for His chosen people that through all His judgments He will perfect them and punish those who oppose His people. This is the last program dealing with the eight visions in the book of Zechariah. In chapter 6 we see another vision of God’s judgment on unrighteousness and also His judgment on His people. The judgment on His people is for the purpose of perfecting them so God’s full and eternal purpose may be accomplished. But His judgment on those nations that come against Israel, His people is referred to Israel in this case because we’re talking about the Old Testament prophet Zechariah, but it applies God’s people in every age. God wants to perfect His people so He can accomplish His goal of producing the Body of Christ. But Israel now is under a lot of opposition from a lot of different nations, kingdoms and peoples. So God is judging these people and protecting and perfecting His people in those judgments.

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2 Peter (Program #2) – The Divine Provision (2)

Peter begins his second epistle with the matter of faith. In fact he addresses the epistle “to those who have been allotted faith”. Faith is an mysterious thing and often misunderstood by believers and unbelievers alike. Many people may be even most people think that faith is something that we need to some how produce or find in order to believe. But according to Peter, faith is something allotted to us. The apostle Paul made a similar point in Ephesians, “for by grace you have been saved through faith and this not of yourself it is the gift of God.”

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Zechariah (Program #6) – The Visions of Consolation and Promise (5)

Zechariah chapter 5 verses 1 through 4 say, “Then I lifted up my eyes again and I saw, and there was a flying scroll, And he said to me, What do you see? And I said, I see a flying scroll, its length twenty cubits and its breadth ten cubits. Then he said to me, This is the curse that goes forth over the face of all the land; for everyone who steals will be purged according to what is on one side, and everyone who swears will be purged according to what is on the other side. I will cause it to go forth, declares Jehovah of hosts; and it will enter the house of him who steals and the house of him who swears falsely by My name; and it will lodge overnight within his house and consume it, both with its timbers and its stones.”

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