Please click here for the audio portion (and click here for video) on the evening portion of Apr 12, 2020.

I Samuel 19:1-7 [New King James Version (NKJV)]

¹ Now Saul spoke to Jonathan his son and to all his servants, that they should kill David; but Jonathan, Saul’s son, delighted greatly in David. ² So Jonathan told David, saying, “My father Saul seeks to kill you. Therefore please be on your guard until morning, and stay in a secret place and hide. ³ And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will speak with my father about you. Then what I observe, I will tell you.” ⁴ Thus Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father, and said to him, “Let not the king sin against his servant, against David, because he has not sinned against you, and because his works have been very good toward you. ⁵ For he took his life in his hands and killed the Philistine, and the Lord brought about a great deliverance for all Israel. You saw it and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against innocent blood, to kill David without a cause?” ⁶ So Saul heeded the voice of Jonathan, and Saul swore, “As the Lord lives, he shall not be killed.” ⁷ Then Jonathan called David, and Jonathan told him all these things. So Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence as in times past.

• The frustration of Saul
  • The Philistines had not killed David and Micah loved him
  • Saul decides to have David killed directly
    • Saul = given over to an tormenting spirit
    • Saul informs his son, Jonathan, and his servants that David must be killed (Jonathan and Saul’s servants love David)
    • Saul has a way out of this mess = REPENT!
  • Jonathan reveals Saul’s plan to David
    • Jonathan is caught between loyalty to his father and loyalty to David
      • Exodus 20:12 honor your father and mother
      • Acts 5:29 must obey God over earthly authorities
      • Jonathan had to decide if loyalty to God meant supporting his father or his friend, David (submission to God = the issue!)
  • Jonathan is in a difficult place
    • He was torn between supporting his father and king and doing what was right before God by protecting David
    • Jonathan had not chosen to be in this position
    • Often God places us in difficult positions to test us, use us, and to serve as an example to others
  • Jonathan neither shirked his responsibility nor betrayed his father
    • By serving God, Jonathan truly served his father (best interests)
    • We always do best by others when we put God first (even when the ones we are helping oppose God and us)
  • Jonathan hid David and spoke to Saul
    • Jonathan points out that David saved Israel via slaying Goliath
    • God was obviously with David
    • Saul had rejoiced in David’s victory
• Saul relents but still remains unchanged
  • Jonathan’s reasoning makes sense to Saul, so Saul is soothed
  • David is once again restored to good standing before Saul
    • Jonathan had injected common sense reasoning into father
    • Saul accepts the logic, but his nature had not changed
    • The same arrogance Samuel dealt with was still in Saul
  • Unless underlying causes are addressed, they will not go away
    • Sinful thoughts and behavior don’t leave on their own
    • A change of mind due to reason or change of situation is of the flesh, temporary, and undependable
    • James 1:5-8 vacillating between right and wrong is double-mindedness and instability (changeable and dangerous)
    • A desire to change does not produce a permanent change
• Permanent change comes from a regenerated nature
  • Character and attitude are not rational processes
    • What Saul decided based upon Jonathan’s reason Δ with mood
    • David was not safe, but trusted Saul’s word and honored him
  • Reason alone can’t control passion, pride, and pettiness
  • Irrational and foolish acts are impulsive with no benefit or logic
  • To assuage an angry man is only to delay his next outburst
    • Saul had not changed and did not want to change
    • Pride removes God from your life (exalt self or God)
• David, Saul’s loyal servant
  • The situation settles down briefly
    • Ironically, Saul opposes the one who benefits him most
    • Men oppose Christ, who benefits them the most (eternal)
  • David remained loyal to Saul as his king and God’s anointed to the end
    • Believers face irrational hatred, falsehood, and persecution
    • Believers must remain loyal to Christ and true to others

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A CHANGE OF SPIRITUAL GARMENTS. EPH. 4:20-24. 4/05/20. #17.

Ephesians 4:20-24 [New King James Version (NKJV)]

²⁰ But you have not so learned Christ, ²¹ if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: ²² that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, ²³ and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, ²⁴ and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.

• Learning Christ
  • Paul had done an effective job of discipling Eph. (3 yrs.)
  • Continuing as a corrupt old nature Gentile is not what the Eph. church had been taught
  • Literally, you have not been so discipled by Christ (learned = same word as disciple) – James 1:17-27
  • Three aspects of learning:
    • Being taught (the information stage)
    • Learning what is taught (the receiving stage)
    • Applying what is taught (the doing stage)
  • Paul expected the disciples to submit to his teaching
    • Learning is not just taking in information
    • The OT Jews often learned & then rebelled
  • “If you have heard him & been taught by him…”
    • First class condition = since you have heard…
    • We often know more than we apply
  • Jesus taught the Eph. through Paul
    • When Paul taught it was the same as Jesus teaching, for Paul taught his words
    • I Peter 4:11 when we teach the true words of God, Jesus is teaching

example:  When you learn from an owner’s manual, you’re taught by the company

• The one that saves us expects us to obey him
  • A choice to follow or not (old nature is strong)
• Put off the old nature
  • An actual conscience act (not automatic)
  • The choice to follow is contrary to the old nature that we had been following (old desires & habits)
  • James 1:12-15 often our desires, cravings, & habits are deep-seated & powerful (corrupt nature & personalities) example: it took 3 miles to turn around the Titanic
  • The old nature does not want to be evicted
    • Conduct = way of life
    • Old nature worsens over time (more corrupt)
  • Deceitful lusts = insatiable desires (wanting what one cannot have = lit., reaching for more (pleonexia)
• Put on new nature
  • Renewal of spirit of the mind
    • To make one’s thinking align with the new nature (2 Cor. 5:17; Php. 4:8)
    • Even though the soul has been saved, the mind must be renewed (spiritual sanctification verses an effectual sanctification)

Three steps: given the tools, learning to use the tools, and then actually using the tools

• Creation in holiness makes it possible to renew the mind, but we must use freewill to do so
  • Three types of sanctification:  (1) positional sanctification (salvation)  (2) progressive sanctification (growing to maturity)  (3) glorification
  • Progressive sanctification is the battlefield on which pre-glorified believers must fight

Key Verse:  James 1:17-27

James 1:17-27 [New King James Version (NKJV)]

¹⁷ Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. ¹⁸ Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.  ¹⁹ So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; ²⁰ for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. ²¹ Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. ²² But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. ²³ For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; ²⁴ for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. ²⁵ But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. ²⁶ If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless. ²⁷ Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

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BODY BEAUTIFUL. EPH. 4:15-19. 3/29/20. AM. #16.

Ephesians 4:15-19 [New King James Version (NKJV)]

¹⁵ but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— ¹⁶ from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. ¹⁷ This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, ¹⁸ having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; ¹⁹ who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

• The dual manifestations of the believer
  • A believer manifests himself with 2 main traits:
    • Integrity (honesty, truthfulness, genuineness)
    • Love (charity, generosity, compassion, empathy)
  • “Speaking” the truth is a mistranslation
    • Lit., doing the truth or dealing truthfully
    • Being honest in one’s dealings with others
    • Sometimes dealing truthfully involves hiding facts (Egyptian midwives, Rahab, Samuel)
    • Honoring God’s will & ways (doing right)
  • Motivation is love
    • John 3:16 God’s love for us
    • II Corinthians 5:14 the love of Christ working through us
    • Showing love to saints, strangers, & enemies
  • Lovingly dealing truthfully could involve encouragement, charity, admonition, or even rebuke (I Thessalonians 5:14)
  • Philippians 2:3 integrity empowered by love = mode of operation
• The body of Christ
  • Assembly of believers = called body of Christ (Ep. 2:16)
    • I Corinthians 12:12-26 compared to human body
    • Should function as a fit human body does
  • Description of the church body:
    • Knit together (compacted; connected)
      • Used in II Peter 3:5 as the earth being made to stand together out of the water (Gen. 1)
      • Properly put together in form & function
      • The Lord puts each part in the right place
      • Body parts are designed to be connected
    • Every joint supplies what is needed
      • In human body, the arms, legs, heart, eyes, ears, etc. are supplying rest of body
      • Each function supports the rest of body
    • Effective working = accomplishes the will of God
      • Each part has a specified function
      • Each part shares its own load
      • When parts of the body don’t share own load, the entire body suffers
  • Three results of the body of Christ working together:
    • Spiritual growth in the body (kingdom expands)
    • The body us self-edifying (built up in knowledge, worship, fellowship, ministry, outreach, prayer…)
    • The body = empowered by love of God (Jn. 13:34)
• Not to walk like other Gentiles (unbelievers)
  • Description of traits of the unsaved:
    • Futility of mind (vanity, useless, worthless)
    • Understanding is darkened = no knowledge of the truth, loving evil; no desire for light of Lord
    • Alienated from life of God = strangers to spiritual
      • Life of Christians = baffling to them
      • We are a subculture in a fallen world
    • Ignorant (no knowledge) = don’t know about God or the Bible, or church (2 Pt. 3:5 willfully ignorant)
  • Results: past feeling (hard-hearted = porosis of the kardia) or petrification of the heart; abandoned to lewdness (indecent, debased, perverse); full of uncleanness (filthy, impure), greedy (self-indulgent)
  • The believer has a new nature that suppresses old one

Key verse:  I Corinthians 12:12-26

¹² For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. ¹³ For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. ¹⁴ For in fact the body is not one member but many. ¹⁵ If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? ¹⁶ And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? ¹⁸ But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. ¹⁹ And if they were all one member, where would the body be? ²⁰ But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. ²¹ And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” ²² No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. ²³ And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, ²⁴ but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, ²⁵ that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. ²⁶ And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.

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DIVINE JOURNEYMEN. EPH. 4:11-14. 3/22/20. AM. #15.

Ephesians 4:11-14 [New King James Version (NKJV)]

¹¹ And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, ¹² for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, ¹³ till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; ¹⁴ that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,

1. The functions of God’s gifts
   1. Paul states that God gave 3 kingdom expansion gift types:
   1. (1) apostles, prophets  (2) evangelists  (pastors and teachers)
   1. REVELATION GIFTS – apostles and prophets were given to the church to reveal God’s plan, the Gospel, church doctrine, church organization, and end times events
      1. The apostles (lit., sent ones on a mission) were the initial evangelists and church planters
      1. Apostles laid the foundation of the church
      1. Some apostles wrote NT Scripture (Matthew, John, Paul, Peter)
      1. Some associates of the apostles also wrote Scripture (Mark, Luke, James, Jude)
      1. Prophets were proclaimers of the Word and at times prophesied as led by the Spirit
   1. HEARKENING GIFTS – after the apostles laid the foundation the gospel was proclaimed by evangelists, missionaries, and church planters (still present today)
   1. DISCIPLING GIFTS – pastors and teachers were given to maintain, grow, and instruct church members
      1. Due to the Greek sentence structure, some teach that pastors and teachers are the same, but they are separate elsewhere
      1. Pastors (shepherds) watch over God’s flock by instructing, admonishing, caring, and equipping
      1. Teachers instruct the flock in God’s Word and way
2. The objectives of gifts
   1. Three goals: (1) equipping  (2) working  (3) edifying
   1. EQUIPPING – lit., “to put things right”
      1. Used in setting a broken bone or mending a net
      1. Used in properly building a structure
      1. To training God’s people to use their gifts and calling to further the kingdom of God
      1. Pastors, elders (1 Tm. 3:2), and teachers are to guide saints in using their gifts to serve God
   1. WORKING – we obtain our word “energy” from this word
      1. Serving God is active, not passive
      1. Everyone is to work in the ministry
   1. EDIFYING THE BODY – to build up the body (encouragement, admonishing, comforting, and fellowship)
      1. HEBREWS 10:19-25 – ministry is not a solitary activity, but teamwork toward 1 goal (1 Chronicles 12)
      1. Hebrews 13:7,17; 1 Thessolonians 5:14 body = self-sustaining
3. The results of the working out of the gifts in the body
   1. Unity of the faith (a united purpose led by Lord)
      1. Strife in the body shows immaturity and infiltration
      1. Philippians 2:3 working together with and for one another
   1. Knowledge of the Son of God
      1. II Peter 3:18 must ever be growing in knowing about the Lord intimately and objectively
      1. Philippians 3:14 none reach full knowledge of Him
   1. Perfection (telios) = maturing of believers
   1. Coming to full stature (metron) or development in Christ
4. Consequences of God’s gifts
   1. No longer children (Hebrew 5)
   1. No longer unstable (James 1:5) – vacillating in walk
   1. No longer succumbing to men’s clever trickery and cunning craftiness (deceitful plotting against Lord)
5. The work of the Lord is purposeful, empowered, and vital

Key verse: 

Hebrews 10:19-25 [New King James Version (NKJV)]

¹⁹ Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰ by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, ²¹ and having a High Priest over the house of God, ²² let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. ²³ Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. ²⁴ And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, ²⁵ not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

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Ephesians 4:7-9 (New King James Version [NKJV])

⁷ But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. ⁸ Therefore He says:

“When He ascended on high,
He led captivity captive,
And gave gifts to men.”

⁹ (Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth?

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Ephesians 4:1-6 (New King James Version [NKJV])

1 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, ² with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, ³ endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. ⁴ There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; ⁵ one Lord, one faith, one baptism; ⁶ one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

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Ephesians 3:14-21 New King James Version (NKJV)

¹⁴ For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁵ from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, ¹⁶ that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, ¹⁷ that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, ¹⁸ may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— ¹⁹ to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

²⁰ Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, ²¹ to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.