The Christian Faith Podcast

What Is the Church? (5): The Fellowship of God’s Son & Spiritual Persons vs. Fleshly Boasting

When the apostle Paul tells us that God has called us into “the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord,” he is not writing his letter to the Ephesians. That is where we might have placed such a word, since that letter describes God’s eternal purpose and the heavenly calling and standing of the church. Rather, he makes this wonderful declaration when he is speaking to the messy church in Corinth! (1 Cor. 1:9).No doubt, this is the wisdom of God, to show us that the fellowship of His Son, while it is indeed heavenly in nature, must be worked out practically in what is often a very messy church life here on the earth.In particular, we could say that what we see in the opening chapters of 1 Corinthians, where we find this statement, is Paul’s dealing with the matter of divisions in the church. At a deeper level, however, Paul is actually dealing with our fleshly tendency to exalt ourselves by boasting in something other than Christ (1:29, 31, 3:21), which will always result in jealousy, strife, and divisions.But also, we see in these chapters in a positive way that to be in the New Testament fellowship of God’s Son practically, we must be those who are dealt with by the Lord and His cross to become, not simply those who have the Spirit of God, but those who are genuinely spiritual persons. In fact, no other portion of the New Testament shows us so clearly what it really means to be a spiritual person.To download the pamphlet we use as the basis for this study, go to this page:“What Is God’s Purpose for the Church?”To view the pamphlet online,go to the “Look Inside” page.
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Bible Verses for this Episode
See Episode #133: “The Fellowship of God’s Son and Spiritual Persons vs Fleshy Boasting”
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RESOURCESPamphlet: “What Is God’s Purpose for the Church?”Look Inside: “What Is God’s Purpose for the Church?”
Note: “The Bible in One Verse”Video: “How I Found the New Testament Fellowship”Podcast Series: “Spirit and Soul and Body”
Previous Episodes in this Series:Podcast Series: “What Is the Church?” BooksWitness Lee, The New Testament: Recovery VersionJ.N. Darby, “The Nature and Unity of the Church”Witness Lee, The Life and Way for the Practice of the Church LifeWatchman Nee, The Normal Christian Church LifeE.H. Broadbent, The Pilgrim Church
===========Recorded…in Chicago, Illinois on Thursday, 23 April 2025

What Is the Church? (4): The Fellowship of God’s Son, the Cross, & Our Growth in Christ

At the beginning of his first letter to the church in Corinth, the apostle Paul tells us,God is faithful, through whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.— 1 Corinthians 1:9What a wonderful declaration is this! As the believers in Christ, God has called us into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord! It is not the fellowship of any person, teaching, or practice, but the unique fellowship of the Son of God.And yet, just after saying this, Paul has to implore the saints in Corinth that there would be “no divisions” among them. He had to do this, because they had already begun to form parties around the different servants of the Lord:Now I mean this, that each of you says, I indeed am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ.— 1 Corinthians 1:12So here we see that, while the fellowship of God’s Son is in itself something wonderful, when we seek to enter into this fellowship on the earth, the situation often becomes quite messy. Thus, as we see in opening chapters of 1 Corinthians, to actually have the fellowship of God’s Son requires that we as the believers in Christ experience the cross of Christ and grow in Christ.===========To download the pamphlet we use as the basis for this study, go to this page:“What Is God’s Purpose for the Church?”===========
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Bible Verses for this EpisodeSee Episode #132: “The Church (4): The Fellowship of God’s Son, the Cross, & Our Growth in Christ”
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RESOURCES
Pamphlet: “What Is God’s Purpose for the Church?”
Previous Episode in this Series:#129: “The Church (1): The Fullness of Christ” #130: “The Church (2): The Body of Christ & His Many Members” #131: “The Church (3): God’s Family & the Fellowship of God’s Son” Video: “How I Became a Christian”Video: “How I Found the New Testament Fellowship”
BooksWitness Lee The New Testament: Recovery VersionJ.N. Darby: “The Nature and Unity of the Church”Witness Lee, The Life and Way for the Practice of the Church LifeWatchman Nee, The Normal Christian Church LifeE.H. Broadbent, The Pilgrim Church
===========Recorded…in Chicago, Illinois on Thursday,17 April 2025.

What Is the Church? (3): God’s Family & the Fellowship of God’s Son

The church is the Body of  Christ, His fullness (Eph. 1:22-23), which is composed of us, the believers in Christ, as His many members (Rom. 12:4-5), who have been born anew with the divine life to become the genuine children of God.All of these matters are in the spiritual realm, and are somewhat mysterious. But, based upon these spiritual realities, we must go on to enter into the practical experience here on the earth of the genuine New Testament church fellowship. So, in this episode we consider the church as God’s family (Eph. 2:19) and the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ our Lord (1 Cor. 1:9)Note: To download the pamphlet we are using as the basis for this study, you can go to this page: “What Is God’s Purpose for the Church?” To view the pamphlet online, go to the “Look Inside” page.
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Bible Verses for this Episode
See Episode #131: “The Church (2): God’s Family & the Fellowship of God’s Son”
===========RESOURCES
Pamphlet: “What Is God’s Purpose for the Church?”
Previous Episode in this Series:#129: “The Church (1): The Fullness of Christ.” #130: “The Church (2): The Body of Christ & His Many Members” Video Series: “What Is My Life All About?” (The Salvation Series)Video: “How I Became a Christian.”Video: “How I Found the New Testament Fellowship.”
Books
J.N. Darby: “The Nature and Unity of the Church”Witness Lee, The Life and Way for the Practice of the Church LifeWatchman Nee, The Normal Christian Church LifeE.H. Broadbent, The Pilgrim Church
===========Recorded…in Chicago, Illinois on Thursday, 10 April 2025

What Is the Church? (2): The Body of Christ & His Many Members

We should never think of the church as an organization. As the very Body of Christ, it is a living organism, composed of all its many members. And these members are us, the believers in Christ, who have been born anew with the divine life and nature (John 1:12-13, 2 Pet. 1:4), so that we are now joined in a spiritual, organic union not only with Christ as the Head of the Body, but also with our fellow members of this marvelous Body.NOTE: Click here to download the pamphlet we use as the basis for the sharing in this episode:“What Is God’s Purpose for the Church?”
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Bible Verses for this EpisodeSee Episode #130: “The Church (2): The Body of Christ, His Members, and the Golden Lampstands.”
===========RESOURCESPamphlet: “What Is God’s Purpose for the Church?”Previous Episode in this Series: #129: “The Church (1): The Fullness of Christ.” Note: “The Key to the Gospel (1): ‘To Open Their Eyes.’”Video: “How I Found the New Testament Fellowship.”
BooksWitness Lee, The Life and Way for the Practice of the Church LifeWatchman Nee, The Normal Christian Church LifeE.H. Broadbent: The Pilgrim Church
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Recorded…in Chicago, Illinois on Thursday, 3 April 2025

What Is the Church? (1): The Fullness of Christ

Do we really appreciate the fact that God desires to have the church? We tend to look at spiritual things from our own viewpoint, focusing on our need for forgiveness of sins, for satisfaction, and for a sense of purpose in our life. But if we are willing to consider what God is after, what He desires, and to serve the Lord to that end, our Christian life will come to an entirely different level.And what God is after is simply this: the church, which will be His expression.So, in this episode we begin to consider the church in its various aspects. And in particular, we consider the church as “the fullness” of Christ, “the One who fills all in all” (Eph. 1:22-23). As the believers partake of the riches that are within Christ and grow together in Him, we begin to express Christ and His virtues to the whole universe, including mankind and all the angelic powers, and this expression is the fullness of Christ.NOTE: Click here to download the pamphlet we use as the basis for the sharing in this series on the church: “What Is God’s Purpose for the Church?”
===========OUR WEBSITETheChristianFaith.org
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Bible Verses for this EpisodeSee Episode #129: “The Church (1): The Fullness of Christ.”
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RESOURCES
Pamphlet: “What Is God’s Purpose for the Church?”BooksWitness Lee, The Life and Way for the Practice of the Church LifeWatchman Nee, The Normal Christian Church Life
===========Recorded…in Chicago, Illinois on Thursday, 27 March 2025.

God’s Goal: Not Heaven, but the Earth

So many Christians today seem to believe that God's goal for people is to get them into heaven. Yet, in reality, God is not working to bring people to heaven, but to re-take the earth, which today is in rebellion against Him.So now God is calling us, as the believers in Christ, to stand with Him in this purpose by preaching the gospel of the kingdom in all the earth (Matt. 24:14), to defeat Satan (Rom. 16:20, Eph. 6:10-18) and bring in the kingdom of the heavens even in this present age (cf. Matt. 6:9-10). Unless we are clear about this and reject the concept of “going to heaven” as our destiny, we will never understand the real meaning of our Christian life, nor how we should be following Christ and serving Him today.Only after the rebellion of Satan and mankind against God has been fully dealt with will “the kingdom of the world…become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ” (Rev. 11:15), so that the New Jerusalem, the eternal dwelling place of God and man, can come down from heaven to the earth for eternity (Rev. 21:1-2, 10). That is the goal of all God’s work today, and it should be ours as well.So, in this episode we consider how God is today bringing His heavenly kingdom to the earth.
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===========Bible Verses for this EpisodeSee Episode #128: “God’s Goal: Not Heaven, but the Earth.”
===========RESOURCES
Related EpisodesEpisode #67: "The Heaven Drug; or, Why I’m Not Going to Heaven." A Podcast Series: “The Eternal Gospel.”A Podcast Series: “The End of Amillenialism.”
Notes“Why Do You Stand, Gazing Into Heaven?”“What Is the Kingdom of the Heavens?”“Open Their Eyes and Turn Them!”
BooksG.H. Pember, Earth's Earliest Ages.
===========Recorded…in Chicago, Illinois on Tuesday, 18 March 2025.

Do We Still Need to Preach the Gospel?

In recent episodes we have considered the eternal gospel (Rev. 14:6-7; see A New Podcast Series: “The Eternal Gospel”). We have shared that, according to this gospel, a person may have their sins forgiven even if they have not had the opportunity to believe in Christ directly.If that is the case, however, then we must ask, Do we still need to be burdened to preach the gospel of Christ?The answer is, Absolutely! First of all, we still need to be concerned that sinners could suffer the terrible fate of eternal damnation. Even more, however, we should realize that in the New Testament, the gospel is focused on the fact, not that people are dying without Christ, as serious as that is, but that they are living without Christ.This is because God’s goal is not to bring sinners to heaven, but to bring His kingdom to the earth. And so we preach the gospel to stand with the Lord for His desire by gaining disciples who have been rescued from Satan’s kingdom to live under the authority of Christ today.
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Bible Verses for this Episode
See Episode #127: “Why Do We Preach the Gospel?”
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RESOURCES
Related EpisodesA New Podcast Series: “The Eternal Gospel”
NotesNow Is the Time to “Cross Over!”The Pastor Had a Hard Time With This Question
VideosBilly Graham on how he learned to preach.John MacArthur on the Damnation of the Ignorant.Tim Keller on whether Jesus is the only way to God.
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Recorded…in Chicago, Illinois on Wednesday, 12 March 2025.

The Eternal Gospel & the Blessed Nations

The gospel of Christ produces the saved, regenerated believers in Christ, while the eternal gospel (Rev. 14:6-7), in contrast, produces the blessed nations, i.e., those who have their sins forgiven through the death of Christ, but who are not regenerated. So, in eternity, as the result of these two different gospels, there will not only be those who are blessed as the saved believers in Christ in the New Jerusalem, and those who are cursed as the damned in the lake of fire, but also the blessed nations dwelling upon the earth outside of the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:24, 26, Rev. 22:1-2).In fact, a major part of God’s work today is to prepare the nations for this destiny, through the work of the eternal gospel, on the one hand, and His judgment on their rebellion, on the other (cf. Psalm 2). We see this especially in the “sheep and goats” judgment of Matthew 25:31-46, and in Revelation 20:7-10, in the final rebellion of the nations with Satan against God at the end of the 1,000 year reign of Christ upon the earth (cf. Rev. 2:26-27, 12:5).So, after all the rebellion of the nations against God has been finally terminated, they will enter into the eternity, not as regenerated believers in Christ, but as the blessed nations of the earth to be ruled over by the children of God.
Length: 54 minutes
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Bible Verses for this Episode
See Episode #126: “The Eternal Gospel & the Blessed Nations”
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RESOURCES
Previous Episodes on this Topic:
Episode #123: “Shall They All Be Damned Who Never Heard?” Episode #124: “Just What Is the Eternal Gospel?” Episode #125: “Responding to Other Views” A Video on the Damnation of the Ignorant:On Facebook, the longer version:https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=598108006114927&rdid=xnADbSkQXarNe2TL
On YouTube, the shorter version:https://www.youtube.com/shorts/IcQj6imVG1A
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Recorded…in Chicago, Illinois on Wednesday, 5 February 2025.

The Eternal Gospel: Responding to Other Views

Is the “eternal gospel” (Rev. 14:6-7) simply another way of referring to the basic New Testament gospel of the grace of God? Or is it, instead, a distinct message that gives those who have never had the opportunity to believe in Jesus a way to have their sins forgiven? Most Bible teachers today would claim it is the former, pointing out that the New Testament does indeed refer to the gospel of grace in a number of different ways. (Scofield lists these in his note on Revelation 14:6.) Yet, the eternal gospel is spoken of in a unique way, with the angel proclaiming the contents of this gospel, which are very different from that of the gospel of the grace of God.So, in this episode we consider the arguments others make on behalf of the view that these are two ways of referring to the same gospel. In doing so, we seek to show that, contrary to what they say, the eternal gospel is indeed the unique way of forgiveness that God has provided for those who have never had the opportunity to believe in Jesus directly.
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Bible Verses for this Episode
See Episode #125: “The Eternal Gospel & Other Views”
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RESOURCES
Previous Episodes on this Topic:Episode #123: “Shall They All Be Damned Who Never Heard?” Episode #124: “Just What Is the Eternal Gospel?” A Video on the Damnation of the Ignorant:On Facebook, the longer version: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=598108006114927&rdid=xnADbSkQXarNe2TLOn YouTube, the shorter version: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/IcQj6imVG1A
On the Eternal Gospel:GotQuestions.orgJohn MacArthur
On the Judgment of the Sheep and Goats:GotQuestions.orgJohn MacArthur
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Recorded…in Chicago, Illinois on Thursday, 27 February 2025.

Just What Is the Eternal Gospel?

According to so many Bible teachers today, to have our sins forgiven we must ask God to forgive us in Jesus’ name. Therefore, they say, all those who never heard the gospel of the grace of God will have to spend eternity in the lake of fire, even though they never had the opportunity to believe in Jesus. (For an example of this, watch this brief video clip).  What these teachers are saying is, in effect, that God has created so many billions and billions of people just to send them into eternal damnation, since He knew they would never have any chance of being saved from their sins.In fact, this is a profoundly false teaching that greatly misrepresents both God Himself and the New Testament gospel, and so causes many people in the world to reject the gospel outright. In His mercy, God has indeed provided a way in the New Testament for those who have never heard the name of Jesus to nonetheless be justified through the redemption that is in Him (cf. Luke 18:13-14); and this provision is called “the eternal gospel” (Rev. 14:6-7).Only when we understand this eternal gospel can we reject the false teaching of ignorant damnation and have a proper, Biblical view of how God actually will deal with those who never heard the name of Jesus.
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Bible Verses for this EpisodeEpisode #124: “Just What Is the Eternal Gospel?” ===========
RESOURCESPrevious Episode on a Related Topic:Episode #123: “Shall They All Be Damned Who Never Heard?” YouTube video on the damnation of the ignorant:https://www.youtube.com/shorts/IcQj6imVG1A
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Recorded…
in Chicago, Illinois on Wednesday, 19 February 2025.