The Christian Faith Podcast

“En” Love and “Ek” Love

We should love the Lord not only “with,” but also “from,” our whole being. So, the Gospels of Matthew of Mark give us two parallel accounts of the Lord’s word concerning what is the greatest commandment (Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30). While the differences in these two accounts are very slight, they are nonetheless very meaningful, and can give us a real insight into this matter of truly loving the Lord.
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Bible Verses for this Episode
See Episode #109: “‘En’ Love and ‘Ek’ Love”
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RESOURCES
A Previous Episode: Episode #107: “A Life of Pursuing Christ”
WritingsNote: Loving the Lord “With” and “From” Our Whole Being”
The Standard Version of the New Testament
Go to the website: TheStandardVersion.orgPurchase the Paperback Edition on Amazon: The Standard Version of the New Testament
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Recorded…
in Chicago, Illinois on Wednesday, 9 October 2024.

Philippians 3 (7): The Outstanding Resurrection of Philippians 3:11

Philippians 3:7-10 shows us the way to pursue Christ and the price we have to pay to do so. But then, in verse 11, the apostle Paul speaks of the incentive God gives us for following Christ in such a way: attaining to what may be called “the outstanding resurrection” from among the dead (cf. 1 Cor. 9:24-27, Luke 20:35).Yet, only later in the New Testament, in Revelation 20:4-6, are we able to actually see this “outstanding” resurrection. It is not only the “first resurrection” that is mentioned there, but the “outstanding resurrection” of those overcoming believers who in the next age will sit upon the thrones and rule over the earth on behalf of Christ (Rev. 20:4; cf. Rev. 3:21).===========
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SUMMARY
When Paul speaks of "attaining to the resurrection," he actually means the resurrection of reward in the next age for the faithful followers of Christ
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Bible Verses for this Episode
See  Episode #108: “Philippians 3 (7): The Outstanding Resurrection”
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RESOURCES
A Previous Episode: Episode #107: “Philippians 3 (6): A Life of Pursuing Christ” A Previous Episode: Episode #91: “The Seven Churches (7): Lessons from Sardis” A Previous Episode: Episode #90: “Episode #90: The Seven Churches (6): Sardis, the Reformed but Dead Church”
WritingsNote: “Again It Is Written”Note: “And They Sat Upon the Thrones” (1)Book: Watchman Nee: The Salvation of the Soul
The Standard Version of the New Testament
Go to the website: TheStandardVersion.orgPurchase the Paperback Edition on Amazon: The Standard Version of the New Testament
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BIBLE VERSES REFERENCEDIN THIS EPISODE
Matthew 20:37, Mark 12:30.Philippians 3:7-11: The stages of knowing Christ.Revelation 20:4-6: The outstanding resurrection.Matthew 4:6-7: “Again It Is Written.”Luke 12:47-48, cf. Matt. 5:13: Beaten with many or few stripes.Luke 20:34-35: Worthy of the resurrection of the next age.John 5:28-29: The resurrection of life.Hebrews 11:38: Of whom the world was not worthy.Revelation 3:1-6: The Lord’s word to the church in Sardis, the reformed but dead church.Luke 14:34-35, cf. Matt. 5:13: Casting out the believers as the “salt” that has lost its flavor.Matthew 16:24-27: Saving our soul by following Christ in the present age.
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Recorded…in Chicago, Illinois on Tuesday, 2 October 2024

Philippians 3 (6): A Life of Pursuing Christ

In Philippians 3 we see a portrait of a man who was fully given to pursuing Christ so he could gain Him, be found in Him, and eventually come to know Him.How can we enter into this same experience? First, by loving the Lord in a pure and absolute way, so we are fully captured by Him, while all else becomes dross to us.Second, we must not be satisfied with just the revelation of Christ, as wonderful as that is, but instead press on to pay the price so we really come to know Him.And finally, we must have a basic understanding of what resurrection is, for it is not merely to be brought back to life. Rather, it is to experience the divine life working within us so we pass through death and overcome it, as Christ Himself did in His resurrection, until we are brought into a completely new realm, the realm of glory.===========
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Bible Verses for this Episode
See  Episode #107: “Philippians 3 (6): To Know Him”
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RESOURCES
A HymnO Jesus, Jesus, Dearest Lord
WritingsA NoteJames 1:12: Receiving the Crown of Life (1)
Austin-SparksThe Spoil of Battle (1933)
Witness LeePurchase the Kindle Edition on Amazon: The Experience of Christ.The Standard Version of the New TestamentGo to the website: TheStandardVersion.orgPurchase the Paperback Edition on Amazon: The Standard Version of the New Testament
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Recorded…
in Chicago, Illinois on Monday, 16 September 2024

Philippians 3 (5): To Know Him

After passing through so many experiences of the cross in Philippians 3:7-9, so we may gain Christ and be found in Him, we finally come to the point where we are ready to know Christ, as seen in verse 10. And according to this verse, to know Christ Himself in the deepest way is to know Him according to the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, so we may be conformed to His death.Our knowing of Christ in this way is not for our own sake. Rather, it is so we may have a rich supply of the divine life to minister to our fellow believers (Col. 1:24-27, 2 Cor. 4:7-12) so they can grow and be perfected in Christ. How the church needs such genuine ministers of Christ today, so the Body of Christ may be built up!
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OUR WEBSITETheChristianFaith.org
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Bible Verses for this Episode
See  Episode #106: “Philippians 3 (5): To Know Him”
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RESOURCES
Previous EpisodeEpisode #105: “Philippians 3 (4): Not Having Our Own Righteousness”
Books
Witness LeePurchase the Kindle Edition on Amazon: The Experience of Christ.The Standard Version of the New TestamentGo to the website: TheStandardVersion.orgPurchase the Paperback Edition on Amazon: The Standard Version of the New Testament
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Recorded…in Chicago, Illinois on Wednesday, 11 September 2024

Philippians 3 (4): Not Having Our Own Righteousness

One of the greatest frustrations to our knowing of Christ is our effort to establish our own righteousness (cf. Rom. 10:3). In fact, the more we live in our own righteousness, the less we will know Christ.While many Christians realize our own works could never be sufficient for God to forgive our sins, we fail to realize the exact same principle applies in terms of our daily living; even in this regard, we cannot please God or be acceptable to Him by our own doing. And because we don’t realize this, we try, after we first believe in Jesus to have our sins forgiven, to live the Christian life by being good and helping others.In fact, God is not interested in our doing, but in our dying. That is, He wants to bring us into the real experience of the death of Christ so we can live a life before Him in the glory of resurrection, just as Christ Himself did.Even in the Old Testament, we see an illustration of this in how God dealt with Job, one who God Himself said was “blameless and upright, one who fears God and shuns evil” (Job 1:8). He allowed Satan to tear down Job’s righteousness, but at the end of the book, Job was one who had a real experience of God (Job 42:1-6).Then we see this principle established at the very beginning of the New Testament, in the baptism of Jesus Himself to “fulfill all righteousness” (Matt. 3:13-17). Next, in Romans 6:1-5, the apostle Paul sets forth the great truth of our having been baptized into the death of Christ so we can walk in newness of life (cf. Gal. 2:20). And finally, in Philippians 3:7-9, we see what this means in terms of our practical experience.
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Bible Verses for this Episode
See  Episode #105: “Philippians 3 (4): Not Having Our Own Righteousness”
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RESOURCES
Notes"M.R. Vincent on the Coming Destruction of the Heretical Teachers"“The Lamb, the Serpent, & the Seed” (1)
VideoVideo of My Testimony: "How I Became a Christian"BooksPurchase the Paperback Edition on Amazon: Lawlessness, the Left, & the AntichristDownload the Preface and Introduction: Lawlessness, the Left, & the AntichristThe Standard Version of the New TestamentGo to the website: TheStandardVersion.orgPurchase the Paperback Edition on Amazon: The Standard Version of the New Testament
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Recorded…
in Chicago, Illinois on Wednesday, 11 September 2024

Philippians 3 (3): Paying the Price to Gain Christ and be Found in Him

Philippians 3:7-11 shows us the stages by which we come to know Christ. In verses 7-8 we see that, if we truly desire to gain Christ, we must first allow the Lord to bring us through many difficult experiences, and suffer the loss of so many things, even of all things, so that we come to the point where we are ready to gain Christ.But after this, in verse 9, we come to something still more difficult: the loss, not just of things, but of our very self, so that we are found in Christ instead of in who we are. The experiences spoken of above are mainly outward, but here we have the real, inward dealing of the cross being applied to our very being.Many believers will do so many things for Christ, but few are willing to experience this inward dying to self for the sake of Christ. Yet, only if we allow the Lord to break us in this way can we become a person who is able to impart the divine life to others for the blessing of the saints and of the Body of Christ as a whole.Thus, we should offer ourselves to the Lord and ask Him to bring us through these difficult experiences, so He can apply the cross to our inner being and make us such ones.How the church needs such ones today!
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SUBSCRIBETheChristianFaith.org/subscribe
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Bible Verses for this Episode
See  Episode #104: “Philippians 3: Paying the Price to Gain Christ and be Found in Him”
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RESOURCES
Notes
“The Lamb, the Serpent, & the Seed” (1)
HymnsWatchman Nee: “First the Blood and then the Ointment”Watchman Nee: “Olives that Have Known No Pressure”Books
Witness LeeFurther Talks on the Knowledge of Life
Witness LeeThe Experience of ChristMary N. GarrardJesse Penn Lewis: A Memoir
Titus ChuPhilippians: “That I May Gain Christ”
Website: TheStandardVersion.orgPurchase on Amazon: The Standard Version of the New Testament
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Recorded…
in Chicago, Illinois on Wednesday, 4 September 2024

Romans 3:23 & the New Testament View of Salvation

In the book of Romans, the apostle speaks of the two basic problems a fallen sinner has before God when he says that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23). The first problem here is that of sin; that is something we are all aware of. But, what does it mean to say we “fall short of the glory of God”? It means that, because we are now corrupted by sin, we cannot enter into the glory God created us to have. And this relates to the purpose for which God created us in the first place, namely, that of receiving His divine life so we could become His many sons in glory.So, to look at this verse in a positive way, it shows us God’s desire is for us to have His divine glory. And today the goal of His salvation in the New Testament is indeed to bring us into that glory.This concept of salvation is far beyond that of merely having our sins forgiven, and, it must be said, far beyond the view of salvation so many Christians have been taught today. The book of Romans surely does explain how God deals with the guilt of our sins (chps. 3-5), but it does not stop there; rather, it then goes on to show us how God brings us into His divine glory as the many sons of God who are fully conformed to the image of the glorified Christ (chps. 5-8, esp. 8:29-30; cf. Heb. 2:10). And in this way, He deals with both of the problems Paul speaks of above.This is what we must see today if we are to truly grasp the New Testament concept of salvation.
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Bible Verses for this Episode
See  Episode #103: “Romans 3:23 & the New Testament View of Salvation”
RESOURCES
A Video: The “Four Bottles” GospelPodcast: “The Bible in One Verse”Note: “The Bible in One Verse”===========
Recorded…
in Chicago, Illinois on Tuesday, August 27 and Wednesday, August 28, 2024

Philippians 3 (2): “To Be Found in Him”

Although every believer in Christ has the initial, inward knowing of Him (John 17:3), what we see in Philippians 3 are the stages we must pass through as we pursue Christ and seek to know Him in a much deeper, fuller way than we do through the new birth alone.This chapter shows us that, after suffering the loss of all things and counting them as refuse, we begin to gain Christ (vv. 7-8). For this, we must be found in Him (v. 9) by God, the angels, the demons, and our fellow human beings. They do not find us in our own righteousness, nor in our own kindness, love, goodness, or any of our other virtues, but in Christ Himself, because all else has become refuse to us on account of Christ. Thus, when they contact us, they do not merely see us being a good person, but rather, Christ Himself being lived out through us (Phil. 1:21, Gal. 2:20).This is to apply the cross to our natural life, and it is the unique way to magnify Christ as we live in this fallen world (Phil. 1:20, 2:15-16).
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SUBSCRIBETheChristianFaith.org/subscribe
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Bible Verses for this Episode
See  Episode #102: “To Be Found in Christ”
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RESOURCES
Books
Witness LeePurchase the Kindle Edition on Amazon: Further Talks on the Knowledge of Life.
Titus ChuPurchase the Paperback Edition on Amazon: Philippians: “That I May Gain Christ”.
Purchase the Paperback Edition on Amazon: Hudson and Maria.
Purchase the Paperback Edition on Amazon: The Standard Version of the New Testament
Online Note“Hudson Taylor: A Mother’s Offering of Her Son to the Lord”
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Recorded…in Chicago, Illinois on Tuesday, 20 August 2024

Philippians 3 (1): “That I May Gain Christ”

For many Christians, Philippians 3 is one of their favorite chapters in the Bible, because it shows us how we can pursue Christ and ultimately come to know Him.What we see in this chapter is that there are stages we must pass through in our seeking after Christ. To begin with, we need to reject the “religious dogs” (v. 2) who want to turn us away from Christ to some other kind of righteousness. Next, we ourselves must give up any kind of righteousness we have of our own, or any spiritual attainment we may feel we have outside of Christ. Then we need to go on to count so many things as loss that would otherwise frustrate us from gaining Christ (vv. 7-8).In brief, we must see a vision of Christ so that, like Paul, we “stop ourselves.” Only then can Christ begin to work in us and through us as He desires.
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OUR WEBSITETheChristianFaith.org
SUBSCRIBETheChristianFaith.org/subscribe
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Bible Verses for this Episode
See  Episode #101: Gaining Christ
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RESOURCES
Books
Witness LeePurchase the Kindle Edition on Amazon: Further Talks on the Knowledge of Life
David CanfieldPurchase the Paperback Edition on Amazon: Writings on the Turmoil Among the Churches
Download the Introduction: Writings on the Turmoil Among the Churches
Purchase the Paperback Edition on Amazon: The Standard Version of the New Testament
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Recorded…in Chicago, Illinois on Tuesday, 13 August 2024

Knowing Christ by the Inner Regulation of His Divine Life

What does it mean to truly grow in Christ?To answer this question, we must be clear that when we first believed in Christ, we received God’s own divine life. Thus, we became the genuine children of God (John 1:4, 12-13) who, along with the divine life, now possess the divine nature inherent in that life (2 Pet. 1:4).Thus, our salvation involves much more than the forgiveness of sins, as wonderful as that is; it means we allow the divine life to grow and develop within us, according to the law of the Spirit of Life (Rom. 8:2), so that the virtues of the divine nature are manifested from within us (2 Pet. 1:5-8).This is the genuine growth in Christ we should all strive to experience. And we will experience it as we truly love the Lord, spend time to contact Him in His word and in prayer, and submit to His dealings with us and His leading in our life.
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OUR WEBSITETheChristianFaith.org
SUBSCRIBETheChristianFaith.org/subscribe
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Bible Verses for this Episode
See  Episode #100: Knowing Christ by the Inner Regulation of His Divine Life
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RESOURCES
Books
Witness LeeFurther Talks on the Knowledge of Life
Mary McDonoughGod’s Plan of Redemption
Andrew MurrayThe Spirit of ChristThe Secret of the Faith LifeThe Standard Version of the New Testament
Online Resources
GodsEternalPurpose.org
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Recorded…in Chicago, Illinois on Friday, 2 August 2024