peace to live by

Paul's Desire for People's Maturity, Part 1 (TMF:2605)

Friday, May 02, 2025
Peace to Live By: Paul's Desire for People's Maturity, Part 1 (TMF:2605) - Daniel Litton
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       Finishing up verse 28: ““Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ” (ESV). The ultimate goal is then twofold. First, to bring people into relationship with God. For the Jewish person, that’s back into relationship with God. For the Gentile person, that’s into relationship with the real God. And second, to make people mature who have believed. To make the Christians mature. How are folks to become mature? Paul says it is through wise teaching. Wise teaching. That’s what the pastor does. That’s what all the ministers and Bible teachers on the radio, or in the podcasts, do. There's no question about it, in our day and age, here in twenty-first century America, we have more Christian teaching available to us than any Christian population has ever had. It is wide and far. Though we know, that we can hear everything that there is, but at the end of the day we have to put what we hear into practice, right?

God's Kindness in Hopes of Repentance (TMF:2604)

Thursday, May 01, 2025
Peace to Live By: God's Kindness in Hopes of Repentance (TMF:2604) - Daniel Litton
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       “But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed” (Romans 2:5, ESV). Notice how Paul addresses the lack of judgment that is often visible in our current world. Notice this; this is important. A lot of people miss this. Often times the reason we don’t see instant judgment from God for sin is because God is wishing for people to change. Hence, obviously God doesn’t control people and make them sin. If that were the case, then why would God show kindness in hopes of leading people to repentance? Individuals have the choice whether to keep their hardened and unrepentant heart, or whether not to. And how long one has—that is uncertain. And note also that “God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.” Again, it’s often not apparent right now—it’s not very clear to those walking this earth that that’s what God’s going to do, that he’s going to call individuals to account for their sin.

Warning as Regards the Great Need, Part 3 (TMF:2603)

Wednesday, April 30, 2025
Peace to Live By: Warning as Regards the Great Need, Part 3 (TMF:2603) - Daniel Litton
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       A lot of individuals believe that’s the way it works. As a matter of fact, that’s what most of us were taught growing up. You do something bad as a child, and then you make it good by doing something good. It seemingly, in most cases, erases the previous bad that was done. That’s not how dealing with our sin works. It’s an all-or-nothing proposition. We are either covered by Christ’s blood and made clean, or we are not. We can’t be partially clean and sort of get into Heaven with a lesser experience as a result. We are either in or we are out. Each person needs to contemplate on this today. In understanding God’s wisdom in this, it is as Paul told the Romans: “Do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed” (Romans 2:4, 5, ESV).

Warning as Regards the Great Need, Part 2 (TMF:2602)

Tuesday, April 29, 2025
Peace to Live By: Warning as Regards the Great Need, Part 2 (TMF:2602) - Daniel Litton
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       People sin out of their own choice. God isn’t causing anyone to sin. So, the sin that individuals have—it is their responsibility to rectify. And the only way of rectification is through Christ. That’s what Paul is warning people. Anyone can be a good person. Anyone can do good things, good deeds if you will. People can be givers of their time, givers of wealth, help the homeless, help the sick, whatever you want to name. At the end of the day, though, good deeds don’t make up for the bad deeds. That’s the warning. It’s not a weight scale where bad is outweighed with good. A lot of individuals believe that’s the way it works. As a matter of fact, that’s what most of us were taught growing up. You do something bad as a child, and then you make it good by doing something good. It seemingly, in most cases, erases the previous bad that was done. That’s not how dealing with our sin works. It’s an all-or-nothing proposition. We are either covered by Christ’s blood and made clean, or we are not.

Warning as Regards the Great Need, Part 1 (TMF:2601)

Monday, April 28, 2025
Peace to Live By: Warning as Regards the Great Need, Part 1 (TMF:2601) - Daniel Litton
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       The “everyone” Paul is referring to appears to be the collective group of unbelievers and believers alike. The way he says it in the verse seems to make that connotation. He says first, in the proclamation of Christ, that he goes about “warning.” Warning of what? What is Paul and Timothy warning people about? The need for a Savior, right? The need to be delivered from one’s sins through trust in Christ’s sacrifice of himself on the cross and rising from the dead. The need to trust in that provision of salvation or else. Or else what? Is it that God is going to ‘get’ people if they don’t? Is it trying to come into compliance with an angry God that is out to ‘get’ people. No, really, it is just the stark reality of the situation for everyone. Everyone has rebelled against God in some way, shape, or form, and is therefore separated from God. No real connection to him; no indwelling from the Holy Spirit. That issue needs to be resolved.

Christ in Us, Which is Our Hope, Part 4 (TMF:2600)

Friday, April 25, 2025
Peace to Live By: Christ in Us, Which is Our Hope, Part 4 (TMF:2600) - Daniel Litton
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       And this indwelling, as Paul said, is “the hope of glory.” A couple verses come to mind in light of this. First, Romans 8:16: “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (ESV). That’s how we know we are saved, we are truly in right relationship with God. Lack that, then question it. The second verse is Ephesians 4:30: “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption” (ESV). Note he must be constantly indwelling us if we can grieve him. And also that he is our seal for “the hope of glory.” Continuing on in Colossians. The first part of verse 28: “Him we proclaim, warning everyone… with all wisdom” (ESV). The understanding of Paul and his companions, specifically Timothy in this letter’s context, proclaiming Christ is really of no need of explanation. That is understood by this point in the New Testament. The Book of Acts shows that clearly.

Christ in Us, Which is Our Hope, Part 3 (TMF:2599)

Thursday, April 24, 2025
Peace to Live By: Christ in Us, Which is Our Hope, Part 3 (TMF:2599) - Daniel Litton
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       We know Christ does not himself dwell within us. He is in a physical body in Heaven right now. Rather, he said, recall, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you” (John 14:16, 17, ESV). Notice that the Old Testament way was that of the Spirit of God dwelling with the believer, versus inside the believer. Jesus contrasts the two. The second, newer way, is obviously much greater. It gives us permanent fellowship with God, versus a fellowship that comes and goes. It doesn’t seem that it’s often thought to be like that—that really we are in continual connection with God. And this indwelling, as Paul said, is “the hope of glory.” A couple verses come to mind in light of this. First, Romans 8:16: “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (ESV).

Christ in Us, Which is Our Hope, Part 2 (TMF:2598)

Wednesday, April 23, 2025
Peace to Live By: Christ in Us, Which is Our Hope, Part 2 (TMF:2598) - Daniel Litton
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       This part of the mystery, which can safely be assumed is the indwelling of the Spirit of God in the one who believes, was not revealed during Old Testament times. So from the time of Abraham, all the way to when this was revealed, a time period of about 2,000 years, this part was not known. And that’s how God generally works. He doesn’t always reveal the full picture right in the beginning. We are familiar with this idea, in understanding the recent Evangelical theology, that the Rapture of the Church was not conceived until some 1,800 years after it was written about from the Apostle Paul. Yet, that is what we believe, and the evidence for such a position does seem strong. Some believers, like Eastern Orthodox, might say, “Well, doctrines like the Rapture of the Church can’t be true because they weren’t believed by the early church fathers. They knew nothing of it.” Well, the Old Testament writers knew nothing of this indwelling of the Spirit of God that was to become so monumental for the Christian.

Christ in Us, Which is Our Hope, Part 1 (TMF:2597)

Tuesday, April 22, 2025
Peace to Live By: Christ in Us, Which is Our Hope, Part 1 (TMF:2597) - Daniel Litton
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       We should not assume, however, that God wanted the Israelites to reject Jesus to seemingly give the Gentiles a chance. That couldn’t have been the plan because God is foreordaining individuals actually sinning against him in that case. The Israelites chose that path—it was their sin for which they are responsible. Paul even says, going back to Romans, now in chapter 11: “And even they [the Jews], if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again” (23, ESV). Of course, this is the famous discussion of the Israelites’s failure to attain right standing with God. Regardless, of whether Jew or Gentile, Paul notes to the Colossian believers that the riches of the mystery are “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” This part of the mystery, which can safely be assumed is the indwelling of the Spirit of God in the one who believes, was not revealed during Old Testament times.

The Gentiles are Now Included, Part 3 (TMF:2596)

Monday, April 21, 2025
Peace to Live By: The Gentiles are Now Included, Part 3 (TMF:2596) - Daniel Litton
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       We know that the Israelites decided to reject the Lord Jesus Christ and had him crucified through Pontius Pilate, their Roman leader. Now, this wasn’t the case with every Jewish person, as many did come into faith in Jesus, as the Gospels clearly show, but it was the case in an overall, collective picture of the group as a whole. That which Paul talks about in Romans 9 through 11. He would conclude starting in Romans 9:30: “What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law” (Romans 9:30, 31, ESV). The whole mystery of the inclusion of the Gentiles was part of God’s plan from the beginning, all the way back to the beginning in Genesis 12 with God’s dealings with Abraham. We know this; we are familiar with it. That’s good news indeed. We should not assume, however, that God wanted the Israelites to reject Jesus to seemingly give the Gentiles a chance.