3C's Bible Study

Everyone who would teach is first called to live out the truth in practical humility, obedience, and patience daily. The weight of this responsibility is made lighter as we gain mastery over our tongues. The tongue is the conduit of heaven for the ministry of life that we have received in the new covenant. The fruit of a disciplined tongue is the sustained release of life to others, without the im...

The most evident proof of our Christian maturity and the sternest test of the genuineness of our faith is revealed in how we treat and respond to people. Hence, the royal law or principle of faith is genuine love. Counterfeit faith can be known for its inability to bear the fruit of genuine, kind-hearted, and long-suffering love. It may be intellectual and emotional, but it lacks the spiritual spa...

Trials on the outside can indeed stir temptations within. Therefore, it is crucial to identify the source of all temptation (lust) and the antidote (the word) to defeat it. James describes the word as “the perfect law of liberty”. Its ability to produce true freedom comes down to two factors - our hearing and our doing. A life of true worship consists of both held together in equal measure. True r...

Anyone who wants to grow up in Christ will face opposition in the form of trials. The watchword for every season of trial, therefore, is patience. Patience is the first proof of love, the refiner of faith, and the pathway to perfection or maturity. To make the most of our trials, we ought to reckon them with joy and ask for wisdom through them.

The kingdom context in which a believer is born on earth is one of intense battle. This warfare exists simply because of the value of the eternal life that you have received and its potential to disrupt the enemy's work on the earth. You fight because something is at stake. The way to fight this in this war is to “stand” or put on Christ as your armour. This hints that the most effective strategy...

We are called to walk wisely and not as fools by understanding and submitting to the will of God for our lives. His will in this context is that we are continually saturated or filled with His life so that the life we can live out the light of His kingdom in a dark world. Our union with God rests on the immutable principles of headship and submission, neither of which is enforced or coerced. They...

The basis of our calling to imitate or follow God is His life in us. Without His life, we will struggle to produce His virtues. Because of His life, no change is impossible for the believer. The pulses of the life of God are derived from the nature of His kingdom within. The kingdom within produces righteous and holy desires. Therefore, to truly achieve change, we must begin on the basis of life....

As Paul transitions from the practice of unity to building our character, he draws on the facts of our inclusion in one body, our access to a new life in Christ, and our calling in Him as the motivation for our walk of purity. The way of Christ is a “learned” way. No one becomes perfect on day one, and no one is ruled out because of a single or recurring mistake. We are called to walk - to keep ta...

“Therefore” at the start of this chapter indicates that godly living, to which Paul now turns, is founded on the right understanding of the riches that God has made available. If we will live right, we will have to first think right. Secondly, though we are united in one body, we are different in the measure and texture of grace that we have received. Paul sees grace here as a supernatural ability...

Here are the top three takeaways from this study: 1. A dispensation or portion or economy of grace has been given to every believer. There is demand, supply, reward, and an opportunity cost for your portion. 2. The inner working of the Spirit of God within (your anointing) is the main supply for fulfilling your calling. Growing in our calling should make us more humble as our supply is on God. 3....

This chapter reveals the church's identity as God's building and household to host and spread His presence on the earth. Paul begins with the foundations to show us what lengths God went to acquire this building and His plans for us.

After establishing the vast riches that God has made available to everyone He calls, Paul expands on the hope that God has in calling us. He narrows down this vision to a body on earth that can successfully represent and express the will of God on earth.

To achieve His divine purpose, God has set aside "all spiritual blessings", the chief of which is His overflowing grace. In these early verses of the letter, we examine the meaning of these spiritual blessings and their primary source.

Ephesians is popularly referred to as the crown jewel of Paul's apostolic writings, and rightly so. In this well-constructed literature, Paul conveys God's eternal purpose, fulfilled through the mystery of the church. He then uncovers the spiritual riches that God has made available to ensure that His purpose succeeds. Everyone connected to this purpose can be assured that there is sufficient supp...

Paul concludes the letter in this chapter by imploring the Philippians to take full advantage of the surpassing blessings of knowing Christ. Because there is so much to gain, He does not want them, and us, to lose any of it through anxiety, disunity or ungodly living.

The standout theme of the chapter is the unique accounting and valuation system that Paul applies to discern the worth of everything. He weighed everything against the prize, which for Him, was to "win" Christ. We, too, must determine the prize of our race. Is it personal happiness, human recognition or the surpassing worth of knowing Christ? Having the proper aim sustains our motivation and provi...

What does it take to deal with our sinful pride and that of others in a manner that propagates the faith of the Gospel and maintains the unity of that faith? Paul's answer is "the mind of Christ", pioneered by Jesus and eminently embodied in Paul, Timothy and Epaphroditus. This "mind" or attitude sets the pleasure of God as its one priority, thus empowering us to live with others in a way that glo...

Paul begins this letter with a note of joy. His joy overflows from the fellowship or partnership of the believers at Philippi in the Gospel. Through their fellowship in prayer and love, Paul enjoyed the supply of the Spirit that gave him the advantage amid difficult circumstances. The same supply is available to us today when we understand and activate the blessing of fellowship.

Despite the difficult circumstances surrounding its authorship, the letter to the Philippians drips with joy throughout its pages. In this book, we learn how Paul puts to practice the truths of the gospel that he doctrinally expounds on in other letters. Fellowship emerges as the agency through which God transforms our minds and circumstances into channels for His glory.

The concluding part of this beautiful love song unveils the capacity of the love of God to administer a fullness and permanence that can neither be doused nor blotted out.

Song of Songs 3:6-8:4. From this point onwards, the attention switches from our satisfaction to our satisfying the heart of Christ. He invites us into a life of consecration because of our calling to operate from ascension and nurture a garden on earth. Our garden should continually gladden the king's heart and produce a fragrance that draws the world to Him.

Song of Songs 2:8-3:5. Though the love of Christ comes leaping over mountains and skipping over the hills, it stops short of breaking through our walls. Instead, the Lord reserves for himself a window and beckons on us to come out of our walls. Sanctification is not about feelings but about faith that the Lord's will is best.

Song of Songs 1:1-2:7. The first section of this love song reveals that we can relate to God in the manner of two lovers. This episode covers the qualities of God's intimate love and how it satisfies us more than any other love.

Paul expands on the revelation that "Christ is our life" by providing practical guidelines for Christ-centered relationships at all levels, beginning in the family. He concludes the letter with the charge to "redeem the time" through consistent prayer, graceful speech and faithful ministering.

Having established the preeminence and sufficiency of Christ over every philosophy, tradition and religion, Paul turns his attention to the practical outworking of this truth. If Christ is Lord indeed, our lives ought to demonstrate its verity as much as we proclaim it. This chapter contains foundational imperatives for transitioning from a legal understanding of salvation to a practical appropria...