Transformed By Grace

Three years after Queen Vashti’s removal, the Persian king Ahasuerus accepts his servants’ plan to gather beautiful young virgins to select a new queen. In Shushan, the Jewish exile Mordecai had raised his orphaned cousin Esther as his own daughter; after royal officials select her for the harem, she is eventually crowned queen, while concealing her Jewish identity at Mordecai’s command. Later, Mo...

Esther is one of two books of the Bible named after women, with Ruth being the other. It’s fascinating to note that Esther is the only book in Scripture in which there is no explicit reference to God. But while God is not mentioned, He is still clearly at work, demonstrating His hidden providence for the nation of Israel. In this episode, we see how the deposing of the Persian queen Vashti by King...

This episode examines the Apostle Paul’s triumphant declaration in 2 Timothy 4:6-8 that he was ready to be poured out as a drink offering, his departure at hand; he had fought the good fight, finished his course, and kept the faith, knowing a crown of righteousness awaited him at the Judgment Seat of Christ. Paul viewed his life as a soldier’s battle, an athlete’s race, and a farmer’s stewardship—...

In this episode, we discuss the Apostle Paul’s three vocational metaphors in 2 Timothy 2:3-13 for faithful Christian service and ministry: endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ, strive lawfully as an athlete in competition, and labor diligently as a husbandman/farmer. Paul applies these to the Judgment Seat of Christ, where suffering for “my gospel” (Christ’s death and resurrection acc...

This episode covers Colossians 3:22-25 (and 4:1), instructing employees (“servants”) to obey bosses (“masters”) in everything—not with eyeservice as men-pleasers, but in singleness of heart fearing God—knowing they will receive the “reward of the inheritance” at the Judgment Seat of Christ for such labor, while those who do wrong will suffer loss. And bosses must treat their workers justly and equ...

Here, the Apostle Paul, drawing from the familiar Isthmian Games near Corinth, challenges believers in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 to run the Christian race with the same intense determination, self-discipline, and purpose as the athletes: “So run, that ye may obtain,” being temperate in all things and keeping the body under subjection so that, after preaching the gospel to others, one is not disqualifi...

This episode highlights 1 Corinthians 3:8-15 to show believers as co-laborers with God in His Church—both as His “husbandry” (field planted and watered by Paul and Apollos) and His “building” (with Paul as the wise master builder who laid the sole foundation of Jesus Christ). Believers must take heed how they build on that foundation, using rewardable materials of gold, silver, and precious stones...

In this episode, we see Jesus comforting His distressed disciples—following the troubling news of betrayal, denial, and His impending departure—with truth concerning their future hope with Him in the millennial kingdom on earth. When Thomas questions the way, Jesus declares that He is “the way, the truth, and the life,” providing the only path to an eternity in God's presence. Upon Philip’s reques...

If the Jews weren’t convinced as to Christ’s previous claim of deity with His “I am” statement, it certainly was reinforced with His pronouncement, “I and My Father are one.” We see in this episode Christ beginning His discourse with the Jewish leaders with the fact that, as God, He has the authority to give eternal life, and also the power to keep His “sheep,” or followers, eternally safe. Christ...

John 8:31-59 is the account of the Jewish leaders’ outrage over one of the most powerful statements in the Word of God as to the deity of Jesus Christ: “Before Abraham was, I am.” With this climactic and dramatic self-proclamation, Christ told them that He is the eternal God, existing not only during the time of Abraham, but before it and from eternity past. This intense back and forth, culminatin...

The title, Son of God, is in reference to Christ’s deity as the second member of the Godhead and that He is fully God. The title, Son of man, refers to His humanity as the Messiah and that He is also fully man. In this episode, we see that these two titles are intertwined, since Christ, the man, never acted independently of His Father. We are also reminded of the four chief witnesses to Christ’s i...

In 2 Corinthians 1:3-11, the Apostle Paul praises God as the Father of mercies, Who comforts believers in all their tribulations so they, in turn, can comfort others. Paul illustrates this through his own sufferings, explaining that as they increase, … Continue reading →

As we continue with our series on “Who is Jesus?” we see in this episode, through Jesus’s interaction with the Samaritan woman at the well, that He is “the Christ, the Saviour of the world.” The woman was caught off guard by the conversation, considering there was great enmity between the Samaritans and the Jews at the time. But that didn’t prevent Christ from also offering her “living water” and...

The identity of Jesus was made clear early on when He was baptized by John the Baptist. Here, at the dawn of His ministry, Christ was greeted with words prophesying and declaring His destiny. The title “Lamb of God” foreshadowed Christ’s substitutionary death on the cross for our sins as a sacrificial lamb. This episode chronicles the beginning of the calling of the twelve to follow Jesus during H...

In his second epistle, the Apostle Peter warns that in Israel’s future Tribulation, scoffers will deny Christ’s promised Second Coming. As we find out in this episode, however, Peter reminds them that these scoffers “willingly are ignorant” of God’s past interventions. He explains the “one thing” Israel must remember: God relates to time differently, so what seems like delay is actually His longsu...

The rich young ruler sincerely asked Jesus how to inherit eternal life. Jesus first confronted his shallow view of Him as merely a “good teacher,” then reminded him of the commandments he claimed to keep. Finally, Jesus exposed the “one thing” he lacked—his riches had become his god—and told him to sell all, give to the poor, and follow Him. The young man went away sorrowful because he loved his p...

In this lesson from Philippians 3, the Apostle Paul explains that the central pursuit of the Christian life is to know Christ deeply by experiencing His resurrection power, sharing in His sufferings, and becoming more like Him. Paul admits he has not yet reached full maturity, but like a runner, he presses forward with focused determination, refusing to be hindered by past successes, failures, or...

This message chronicles Mary and Martha welcoming Jesus into their home, but while Mary sat at His feet to listen to His teaching, Martha became overwhelmed with serving and grew frustrated. When she complained, Jesus gently told her that only “one thing” was truly necessary—the attentive, worshipful focus Mary had chosen. The account teaches that while serving Christ is good, devotion must come b...

We learn here in John 9 that the disciples assumed the man’s lifelong blindness was punishment for sin, but Jesus explained it was so “the works of God should be made manifest in him.” The man’s neighbors and the Pharisees later interrogated him, refusing to believe the miracle or accept Jesus’ identity. Pressured to denounce Christ, the man held firmly to the undeniable truth of his experience. H...

Many in Christendom mistakenly lump the Apostle Paul in with the twelve apostles and say they all preached the same message, and that Paul’s apostleship and ministry was just an extension of the twelve’s. It is also incorrect to say that Paul should have been the twelfth apostle or that he was the thirteenth apostle of the kingdom. This episode shines the spotlight on these errors, while also reve...

Something went wrong in Israel when Christ came and ministered in her midst for 3½ years—the nation as a whole rejected her Messiah. In this episode, we learn from a parable the Lord gave in Luke 13 that the unspiritual nation was granted “one more year” to allow for a final national opportunity to repent and believe. With another refusal of the Holy Spirit’s witness at the stoning of Stephen, Isr...

In this episode we discuss Christ’s inevitable Second Coming, which will occur at the end of the Tribulation, to deliver the nation of Israel from the Antichrist, crushing his armies at the Battle of Armageddon and establishing the millennial kingdom on earth—distinct from the earlier pre-tribulational Rapture of the Church. Revelation 19 vividly describes Jesus returning on a white war horse, wit...

This lesson describes the dramatic salvation of Saul of Tarsus on the Damascus Road as a pivotal Bible event. Paul recounts (in Acts 22) his background as a zealous and highly trained Pharisee who persecuted Christians unto death, until a blinding heavenly light and the voice of the risen Jesus struck him down near Damascus, revealing Christ, humbling him, and commissioning him as the apostle to t...

With its opening illustration, this episode draws a parallel to the infinitely greater price the Son of God paid to rescue humanity from sin’s bondage by dying on the cross. Focusing on Matthew 27:45-54, it details the six hours of crucifixion: three hours of light followed by three hours of supernatural darkness, when God judged the world’s sins laid on Christ. At that moment, the temple veil tor...

This episode explores God’s miraculous parting of the Red Sea, which was proof of His power, provision, and mercy in delivering Israel. After luring Pharaoh’s massive chariot army into pursuit by directing Israel to camp vulnerably against the sea, Moses reassures the terrified multitude to “stand still and see the salvation of the LORD.” The pillar of cloud moves behind them for protection, Moses...