Bible Study With Jairus

Have you ever been speeding through a parking lot when your car suddenly jolted, bouncing violently up and down? You hit a speed bump. The purpose of speed bumps is to force us to slow down our vehicle and pay attention to our surroundings. In the same way, God has created rhythms and healthy rituals that help his people slow down and focus on him. That’s the message of Numbers 28.

We are challenged when reading 1 Corinthians 5 because the Corinthians were arrogant (weak in dealing with the wicked and arrogant towards God) and did not remove the wicked from their midst. Paul’s spirit gathered with them there, and only after Paul judged the wicked in the spirit was the wicked removed. Similarly, today the church is arrogant (weak in dealing with sin and arrogant towards God). The church is accommodating to wicked people and wickedness, so the Spirit of God comes to intervene in order to drive the wicked people and wickedness out. The coronavirus pandemic and the difficulties of this year are all for this purpose. All things work together to drive the wicked people and the wickedness out of the church and other sectors of society so the church can be pure and revival can come.

Leviticus 3 gives us a tangible example of ever-increasing closeness to God. As worshipers offered their sacrifices--smaller lambs and goats and larger cattle--they depicted the experience of growing closer and closer in our relationship to God. Let’s discover how a deeper understanding of the sacrificial animals can enrich our Christian lives today.

Is Jesus real? Does God exist? Is the Bible true? Is there really a heaven? Although these are questions people have asked for centuries, they are also relevant questions today because people of every generation continue to ask them.

Three years ago on June 12, 2018, U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean Chairman Kim Jong Un historically met in Singapore, and it attracted immense attention from the world. Their summit meeting was the first in history, and Trump became later known for being the first sitting U.S. president to have entered North Korea during his second meeting with Kim. Their meetings gave people hope that the relationship between the US and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) could normalize, and that a solution for denuclearization and peace may be a likely future. Perhaps it could even give way for the Gospel to enter North Korea. Now, three years later, these events seem to be forgotten. People no longer pay attention to North Korea because of COVID and other domestic political matters occurring in the USA. Yet, I have learned that the Lord is always working behind the scenes even when it seems He is not.

On the same day that Trump and Kim met in Singapore, I was taken by the Lord in a dream to the future embassy of North Korea that stood in the USA. It was a prophetic encounter. I have never shared this publicly until now. I feel it is time to revisit this prophetic dream. I believe it shows God’s heart for the future relationship of these two countries. God plans to do marvelous things with North Korea—things that will bring awe to the world as they see the saving power of Jesus Christ. My impression from the dream was also one that inferred a cleansing and defrosting process to both remove evil and warm the relationship between the DPRK and the U.S. God loves the world and its inhabitants, and if it’s deliverance that is needed to bring North Korea to himself, then let it be. Just as revival will come to China, I believe a massive revival will also come to North Korea with evidence of drastic changes to their country.

We are striving to speed read several volumes of the Bible every month. The main consideration is to help some brothers and sisters who aren’t able to read further when they reach Exodus in the Old Testament, and Romans in the New Testament. This will help those new ones to have a rough understanding on the contents of some books in the Bible. We started to speed read the Old Testament, from the first book up to the Book of Ruth. Meanwhile, we have done the opposite in the New Testament. We began to speed read from the Book of Revelation up to Colossians. Although it’s just a passing glance, it might help some of our brothers and sisters who have never read the Bible from cover to cover.

This evening we are going to quickly go through several chapters of Galatians.  This morning when I attended an American Evangelical Community Church, the pastor used a term called SBNR which means spiritual but not religious.  This pastor was criticizing people who don’t participate in church activities and are not willing to have any commitment.  He stated that there were Christians in the United States adopting this slogan.

Today’s study will mainly focus on one topic:  how to manifest Christ in our lives. What does it mean to manifest Christ? It’s what Paul said in Philippians 1:20-21 (NIV), “I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.  For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”

The book of Ruth is comprised of only four short chapters, but it’s a very important book in the Bible. It serves as a link between the past and the future. It’s preceded by the historical account of chaotic Israel in the book of Judges for hundreds of years or more. It’s a cycle in which the Israelites turned their backs on God and therefore God judged them, and then they repented and prayed for God's help, so God saved them. In summary, the scene of Judges is not very good. The book after Ruth is Samuel. It describes the birth of David and the wonderful work God did through David.

Referring to the Old Testament, Romans 9:13 says, "As it is written, 'Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.'” A Christian asked in the meeting, “Why did God hate Esau? Isn’t the word hate too strong in tone? Why did God choose Jacob instead of Esau? How do we understand God's choice? How do we know that we are chosen by God? How do we know which people are not chosen by God?” There seem to be a lot of questions, and these queries are all connected.