Bible Study with the Cincotti's - Behind the Veil - 08/14/2022

 

Today's Bible Study, Authored by Arthur Cincotti. 08/14/2022

Listen to our Bible Study Discussion at: Behind the Veil Podcast

Or watch the Video Zoom Session of our Study on YouTube: Behind the Veil Video

Behind the Veil

 

“...because the veil is taken away in Christ.”   II Cor. 3:14

 

This veil, it’s purpose and function are of great importance to add to our understanding of who God is, who we are, and who I am before God and man.

         The first place we see it used in the Scripture is Gen. 24:65, where Rebekah sees her future husband from far off.

This is also the first place in Scripture where we see a betrothal.

Rebekah covers her face, only to uncover it (inferred) at the consummation of her marriage to Isaac, who’s name means “he will laugh, he will rejoice.”

_____________________________________________________

For today’s study I would like to consider word veil as a film or even an impenetrable field – similar to the sci-fi notion of a force field – over the human heart and soul.

______________________________________________________________________________

 

         We all know people that we just can’t seem to penetrate with the gospel. They won’t even talk to us about it, and no logical progression will convince them, as if they had a veil over their hearts.

 

         The veil represents a separation between parties who should be intimate. Even though it is a different word, I believe that conceptually this is very similar to Gen. 3:7, and 3:21 respectively where man and God made coverings for their nakedness.

 

         In Ex. 26:31 the word veil occurs in the lengthy description of the instruction for the building of the Tabernacle (meeting place) of Moses. Verse 31-33 is the description of the veil that covers the “Most Holy” place. 33 “The veil shall be a divider for you between the holy place and the Most Holy.”

We should immediately be thinking, when Christ was on the cross, the veil (same veil) of the temple was torn in two.

         But first, let’s consider Moses (taken out of water) who had an intimate relationship with God. Ex. 33:11, “So the LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.” Further on, in Ex. 34:29-35 we see that Moses wore a veil over his face because the glory of the LORD caused his face to glow. Verse 30 says, “Aaron and the children of Israel...were afraid,”

I Jn. 4:18 says, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.”

 

In II Cor. 3:7-18, we get a clearer understanding of Moses, the law,  the veil, and our relationship with God in Christ.

 

Shame, which consumed man in the garden (compare Gen. 2:25 with 3:7) is removed when sin is removed. Consider Ps. 34:4,5 “I sought the LORD, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces were not ashamed.”

 

“Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom…” Mat. 27:51, Mk. 15:18, Lk. 23:45

 

This demonstrated two things:

         1) That the Jewish religious system was a sham because the ark of the covenant was not there.

         2) That the presence of God, which previously was only available to the high priest, was now available to all who would come.

 

This is confirmed by the final reference to the veil is in Heb.10:19-22.

 

Christ alone can penetrate the impenetrable heart. He takes the “heart of stone (impenetrable) and gives us a heart of flesh (soft and pliable)” Ez. 36:26

As “ambassadors”, II Cor. 5:20, “Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us…” we have authority to use the word of God, “sharper than any two-edged sword” to “pierce” the veil of a hardened heart Heb. 4:12

 

-----Join us for another Bible Study Next Week -------

or

Join our “Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage Breaker”, "Freedom in Christ" series of Discipleship Classes via the mt4christ247 podcast!

at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, You can also find it on Apple podcasts

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These teachings are also available on the MT4Christ247 You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTxjSNstREpuGWuL0bF3U7w/featured

 

Email me at mt4christ247@gmail.com to receive the class materials, share your progress, and to be encouraged.

My wife, TammyLyn, also offers Christian encouragement via her Facebook Group: Ask, Seek, Knock (https://www.facebook.com/groups/529047851449098 ) and her podcast Ask, Seek, and Knock on Podbean (https://feed.podbean.com/tammalyn78/feed.xml)

Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship

Bible Study with the Cincotti's - God is Good! - 08/07/2022

 Today's Bible Study, Authored by Arthur Cincotti. 08/07/2022

Listen to our Bible Study Discussion at: God is Good Podcast!

Or watch the Video Zoom Session of our Study on YouTube: Coming Soon!

God is Good!

 

         “Truly God is good to Israel,

           to such as are pure in heart.     Ps. 73:1

 

God is good all the time and all the time God is good, is a Christian cliche that we often invoke when it doesn’t really feel like God is good.

 

We really must engage this notion of goodness to fully understand the simple truth that God is good.

 

Mk. 10:17, “Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, ‘Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?’ So Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.’”

This account is told in all three synoptic gospels.

         Mt. 19:16-22, Mk. 10:17-22, Lk. 18:18-23

 

In the Mt. telling Jesus sneaks in an interesting word; “perfect” vrs.21

         Eph. 4:13, “...unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the             stature of the fullness of Christ.”

         Phil. 3:15, “Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be this            minded…”
         Col. 1:28, “teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may                 present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.”

         Jas. 1:25. “But whoso looketh into the perfect law of                          liberty…”

         Jas. 3:2, “...the same is a perfect man…”

This word, “teleios” means: completeness, full of age

If perfection were through the Levitical priesthood...what further need was there that another priest should rise…” Heb. 7:11

Where did the man in our gospel accounts get this notion of good or that perfection was attainable?

 

Ps. 14:3 and 53:3 say the same, “There is none who does good, No, not one.”

 

Our sense of good is compromised because of the fall. Man ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and therefor attained it, but because of the fractured relationship with the source of good (Jas. 1:17) he/we can handle it. Good is a moving target, as our young man in the gospel discovers.

He thinks he’s got it mostly figured out, but senses that he lacks something. Mt. 19:20, “...What do I still lack?”

My favorite is the Mark account because vr. 21 says, “The Jesus, looking at him, loved him…”

 

The desire in us to be good, by doing good, should draw us to the source, but as said, good is a confusing concept, especially in today’s culture. Isaiah said, “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil…” Is. 5:20

 

         Jesus interrupts the young man saying, “No one is good but One, that is God.”

         At the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2:17) there is an invitation to know evil. They already knew Good.    Remember how Jesus says, “And this is eternal life, that they may know You…”

Joshua set a similar choice before the children of Israel, “...choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…” Jos. 24:15

 

         Satan invites us to know him, and makes that seem somehow good. Jesus likewise gives and invitation to the man in our gospel. He chose poorly. The same invitation is ever before us on our pilgrimage.  I have decided, to follow Jesus. No turning back, no turning back!!!

-----Join us for another Bible Study Next Week -------

or

Join our “Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage Breaker”, "Freedom in Christ" series of Discipleship Classes via the mt4christ247 podcast!

at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, You can also find it on Apple podcasts

(https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mt4christ247s-podcast/id1551615154). The mt4christ247 podcast is also available on Google Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartradio, and Audible.com. 

These teachings are also available on the MT4Christ247 You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTxjSNstREpuGWuL0bF3U7w/featured

 

Email me at mt4christ247@gmail.com to receive the class materials, share your progress, and to be encouraged.

My wife, TammyLyn, also offers Christian encouragement via her Facebook Group: Ask, Seek, Knock (https://www.facebook.com/groups/529047851449098 ) and her podcast Ask, Seek, and Knock on Podbean (https://feed.podbean.com/tammalyn78/feed.xml)

Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship

Bible Study with the Cincotti's - Waiting Well - 07/31/2022

 

Today's Bible Study, Authored by Arthur Cincotti. 07/31/2022

Listen to our Bible Study Discussion at: Waiting Well Podcast

Or watch the Video Zoom Session of our Study on YouTube: Waiting Well Zoom Video on YouTube!

Waiting Well

“But those who wait on the LORD

 Shall renew their strength;

 They shall mount up with wings like eagles;

 They shall run and not be weary,

 They shall walk and not faint.”            Is. 40:31

 

At any given time in the course of our lives we are, with out a doubt, waiting for something.

         It could be mundane and trivial:

                  Waiting in traffic, or at the store

                  Waiting for a meal

                  Waiting for an event to start; ball game, show, etc.

         It could be more pressing:

                  Waiting for medical test results

                  Waiting to hear from a loved one in danger

                  Waiting for a trial or illness to pass

         It could be global, even spiritual:

                  Waiting for the salvation of loved ones

                  Waiting for revival

                  Waiting for justice

 

These examples are expressions of waiting that are part of the human experience. A few months ago, in our study on the subject of hope, we saw how hope is forward looking, and sited Rom. 8:25, “But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.”

 

     Ultimately our waiting translates in to waiting upon God. God is the author and executor of the narrative. He is sovereign, He lives outside of time, He holds the future and our very existence in the palm of His hand.

      Much of our waiting is tied up with a longing to move from an uncomfortable state to a comfortable state, however that translates.

In our verse we see how there is value and purpose in the waiting. One might say that we should wait to wait.

 

Notice some great examples of waiting in the Scripture:

         Jn. 11:5,6 “Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed (waited) two more days in the place where He was.” The word in the text is also translated, “abode” or “remained”.

Mary and Martha were also waiting!

In another portion of Scripture (Mt. 8:8) a centurion said to Jesus, “But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed.”Jesus did and he was.

What was the purpose of waiting in Jn. 11

         Mary and Martha were more intimately connected with Jesus.

         His passion was close at hand.

         There was greater impact because of the wait

Nothing God does in without purpose!

         We are intimately connected with Jesus

         His second coming is close at hand. Closer that when we first                believed.

         There is always greater impact to build faith when we wait                        upon Him.

 

Isaiah is prophesying judgment over the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, but in ch. 40 a beautiful reprieve breaks out, looking beyond  God’s temporal judgment, toward the very events that we all long for and wait for.

 

Consider how God waits for us. Is. 30:18, “And therefore will the LORD wait, that He may be gracious unto you…”

Andrew Murray, in Waiting On God, writes of this verse. “If He waits        for us, then we may be sure that we are more than welcome – that    He rejoices to find those He has been seeking for.”

God waited to send Jesus; Gal. 4:4, “But when the fullness of the time        had come, Cod sent forth His Son…”

Jesus presently waits for His bride. Rev. 21:2 & 9

 

 

Waiting builds our faith, develops our trust, tests our resolve and “renews our strength”.

Rom. 5 says, “And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, (waiting through tribulations), knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character hope.”

 

If all this virtue surrounds waiting, how then shall we wait?

 

We should embrace waiting, seeing it as part of God’s design.

We should wait with patients, which is a fruit of the Spirit, Gal. 5:22

We should wait with joy, since “the joy of the LORD is your strength.      Neh. 8:10. Waiting and joy are both related to strength.

 

Like everyone else, I hate waiting!

 

But consider, in closing, A.M. “Do believe that in waiting on God, His greatness and your littleness suit and meet each other most wonderfully. Just bow in emptiness and poverty an utter weakness, in humility and meekness, and surrender to His will before His great glory, and be still. As you wait on Him, God draws near. He will reveal Himself’ as the God who will mightily fulfill his every promise. And, let you heart continually take up the song: ‘Blessed are all they that wait for Him.’”

                                                                                          Is. 30:18

-----Join us for another Bible Study Next Week -------

or

Join our “Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage Breaker”, "Freedom in Christ" series of Discipleship Classes via the mt4christ247 podcast!

at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, You can also find it on Apple podcasts

(https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mt4christ247s-podcast/id1551615154). The mt4christ247 podcast is also available on Google Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartradio, and Audible.com. 

These teachings are also available on the MT4Christ247 You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTxjSNstREpuGWuL0bF3U7w/featured

 

Email me at mt4christ247@gmail.com to receive the class materials, share your progress, and to be encouraged.

My wife, TammyLyn, also offers Christian encouragement via her Facebook Group: Ask, Seek, Knock (https://www.facebook.com/groups/529047851449098 ) and her podcast Ask, Seek, and Knock on Podbean (https://feed.podbean.com/tammalyn78/feed.xml)

Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship

Bible Study with the Cincotti's - In Christ Alone - 07/24/2022

 

Today's Bible Study, Authored by Arthur Cincotti. 07/24/2022

Listen to our Bible Study Discussion at: In Christ Alone Podcast

Or watch the Video Zoom Session of our Study on YouTube: Coming Soon

In Christ Alone

 

“What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.”    Phil. 3:8

 

         Once again we see, in the Christian faith, the complete, singular and exclusive uniqueness, separating it from all other religious systems, in that the person of Jesus Christ is both central to and indivisible from the system.

 

It’s all about Him!

 

         Just to be clear, it’s not as though Jesus showed up, and brilliantly designed a religious system that, indeed, would be uniquely all about Him. We see Him in the Old Testament, both in type and form, and understand Him, from the Scriptures as the preexisting, eternal God, with all the attributes of God, taking on flesh and dwelling among us. Col. 1:15-18; Jn. 1:3 NASB

 

         In Acts 17:28, speaking in Athens, Paul says, “for in Him we live and move and have our being…”

         Col. 3:4, “When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.”

 

This is all powerful language that drives us into a deeper, richer,    more intimate, loving relationship with Him.

It compels us to serve Him!

It compels us to please Him!

It compels us to know Him, and to long to be like Him!

 

 

 

Serving Christ

         The Apostles described themselves as “bond servants”.

The word in Greek is “doulos” and is more appropriately translated “slave” John MacArthur wrote a whole book emphasizing this point. We have been set free, by Christ, from the bondage of sin (Rom. 6:6) the cruel and relentless task master, that we might be “betroth to another – to Him who was raised from the dead”. Rm. 7:4

It is our honor, and glory, and purpose to serve Him:

As His “ambassadors” II Cor. 5:20.

As His hands and feet, I Cor. 12:27, “Now you are the body of Christ.”

As His, “chosen instrument” Acts 9:15 NET

 

Pleasing Christ

         In a betrothal, who doesn’t seek to please the object of their love?

Eph. 5:32, “This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ       and the church.”

I Th. 4:1, “we urge you in the Name of the Lord Jesus to live a way      that pleases God.”

I Jn. 2:17, “But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.

 

Knowing Christ and longing to be like Him.

         Jn. 17:3, “And this is eternal live, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”

         Phi. 3:10,11 “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection fro the dead.”

         I Jn. 3:2, “...but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”

 

This love affair that we have with Christ has captivated our hearts in such a way as no empty, cold, lifeless religious system can.

 

         Let us enjoy Him today and forever!

 -----Join us for another Bible Study Next Week -------

or

Join our “Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage Breaker”, "Freedom in Christ" series of Discipleship Classes via the mt4christ247 podcast!

at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, You can also find it on Apple podcasts

(https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mt4christ247s-podcast/id1551615154). The mt4christ247 podcast is also available on Google Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartradio, and Audible.com. 

These teachings are also available on the MT4Christ247 You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTxjSNstREpuGWuL0bF3U7w/featured

 

Email me at mt4christ247@gmail.com to receive the class materials, share your progress, and to be encouraged.

My wife, TammyLyn, also offers Christian encouragement via her Facebook Group: Ask, Seek, Knock (https://www.facebook.com/groups/529047851449098 ) and her podcast Ask, Seek, and Knock on Podbean (https://feed.podbean.com/tammalyn78/feed.xml)

Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship

Bible Study with the Cincotti's - The Silence of God - 07/17/2022

 

7Today's Bible Study, Authored by Arthur Cincotti. 07/17/2022

Listen to our Bible Study Discussion at: The Silence of God Podcast

Or watch the Video Zoom Session of our Study on YouTube: 

The Silence of God

 

“To You I will Cry, O LORD my Rock;

Do not be silent to me,

Lest, if You are silent to me,

I become like those who go down to the pit” Ps. 28:1

 

         Perhaps the weightiest experience for the believer, and even for the unbeliever, is to cry out to your God in your moment of deepest need, only to hear a deafening silence.

 

         For the unbeliever this occurrence is common because, as Ps 115 says, 4. “Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. 6. They have ears, but they do not hear;”

 

For believers, God speaks. Our faith is built upon this, for Rom 10:17 says, “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of           God.”

We all have different manners by which we hear from God.

In Job 33:14, Elihu is speaking, “For God may speak in one way, or in another; Yet man does not perceive it; In a dream, in a vision of the night…”

Some ascribe to the “still small voice” of I Kg. 19:12

But when that conduit of communication is closed, we ache, and      only our hurt is amplified.

Habakkuk longed for an answer concerning the times he lived in. Hab. 1:1 God answered him, but it was not what he expected.

Some pine for a rhama word from God so desperately that they will turn to false prophets. See Jer. 27:16, and 29:8

Also consider King Saul turning to the witch of En Dor I Sam. 28:6

 

There is the preacher on Saturday night, the parent by the bed of a sick child, the perplexed individual with two paths before them, or the person in mental or physical anguish who longs for relief.

As New Testament believers, we have the Logos; the written Word of God, preserved for us and available to us.

 

Colin Smith likes to say, “If you want to hear from God, read your    Bible. If you want an audible voice, read your Bible out loud.”

 

Heb. 1:1,2 says, “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son…”

 

In the Bible we can find a principle to speak to any of life’s vexations. Often times the painful answer, though, is “wait”.

 

God is not obligated to answer every question that we consider pressing. We should say, “I rejoice at Your word s one who finds great treasure.” Ps 119:162

vr. 82, “My eyes fail from searching Your word, Saying, ‘When will You comfort me?”’

 

Jesus experienced the silence of God the Father on the cross.

Just prior to his execution He (the Godman) was silent before His accuser. Jn. 19:9, as foretold in Is. 53:7, “He opened not His mouth.”

 

As we walk out this pilgrimage in space and time, we often long to know in advance how something will work out. But we do know ultimately how all things work out. And we also know, temporally that, “all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Rom. 8:28

 

In Rev. 8:1 God is silent for half an hour, and then the seven trumpets sound. Judgment is at hand for a world that has rejected their Creator.

 

         Andrew Peterson wrote a song about the silence of God.

It’s enough to drive a man crazy;                    ...and He’s knelling

it’ll break a man’s faith                                   in the garden

It’s enough to make him wonder                    as silent as a stone;

if he’s ever been sane…                                  all His friends are sleeping

                                                                        and He’s weeping all alone.

...when he’s bleating for comfort

from Thy staff and Thy rod;                           And the Man of all Sorrows,

and the heavens’ only answer                         He never forgot

is the silence of God.                                      What sorrow is carried

                                                                        by the hearts

And it’ll shake a man’s timbers                      that He bought.

when he loses his heart,

when he has to remember                               So when the

what broke him apart.                                     questions dissolve

                                                                        into the silence of God...

This yoke may be easy

but this burden is not                                      ...the aching may remain,

when the crying fields are frozen                   but the breaking does not...

by the silence of God.

                                                                        ...the aching may remain

And if a man has got to listen                         but the breaking does not...

to the voices of the mob

who are reeling in the throes                          ...in the holy,

of all the happiness they’ve got                      lonesome echo

                                                                        of the silence of God.

When they tell you

all their troubles

have been nailed up

to that cross

 

...What about the times

when even followers get lost?

‘Cause we all get lost sometimes.

 

There’s a statue of Jesus

on a monastery knoll

in the hills of Kentucky

all quiet and cold…

 

-----Join us for another Bible Study Next Week -------

or

Join our “Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage Breaker”, "Freedom in Christ" series of Discipleship Classes via the mt4christ247 podcast!

at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, You can also find it on Apple podcasts

(https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mt4christ247s-podcast/id1551615154). The mt4christ247 podcast is also available on Google Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartradio, and Audible.com. 

These teachings are also available on the MT4Christ247 You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTxjSNstREpuGWuL0bF3U7w/featured

 

Email me at mt4christ247@gmail.com to receive the class materials, share your progress, and to be encouraged.

My wife, TammyLyn, also offers Christian encouragement via her Facebook Group: Ask, Seek, Knock (https://www.facebook.com/groups/529047851449098 ) and her podcast Ask, Seek, and Knock on Podbean (https://feed.podbean.com/tammalyn78/feed.xml)

Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship