1 Timothy 1:3-4 says, “…that thou mightest charge certain men not to teach a different doctrine, neither to give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questionings, rather than a dispensation of God (Gk. God’s economy) which is in faith; so do I now.”
What is God’s economy? God’s economy is God’s plan to dispense Himself into humanity. God’s economy is God’s dispensation, that is, God’s dispensing of Himself into the human race. The definition for dispensation is nearly the same as the greek word “economy.” It means the administrative arrangement, the governmental management or the dispensing, distributing stewardship of God’s plan. In this divine dispensation God intends to dispense nothing other than Himself to us.
I really enjoyed seeing in this Bible study that God is exceedingly rich. He is like a successful businessman with an enormous amount of capital. All this capital is simply Himself! His intention is to dispense Himself to many people in mass production and free of charge. I am so thankful to realize that the God of the universe has a plan! And this plan has everything to do with man, therefore a divine arrangement is necessary, a divine economy in order to bring Himself into humanity. God went through the process of incarnation, human living, and resurrection to become the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45), and now as the Spirit, He is dispensing Himself into us to be our life and life supply!
-BB

Genesis 24 describes the marriage between Isaac and Rebekah which depicts the marriage between Christ and the church. Abraham wanted a wife for his son, Isaac, so he sent out his servant to go from the land of Canaan to his country and relatives to find a wife. This event involved 4 people: Abraham, the servant, Isaac and Rebekah. The servant found Rebekah and brought her back to Isaac where they were married. Now when we consider the New Testament, Abraham represents God the Father, the servant represents God the Spirit and Isaac represents Christ the Son.

This is a picture of the current situation today. God the Father has commissioned God the Spirit to reach the human race. This reaching is so that God the Father can have a bride for His son Jesus Christ. This bride is us, the church. So Rebekah represents the church who is to marry Christ and become His lovely bride.

From the Christian Students at Cerritos Bible study held on April 21, 2010 in SS 138

This week’s message focused on Abraham and his knowing God as the Father. We can also know God as the Father, just as Abraham did. The day that God shows us that He is the Father will be a blessed day. Knowing Him as the Father means that we know Him as the creator, the initiator. If we know Him in this way He will the initiator in everything we do. Abraham was sent to the land of Canaan not even knowing of its existence, but went by faith and was blessed with this land flowing with milk and honey. Abraham couldn’t even choose to have a son, but his son was given to him by God. Abraham realized he couldn’t do anything without the Father and depended on Him for everything. God the Father is the initiator of everything.

From the Christian Students at Cerritos Bible study held on April 14, 2010 in SS 138

Abraham was the first of the called race being called out by faith. This calling wasn’t originated by Abraham and was purely due to the Glory of God. This glory attracted Abraham so much that he set off out of faith. What is encouraging about this is that Abraham wasn’t one of great faith from the beginning. God told him to go out, leaving his kindred behind, but he took Lot and only went half way. This is really an encouragement to us because even Abraham didn’t set out absolutely for the Lord. God had to call him out once again so that he could continue on to Canaan. God never gives up! We might go half way in our Christian life, but God will hold us fast and encourage us to go on.

- Scott

Calling on the name of the Lord is a joyful way to drink from the fountain of God’s salvation. It isn’t a ritualistic practice, but a way to enjoy God, to delight in Him. We can call on him daily as a means of prayer and fellowship with the Lord. We don’t need to stress over composing a lavish prayer when we come to the Lord. Calling on his name is a very genuine and practical prayer that delights the Lord as much as any composed prayer.

Calling on the Lord’s name isn’t just an internal calling. We can pray audibly. As seen in Acts 7:59-60 when Stephen calls out the Greek word for call is epikaleo which is composed of “on” and “call” (by name); thus, it is to call out audibly, even loudly as he did. When we call loudly we can release our spirit and be filled with the Spirit of the Lord. Practically speaking we can do this in our car without any concern for others hearing us.

- Scott

This week we covered the matter of calling on the name of the Lord. This was first put into practice by Enosh in Genesis 4:26, “At that time men began to call upon the name of Jehovah.” This is as simple as calling “Oh Lord Jesus!” and is very practical in the Christian life.

During the time of Enosh, after the fall of man, we became aware of our frailty. Because of the fall of man human life became a vanity. With this realization we will spontaneously call on the name of the Lord. This is simply part of our human nature.

What’s so great about calling on the Lord is that it’s very practical. It’s like our breathing. We can practice it daily and hourly. By calling on His name we can receive the Spirit continually. This allows us to breath out the negative things in our being and breath in the positive things of the Lord.

- Scott

Why did God form Eve for Adam after Adam was made? It is because in God’s eyes, having Adam alone was not good. God said, “it is not good for man to be alone” (Gen 2:18). Shortly after God formed Eve, God looked and said in Genesis 1:31, “…indeed, it was very good.” It shows that God desires that Christ would have a counterpart, the church.

Have you ever thought that Adam and Eve actually typify Christ and the church? God’s building of Eve from the rib taken from Adam’s side (Gen. 2:21-23) typifies His building of the church (Eph. 5:28-32). When Jesus was crucified, blood and water came forth from His pierced side. His blood was for our redemption that we may be washed from our sins and come back to God. The water signifies the flow of His divine life for the producing of the church. Just as Eve came out from Adam, so does the church come out of Christ.

In other words, only that which comes out of Christ can be the church, and whatever is not from Christ has nothing to do with the church. Christ as the life-giving Spirit indwells His believers (1 Cor. 15:45b; Rom. 8:11). Romans 6:6 tells us that we all must put off our old man, our natural life. According to Galatians 2:20, our experience should be “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.” Every believer has a portion of Christ. When we all are put together, there is the church.

- Karen

We enjoyed the question God asked Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:9, “…Where are you?” This is a question of salvation. As we saw in previous Bible studies, God represents the Tree of Life and Satan is hidden within the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Thus, God is still asking us today, “where are you; are you in Me or are you in Satan; are you interested in living your life absolutely for Me or merely in having a good life, job, house, and family?” We realized that all of these items on the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil are seemingly “good” but without Christ, this kind of living is simply vanity.

We were also enlightened by the significance of the fig leaves that Adam and Eve made to cover themselves after they ate of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. The fig leaves represent our human effort to save ourselves or even cover our own sins. However, this does not last and eventually dries up. Rather, we need to take the blood of Christ symbolized by the animal that God slew in the garden for Adam and Eve to cover them from their sin and cloth them with Christ. In a sense, Adam became one with the lamb, thus, the sinner became one with the Substitue. When we believe in the gospel, Christ is put upon us as our covering righteousness (Luke 15:22), and we are put into Christ (1 Cor. 1:30), and we have put on Christ (Gal. 3:27), making us one with Christ (1 Cor. 6:17). So we see that the redemption of Christ is not merely to save us from eternal perdition, rather it is for the covering and in union of Christ with us.

- Erin & Kim

Under the revelation of the Spirit, we can see that the two trees in Genesis chapter two indicate two principles: dependence on God and independence from God. God’s intention was that the man He created would depend on Him for everything, such as food, protection, rest, and entertainment. Therefore God placed man in front of the tree of life, which represents God as the proper source for all these things. However, Adam partook instead of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, unwittingly becoming one with Satan to be independent from God and even rebellious toward God. As a result, human civilization came into being full of replacements for God as the all-inclusive provision for man. Rather than receive God as life, Adam received sin, death, and the knowledge of good and evil, which caused him to be separated and independent from God. Knowledge causes independence. For instance the more knowledgeable a certain student is, the more independent he becomes from his teachers until he is ready to graduate from the school. However, this student can never graduate from eating or breathing. Life is a matter of dependence and knowledge is a matter of independence. Praise the Lord that we who have received the Lord as our life can depend on Him for everything that we need! While we do need an education and many types of knowledge, let us take Christ as our all-inclusive provision, enjoying Him as everything that we need.

- Gayraud

This past week we covered the aspect of the two trees in the Garden of Eden. There was the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. God commanded Adam not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, but he could freely eat of the tree of life. We can see the tree of life as a symbol for God as the proper source. Adam and Eve were meant to eat of this tree to enjoy God and all his riches. The tree of knowledge of good and evil was the opposite of the tree of life and signifies Satan.

What really strikes me about these facts is that God created both trees. Why couldn’t he just create the tree of life? Then man never would have fallen. The reason is love. God loves us so much that he wants us to love him by choice. If he’d only created the tree of life we’d have no choice but to come to him. It wouldn’t have been our will to choose him. He’s not after that kind of forced love. He’s after true love. By giving us a choice he can appreciate our love more knowing we chose him despite our free will.

- Scott