Discipleship Tape Ministries

This begins a series of studies of the book of Timothy. The apostle Paul is writing to his dear friend who is as a son to him. Our goal in these next few lessons will be to read this letter with Timothy and see what the Holy Spirit through Paul might have been saying to him. There was much going on in the church at that time. Strange doctrines were appearing resulting in heresy. False teachers were trying to bring the church back under the law. There was a need, as well, for the church to be organized and operated. Let’s listen as Paul addresses these issues as he writes to Timothy.Read lesson: 1215A

What is the balanced Christian life? It is a series of choices to obey God. We choose to obey that which the Scripture teaches. We also choose to acknowledge that only God’s Spirit in us can obey. The call is for us to surrender. The life we now live is not ours, but His.Read lesson: 1237B

Jesus said “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” That, in one sentence is the message we are to proclaim. There is only one way to God. There is only One who is the Truth about God, and there is only One who gives life to man. Proclaiming this message is our calling.Read lesson: 1237A

What’s in a name? According to God, there is a lot of significance in your name. A name can identify, demonstrate authority, represent character, and signify one’s reputation. God also gave us a new name, His name. We have become a new creation. His nature becomes our nature, and His works become ours. One day very soon, we will be participants in the grandest roll call of all. We will stand before Almighty God, and He will call our names, and we will be ushered into heaven. Read lesson: 1127B

As we return to our look at John 10, we will be taking God’s portrait of sheep and shepherds and looking in the particular area of spiritual warfare. In this story, Satan is the thief that comes to steal the sheep. What does he want from the sheep? There are at least three things he wants to steal from God’s sheep. What are the means that he uses? How can we keep from listening to the voice of a stranger and instead hear only God’s call? These are all practical questions whose answers can be found in this lesson. Read lesson: 1127A

What was the shepherd’s role, and what price did he have to pay to be a shepherd? Shepherding portrays the act of one person who is responsible for another, totally absorbing himself in that responsibility until his or her own interests are completely submerged in the interests of the flock. The shepherd, then, surfaces as three things: a type of unselfishness; a type of Christ; and a type of Christian leadership. That is the high cost of shepherding. Read lesson: 1126B

In this lesson about the door to the sheepfold, we will learn of the concept of exclusive salvation. Jesus said, “I am the way – no man cometh to the Father, but by Me.” You either come through Him, or you don’t come at all. You can’t come to Him, but through Him. The difference is vital. You can come to Him by learning about Him, and acknowledging His existence, but unless you come through Him, that is, until you give Him the title to your life and agree that He alone is your access to God, you are on the outside of the sheepfold. Have you entered the Kingdom of God through believing in His Son, Jesus Christ? Read lesson: 1126A

Throughout the entire Old Testament, God drew word pictures of sheep and shepherds to illustrate four great principles; principles that simply had to be communicated if man were to come to understand his relationship with his God. We can categorize those four principles this way: They spoke of God’s ownership; of man’s sinfulness; of God’s leadership; and of God’s love. There is no greater picture of God’s love for His people than in seeing the Great Shepherd and His wayward sheep. Read lesson: 1125B

The whole issue of the Christian message has to do with whether or not we let our lights shine. Our lives are not to represent varying degrees of shadows between darkness and light. Compared to any unbeliever, our lives are to be as different as night and day. The world will respond when they see the kind of difference between our lives and theirs that they were meant to see. One day, every person we know who has never personally received the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, will die and enter into an eternity of total darkness. On the other hand, every person we lead to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ will spend an endless eternity in the presence of total, complete, unending Light. It is up to us to show them the difference. Listen as God speaks through the Scriptures in this lesson. Read lesson: 1125A

To unlock the story of the sun, we simply have to scan the Scripture to see the miracles it performs physically, and then focus in on the spiritual meaning of those miracles. We will also consider the glory of the sun, for perhaps its greatest purpose of all is the portrait it paints of the Glory of God, and of the glory that we, as His saints, will one day share in eternity. The Lord is both our sun and our shield. He delivers to us spiritually everything the sun delivers physically and shields us from the rays of the evil one at the same time. It is time to make the spiritual switch in this lesson as we focus on the sun. Read lesson: 1124B

Word pictures about rain pour from every corner of the Bible. In this lesson, we will look at eight truths we can learn from rain. We will also take an in-depth look at Isaiah 55 to get a glimpse of the Sovereign God who always keeps His promises. He has said, “My Word will never return unto Me void..” and He has added, “it will always accomplish what I sent it to do..” Read lesson: 1124A

The word “cloud” appears in virtually every book of the Bible, both to speak of its physical value to man, and to speak of its spiritual significance to God. As we make the “spiritual switch” in this lesson, we will see how the clouds represent God’s presence, His leading, and His coming one day to take us home to be with Him forever. We will never see clouds in quite the same way again. Read lesson: 1123B

The Rock is Jesus. His works are perfect. If we want to see in the physical realm something that depicts, at least in part, the nature of God, a good place to begin is by looking at a rock. This lesson will take a look at the perfection, provision, and protection of “The Rock”. He does not make a mistake. He is firmly planted. He is totally faithful and totally fair. He is our provision for our needs, and our protection and shelter during the storms. Read lesson: 1123A

As we have the opportunity to study the wind, we have the responsibility to constantly be making “the spiritual switch”. God gives us the wind as a reminder of many things. It gives us the evidence of God’s residence in our lives. It reminds us of the judgment of God. It reminds us of the guidance of the Holy Spirit and how He moves us along with the winds of life. Our job is not to fight the wind during the storms of life, but to let the wind guide us home. Read lesson: 1122B

Every time we feel the wind, every time we see the tops of the trees begin to bend beneath its force, every time we see the awesomeness of a hurricane, or sense the gentle cooling of a summer breeze, God is saying to us: “Learn of Me, Beloved, I am showing you how My Spirit works, every time the wind blows.” What are some of the characteristics of the wind that speak so eloquently of the work of God’s Spirit? We cannot define the wind, nor describe the wind. But neither can we deny the wind. Its presence speaks for itself. Let’s make the spiritual switch and see what God has to teach us from the wind. Read lesson: 1122A

After man had eaten of the forbidden fruit, a new problem was created. His eyes had been opened, and he had chosen to be his own god. Should man now eat from the tree of life, he would impose upon mankind an eternal state of death in which his choice to be his own god would be final. In God’s remarkable mercy and love, He not only erected the world’s first security system and locked man out of paradise, but He also provided for a way back to Himself through another tree of life – the cross. God paid the price upon a tree – for life to be given to you and me. Read lesson: 1121B

What happens when you have been told that you cannot have something? Forbidden fruit captivates the mind; it tantalizes you, disturbs you, angers you. It is the issue of forbidden fruit that we will be dealing with in this lesson. Our study takes us back to the book of beginnings, back to the first “tree crisis” recorded in Scripture. We will be looking at why God made one tree different from all the others; what that tree represented to man; and how it reflects our attitudes toward God today. God has given us a landscape of reminders not to toy with forbidden fruit, whether it’s only a drama going on in our minds or we are acting it out on the stage of life. He wants to remind us of the disastrous consequences of forbidden fruit. Read lesson: 1121A

It appears that although trees speak a thousand sermons, one is repeated over and over. It is the message of slow, deliberate, long-term growth. It is the picture that God engraved in Scripture of the difference between the quick-planted, heavily fertilized miracle vine, and the slow, painful, patient, nurturing of the tree that is properly planted, painfully pruned, and quietly left to grow and grow and grow. It is the etching of the Master Painter on the scrolls of Eternity of the life that becomes a picture of the kind of tree we were meant to be. Read lesson: 1120B

This lesson is the first in a series of lessons on “making the spiritual switch”. “Making the spiritual switch” is the Christian’s responsibility to take that which exists in the physical realm and use it to teach and to learn the things of the Spirit. Few elements of nature play a larger part in Scripture than do trees. Over 300 times in the Bible, God speaks of trees or the product of trees or the uses of trees. Let’s imagine that you have a yard full of beautiful trees. Every morning you go out to spend time with God and worship. What can God say to you through the Scriptures each time you see a tree? Examine with us the many truths that can be taught to us by God’s Spirit through his creation. Read lesson: 1120A

It will be the moment for which all mankind has waited for on tiptoe all these years. It will be the crowning conclusion to the conflict of the ages between darkness and light. It will be the grand finale to the story of stories. Satan and his evil entourage will have been put away. Kings and princes and presidents who dared to shake their fist in the face of God will be long since forgotten. The nations who persecuted tiny Israel will be heard from no more. The battle will be over. The victory will be complete. All of mankind and all of nature will bow in humble adoration at the One Who is, and was, and ever shall be. And He shall reign forever and ever. Read lesson: 1316B