Aim: To prosper from God's heavenly commerce with Christ's church.
Doctrine: The church receives all her help from heaven—where our Father is. Everything that comes from above is sinless and pristine, whereas everything from the earth is painted (by the fall).
Exegesis: The beauty of God's top-down ways: they remind us not to seek our salvation and happiness from the world (v. 16); they encourage us to enjoy our unchanging Father (and His heaven-sent gifts) (v. 17); they inspire us to be Christ's spiritual ''plants'' on the earth (v. 18).
Further application: How God's top-down ways balance the church: we have heaven on earth since Emmanuel is with us (through the Holy Spirit), even as we are drawn into paradise (in worship), and then sent back to earth.
Key verse: v. 17 ''Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.''
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Rev. Mark Henninger received his Masters of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois, and he has been Pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Peoria, Illinois for more than 30 years.