Follow the Leader! (Ephesians 4:32-5:2)
In Ephesians 4:32-5:2, Paul exhorts Christians to follow God’s model in showing love toward fellow believers based of Christ’s great love shown toward us.
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April 29, 2007
April 22, 2007
The Reality of Evil
Remembering the Virginia Tech Atrocity:
1. The Reality Of Evil Is Clearly Addressed In The Bible
2. There is an Appropriate Christian Response To This Atrocity: Prayer & Compassion
3. Why Did The Killer Do This?
4. Whose Fault Is It? Who Is To Blame?
5. Who Were The Real Victims?
6. Why Did God Let The Killer Get Away With This?
7. Where Was God In All This?
8. What Should Christians Learn From This Atrocity?
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April 15, 2007
Watch Your Mouth! (Ephesians 4:29-31)
In Ephesians 4:29-31 Paul exhorts Christians to monitor their speech according to holiness. Since Jesus has saved us from sin, given us a new mind, and put His Spirit in us, every area of our life should be lived in submission to God’s expectations—that includes our speech. If you are a Christian, then talk like one.
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April 8, 2007
April 6, 2007
April 1, 2007
Holy Labor (Ephesians 4:28)
In the first four and a half chapters of Ephesians Paul taught and reminded Christians of their position in Christ—who they are spiritually in light of what Christ has done for them. Starting in 4:25, and for the rest of the book, Paul exhorts Christians to live accordingly—to act like they have been redeemed. He accomplishes this by giving over forty imperatives (commands) covering every area of daily living. Today we learn that God commands Christians to have a holy work ethic.
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March 25, 2007
Truth, Lies and Anger (Ephesians 4:25-27)
In Ephesians 4:25-32 Paul gives five exhortations to Christians in practical daily living as they interact with one another in the Christian community. Christians are capable and obligated to obey in light of the fact that Christ has made them new creatures at conversion (4:22, 24) and is renewing them and empowering them on the inside daily through the indwelling Holy Spirit (4:23). Today we look at the first two exhortations: being truthful and controlling anger.
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March 18, 2007
Remember Who You Are (Ephesians 4:20-24)
In Ephesians 4:25-32, Paul is about to give a flurry of commands for Christians to live by. Before he does, he first reminds believers who they are not (17-19, unsaved and ungodly) and who they are (20-24, new creatures in Christ). Once again Paul reiterates that biblical imperatives (our practice) must flow from biblical indicatives (our position). What we know dictates how we live.
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March 4, 2007
Don't Do That! (Ephesians 4:17-19)
In Ephesians 4-6 Paul makes it emphatically clear that Christians are to live differently than unbelievers. They live differently because Christians are spiritually alive in Christ and unbelievers are spiritually dead. Paul accentuates this contrast in Ephesians 4:17-19 by first noting what lifestyle typifies unbelievers. He commands Christians to not be like them.
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February 25, 2007
Measuring Maturity - Part 2 (Ephesians 4:15-16)
In Ephesians 4:1-16 Paul delineates how the Church grows. True church growth results when every Christian uses his or her spiritual gift, given to them by Christ, in service to others, with dependence on God, in the spirit of unity, with an attitude of love.
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February 18, 2007
Measuring Maturity - Part 1 (Ephesians 4:13-14)
In Ephesians 4:1-16, Paul tells us how God is building the Church. He is building the Church through Christ, Who has imparted gifts to believers to do the work of ministry. That process builds the Church. As the Church grows, fruit becomes evident. In 4:13-16 Paul tells us what that true growth and fruit look like as the Church grows. Today we look at four manifestations of true, healthy spiritual growth in the Church.
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February 11, 2007
Body Building, Part 3: Spiritual Gifts (selected Scriptures)
Spiritual Gifts—Definition: Divine enablements/abilities given by God to every Christian for serving the Body of Christ (the local church), the results of which are due to the power of divine operation by the Holy Spirit.
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February 4, 2007
Body Building, Part 2 (Ephesians 4:12)
Ephesians 4:1-16 is a unit that tells of God’s plan to build the Church—the Body of Christ—to maturity. God is building His Church through His people. And He has equipped His people for the task by bestowing spiritual gifts on them through Christ. In Ephesians 4:12, Paul highlights God’s threefold plan of how our ministry can contribute to the fulfillment of His master-plan.
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January 28, 2007
Church Discipline (Matthew 18:15)
Only twice in the Gospels did Jesus mention the "Church" explicitly. Once is in Matthew 16 where He promised He would build it. The other is in Matthew 18 when He commanded believers to maintain spiritual health in the Church by practicing biblical “Church Discipline.” The procedure for implementing “Church Discipline” that Jesus outlined is straightforward, obligatory, systematic, and the only recourse for dealing with sin in the Church. When it is neglected or when it is supplanted with alternatives, then the Church suffers. Careful and courageous obedience to it brings God's solutions and blessings.
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January 21, 2007
Body Building, Part 1 (Ephesians 4:11)
"And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers."
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January 14, 2007
Every Gift is From Above (Ephesians 4:7-10)
In Ephesians 4:7-10, Paul tells us that Christ dispenses spiritual gifts to the Church, and to every Christian, for the purpose of building up the Body of Christ. God is growing the Church toward maturity, in unity, with diversity among individual believers.
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January 7, 2007
Desires of the Heart and the Will of God (Psalm 37)
It has become commonplace to make New Year’s Resolutions as the new year begins. A new year is upon us. God is the Author of life, and the Bible promises that we can entrust our future into His care. Psalm 37:4 and other Scriptures are key for Christians when thinking about dedicating our future into God’s care.
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December 31, 2006
Humility - Then Unity - Part 2 (Ephesians 4:3-6)
After spending three chapters to explain our identity and sufficiency in Christ by virtue of His atoning death and resurrection on our behalf, Paul commands Christians in the last three chapters to live out the Christian life in light of our resources we have in Christ. Whereas there was only one imperative (or command) in the first three chapters, Paul gives Christians forty imperatives in the last three chapters. The emphasis in chapter four is on the preservation and progress of true spiritual unity for the church and individual Christians. Unity in the Body is one of the marks of true spiritual growth and maturity.
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December 24, 2006
December 17, 2006
Humility - Then Unity - Part 1 (Ephesians 4:1-6)
After spending three chapters to explain our identity and sufficiency in Christ by virtue of His atoning death and resurrection on our behalf, Paul commands Christians in the chapters 4-6 to live out the Christian life in light of the resources we have in Christ. Whereas there was only one imperative (or command) in the first three chapters, Paul gives Christians forty imperatives in the last three chapters. The emphasis in chapter four is on the preservation and progress of true spiritual unity for the church and individual Christians. Unity in the Body is one of the marks of true spiritual growth and maturity.
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December 10, 2006
Powerful Prayer (Ephesians 3:14-21)
After discussing at length the mystery of the Church—that Jews and Gentiles now compose one new man in Christ—Paul concludes his discussion by praying for Christians to live in light of that truth in a practical manner…by loving one another with the fullness of Christ’s love. In his prayer, Paul models an exemplary pattern of how all believers should approach God as they come before the throne of grace.
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December 3, 2006
Heavenly Privileges for the Earthly Church (Ephesians 3:7-13)
Paul explains in chapter 3 that God is working now on earth through His Church (3:10). By “Church” we mean the group of individual people who have been redeemed through a personal relationship with Christ, including local assemblies of believers from the time of Christ right up to the one here at GBF. So the Church is a living spiritual organism, animated by the Holy Spirit, with Christ as the Head—it is not an organization or buildings. Some of the privileges that every Christian has by virtue of being a member of Christ’s Church are mentioned in this passage.
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November 26, 2006
Paul - Secret Agent (Ephesians 3:1-6)
God entrusted to Paul more mysteries than to any other apostle–mysteries that he was to reveal and explain to the church. Here in Ephesians 3, Paul delineates the greatest of the mysteries he revealed to the saints.
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November 19, 2006
Under Construction - Part 1 (Ephesians 2:19-22)
In Matthew 16:18, Jesus promised that He would build His Church, the Body of Christ. The Church is a living organism, composed of immortal souls. Here in Ephesians, Paul tells how Jesus is fulfilling His promise to build the Church in a dynamic way.
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November 12, 2006
Real Racial Unity (Ephesians 2:11-18)
Generally speaking, throughout history, before Christ came, Jews and Gentiles hated each other. But Christ came as the “Prince of Peace” and through His sacrificial death and resurrection He made peace possible between these two groups and actually formed one new humanity or heavenly race called the “Church.” In this passage Paul tells how all believing Jews and Gentiles have now been reconciled to each other spiritually and relationally.
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November 5, 2006
Divine Accomplishment (Ephesians 2:8-10)
The Bible asserts that every person is religious, knows God exists, and worships something (Romans 1:18-23). The Bible also clearly teaches that apart from a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, people worship the wrong God, because they are trying to reach Him and appease Him in the wrong way…through their own self-effort. Humanity naturally tries to find God through “human achievement”—this is the earmark of false religion in all its various forms. The biblical alternative to finding God is through “Divine Accomplishment.” In Ephesians 2:8-10 Paul explains that attaining salvation is strictly through what God has done for us, not based on what we can do for Him.
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October 29, 2006
October 22, 2006
Secrets of Salvation (Ephesians 2:4-7)
When Jesus conquered death, three invisible heavenly transactions took place by virtue of our union with Christ.
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October 15, 2006
October 8, 2006
The Way We Were (Ephesians 2:1-3)
Before God saved us, all of us were spiritually dead because of sin. Our depravity was comprehensive and chronic, extending to every facet of our lives—we were “totally depraved.”
October 1, 2006
Knowledge is Power - Part 2 (Ephesians 1:15-23)
In Ephesians 1:15-23 Pastor Paul prays that God would help Christians grow in their understanding of their spiritual resources in Christ. We need to grow in this way too.
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September 24, 2006
The Ordinances (selected Scriptures)
Jesus gave two ordinances (sacraments) to the Church to be celebrated in a perpetual manner until He returns: baptism and communion.
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September 17, 2006
Knowledge Is Power - Part 1 (Ephesians 1:15-23)
In Ephesians 1:15-23 Pastor Paul prays that God would help Christians grow in their understanding of their spiritual resources in Christ. We need to grow in this way too.
September 10, 2006
Secure in Christ (Ephesians 1:3-14)
Today we address the doctrine of “election.” This is probably the most complex and misunderstood teaching in the Bible. Christians have debated it for 1,900 years…the debate continues.
September 3, 2006
Our Riches in Christ (Ephesians 1:1-3)
Every Christian is rich! But not in terms of material possessions. Rather, Christians are rich in a greater way—rich in spiritual privileges. The book of Ephesians delineates a treasure-house of God’s blessings endowed to every believer based on each individual’s personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Today we begin to examine the inexhaustible spiritual riches that have been entrusted to us for our good and God’s glory.
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