Posts with the category “ephesians”

Ephesians 4:13–15 (NKJV)13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,15 but, speaking the truth in love, ma...  Read More

"And He [Jesus] Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ." Ephesians 4:11-12Christians are not just forgiven, not just set free, not just heaven-bound, praise the Lord. The Bible also describes that we have been given a gift. Jesus gave gifts to ...  Read More

In Ephesians 4:8, Paul quotes from the Psalms: "When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men." Then he adds this question: if He ascended, what does that imply? That He first descended. He descended into the lower parts of the earth. He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.This is the God who came down. In ...  Read More

But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore He says: “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men.” (Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.) - Ephes...  Read More

Ephesians 4:7-8 (NKJV) "But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore He says: 'When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men.'"My dad was a carpenter. He loved all kinds of woodworking, like building custom cabinets. The smell of sawdust reminds me of him and the time I spent in his shop growing up. The sound of an electric ...  Read More

"one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all." - Ephesians 4:6If you are tuning a row of old pianos, you don't tune the first one and then tune the second to the first and the third to the second, right on down the line. If you test the last piano against the first, they are going to be off. The way to tune them all is to have one measuring standard. You tune every...  Read More

"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness." - 2 Timothy 3:16No matter what background you come from, whether you grew up non-denominational, Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, or something else, if you've lived long enough, you've probably noticed some of the strengths found in each of those...  Read More

"There is ...one Spirit" ... "one Lord" ... "one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all." - Ephesians 4:4–6 (NKJV)Paul says there is "one Spirit", "one Lord" (Jesus), and "one Father" in Ephesians 4:4-6. Notice that in these three simple verses he gives you the whole Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Paul is intentional about giving you al...  Read More

"There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism." - Ephesians 4:4-5For years now, social media has been making us a promise. The promise is that technology will bring us closer together than ever before and help us build deeper, more lasting relationships. That promise has not been fulfilled. All you have to do is scroll for ...  Read More

Ephesians 4:2-3: "with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."There's a book called Up with Worship by Anne Ortlund, and she described the average church as too much like a bag of marbles. Marbles scratch against each other and make a little noise, but they don't impact one another. She s...  Read More

"with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." - Ephesians 4:2-3 (NKJV)What is the opposite of love? Most people say hatred. They are wrong. The opposite of love is not hatred. It is indifference. Apathy. Hatred, as wrong and destructive as it is, at least acknowledges the other person exi...  Read More

"I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called." - Ephesians 4:1 (NKJV)When looking at Ephesians from a bird's-eye view, you can see something interesting. The first three chapters focus on a believer's WEALTH in Christ. The last three chapters focus on the believer's WALK in Christ. Ephesians 1-3 is about our RICHES in Christ. Ephesia...  Read More

"In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace." - Ephesians 1:7 (NKJV)When I asked Lydia to marry me, I was just 18 years old. I remember being in the jewelry store, looking at diamond rings, and I bought the best I could afford. It has continued to be precious to Lydia, because it was my best. If I had had more money, I would have boug...  Read More

"In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will." - Ephesians 1:11 (NKJV)The word "predestination" often confuses people, but it simply means "to see beforehand a boundary or horizon." Joel Gregory once stated: “When Paul wrote the letter to the Ephesians, he wrote it in Greek. He did not writ...  Read More

"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." - Ephesians 2:8-9 (NKJV)There was a little boy at Christmas time trying to figure out how he could get a little red wagon. His friends were writing letters to Santa Claus, so he thought, "I'll do something even better. I’m going to write a letter to Jesus."He...  Read More

"In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace." - Ephesians 1:7 (NKJV)I read about a prison surrounded by barbed wire. To make it look nicer, they planted pear trees along the fence. If you're driving by, the pear trees look pretty, and you might think the prison is a nice place. But if you go inside and look out, all you see is the bar...  Read More

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ." - Ephesians 1:3 (NKJV)A woman was teaching her child about money. Once he figured it out, the child asked her, "Mom, if you give me a hundred dollars, I'll be good." The mother replied, "Son, why can't you just be good for nothing... like your father?"This fu...  Read More

"To the praise of the glory of His grace by which He made us accepted in the beloved." - Ephesians 1:6 (NKJV)What's the ultimate result of God's eternal plan of salvation? It's simple: "to the praise of the glory of His grace." When we get to heaven, we're not going to be walking around talking about how good we were or how special we were. All the praise will go right up to God.There was a man na...  Read More

"Having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace by which He made us accepted in the beloved." - Ephesians 1:5-6 (NKJV)There are two great train tracks in Scripture that run parallel to one another. One is God's sovereignty, which simply means His purpose will never be thwarted by man. The oth...  Read More

"Having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will." - Ephesians 1:5 (NKJV)A few years ago in the NFL draft, Eli Manning was the quarterback the Chargers wanted. But Archie Manning, his father, made it clear publicly: "If you draft him, he's not going to come and play for you." It was pretty brazen, but he made it plain. "You may choos...  Read More

"Having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will." - Ephesians 1:5 (NKJV)All of us have experienced some form of rejection at one time or another. Perhaps you were the child who wasn't as athletic, and as the teams were being chosen, you watched one by one as each child was picked, until there were three to go, then two, and finally,...  Read More

"He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" - Romans 8:32 (NKJV)There was a man and wife who won an all-inclusive cruise, but they didn't realize it was all-inclusive. Being poor with little money, they stayed in their cabin eating cheese and crackers the entire trip. When crew members noticed they hadn't been to th...  Read More

"But Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, 'Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.'" - Numbers 13:30 (NKJV)Moses sent out a committee, a team of twelve individuals who would spy out the land and see what it looked like. Ten of them came back with an evil report, a report of doubt, a report of "I can't do it." These ten spies came back and they sai...  Read More

"For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places." - Ephesians 6:12 (NKJV)Paul says in Ephesians 1:3 that we've been blessed "in the heavenly places." "Places" is not in the Greek. It's fine to put it there, but it's just "in the heavenlies." What ...  Read More

"Blessed be the Lord, Who daily loads us with benefits, The God of our salvation!" - Psalm 68:19 (NKJV)Ray Stedman once said, "It is amazing the change that comes over us when we simply review our resources and count our blessings. That is where true encouragement is found in an honest accounting of the Father's limitless resources and blessings, made available to us in Christ."He wrote, "I once r...  Read More

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ." - Ephesians 1:3 (NKJV)There was a man in South Africa who owned a small compound where he and his horse would travel daily. As they passed through his property, there was a little stream filled with shiny objects that frustrated him greatly. His horse would c...  Read More