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Christian Articles to Edify Folks

Category Archives: Ephesians

Thoughts From Ephesians- Number 21 – Strength and Riches Through the Holy Spirit (Eph. 3:14-16)

December 2nd, 2017

We serve an Awesome God and Lord Jesus Christ!  All three parts of the Godhead are  present in our walk of faith. When we  are in the presence of Deity, we “bow our knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,”  (Ephesians 3:14). Throughout the Old and New Testaments when godly people came int the presence of God, adoration was the  order of the day.

Even when we are not physically bending our knees in praise of our Heavenly Father, we are  to be in a spirit of adoration. Just like  it says to “pray without ceasing,” which  does not mean that we are constantly  praying; rather it means that we are  to be in a spirit of prayer, ready to pray when the need arrises. I thin  think it is the same here. Our hearts and minds must be bended in adoration to the Lord.

Christians are a part of “family of faith” mentioned  in Ephesians 3:15. We share a common faith with every Christian in the whole world. We share a common salvation (Jude 3).

As has been  stressed many times in the Epistle of Ephesians, God has  great things in place for His children. His riches are  endless and He wants us to have all the blessings a  loving Father has for His children,

He wants us to live our life with the might of God present through the  work of the Holy Spirit who indwells  us. Like I said in the very first article of this series, God is not  a stingy God , not wanting to bless us; rather, He rejoices in blessing us.

We have the Holy Spirit of God indwelling us (Acts 2:38). We must take advantage  of that blessed  truth and live daily in the Spirit. We must want all God has for us. All the blessings  of God must be received  so that we can grow in the Lord Jesus and help others  find and enjoy the marvelous light of the Gospel.

-November 6, 2017, at Graymere Church of Christ, Columbia, TN (CBI)

Larry Miles, lives in Louisville, KY, and is Co-Editor of Word and Work On-Line

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Thoughts From Ephesians – Number 12

November 19th, 2017

Alienation: Who We Once Were (Eph. 2:11-12)

Verses 11-12 follow the  pattern of  verses  1-3. They  paint  for us the dark picture of  what  life  apart from  Christ involves.  Praise  God that  our Father loved us  so much that He sent His  Son to  redeem us.

Paul wants his readers and us to  remember  how separated they were from God’s people and  His blessings and  what it  took to bring them back into a  right  relationship with Him.

“You were  Gentiles in in the flesh.” Paul is  highlighting the physical difference  between a  Jew and a Gentile.  In  verse 12 Paul goes on to  elaborate on the pre-Christian past of the  Gentiles.  Paul  gives  us  5  ways that the  Gentiles were separated.

Guy Orbison, Jr., writes these  words, “[1] separate-no national hope of a  Messiah and  what the ‘anointed One’ would  accomplish; [2] excluded from the  commonwealth-Israel was the  covenant name and the Gentiles were  not  included; [3] strangers, i.e. is foreigners to the covenants-they had no access to the arrangements and promises  God made through the  chosen people; [4] having  no  hope-no expectations of future glory or  exaltation by  God; [5] and  without  God in the world– no meaningful relationship with  the  living God.”

Before  we became  Christians we were in the same tragic position as these Ephesian Gentiles.  We need to  reflect  and remember how things  were  outside of Christ. By remembering where we came  from, we will live with  constant gratitude toward God and love towards  His people. Praise  God for the  word “but” in  verse  13.

-Larry Miles, May 2, 2015 in Mangum, OK

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Thoughts From Ephesians – Number 11

November 18th, 2017

In Christ, We Are God’s Workmanship (Eph.2:8-10)

We were not  saved   on our  won  merit. We  did to deserve  mercy, rather we deserved  judgment.  Salvation  is  entirely  by  grace, although we  must  appropriate  that grace  by  obedience to the  commands of God.  But we must  realize that  we  can  never  earn our  salvation.  We can  never be saved  by  law keeping.  this  does  not  mean that we  do  not obey  His  commands.  We can  never  put our trust  in anything that  man can accomplish on his own.

Verse  9  back ups that  fact  we cannot earn our salvation.  To say  we  can  earn it smacks of arrogance.  Grace  eliminates all such  arrogance. There is only One who should be exalted in salvation, and that is God.  Our  only  boasting must  be in the Lord.

Paul says it well when he writes, “What do you have that  you  didn’t receive? If, in fact you did receive it?” (1 Cor. 4:7) And since we have received this  salvation, “The one who boasts must boast in the Lord.” (1 Cor. 1:31).

We can never  work our way  to heaven but once  we are Christians we  ned to be the  best  workers He  has.  Works  are not the root of our salvation, rather, they are  the fruit of salvation. We must have a  living faith, a  functioning  faith. Because we are God’s workmanship in Christ Jesus, people should  see our  good works.  Jesus said, “In the same way, let your light shine before men, so that they may see you  good works and  give  glory to your Father in Heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)

So let us live out  our faith daily and  walk in the Lord. Once we were in darkness, being controlled  by the world, the  flesh, and the Devil. But God made us alive through an obedient faith  in Christ, and now we are walking in Christ  doing  good works.

Larry Miles, May 1, 2015 in Mangum, OK

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