in Ephesians
Ephesians 5:3-7: Motivations for Personal Purity
Why should a Christian not have sex before marriage or any other form of sexual sin? Why should a Christian not tell dirty jokes? Why should a Christian not swear? Why should a Christian not...
in Ephesians
Ephesians 5:1-2: Imitators of God
Motivation is something we have wrestled with all our lives. You will remember when your parents gave what appeared to you to be unreasonable rules and when you asked why you had to do them,...
in Ephesians
Ephesians 4:31-32: Virtues Replacing Vices
How can you tell if someone is a Christian? We will not be able to know 100% because we cannot see the hearts of others but there are several tests you could apply that could...
in Ephesians
Ephesian 4:30: Do Not Grieve the Holy Spirit
If I were to ask you ‘why shouldn’t the Christian sin?’, ‘what makes a sin wrong?’ we would likely hear a number of different arguments. Today many feel that a certain action is inappropriate because...
in Ephesians
Ephesians 4:29: New Speech
‘There is a story in the Jewish Talmud about a king who sent two jesters on an errand. He instructed them, “Foolish Simon, go and bring me back the best thing in the world. And...
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Ephesians 4:28: From Selfishness to Selflessness
We have put off our old ways and put on a new self. We are no longer the person we used to be and we are being made into the person we will one day...
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Ephesians 4:26-27: Putting Away Anger
Anger divides! Take one look at our culture today and notice how anger is drawing battle lines, polarizing and tribalizing groups against each other. We see the sides in the culture wars as the left...
in Ephesians
Ephesians 4:25: No More Lies
A British survey in 2008 reported that people lie on average 4 times a day, which is at least 1460 times a year and 88,000 times in 60 years. In 2002 a study done by...
in Ephesians
Ephesians 4:17-24: A New Creation in Christ, Part Two: The New Man
Last week we began to look at Ephesians 4:17-24. We said that this is Paul’s call for the Christian to stop living as though dead but to be alive as they are in Christ. Paul...
in Ephesians
Ephesians 4:17-24: A New Creation in Christ, Part 1: The Old Man
Thomas Watson once said, ‘Dead fish swim downstream; living fish swim upstream.’ As Christians we are no longer dead, we can no longer go along with the world. We are no longer what we were...
in Ephesians
Ephesians 4:11-16: Growing the Church with the Word: Part 2
‘Every member ministry.’ Have you ever heard this phrase? This phrase is used to describe a movement in the modern church where every Christian is encouraged to know their gifts and use them in service...
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Ephesians 4:11-16: Growing the Church with the Word: Part 1
I have gone through three paradigm shifts with regards to the gifts of the spirit in my Christian walk. Due to being attracted to the activism and life of the Charismatic church in my earlier...
in Ephesians
Ephesians 4:7-10: ‘…He Gave Gifts…’
Paul is a man who loves to contrast things. In Romans 1-3 he gives us the bad news and the good news, the impossibility of sinners being righteous and then using the word ‘But’ talks...
in Ephesians
Ephesians 4:1-6: The Unity of the Body
We have reached the half way point in the letter to the Ephesians and Paul does a typical thing that happens in most of his writings. In chapters 1-3 he laid out the doctrine of...
in Ephesians
Ephesians 3:14-19: Praying for power
Praying when we are in need is easy, we always pray from the heart, but praying for others often deteriorates into shallow requests without heart. We often pray generic prayers for health, provision, and spiritual...
in Ephesians
Ephesians 3:11-13: The Plan of God
One of the most misunderstood, yet one of the most comforting doctrines that we believe in is the doctrine of God’s decree. Just as a builder does not begin to build without the blueprints, God...