A vital question
Many if not all of you have read chapters 2 and 3 in the book of Revelation. Some of you have studied them in detail.
But did you ever notice any differences between these letters to 7 assemblies, and the letters of Paul to the churches?
Did you ever ask this question:
Is Jesus speaking to us in Revelation...
What we learned last time
In our last blog, we explored what the Bible means by “the world” generally, and in particular the world as something we are not to love and must overcome.
We examined what the world was not, and learned a practical definition of "the world” :
“The world” means the organization and the...
What in the world is “the world”?
After what we have witnessed in this year’s turbulent presidential campaign, it’s a good time to increase our understanding of what the Bible calls “the world”.
There are several ways in which the Bible speaks of “the world”.
The unbelievers; the entire...
Framework
This week we examine the commands in Ephesians 5:19-6:19. We will see how they contribute to summing up all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on earth.
God is summing up the things on earth by building up the church, which is the fullness of Christ.
God is summing up...
Growth – or Arthritis?
This week we are going to look at the specific exhortations we receive in the book of Ephesians.
When we are obedient to these exhortations, we participate in the Spirit’s great work of completing the body of Christ.
As we proceed, watch for places where Paul, after giving us a specific command, brings...
We grow as one congregation
Last week, we saw that we cannot grow as separate individuals. We grow together as a body.
The body of Christ, the church, is made up of all believers in Christ during the Church Age.
Each congregation is a particular local manifestation of the body of Christ.
So we grow together as...
The mountaintop
Last week, we visited the mountaintop.
We saw God the Father summing up all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth (Eph 1:10).
He is doing this by reconciling all things to Himself through Christ, having made peace by the blood of His cross – things in heaven and things on earth. (Col...
Recap
In our last blog, we saw that the book of Ephesians is about the church as a whole: the one Body of Christ.
This has major implications for how we interpret Ephesians 5:18.
Here is the English translation of Ephesians 5:18 that we are working with:
And do not get drunk with wine, which is...
Picking up where we left off
Last week, we started to examine the ongoing ministry of the Holy Spirit to believers, to the church.
We began in the book of Ephesians, where we examined a word, a verse, and a concept.
The word is the Greek verb pleroo.
The verse is Ephesians 5:18.
And the concept is the concept of...