Welcome to episode 179 of Grasp the Bible.  In this episode, we continue our study in the Book of Ephesians, covering chapter 4:1-6.  Today, we will cover: 

• The Means for Maintaining Unity (vv. 1–3) 
• The Basis for Unity (vv. 4-6) 

Key takeaways: 

• Paul formally begins the second half of the letter, but he does so depending on all he has said up to this point. 
• The first is an exhortation to maintain unity within this newly constituted body of believers. 
• Although we might expect Paul to encourage his readers to strive to attain unity in the church, he actually implores them to maintain a unity that already exists. That unity is from the Spirit. 
• Verses 4-6 emphasize the idea of oneness that should pervade the church. 
• Recognition of our calling by God diminishes our sense of self-importance and enables us to cultivate the humility that is so foundational to unity. God did not choose us and call us because we were so awesome. Our calling represents God’s initiative and His unmerited grace upon us. 

Quotable: 

• Christian belief comes before Christian living. The mindset must be changed before one’s conduct can follow suit. 

Application: 

• In Paul’s thought, and especially in Ephesians, a changed life comes before good behavior. The new identity in Christ is what produces the good works. 
• New Testament ethics centers on living a worthy life before God. 
• The virtues listed in verses 2-3 tell us how to live a life worthy of God’s calling. 
• It is essential to work on developing Christlike virtues that enhance unity. 
• Unity begins by sharing a commitment to a common faith. 
• The unity of believers stems from a common calling by God. 

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Welcome to episode 178 of Grasp the Bible.  In this episode, we continue our study in the Book of Ephesians, covering chapter 3:14-21.  Today, we will cover: 

• The Address to the Father (vv. 14-15) 
• A Request for Power and Love (vv. 16-17) 
• A Request for an Increasing Awareness of God’s Power and Love (vv. 18-19) 
• A Doxology (vv. 20-21) 

Key takeaways: 

• No principality or authority keeps God from supernaturally strengthening His people through the indwelling Spirit and through their relationship to the exalted Christ. 
• God possesses extraordinary might, which He is able and willing to impart to His people. 
• The church consists of a family (the people of God) living in a sacred structure (the church as a house and a temple) where Christ dwells in and with us. 
• Paul wants them to know both the power of God and the love of God. In other words, Paul wants them to be confident that God has the ability to carry out His loving plan of redemption. 
• Paul prays that these believers will not only have a profound understanding of the vastness of God’s power, but that they will also develop a much deeper understanding of Christ’s love. In saying this, however, he lets them know that the love of Christ is so great that they will never comprehend the full extent of it. 

Quotable: 

• It is impossible for the human mind to think deeply enough to encompass the reality of all that God can do. 

Application: 

• The principal goal of the church is to bring glory to God for all that He is and all that He has done. 
• God’s power works in the lives of believers, enabling them to live the lives He calls them to live. 

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Welcome to episode 177 of Grasp the Bible.  In this episode, we continue our study in the Book of Ephesians, covering chapter 3:1-13.  Today, we will cover: 

• The Revelation of the Mystery to Paul (3:1–7) 
• The Nature of Paul’s Stewardship of the Mystery (3:8–12) 
• Paul’s Concern for the Readers (3:13) 

Key takeaways: 

• There is a divine plan, and Paul has been selected to be an administrator of it.  At the center of this plan is God’s intent to create a special household of people who actually form a home that He indwells—a corporate body of both Jews and Greeks, whom He has redeemed with his own blood. 
• There was no generation among God’s people who could have anticipated the full extent of what God would accomplish through His Messiah. 
• At the heart of the mystery God has revealed is the fact that Gentiles now share equally with Jews in the blessings of the new covenant life with God.   
• Christ has broken down that wall, making one new people out of two previously divided people. So now both Jew and Gentile approach God equally on that new basis. 
• The revelation of God’s wisdom to the powers in the heavenly places happens through the church. 
• The Church is not an option for believers, nor is supporting it an option. 

Quotable: 

• God is in control and is sovereignly and powerfully fulfilling His plan of redemption just as He intended it from the beginning. 

Application: 

• Because of His kindness, love, and mercy coupled with the reconciliation that has taken place by the blood of Jesus Christ, believers can experience a closeness to God. 
• As part of this relationship, God’s people need feel no restraint in approaching God in prayer or worship. They can pray at any time with no fear of being turned away because of ritual impurity or some form of unworthiness. 
• Because of what Christ has accomplished, they can approach God with full confidence 
• The Church exists as a multiracial and multicultural community. No ethnicity is disadvantaged in the body of Christ. No one, whatever that person’s background might be, is barred from membership and participation in this new community. 

Connect with us: 

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Welcome to episode 176 of Grasp the Bible.  In this episode, we continue our study in the Book of Ephesians, covering chapter 2:11-22.  Today we cover:      
 

•  We were two people Jew and please don't Gentile
•  But now through Christ we are one.
• We have the same promises.
• We are one people and one body. Come on everybody

Key takeaways:

• Paul first shares that we were all lost and totally depraved, then he shares that Gentiles were strangers without hope.
• But God made you alive, and now, in Christ, you are also one new man. 
• Transcendent reconciliation is when He not only reconciles us to Himself but also to each other. 

Quotable:

• Main Idea: “God's restoration goes beyond our most desperate need to include our every need.”
• “So, Gentiles remember that not only were you dead but you were hopeless because you didn't have the same promises Israel had. BUT NOW!”
• In Christ, God accomplishes His mission of reconciliation. 
• “He did this all to show the matchless love and grace of God.”

Application:

• We must get the vertical relationship (with God) first before we have any hope of getting out horizontal relationships (with others) right.
• I’ve got to get right with God first. 

Connect with us: 

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Welcome to episode 175 of Grasp the Bible.  In this episode, we continue our study in the Book of Ephesians, covering chapter 2:1-10.  Today we cover:

• The state of mankind (both Jew and Gentile)
• The way in which God steps in.
• The means by which we access his grace.
• The beauty of God’s word and his redemptive plan for humanity.

Key takeaways:

• We had a heart condition. We were dead in our trespasses and sins. This was a universal condition because we all (Jew and Gentile) were dead in our trespasses and sins.
• Why did Jesus save us? All for the praise of his glory.
• Through this text we see beauty. We see the beauty of God’s power, the beauty in unity, and the beauty of God’s love.

Quotable:

• Main Idea: “It’s all to show the matchless Love and Grace of God.”
• “In response to our spiritual bankruptcy and our spiritual death we get an amazing response …. But God!”
• “He brought us from death to life, he put the miraculous defibrillator on our spiritual chest and brought us back to life.”
• “Faith is the means by which we gain access to the beautiful grace of God.”

Application:

• We must recognize our condition,
• In doing so, we realize our desperate need for a savior.
• In doing so, we realize the commonality we have with all people.
• In doing so, we realize that it was never about us. It wasn’t something I could earn, and it wasn’t something I deserved, but rather, it came from an overflow of God’s love.

Connect with us:

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Welcome to episode 174 of Grasp the Bible.  In this episode, we continue our study in the Book of Ephesians, covering chapter 1:15-23.  Today, we will cover: 

• The Occasion for the Prayer (v. 15) 
• The Thanksgiving and Prayer (vv. 16-19) 
• A Description of the Magnitude of God’s Power (vv. 20-23) 

Key takeaways: 

• Our faith is both a saving faith (we have salvation in Jesus Christ) and a practical faith (we believe that Jesus enables us to live out what he has planned for us. 
• Knowing Christ is one of the New Testament’s ways of describing saving faith.  The questions which must be asked are: Do we really know Christ? Are we in him? Is he in us? Does he know us?  Is there an intimate exchange between him and us? 
• The Spirit who came upon the Messiah is the same Spirit who now rests upon his people and provides knowledge, wisdom, and power. 
• As an earthly king values treasuries full of silver and gold, God values His people as His wealth and honor. 
• Christ can impart to the church all of the empowering resources it needs to resist the attacks of powers and to engage in the mission of filling the world that God has called it to. 
• The church is filled with power and grace from its exalted Lord, who, in turn, extends his reign throughout heaven and earth through the church. 

Quotable: 

• The great need of any church, whether it is healthy or not, is knowing Christ —a better, deeper, fuller knowledge of Christ. 

Application: 

• Paul calls the Ephesians to love ALL believers.  As Jonathan Swift once said, “We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another.”  Our surface Christianity arms us with what we think are proper prejudices and a rationale for criticizing those who fall short, keeping them at arm’s length. 
• Do we delight at hearing of the faith and love of others? Do we rejoice in others’ spiritual attainments? Especially revealing, do we praise God when this is happening in places we are not present? Other churches? Other organizations? 
• We don’t need more truth or better truth (which is impossible!). We simply need our spiritual eyes opened to the truths that surround us. 

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Welcome to episode 173 of Grasp the Bible. In this episode, we continue our study in the Book of Ephesians, covering chapter 1:3-14 a doxology of praise to God. Today, we will cover:

The Doxology: (vv. 3-14)

• The Author
• The Audience
• The Message

Key takeaways:

• These verses are a beautiful doxology. A doxology is a short hymn of a verse of praise. It was a huge part of synagogue worship and is still a huge part of our worship services today. Doxalogy in Greek can be separated into Doxa – meaning glory and Logia – referring to an oral or written expression. So it is literally Paul’s written expression of the Glory of God. These 12 verses are a single complex sentence where Paul pours out His praise to God the father.
• Within this passage we see God’s, purpose, will, and working through His son. God’s plan began before creation and is for all times and all people
• God is the initiator and the source. Jesus is the means or the instrument that God uses to accomplish his work and plan. The Holy Spirit helps us and seals us until our glorification with God in Heaven.
• This message includes 8 of the many blessings that God gives believers full access to.

Quotable:

• God the father is the ultimate source of all blessing and, therefore, the ultimate object of praise.
• God’s ultimate plan is to bring together – to ultimately resolve – all things in Christ
• Our natural response when we learn who God is and what he has done is PRAISE!!
• What is our natural response when we learn who we are and what we have done? The depth of our need brings us to our knees and to the one we need.

Application:

• We must get to know our God deeply.
• In doing so we learn about ourselves which drives us closer to Him.
• In doing so we become so overwhelmed with what he has done that we praise Him.
• In doing so we long to live in a manner worthy of what He has done for us.

Connect with us:

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Facebook:

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Welcome to episode 172 of Grasp the Bible.  In this episode, we begin our study in the Book of Ephesians, covering chapter 1:1-2 and introductory information. Drew Bowsher, our student minister, will be joining Pastor Darrell as they walk through the Book of Ephesians.  Pastor Drew delivers the message today.

Today, we will cover:

·               The introduction (vv. 1-2)

·               The Author

·               The Audience

·               The Message

Key takeaways:

·  For 18 centuries of church tradition, it was unanimously believed that Paul was the Author. Some Historical and Theological Arguments were made to question Paul’s authorship. However, no satisfactory alternative author was ever presented. Thus one must conclude Paul is the Author of Ephesians based on the clear evidence of his mission to the gentiles and the support of 18 centuries worth of tradition. 

· The book of Ephesians was written to the faithful, saints, in Christ Jesus, located in Ephesus. Ephesus was the capital of the Roman empires Asian province. Therefore, this text was probably for all newly founded Asian Churches by way of Ephesus. 

·  The Message of the book of Ephesians starts with the beautiful transformation of the gospel, explains the radical difference of those in Christ and concludes with the practical implications and practices of these transformed people.

Quotable:

· We are citizens of two kingdoms, to which kingdom will you bow your knee?

· Come this semester and see How the book of Ephesians reveals to us how to bend our knee to the king of Kings and Lord of Lords while simultaneously residing in a broken world.

Application:

·  The book of Ephesians was written in part to help new believers understand who they are in Christ. We can examine Ephesians and learn more about who we are by understanding what God has done for us through Jesus. 

·  It was also written to show believers how those in Christ should live and walk out their faith.  Check out Ephesians to find practical ways to walk and live like Christ. 

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Welcome to episode 171!  We continue our summer series on biblical genres.  Today, we will discuss apocalyptic literature.  You can also find these episodes on Spring Baptist Church's YouTube channel.  Here is a link to this week's episode.

Overview of the Book

The Book of Revelation begins with a series of letters to seven churches, addressing their spiritual condition and exhorting them to persevere in their faith. It then shifts to a prophetic vision of heavenly worship, where the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, is revealed as the only one worthy to open the sealed scroll, ushering in a series of judgments upon the earth.

 Through symbolic imagery, such as the four horsemen, the seven seals, and the seven trumpets, Revelation depicts the escalating conflicts and tribulations that precede the final battle between the forces of good and evil. The dragon, representing Satan, and the beast, symbolizing the Antichrist, wage war against the people of God, but their defeat is certain.

 The book culminates with the glorious return of Christ, the establishment of His millennial reign, the final judgment, and the creation of a new heaven and a new earth, where God will dwell eternally with His redeemed people. 

Significance and Impact

The Book of Revelation holds immense significance for Christians, as it provides a prophetic glimpse into the ultimate triumph of God's kingdom and the fulfillment of His promises. This book offers hope and encouragement to believers facing persecution and trials, reminding them that their sufferings are temporary, and their eternal reward is secure. 

The vivid imagery and symbolic language of Revelation challenge us to view the world through the lens of eternity, recognizing that the cosmic battle between good and evil is not merely a physical struggle but a spiritual one with eternal consequences.

Furthermore, the Book of Revelation reminds us of the centrality of Christ as the victorious Lamb, the one who has conquered sin and death, and who will ultimately reign as King of kings and Lord of lords.

Practical Applications

As we study the Book of Revelation, we can draw valuable lessons for our spiritual journey. The exhortations to the seven churches challenge us to examine our own spiritual condition, repent from complacency or compromise, and remain steadfast in our faith amidst trials and opposition.

The vivid depictions of the eternal rewards awaiting those who overcome serve as a powerful motivation to persevere in our walk with Christ, keeping our eyes fixed on the eternal rather than the temporary.

Moreover, the Book of Revelation inspires us to live with a sense of urgency and purpose, sharing the good news of salvation with those who have not yet experienced the transformative power of the gospel.

Conclusion

The Book of Revelation stands as a powerful and enigmatic vision of the glorious finale of God's redemptive plan. Through its vivid imagery and symbolic language, this prophetic book unveils the ultimate triumph of God's kingdom, the defeat of evil, and the eternal reign of Christ. May the truths contained within Revelation fill us with hope, encourage us to persevere in our faith, and inspire us to live with eternity in mind, eagerly awaiting the day when Christ will return in glory and establish His everlasting kingdom.

Welcome to episode 170!  We continue our summer series on biblical genres.  Today, we will discuss the General Epistles.  You can also find these episodes on Spring Baptist Church's YouTube channel.  Here is a link to this week's episode.

Overview of the Books

The epistle to the Hebrews eloquently expounds on the supremacy of Christ and the superiority of the new covenant, exhorting believers to hold fast to their faith and persevere in the face of suffering.  

James, the brother of Jesus, emphasizes the practical outworking of faith through good works, wisdom, and the taming of the tongue. 

In 1 Peter, the apostle encourages believers facing persecution, reminding them of their living hope in Christ and their calling to holy living.  

2 Peter warns against false teachers and emphasizes the reliability of Scripture, while also looking forward to the promise of Christ's return. 

The three epistles of John address issues of love, obedience, and discerning truth from error, urging believers to walk in the light and remain steadfast in the teachings of Christ.  

Jude, the final General Epistle, exhorts the church to contend for the faith and reject those who pervert the grace of God. 

Significance and Impact

The General Epistles hold immense significance for Christians as they provide invaluable wisdom and guidance for navigating the complexities of the Christian life. These letters remind us of the enduring hope we have in Christ, even in the midst of trials and persecutions, and challenge us to remain steadfast in our faith. 

The emphasis on recognizing and rejecting false teachings equips us to discern truth from error, safeguarding the purity of the gospel message. The call to holy living, love, and good works encourages us to let our faith bear tangible fruit in our daily lives. 

Moreover, the General Epistles underscore the importance of spiritual maturity, perseverance, and the transformative power of God's Word in shaping our characters and conforming us to the image of Christ. 

Practical Applications

As we study the General Epistles, we can draw numerous practical lessons for our spiritual journey. The teachings on perseverance and endurance challenge us to remain steadfast in our faith, even in the face of trials, temptations, and opposition, trusting in God's sovereign plan and the hope we have in Christ.  

The emphasis on discernment and identifying false teachings equips us to navigate the complexities of our modern world, holding fast to the truth of Scripture and rejecting ideologies that contradict the gospel. 

Furthermore, the call to love, good works, and holy living inspires us to let our faith manifest in tangible ways, demonstrating the transformative power of the gospel through our actions, speech, and attitudes.