Todaywill continue to look at Ephesians 4:4-6 where we talk about the ground of ourunity. Remember in verses 1-3, Paul was talking about the grace of our unity.We have longsuffering, gentleness, and humility. We bear with one another inlove. That's the grace of our unity and now we need the basis of our unity.What gives us unity? Oneness in Jesus Christ. Oneness in our church. Unitywhere there's diversity and yet we have a unity of love and kindness and gracewith each other.

Theworld should see this love and oneness that Jesus prayed about in John 17 becausewe are one with Christ and in Christ. Because we are one with God we can loveone another despite our differences. Oh, my friend, how the church needs thatunity today. The local body of Jesus Christ caring for one another, praying forone another, working together as we serve the one Lord and God of our Father ofour Lord Jesus Christ.

SoPaul writes about the seven spiritual realities that we in verses 4-6. Thefirst five being: one body, one spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith. Now, thelast two of these spiritual realities are one baptism and one God and Father inverses five and six.

“Onebaptism”.I believe the baptism here that the Apostle Paul is writing about is thebaptism that takes place at the moment of our salvation. In 1 Corinthians 12:13Paul wrote, "For by one Spirit we are baptized into one body."For sure there is a difference of opinions when it comes to the teaching of thebaptism of the Spirit in the New Testament. I personally believe that there wasan initial, unique, one time in history experience, that took place when the120 disciples in the upper room praying in one accord (Acts 2:1-3).

Thishappened on the day of Pentecost, (that's 50 days after Passover), when theHoly Spirit came down on these disciples with tongues of fire and they werebaptized into the body of Christ and the church was birthed. Jesus had toldthem to: "Tarry in Jerusalem and wait for the promise of the Father, theHoly Spirit", in Acts 1. For 10 days they had waited and prayedtogether. Then on that tenth day, a one-time historical event took place as the120 were baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ.

Laterthat day, when Peter preached, 3,000 souls were saved. At the moment of eachsalvation of those 3,000 people, each one individually was baptized into thebody of Christ. If you want to read details about this, read Acts 1-2. Anotherpassage that speaks of this spiritual experience that takes place in the lifeof each believer when they get saved, is 1 Corinthians 12. Paul speaks of the diversityof gifts but “the same Spirit”. There are differences of ministry orservice but “the same Lord”. In verse 6, he says there's diversities ofactivities, but “the same God” who works all in all.

Youwill see this theme throughout this chapter, one spirit, same God, one God, oneLord Jesus Christ. And remember Paul is writing to the church at Corinth that'shaving tremendous divisions amongst themselves. He's reminding them when onebody, one spirit, one God, one Father. And now he is doing the same with thechurch at Ephesus.

Sotoday, we need to remember this baptism he is speaking of in Ephesians 4:5 isnot a second experience, third, fourth, fifth, sixth experience of baptism.This baptism only takes place at the moment of your salvation. You're baptizedat that moment into the body of Christ. Read Romans 6:3, where Paul speaks ofwhat takes place at this baptism of the Spirit. "Don't you know that asmany of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, we were baptized into Hisdeath?"  Again, this takes placeat our salvation.

So,there is only “one baptism”, and you don't need to look for asecond, third, or fourth, or fifth baptism. It's already taken place. Surely, aswe dwell on these things and think about what God has done for us in Christ, wecan have true unity one with another.

Godbless!

Happy Thanksgiving

Psalm 100 & 145

Make a joyful shout tothe LORD, all you lands! Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before His presencewith singing. Know that the LORD, He is God; It is He who has made us, and notwe ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into Hisgates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, andbless His name. For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth enduresto all generations.

HappyThanksgiving!!!!!

Iprerecorded my chat for today knowing I would be in Virginia with family for Thanksgiving.

Myfamily is taking advantage of this special day to also get together for a very specialfamily reunion in Lynchburg at Thomas Terrace Baptist Church where my brother Markis pastor. My youngest sister, Janet Baldis, flew in from Slovakia with her husbandCharles. My middle sister, Beverly Riggins, drove down from Pennsylvania withher husband Ronnie.

Ibelieve almost all of our children, and all their children will be able toattend, along with all of the grandchildren. Cousins will see each other forthe first time in years. Some of the grandchildren will be meeting and seeingeach other for the first time ever. This is our first family get together sincemy mother passed away in October 2018.

Notonly will we celebrate Thanksgiving, but we are also taking advantage of this timetogether to have a celebration of life and memorial service for our oldestsister, Lynda Smith, who went to be with Lord earlier this month on November 6in Denver Colorado. This service in the TTBC sanctuary will give us theopportunity as a family to celebrate her life and honor her memory.

Despiteall the difficulties, hardships, disappointments, and challenges over the manyyears that we have faced as a family, we still have so so much to be gratefuland thankful for. Our parents left us a powerful and wonderful legacy andwitness of living the blessed life of total dedication and surrender to the LordJesus. Lynda is now a beautiful part of the legacy! God has been so good to allof us!

Today,I trust you will take the time to reflect and remember the blessings andgoodness of the Lord in your life on this special day of Thanksgiving. I feltimpressed to read both Psalm 100 and 145 for today’s chat to help us lift upour praise and thankfulness to the LORD for His love, truth, mercy and graceover the many years! All these blessings are wonderfully and beautifully foundin the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ!!!!

Godbless!

Todaywe're looking specifically at Ephesians 4:5 where we read of the fifthspiritual reality, “One faith”.

Sofar in verse 4, Paul has already mentioned one body, one Spirit, one hope. Andyesterday we talked about one Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who is Lord overall. Now today we're talking about the next word, one faith. One faith. Nowit's important that we remember we're talking about unity. What brings aboutunity in the local body of Christ amongst believers is found in this essentialspiritual reality that is called “one faith”. Now the word “faith”here is not speaking of a personal faith that we have. Like when we say, I haveput my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I put my faith in His resurrectionpower. I have faith to believe that God's going to do this or that. No, thisword here is not speaking of that kind of faith. That's a personal faith.

The“One Faith” here, is speaking of an objective faith. This “onefaith" transcends mere personal conviction or subjectivetrust; it represents the objective, divinely revealed body of doctrine thatforms the bedrock of Christianity. This “one faith” is speakingof the body of truth were find in the Word of God that you and I hold dear toour hearts we're not going to let change. So, it's “one faith”.There are not many paths to God. There is only one path to God. That path isthrough the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not “two faiths”, “five faiths”, or “tenfaiths”. It's “one faith”, one body of truth that brings us into arevelation, a knowledge of who God really is through His son Jesus Christ.

Wecan’t miss the importance of this truth! We live in a day of apostasy. We livein a day when the Gospel message has been watered down. We have a good God, a gooddevil, a good everybody. Be good. Do your best. Go to church. Try to keep theten commandments the best you can do, and God will understand in the end. Butmy friend, that's not what the Bible teaches. The Bible gives us one faith, onebody of truth that guarantees us an eternal salvation through our faith inChrist, in Christ alone. So, we have “one faith”.

Theessentials of this faith include the Lordship of Jesus Christ and His deity. Heis God manifest in the flesh! I believe a great verse that speaks of this isJude 1:3. Jude writing to the believers says, "Beloved, while I wasvery diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found itnecessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faithwhich was once for all delivered to all the saints. For certain men have creptin unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly menwho have turned the grace of our God into lewdness deny the only Lord God ourLord Jesus Christ."

Sothe faith that he's speaking of here is this body of truth, this original bodyof truth that the apostles have delivered to us once for all, it's unchanging.It's not negotiable. It has been always the same. My friend, Jesus Christ isthe same yesterday, today, and forever. “One faith”. This includes Jesus Christ’svirgin birth, His sinless life, His atoning death, His bodily resurrection, Hisascension into heaven where He's seated at the right hand of the Father rightnow. This includes salvation by grace through faith alone, not works. Thisspeaks of the Trinity, God in three persons, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Thisspeaks of the authority of the Holy Scriptures as inspired and infallible. Thisspeaks of moral ethical living, holiness, love, and avoidance of sin in ourlives.

This“one faith” speaks of the hope of Jesus Christ and His bodily returnone day and eternal life that is through Him alone. My friend, that's the “onefaith” we must hold dear in our hearts and “earnestly contend for” eventoday.

Godbless!

Todaywe're continuing to look at Ephesians 4:4-6. One of the outstanding characteristicsand testimony of the early church we read about in the early chapters of the Bookof Acts was that “they were in one accord” (Acts 1:14; 2:1, 46; 4:24,32; 5:12). So much so that in Acts 4:32 it was said of them: “Now themultitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither didanyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had allthings in common.”

Theyprayed to the same Lord. They prayed to the same God. They had the same HolySpirit working in each one of them. And because of that, they were in oneaccord. My friend, when you're in one accord with the fellow believers aroundyou, there is the awesome power of God that comes down upon us to be a greatwitness to all the world around us, in our Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and tothe uttermost parts of the earth. Remember that the light that shines thebrightest at home shines the farthest.

Thegreatest hindrance to the church to the witness of the church is the fact thatso many times in our churches, the believers who claim to have the same Lord donot get along with each other. That's why Paul wrote the whole book of FirstCorinthians. He heard that there were divisions among them. So much so that inhis introduction to them in 1 Corinthians 1:10 he wrote: “Now I plead withyou, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak thesame thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectlyjoined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.”

Herein Ephesians 4:4-6, Paul reminds us of the spiritual realities that make usone, one in unity, unity in the church despite our diversity and differences. Yesterdaywe talked about, “One body, one Spirit, one hope of your calling” (v. 4).Today we will be looking at the next spiritual reality, which is “One Lord”(v. 5).

InRomans 14:3-10, Paul wrote these words to the church at Rome, dealing with thedivisions they were having in their church. "He who observes the day,observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to theLord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for hegives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat,and gives God thanks. .. . For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to theLord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. For tothis end Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord ofboth the dead and the living.

Now,this is powerful reminder that because we are a part of one body, one Spirit, andhave one hope of our calling, and knowing one day we will stand before the LordJesus Christ and give an account of our attitudes and actions we should “endeavorto keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3).  This is also possible because we should rememberthat we are serving “the same Lord” (Romans 10:12; 1 Corinthians 12:5).

Jesusis either Lord of all, or He's not Lord at all. When there's contention amongus, it's because we have forgotten that we have the same Lord that we worship,that we follow, that we submit to, that we surrender to. If there's contentionin the church, it's always because of a person who has pride in his heartthinks he knows better maybe than the others or he has pride in his heartbecause he thinks he's better than others or he thinks he has more spiritualgifts or he's given more than others in the church. Proverbs 13:10 tells usthat: “Only by pride cometh contention…”. My friend, these things oughtnot to be. There should be oneness of spirit, oneness of heart, oneness ofpurpose and mission in our churches. When we have that, it's because there werecognize that there is one Lord.

IsJesus the Lord of your life today. Is Jesus honored and worshipped as Lord in yourchurch? How can there be disunity when we're loving and serving the “sameLord”?

Todaywe're looking at Ephesians 4:4-6 where the Apostle Paul is giving us the sevenspiritual realities that unite us in Jesus Christ. There must be a foundationaltruth that makes us one. Our oneness is based on and because of theseseven realities that are given to us at the moment we trust Jesus Christ as ourpersonal Lord Savior.

Atthe moment of our salvation, we were baptized into the body of Jesus Christ. Read1 Corinthians 12, where Paul is dealing with a church that's in tremendousdivision. One of their divisions is over the matter of spiritual gifts and whohas the best gifts. Paul deals with this subject by taking them back to thefoundational truth of the Holy Spirit and His giving the gifts of the Spirit,that are given to every member in the body.

 “For as the body is one and has manymembers, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, soalso is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--whetherJews or Greeks, whether slaves or free--and have all been made to drink intoone Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:13-14). Paul uses the analogy of the humanbody to describe this foundational truth to help us to understand it. I only haveone body. I don't have three bodies or four bodies different bodies. I don’thave the option to jump into this body today, and tomorrow I wake up and say, “Iwant to dress up in this next body”.

No,I only have one body God has given it to me not only duration of this life onearth, but He's given it to me for eternity. One day God will glorify even thissame frail fallen body for eternity. My friend, this is a foundational truth.Just as the body is one, it has many members. I have hands, I have eyes, feet.Paul goes through those different aspects of the body and what they individuallydo, but it's one body they work together.

Eachmember of our body helps and cares for the other members. They are not jealousof each other because it is one body. This is the same spiritual reality thatis ours in Christ, the moment of our salvation as it says in verse 12 and 13: “Foras the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body,being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were allbaptized into one body”.

Nowback to Ephesians 4:4 where Paul writes, “one body, one Spirit”. There'sonly one Holy Spirit. The same Holy Spirit that dwells lives in me, lives inyou. This is what gives us unity, one body, one Spirit, working for theselfsame purpose to build up the body, the church of Jesus Christ, to exhortone another encourage one another so much more as we see the day approaching.

Thattakes us to the next spiritual reality. “Just as you were called in one hopeof your calling.” This “one hope of your calling” has to do with thesecond coming of Jesus Christ. It is also called “the blessed hope” (Titus2:13). We are looking forward to Jesus coming one day. Paul is talking aboutthis also in Romans 8:23-25: “Not only that, but we also who have thefirstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerlywaiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. For we were saved in thishope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for whathe sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it withperseverance”.

Wewere called to look forward to this “one hope” that one day Jesus is comingback for us! 1 John 3:2-3 promises it this way: “Beloved, now we arechildren of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we knowthat when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. Andeveryone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure”. Whata blessed and glorious hope is ours today!!!

So,the spiritual reality is: one body, one Spirit, one hope. We have fourmore to look at over the next few days.

Godbless!

Todaywe're looking at Ephesians 4:4-6. Yesterday we talked about the grace of unityin verses 1-3. This is a unity in the church among the members that aredisplayed in our humility, our gentleness, our longsuffering, our bearing withone another, and which we continually endeavor to keep so that the world aroundus sees our love for one another, and most of all, the great love of God forthe world through Christ and His cross.

Butmy friend, we are not to compromise our foundational beliefs to experience thisunity. There are so many churches and people today that attempt to uniteChristians in a way that is not biblical. They say things like, "We're notreally interested in doctrine, but in love. Let's just love one another. Let'sset aside what we believe just love one another." My friend, that'scompromise. We cannot compromise the essentials of the faith, the foundationsof the faith.

Pauldid not discuss spiritual unity in the first three chapters; he waited until hehad laid the doctrinal foundation. While not all Christians agree on some minormatters of Christian doctrine, they all do agree on the foundation truths ofthe faith. Unity built on anything other than Bible truth is standing on a veryshaky foundation. Now in verses 4-6, Paul names at least seven basic spiritualrealities that unite all true Christians.

Didyou notice one word that got repeated over again? “One..”. Why? Paulis making it really clear there is a foundation, a ground for our unity. Thereis a ground for our faith that we must realize we cannot compromise. So, inessentials we have unity. In non-essentials we have liberty. But in all of ourbeliefs we have charity. We can still have truth in love. Even when we disagreeon a foundational doctrinal truth with someone else, we can still love themhopefully they can still love us.

Butwe cannot compromise the foundations of our faith which basically is JesusChrist was born of a virgin. Jesus lived a sinless life. Jesus died a vicariousdeath, a substitutionary death on the cross of Calvary. He was buried. He roseagain physically on the third day. And He ever lives to make intercession forus. There's only one way of salvation that is through faith in Jesus Christ. Churchmembership doesn't save you. Works does not save you. Just getting baptized andgetting wet doesn't save you. Only faith in Christ, believing, putting yourhope and trust in His salvation through the cross through His resurrectionpower is what saves us from the guilt and penalty of our sin. These are thefoundational truths. They cannot be compromised.

Inverse 4, Paul points out that there is “one body. Paul is speaking aboutthe one body of Christ in which every believer is a member. We find this in 1Corinthians 12:13: Ofcourse, this is the body of Christ, which is His church. Romans 6:3 teaches us that we should know: “we were baptized into the bodyof Christ”. This means that we were placed into Jesus Christ at the momentof our salvation! We are in one body in Christ. This is a spiritual realitythat we need to contemplate, think about, meditate on, believe with all of ourheart.

Interestingly,every Tuesday morning at 8:30, at a local church here in Sneads Ferry NC, Imeet with a group of pastors from various denominations. For a fact, we do notagree on every specific area of church practices and beliefs when it comes tocertain ideas about tongues, about predestination, the particulars on the returnof Christ, music or whatever. But I assure you, that we all agree on theessentials of the foundation of faith. These men love one another. They prayfor one another. They love the people of God. They love the community we livein, and missions. In the four years I’ve been praying with them we are seeingand experiencing God do phenomenal things in our community because we arepraying in one accord. Despite the different names and denominations we are “onein Christ”.

WhenPaul wrote the letter of 1 Corinthians, he told them, "Because you arecarnal, acting like babies, there is strife and division among you.” Someof you are saying you're of Paul. Others are saying, 'I'm of Peter.' Others  claimed to be in the Apollos crowd, while somewere saying, 'We're more spiritual than the rest because we're ofChrist.'" Because of this problem Paul wrote the First Corinthian letterto correct them because of this disunity, the disharmony, the strife anddivision that exist in the church there in Corinth. Sounds like too manychurches today!

Nowin this letter to the church at Ephesus, after Paul gives them their positionin Christ, the first thing he addresses is the need to have unity of spirit,unity of heart, unity of mind, have one goal. My friend, over the years I’ve experiencedthat the church that's focused on Jesus, the church that's focused on who He is, on what He has done for us, focused onbeing obedient in fulfilling the Great Commission, is a church full of peoplethat will get along with each other, love each other, care for each other, worktogether for the glory of God, as they set their own agenda, ambitions, and preferencesaside.

Howimportant this is and that is what Paul is addressing in the first three verseshere. That's the unity that comes from the grace of God that we are enjoying,as we follow Him, live in Him, and walk in Him. We are to walk worthy of our callingin Christ. We do that with all “lowliness”, which of course is humility(v. 2). Jesus began His first public message with these words, “Blessed arethe poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of God”. The first beatitudeis being humble, being a beggar, realizing how helpless you are without theLord. The moment you think you have humility is the moment you lost it, myfriend. Because it's an attitude, where every moment of every day, you die toyourself, and you're alive in Christ unto God for the glory of God, loving oneanother. So lowliness, humility, is the first grace of unity we see.

Thesecond grace of unity is “gentleness”, which also is translated “meekness”.Moses was the meekest man in all the earth. Meekness does not mean weakness. Itmeans power under control. It means you have yielded your ambitions, yieldedyour preferences. You've yielded your ownership of everything in your life tothe Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “Blessed are the meek, for they shallinherit the earth”. Meekness means that you give up your right to yourselfas you die to self and you live unto the Lord and let Him live His life throughyou. A “gentle” attitude goes a long way in building unity in the church!

Thenthere is “longsuffering” (v. 2). “Longsuffering”, which means “long-tempered”,is the ability to endure discomfort without fighting back. Then it goes on tosay “bearing with one another in love”. Remember, “love suffers long” (1Corinthians 13:4). Have you noticed that these graces of unity are basically thesame as the “fruit of the Spirit” that we find in Galatians 5:22; “Thefruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness,faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law”. Howwonderful. When you're filled with the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit is beingdisplayed in your life and there is the unity.

Thenthere must be “endeavoring”. “Endeavoring to keep the unity of theSpirit…” (v. 3). Literally it reads "being eager to maintain, orguard, the unity of the Spirit." Finally, there is the grace of unitythat is “the bond of peace”. Peace within your own heart. Peace betweenmembers. We must first experience “peace with God”, then the “peace of God”that rules in our hearts that brings us to peace with one another.

Whenwe all do that, there is this grace of unity that rules in the body of Christ andthat displays the love of God to a lost world around us. May God help us to experiencethis unity today.

Todaywe're looking at Ephesians 4:1-3. The first 16 verses of this chapter is aboutthe unity, the unity of the body of Christ, the church. Having unity in thechurch that shows forth to the world that we are one in Christ. We love oneanother. Jesus had told His disciples, "By this shall all men know thatyou are my disciples because of your love for one another" (John13:35). To truly love one another means will manifest itself in unity. We setaside our differences, our preferences, and out of God's love and reservoir ofHis great endless love, we are now able to forgive one another, love oneanother, and have unity in the church.

Inthese first 16 verses, we see four very important things about this unity. Inverses 1-3, we see the grace of this unity. Then we see in verses 4-6, theground of unity. How that we are one in spirit, one in body, one in theFather, one in the Son, one in baptism. Then we'll see in verses 7-11, thegifts of unity. The gifts of the body of Christ that He has given us that enablesus to serve one another and to work together. Then in verses 12-16, we see thegrowth of unity, as we grow into the fullness of Christ. Meaning we areChristlike in our attitude toward one another. We're Christlike in our attitudetoward the lost world around us. Having the heart of Jesus that shows forth thematurity of the Christian believer.

AsI was studying for this chat this morning, I couldn't help but think if I as apastor again, I would not just recommend, I would require every new churchmember, indeed every church member, to read Ephesians 4 over and over again,almost memorize it.

Nowthis unity is so important. What we must remember is, unity is not uniformity.Unity comes from within. It's a spiritual grace. While uniformity is the resultof pressure from without. The real church is not everybody dressing alike,looking alike, sounding alike, talking alike. You see some churches like that.That's not the real church. The real church is diversity with unity. Unity withdiversity. We have old people with gray hair, white hair, sitting there lovingJesus, loving the children, loving the young couples. We see the young couplesand the children loving the old people. We see the people that like and preferthe Christian contemporary music loving the people that like the Beethoven typeof Christian music. And vice versa. We are people that get along with eachother despite our differences. This is “the unity of the Spirit in the bondof peace” as we read in these first three verses. Remember in verse 1, Paultells us to, "Walk worthy of the calling by which you werecalled." What were we called to?  We are called to unity.

Thenin verses 2-3, we see how that is possible. With all lowliness, gentleness,with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep theunity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Here we see seven differentattributes or graces of this unity that we should be experiencing in ourchurches. The first one is “with all lowliness”. The other word for “lowliness”is humility. We humble ourselves. We prefer one another over the other, andover ourselves. It means we put Christ first in our lives. And because we putHim first in our lives, others around us are being loved, and ourselves are putlast. Real JOY is Jesus first, Others second, and Yourselflast.

Oh,my friend, may God help us to pray that we have that unity in our churchestoday. The sad thing is that so many churches today have a reputation of a handfulof people running and ruining the church. Always making problems that causesdisunity that destroys the love of Christ in the body of Christ and destroys ourwitness and testimony to the world around us.

MayGod speak to our hearts today through these verses to help us all go back toour churches and endeavor to have this unity in the body of believers in ourlocal church!

Todaywe're moving on to a new chapter, Ephesians 4. As we look at this chapter, weactually are beginning a new section of the book of Ephesians. The first threechapters of Ephesians dealt with doctrine, with knowledge, primarily our positionin Christ. The key word was the wealth that we have already in Jesus Christ.

Ithink it's interesting that in the Old Testament, God would say to the nationof Israel, if you obey me, I will bless you. But here in the New Testament, inall Paul's epistles, God is basically saying to the believers, now that I haveblessed you, “therefore”, now walk in me, walk in my love. Live for me like youshould. So we see the first three chapters are doctrinal where the last threechapters of Ephesians are duty. God gives us the doctrine, the knowledge first.What we now know about our position in Christ and in His body, the church,we  should apply these truths to ourlives in a practical way everyday. Some Christians say, "It doesn't matterwhat I believe, just as long as I live right." My friend, it does matterwhat you believe because what you believe determines what your walk will be. Jesussaid, "From out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks".

Thefirst three chapters are about our wealth, our riches in Christ while the lastthree have to do with our walk in Jesus Christ. In chapters 4 through 6, wewill see the word walk will appear several times. We are told to “walkworthy of the calling” (4:1); “walk in love” (5:2); “walk aschildren of Light” (5:8); “walk circumspectly” (carefully) (5:15).

Pauluses two important words in the first verse of chapter 4. The first is “therefore”,and the second is “beseech”. “I therefore a prisoner of the Lordbeseech you”. “I therefore”, by that He means what I have already saidbefore, based what I've said before concerning the knowledge the wealth andriches you have in Christ. Paul uses this same reasoning in Romans 12:1-2, “Ibeseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present yourbodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonableservice. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by therenewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable andperfect will of God.”

Inthe first 11 chapters of Romans, Paul basically gave us the doctrine ofsalvation. Then in chapter 12, he exhorts us to now live a sacrificial life forChrist, which in the only reasonable thing to do because of His love andsacrifice He made for us! We first know Christ, then we begin to live Christ,to love Christ, now we are to walk Christ. This is so important.

InEphesians 4 we see this walk that Paul is writing about to us to have is a walkin unity. Walk worthy of the calling to which you are called. How? “Inlowliness and gentleness and longsuffering, bearing with one another in love.” Paulis asking us to walk in unity (4:1-6, walk in purity (4:7-5:17), walk withharmony (5:18-6:9), and in walk in victory (6:10-24).

Again,the main idea in these first sixteen verses in Ephesians 4 is the unity ofbelievers in Christ. This is simply the practical application of the doctrinetaught in the first half of the letter: God is building a body, a temple. Hehas reconciled Jews and Gentiles to Himself in Christ. The oneness of believersin Christ is already a spiritual reality. Our responsibility is to guard,protect, and preserve that unity.

Godhas given us such a marvelous calling in Christ; now it is our responsibilityto live up to that calling.

Maythe Lord help us to do that today!

Godbless!

Todaywe're looking at the last two verses in Ephesians chapter 3. Along withPhilippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”, theseare two of the most quoted verses in the Bible that we hear when people finishtheir prayer. “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above allthat we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be gloryin the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen”. Whata powerful ending to this chapter!

Paulseems to want to use every word possible to convey to us the vastness of God'spower as found in Jesus Christ. He has ended each of the two previous chapterswith praise to God for His great victory in Christ. He tells us that Christ'spower is so great He arose from the dead and ascended far above all (1:19-23).He teaches us that His power is so great He has reconciled Jews and Gentiles toeach other, and to God; and that He is now building a temple to the eternalglory of God (2:19-22). But in the paragraph before us, Paul shares theexciting truth that this, far “above all power”, is available to us! Itis even "above all that we ask or think." In other words, thepower of Christ, like the love of Christ, is beyond human understanding ormeasurement. And this is just the kind of power you and I need if we are towalk and war in victory.

Theword "power" is again dunamis, which we met back in Ephesians 3:7;and "working" is energeia (energy) found in Ephesians 1:11, 19; 2:2;3:7; and 4:16. Some power is dormant; it is available, but not being used, suchas the power stored in a battery. But God's energy is effectual power—power atwork in our lives. This power works in us, in the inner man (Ephesians 3:16). RememberPhilippians 2:13, “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to doof his good pleasure”. We can’t even begin to imagine what it means that theeternal, creator God of the universe, through His Holy Spirit, is working inus!!!!!

I'llnever forget I had a car for years that when it got cold below 30° the crazycar wouldn't start. Somehow or another, a disconnection took place between thebattery and the starter as I tried to start the car. I'm telling you, myfriend, in Christ Jesus, all the resurrection power of the Lord Jesus Christ, allthe power of the Holy Spirit that dwells in us, all the power that God wants usto have to live and do what He wants us to do, to be what He wants us to be, toaccomplish what He wants us to accomplish, is available in us.

Ifwe could only understand and believe this and comprehend this! But our lack of experiencingthis power being released in our lives is because a disconnection has takenplace. Maybe, like my car, we get cold in our Christian experience. We're notreading our Bible. We're not praying as we should. We've lost fellowship withthe Lord. We've allowed some sin or corruption to get in our lives and heartslike the corrosion on the battery cables. I'm telling you my friend, when thattakes place we lose that connection. The power is still there, but we have lostthe connection because of unbelief, unconfessed sin, careless living and becauseof lack of love or grace that we need in our lives.

Myfriend, oh my friend, today realize the available power, the resurrectionpower, the power that raised Jesus from the dead. God Himself is at work in usif we'd only allow Him to flow through us for His glory. Note in verse 20 “ToHim be glory in the church by Christ Jesus”. This power is not given to usso we can build bigger churches, live better lives, or even to do a greater workfor Christ. No, it's all to the glory of Jesus Christ. That power is available butwhen we want to use it selfishly, God doesn't give it to us. He doesn't releaseit within us. But when we live for the glory of God, oh, awesome and wonderfuland powerful things take place for His kingdom's sake.