Ephesians (Program #39) – Arriving at Three Things

Oneness is a critical matter in the book of Ephesians. This book which has the Church as the Body of Christ as its’ subject stressed oneness in a number of places. In Chapter 4 we’re told in verse 3, to be diligently to keep the oneness of the Spirit then in verse 13, we have a marvelous expression concerning oneness. “Until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of  the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”

Yes, our oneness surely is the oneness of the Spirit but we must not overlook the destination of our oneness, a three fold destination.

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1 & 2 Samuel (Program #5) – The History Concerning Samuel (3)

The situation in Israel was degraded and even the priesthood was waning but Jehovah reacted as He often reacted to the failures of Israel by raising up one person who would be according to His own heart. The young boy Samuel, son of Elkanah and Hannah had already been consecrated to the Lord.  But the child’s up bringing also had a deep impact upon him for he witnessed the corruption of the sons of Eli firsthand. And he watched, as the priest Eli failed to rule over his two evil sons even as they usurped the ark of the covenant and allowed to be taken captive by Israel’s enemies. As a result the glory of Jehovah departed from the tabernacle and from Israel. But what he had witnessed left a deep impression upon Samuel and was used by Jehovah to produce in him one who faithfully restored the testimony to Israel and whom the Lord ultimately used to turn the age.

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Ephesians (Program #38) – The Way to be Perfected

When Christ ascended to the heaven after His resurrection, He brought with Him a train of former captives and presented them to God the Father. Then receiving them back from the Father, He gives them again, this time to His Body, the Church as specific gifts for them to do a particular work.

Listen to Ephesians 4:8 “… Having ascended to the height, He led captive those taken captive and gave gifts to men.’  verse 11 “And He Himself gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as shepherds and teachers.”

As we look at the gifts given to men and their proper function according to Ephesians 4.

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1 & 2 Samuel (Program #4) – The History Concerning Samuel (2)

In the days of the Old Testament priest Eli, the priesthood among God’s people Israel was waning and has become stale.  The situation was deteriorating and yet God desire to move on the earth even to change the age.  But rather than doing something miraculous from the heavens God did what He has always done when He desires to go further with His purpose and move on the earth. He found persons that would  co-operate with Him, that would be one with Him.  In this instance, He found a weak and fragile and suffering sister among His people, named Hannah. Her co-operation was to pray a prayer that matched God’s need and God’s desire.  And from this prayer came a son, Samuel whom the Lord’s used not only to turn that age but ultimately to bring in David and help to bring forth Christ. In God’s move He always limits Himself to work and co-operation with man.

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Ephesians (Program #37) – The Gifts Perfecting the Saints

There is a wonderful passage in the 68th Psalms that says : when Christ ascended to the Father after His resurrection, He took with Him an offering of all the redeemed sinners, those that had previously been held captives to sins, Satan even death. These redeemed ones were His offering to the Father

Listen to Psalms 68:18 “You have ascended on high; You have led captive those taken captive; You have received gifts among men, Even the rebellious ones also, That Jehovah God may dwell among them.”

The apostle Paul quoted from this verse in Ephesians 4, but he adds to it, making clear that the Son has now given these ones back to the Body, the Church, even to mankind as gifts.  The gifts that Christ had given to His Body that is our topic today.

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1 & 2 Samuel (Program #3) – The History Concerning Samuel (1)

Throughout history, whenever God has desire to move on earth to carry out His purpose He has always require the co-operation of man. Perhaps the situation is so degraded that He can only find a handful or may be even only one person who would co-operate fully with Him. But even one person, sufficiently one with God and willing to co-operate with Him can provide Him a way to move on earth to carry out His eternal purpose and even to change the age.  Samuel was such a person one with God and one who co-operated with Him fully and enabling Him to change the age in that time.  But even the origin of Samuel demonstrates God’s desire even His need to work in and through man to carry out His move. We’ll consider Samuel’s origin in today’s program

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Ephesians (Program #36) – The Base of Our Oneness

In Chapter 4 of Ephesians there is a strong word by the apostle Paul regarding the oneness of the Body of Christ and how we as Christians need to keep this oneness diligently.  Verse 3 “Being diligent to keep the oneness of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace:”

But Paul does not then leave it to our imagination as to what this oneness actually means or how we are to keep it. Because he go on to say 3:4-6 “One Body and one Spirit, even as also you were called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism;  One God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.“

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1 & 2 Samuel (Program #2) – An Introductory Word

To really understand the Bible you might think that it takes great intellect or years of training and Biblical education.  Well, this surely may be helpful, but according to the Bible itself  what is most needed is what the apostle Paul prayed for in his letter to the Ephesians chapter 1:17 “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Him.”

What we need most is our spirit and our spirit becoming a spirit of wisdom and revelation. We need such a spirit to see what’s revealed in the two Old Testament books of 1 & 2 Samuel.  Samuel begins with the story of a godly woman praying desperately to Jehovah that He would give her a son.  and in this story we began to see again how God’s economy is the central focus of the entire Bible.

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Ephesians (Program #35) – Keeping the Oneness of the Spirit

The book of Ephesians is all about the Church as the Body of Christ. With this as its’ topic, it’s no surprise then that the oneness of the believers become an important aspect of this book.  Yet the apostle Paul mentioned nothing about been willing to compromised, to negotiate, even agreeing to disagree as it’s often heard today.

In fact the oneness that Ephesians describes is genuine and inward. And the experience of it in reality requires quality that go far beyond anything we can do in and by ourselves. Listen to Ephesians Chapter 4: 2-3 “With all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, bearing one another in love, being diligent to keep the oneness of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace“

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1 & 2 Samuel (Program #1) – An Introductory Word

The Bible is the divine revelation, the word revelation according to the Greek means to uncovered or unveil something that had been hidden or concealed. Though the Bible contains teachings and truths on many levels, fundamentally this book conveys God’s eternal purpose that which God Himself desire in His heart in the eternity past above all else and planned even before He laid the foundations of the earth and the universe. Surely for us to see such a divine and eternal purpose we need more than our merely mental faculties. We need what the apostle Paul prayed for, so earnestly in his epistle to the Ephesians believers. He prayed that “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Him.”  Welcome to our first life study from the book of 1 Samuel.

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