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Ephesians 5:1-21 - "Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexu

Ephesians 4:17-32 - "'Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard

Ephesians 4:1-16 - "I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through

Ephesians 3:1-21 - “For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles— assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you, how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the

Ephesians 2:11-22 - “Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he hi

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭2‬:‭1‬-‭10‬ - “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with whi

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭1‬:‭15‬-‭23‬ - “For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his gl

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemptio

“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” - Ephesians‬ ‭1‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ Over the next couple of months, we will be going through the book of Ephesians. Ephesians is Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus. Paul visited Ephesus on his third missionary journey around AD 53-57. He spent nearly three years there ministering to the church

‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭9‬:‭24‬-‭27‬ - “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.” In his first letter to the Cor

“Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.” - ‭‭2 Timothy‬ ‭4‬:‭2‬ I am taking a short, two-week break from the blog. I have been blessed with an opportunity to preach soon, and my mind and heart have been focused in on that responsibility. This will be my first time back in the pulpit in nearly two months, and it has been an incredibly long and difficult journey back into it. I praise God for neve

Titus 2:1 - "But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine." Many people who claim to be Christians today refuse to join a church. People point to past church hurt, a lack of time, or a lack of good local churches as a reason why they refuse to join a church. This shift away from the local church has in part been exacerbated by the growing online and megachurch movement. Many of the world's biggest churches now broadcast directly into your home via television, intern

“But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.” - ‭‭James‬ ‭3‬:‭17‬ Last week, I wrote about enduring trials based on James 1. This week, we continue our look into James but this time we will be looking into the end of chapter three. Here James is discussing wisdom. This week’s blog, much like last week, is a standalone blog post. We are not necessarily doing a study on James, although ma

“Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.” - James‬ ‭1‬:‭12‬ We are finished with the Armor of God series and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. This week we are not starting a new series, but instead I am reflecting on some recent life events and looking at them through a biblical lens. I pray that this may help you endure d

Ephesians 6:17 - "... and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God..." We are now to our final piece of armor, which is the sword of the Spirit. The previous pieces of armor leading up to this one did not all give us the exact spiritual definition of what they represent. However, this one does. The sword of the Spirit is the word of God. Just as the sword is a defensive and offensive weapon, so is the word of God. In Matthew 4, we see how the word is just that, the p

Ephesians 6:17 - “and take the helmet of salvation…” The helmet is arguably the most widely recognized piece of a Roman soldier’s armor. Not only did it display confidence and power, but it also protected the solider in battle. The helmet obviously protects the head of the soldier. The helmet of salvation in this instance protects the mind of a Christian against spiritual attacks of the enemy. The Armor of God can only be worn by a Christian. Without being in Christ, this arm

Ephesians 6:16 - “In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one.” We now come to the shield of faith. So far, you have fastened the belt of truth, put on the breastplate of righteousness, and put on shoes of readiness given by the gospel of peace. Now we turn our attention to faith and the shield of protection our faith gives us. Our faith in Jesus Christ, by God’s grace, is what reconciles us with the Fa

Ephesians 6:15 - “And, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.” Now that we have fastened the belt of truth and put on the breastplate of righteousness, we move to our shoes. Our shoes are what we put on before we go somewhere. They are usually the last thing we put on before we leave the house. If you are like me, you have a pair for a few different occasions. You have the pair you wear to work, the pair you wear for exercise, the pa

Ephesians 6:14 - “Put on the breastplate of righteousness.” Last week, we looked at the belt of truth. The truth of God, found in His word, guides us as we live in this world. The belt of truth is the first piece of armor and the one that allows the others to fulfill their purpose. This week, we take a brief look into the next piece of armor, the breastplate of righteousness. The breastplate on the uniform of the Roman soldier protected all the vital organs against attacks fr

Ephesians 6:14 - “Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth.” The very first words spoken by our enemy in Genesis 3 are, “Did God actually say…?” He is exactly who the Bible tells us he is. He is a smart, crafty deceiver who is set on stealing, killing, and destroying everything that belongs to God. He doesn’t always make it obvious as to who he is or what he is doing. He lives in deception, causing us to shift our sights ever so slightly until suddenly we are off