Lessons from Ephesians 1: 15-19

Lessons from Ephesians 1: 15-19

by | Sep 9, 2022 | development

Ephesians Lesson 6 – Hope and Riches Eph 1:15-19

Theme: God’s grace
Aim: To study Paul’s prayer, and to learn from it how to focus prayer and to grow in prayer.

Discussion Questions:

1. Paul prays for 3 particular things for the Ephesians. How can we pray these same things for our fellow Christians?
       1 the hope of the divine calling
       2 the riches of God’s glorious inheritance in the saints
       3 the immeasurable greatness of his power towards us who believe

        We can pray that Christians will truly have confidence in the promises of God which will fill them with hope, so they may live lives of hope filled people.

2. Is the hope of which Paul speaks here simply wishful thinking? (I hope it rains today) or something else? If so, explain.

        No, this hope is not wishful thinking. It is an assurance of the reality of what we have not fully experienced. It will not disappoint us. WE can be sure because the love of God has already been poured into us through the Spirit. He is the guarantee of our final inheritance.

3. Why is this hope such a priority in Paul’s prayers for believers?

        Because how we live the Christian life is in large measure determined by how we view the future.  The purpose behind God’s revelation about the future is to transform the way we live in the present.

4. What about the hope of this future, should transform the way we live the Christian life?

        The Lord will return in glory and judgment.  Knowing that he will come again should lead us to live each day in the light of his return and to treat others in the light of his final assessment of our lives.

5. Has the Church lost this sense of the practical implications of the hope of the gospel? If so, why?

        “Yes, I think so.”, Sinclair Ferguson says.  It may be because of too much crystal ball gazing, suspicious of too may maps and charts about ‘the end times’, uncomfortable with so much speculation accompanied by so little practical life transformation.

         I would add that many Christians have bought into the ‘once saved, always saved’, I walked an aisle, said a prayer, signed a card, got baptized, now I just go on living like the world with no life transformation at all. No, fight the fight of faith; laying hold on life, fighting the good fight as Paul speaks of.

 6. Do you think Christians are ‘too heavenly minded to be any earthly good’, or are we too ‘worldly-minded’, to much like the world to be able to promote transformation?

        I think for the most part we are too worldly-minded rather then heavenly minded.  If we were really heavenly minded, we would have the mind of God himself, and we would love him and our neighbor, transforming the world in his name as many who have come before us.  Especially in America, we have fallen in love with the world. It is our idol, comfort, stuff, our rights, the constitution. We Christians are so much like the world, we don’t look any different.  Look at the election we just had. Perfect example.  We have shamed ourselves and been a bad witness for Christ.

7 . What ‘riches’ was Paul praying for the Ephesians?

          The riches are God himself. He is our inheritance. This should give us dignity and security.

 8. What example does Sinclair Ferguson give for the Ephesians commitment and hope in the future with Christ and their abandonment of the riches of this world?

          The burning of the occult literature  which brought them income.

 9. What sins in your life get in the way of your trusting God’s promise for your future? How can they be rooted out and destroyed?

          In 1 Tim 6:10 Paul writes that ’the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil’. What does that mean? I can think of many sins that have nothing at all to do with money.  Does it mean that the sound of tinkling coins or green paper in your pocket is the root of all kinds of evil?  I don’t think so.  What is money, what does it represent?   John Piper says, “Money is simply a symbol that stands for human resources. Money stands for what you can get from man, not from God!” “Ho everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. He who has no money come buy and eat!” (Isaiah 55:1).  Money is the currency of human resources.

          So the heart that loves money is a heart that pins its hopes, and pursues its pleasures, and puts its trust in what human resources can offer.  So the love of money is virtually the same as faith in money — belief (trust, confidence, assurance) that money will meet your needs and make you happy.

         Therefore the love of money, or belief in money, is the flip side of belief in the promises of God. Just like Jesus said in Matthew 6:24 “… you cannot serve God and money.”  You can’t trust or believe in God and money.  Belief in one is unbelief in the other.  A heart that loves money — banks on money for happiness, believes in money — is at the same time not banking on the promises of God for happiness.

          So when Paul says that the love of money is the root of all evils, he implies that unbelief in the promises of God is the taproot of every sinful attitude in our heart.

          So, my inner struggles anxiety, bitterness, grudges, despondency, covetousness, envy, as well as my outer struggles, gluttony, impatience and pride, are rooted in unbelief in the promises of God.  So I, as Paul prays, must have the eyes of my heart enlightened , that I may know what is the hope to which he has called me.  I need to see with my heart the riches of the inheritance I have in Christ.  I need to pray and ask the spirit of God to root out the unbelief that remains, the love of the world and it’s currency for worldly happiness so I may rest in Christ alone and love God and my neighbor as Christ did, grounded in the promises of God and his immeasurable power towards us who believe. 

Who was John Owen?

Who was John Owen?

by | Mar 24, 2021 | article

What do people think about John Owen and why should he be read?

Communion With God was written by John Owen, a leading pastor, theologian, Puritan. He served as chaplain to Oliver Cromwell and Dean of Christ Church in the University of Oxford. There are some that have accused Owen of being very hard to read, and they are usually people who don’t take the time to read Owen’s works. Let me give you a couple of quotes of some people, pastors, and theologians and let you hear what they have to say about John Owen.

“Owen is extraordinary. Owen is simply extraordinary. He is in a class, Packer says, with Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Edwards—that rarefied top 10 thinkers and pastors in the world. John Owen knows the soul, knows Christ, knows communion with Christ like very few others.”

— John Piper1

“…Owen’s greatest books were written as sermons for an audience of teenagers…Owen’s Communion with God is among his most celebrated achievements—and no wonder. It is the exhalation of his devotion to Father, Son, and Spirit, and the discovery of the limitless love of God.”

–Crawford Gribben2

“Reading Owen is like eating triple Decker fruit Custer cake. The more you dig into it the richer and the more in depth the taste and the thought process and the love of Christ comes out. If you’ve ever thought, ‘How could I have a richer more in-depth love and knowledge of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit?’,  Owens is it.”

–Unknown3

“And, with a disregard for other things, he cherished and experienced That blessed communion with God about which he wrote.”
–Sinclair B. Ferguson4

What is Communion With God?

Owen examines the Christian’s communion with God as it relates to all three members of the Trinity. He assures us that every Christian does have communion with God, no one is excluded, and that this communion takes place distinctly with Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Our relationship with God the Father is primarily through love and faith.

Our relationship with God the Son is through fellowship and grace.

Our relationship with God the Holy Spirit is primarily through comfort and sanctification.

In Communion With God we begin to understand the reality of the Trinitarian God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The relationship of each person of the Trinity to each other and also their individual relationship with us as believers in and under the Godhead of the Father. So that we may “…show gratitude for His love by living a life which pleases Him” ( p. 12). Owen also details the nature of the grace which Christ purchased.  “Acceptance with God, sanctification from God, and many great privileges with and before God…Now this we have in Christ’s life of perfect obedience.  This is our righteousness before God.  By His obedience we are ’made righteous’”(Romans 5:19; Owen, p. 128).

John Owen was a pastor, a theologian, a divine. A person well-versed in theology or a professor of divinity. He was also a teacher of theology. Theology is the science that teaches the existence, character and attributes of God; His laws and government, the doctrines we are to believe, and the duties we are to practice.

Owen was a Puritan, a member of a group of English believers who focused their life on living by the word of scripture. Puritans were a group of English reformed Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries, who sought to purify the Church of England from all Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England was only partially reformed. Puritans didn’t just believe and respond to the word and spirit of God, but were determined to live every day with this as their focus. They were rich in doctrinal truth, they had great depth and knowledge of the Scripture and the issues about how important it is to follow and rest in Christ. This was extremely important to them at the time, and maybe even more important in the culture of today.

Puritans do not really exist today. It seems today with the culture that we have, that religion becomes more and more watered-down. Today, the Puritan writings are being printed and more and more of their works are being read. I challenge you to read some of their works, it is wonderful. The Puritans wrote a  great deal about how to live a holy and sanctified life. Little of what they preached and wrote contains anything really unique or strange. What is special about the Puritan view of holiness, is its fullness and balance, rather than its distinctive thought. Do they have real value for us today? “The great eighteenth-century revivalist, George Whitefield, wrote:

The Puritans [were] burning and shining lights. When cast out by the black Bartholomew Act, and driven from their respective charges to preach in barns and fields, in the highways and hedges, they in a special manner wrote and preached as men having authority. Though dead, by their writings they yet speak: a peculiar unction attends them to this very hour.”5

   “Puritanism may be defined primarily by the intensity of the religious experience that it fostered. Puritans believed that it was necessary to be in a covenant relationship with God in order to be redeemed from one’s sinful condition, that God had chosen to reveal salvation through preaching, and that the Holy Spirit was the energizing instrument of salvation.”6

The Puritan classic definition of sanctification is well known, we find it in the Westminster shorter catechism’s questions 35 and 36:

What is sanctification?

Sanctification is the work of God’s free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God and are enabled more and more to die under sin and live unto righteousness.

What are the benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption and sanctification?

The benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption and sanctification are: Assurance of God’s love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, increase of grace, and perseverance there unto the end.

Sanctification starts when we are renewed and continues until we die. We don’t reach it here. So, there will be ups and downs in this life, with the Spirit working, testing, and, growing in us for holiness. From these two questions it is obvious that sanctification in the Puritan mind encompasses all Christian living – the entire process of being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. The Puritans want to see people growing up into strong assurance of God’s love, great piece of conscience, and authentic joy in the Holy Spirit. What did the Puritans actually mean concerning sanctification?  Five elements are listed here; which we see in Communion With God.

1.Universal and moral renewal. First, sanctification for the Puritans is a divine work of renewal involving a radical change of character. It springs from a regenerated heart which is something deeper than any psychologist or counselor could ever reach. God works in the heart, and out of the change of heart comes a new character. This work of renewal in Puritan thought is universal. This means that it touches and affects every area of the persons entire life. Paul tells us in 1 Timothy 4: 4, 5 that everything is to be sanctified, every sphere of life, “…for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.”

Holiness is an inward thing that must fill our hearts, our  core being, and it is an outward thing that must spill over to every detail of our lives. 1 Thessalonians 5: 23 says “and  the very God of peace sanctify you wholly, and I pray God, your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless into the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Sanctification is also moral; by this they meant that it would produce moral fruits, the very fruits that we read of in Galatians 5. “…love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness faith, meekness and temperance; against such things there is no law” (vv.22, 23). If you asked the Puritan what these fruits mean when you combine them together, they would say that it represents the moral profile of the Lord Jesus Christ himself (1 Corinthians 8: 28, 29).

2. True repentance. Sanctification for the Puritans consists of repentance and righteousness, the two-sided activity of turning from sin to obedience. Repentance for the Puritans is turning from sin and is a lifelong activity. We must repent every day of our lives and in doing so, we must also turn to righteousness. Repentance, they said is the work of faith. Without the Holy Spirit there is no repentance. The Puritan idea of repentance certainly starts with remorse, but it goes deeper into an essential change of life. Repentance is actually turning. It is a hating of things I loved before, now loving of the things I hated before.

3.Is a holy war. Puritan sanctification is progressive, operating through conflict. The Puritans said conflict is inescapable and sanctification, because indwelling sin remains in the Christian to his great sorrow, engages him in great warfare in many battles. Indwelling sin works from inside, the Puritan said while the world exerts ungodly pressure from the outside. The devil who plays the role of ringleader wants to take those outside pressures and use them along with the internal pressures to regain loss territory. A holy war is raging. That is why Bunyan called his book The Holy War. Sanctification involves conflict with myself, with my flesh, with the world, and satan.  If a Christian is not willing to battle sin the Puritan would say that person should question whether he is a Christian at all.

4.Accepting a struggle. Thomas Watson said the way to heaven is a sweating work. There’s a battle raging but the work of sanctification, happily, will advance. Sanctification is not stagnant. The Puritans employed Paul’s words of 2 Corinthians 3: 18, that we will be changed from one glory to another, if we walk in the Spirit. However, there is a snag, said the Puritans. The Christian will often not be able to see any progress in himself. One of the Puritans used an example of a woman who dusts her furniture and she thinks she has cleaned away all the dust, until the sun shines into the room, revealing all the remaining dust. So, the more the Sun of Righteousness shines in our hearts, even though we may be growing in holiness, we shall see increasingly the motives of our heart. Another Puritan way of evaluating progress in holiness is to ask how we are currently battling with temptation.

5.The inner private person. Puritan sanctification is imperfect though invincible. In this life it is never complete. Our reach will always exceed our grasp. Many people do not understand the Puritans at this point. They think that they are introspective or that they lead us into a legalistic bondage. The Puritans felt the imperfection of their sanctification, precisely because they had God’s standard of righteousness before them. They did not compare themselves with their neighbor, but with God’s holy law. Righteousness for the Puritan was motivational and character. What lives inside of you is important. What you do and say reflects who you are within.

One Puritan said what a man is in private, that is what he really is in the sight of God. Do you think that is true?

I think they would ask us to ask ourselves, what do you think about? What motivates you? Are you really motivated by the love of God? Are you motivated by Samaritanship to others, loving them, doing good to them, and laying out yourselves for their benefit and spiritual welfare? This is the heart of Puritan righteousness.

Who was John Owens?

1 https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justin-taylor/why-read-john-owen-what-to-read/

2 Crawford Gribben. 7/22/2020. 10 Things You Should Know about John Owen https://www.crossway.org/articles/10-things-you-should-know-about-john-owen/

3 Quote supplied by author

4 good reads The Trinitarian Devotion of John Owen Quotes

https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/42953429-the-trinitarian-devotion-of-john-owen

5 Joel Beeke Why You Should Read the Puritans

https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/why-you-should-read-puritans/

6 Puritanism https://www.britannica.com/topic/Puritanism

John Owen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Owen_(theologian)

Wild Game Recipes

Wild Game Recipes

by | Nov 23, 2020 | article

Venison Tenderloin Marinade.

This is a great recipe to be cooked on the open grill, to be enjoyed with your favorite beverage. Make sure your tenderloin has been aged and then combine

5 green onions

¾ cup vegetable oil

½ cup soy sauce

1 ½ tsp. ginger

1 ½ tsp. garlic powder

3 Tbls. Honey

2 Tbls. Vinegar

all ingredients. Pour marinade into gallon sized Ziploc bag. Add tenderloin and seal. Marinade whole venison tenderloin up to 2 days in refrigerator. Cook on hot grill. Don’t overcook it!

Wild duck Breast Wrapped with Bacon.

Whether you have domestically grown ducks or enjoy hunting these winged birds at your favorite spot, a good recipe with bacon goes a long way to rounding out the day. Ducks can be cooked as whole or breasted. This recipe is to simply,

6 wild duck breast, skin removed

1 pkg. Italian dressing mix prepared according to package instructions

2 Tbls. Worchester Sauce

1 clove of garlic crushed

¾ tsp. ground cloves

1 lb. pork bacon

Soak duck breasts in salt water for 30 minutes, dry with paper towels and place in shallow pan. Combine dressing Worcestershire, garlic and cloves and pour mixture over duck breasts. Marinate overnight in the refrigerator.

Remove duck from marinade and wrap each breast in two or more slices of bacon.

Place duck breasts on broiling pan and broil about 3 inches from heat for about 5 minutes on each side, or until internal temperature reaches 155 degrees. Let rest 5 minutes before serving. Alternatively, you may also cook them on the grill over hot coals (must use water soaked tooth picks to hold bacon together if you decide to grill them rather than broil).

Serve and enjoy.

Courtesy of Mapleleaffarms.com

Honey Roasted Wild Rabbit in Honey Mustard Sause.

These little fellows can be found almost anywhere or again breed then at home. There are very high in protein and low in fat. First you need a roasting pan and

1 2.2lb whole rabbit

5 Tbls. butter

1 tsp. finely chopped parsley

½ cup hot chicken stock

2 Tbls. Honey

1 heaping teaspoon wholegrain mustard

Pinch of salt, if needed

Take the rabbit and place it in a roasting pan. Take butter and pinch off pieces and smear it onto the rabbit, all over inside cavity and outside. Scatter with the parsley and roast uncovered in 165 C oven for 30 minutes.

Remove pan from oven, pour the hot stock into the bottom of the pan and cover with foil. Slide back into oven and cook for one hour.

Remove rabbit from oven and leave to rest for a few minutes while you make the sauce. To make the sauce, mix the honey and mustard together in a small bowl.

Serve the rabbit, seasoned with a little salt, with the sauce alongside. This would pair well with creamy mashed potatoes and a salad.

Serves 3-4

www.comfortbites.co.uk 

Wild Boar Pulled Pork Recipe.

Wild pig or boar are being seen more and more in Alabama. Either will do the job with this recipe. I enjoy this with a good Shoulder Roast. Start with a good 5 or 6 pounds of meat and

1 wild boar roast or shoulder roast (5-6 pounds)

Olive oil

1 Tbls. Smoked paprika

½ Tbls. Dried rosemary

½ Tbls. Garlic powder

Salt and pepper, to taste

1 large onion, coarsely chopped

2-3 celery stalks, diced

3 to 4 carrots, peeled and diced

Water

Coat all sides of roast with olive oil.

In a small bowl, combine paprika, rosemary, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Rub over entire roast.

Heat a little olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add meat, and sear on all sides until evenly browned.

Place roast, onion, celery, and carrots in a slow cooker. Add enough water to cover the bottom by ¼ inch.

Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours, or until meat pulls apart easily.

Remove meat and set aside to rest for 20-30 minutes before shredding.

Enjoy as a sandwich, wrapped in a tortilla, or as a stand-alone pulled pork dish with sauce

Good cooking and good hunting

Where Are The Dads?

Where Are The Dads?

by | Aug 24, 2020 | article

   To say that our country is going through a crisis, is not an exaggeration. With COVID-19 forcing families to stay in their homes, the stock market up one day and down the next, rioting in the streets by people who have no respect for persons or property, hospitals and jails at maximum capacity, families more and more in disarray, with more and more single mom trying to raise their children alone. Where are all the dads? Are they working extra ours, staring at a computer screen, watching sports, or hanging out at the corner with their buddies?

    At the very beginning when God created the world He proclaimed that it was not good for man to be alone and through Adam he instituted the family as the foundation of society. And at the center of the family God gave the man responsibility for the family. The most important job in our society is for men to teach, protect, care for, and guide their families. Within the family men are to train young boys to be responsible, establish good habits, and build character! So what has happened? Many dads are out of the picture. Why do we say that?

 Let’s look at some statistics.

  •    Only 41 percent of today’s children will grow up in a two-parent family.

·         Over 100,000 children are left with one parent because of divorce each year. Nine out of 10 of these are with their mother.

·         Over 20 percent of children born are born without a father in the picture.

·         The majority of special needs children at school are boys.

·         It is not surprising that the FBI estimates that a massive amount of burglaries, drug abuse violations, motor vehicle theft, aggravated assault, and arsons are committed by youths under the age of 18. Eighty percent of these youths are boys.

·         In some cultures, the rate of infants being born to unwed mothers is in the 70 percent range.

 What does this lead to?

·         90 percent of all murders are committed by men

·         85 percent of all robberies are committed by men

·         80 percent of rapes are committed by men

·         75 percent of people arrested are men

And of young man without a father around:

·         71 percent will be high school dropouts

·         63 percent will be teenage suicide

·         70 percent will end up in prison

    This is an epidemic and it is generational. These numbers are just the tip of the iceberg. They do not take into account the number of wives that say their husband’s done really communicate with them. Men have copped out and dropped out and abandoned their God given role of father in the home either from ignorance or for various reasons that may even be either conscious or subconscious.

    This is the reason that our approach at A Call for Men is to teach men to accept responsibility, accept accountability, and to lead courageously with purpose to protect and grow family and community.

    This problem is the greatest challenge of the twenty-first century: turning the hearts of the fathers to their children so that the hearts of the children will turn back to their fathers.

    May the Lord grant us Grace and Strength to accomplish this.