Ephesians 5

Guys this is just pure awesome! There is so much to take away from this chapter..it's ridiculous!

11 Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them.

This verse changed my life.. I know that specifically it is saying to expose those who are doing bad things...but it has spoken to me directly in the past...it says to have nothing to do with evil but rather expose it. Many either struggle or have struggled with things that are even shameful to mention (mostly lust...)...but we are not supposed to try to help ourselves and go into this spiritual battle on our own...no we need our brothers...we need accountability...we need someone to talk to, because from experience guys...when you start exposing these things, they start to whither away--because the things that belong in the dark cannot handle being in the light. Brothers, if there is anything in your life that you feel you need to expose to the light...seek help, talk to me...talk to someone...but you need to take the first step of conquering that sin and that is...reveal it.

Ephesians 4

15 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.

Guys this is just so powerful! We should be growing in every way more and more like Christ...that's deep and it pretty much sums up what this chapter talks about. When we truly are followers of Christ, we let go of our sinful nature and take a hold of Christ...becoming more and more like him! Let us live our lives as our wonderful savior did, he came and died so that we can pick up our cross and follow him and become more and more like him!

Ephesians 3

1 When I think of all this, I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus for the benefit of you Gentilest . . . 14 When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father,t 15 the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.t

This to me is incredible!! This whole chapter is. Again, I had a hard time choosing a verse, so you guys can help me with that..but this encompasses a lot of the chapter as the statement "When I think of this" encloses several epic truths: 1. The revelation of God's plan for both Gentiles and Jews and 2. The fact that he chose Paul (who wasn't even worthy of carrying God's truth) to everyone. This is what made him fall to his knees...it was such a privilege! We hold that privilege too! What are we doing with it? Are we falling to our knees and praying to our Father and following his will?

Ephesians 2

14 For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us.

Man! I wanted to choose all the verses in this chapter. I love what Ephesians means for us! We are the gentiles and would have been considered "uncircumcised heathens" to the Jews before our Lord and Savior came to save us! I chose this verse because it really demonstrates one of the true purposes of Christ's death on the cross for us....to bring peace among us! There was so much hostility between the Gentiles and the Jews and God wanted that to be done with. If God felt that strongly for the separation between two completely different groups of people...how do you think he feels about the separation of those who now call themselves part of the family of God? Think about that the next time you want to start talking bad about someone who is your brother or sister in Christ. God wants peace! Jesus died for it!

Ephesians 1 (Tito)

5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.

This spoke to me because I just read Isaiah 44...and read the following verse:

vs 22 "I have swept away your sins like a cloud.
I have scattered your offenses like the morning mist.
Oh, return to me, for I have paid the price to set you free.”

I think it's cool that vs 5 here says that he has been wanting to adopt us into his family in advance because Isaiah was written way before Jesus came to pay the price for us.

Ephesians

Let's get in the word...