Tag Archive - Ephesians

Don’t Let The Sun Go Down

April 13, 2010 in Bible with 0 Comments

As Christians we are called to love everyone, both our friends and enemies.

At times, we get angry at both of these groups.

Reading through Ephesians we get this command from Paul.

“In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.

Ephesians 4:26-27

Sun Set

From this command I thought about a few things.

  1. Being angry is not a sin, but anger can easily lead to sin and we need to be careful of that.
  2. Being angry for a long period of time is not a good thing. It give the devil a foothold and means we are more likely to sin.
  3. So we need to resolve anger.

It can be hard to confront a situation, especially if you are angry with someone close to you. But it is important to resolve anger so as not to give the devil a foothold. It may be tough in the short run, but the best thing to do isn’t always the easy thing to do.

I’m a Saint Just Like Mary

February 21, 2010 in Bible with 7 Comments

You may have heard that Mary MacKillop has been officially approved for canonisation as a Roman Catholic Saint.

In order to become recognised as a Roman Catholic Saint, one must have been proved to have fulfilled a number of requirements (See wikipedia page on Canonization). These include being known to be in heaven, and having a miracle (or two) attributed to your name amongst other things.

Panoramic View of Rome

This process makes no sense to me.

In the Bible, throughout the new testament, the term “saint” is used to refer to any person who believes in Jesus. In Ephesians 1:1, Paul introduces himself and greets those who are believers of Jesus by using the term “saints”.

“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus”

Ephesians 1:1

I have never understood why certain people are elevated above other Christians because of acts that they have done. The only way that salvation can be attained is through faith in Jesus Christ.

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”

Ephesians 2:8-9

All those who believe in Jesus and have a faith in him are guaranteed salvation from Judgement and have the right to be called saints.

Are you a saint?

Replay – Ancon09 #2

July 6, 2009 in Bible with 0 Comments

Australia peopleA Christian has the Holy Spirit dwelling inside them.

Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?

1 Corinthians 3:16

It’s not like the Spirit is there for a short amount of time either, God’s Spirit is inside us for good.

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,

Ephesians 1:13

As Christians, we have the Spirit of God living inside us!

God’s Spirit has done some amazing things in the past. Throughout Acts we see incredible numbers of people coming into faith. In East Africa from 1933-1960, thousands of Africans came into belief. And in Melbourne, in 1902, 8642 people came into a relationship with Christ in 4 weeks.

If we have the Spirit of God inside us, then what cant we do within God’s will?

I believe that God is almighty, and if he dwells within us, then I believe that he can do amazing things through our weak bodies.

I have been convicted to pray for God to do great things, and I look forward to him using my weak body to serve him!

Continue Reading…

From the Bible this week: James

June 19, 2009 in Bible with 0 Comments

Recently in my quiet times I have been reading James. James is such an awesomely practical book with some great teaching. I thought that I would share one thing that I was reminded of lately.

In chapter 2, James talks about a weird concept

“faith without deeds is dead”

James 2:26b

I remember when I first heard this in Yr 11, I had a mini freak out. My whole life I had been taught that I am saved by grace and not by anything that I had done (Ephesians 2), but here is the Bible saying that deeds are nessessary.

Thankfully I now understand this concept a lot better. We are only saved through grace alone by faith, but our faith is shown through our deeds. James says

“You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.”

James 2:19

Believing is not enough, our faith is shown through what we do and how we live.

Wind

A useful analogy that I have found is the wind. The is there, but we only known it is there through what we see it do. We cant see the wind, we can only see the effects of the wind, we can see leaves moving and trees swaying, but we cannot see the wind.

It is the same with faith, we can only show our faith through what we do. And how we live represents our faith. Anyone who has true faith in Christ will be living a life that aims to please God.

Continue Reading…

From the bible this week: Assurance

May 27, 2009 in Bible with 0 Comments

This week in small group at Uni, we were looking at Romans 8:31-39, another dense bible passage. The focus of the study was assurance. How can we be sure of salvation. Paul addresses that pretty well…

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)

BackgroundWe can’t be sure of many things in this world (except death and taxes), but I think it is amazing how much we can be sure of God!

Through this passage, it is also clear to me how connected assurance, grace and election are. I have been called into a relationship with God, chosen since before the world (Ephesians 1:3-14). It is through nothing that I have done that this has happened, but only through what God has done for me (Ephesians 2:8-9). I can be sure of this, because nothing can separate me from his love.

It’s awesome that God is so merciful, and that he loves me!