RTW December 7
This Was The Plan All Along
God’s purpose in all this was to use the church to display His wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.
Ephesians 3:10
My Takeaways
Something Old
God broke the barrier between the Jews and Gentiles by sending Jesus… Jesus broke the barrier between all nations, tribes, races, and tongues.
Now everyone who believes
- Is part of one body.
- Is equal before God.
- Shares equally of the riches of heaven.
- Can come boldly and confidently into God’s presence.
This was the plan all along:
For the church to display the wisdom of God in its variety to everyone – seen and unseen.
So
Don’t lose heart when things seem to be going sideways.
“This reminds us that we are called for something far greater than our own individual salvation and sanctification. We are called to be the means by which God teaches the universe a lesson, and a beautiful lesson.” ~ David Guzik
Something New
The treasures of heaven are endless.
Something to Do
This is the message I needed today! I have been feeling discouraged by all of the negativity in the world around us and have found myself being negative, at times, which has led to a disheartening feeling. My prayer is to be a light in the world and not another darkness, not to be used by the enemy as a “divider”! My prayer is “Oh Lord, let me be the vessel through which your light shines for others to see love, goodness, and humility. Let them see something different about me that reflects You.”
Great teaching from Paul today!!!! I
I love the book of Ephesians! “Then we will no longer be like children, forever changing our minds about what we believe because someone has told us something different or because someone has cleverly lied to us and made the lie sound like the truth. Instead, we will hold to the truth in love, becoming more and more in every way like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.” (4:14-15) I must become a self-feeder! Reading, studying, and really meditating upon Scripture. If I don’t then it gets so easy for me to become reliant on the words of other people that I could be misled down wrong paths. If I can become well grounded in Scripture then I can filter through the lens of the Bible what others are telling me. It is amazing how much “spiritual stuff” or rules or rituals that I hear is so “important to practice” from others that I don’t see in the Bible! As Paul writes in verse 15 today, instead of remaining forever children in our faith before people, let us “hold to the truth in love, becoming more and more in every way like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.”
Reading Ephesians today helped me to remember the importance of being a light in this dark World. It is my wholesome lifestyle that sets me apart from the world. I want to stand out as a bright spot in my darkened work place, neighborhood,
classroom, etc. When I shine that light, it causes others to notice and it provides opportunities for me to speak of the truth (Matthew 5:14-16).
The problem is that too often I am not “bright” enough. I look too much like the darkened world, and when the world sees me doing and saying the things that they do, then they notice nothing different. Why, then, would they want to be a Christian? I don’t want to be the Christian who claims Jesus with my lips but denies Him with my lifestyle. “Though your hearts were once full of darkness, now you are full of light from the Lord, and your behavior should show it! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true. Find what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the deeds of evil and darkness… Where your light shines, it will expose their deeds” (5:10-14).
https://youtu.be/Qe1yKciSlT4
Wendy! Amen & Amen. What a message. Thank you soooo much. When the bickering, and arguing spills over into our local places of worship Satan wins.When people watch us (and they do) and see the chaos in our churches and how we handle the that chaos, often times they tuck tail and run because we are not living out what we say we believe. Praying for our local places of worship. Praying for our pastors, Sunday School teachers, the ministers of music and for all who serve.