Message to Husbands and Wives

Ephesians 5:22-33
As head of the church, Jesus embodies and empowers a new community of love: the church, his own body. Here Paul applied Christ's headship to marriage. Christ reverses the enmity that often arises between spouses as a result of the fall Ge 3:16, restoring the original creative order in which husbands and wives complement each other. Paul's understnading of marriage was strongly grounded in creation ***1 Cor. 11:8-9; 1 Ti 2:13*, and he took account of the fall's lingering effects, even among Christians (1Tim 2:14). His burden in Ephesians was to flesh out the manner in which redemtotion in Christ restores the intimate interdependence men and women were created to enjoy in marriage. He called spouses to love one another but emphasized the husband's call to sacrifical love over that of the wife. He called both to respectful submission *Eph 5:21* But emphasized the wife's call to submission more strongly than the husband's. These different emphases have been interpreted in two main ways: 1) they reflect different problems among Paul readers (i.e. husbands have a greater responsibility to love than their wives, while wives have a greater responsibility to submit.) These two trends in interpretation need not to be exclusive to one another.
-Taken from a trustworthy commentary.

Ephesians 5:22-23
What does submit mean?

-To yield, resign or surrender to the power, will or authority of another; with the reciprocal pronoun
-The man is the Head? What does that mean?
-The head - The governor, guide, and guardian of the wife. And he is the Saviour of the body - The church, from all sin and misery.

Ephesians 24-25

-Jesus loved the church. Just to this extent, (jesus loving unconditionally; husbands should love their wives) Col 3:19
-Ephesians 5:26-28 Christ did this for the church.
In These verses Paul outlined the entire process to which Christ has committed himself in his relationship with the church; CHrist has washed her form the defilement of sin and is now preparing her for a glorious destiny with himself. Husbands are called like this to care for their wives.
-How can husbands do this for their wives? Here are some suggestions from Robert Morey in his Book called –Practical Christianity

While there are many ways in which a loving husband can help his wife, the following 30 points give some practical ideas of how to do it.
A husband should:
1. Pray with his wife every day without fail and make sure she has had her private devotions.
2. Praise his wife.
3. Ecourage his wife.
4. Lovingly exhort his wife. (exhort: to give strength, urge, or give advice)
5. Show love and affection toward his wife.
6. Encourage his wife to memorize Scripture, and he should also participate in it with her.
7. Listen with interest to his wife and be willing and able to discuss Scriptures studied in devotions.
8. Allow his wife to have a part in family devotions.
9. Be the supportive role in the family in helping where help is needed.
10.Discuss and decide plans and projects together.
11. Encourage his wife to get involved in church activities and seminars for women.
12. Help his wife to overcome self-centeredness, selfishness, etc.
13. Take the primary role of disciplining the children.
14. Take the leadership in a family night.
15. Pray for each person by name in his family for protection, etc.
16. Set a good atmosphere for his family, such as playing Christian music, tapes, reading books, etc.
17. Walk in the spirit and live unto the Lord, not unto his wife or himself.
18. Find a special Scripture verse daily to give to his wife to meditate on during the day.
19. Set aside a weekly time to sit down and focus on his wife's spiritual growth.
20. Place spiritual verses around the home that could encourage his wife during the day as she labors at home or in her lunch box if she must go out to work.
21. Accept his wife's abilities and talents and accept her as she is and be supportive of her efforts.
22. Remind the wife periodically about her time during the week for her personal ministry of witnessing and sharing with others.
23. Initiate times of singing when riding in the car, working around the home, etc.
24. Help his wife out at home to give her time during the week for her personal ministry of witnessing and sharing with others.
25. Pray for his wife daily and let her know that he prays for her regularly.
26. Be sensitive to his wife's spirit (encouragement and discouragement).
27. Support his wife in her dealing with the children.
28. Encourage his wife to be faithful in church attendance.
29. Have open communication with his wife and listen to her.
30. Lovingly point out his wife's weaknesses and humbly help her deal with them.


-How can wives do this for their husbands?
A wife should:
1. Support his decisions and not listen to the children's complaints, but encourage them to obey their father.
2. Remind him to have family devotions.
3. Help her husband memorize Scripture.
4. Do all within her power to get her husband to come to church regularly.
5. Play Christian music when the husband comes home form work to quiet his Spirit.
6. Place a Scripture verse in her husband's lunch.
7. Refer to the Bible for solving problems and present these to her husband.
8. Place biblical pictures or verses on the walls in the home as a means of creating a godly atmosphere in the home.
9. Make wise suggestions for prayer or devotions.
10. Encourage her husband to be involved in discipleship programs.
11. Share with her husband the Scriptures that blessed her that day.
12. Pray for her husband and let him know she prays for him regularly.
13. Pray with her husband every day.
14. Lead a godly life before her husband.
15. Encourage her husband to attend spiritual retreats or seminars for men.
16. Have special times of worship and thanksgiving to God with her husband on special occasions of the year (such as birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, etc.)
17. Ecourage her husband to have his private devotions
18. Find Scriptural ways to come to her husband with problems
19. Search out the Scriptures and find some way to help her husband if he comes home with gripes about his job.
20. Have a good attitude toward her husband.
21. Not nag her husband.
22. Trust in her husband's judgment and leadership.
23. Be enthusiastic about building Scripture into the life of her family.
24. Be eager to have family worship and be willing to stop whatever she is doing in order to do so.
25. Be honest about her needs.
26.Share her husband's vision and support it.
27. Encourage her husband to get involved in the church leadership programs.
28. Be supportive of "family nights."
29. Lovingly point out her husband's weaknesses and humbly help him to grow in grace.
30. Be the key to her husband's enthusiasm.

Just reading these makes me want to get married so badly, I can't wait for a Husband who would treat me as Robert has suggested. Praise God.

28-32
AS their own bodies... Christ and the Church. Paul called for husbands to love their wives as their own bodies because he understood that the "one flesh" of Genesis 2:24 prefigured Christ's becoming "united to his wife" (v. 31) , the church. Husbands are to imitate Christ, who intimately united the church to himself, covenantlly bound his own identity to hers and bestowed upon her pride in her place alongside himself "in the heavenly realms" 2:6.

Eph 5:29 Nourishes and Cherishes

-Husbands are to clothe and feed their wife, just the same as they feed and clothe themselves. For his wife’s body is now his own.
-5:31=Gen 2:24,
-By mystery, here, we may understand a natural thing by which some spiritual matter is signified, which signification the Spirit of God alone can give. So, here, the creation and union of Adam and Eve, were intended, in the design of God, to point out the union of Christ and the Church: a union the most important that can be conceived; and therefore the apostle calls it a great mystery.


-Eph 5:33
-Nevertheless - Πλην· Moreover, or therefore, on the consideration of God’s design in the institution of marriage, let every one of you love his wife as himself, because she is both naturally and by a Divine ordinance a part of himself.
-That she reverence her husband - Let the wife ever consider the husband as her head, and this he is, not only by nature, but also by the ordinance of God. The apostle streeses these matters very much, because they are very important.

Thanks for reading.
If any of you have more to say on marriage *because this was only mainly from Ephesians. Feel free to type up a blog about it for me to read... or leave me a comment.

Love, Sex, and Lasting Relationships

Love, Sex, and Lasting Relationships

Just as a rose's beauty fades, so does a woman or mans. A relationship based soley on physical attraction isn't a relationship at all. In a true loving relationship, no matter how much one's looks change the love will not. Will you hold on to the one you love over time or when their appearances begin to fade will you throw them away as if you would a meaningless dead rose? Love a person for their soul that occupies the human body.

Everyone wants love. In Fact, our search for love is the number one theme of today’s popular movies, music, and storylines for books. And this is nothing new. As we know from ancient Greek literature, the Old Testament and the writings of William Shakespeare, love has always been a major part of the human life.
Well Since it is so prevalent in today’s society, then why are we so bad at it? Why are there so many divorces? Why is there so much adultery? Why are most songs about love, about break-ups, or painful relationships? Wouldn’t you think we would have this “love” thing down pat by now, since it has been around for so long in our world’s history.

In this post I’m going to talk about some possible solutions to creating long lasting relationships. I will first talk about Hollywood’s perspective on Love and Then God’s perspective on Love and relationships. I am only talking about Hollywood’s perspective, because Hollywood is a big part of our culture. Many of their ideologies begin to wear off on society and they become our way of living. If the current movie doesn't have blowing someone up, or kung fu fighting, its a love story. It is a huge power controlled by a few select people of society that run are in charge of what society listen to and watch for most part of their day.

Hollywood’s formula for lasting, Loving relationships.
1. Find the right person
2. Fall in love
3. Fix your hopes and dreams of future fulfillment in that person
4. If failure occurs, repeat steps 1,2, and 3

God’s prescription: Eph 5:1-2
1.Become the right person
2. Walk in Love
3. Fix your hope on God and seek to please Him through your relationship
4. If failure occurs, repeat steps 1,2, and 3
The very first step is more about Marriage is not so much FINDING someone but BEING someone.
Many younger people of today are always worried about whether or not they are going to find that right person they should fall in love with. But what a person ought to think about is becoming the right person first before even looking for someone to satisfy themselves.

Ask yourself this question. What are some qualities you would want in your future husband, or wife?
Now that you’ve answered that question ask yourself this question. Do I possess these qualities?
If you don’t, then you should consider working on yourself for someone else first before running out there and wanting to FIND that right person.

We all know how Hollywood usually portrays relationships a little bit differently than quote “real life”. Most movies usually have happy endings of relationships in love stories. Well, most of them are far-fetched. A typical storyline for a movie would be something like this:
Susie was working her 8-5 shift at the local coffee shop. She was just washing the diner tables when suddenly this gorgeous guy named Johnny walked in. Immediately their eyes locked and they exchanged smiles, and fell in love. He asked her out that very night, they went out to a movie, and then later went to her place. They usually sleep together, have sex and wake up happy lying in each others arms. They go through slight hardship throughout the movie but always end up together in the end.
The end.
What is this saying?
Movies are creating love to be some kind of magical love spell that just happens instantly. Love at first sight ideology. When in fact the movies are about two young people of the opposite sex that think one another are physically attractive and are infatuated. They have sex that night because that was the main motive to begin with. It is a message of two people wanting to only satisfy themselves. Most chick flick fans are anxiously waiting for the "right One" to come their way. So the teenagers of today are on the prowl, they are always constantly searching for the Right Guy or Girl to come into their lives so they can be fulfilled. So they can have that right guy/girl come to satisfy them. This puts them in the position of being rather selfish because they are only searching for that right person to satisfy themselves. So they may experience this Love that Hollywood is pumping out of the movie screen. Therefore, we have Tom looking for a girl and Jane looking for a guy to experience love. When you have one saying "ME ME I WANT" and the other saying the same thing of course the relationship isn’t going to work out. Soon something rotten will happen like Jane starts seeing someone else and that doesn't sit right with Tom so he thinks maybe she just wasn't "the right one".

Hollywood’s Formula for love goes something like this.
Imagine it being in a pyramid with the number one important factor being on bottom and of most importance, to least importance.

1 . Physical.
2. Emotional
3. Psychological
4. Social
5. Spiritual

God’s prescription
Same pyramid different importance.
1. Spiritual- Ask yourself if this person committed believer?
2. Social- Observe the person in social settings, with you and other people
3. Psychological- Get to know each other
4. Emotional- Keep your emotions behind God’s lead.
5. Physical- Come together physically
- Dr. Robert Morey Says today’s idea of love is first physical beauty, sexual appeal, love and sex, then marriage.
- But he says The Biblical pattern is first Faith, Godly Character, Marriage, then Love and sex.

We should now step back from reading and ask ourselves an important question. Check to see the different influences that have shaped the way you approach love. If we don’t examine where our ideas come from, and if we’re not careful we end up believing things without examining the truth behind them.
I am one for chick flicks. I enjoy watching them, because its about what I want to believe is love. But I must ask myself…. Are these movies healthy for me to continually feed myself with Hollywood’s way of thinking?
For example Friends the TV show taught me that sex is common in dating relationships.
God’s truth says that Sex is a healthy normal part of a marriage relationship.

To know the difference of Love or Infatuation
Please read my other post Part 2 of love, sex and lasting relationships.
Love or Infatuation?

Love or Infatuation???

PART 2
Love, sex, and lasting relationships

Love or Infatuation????


The problem with our society, is infatuation is commonly mistaken for love.
Even though you read these you still need to examine your love or infatuation closely, because sometimes our emotions are so misleading we can still be confused.

AM I IN LOVE?

Greek meanings of love are:

Eros-This is need love. This is based upon physical attraction and fulfillment. This love is necessary for marriage to succeed; however, marriage cannot be kept only by eros.
Proverbs 5:15-19

Phileo-This is friendship love. This is friendship love based on reciprocal sharing of time, activities, the home, hobbies, games, and other objects of common affection.
Romans 12:9-13

Agape-This is giving love. This is supernatural love. It is a love where one would give their life and all for the other.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Storge - family love, the love of good friends or family

For help to see whether love is infatuation or not I looked this up out of a book on love and infatuation,. The author gave a few tests to see the difference. So here they are. I believe they are wise to consider, but I will add this is merely a man’s opinion of ways to test if one is infatuated or in love. He said he has observed and went thorough both. So don’t take this as all truth, just suggestions.


Is it love or Infatuation?

Test 1 TIME!!!
Love grows, and all growth requires time. Infatuation may come on suddenly.

Test 2 Knowledge.
Love grows out of an appraisal of all the known characteristics of the other person. Infatuation may arise from an acquaintance with only one or a few of these characteristics.

Test 3 Focus
Love is other-person-centered. It is outgoing. It results in sharing. Infatuation is self-centered.

Test 4 Singularity.
Genuine love is centered on one person only. An infatuated person may be “in love” with two or more persons simultaneously.

Test 5 Security
An individual in love tends to have a sense of security and a feeling of trust after considering everything involved in his relationship with the other person. An infatuated individual tends to have a blind sense of security based upon wishful thinking rather than upon careful consideration, or he may have a sense of insecurity that is sometimes expressed as jealousy.

Test 6 Work
An individual in love works for the other person or for their mutual benefit, He may study to make the other person proud of him. His ambition is spurred and he plans and saves for the future. He may daydream, but his dreams are reasonably attainable. An infatuated person may lose his ambition, his appetite, and his interest in everyday affairs. He thinks of his own misery. He often daydreams, but his dreams are sometimes not limited to the attainable and are given free rain. At times the dreams become substitutes for reality and the individual lives in his world of dreams.

Test 7 Problem-Solving
A couple in love faces problems frankly and attempts to solve them. If there are barriers to their getting married, these barriers are approached intelligently and removed or circumvented. In infatuation, problems tend to be disregarded or glossed over.

Test 8 Distance
Love tends to be constant. Infatuation often varies with the distance between the couple.

Test 9 Physical attraction and involvement
Physical attraction is relatively smaller part of their total relationship when a couple is in love, a relatively greater part when they are infatuated. When a couple is in love, any physical contact they have tends to have meaning as well as be a pleasurable experience in and of itself. It tends to express what they feel toward each other. In infatuation, physical contact tends to be an end in itself. It represents only pleasurable experience devoid of meaning.

Test 10 Affection
In love, an expression of affection tends to come relatively late in the couples relationship. In infatuation, it may come earlier sometimes from the very beginning.

Test 11 Stability
Love tends to endure. Infatuation may change suddenly, unpredictably.

Test 12 Delayed Gratification
A couple in love is not indifferent to the effects of postponement of their wedding and do no prolong the period of postponement unless they find it wiser to wait a reasonable time; they do not feel an almost irresistible drive toward haste. Infatuated couples tend to feel an urge toward getting married. Postponement is intolerable to them and they interpret it as deprivation rather than preparation.

I'm going to Vomit!

I want to vomit!
Sorry if that's sickening, or too straight forward, I am only telling the truth.
Ok, this... is going to be different than any of my other posts. I feel like I want to tell other Christians something. So, this might not be as structured as my other writings.
I feel like I want to vomit! Today was going great. I had a great lunch, coffee with friends, ate out with my parents and things were going good.
Then, I was going to hang out with some other friends at one of their houses. Well it turns out, there was a huge party going on there, and I thought it was only going to be me and a couple of friends. Needless to say there was alcohol there that people brought in. I got hit on by like 4 drunk guys, yelling “hey baby, come give me your number.” I felt like vomiting, because I did nothing about it. I simply stayed there for an hour, and then left feeling disgusted without even saying goodbye to any of my close friends.
Seriously I am getting so worked up over this. I just see things in black and white right now. I seriously do. I know what God wants from me as a true and faithful servant and I’m sinning if I do not obey what He wants me to do. Most of it I can't do ... But most of it with God's help I can.
As a Christian, I think people act the way they truly believe. I believe in a hell. I believe that some of those people in that house were going to hell, because they weren't forgiven by God yet. THEN WHY ON EARTH WASN'T I PROCLAIMING TRUTH WHILE I WAS THERE!?
-Rom 2:19 and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness,
Paul also said to question your faith and examine yourself.
-2Co 13:5 Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?--unless indeed you fail to meet the test!
Well tonight has really tested my faith. Why don’t I care enough about people to actually tell them what is up!? I must seriously not be compassionate. I must have no sincere love for those people. Tonight I showed them I could care less about their eternal state. Maybe it is because I thought they were all too drunk to even know what I was saying? Maybe that's just my excuse.
God calls us to be separate from the world. He calls us to live holy lives.
-2Ti 2:21 Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.
He tells us to tell others about Him. He also says, for what does darkness have in common with light.
-2Co 6:14 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?
No wonder I don’t ever fell comfortable when I find myself in those types of situations.
Seriously, Christians need to listen up now. We need to stop being selfish and wanting to "enjoy life" Our life here on earth is but a mist, nothing but a vapor.
-Jam 4:14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.
It is like snapping your fingers compared to eternity. We Must be on our guard at all times.
-Mar 13:33 Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come.
We must be in God's word always, so we can have answers for the hope we have to the lost and dying world.
-1Pe 3:15 but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you;
Seriously, 150,000 people die a day. Why on earth are we selfish so called Christians wanting to "enjoy life". This may sound extreme to those who are reading. BUT I will say God blesses us while on earth as well as in Heaven.
-Psa 144:15 Blessed are the people to whom such blessings fall! Blessed are the people whose God is the LORD!
We aren't called to have lives we are going to hate NO. BUT we aren't called to live every second of our lives just for ourselves. In Ecclesiastes, Some think It was Solomon who wrote this but whoever the author (different topic for a different time), Ecc:9-7-10
-Ecc 9:7 Go, eat your bread in joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do.
Ecc 9:8 Let your garments be always white. Let not oil be lacking on your head.
Ecc 9:9 Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that he has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun.
Ecc 9:10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.
Here he is not saying these things are what we should do, but the meaning in vs 7 is often used in a way by some Christians who say God wants us to just enjoy life. But in its context, it really means to seize every possible pleasure and enjoyment while you can, because you won’t be able to work, invent, think, or know anything in Sheol, where you are irreversibly heading. I looked up the meaning of Sheol and it means “underworld,” “the Land of the dead,” or “the shadowy place of the dead” So really the author was not speaking these things as a command, but rather saying .. why not, we are just going to die anyways, eat drink and be merry enjoy life.
-Pro 17:24 The discerning sets his face toward wisdom, but the eyes of a fool are on the ends of the earth.
I hear so many Christians even nowadays saying these very things. I’m so sick of that mentality. I truly am. Paul said he learned how to be content in all situations.
-Phi 4:11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.
I shall do the same, I should realize how much I’ve been forgiven. I truly love God for all he has done for me and find pleasure in following Him, and his commands even if life gets rocky.
There is also a passage in Luke 12:16-22

-Luke 12:16 And he told them a parable, saying, "The land of a rich man produced plentifully,
Luk 12:17 and he thought to himself, 'What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?'
Luk 12:18 And he said, 'I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.
Luk 12:19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.'
Luk 12:20 But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?'
Luk 12:21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God."
Luk 12:22 And he said to his disciples, "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on.
Luk 12:23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.

The rich man wanted to just kick back and enjoy life, and what did Jesus reply with?

So this mentality “Enjoy life to the fullest and seek your own pleasure and fullfill those desires”. We should say NO!! CHRISTIANS OF TODAY, WE DONT HAVE THAT MUCH TIME ON EARTH TO SPREAD THE GOSPEL TO EVEN 1/5 OF THE WORLD! Peoples lives are at stake, its just going to be a matter of if Christians,(myself included) care enough. If you truly believe in a Heaven and a Hell, Truly Deep down then we shall live the way God wants us to, it would be insane of us not to warn friends, family, and strangers of Hell. Why can't we just let go of the world instead of having one foot in the world and one foot out of the world? Why be selfish. Am I even making sense right now? I'm not saying Christians can go to parties as long as they witness. Or anything like that.
-2Co 6:14 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?
(none)
I’m also not saying that Christians should try pulling themselves out of the world and start some cultic community. I am only saying, if a Christian finds themselves in ANY PLACE Church, a party, a bar, a movie theater, a friends house, and they truly are concerned for others eternal lives, they should consider how they act, what they say, if they share the truth or not with the person they are coming into contact with. They should also ask the main question. Am I glorifying God with my words? I’m not an extremist. I am being honest. A friend pointed out scripture to me today that said,
- 1 Corinthians 10;31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

For we Christians not need to be selfish. Paul continues in saying
-1 Corinthians 10:32-33 even as I try to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved. Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.
Personally I'm DONE going to places where there are going to be a bunch of drunks shouting “Hey baby.” I never enjoy it I am always just compromising to “hang out” when really I’m not even “hanging out at all” I’m always just sitting there feeling crappy trying to hide my feelings. These people really need the truth. I'm just saying, Christians & (I) need to be more bold and stand up for the God that gave them life, be a light to the darkness; If they truly believe it wholeheartedly.
I’m done. So… the topic of this post was… hmm… evangelism, making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil, believers being yoked with unbelievers, and uhh.. ya. Pretty much a lot.
Alright its 3 in the morning and I’m tired.
So Goodmorning
Thanks for reading.

MY favorite chapter! Ephesians 5:1-21

Ephesians 5 : 1-21
Author~ Paul The Apostle
Written between 60 and 61 A.D.
Written to~ The Christians in Ephesus
Ephesians 5:1-2
•Why did Paul say be an imitator of Christ?

• He wants us to strive to be like Christ, because he is our perfect Creator! Right before Paul said this he was describing how Christ is compassionate and kind to others and forgiving. Those are awesome characteristics that God also wants us to imitate. God has so many GOOD characteristics that we need to learn from such as, patience, gentleness, tenderness, being rightly just, and merciful, etc. Just think God has all of the fruits of the Spirit and completes them perfectly. God has so many other characteristics that complete his perfection that we can learn from.

Ephesians 5:3-5
•Here Paul is warning us of the things that are Not of God. He tells us what God commands us not to do.
• There shouldn’t be any;
• Sexual immorality- fornication (sex outside of marriage)
• Impurity- immoral acts (how are you going to know what immoral without reading God’s word and know what HE thinks is immoral)
• Greed- covetousness-while we think of this as meaning lust for money it refers to sensual desire… greed to satisfy ones sexual appetite.
• Obscenity-dirty stories, suggestive jokes, indecency
• Foolish talk- Empty conversation, that is worthy of a moron.
• Coarse Joking- Jokes that are unsavory, with hidden meanings. To talk about something, to joke about it, to make it a frequent subject of conversation is to introduce it into your mind, and to bring you closer to actually doing it.

-It is always dangerous to joke about sin. Instead of using our tongue for such unworthy talk, the Christian should be expressing thanks to God for all the blessings and mercies of life. This is pleasing to the Lord, a good example to others, and beneficial to one’s own soul.
*There is no room for doubt as to God’s attitude toward immoral persons; They have No inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and God.

Ephesians 5:6-7
•What does Paul mean when he says don’t let anyone deceive you with empty words?
• Webster says: Empty- having nothing within, insincere, frivolous (trivial, not serious or sensible)
• Many people today are becoming more lenient and tolerant of sin. They are coming up with so many justifications that Paul warned of being deceived so we would be on our guard.
• He tells us not to be partners with such people who try to always bring you away from Christ.
Ephesians 5:8-10
Paul said we should walk as children in the light now. We should now produce fruit that consists of goodness righteousness and truth.
• We should not only produce this kind of fruit in our lives but also find out what is acceptable to the Lord.

Paul put every thought, word and action to the test.

How does this appear in Pauls presence?
• What does the Lord think about this?
• As a Christian, Every area of life comes under the searchlight---conversation, standard of living, clothes, books, pleasures, entertainments, friendships, vacations, cars, and sports. Etc.
• We should ask God if these things are acceptable and search these areas out in Scripture.
Ephesians 5:11-14
• Paul tells us to shine light on the darkness. How can we shine light on darkness in people we know?
• Are you a good person? (way of witnessing to strangers) check it out on my site.
• Share the Gospel
• Live a life according to God in front of them.
• Always be prepared to Give an answer to the darkness!!!! So they themselves can understand.
Ephesians 5:15-21
• Make the most of every opportunity. How?
• Pray for opportunities, always be reading scripture, always be ready to answer questions about your faith, Be a workman approved!!
• Understand what the Lords will is by reading scripture
• Speak to other Christians about Godly things. –He’s our Lord; why not talk about him all the time!
• Always be there for other Christians in time of need; we are all apart of the same family now, with the same Father, who wants the Same things from us! Lets all follow him together.

Paul said to make the most of every opportunity, for the days are evil. Take a moment right now and pause. Seriously take into consideration how fast time goes by. Days go by so fast and we are constantly growing older. Now think of how many people constantly are dieing each day. Did you know 150,000 people are dying everyday. Now consider their destinations, Heaven or Hell. Most of those people are dying and going to hell, because they aren't following Jesus Christ. Please Fight the Good Fight of Faith, and talk with others about Jesus Christ. Make the most of EVERY OPPORTUNITY!(as Paul said) If you love friends and family You must begin with them first. Then Go out, glorify God with every word you speak. Always be a good witness and SPEAK SPEAK SPEAK out the truth to the lost and depraved world. Get rid of the worldly, immoral, filthy, sins in your life that are holding you back from sharing God with others and repent daily and focus on God. Continually renew your spirit die to yourself everyday, and become new.

Jesus said, "If you love me you will obey what I command."

John 14:15

I didn't use the whole text of Chapter 5 in Ephesians. I left out verses 22-33. I am going to put those verses in my next post about marriage.

Ephesians 4

Ephesians was a letter written by Paul, to Ephesus. To the Christians in Ephesus. The providence in asia. Paul was in his three year imprisionment in Rome while he wrote the Ephesus Christians this letter.
Here is ephesians 4:1-32
TEXT OF EPHESIANS 4, FOR YOU!!
Eph 4:1 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,
Eph 4:2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,
Eph 4:3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Eph 4:4 There is one body and one Spirit--just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call--
Eph 4:5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
Eph 4:6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Eph 4:7 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift.
Eph 4:8 Therefore it says, "When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men."
Eph 4:9 (In saying, "He ascended," what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth?
Eph 4:10 He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.)
Eph 4:11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers,
Eph 4:12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,
Eph 4:13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,
Eph 4:14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
Eph 4:15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,
Eph 4:16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
Eph 4:17 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.
Eph 4:18 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.
Eph 4:19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.
Eph 4:20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!--
Eph 4:21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus,
Eph 4:22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires,
Eph 4:23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,
Eph 4:24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
Eph 4:25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.
Eph 4:26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,
Eph 4:27 and give no opportunity to the devil.
Eph 4:28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.
Eph 4:29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.
Eph 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
Eph 4:31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.
Eph 4:32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.


NOTES ON EPHESIANS 4, FOR YOU!!!!
I did a study on all of Ephesians recently.
This is only Ephesians 4 but this week I will post the rest of my notes on all of epheisans.
Please enjoy!!!

Ephesians 4:1-16
Uniting in Diversity.
Although believers posses different gifts and callings(vs.7-12) they are unitied in Christ and by their common faith. (vs. 4-6). Their different gifts and callings are complementary enabling those in the church to minister one another and grow.

Ephesians 4:1
The Greek expression "to walk" is re-written in the NIV "to live". Paul was unfolding the life or "walk" of good works mentions in Epheisans 2:10.
Calling-In 1:18 and 4:4. Paul Spoke of a hope to which believers are called; here he focused on the life to whcih they are called. He had already provided strong indications of its shape and significance. (Ephesians 1:4, 12, 14; 2:10; 3:10)

4:2-3 look up other corresponding Scriptures that go hand in hand with this one.
look up matthew 7:12; 22:39; Rom 12:10 and Matthew 5:3-12

4:4-6 The Word one is repeated seven times in vs's 4-6 (three times of members of the God head and four times of our redemption) one body and one Christ.

4:7 But to each of us all christians have a common bestowal of grace: We all have Salvation as Christians through grace (Eph2:5,8). But we Each christian is given some particular gift of grace to benefit the church. Paul spoke of his own in Ephesians 3:2,8

4:8 Paul is referring to Psalms 68:18 the celebration of God's triumphant march from Mount SInani to Mount Zion and his enthronement in the temple and then Christs ascent into heaven.
When he says Captives in his train he's talking about:
The spiritual forces of darkness Christ defeated and disarmed at the Cross (eph 3:10; 6:12)
I was reading in a commentary that in Jewish worship this psalm had come to be associated with Pentecost and it may have come to Pauls mind for this reason. Paul In Corinthians emphasized the way the Holy Spirit empowers the church for ministry. In Ephesians Paul wrote more of the individuals who enable ministry.
4:9
In view of his overall purpose of encouraging believers to adopt a pattern of life like Christs, Paul inserted in Parenthesis to remind readers that it was through Christs humilation (his incarnation to "the lower. earthly regions") that the son came to the exalted postion he now enjoys. Read Phi 2:1-11 and Ephe 5:2
4:10-13 read
4:11
Apostles- those who had been with Jesus and had seen the risen Lord. who had experienced a special revelation of the risen Jesus or who had been commissioned by Jesus to be founders of the church and special bearers of revelation. (Ac 1:21-22 and 1 Coe 15:1-9)
Prophets-Persons who served as vehicles of direct and special revelation in the early church. Their function included prediction, exhortation, encouragement, warning and explanation. (Ac 11:27; 13:1)
Because their teaching laid the foundation for the church (2:20) fundemental ascpects of the apostles and new testament prophets work appear to be unrepeatable.
Evangelits- People in (*any age) especially gifted in the task of expanding God's Flock. (Ac21:8; 1Cor 1:17; 2 TIm 4:5)
Pastors and Teachers- I looked this up in a coupld of commentaries and got this definition for this verse =Sharing a single definate article in the Greek. (these words refer to a single set of individuals who bothe sheperd and instruct God's flock.
4:17-19
Strongly reminiscent of Pauls critique of Gentile culture in Romans 1, Paul had previously spoken of the Gentiles alienation from Gods people in Ephesians 2:12.
Here Paul spoke of their alienation from God himself (the walking dead of Chapter 2) Willfulness hardening of their hearts lead to death. This also gave birth to ignorance.
Ephesians presents the same dynamic from the human side: "having lost all sensitivity they have given themselves over". This goes hand in hand with the verse of searing your conscience. When you burn your foot or burn a piece of flesh on your body, Medically speaking you look sensitivity and nerve endings in that area. So if you were to put that same burnt foot on a log in a fire, you wouldn't be able to feel it. Because your pain receptors would have been seared off, and unable to work. SO you wouldn't know you were in danger of loosing your own foot. So it is spiritually, when you justify sin so much it only leads to death. Paul here is speaking of people who have lost All sensitivity. He's talking of the ones that give themselves over to their own evil desires. They no longer know right from wrong but have seared their conscience, and everything pretty much goes for them. They have no moral standard.
4:20-21
Literally heard him (i.e. in th emessage proclaimed about him)
God had broken the cycle of death by giving these Gentiles an understanding of his SOn and of hi work on their behalf (1;13,15)
4:22-24
What are some ways to pu off our old self an dput on our new self?
4:25-5:5 Paul speaks of ways to put on our new self and put off our oldselves.
4:29
Easy enough, dont slander anyones name.
4:30-31
Do not grieve, that is by destructive use of the motuh (vs 29)
This verse shows us That the Holy Spirit can be saddened. This is telling indication of his identity as a personal being rather than an impersonal force.
This isn't a new idea either Pauls citing here a prophet in Isaiah 63:10.
4:32
Forgiving other christians, just as Christ forgave you.