Tag Archives: church

One New Man – Ephesians 2:15

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Over the past week at Church and in personal readings we have been looking at Ephesians 2:11-22.  During the passage, one verse jumped out at me that I didn’t understand, and its only when Bryn explained it in Lifegroup on Thursday that it made sense.  From what I can see, Ephesians 2:15 is the whole passage in a nutshell.

15 by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations.

His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace (NIV)

Before Jesus came down to pay the price for our sin, the world was a very different place.  There were two types of man.  The Jews who were under the promise of God who followed His law, and the Gentiles.  A gentiles is anyone who is not a Jew, so that would include me today!  Because Gods law saw Israel as the Chosen people, the Jews would treat the Gentiles with poorly, and the Gentiles often would retaliate.

Upon Jesus death and resurrection, he put the old law to bed.  From that point on, “whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16)  Thus the promise was no longer for just Israel’s people, but for ALL MAN! Therefore the hostility stirred up be the old law was removed, and salvation was and is free to anyone who seeks it.

In conclusion, it would seem that the “two” reffered to is the Jew and Gentile, being made into One Man, which would be the church.

Succession Planning – 2 Timothy 2:1-14

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2 You have heard me teach things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Now teach these truths to other trustworthy people who will be able to pass them on to others. (NLT)

Here we see the importance of succession planning.  In modern day society, succession planning is very much a business orientated word, where management are always scouting people who have potential within their business to develop.  Once they locate these people, they then ensure that the potentials are given the training they need and the opportunities to succeed so that eventually, when the time comes, they can step into the next level of management when the time comes.

In verse 2, I understand succession planning to be ensuring that there is a trustworthy team of believers who will be able to carry on spreading the good news, and or serving either when you have gone, or for when the Lord calls you away from a particular area.  Churches built up in the way of the Acts church should continue to seek to minister to and care for “up and coming” evangelists, prophets etc to ensure that the Lords work can continue, not only when age takes over but also to GROW!

With regard to growth, churches can get very settled in their small group of friends, and they forget the original command, “make disciples of all nations”.  They cease to grow, they cease to evangelise, they cease to invite other friends, and eventually the church dies as it members pass on.  Its a sad state of affairs but so common as the principle of “succession planning” from 2 Timothy 2:2 gets ignored.  However if the 2 Tim 2:2 principle is applied, not only will there be people to carry on the work once others have passed on, but there will be more available to do the work TODAY to spread the word, and grow the church.

Each of us as Christians have a maturity level.  Some have spent many years with the Lord and are extremely wise and it is their responsibility to help and nurture those younger Christians.  I myself am no where near a mature Christian, however even at a “teen” level of maturity, it is our responsibility to help those who are just starting out in their Christian walk and help them grow.  We can do that with regular prayers, regular feeding on the Word and regular fellowship with each other.

Can you see potential in someone?  Then don’t just sit back!

Love Your Wife – Ephesians 5:25-33

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I haven’t yet read the devotional but I wanted to note down my first thoughts about this before I carried on. The passage talks about loving your wife as Christ loves the Church. It’s a great reminder of how we should honour, respect and cherish our wives. Marriage isn’t something to be done lightly, and once we are married it is so important to work on it.

The daily devotional continues to also talk about understanding your wife. It is important to spend time with her, to get to know her more and more each day.

Part of honouring our wives includes taking care of ourselves, ensuring we are healthy and fed. We need to be in good shape if we are going to do all of the above!!! Of course it would be foolish to try do all this in our own strength!

Prayer, Reading the Word, Fellowship and Worship all play a vital part in maintaining the strength and wisdom to continue to be a good husband.

Of course if my wife reads this, I am sure I will be in for some comments!

New Living – 2 Corinthians 5:12-21

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When you become a Christian, you have taken a huge step of faith and asked for the Lord Jesus forgiveness of your sins, and for him to come into your heart so that you can live for him. Read more about becoming a Christian here. The moment you do that your life immediately is changed. For many people there is no flash of light, and BANG everything is different, but over the next few days and weeks, as they grow to learn more about Jesus, their lives are transformed.

Once we become a Christian, we wonder what the next steps are. Do we need to follow a set of rules? Can I eat certain foods

? Must I wear certain clothes? Speak in a certain way

?

Remember, to be saved, you need to have taken the step and asked Jesus into your life, you have accepted that he died for you, and you wish to be forgiven. Its a FREE gift, a gift of Grace. Read Ephesians 2:8-9. You don’t earn this gift because we as humans would never be good/holy enough to earn salvation. Therefore you don’t follow a set of rules to earn salvation, you have it!

How to live as a Christian is your living “thank you” to the Lord for saving you. He sacrificed his Son to die in our place so that we may have eternal life and that we may have a relationship with him. Therefore once we accept his as our saviour, we want to live our lives in a way that says “thank you” to the Lord for what he has done.

Therefore, by imitating how Jesus lived, by reading the Bible, Praying and through your relationships with other Christians at church and in groups you learn how to grow and live as Jesus lived, thus breaking free from any sin that’s in your life and being a changed person.

If you have asked him in, then you already have the gift, so the next steps are to learn to live a “thank you” for him. If you are a new Christian then make sure you join a Bible orientated church and make Christian friends so that you will have support in growing as a Christian and fixing anything in your life that you need help with.

Also please contact me if you want more information or have any questions.

Teamwork – Romans 12:3-8

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Just as the hand is part of the body and has its own purpose and skill, so does the parts of the body of the Church.  Each one of us is a member of the body of the Church and we have been given gifts that was should use.  There is nothing like teamwork to get a job done.

After all, no one man/woman can see to the entire needs of a Church.  For example someone could be leading worship whilst another leads the youth, another could be making food for a meeting, whilst another can bring a word or testimony to the group to build each other up… one person could not do all this.  Each role is as important as the other, each needs to be performed, and each can be carried out by people who’s God given gifts allow them to do so.

Without the eyes I could not see, without a leg I would struggle to move forward, without my fingers I would not be able to work, and complete many basic tasks in life.  Each small thing has a purpose and is equally important.