Semikkah7

11/01/2020 – Day 168 – Ephesians 1 – 3 // To be discouraged is to dishonor God. If He is with us, we must never lose courage.

Go to the recent post: “The Fellowship of the Unashamed” in prayer with increasing praise, and decreasing petition, as He sanctifies us for our mission to His kingdom.

So, yes, if Biden (and the pagan cultural marxists behind him) gets elected, as my footnote says in 1:19: ” A blind, anemic, weak-kneed flea on crutches would have a greater chance of defeating a herd of a thousand wild stampeding elephants than the enemy has of defeating God!” (and we still are left with infinite understatement!)

• Verse 1: “Saints” – my bible footnote on ‘Sainthood’: “There are those who believe that someone must be dead for many years, and have performed miracles, before he can be “exalted” to sainthood. Not so, Paul is writing to living people and, as he often begins his letters, he refers to them as ‘saints’. The word ‘saint’ comes from the same Hebrew root as ‘sanctified’ and ‘holy,’ which means ‘set apart.’ The moment we are born again, God sets us apart from the world (sanctifies us) for His use. In addressing the Corinthian church, Paul writes: ‘to those that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of ‘Jesus Christ our Lord’ (1 Cor 1:2) A saint is not someone who has lived a ‘holy’ life, but a forgiven sinner who has called on the name of Jesus and has been made righteous by the grace of God.
• Verse 1:9: “The will of God is no longer a mystery (‘having made known…’). The next verse makes His will clear; He wants to gather the redeemed together. We can work within His will be seeking to save that which is lost, He is not willing that any should perish, but that all come to repentence. He has commanded us to ‘Go’. We do not need to wait for another moment. To wait upon God for his will, when it is so plainly given, is to sit in disobediance. If you are paralyzed by fear, leave a gospel tract in a shopping cart. (Jimmy note : Thinking of Carl’s “Bezuegen Ministries’ – see www.AfterLifeCatalog.com) Crawl before you walk. Do something to bring the message of eternal salvation to a dying world.
• Verse 2:3: ‘Unsaved people often try to justify themselves when confronted with their sinfulness, by saying, ‘It’s only natural that we sin.’ Their right – sin does come naturally to us. We naturally lie, steal, lust, etc. The lifetyles of the ungodly can be clearly seen in soap operas, movies, talk shows, and tabloids. However, because it’s natural doesn’t make make it right. By nature we are children of wrath…”
• Verse 2:8,9: ‘These verses makes it clear that no one will be saved through their own goodness. Nothing we can do could ever merit everlasting life. It can only come as a gift, by the grace of God. Note that we are not saved by our faith – it is not faith itself that saves us. Faith is the medium God uses to extend His grace to us. For those trusting in good works, see Titus 3:5.