Ephesians 1:11 says “In Him also we have obtained an inheritance…” this is a beneficiary, often called an heir, although technically in America the conditions under which a beneficiary and an heir receive the inheritance may differ, the benefits are the same; in either case it is receiving assets from a predecessor. We are promised […]
Ephesians 1:5 continues by saying, “having predestined us to adoption…” Being predestinated is not what some erroneously interpret and teach, that certain ones are chosen to be saved while others are predestined to damnation. This twisted doctrine does not fly in the face of overall Biblical teaching which is that “God…desires all men (mankind) to […]
Ephesians 1:4 continues by telling us why we have been chosen; it is not just so we can enter heaven, though that is the end result, neither is it so we can boast that we have been placed in God’s safety net; it is “that we should be holy and without blame (unblemished)…” So what […]
We are going to draw the truths of this topic from the book of Ephesians, but before we delve into what we are, we should establish who the Apostle is writing to. We know he was writing to people at Ephesus, a principle port city on the west coast of Asia Minor, however not to […]
“Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me” Psalm 23:4. The rod and staff were the symbol of a shepherd; while the staff may have been used by the shepherd in walking, or as something to lean on, the obvious message here is their function in caring for the flock, and by their use the […]
The role of the shepherd is to tend and care for the flock, therefore being one of His sheep David could say, “I shall not want”, or perhaps a better translation would be, “I shall not lack”, for so is the meaning of the Hebrew word. And justifiably we should add “any beneficial thing”, for […]
“But the fruit of the Spirit is…faith” Galatians 5:22 KJV. Many of the newer versions use faithfulness instead of faith; the original King James translators separated faith and faithfulness which come from two different Greek words, their definitions however being very compatible, perhaps even complementary, with each other. Faith and faithful are distinguished by only […]
2 Corinthians 1:10 says, “Who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us.” This verse seems to allude to three stages of salvation, “delivered us” being the moment we were “born again” and sins power over us was broken; “does deliver us” […]
In Luke 11:5-8 Jesus uses the story of someone who had an apparently unexpected guest to arrive in the night; not having food in the house to set before the hungry traveler, he went to a friend’s house to ask for three loaves (some food), but this friend was not overanxious about being disturbed at […]
As we approach the end of one year and the beginning of a new I am reminded of Jesus words in Revelation 22:13, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.” He is like the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet which “bookends” everything […]