leo

In the same way that a human body is able to withstand a lot of battering from the surroundings when it is healthy, so will a healthy congregation be able to withstand a lot of trials and tribulations if they are healthy. A human body can withstand a lot of battering both from outside the body and from inside. It can withstand an onslaught from viruses and bacterias that would normally harm a weak and sickly person. It can also withstand changes in its environment. This is also applicable with a helathy congregation. A healthy congregation can withstand trials that stem both from within the congregation and from their immediate environment.

Pastors, as protectors of his flock, need to be equipped with whatever is necessary to fend off those who want to destroy or ruin his church. They have to be ready when trials and tribulations come their way, especially if it involves the heads of the church or if the whole church is placed under stress. They basically are the first and last line of defense against the devil's temptations. This is exactly what Christ did with His disciples. During His ministry here on earth, He took His disciples with Him to show them what they should do during times when they are confronted with the devil and his minions. In so doing, He empowered His disciples with the right "equipment" to fend off the attacks of the devil.

As the head of the congregation, the pastor is given the task of leading the congregation along the path that the Lord has set for them. He protects his congregation and strives to make them work as one body. He is also given the task of interpreting the Word for the congregation in such a way that every single member of his congregation will understand the message that are being given to them. Teachers on the other hand are tasked to explain the Word to Christians, especially the baby Christians, who have trouble understanding the Word.

The evangelists are like the "Advisers." They are the ones designated by the Lord to ensure that the Church continues to follow the path that has been laid for them by the Lord. By keeping constant communication with the Lord, the evangelists are continuously updated with the Lord's plan and by proclaiming that to the rest of the Church, he ensures that they too are updated with the plan that the Lord has set for them.

The apostles built and continue to build the church by empowering the world with the Holy Spirit for, without the blessing of the spirit, the church that they will build will fail to be productive no matter how hard they try to make it work. It has always been their practice to spread the Word by using a hands-on procedure. They go to the people to spread the Good News instead of doing it the other way around: waiting for people to come to them to receive salvation. This has been Christ's example to His disciples and this has been the practice until today.

In the same way that a machine needs all of its parts in perfect working order to function properly, so does the Lord need each and every one of us to use the gifts that were given us to work and utilize our gifts to their full extent in order for the church that the Lord founded to work properly.

During the five-week bible study, I realized that the Church is, indeed, a huge part of God's plan for His people. I realized that the Church is an institution that was created by the Lord to help His people stay on the path that He has set for them until the time that Jesus comes back to take us all up with Him into the heavens.

Humility and patience. It's easy to say that we have a lot of patience no matter what situation we're facing but it's a different thing when we're actually facing a tough and frustrating situation. This is when we usually lose our cool. This is one of the things that I want to change in my life.

One baptism tells us that we should not pay much attention to how the baptism is administered. Rather, we should concentrate on the fact that we are baptised in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. This means that we are united in the name of our Lord and therefore should work as one for Him. Although we should not our faithfulness to the Bible because of this, we shoudl also note that there is not absolute commandment on how to administer baptism to a person. If there was, then I guess we wouldn't have this problem now would we?

One Body, One Spirit, One Hope, One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism, One God and Father One God is the most compelling because it is through our Lord that we are united as a body. One faith is also compelling for me because it shows that no matter what sect we are a part of, as long as we believe in the Lord and that Jesus Christ is our salvation, we are still united as one.

The Holy Spirit will bring about this unity for without the Holy Spirit, we will not be able to unite ourselves into one body no matter how hard we try. Our Bond of Peace will be Jesus Christ because He is the center of the church. He is the reason why we have the church and why we have our congregation. It is because of these reasons that Christian unity should be a primary goal for all of us...and I do mean all of us.

One of the most important attitudes that we must maintain, i think, would be to have a sense of responsibility and accountability for each other. In other words, look out for each other in good times and in bad. The hardest part about this i think would have to be to have the patience to guide those who fall behind in their development. It's easy to look out for each other when everything is going according to plan. But it's a different story when we talk about guiding those who need guidance and assisting those who need assistance. People can only go so far when it comes to being patient and we are called to go beyond that. That is what makes it difficult.

It sounds pretty simple but unity is very difficult to achieve. To be united as a body means that the members have to make a conscious effort to help each other out. It requires them to look out for each other and help those who require assistance. It means that they will have face certain instances when they will have to go beyond their limitations and go the extra mile in order for them to be able to keep their unity intact. It means that they will have to face certain challenges that will test their bond and their stability - tests that they usually do not have to undergo if they act as separate, independent units in a society. But one they are able to overcome those struggles, the experience will make them stronger and strengthen their bond as a group. This is our calling, this is what we were called to do.

I agree with the viewpoint that the congregation, and not the church as a building, is the dwelling place of the Lord. During the Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was sent to dwell in the hearts of all the members of the church that were present during that time not to dwell in the area where they were gathered. Thus, the congregation will only make this happen if they obey the commandments of the Lord and strive to be more Christ-like in their way of life.

The apostles and the prophets are the ones that make sure that the church is following the path that Jesus intended for the church to take. They help ensure that the congregation knows, understands, and lives by the commandments that have been given to us by the Lord. And since Jesus was the one who founded the Church in that He organized the apostles - His friends - and helped them and made them into a working body that became the first congregation, it follows that He is the cornerstone of the Church. A Church grows if the congregation knows, and understands the commandments that have been given to them by the Lord. The growth of the whole congregation depends on whether or not the members begin to understand and live by those commandments. Once they have understood them, they can start to successfully spread the good news to other people because they will be the living proof that the Lord is alive and that He can change the lives of people. Once they are able to invite other people to become a part of their congregation and once they start reaching out to other communitites, then growth will occur.

The phrase reminds us that the Church is to be considered as a house where the Lord is the father and the congregation are the children. As such, we as the members of a congregation should love and care for each other the way brothers and sisters do. We should always remind ourselves that in the eyes of God, we are all the same. There are no distinctions between the rich and the poor, neither should there be any distinction between people who talk with the Lord more than once a day and those who do so only once. In fact, we should make it a point to compliment each other's strengths and weaknesses in order to create a better harmony within the "household." Also, in the same way that our families sometimes find themselves in a crisis, God's household sometimes find themselves in a similar situation. It could be that there is a strife between members, or the congregation could be facing a financial crisis or a member is finding it hard to motivate himself participate. Whatever the crisis may be, we should not allow ourselves to be discouraged. We should remind ourselves that we are a congregation brought together by the Lord and allowing ourselves to be discouraged will put the entire congregation in danger of being toppled. This is what people who aren't faithful in participating will miss most in their congregation. They will find it harder to survive and weather out the crises that come their way without the support and motivation of their congregation behind them because this is what family is all about. Emotional (and sometimes even financial) support and motivation.

Because we believe that God is the ruler of our hearts and lives, it follows that we are citizens of the Kingdom of God. As citizens of His kingdom, we become holy in the sense that we share in the glory and the riches of God's kingdom. Not only are we citizens and servants of our Lord, we are also ambassadors in the sense that we spread the reaches of God's kingdom by witnessing to non-believers and offering them the salvation that we have received when we accepted Jesus into our hearts.

In the same way that we cannot gain access to a country (trade and dipomatic relations) without first creating diplomatic ties with their government, we cannot gain access to the benefits that the Lord will provide if we are not Christians. We could not have gained the right to speak directly with the Lord through Jesus Christ had we not proclaimed ourselves believers and received the blessing of the church through the sacrament of baptism, thus cementing our relationship with the Lord. And one of the benefits of being a Christian is the fact that we are, through the grace of the Lord, able to go beyond the limits of our humanity and forgive and love even those people who have hurt us deeply. In this manner, we are able to fulfill the two greatest commandments that the Lord gave us.

The power, according to verse 20, works in the Church which means that the power works through us. The power is abundant, meaning that there is more than enough for all the members of the Church but unfortunately, it is not very evident because the either the members of the Church doubt the capabilities of the power itself or know about the power but has no knowledge on how to gain access to it. However the case, we should learn and educate the membders of the Christian community on how to exercise this power because this is one of the greatest manifestations that our God exists and is actively working through His people.

What it says about the church's power is the fact that it's power and authority comes not from man but from Jesus Christ and, therefore, from God. And because the authority comes from God, we follow the commandments that have been created and given to us not by man, but by God Himself.

Since God is the ruler of the heavenly realms, for Christ to sit at His right connotes that Jesus is the "second-in-command." As such, what Paul wants them to see is the fact thst there is no other being greater than Christ except for God Himself. Since this is the case, then it follows that the spirits are inferior to Christ and are, therefore, under His feet.

From the standpoint of power, the statement that we are seated with Christ in the heavenly realms signifies that we share in the glory and the riches that are available available in the heavenly realms. It is like having the pleasure and the luxury of being the right hand man of a king or of a prince of a feudal kingdom. During the days when kings were still very much in power, to sit beside people of such status meant that the person was trusted. It also meant that the person was not a commoner. He did not belong among the common people. Such is also our case since we are seated with Christ in the heavenly realms.

Paul wanted the Ephesians to see the works that the Lord was doing to the Christian community not with their mortal eyes but with their spiritual eyes. He wanted them to see the big picture. He wanted them to view the workings of the Lord in a macro level in order for them to see that the Lord, indeed, is alive and is actively participating in the growth and development of the church that Jesus has founded. Paul knew that if they do not do this, they wil not be able to see anything beyond the limits of their humanity. A good example would be the resurrection of Lazarus and, on a greater level, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. A good number of scholars and scientists and what nots have tried, in vain, to explain these events. They tried to bring these miracles down to the human level by trying to explain what happened in sceintific terms. In a way, they have limited everything, even the concept of God, to the human level. They have become too focused on their belief that "everything can be explained in scientific terms" that they fail to see the glory and grandeur of God's miracles that are happening around them. This is what Paul was trying to prevent from happening when he prayed that the Ephesians would "open their eyes." Paul knew that the power was operating in a level that is beyond the capability of the human body. As such, it would be impossible for the Ephesians to detect without them opening their spiritual eyes.

If we use the analogy of feudal kingdoms with regards to the reign of the Lord over His people, the "one who sits on the throne" will be nothing less than the King himself. This denotes the Lord Himself who rules our hearts, our minds, and our lives. And we are aware of the fact that only those people whom the King trusts and loves are worthy enough to sit alongside him. This gives us an idea of how much the Lord regards His only son and how great was the cost that was paid for our salvation. Jesus is, in a manner of speaking, of "royal blood" and yet the Lord was willing to sacrifice His son in order to bring salvation to His people. Is there any other king who is willing to do that? Is there any other love greater than that?

We are called priests because of the fact that we no longer need a particular person here on earth who will intercede for us or who will serve as intermediaries when we need to talk with the Lord. In fact, since we have the right to approach the Lord whenever we want to, it now becomes our responsibility to "intercede" for the people who come to us to seek for salvation. This is the reason why we are called to be "fishers of men." The respondibility now falls on us as the priests of the Lord because Jesus commissioned each and every Christian of this task before He was taken up to heaven. Jesus did this because He knew for a fact that He will only come down from heaven once to bring salvation to His people and that the next time He comes back will be to take up His people to live with Him in heaven. For now, this will be our "reign" here on earth as the priests of the Lord.