Beadie

This could lead us to sin or even lose our salvation by rejecting the true Christ. Again, if we supercede this revelation with something else, then we are straying away from what God

God

We are now pure in His sight; we no longer need to purify ourselves through sacrifices to come before him. We no longer need priests to go to him with our needs or supplications. Jesus has provided the purity we required by giving his blood as the ultimate sacrifice. But, even though he has offered his blood as this perfect sacrifice, it is up to us to accept or reject his gift of reconciliation. When we do accept that gift, we are indwelled with the Holy Spirit which is now the intermediary we need to go to the father and announce us as members of his family who have inherited the right to come into his presence.

Rather than have a lesser being, an animal, stand in for man

We now have really good news for those who are alone. We offer inclusion into a loving family. But we sometimes forget what it is like being left out now that we are part of the family. We now take our blessings for granted and forget the focus that we should have of restoring everyone to God. We need to remember the others who were also left out but have not yet been reconciled with God. We now have the opportunity to both relate and witness to these people. The focus of our restoration should be to keep moving

Faith is the belief that something is true or will come to pass without any tangible proof

We were created to do good works that God planned and equipped us to do before we were even formed. These were planned so that he could work through us to allow His light and spirit to shine and illuminate others. We are not able to do these works, until we have received the spirit in us through faith in him. All the good works that Matthew refers to are those that we do out of faith and love of God and to try to be more like the person he desires us to be. The works Paul discredits are those done on our own strength, not through the strength of the Holy Spirit and they are done to earn favor with God. We have to have favor with God in order to do those works. To have that favor, we have to accept his gift of grace and salvation first.

I like the image of the word restore. There are some beautiful old paintings by Rembrandt and others which had been hanging in a museum for a long time. At one point during cleaning, it was discovered that the varnish was old and damaged on one of these. A person trained in restoration was brought in who began to remove the old cracked varnish. What had been a beautiful painting of a dim room with light coming in the window, turned out to be a very light room with many vibrant colors in the sun beams. The painting was restored to its original state of even greater beauty and liveliness the artist had intended to be reflected in it. Over time, our own life and our love of it become dulled from day to day stress and disappointments of life. As with the varnish which had slowly yellowed over time, we did not even notice the changes in us. God, as the great restorer, sent His son so His blood could be used as the cleaner to remove the old dull varnish and restore our lives to the original beauty, excitement and vibrancy we were born with.

Grace is hard for us to understand because it is so counter to our basic human nature. We think we should be bartering or trading. We don

1) What does it mean that we are seated with Christ in the "heavenly realms"? For us and other believers it means that Satan has no power over us. We are seated next to Christ so He is always right by our side in any difficulties. My spirit is encompassed with the righteousness of Christ. We have been transformed to lead Godly lives and have and impact on others. This also means we can approach God in His throne room as an equal with Jesus. We now share a part of his reign over His heavenly kingdom and we will therefore be coregents with Him when He returns to reign over earth. 2) What does that say about God

These two verses contain the whole gospel - short and to the point! God's motivation is his great love for us and the fact that he is rich in mercy and compassion. The result for us? We were dead in sin and are now made alive through his grace. He has recreated us in His image as He originally intended by taking the judgment we deserve and placing it on Himself at the cross.

Satan is the master deceiver. He can make sins look more like pleasing things that will do no harm. Since we naturally tend toward self-gratification, we are too often ready to be deceived into compromise and justification. We are too weak and have too little wisdom to be readily able to discern the truth. Unless we can use the Holy Spirit to help us see through the deception, we are not able to see what is and is not righteous. That combined with ignorance of God

Non-believers are dead spiritually in that they cannot relate to God; the Holy Spirit is not in them. Only the Holy Spirit can connect them to God. To achieve the Holy Spirit, we must acknowledge and repent of our sins. We must accept God

If we do not participate in The Church, we are losing the fellowship and support of the other members of His Body. We don't partake of His victory and unable to share in Christ himself who is the body, the Church. We lose the strength of numbers and gifts that the others in our congregation bring to the work we are trying to accomplish in His name. We might even stray from what He wants us to be doing because the group has a stronger ability of discernment. What we do may be needed and good and even Christlike, but it may not be His desire for us at this time. And most importantly we lose the ability to really learn how to be Him, to be fully filled by Him as only the body can be filled by Him. By not giving our all to the church, we fail to provide the spiritual support and love to the others who need our love and support as much or more than we need theirs. The Church needs what gifts and strengths God has given us in order to accomplish its purpose and when that piece of the group is lost, the whole chuch and its work is lessened in its ability to do that work. By not being part of the group and showing and acting out our love we fail to show our Christ like qualities to non-believers. He commanded His disciples to show the world what it meant to be Christians, and first and foremost it was by loving one another. It is part of our calling to love and support one another.

I can think of several reasons for why we might take a pass when it comes to spiritual warfare. 1) Fear - we think we are not able to defeat the foe. We are seeing the problem, not the Lord. We forget Jesus has already won the fight. We don't need to rely on our own strength. 2) Doubt - we lose faith that He is with us. We think we might have to fight with our own obviously inadequate power. Once we lose faith, we lose our ability to draw on His strength. 3) Lack of Discernment - we just don't see it - we are blind to the attack - we are fooled by the devil's camoflage. 4) Complacency - this is not our problem. It is too far away, it needs to be fought by those it is affecting. It does not affect me (YET) Christ's victory demonstrates His power. We are fighting a battle He has already won in the spiritual realm. We are only fighting it on the earthly realm - nothing earthly can last. We are his body, the arms of war as it were, to fight the fight here. But we need to remember who it is that we are part of. He is the head and we are attached to it as the vines are to the stalk. We too often feel powerless because we are so busy looking at the problem and its size that we miss seeing the Lord. Doubt leads to this feeling of being powerless. We rely on our own strength forgetting we are part of a much larger body with a much more powerful head. We need to be reminded of His strength and power and that faith is all we require to plug in.

The power, Holy Spirit, is always present, always available and always sufficient. If we are powerless, it is because of our faith. There are many reasons this could be - We may become unconnected from His spirit when we lose direction from God's will and desire. Our prayer time may be suffering or being rushed through or even worse skipped. We may be doubting the power in us - we cannot see it, cannot touch it and cannot hear it. If we try really hard, we may feel it, but we are so materially oriented, we lose faith or trust in things we cannot see or touch. Then there is pride, - we think we know what we need to do, what God wants us to do and we know how to do it. We don't need his help or his guidance. Now, talk about a way to do a quick disconnect!!! Many congretations really focus on His word and his desires. They praise and worship Him and look for his guidance as a group as a body and then working together they accomplish it. Unfortunately there are a lot of congregations that are tearing this way and that, every one trying to do something different. All of their works are genuinely needed, but they are spreading themselves too thin and not working together as a body. Time to seek His guidance and worship him is lost or is merely just a recitation on Sunday morning. This can wear down the people who are doing the work and ultimately nothing is getting done. Sort of like Martha and Mary. Martha is doing doing doing and ultimately not achieving anything that really is lasting and for Him. Mary on the other hand is spending time in His presence. But that can be overdone too. We need as his body to spend time doing what HE WANTS us to do and spending time in his presence. We need balance in our lives and in our work for Him.

I don't think I could honestly tell you how I would react to the knowledge I would inherit a vast sum. I tend to not like to count my chickens before they hatch as my grandmother would say so probably it would not have too much of an effect. Since the earthly responsibilities and requirements would not change at least for the foreseeable future, my life would have to stay pretty much the same. I also, though, see the point of the question. But even with the promise of my inheritance from my heavenly father, I would have to continue to live life as it comes until such a time that I receive that inheritance. As a result, it should not change my attempts to be what He wants me to be and to live the way He wants me to live. As with any "expectations or hopes" I have, it is usually a bit hard for me to accept that it is a sure thing to just wait on to happen. I guess knowing of my inheritance, daily worries and "crises" should be alleviated and it should give me a shining light to follow through any dark times. Since we know that our Christian family, who will share this inheritance, is the family we will have for eternity, I think we should try harder to get to know and understand them. Establish a relationship with them that we would want to last forever. We should not see them as any different as our blood relatives and band to gather as a closely knit group in times of need. Since our family in this case involves so many backgrounds and different cultures, it seems that trying to see everyones views and understandings might not only help us understand "where they are coming from" but might just give us some insight into "where we are coming from too."

What do we have to look forward to? The resurrection, an eternal life with God. As it says in Revelations 21:1-4: 1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying,

The end of the term is when we leave this world and claim our inheritance as God's children. This will be at our resurrection when we finally go to live with our Lord for all eternity. We know that we will be resurrected and live with Him because we are His, bought and paid for by the blood of Christ -- redeemed as it were from our lives of sin. When we accepted His redeeming love and grace, we were give the Holy Spirit to live within our hearts. Having the Holy Spirit in us translates into our lives and attitudes being more Christ like and as a result marks us out as being God's people. But, having the Holy Spirit in us also gives us an inner peace and joy that can only be a fraction of the joy and peace of our eternal life with God will be like. This indwelling of the Holy Spirit is the consumation of the promise He gave to us that He would send his spirit to be with us while He is no longer with us physically. It is a part of our inheritance as God's children, the rest of which we will gain when He resurrects us into eternal life with Him.

Our purpose is to be for His glory and to bring Him praise. Just our creation shows His glory, but we were created to also commune with Him and praise Him; to do His will and walk in His path. This is a form of our praise showing our admiration, but it is also a way to lead others to praise. In order to show praise we must do three main things: First, we must believe in Him. In order to trust Him, we must first believe He is who He says He is and that He is trustworthy. Second, we must trust in Him. In order to follow Him and reflect His light, we must trust Him to love and care for us; to lead us in "the paths of righteousness". We must trust Him enough to give Him our lives. Third, we must follow Him, follow His lead and guiding light, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. To be a reflection of Him to others, we must be followers. We must reflect our admiration, trust and belief in Him. By mirroring Him and His goodness, we will bring Him praise from others and will bring new believers to also become His praise. In Matthew we are told we are either salt or useless. We are to be a light to the world, a reflection of Him which must be shown. Our light must radiate out to all or it is useless. We cannot hide who we are, we are His and must praise Him to proclaim Him and His creation and love, we do this by being reflection of Him as Paul speaks of in Ephesians.

God spoke creation into being. We were to be in His image. He uses the term let US - himself and the Word. We were designed to be in unity and order like Him spiritually. If you look at John 1, Gos is the Word and the Word, manifest as Jesus when he comes into the world, was with God. Through Him all things were made. All, cosmos, was as it should be - unified order. However, because of sin, brought into the world by Adam, things went awry. We were no longer a perfect reflection of our creator. We went our own way and the Adversary aided and abetted this. God sent His Word, incarnate as Jesus, to help to brings us back to our original state of creation, a true reflection of Him. To be like him. Through Him and His sacrifice as the scape goat, then one all sins are laid upon, all of our sins will be forgiven and we will be brought under Him. Everything was redeemed by Him through His blood and will be brought under His rule or will be destroyed by Him. Once all evils have been defeated, the first of which is Death, then creation will once again be given to God to rule over as His perfect creation. There cannot be any right or wrong ways to come to Christ, only through the Word who is the truth and the light. Only through Him can w be one with God and etermity. ! Cor 15:24-28 tells of God putting everything under Christ so he can be the all and in all to bring everything together under him and do away with all dominion, evil, etc. Once this is done, he will bring everything, including Himself before God and return it to him. The end times and the judgement will then come. In Ephesians 1:9-10 it is made know to us the mystery of the end times. That everything is planned to come under Christ for him to sum up everything before his second coming and the judgement and redemption of the world through Him.

I was adicted to the idea that I could control, handle everything in my life. I did not need anyone but my own ability. This set me up for a very depressing and joyless life. I was a worry wort. at least that is what my husband called me. "Why do you worry about the things you can't do anything about?" was the question. My answer, if I could do something about it I would and not worry. I spent hours and days trying to control the outcome. I was miserable. Then I realized that I suffered from many sins, but the most damaging to my life was PRIDE. Satan had planted that seed in me from the time I was young. I realized my salvation and God given grace of redemption late in life (my 40's and I am now almost 60 so I can still call it late in life). Now when I realize that "I" cannot do anything about a situation, I go down on my knees and hand it to Him. I try very, very hard even to this day to accept His will and not try to take it back again. I am now happier and much less depressed since life gnawing worry and depression don't control me. I just tell Satan that the Lord is handling that problem to see Him. If it had not been for my redemption, and most importantly my acceptance of that gift of grace, I would probably have committed suicide by now. At the very least I would be living a miserable useless life.

Most children are adopted when their parents are not there or are unable to love and care for them. Someone who is not their biological parent takes these children and loves and cares for them as if they were the natural parents. They become just as bonded and loving as any natural parent would be. These children become legally and emotionally equal to any natural childrent he parents may have. We are just as lost in this world as a child is on their own in life. God loves us and wants to care for us as though we were His natural children and so adopts us. We become His natural children. He, like all parents, wants to help us and guide us. To teach us how to live the best way possible in this life; in His path. This is so very encouraging because we know our place and can have full confidence of where we stand with Him as our Father. As all children, we are accepted and loved regardless. But with our heavenly Father, it is so much more. As Jesus says in Matthew 7:9-11 "..what man is there among you who, if hs son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you them, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him?" Or, again in Luke 11:11-13 "If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will you give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if heasks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being eil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who as Him?" Just think of the love and care our God can bestow on us. Even if we, as teenagers often do, seem to reject the need for the care of parents, He waits for us to realize our need and then He is there ready to give it to us.

Holy is set apart or consecrated to God as we all seem to agree. However, God consecrates us by chosing us. We can of course refuse to be what he wants and to follow His path, but He chose us. That does not mean we are by any means blameless or even acceptable in our present condition. We are sinners and covered with blemishes. We cannot offer our lives to him as an acceptable sacrifice, only those without blemish may do so. That is why He sent His son, Jesus, to be that sacrifice. If we accept and allow ourselves to be washed by Jesus's blood, then we become radiant to God and therefore acceptable sacrifices to Him. He, then, only sees our future potential and lives when we take on our eterman bodies and lives. We can now give Him our lives and services to follow His path and we are acceptable to Him.

To me the scary thing is that I hve no control over His choice to offer His grace or not. I have control over whether I accept His grace, but not whether he offeres it. This is a very scary concept to us "control freaks". However, I am comforted by the fact that he did offer His grace, even in the face of my pride and sin. I believe that Paul brings this up to remind us all, gentile and jew alike, that we are not better than anyone or closer to God. God, in His great love, offered this gift of grace to us all and did this before he formed any of us. I don't think that it matters that it was "in the hearing of the Ephesians". The point of Pauls letters was to teach and teach to any who read the letters then or now, through out time. Paul was emphasizing our chosenness and our responsibilities as God's children to "make disciples of all the world."