This week, the Bible studies on Ephesians re-started. We actually began this study in January 2010, but the news that we had got the new building in February meant that all subsequent Thursdays were spent painting and doing DIY to get the building ready. By summer, we were ready for a rest, so it is only now that ‘normal services’ (!) have been resumed.

A new start meant a whistle-stop tour of the background of Ephesians and a study of Ephesians 1. It was great to see so many people there, eager to learn more. We looked fundamentally at the huge list of all that God has done for us and also at what we have to do:

What God has done
* blessed us in the heavenly realm with every spiritual blessing
* given us grace and peace (grace he has ‘lavished’ on us!)
* chose us in Him to be holy and blameless (‘without reproach’)
* predestined us for adoption as children in His family
* redeemed us through the precious blood of Christ
* forgiven us
* included us in Christ
* marked us with a seal or stamp, the Holy Spirit, as a deposit guaranteeing our
inheritance (which is immeasurably rich!)
* given us great hope and power (the same power that raised Christ for the dead is available to us!)
* given us the Spirit of wisdom and revelation
* made us into Christ’s body
* put Christ as the head of the church

What we have to do
* hear the word of truth
* believe
* hope
* love others (especially having ‘love for the saints’)

We also looked at the things Paul prayed for and how he prayed. His key prayer for the Ephesians in chapter 1 was that they might know God better. May we learn to pray as he did:
“I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.” (Eph 1: 17-19)

The quiz looked at different items which somehow have the devil’s name associated with them:

The sketch looked at how the devil tempts us and leads us into sin, no matter whether we say we believe in temptation and sin or not!

It was also time for birthdays… this time, the guitarist was also the birthday boy!

At the family service on Sunday evening, we looked at the subject of the devil. Through a quiz and a sketch and then through Mark’s sermon, we looked at the enemy we all face so that we might be equipped to ‘take your stand against the devil’s schemes’ (Eph 6:11)

The devil (known by various names, such as the evil one, Beelzebub, Satan, Lucifer, the dragon and ‘god of this world’) tempts us and wants to destroy us. He is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44). He is an accuser and opponent (Zech 3:1). We looked at the temptation of Jesus in Matthew 4 and learned that the devil comes to us at our weakest points and is persistent, but that temptation in itself is not sin. Jesus used Scripture three times (Matt 4:4, 7, 10) to combat the devil’s temptation: Scripture is our ammunition and we should strive to memorise it as Jesus did.

Moreover, we need to submit ourselves to God and resist the devil, knowing then that he will flee from us (James 4:7) The way we live should in itself be a means of resistance, for we are called to live a life worthy of God (Eph 4:1-6). Jesus gave his disciples authority over demons (Luke 10:17-20) and by knowing and using Scripture, loving each other and putting on the armour of God, recognising the authority we have been given by Christ, we can stand against the spiritual forces of evil in the invisible realm. Prayer itself is the battle. We need not be afraid, because he that is in us is greater than he that is in the world (1 John 4:4) and because Jesus has promised never to leave us or forsake us (Heb 13:5-6).

Garry continued his series on the Holy Spirit this Sunday morning (12th September). He started by asking some challenging questions:

1) What do we believe?
2) Why do we believe that?
3) Do we have wrong ideas about God?

Describing and understanding the Trinity is dangerous ground! The fact that there is one God (Deut 31:39) in three persons is not easy to grasp, and some sects (eg Jehovah’s Witnesses) flatly deny this doctrine. As we worked through Scriptures, however, we saw how God the Spirit was present at creation and how the whole Trinity (Father, Son and Spirit) can be seen at the baptism of Jesus (Matthew 3:14). We often think of the Godhead in a hierarchical role, with the Father like the Managing Director of a company and the Son and Spirit subservient to him! Garry stressed that the Holy Spirit is God, that He is co-equal and co-eternal with the Father and Son and that the Holy Spirit is a person, not merely a force.

From a language point of view, confusion can arise because the word ‘Spirit’ in Greek (pneuma) is a neuter noun. Genders in languages are one of those things English people find difficult to grasp because they are no longer a part of our everyday language. Nonetheless, Garry demonstrated that the Greek adds the personal pronoun ‘he’ in John 16:13 to remind us that the Spirit is indeed personal, not just a ‘neuter entity’, and demonstrated that gender is a tool of language. Moreover, the fact that Jesus calls the Spirit ‘another Counsellor’ (John 14:16-17) shows us that the Spirit is like Jesus. In Greek, there are two distinct words for ‘another’: ‘allos’ (“Would you like another piece of this same cake?”) and ‘heteros’ (“Would like another piece of a different cake?”) The first word (‘allos’) is used in this passage.

Other Scriptures which underline the personality of the Spirit included Acts 5:3 (where Ananias and Sapphira lied to the Holy Spirit), Romans 8:27 (the Holy Spirit has a mind) and Romans 15:30 where the love of the Spirit is mentioned.

It’s wonderful to know that the Holy Spirit dwells within us and guides us into all truth.

Just a reminder that the midweek meetings have re-started this week and tonight (Thursday at 7.30 p.m.) is the prayer meeting. Bible studies on Ephesians will follow every Thursday in September after that.

I don’t know about you, but I’m finding that prayer is absolutely essential if I’m to get through even one day right now! There is so much work to do, so many problems to face, so much pain and hurt in the world that it is impossible to face those things with hope and courage if you do not spend time with God, seeking His face and discerning His will. We need to hear His voice so much. His perspective changes our view of ourselves, of each other and of the world.

Meeting together to pray helps us to lift our eyes above the earthly things and focus on God. “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” (Col 3:1-4)

“Where you go, I’ll go
Where you stay, I’ll stay
When you move, I’ll move
I will follow…” (Chris Tomlin, ‘I Will Follow’)

If we are to know when God is moving and when it’s time to go or stay, we need to spend time with God. A prayer meeting is a good place to be!

One of my favourite films is ‘City Slickers’, a 1991 comedy about a group of city men who become cowboys for a summer and end up having to get their cattle herd across America without the help of their guide… In the film, Curly, the wise, tough-as-nails trail boss, tells the restless Mitch that the secret of life is to find your ‘one thing’.

On Sunday evening, Frederick, a former Mattersey Bible College student from India, returned to visit us and spoken on Psalm 27:4, the ‘one thing’ of the Christian life:
“One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple.” He reminded us of the passage in Luke 10:41-42 where Mary and Martha both welcomed Jesus into their home, but Martha became easily distracted with the cares of the world. Jesus’s words to her when she complained that her sister was not helping her was that “Mary has chosen what is better.” The ‘one thing’ we need to prize most is our relationship with the Lord.

It is very easy to be distracted from that goal and sometimes to try to hold on to the things in our lives which we value highly, but God wants to give us so much more. Psalm 84:11 reminds us that “no good thing does He withhold from those whose walk is blameless” and we know that “goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life” (Ps 23:6) When we take the time to be with God and to prize that fellowship as Mary did, then we understand the truth of Psalm 138:8:
“The Lord will fulfil His purpose for me; your love, O Lord, endures for ever – do not abandon the works of Your hands.”

It was good to hear about God’s work in India and to be able to support that financially. Our prayers are with Frederick and his wife as they return to work in areas and villages where the gospel has never before been preached. We thank him for his faithfulness in ministering to us and we are encouraged to hold on to the ‘one thing’ that really matters, for, as we’d sung earlier as a children’s song, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Luke 12:34)