Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Ephesians Completed in Cebu Classes



The change in times helped far more today. Leaving at 6:45am, it took only 15 minutes to arrive at the venue. Since we finished about 4pm (30 minutes early), it took only 20 minutes to get back to the hotel. This is definitely the way to go in our schedule in order to minimize wasted time on the road.

We started class this morning with Ephesians 4:7 and completed the book in the afternoon session. Having completed the more “doctrinal” portion of the epistle, we concentrated on the application made to the lives mandated of those “in Christ.” We discussed and examined in some detail numerous points:


·      The various functions God gave to the church in order to bring all to maturity and unity in Christ as every part does the work He intended.
·      When evil is permitted into our lives, it grows from a mind desiring the evil, to a practice of evil and finally brings on to a habit of evil that continues in “being past feeling,” no longer touch by the truth.
·      When the light of truth are put into our lives, it has the power to grow from a mind of desiring good, to a practice of righteousness and finally become a habit of righteousness that becomes a joyous way of life.
·      Anger and bitterness, if allowed to remain in our life, will cause a multitude of problems and will spread like a cancer.
·      Immorality must be permitted no place in our lives as Christians because it is totally the opposite of the holiness of God. Such evil has taken many from the light of God to a life of darkness, no longer serving God’s cause, but living an existence of shame.
·      The terrible danger and destruction of using intoxicants.
·      The parallel of the husband-wife relationship and that of Christ and His church. We saw the primary lesson was that of Christ and the church, but the parallel also teaches us about the responsibilities of husbands and wives as well.
·      The responsibilities of parents and children were discussed in some detail giving some specific admonitions to the preachers to remember their responsibilities as fathers to properly train their own children, not just teaching the church and forgetting to take care of their own homes.
·      We looked in some detail at the “whole armor of God” and emphasized the need to be equipped overall, not just in a few areas.


The Lord willing, we will start with Colossians in the morning.