ONE MESSAGE. ONE FAITH.

Ephesians 1:10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: There was mention of dispensation a few posts back. ( Click here to read it ). It was this post that sparked the interest in a study on Ephesians while waiting to resume our Bible-In- A-Year readings. We are right now in the dispensation or age of Grace that is offered humanity by God, ushered in by the death of Jesus Christ. After Grace, then what?

Ephesians 1:7 (New International Version) 7 In him we have redemption through his blood , the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace Ephesians 1:7 (Amplified Bible) 7 In Him we have redemption (deliverance and salvation) through His blood , the remission (forgiveness) of our offenses (shortcomings and trespasses), in accordance with the riches and the generosity of His gracious favor, Ephesians 1:7 (The Message) 7-10Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we're a free people—free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. There must be a reason that it is read through   His blood, and not " by his blood". These are the jots, and the tittles (Matthew5:18), the dashes and the strokes of ink, that change, for example, an "O" into a "Q".

Spiritual Blessings in Christ  (NIV) Ephesians 1:3-5 3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.  4For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love  5he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—     *  HE chose us in HIM before the foundation of the world? Predestined? So does this Predestination oppose our freewill? Is it saying that no matter what we do, we are already slated to go to heaven or hell?

From God, through His servant, With Love -Apostle Paul Our last stop in the book of Ephesians on the matter of Grace, got me to thinking? Why not do a study on the entire book? So, though we touched on chapter 3 in the last post, there is no harm in going back to the beginning of this letter, that Paul wrote to the believers. After they had been baptized in Jesus's name and filled with the gift of the Holy Spirit, it was time to instruct and encourage them in the matters of holiness, God's plan, and where they fit in it. So over the next few weeks, we will reap and glean, eat and digest, plant seeds and root in, from  the book of Ephesians .

"For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men..."- Titus 2:11 Let's set the stage with a passage of scripture: Ephesians 3:2-6 (NKJV ) 2 if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, 3 how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, 4 by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), 5 which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: 6 that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, Now for a definition of the highlighted word, dispensation: Main Entry: dis·pen·sa·tion Pronunciation: \ˌdis-pən-ˈsā-shən, -ˌpen-\Function: noun Date: 14th century 1 a :   a general state or ordering of things; specifically : a system of revealed commands a...

It's been a while but here goes: This takes the phrase "chilled my body, but not my soul" to a whole new level, don't ya think? hahahaha

One day a few months ago my 7 year old son asks me a question: "Mommy are we at the end of the book?" The book he was talking about was the Bible. I cocked my head to side, and realized, yes, yes we are. We are coming to the end of the story, or at least this chapter. In this passage is the desctruction of "BABYLON" the avenging of the  SAINTS, the declaration of the KING OF KINGS and his established kingdom....

Deuteronomy 33:29 Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the LORD, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places. Three things grabbed my attention in this verse- " Happ y" and  " who is like unto thee ?", People saved by the Lord   1. A Psalm confirms that  Happy are the people whose God is the Lord (Psalm 144:15)   But if this is the case why are cast down, and depressed and , just plain sad, sometimes?     Well I think in this word happiness it is more of a state of peace and contentment. It is not the happy emotion, but a happy state. For He will KEEP YOU in PERFECT PEACE if your mind is constantly on him( Isaiah 26:3). Of course, like when Peter took his eyes off of Jesus, and then began to sink, we sink into states of depressions and self- pity, when we take our eyes , or minds off of him....

Today's passage is Revelation 18-22, but here I am one book behind in Jude. I just wanted to spend some time in this one chaptered book. I love that the Word of God is LIVELY and ACTIVE, and, though never changing, it is always revealing. I got stuck on Jude verse 3. The words EARNESTLY and CONTEND, made me think, wow, we have to put up a fight for this thing. I read, and scribbled in my notebook as I went through. Here is what I wrote: