Theme: Sit Down to Work
This week's lesson covered content found in Ephesians 2:1-10. If you are a believer, before you accepted Jesus Christ into your life and received His forgiveness for your countless sins, you were dead in your sins. The world and unbelievers still finds great pleasure in obeying the leading and the teachings of satan. At one time, every believer has lived for their own personal happiness and we let our sinful desires run rampant. God hates sin and because of His holiness our sin has separated us from Him. He still choose to provide a sacrifice for the world and He sent his only Son, Jesus to die for our sins. In Ephesians 2:5, we realize that He gave us life when He raised Jesus for the grave. He also gave us grace and mercy for our many sins. We are now seated in Heavenly realms next to Christ because of this act of extreme love and grace. This allowed God to display this love for all generations so everyone can witness grace.
My life looks different now from before I was a believer. When I was an early teenager, I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior. (I'm going to save my whole salvation story until November 21 because that's the day I was actually saved years ago and it's also the day that this Bible study is ending) I remember when I was lost and the fear arose in my heart and a felt a tugging. I wondered what would happened if I died that day. "Would I go to Heaven or Hell?" I realized that I was and still am a sinner in need of a grace and a Savior.
In this study, Sue Edwards encouraged readers to read Galatians 5:13-26. Reading through these passages they were very eye opening and convincing. Especially these verses, "When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God." (Galatians 5:19-21 NLT) Looking through this list, I have struggled with envy, jealousy, hostility, had quarrels, outbursts of anger, lusted, selfish ambition, dissension, and idolatry (putting something or someone before God). And that is just to name a few of my sins. But thank and praise God that He forgives and gives us unmerited grace!
Another critical key note, Sue Edwards reminded readers to watch out for was our sinful nature and its evil desires. In Galatians 5:16-19, we read that there are two forces at work in our lives, and they are always at a spiritual war with each other. The two forces are the Holy Spirit and our sinful nature. The Holy Spirit lives inside of you when you accept Jesus as your Savior and we have fruit. "But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!" (Galatians 5:19-23 NLT) This is why it's important to display the fruit of the Holy Spirit and let our lives demonstrate evidence that we truly believe in a loving Creator!
I intensely hope that you will be joining us in this wonderful study of Ephesians by Sue Edwards! Together, we can learn more about Christ and God’s written Word. And also please check back each Friday on my blog through November 18 for more insights into the amazing study!
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“Open Book Promotion/ Kregel Publishers has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book for this study.”
Check out Ephesians Lesson 3 Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fHfSjQY0V8
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