Spiritual fruit defined

As you think about the presence of spiritual fruit in your life, consider the following definitions of the various aspects of the fruit mentioned in Galatians 5. Is this the kind of fruit that is being produced in your life? LOVE DEFINED: “Love is the commitment of my will and affections to your needs and […]

Favorite commentaries on Ephesians

This morning I preached my last sermon in the series on Ephesians. Last week I put away the 75 file folders of sermons covering this series. Next week I will attempt to put my commentaries back on my shelves in their rightful place. (When I am preaching through a book, I pull all the commentaries […]

Sunday Leftovers (7/3/11)

Ask someone what some of the main themes of Ephesians are, and you will likely receive answers like salvation, family, how to relate to others, the church, spiritual armor and warfare, and theology. But it’s unlikely that you’ll hear the answer, “love.” Yet love is a dominant theme in this letter. The word “love” appears […]

Praying Ephesians 6

Lord, you have invited — no, commanded — us to always pray with every kind of prayer, acknowledging our dependence on you. So we come to you this day in submission to the Spirit of God and seeking His wisdom and His intercession on our behalf. And we pray not only for ourselves, but we […]

Sunday Leftovers (6/5/11)

A Christian in ancient Rome was being pursued by a lion. He ran through the city streets and into the woods, dodging back and forth among the trees. Finally it became obvious that it was hopeless. The lion was going to catch him. So he turned suddenly, faced the beast, and dropped to his knees. […]

Sunday Leftovers (5/29/11)

When attacked by Satan, we will be tempted to give up on God’s promises. Those realities that we know and have experienced about the sufficiency and ability of God will seem distant to us when the burdens of life are close. So in our hearts we will question God (though we likely would not do […]

The sword of the Spirit

In my reading to prepare for Sunday, I came across this helpful statement by Charles Hodge about the sword of the Spirit — the Word of God: In opposition to all error, to all false philosophy, to all false principles of morals, to all the sophistries of vice, to all the suggestions of the devil, […]

In preparation for this Sunday

How do you fight the battle against sin? How do you wage war against the temptations that are prone to lead you away from Christ and towards the world? How do you keep from engaging in any sinful and evil impulses? For too many, suggests Bryan Chapell, we are in bondage to spiritually destructive behaviors: […]

Dad, the family nurturer

When we read Paul’s words to the Ephesians carefully, his instruction to fathers makes us shake our heads and wonder, “Did I hear that correctly?” The word for “bring them up” in 6:4 is the same word as “nourish” in 5:29 — it has the idea of tender care and feeding, like a mother providing […]

Sunday Leftovers (4/3/11)

Many times I have had someone make a brief comment after a Sunday morning worship service or over a Wednesday evening fellowship meal that goes something like this: “Pray for me, I’m going to visit my folks next week…” Or, “My kids are coming to visit this weekend; will you pray for us?” There are […]

Sermon leftovers (1/30/11)

To answer the question “How does a man love his wife?” the question “How has Christ loved the church?” must be answered first. What follows is a list of some of the ways in which Christ has loved His church to accomplish her purity and sanctification (please note that this list is not exhaustive). He […]

Put off and put on

In Ephesians 4:22-24, Paul explains one of the foundational principles for sanctification in the Christian life: the believer is to put off (take off, stop) any activity that speaks of the ungodly life of unbelievers and the old, unredeemed man, and he is to put on (begin and continue) the activities of that reflect the […]

Sunday Leftovers (6/13/10)

It is an unfortunate reality that it is possible to be regular in reading the Scriptures and being exposed to Biblical teaching and preaching and yet remain unchanged. The hymn writer said that we are “prone to wander…prone to leave the God I love?” Why is that so? A number of possibilities exist: We substitute […]

It left its first love

It was a church with an incredibly rich history. Founded by the apostle Paul along with Priscilla and Aquilla, it was first pastored by Timothy. And Jesus’ beloved disciple John was probably its “Pastor Emeritus.” It was the recipient of a letter from the apostle Paul that was rich in elegance and theology (and her […]

Reading Ephesians

I have often said that my favorite book of the Bible is the book that I am currently preaching. And that means my current favorite is Ephesians — the book we have been reading in the Bible reading plan the past couple of days. Not only is Ephesians a great theological work, offering insight into […]