Daily Bible Reading - Ephesians 4

as it is written in Isaiah the prophet look I am sending my messenger ahead of you who prepare your way [Music] [Music] you only live today once why do it alone branch together welcome to branch together episode 54 my name is Jared and today we are continuing Paul's letter to the Ephesians today we're in Ephesians chapter 4 before we dive in we're gonna take a moment and pray and the prayer I'm gonna give today is from Ephesians 3 Paul has these two wonderful prayers in Ephesians and then while we're spending a few days in Ephesians let's let's learn these prayers this is Ephesians 3 I pray that according to the wealth of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his spirit in the inner person that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith so that because you have been rooted and grounded in love you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth and thus to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge so that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God God give us your power today give us your spirit help us become people that are rooted and grounded in love help us know the breadth and length and height and depth of the love of Christ open our ears open our hearts as we read today in your name we pray amen Ephesians chapter 4 I therefore the prisoner for the Lord urge you to live worthily of the calling with which you have been called with all humility and gentleness with patience bearing with one another in love making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace there is one body and one spirit just as you too were called to the one hope of your calling one Lord one faith one baptism one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all but to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of the gift of Christ therefore it says when he ascended on high he captured captives he gave gifts to men now what is the meaning of he ascended except that he also descended the lower regions namely the earth he the very one who descended is also the one who ascended above all the heavens in order to fill all things it was he who gave some as apostles some as prophets some as evangelists and some as pastors and teachers to equip the Saints for the work of ministry that is to build up the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God a mature person attaining to the measure of Christ's full stature so we are no longer to be children tossed back and forth by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching by the trickery of people who craftily carry out their deceitful schemes but practicing the truth in love we will on all things grow up into Christ who is the head from him the whole body grows fitted and held together through every supporting ligament as each one does its part the body grows in love so I say this and insist in the Lord that you no longer live as the Gentiles do in the futility of their thinking they are darkened in their understanding being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts because they are callous they have given themselves over to indecency for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness but you did not learn about Christ like this if indeed you heard about him and we're taught in him just as the truth is in Jesus you were taught with reference to your former way of life to lay aside the old man who is being corrupted in accordance with deceitful desires to be renewed in the spirit of your mind and to put on the new man who has been created in God's image in righteousness and holiness that comes from the truth therefore having laid aside falsehood each one of you speak truth with his neighbour for we are members of one another be angry and do not sin do not let the Sun go down on the cause of your anger do not give the devil an opportunity the one Steel's must steal no longer rather he must labor doing good with his own hands so that he may have something to share with the one who has need you must let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth but only what is beneficial for the building up of the one in need that it may give grace to those who hear and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption you must put away every kind of bitterness anger wrath quarreling and evil slander is talk instead be kind to one another compassionate forgiving one another just as God in Christ also forgave you chapter 4 is Paul's appeal to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you are called to live worthily he is telling the Ephesians and this is for followers of Christ today as well he's telling them walk this way walk this new way in Christ and don't walk the old way walk this way not that way he also uses this idea of a body he says see yourself now as part of a body where Jesus is the head and grow into this body and do the things that make you a member of this new Jesus body and then this body walks away from the old self the old body that you used to be a part of there are ten tons of markers between the new path and the old way between the Christ body and the old self the way of the Christ walk is humility gentleness love unity peace a renewed mind living with the gifts of God's Spirit for the work of God's ministry and this call to build up a new body kindness tenderheartedness and forgiving one another the way Christ has already forgiven you the old self the old path has markers too it's a futile mind a darkened path a callous heart people alienated from God and corruption if you are a follower of Jesus if you are walking on path where you seek to follow him and be part of his body then this is a great chapter to reflect on and take an inventory of how you are walking there are so many good things listed in this chapter too many to name again but here's something you can do today think over this chapter what is one thing on the jesus walk listed that you have grown in your life have you grown in forgiveness over time or kindness or tenderheartedness or are you getting better at fighting for peace or do you see God at work in your mind where you used to think one way but now you think differently wherever you've seen growth in your life take a few minutes today and thank God for his work in you ask him to help you continue to grow in a renewed walk and also today reflect on where you are struggling have you found yourself growing impatient can you not let go of anger do you find yourself tempted to lie maybe not the bold-faced lie but the temptation to slide the truth a little bit to make yourself look better that's a huge problem in our world right now and easy to be a part of it's easy to get caught up in that or are you wrestling today and just feel like your heart has grown callous take some time and be honest and be open about where you feel off and tied down to an old self take some time today to pray and ask God to help if you want to go one step further tell a friend tell a friend where you are growing on this walk with Jesus and tell a friend where you are struggling maybe take some time to pray together today if you do this today let us know sharing a few sentences how it went share if you want to take the time take a moment share where you're struggling today share where you've seen God at work growing in your life or if you ended up talking to a friend and praying together today share with us that too that's all for today god bless and my prayer is that you walk in a manner worthy of your great problem [Music] you

Channel: Branch Together

Views: 9,180

Rating: 4.9289942 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: 2LYs9_NvVCo

Length: 9min 54sec (594 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 13 2018