Interlude

Unfortunately I am a caveman with technology. Back in mid September I wanted to clean up some data and ended up vanishing my access to the blog. Only tonight did I find access again Had a very encouraging discipleship weekend in mid October with two dozen brothers serious about their relationship with God and in making disciples of Jesus Christ. A highlight was the participation of a brother referred to in an earlier post as Mr.M. He came all the way from Texas. These weekends are both very interactive and packed. We met in the same small group of 6 working through material provided primarily by brother D with the theme of developing godly leaders. We also had choice of 2 of 3 workshops. I participated in one on memorizing Scripture and another on prayer and confession. Both were well done. As he did last year brother A facilitated our worship. We followed last year's decision of giving young men opportunities which they did well in. Praise God!

The Ewe Lamb

In 2 Samuel 12 God sends the prophet Nathan to King David after he has sinned grievously. Nathan begins by telling a little story. Verse 3 reads "but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb which he had bought. And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children. It used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms, and it was like a daughter to him." God has blessed me with one child, a married daughter who is still my little ewe lamb. She loves the Lord Jesus and me. She is a life giver. Our conversations are precious to us. "Blessed be God because He has not rejected my prayer or removed His steadfast love from me." Psalm 66:20

1 John 1:1 to 2:6

John assures his readers that he is an eye witness of Jesus, that he knew Him personally. He states that while all sin, that a wonderful promise exists encapsulated in verse 9. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." In chapter 2:1 we learn that Jesus is like a defense attorney. He paid for our sins and thus can be our advocate before the Father. Verse 5 gives this condition and assurance. "But whoever keeps His Word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we know we are in Him."

10 pm.

About 10pm last night another milestone was reached. I continue to be amazed at what God is doing with this blog. April 4,700 page views May about 13,000 June. about 25,000 July 41,920 August over 77,000 with several days remaining First 100,000 page views took about 15 years. Second 100,000 needed 1 year. Third 100,000 only 36 days. For many years US page views were only 3 or 4 percent. Very recently about one third are from this country. I thank God for the readers He has provided. I pray they are edified and encouraged in their faith and walk with Christ. The milestone was 300,000 lifetime page views reached last night about 10pm.

Ephesians 6:10-24

Wednesday evening studied the famous armor of God passage. Several themes stand out. In contrast to Old Covenant practice where God's people fought and were sometimes commanded to exterminate physical foes, the teaching in the New Testament is to love one's physical enemies and pray for them. Our true enemies now are spiritual and demonic. To protect us in this warfare God has given six specific protections. As is common in Biblical writing physical things are used to illustrate spiritual realities. The key is all six point to Jesus. The helmet of salvation comes through our Savior Jesus Christ. The breastplate of righteousness is His righteousness. The belt of truth represents the One who said He is the truth. The feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace is His gospel, the Prince of Peace. The shield of faith is faith in Him. The sword of the Spirit, the Word of God is Jesus, the Ond who is the Word. Finally Paul commends Tychicus to his readers whom I believe is the brother who brought this prison letter to Ephesus, after whom I have named this blog.

Ephesians 6:1-9

Wednesday evening our Bible study group studied the God ordained relationships between parents and children, and then slaves and masters While common in Roman times and much of humanity history the modern Western interpretation of the second passage regarding slavery is understood as employers and employees. The key to both passages and the preceding one about husband and wife's is obedience. Wife's are to submit to husband, children to parents, and employees to employers. Is this because husband, parents and employers are wonderful? They probably aren't and certainly not perfect. We obey for the Lord Jesus sabe. Here is where the greatest commandment comes into play to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind,soul and strength.How do we express that love? Through obedience. "If you love me, obey my commandments." John 14:15 cf John 14:21,26, 1 John 2:5 etc Note: the algorithm keeps changing what I write and I weary of correcting it.

Ephesians 5:22-33

Last night we tackled one of the most controvérsias passages in the Bible because of the many verses that apply to marriage these are probably the most important. The passage as a whole shows the parallel between Christ's relationship with the Church, His bride, and the relationship between husband and wife. The wife is to submit to her husband as to the Lord which means the depth and sincerity of her submission is,a reflection of the depth and sincerity of her relationship with Jesus. The husband is to love his wife as Christ loves the church which seems an impossible goal when we contrast the holiness and perfection of Christ with our own relative lack. Yet this is the standard. Verse 32 refers to a profund mystery, the only time this word is used of any of the 12 different mysteries that the NT tells us. I believe the importance here is God's plan that a believing husband and wife are intended to be a divinely ordained illustration of the relationship between Christ and the Church. Verse 33 is the key to a healthy God honoring marriage. The primary need of the man is respect. The primary need of the woman is love. We tend to give what we are comfortable with rather than what the other person needs.