The works of the LORD are great: From the sunrise to the sunset. The beauty of the flower to the glory of the farmlands to the majesty of the mountains and plans. And of course the beginning of all things, when God said. 

Man creates things from things, God creates things from nothing. His, glory, handiwork, power and deity (Genesis 1:1).

Psalms 19:1-2 “The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament[a] shows [b]His handiwork. 2 Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge.” Romans 1:20 “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and [a]Godhead, so that they are without excuse,”   When I consider… “Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him?” (Psalm 8:3-4).

“Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.” (Eph. 5:22). Paul begins with the wives. Walking worthy of the calling in marriage means that wives will submit to their husbands. First, note that the world, our current society has perverted the idea of submission. Submission has become such an ugly word today. Therefore, I want to further help our understanding by denoting what it does not mean. It does not mean wives must allow themselves to be dominated, overpowered, or oppressed by her husband. This is absolutely alien to the meaning of the word and the idea behind what Paul is teaching…

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her” (Eph. 5:25). Guess what husbands? Walking worthy of your calling means that you will love your wives. And Paul is not painting a picture of having a warm fuzzy feeling toward her. The Lord our God paints a deep sacrificial love here with, “just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her”…

That paints the glorious picture of just how much Christ loved us—the church. There is more of course, listen in and see the beauty of the marriage walk painted by the hand of God through the inspired apostle. . . 

There’s Joy in them there Christians

The constitution of the United States was framed and adopted in 1787. In it is the right of every man for the pursuit of happiness. The quest to obtain happiness has led men in many different directions without achieving that goal. Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter two, tells of his quest to find the secret of “I searched in my heart how to gratify my flesh with wine, while guiding my heart with wisdom, and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the sons of men to do under heaven all the days of their lives. ” (Eccl. 2:3). Solomon had had it all, fame and fortune and speaks to this in Ecclesiastes 2:10 “Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart rejoiced in all my labor”.

Anything my eyes desire, every pleasure! You would think that would make a man happy, and joyful? But if we continue reading we will see that this is just not so. Let’s look at verse 11, ” Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done and on the labor in which I had toiled; And indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun” At the end of the book, Solomon tells us the secret to a true and lasting happiness. Ecclesiastes 12:13: ” Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all.”

We must learn from Solomon who realized, that the God who created man knows best what will and will not make man happy…

LLISTEN, IF YOU WANT TO SEE JESUS—TO THE SAVING OF YOUR SOUL… YOU NEED TO LOOK TO THE CROSS—THAT’S WHAT JESUS WANTS YOU TO DO.

See the Son of man being glorified—see His walk to the cross—see His death – His sacrifice for you on the cross. In John 12:24, Jesus is saying that His death is a necessity, His death is for the whole world and the fruit of our salvation comes only through His death. Death is the victory—death is where salvation will come from. Connect the dots with Philippians 2:8 where we are told Jesus, “humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” (Phil. 2:8). 
What Jesus did was submit to the will of the Father—laying down self—setting aside His own desire—“not My will but Your will be done” Live For This Life and Lose The life to Come. Jesus is our perfect example of one who was completely and perfectly willing to set aside His own desires, His own comfort, His own life to be in submission to the Father…

As soon as Paul began his epistle to the Galatians, he expressed concern. Marveling they were turning so soon to a different gospel – (Gal 1:6). Letting themselves be troubled by some perverting the gospel of Christ – (Gal 1:7). It is important to know the difference between the pure gospel and perverted gospels. To PREACH a different gospel is to be accursed – (Gal 1:8-9). To not obey the true gospel is to face condemnation.  The Lord will: “in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power” (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9). Or, “For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?” (1 Peter 4:17).

Today we need to be just as concerned about “Perversions Of The Gospel”…

Paul wrote to the saints at Colossi (3:1), “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God… then at (3:2)… Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.” Now in this lesson we look to verses 18 through 21 Paul gives us this list so that we can know being filled with the Spirit looks like:  “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5:18). Notice that Paul begins here with “AND”. He is connecting this statement with don’t be foolish, walk with wisdom, seek the will of the Lord and make the best use of your time. To the church at Corinth Paul wrote, “9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor [b]homosexuals, nor [c]sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.” (1 Cor. 6:9-10). 

Of all these sins Paul chose to use being drunk here – why? Little doubt that Paul’s words were meant as encouraging Christians here—I mean you really have to “twist the scripture” to do that.

When Paul wrote of his concern to the churches in Galatia he described them as “foolish” – (Gal 3:1, 3), for seeking to be perfected by the flesh – e.g., via circumcision. Paul wondered if they had been “bewitched” – (Gal 3:1). Paul used a word (baskaino) which means “fascinate, bewitch, charmed, overpower” (Strong’s). Led astray by charming misrepresentations. Paul sought to reason with them – (Gal 3:1-5). Was not Christ clearly portrayed to them as crucified, had they not received the Spirit by the hearing of faith rather than by the works of the Law, had not the One who supplied the Spirit done so through the hearing of faith? 

Is it possible today, could we face similar dangers today? Might someone “bewitch” us through false teaching? Should we not be led by spiritual reasoning (Rom. 10:17; Rom. 3:4, 4:3), rather than charming, and bewitching claims of men? 

We may indeed find ourselves “Bewitched” for the Scriptures reveal there is A CLEAR AND EVER PRESENT DANGER…

The apostle now impresses upon all saints describing more of how we are to imitate God…walk in love…offering ourselves as Living Lights and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.
He begins by saying, “Therefore do not be partakers with them.” (Eph. 5:7). Partakers with who? People of this world who walked in the futility of their mind, in darkness and live without God in their lives, alienated from the life of God.
Your Duty to God and Christ is to be light, (Eph. 5:8), you have been given a new identity in Christ—you are light—learn it and live it. Paul does not say that you were “in darkness”, he says you were darkness (v.8). The blood of Jesus removed your darkness and replaced it with light—the blood of Jesus washed you—made you clean—and now you are light in the Lord. Now you have a mission—you are light in the Lord and Paul commands “Walk as children of light”…

Our focus is a simple one, yet one that I consider to be of great importance. It is necessary for every Christian’s spiritual health and well-being to possess the ability to bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ as Paul wrote. Necessary because this will protect us from the evil one, the devil. Necessary because God’s word clearly teaches that what we think, makes us what we are. 

“As a man thinks, so is he.” (Proverbs 23:7) What we think about is crucial to who we are. Each and everyday thousands of thoughts come into our minds. Some Good, some bad. Who we are and more importantly who we become is shaped moment by moment by the thoughts we choose to let into our minds. But how can we manage to control the thoughts that enter our mind each day? What do we do with the thoughts that are not pleasing to God, and would tear us down?

As Christians every thought must be made subject, whether it be our own understanding (human reasoning) or impure thoughts. They all must be subject to God’s will for us, via His thought which is better and higher than ours as Isaiah wrote of God saying, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. 9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9). Jeremiah wrote, “O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps” (Jeremiah 10:23). So, left to our own thoughts and ways, we will surely fall victim to and become captive to the devil…

“Therefore be imitators of God as dear children” (Ephesians 5:1). Jesus is the reflection of the Father. Remember the saying [The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree]? In context here Paul is saying the same thing. As children of your Heavenly Father—you need to imitate him. We need to imitate Jesus as well—knowing that He is the reflection of His Father. Remember what Jesus said to Philip, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” (John 14:9). Paul writing to the saints at Colossi said, “The Son is the image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15), and let’s not forget John 1:1, “In the beginning was the word, the word was with God, and the word was God”

Why imitate God and Christ? The question should not be why—but why not. When we consider the love of God—the provision of God—the extraordinary power of God to save that which is lost.

Why would any member of His family not strive to imitate Him as much as possible?