No Disappointments Philippians 1:12–30 Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. Philippians 1:20 Think of the scope of this statement in verse 20. In the first place, Paul knew that Christ would be magnified. Paul lived in an environment in which the pagan gods were worshiped and all power…

Finishing His Work Philippians 1:3–11 He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. Philippians 1:6 When I was in grade school, I spent a number of summers at a Christian camp in Canada. One summer I spent several hours watching one of the campers…

Spiritual Warfare Ephesians 6:10–18 Put on the whole armor of God. Ephesians 6:11 The battle of the Christian is not simply against particularly evil men and women. Rather it involves “the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (v. 12). The spiritual forces against which we struggle are not holy or beneficent. They are wicked…

Love That Forgives Ephesians 4:25–32 Forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Ephesians 4:32 Love is to be forgiving. Since God the Father forgave us through the work of Christ, we are to forgive one another. This is love’s nature. This link between God’s forgiveness of us and our forgiveness of others is…

Spiritual Gifts Ephesians 4:7–16 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Ephesians 4:7 How can you discover what your gifts are? First, study what the Bible has to say about spiritual gifts. Without a knowledge of what God’s Word teaches in this area, we can easily…

A Wondrous Prayer Ephesians 3:14–21 To know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. Ephesians 3:19 If Christ’s love surpasses knowledge, how are we to grasp or know it? Although we cannot exhaust the love of Christ by our knowledge, we can nevertheless know this love truly. It is the same with the knowledge of…

The Great Drama Ephesians 3:7–13 Through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known. Ephesians 3:10 Here in a nutshell is what I think the purpose of history is, as demonstrated in the lives of those who have been saved from sin by Jesus. Instead of annihilating Satan when he rebelled,…

No Barrier Ephesians 2:11–22 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one. Ephesians 2:14 Not only is fellowship with the Father restored, but fellowship between estranged human beings also—if they are in Christ. Jesus’s death for sin opened the way to God for all who will come to God by him….

But God Ephesians 2:1–10 But God . . . Ephesians 2:4 Our position as sinners (apart from God) is hopeless for three reasons. First, we are “dead in [our] trespasses and sins” (v. 1). We are no more able to help ourselves spiritually than a corpse is able to improve its condition. Second, we are…

Spiritual Blessings Ephesians 1:1–14 [God] has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing. Ephesians 1:3 Ephesians 1:4–14 is a listing of the spiritual blessings we have in Christ. 1. Election (v. 4). Paul says that “he [that is, God] chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy…