Ephesians 4:32

Ephesians 4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Forgiveness is impossible . . . that is unless you are a Christian. Here is a good story: When the first missionaries came to Alberta, Canada, they were savagely opposed by a young chief of the Cree Indians named be my father. You shall ride my best horse and wear my best clothes." In total amazement and sorrow his enemy exclaimed, "My son, now you have killed me!" He meant, of course, that the hate in his own heart had been completely erased by the forgiveness and kindness of Maskepetoon. When we forgive others, we are Christ-like. And after all, hasn’t Jesus Christ already forgiven us?

Maskepetoon. But he responded to the gospel and accepted Christ. Shortly afterward, a member of the Blackfoot tribe killed his father. Maskepetoon rode into the village where the murderer lived and demanded that he be brought before him. Confronting the guilty man, he said, "You have killed my father, so now you must

Ephesians 4:25-27

Ephesians 4:25-27 Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil. Paul reminds the Ephesian church that they should not lie. And that is good for us too. We should speak the truth. But how can you be angry and sin not. Well about a week ago, I said that I hated something. Greyson spoke up and said, “Aw, Granddaddy, you aren’t supposed to hate anyone. That’s not nice.” I thought fast so that I could get myself out of trouble and said to Greyson, “Well you are allowed to hate the Devil.” He thought for a moment and replied, “well, you can hate the Devil. That’s all right.” And there is a right time to stand up and say the right thing when someone is not doing right. Paul reminds the church at Ephesus, and us as we read the book of Ephesians, that if we are angry and quarrel with other Christians, we are giving the Devil a place in our church to hide out. And that’s not good. We don’t want Satan to have any part in our church. So, let’s be kind one to another. Before night comes, get things right with that Christian brother or sister that we are cross with. Let’s get along with one another so that we can keep the Devil out!

Ephesians 4:22-24

Ephesians 4:22-24 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. The Bible tells us that when we become Christians, we are a new creature. Old things are passed away and all are become new. On Wednesday, you are playing outside and your mother calls, “Come in. It’s time to get ready for church.” You come in and take off your old dirty play clothes and put on nice clean church clothes. And that’s what our verse is talking about. We should put off the old things that we used to do before we were saved. And then we should put on the right things that we should be doing as a Christian. Just like our dirty clothes and clean church clothes, we should put off the old and put on the new. And in our spiritual life, we should put off the old and put on the new.

Ephesians 4:14,15

Ephesians 4:14,15 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: In  church, we shouldn’t behave like children. We shouldn’t whine and say, “Mine!” We should share and we should be kind to each other. And children are easily led astray. I am sure that your mother and father have told you not to talk to strangers. You should not take candy from a stranger and for sure, not go with a stranger. The same is true in our spiritual lives. We should not follow some strange doctrine, following someone who does not preach from the Bible. Those teachers are called false teachers. We should check out what they say with the truth of the Bible. If what they say doesn’t follow what the Bible says, we should run, run from them! They are wicked people and they will try to deceive us! So, how do we know what is really true? By knowing what the Bible says. Our verse says that we should “grow up in Christ”. Know what Jesus said by reading the Bible, God’s holy Word. You have to know the truth before you can detect what is false. So, study the Bible, and you won’t go wrong!

Ephesians 4:11,12

Ephesians 4:11,12 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Some people are born with unusual talents. One person may be able to draw really well and another may have a beautiful voice. Another may be skillful at building things, and yet another may make wedding cakes. Our verse tells us that upon salvation, God gives each of us a spiritual gift. Each member of the body of Christ has a special skill that they should use to build up the church. We should not sit back in church and do nothing; we should get busy serving God and using our spiritual gifts. We need each other and we need the Lord. After all, aren’t we part of God’s forever family?

Ephesians 4:8-10

Ephesians 4:8-10 Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.) The is a passage that has a controversial interpretation. And I hold to this interpretation. Scripture is clear, you must believe in the name of Jesus Christ in order to go to heaven. So what about those who died before Jesus lived? What about the Old Testament believers like King David, Abraham, and Moses? We have a glimpse into the question in Like 16 when the rich man went to hell and Lazarus went to “Abraham’s bosom”. Lazarus we near to the rich man, but one was in torment and the other was comforted. I believe that before Christ died, the wicked people who died went to Hades, God’s jailhouse, and the believers went to Abraham’s bosom, another compartment in the center of the earth. When Jesus died, he went down into the lower parts of the earth and preached deliverance to those captives in Abraham’s bosom, and all of them trusted in Christ as their Savior. That is because they were already believers in God, they just didn’t know about Jesus just yet. And Jesus led them up to their heavenly reward. As our verse says, Jesus led captivity captive. But those lost souls in Hades had to stay there. They could not get a second chance. Remember the rich man couldn’t get out of hell. Now today, when a saved person dies, they go immediately to heaven. One day, according to Revelation 20, God will bring those wicked souls up to be judged who are in Hades. That will be the Great White Throne Judgement. The wicked will stand trial, be found guilty, and will be cast into the Lake of Fire, the second death. That is God’s final prison; God’s permanent lock up. I have heard it said, “If you are born once, you will die twice, but if you are born twice, you will only die once.” If you are born again into God’s forever family, you will only die once. But if you do not trust Jesus as your Savior, you will die physically and then you will die spiritually. How sad. But I am glad that I am saved, aren’t you?