Thursday, June 19, 2008

Back at it on Sunday

Preachin' Ephesians 3
Love that surpasses knowledge.
Paul had all the knowledge in the world. Damascus changed everything.
Read it...give me some more ammunition.

Posted by rev rock at 11:00 PM

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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Dan
Can't wait till baby time!
A couple of my thoughts on Ephesians 3 that I shared with my small group:

3:10 - The rulers and authorities of this world – both earthly and their shadowy heavenly counterpoints – always tend to create societies and social structures in their flat, boring image, monochrome, uniform and one-dimensional. Worse – they tend to marginalize or kill people or groups who don’t fit their narrow band of acceptability. The church is to be, by the very fact of its existence a warning to them that their time is up, and an announcement to the world that there is a different way to be human.

3:20 – Think what God might do through you and then double it! Or triple it!!! Or go so far beyond it that you would look back at the present moment and wonder how you could be so short-sighted. God’s power is not ours to do with what we like. If we want to get on the map of verse 20, I think we should ask ourselves, are we on the map of the first three chapters of this book? Then we must live up to this calling.

6/20/2008 8:22 AM
La Rodriga said...

I love this chapter! I'll just point out one thing that I think is amazing about the word "manifold." Paul is obviously talking about the Gentiles being a part of God's kingdom, along with the Jews, that is the mystery. This is the manifold wisdom of God.

Manifold, by Webster's definition, means
1 a: marked by diversity or variety b: many
2: comprehending or uniting various features : multifarious
3: rightfully so-called for many reasons
4: consisting of or operating many of one kind combined

When you apply that word to the many people included in God's kingdom and how God has designed us to be one in him....it gives me goosebumps. It's so simplistic, yet so powerful.

6/20/2008 9:07 AM
Jeff said...

I love that Paul's prayer (14-21) is not a prayer that God would grant us the strength to do better, sin less, or accomplish something. rather, his prayer is that God would strengthen us to know that Christ dwells in us (vs 17) and so that we may know/comprehend the incredible vastness of God's love for us. It just amazes me how often I can try to change things by focusing on myself and what I need to do, but Paul's prayer is that we can begin to comprehend that Jesus is with us and his amazing love for us. If we focus on those things and truly begin to understand them, I think we can't help but change. Looking at me, change seems difficult and hard. Focusing on God, and the truth and reality of his presence and love, makes change seem possible and even inviting.
I am not sure if that all makes sense. I just seem to be a person that frequently slips into a pattern of thinking that I need to change and be better so that I can expereince more of God's love. but it seems that the reality is that we need to (as Paul prayed) understand and begin to grasp and accept the depth and the grand reality of God's love for us as we are, and out of that realization, our change will not be a drudgery, or a monumental task to fulfill, but a journey in safety and security towards the one who has already given us his wondrous love. When we accept the truth that we are loved for who we are, we non longer need to strive to be someone that we perceive is "worthy" of love. Anyway, those are just my random thoughts.

6/20/2008 10:17 AM
rev rock said...

thanks for the ammo y'all...awesome stuff. I need you to move to Redding Bill. I miss the insights into scripture!

6/20/2008 7:57 PM
rev rock said...

Holly...That word manifold is the same word they use to describe Joseph's coat of many colors...how cool is that!
Jeff...I seriously might use that on Sunday. Would you mind if I read some of that?

6/20/2008 7:59 PM

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