Michael Rauls

Part 3/3 on Marriage

Rev. Ted Strawbridge

Part 2/3 on Marriage

Part 1/3 on Marriage

Ephesians 5:15-21

15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

The Work of the Holy Spirit: Communion

Ephesians 1:15-23

¹⁵For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, ¹⁶I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, ¹⁷that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, ¹⁸ having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, ¹⁹and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might ²⁰that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, ²¹ far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. ²²And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, ²³ which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

The Work of the Holy Spirit: Regeneration

Ephesians 1:3-10

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, ⁴ even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love ⁵ he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. ⁷ In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, ⁸which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight ⁹ making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ ¹⁰as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

The Work of The Spirit: What it Means to be Lost

Ephesians 2:1-10

¹ And you were dead in the trespasses and sins ² in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— ³among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. ⁴But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, ⁵even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved— ⁶and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast. ¹⁰For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Remembering With Forgiveness

Rev. Ted Strawbridge

Psalm 119

What I Meant to Say

We are spending several weeks looking at the simplest summary of what the church has meant when it says, “The Bible is God’s word.”

Now the biggest issue for you will be not what you believe, or even what you say, but whether your life bares the conviction that God speaks to you through His revelation in scripture.

God’s Lordship is complete. It extends to every area of life, but most importantly for our discussion, He is Lord over all thinking. All human knowledge is dependent knowledge. All human knowledge comes from God by His revelation. In knowing anything, you know it dependently on His nearness and revealing it to you. You don’t know anything apart from true surrender.

People who deny God only do so out of a position of dependence on His kindness and common grace. They can’t escape Him…

When Jesus says, “…Your word is truth.” He means more than that God’s words are genuine or honest… more then the veracity of the words themselves. God’s word is truth-creating. God spoke and by His power the heavens were created. His word is truth. All the earth proclaims it.

All knowledge is perspectival. We know God’s law. We know the world. We know ourselves. We only know these things from our perspective. There is the knowing of things, skills, and people. Each one is a dependent perspective revealed particularly to me. I only know it that way.

What that means is that knowledge can never be far off, or someone elses’. Rather, everything I know is connected to everything else I know and God has ordered the entire world and my own perception just to bring me here. He has good work for me.

When we come to special revelation, the Bible, we believe God by His Spirit immediately illumines our hearts to His truth in our own language.

He teaches me just what I need to know to serve His purpose in the world today. God loves His law. When Jesus calls us friends He also says, “you are my friend if you obey my word.” Jesus claims authority.

The Bible claims to be God’s word. Both in the Old Testament and the New. Jesus said that “… man doesn’t live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”

We believe that the Bible is “God-breathed.” II Tim. 3:16 But the most challenging aspect of the revelation of God is the presence of the Spirit communing Christ to us. The spiritual man judges all things. The man without the Spirit cannot know God. But the Bible says, “We have the mind of Christ.”

Dear friends, do you acknowledge the Lordship of Christ in your life by the present work of the Holy Spirit who has renewed your mind so that, “…you have the mind of Christ.”

The Holy Spirit is the one who reveals the authority of the Word of God. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, today. You have the mind of Christ!

Use it somewhere.

Lord, give me knowledge. Open my mind to your wonder.

In His Love,

Ted