A Branch

Ephesians 1:4-6

2011-11-08T19:09:00.000-06:00

Eph 1:4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love
Eph 1:5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
Eph 1:6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

Verse 4
One of the purpose of our election. To be holy and blameless.

The unworthy have been declared worthy, the unrighteous declared holy.
We are now before God blameless and holy.

This verse is talking about our position, but that does not excuse us for not being holy in our conduct now. A Christian knowing that we are redeemed with the precious blood of the spotless lamb will strive to live holy lives.

Verse 5
Predestination
PREDESTINA'TION, n. The act of decreeing or foreordaining events; the decree of God by which he hath, from eternity, unchangeably appointed or determined whatever comes to pass. It is used particularly in theology to denote the preordination of men to everlasting happiness or misery.

Predestination is a part of the unchangeable plan of the divine government; or in other words, the unchangeable purpose of an unchangeable God.

Yes this verse is saying that before time began, we (all who will be saved) were predestinated to this salvation.

We are predestined to “adoption as sons.”

We were of our father the devil (Rom. 8:44; I Jn. 3:8-10). Under him we were, indeed, slaves, slaves to sin, under a sentence of death. But we have been adopted into the family of God. We are members of a new family, all the old debts are paid, and we are new people.

In His great love He makes us more than citizens and servants, and even more than friends. He makes us Children. God lovingly draws redeemed sinners into the intimacy of His own family.

Eph 1:5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,

It is through Christ that this is possible that we can be adopted.

Joh 1:11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
Joh 1:12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,

Gal 3:26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith

Eph 1:5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,

God did this according to the kind intention of His will.

KJV “according to the good pleasure of his will,”

Pleasure, or kind intention

εὐδοκία
eudokia
yoo-dok-ee'-ah

2) delight, pleasure, satisfaction

Eph 1:6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

The ultimate reason for everything that exists is the glory of His grace. That is why, as God’s Children, Christians should do everything they do--even such mundane things as eating ad drinking- to the glory of God.

From verses 3 through 6 here are 12 points

1.The blesser--God
2.The blessed ones--BLEIEVERS
3.The blessing--- Everything Spiritual
4.The location of blessing-- The heavenly places
5.The blessing agent--Jesus Christ
6The method--election
7.The object--the elect
8.The time--Eternity past
9.The purpose--holiness
10.The motive--Gods love
11.The result-- sonship
12.The goal-- God glory

Ephesian 1:3-4

2011-10-30T15:52:00.000-06:00

Ephesians 1:3-14

List of blessings in Christ from God
1. Blessed with every spiritual blessing, this is a blessing
2. We are chosen
3. Predestined
4. We are adopted as sons
5. Redemption
6. Forgiveness or our sins
7. Made known to us the mystery.
8. We have obtained an inheritance.
9. We are sealed with the H.S. as a pledge of our inheritance. (it’s a done deal)

Eph 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,

Here in verse 3 there are 5 things that need to be pointed out about these blessing
The Source is our “God and Father”
Recipients “US” Christians true believers.
Content “Spiritual” It a spiritual blessing
Location “in the heavenlies”
And the means “In Christ”

We have everything in Christ

Christ’s riches. Ours
His resources are. Ours
His righteousness
Power
His position
Where he is
His privilege
His possession
What he has
His practice
What he does we do. We have what we have cause we are in Christ.

Eph 1:4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world

This text is speaking that God did indeed chose us ( born again believers) for Himself for salvation. Apart from any influence by men. Before the world was.

Jon 2:9 Salvation is from the Lord.

Free will VS Predestination.

Man is completely responsible for repenting and trusting in Christ and will be judged for not doing so.
A man is only saved because God chose him before the world was.

Both facts that the bible teaches.

Duet. 29:29

J.I. Packer. In his book “Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God”

All Christian believe in divine sovereignty, but some are not aware that they do, and mistakenly imagine and insist that they reject it. What causes this odd state of affairs? The root cause is the same as in most cases of error in the Church-the intruding of rationalistic speculations, the passion for systematic consistency, a reluctance to recognize the existence of mystery and to let God be wiser that men, and a consequent subjection of Scripture to the supposed demands of human logic.
People see the Bible teaches man’s responsibility for his actions; they do not see (man, indeed, cannot see) how this is consistent with the sovereign Lordship of God over those actions. They are not content to let the two truth live side by side, as they do in Scripture, but jump to the conclusion that , in order to uphold their biblical truth of human responsibility, they are bound to reject that equally biblical and equally true doctrine of divine sovereignty, and to explain away the great number of texts that teach it. The desire to over-simplify the Bible by cutting out the mysteries is a natural to our perverse minds, and it is not surprising that even godly men should fall victim to it. Hence this persistent and troublesome dispute. The irony of the situation, however, is that when we ask how the 2 sides pray it becomes apparent that those who

J Mac
Because we cannot stand the tension of mystery, paradox, or antinomy, we are inclined to adjust what the Bible teaches so that it will fit our own system of order and consistency. But that presumptuous approach is unfaithful to God’s word and leads to confused doctrine and weakened living. I.e. weak Christians.

It is not that God’s sovereign election, or predestination, eliminates man’s choice in faith. Divine sovereignty and human response are integral and inseparable parts of salvation- though exactly how they operate together only the infinite mind of God knows.

Why is this such a big issue? Why does this separate so many Christians?

Ephesian Review/3-14 outline

2011-10-23T16:45:00.004-06:00

What an awesome day at Church. We have an amazing group of people dedicated to the Lord King Jesus. We did a big review as we went through the book of Ephesians today. It was nice to see so many faces in the seats all eager to learn the word of God. Thank you all for coming and participating so well.

I have included in our study 1 vocabulary word for each week today our word was:
Doxology: A hymn or form of words giving credit to God through praise.
Doxology is a fancy word for Praise.

That is what Chapter 1:3-14 is, a doxology.

Outline:
(1-6a) Centers on the Father
(6b-12) Centers on the Son
(13-14) Centers on the Holy Spirit

You could sum up this verse 3-14 by saying that these blessing listed come from God the Father, become our in Jesus Christ, and are applied by the Holy Spirit.

List of blessings in Christ from God
Blessed with every spiritual blessing
We are chosen
Predestined
We are adopted as sons
Redemption
Forgiveness or our sins
Made known to us the mystery.
We have obtained an inheritance. Obtained??
We are sealed with the H.S. as a pledge of our inheritance. (it’s a done deal)

Ephesian 1:1-2

2011-10-16T13:45:00.000-06:00

Eph 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus:
Eph 1:2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Outline of the first 14 verses
1-2) Salutation = Dear Whom ever, it’s a greeting.
(A) The doctrine of predestination, and its design, (3-7)

3)A praise to God because of what he has done in Christ.

4) Christians chosen from the begging of time to be holy and blameless.
5)Through Christ, because of Gods kind will, we have predestined to be Children of God
6)The ultimate reason is Gods own glory his grace which is a gift put on us.
7)What Christians have in Christ because He’s is rich in grace.
(B) The benefits of the plan of predestination to those who are chosen, (7-14)
8)God grace is lavished on Christians.
9)More of God’s plan is reveled more plainly to us in Christ
10)All things summed up in Christ.
11)Threw His will we have been predestined to obtain and inheritance.
12)The ultimate reason is Gods own glory
13-14)Believers in Christ are sealed with the Holy Spirit as a pledge for God own possession, The ultimate reason is Gods own glory

1.)
Paul author of this epistle who was formally know as Saul a mighty persecutor of the Church. He is an apostle by the will of God and that is the prevailing content of these first 14 verses.

Paul is writing this letter to the faithful saint in Christ Jesus.

2.)
This are “the irreducible minimum of what constitutes a Christian.”
1.Saints 2.Faithful 3.In Christ.

John Murry
“Union with Christ has its source in the election of God the Father before the foundation of the world and it has its accomplishment in the glorification of the sons of God. The perspective of God’s people is not narrow; it has the expanse of eternity.

Eph 1:2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

3.)
Those are not separate and distinct sources but two manifestations of the same Source. The “and” in this verse indicates equivalence, and indicates that Jesus is deity just like God our Father.

Grace is the fountain of Peace. Grace from God brings peace from God. We have peace with God and it is the peace of God.

Php 4:7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Boice says
“from the very begging of this epistle there is no mystery about how we are to be Faithful Christian- by the will and strength of God, who alone can help us. We have no other Strength, but by His grace we can triumph

The statements at the beginning of this letters are not just a sign in, he will emphasize these themes many times throughout out the rest of the book.

Please feel free to comment

Grace and peace
LT

Ephesians Intro

2011-10-09T14:07:00.001-06:00

Sovereign Grace Bible Church, 10/9/2011

Ephesians. ~Intro~
1.Is the deepest, greatest, matures, and for our time the most relevant.
This epistle tell the Christian of their great riches, inheritances, and fullness in Jesus Christ and in His Church. This book tell you what you possess in Christ and how you can claim and enjoy your possessions.

John MacArthur
“This book is Gods heavenly bank and there is no limitations or restrictions on it. There is NO reason a Christian is to be spiritually deprived, undernourished, or impoverished, In fact, he has no reason not to be completely healthy and immeasurable rich in the things of God.”

Because of the Riches of His Grace (1:7) and the unfathomable riches of Christ (3:8) We are to be filled up to the fullness of Christ (4:13) and filled with the Spirit (5:18) and the all the fullness of God (3:19)

Christ is the guarantee of every spiritual blessing and all spiritual riches.

Those who are in Him have access to all that He is and has.

2. The theme of the book.
The prevailing theme in Ephesians is God’s eternal purpose and the place of Christ and His people in that purpose.

We are told who we are, how we came to be as we are, what we shall be, and what we must do now in the light of the destiny. We are God’s children (1:2), God’s heirs (1:11), Christs body (1:22-23), God’s building (2:19-22), Christ’s bride (5:22-31), and the Church (1:22; 3:10; 21 ect.).

3.There are 2 possible reasons that this letter was written not specifically to Ephesians.

This letter could have been the letter from Laodicea with the Colossians. (Col 4:16)
This letter was a circular letter intended for all the seven churches of Asia minor.

4.The City of Ephesus.
Was the capitol city in a Roman providence in Asia. It was the political and commercial center of a large and prosperous region.

It had a 25,000 seat open-air theater
There was a stadium for Chariot races and fights with animals.

Ephesus boosted most of all about it temple to Diana or Artemis a false idol.
Ephesus is located in morden Turkey

God was pleased to establish a faithful church in a city where Christian we attempting to live for God in the midst of utter paganism

Paul spent more than 3 years in Ephesus
The letter to the Ephesians was written about 60-62 A.D.
32 years later John wrote a letter to this same Church in the book of Revelation Chapter 2.

A basic out line Chapter 1-3 Gods purpose and everything we have in Christ Chapter 3-6
Application, how we are to walk according to the first 3 chapters.

Ephesians.

2011-10-01T08:14:00.000-06:00

My prayer for SGBC along with Paul.

Eph 1:18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,

Eph 1:19 and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.

I have started studying the book of Eph for adult bible study on Sunday mornings. I will start bloging notes and out lines of our study as we move threw the book. Feel free to comment or ask questions here.

All of you get notified threw email anytime there is activity on this site. So we can all be involved together so feel free to answer any questions that may be asked.

If you do not wish to be notified by email let me know and I will remove you from the list.

Here is a link to our fan page on Facebook please “Like” our page. Here will we will be posting updates and events as we grow, as I have no doubt we will!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sovereign-Grace-Bible-Church/279574395395438

Getting to know the Word.

2011-09-29T11:25:00.001-06:00

The link on the right will take you to a page where a couple of us men are reading threw the bible and commenting on it. " 3 men and a bible"

The point is to read 4 chapters everyday. Within a year you'll have gone threw the old testament once and the New testament 3 times.

The reason we are going to blog about it is to ingrain the word in to our minds. We blog simple out lines and things that might stick out in reading. Having to think about what you just read, will help you remember what you just read.

Join us if you like.

Whada ya think?

2011-08-12T16:46:00.000-06:00

"No one ever converted to Christianity because they lost the argument"
--Phillip Yanecy

What do you make of this statement?

True or False?

If this is true what are we as Christians to do with the gospel?

What does the bible say?

Men of The Word

2011-08-09T18:38:00.000-06:00

Men lets look up to Danial and take the same mind set that he did.

(Danial 1:8) Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself

BOOM!

Lets make up our mind to do the same. To flee sin and peruse rightousness. To live our lives focused on the Glory of God.

Be self-controlled, disciplined, and take control of your flesh, make it obey you.

2Pe 1:5-8) Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1Ti 4:7b) discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness

Men of the Word

2011-08-09T04:43:00.000-06:00

I hope your enjoying going threw this book as much as I am. What an amazing last week it has been in my life spiritually. We seem to be growing in holiness and our friendships are growing stronger and deeper. Our last meeting together was awesome, it seemed like we picked up right where we left off on Sunday morning in theology study. I'm getting emotional just thinking about it. LOL.

A couple of things from chapter 7 that stand out to me.

1st (pg 83)
" A Christian must never leave off repenting, for I fear he never leaves off sinning"
-- Charles Spurgeon

What a true statement that is! Like it says, a delay of repentance will harden the heart. So what sin comes to mind? Throw it off and repent.

2nd (pg 86)

A truth for the T in T.U.L.I.P

"Man is by nature so entirely under the power of sin that he can hide it from himself even when he has committed it. This is one of the most dangerous manifestations of sin. It blinds the heart... It is the work of the Spirit of the grace of God to make the soul acknowledge sin."

Jonh Chapter 3 comes to my mind.

And a verse that R.R. text me that I would like to share. A verse we can live by.

Isa 26:3 You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.

Keep your eyes on the Prize men stay strong and keep in the Faith.

Men of the Word

2011-08-02T18:50:00.003-06:00

Wow this verse never hit me like this before. I love the Word of God!

1 Cor 16:13 "Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.

EAT THIS FOR LUNCH

"The lust of the flesh comes naturally to sinners, and any self-indulgent BOY can consume himself with his own desires. But a REAL MAN does what is hard. He is a fighter, he fights for his Savior's glory, for his own sanctification, and for the spiritual good of those around him."

(Men of the Word pg. 72)

Man up, fight the flesh, and stay strong brothers. Be like Job and make that covenant with your eyes, take heed of Paul's words and Flee sinful lust and desires.

I praise and thank God for bringing you all into my life!

Men of The Word

2011-07-24T16:58:00.000-06:00

We are going into the 2nd week of reading "Men of the Word". The first week came and went. . We read through to chapter 3 last week and will be reading through to chapter 6 this next 2 weeks. We had a great meeting at Starbucks, we talked about the Faith and where our faith should be placed.

" Faith is defined by a confident trust in and full dependence on the only right object of faith- GOD HIMSELF" (Men of the word pg 13)

If you put your faith in anything but the One True God it is worth less. You might as well have a rabbit foot on your key chain, and remember the rabbit had 4 feet and it brought him no luck. Where do you place your faith? Money, job, parents, insurance, ect?

Faith must be in the God of the bible. Why the bible? Because it is the word of God, the only place we can learn about this God to whom we have faith in.

Any questions contact me at ltweaver1@gmail.com

Men of The Word

2011-07-17T16:18:00.000-06:00

The New book we are studding. A group of us men at our church.Contact me for more info @ ltweaver1@gmail.com

Gossip

2010-04-14T18:19:00.001-06:00

Gossip

1.idle talk or rumor, esp. about the personal or private affairs of others: the endless gossip about Hollywood stars.
2.light, familiar talk or writing.
3.Also, gos·sip·er, gos·sip·per. a person given to tattling or idle talk."

Be very careful what you say and who you say it around. It may seem innocent at the time but the party with whom you speak may add to to your conversation when they "gossip" to one of there friends, and that friend tells a friend and eventual it will get back to you.

It makes me wonder, if we do not talk of others what more would we have to talk about? Cut all gossip out of your conversations and see how much you have to say. That will be a sure telll if you have a problem with gossip.

I learned a lesson to day. Don't talk to much, only talk about what is relevant to the present moment. Most of all glorify God with your speech!

What does the bible say about gossip?

Lev 19:16 says. " Never gossip, Never endanger your neighbor's life. I am the LORD"
Pro 16:28 says. " A devious person spreads quarrels. A gossip separates the closest of friends"
Pro 20: 19 say. "Whoever goes around as a gossip tells secrets. Do not associate with a person whose mouth is always open."
Pro 26:20 says. "Without wood a fire goes out, and without gossip a quarrel dies down."
1 Ti 5:13 says " gossip and get involved in other people's business, saying things they shouldn't say."

DON'T GOSSIP

Eph 4:29 says. "Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need o the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear."

A rule to live by. (And I need to apply this to my life more than you.)
Stop, think, and then speak. If what you stop to think about what you want to say make sure it lines up with one of with the above verses, if not there is no need to speak it. Remember we are around fallen people who are going to take what you say and twist it, even if it is just a little cause of memory. The store never stays the same. Get in the habit of this there is no need for it at all no matter how innocent it may seem.

If you have a problem with this Repent.

Pray and strive to be holy.

God is in contol

2010-04-13T05:18:00.003-06:00

4. However, his father and mother did not know that it was of the Lord.
Judges 14:4

Here the hand of the Lord was in control of the situation as always. Here the parents of Samson did not know that it was of the Lord. It did not make sense the events that were transpiring.

This is true today. Sometimes things happen out of your control or understanding, the purpose, is none other than to glorify God.

Let us not for get we are but mere creatures, created beings.

God will, can, and has the right to do with up as He pleases.
We are nothing more than clay.

Love the Lord

2010-04-12T04:58:00.002-06:00

O love the Lord, all you His godly ones!
The Lord preserves the faithful and fully recompenses the proud doer.
Be strong and let your heart take courage, All you who hope in the Lord.

Psalm 31:23-24

Man

2010-04-11T13:57:00.002-06:00

Man IS
A fallen, radically deprave, spiritually dead, morally corrupt, Sin living God hating creature.

In the very core of his being he is as apposed to God as the Devil himself, He cannot change, and has no desire to do so, he loves a lie and will do every thing in his power to restrain and suppress every truth about God, and the more he knows about God the more he hates Him because God is righteous and man is EVIL.

Paul Washer

Wow he hit the nail on the head with this definition of MAN

Pyromaniacs: On the Piper-Warren Connection

2010-04-09T05:57:00.000-06:00

Pyromaniacs: On the Piper-Warren Connection: "A preacher doesn't have to affirm heresy or overtly deny truth in order to be dangerous. It is entirely possible by one's behavior to distort or obscure the gospel message. All Peter did to earn a public rebuke from Paul was change seats at the dinner table (Galatians 2:11-14). But in context, that seriously compromised the gospel. Deliberately and repeatedly giving short shrift to the greatest truths of the gospel is at least as serious an error as Peter's hypocrisy"

Early morning with God.

2010-04-09T04:42:00.000-06:00

Judges 6:31 "If he is a god let him contend for himself" We need to keep this in our minds when we argue against the false teachers of our day knowing that we are the ones who proclaim and trust in the true God and Lord creator of the heaven and the earth. So My point is have faith, be strong knowing that he who is with you is greater than this world or any false god in it. A false god will never be able to contend for himself! There is only One God the God who lives then, now, and forever.

YouTube - Soldiers - In Loving Memory Of B.H. Clendennen

2010-04-08T18:44:00.000-06:00

YouTube - Soldiers - In Loving Memory Of B.H. Clendennen Are you a Christian. Than report for duty. We are in a war. Its not something you get around you. Go share the gospel.

"Judges"

2010-04-08T15:35:00.000-06:00

The bible amazes me. There are so many stories (actual events) that took place that you never hear about unless you read it for your self.
I just finished reading through Judges chapter 4 and 5. Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite a blessed women for what she did. They sang her praise.

Sisera, a commander of an army with 900 Iron chariots, a strong man who oppressed the sons of Israel severely for 20 years, fled on foot after an attack from Barak and 10,000 men and was meet by Jail who befriended him and brought him into the tent to hide him. She gave him milk and he fell asleep only to have her drive a tent peg threw his head pinning him to the ground.

Wow she had guts.

Pictures

2010-04-08T10:09:00.000-06:00

I love taking pictures when out. What feeling does this picture invoke? It makes me want to live somewhere it is summer all year, not like here in Utah where you get a foot of snow in the spring.

Can't sleep

2010-04-08T04:39:00.000-06:00

My mind is numb and I'm brain dead. I got to sleep aroung 3:30 am and now am up to see my wife off to work. I usauly stay up and read, but I don't think that is going to happen today. I'm going back to bed good night.

YouTube - John Piper - Why Rick Warren @ the Desiring God 2010 National Conference?

2010-04-08T00:00:00.000-06:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlxRKLXk1WE This is sad. He only is explaining and justifying himself not to the world but to Christians. That is a red flag. John Piper has endorsed Rick and that will lead people astray. John says Rick claims true solid doctrine, but what fruit is Rick baring? If you have to justify this before it takes place something is wrong!

Facebook | Lt Weaver

2010-04-07T23:51:00.000-06:00

Im not sure what this is for.Facebook Lt Weaver

My Wife

2010-04-07T23:29:00.000-06:00

Here is a picture of my beautiful wife. I want nothing more in life than to serve her the way the bible says. That is one awesome women right there-->

I don't know what I would do with out her.

I'm very hard to live with. But she puts up with me. Man, I'm so blessed, like I said before, I'm nothing more than a man who walks in the favor of God.

2010-04-07T23:18:00.000-06:00

I like to share the truth of Gods word. I don't hold back. I understand people are repelled by the gospel. But I love speaking the truth. I'm not elegant at all but probably come across harsh and insensitive, I don't mean to be. When I share the gospel I get nervous and my heart starts pumping, if you listen close you will here it in my quivering voice. I just want people to be saved!
Nothing else intrestes me the way the word of God does. All conversation I have to try and push myself to partisapate in. Not so when it comes to the word of God. I LOVE it. It is my favorite!

I also make youtube videos there down below.

I said I alot and it made me feel funny, not in a good way, but this blog is about my walk with the Lord so just get used to it. K. Thanks.
LT

Myself

2010-04-07T21:50:00.000-06:00

Here are a few things about my self.
1)My name is LT and I'm nothing more than a walking example of Gods mercy towards men.
2) A 30 year old Husband and father of 3.
3) Someone seeking to proclaim the truth and live a life of holiness.
4) My Grammar and spelling are horrible But I will continue to post in spite of my weakness :-)
5)I live in Ogden Ut, Pretty sure I'll be here the rest of my life.
6) I have an older brother and a younger sister, whom I so desperately want to be saved!

Reason for the blog.
I want to hopefully inspire other to express there love for Christ.
I will be posting regularly. Thing I'm doing studying and People I share the Gospel with
I will share my struggles, concerns, fears, praises, prayer requests and what ever else I can.
I will try to keep things short.

God bless you all please continue to read.