Epistles of Paul 95

The key theme of the Purse to the Ephesians, as we've been emphasizing, is the great spiritual blessing that God is giving us that ultimately we will be one. One in unity with God through Christ. And as we remember from the Passover, Christ's lost prayer that was one of the things he prayed that we may all be one with them. So we have completed the first three chapters of Ephesians, which basically showed a couple of things. Let me just summarize them very briefly. And God's predetermined plan is to ultimately make us all one, Jews and Gentiles, as part of God's family, as children of God, and that is through Jesus Christ's redemption. We see that emphasized in Ephesians chapter 1 verses 5 and 7. Secondly, Paul mentions this has been a mystery of God, Eden, for ages and ages. That is highlighted in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 9, and also chapter 3 verse 4. Then he mentioned that even angels, they're not fully grasped, but we see that in Ephesians 3 verse 9 through 10. He then also mentions that he is a plan that is assured, that is firm, and God has given us a guarantee through the down payment of this promise, which is God's only Spirit, and that we see in Ephesians 1 13 and 14.

We, as people, we were without hope. In other words, we were, spiritually speaking, dead as we were influenced by Satan's power of the air influence, but now we've been given a great hope, which makes us spiritually alive. We can see that in Ephesians 1 17 through 18, and Ephesians 2 verses 1 and 2. He also said then that we're no longer alienated from God, but we are one with God. We can see that we're no longer alienated in Ephesians 2 12 through 13, also 19, and Ephesians 3 verse 6. He also mentioned in that connection that man-made rules that separated Gentiles from Jews and in turn from God are now null and void. In other words, invalidated. We see that in Ephesians 2 verse 14 and 15.

The final outcome is God's eternal purpose, as Paul described it. In other words, his end-time goal, which has been eternal, which is for us, ultimately, to be filled with all the fullness of God. And you see that in Ephesians 3 verse 11 and verse 19. So in verse 11, I want to pick up there in Ephesians 3 verse 11.

He says, according to the eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. And then in verse 19 says, to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. This all the fullness of God means that we may be filled with the divine nature of God. We'll look at that a little later today. And then he says in verse 13 of Ephesians 3, therefore he says, I ask that you do not lose heart.

And we are not to lose heart. God has an eternal purpose to create a family out of the whole human race, Jews and Gentiles. And we know that Christ was the first resurrected, the first born among many brethren, and the only one that today has immortality of those that came from the flesh, from humans. He's the only one that has resurrected and has immortality. But you and I are also to be born in the family of God at the resurrection, and that's when we will also receive immortality to be at one within. And that's what we see in 1 Corinthians 15, a very well-known scripture, verses 51 through 53.

It says, Behold, I'll tell you a mystery. We're not all, we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet, which is symbolized by the day of trumpets. For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

So today we do not have immortality. The only one that has it is Christ, of those that been through physical flesh. But we will also have immortality, and that's God's eternal purpose, that we might be filled with all the fullness of God. As you and I grow as Christians, we become more and more like God, till the resurrection will be changed to spirit beings, sons of God, filled with the fullness of God, being united, being one with God in his family.

In verse 20 of Ephesians chapter 3, it says, Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us. God is able to do it. God is able to achieve that, and he will achieve it, and that's through his power that he is through God's Holy Spirit.

And then he concludes the chapter, To him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, for ever and ever. Amen. And so God will be glorified because of his great love and his great plan of salvation for all of us. What a blessing! And so after Paul explained this great mystery of God that this blessing of us being a family of God is for all mankind, ultimately.

He then moves on to exhorting us and exhorting us to do and to apply the principles of being godly Christians. So basically we are not just learning, that's just called theory, technicalities, just head knowledge, but we are learning to apply these principles in our lives. And I think that's very important for us to understand because none of us is yet perfect, none of us is yet sinless, but we are in this road of growth.

And Paul now brings us some very important principles. We are at the beginning of Ephesians chapter 4 that it is very profitable for us to spend a bit of time and go through them. Yeah, we read in verse 1, I therefore the prisoner of the Lord. So he was a prisoner. He was in other rest in Rome.

These are Ephesians as part of the prison epistles. And he says as a prisoner, but it is also a meaning, a dual meaning, in a way that we all are prisoners to God, to serve God. We have left this this weakness of the world to be now God's servants, to serving.

And so that's why he says a prisoner of the Lord. We are to serve God. And he says, I therefore beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called.

Paul pleads with you and I to live in a way that shows due respect and honor to God, considering what God is doing for us.

So he's saying this is a calling with which you and I call. In other words, this is a full-time job to be a true disciple of Christ, to be a true Christian. And then he continues in verse 2, describing a little bit more detail of how to walk, because he says for us to walk worthy of the calling. And so he describes here how to walk with all loneliness and gentleness, with long suffering, bearing with one another in love. And so we're not to walk in a puffed up of vain. We are not to be treating others unkindly or violently, violently. But then he says with loneliness and gentleness, with patience, long suffering, bearing with one another in Godly love.

Verse 3, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. You know, in other words, striving, working hard to have unity through Christ's Holy Spirit in a way that brings peace. And so he is giving us an outlook of what we should be. The world is far from that. Christianity in this world is so divided.

People in this world, they don't understand God's nature. In other very eyes, he says endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. People don't understand many things about Christ and God. They're so divided. Maybe there's only one point in which there's unity in the world as far as doctrine, and that is trinity. But otherwise, and even as you and I know, that is not what God's nature is. So they don't understand God's nature, but we need to need to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

And then in verse 4, there is one body and one Spirit just as you were called in one hope and one calling. And so there is one body. One body is one spiritual body, which is the church of God. The body is the church. It's not an organization or a corporation.

And what it says is anyone that really has God's Holy Spirit is in God's church.

By one Spirit, God's Spirit, we are baptized into God's church. Again, it's not an organization or a corporation. And we know, and it's been something that we've emphasized many times, that God is able to raise up or it was called people in areas that maybe we don't even have access or capability to reach and or had in the past capability to reach. And it's evident that now and again, we come across people that are cemeterians, they want to keep the Holy Days, and they contact us, and they want to know more, and they want to be part of us. So even though we may have not been able to reach those people initially, God through His Spirit is able to raise or call people in areas wherein we may not have been able to reach. And so it's God's work. It's Him that is calling people. And then continue in verse 5, in the hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism. Verse 6, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all. And so, yeah, we're talking about that unity of the Spirit. We cannot be of the Spirit of this world. We cannot be like the Swaldis, carnal.

We should be a lot more. And regrettably, some of us fail because of carnality. You know, even we've seen when Paul, at the end of his third missionary trip in Acts 20 verse 29, I just turned to Acts 20 verse 29, he said, For I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not spilling the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after themselves.

You see, people want to get a following after themselves, and that is carnality.

We see, I've seen many times people being baptized and immediately after baptism, they said, well, I'm not continuing because I want to start my own church. And I am very careful in counseling people before baptism, but even then, some people are able to kind of elude me or deceive me, but they don't deceive God. So you get both cases. You get people that are in, that create different groups, and you see on the other side, you get people in these different groups that are gods. Maybe they were led astray for one reason or other, but God is with them. They're still God's people. And so our job is not to define these other organizations. They must define themselves. We need to define ourselves by how we live.

And in turn, it will be foolish of me to say that every member that is in church during services is converted. I'm not criticizing, but we would be foolish to to reach that conclusion because conversion is a process, and it takes time. And we hope and pray that people repent and change and grow, but unfortunately, sometimes there is a division.

And so we have tried in the past to reach other groups and other people, but regrettably sometimes as human beings, some people come out with their own ideas. But what do we have to have is one faith. That's what it says here in verse five. One faith.

It is a blessing, a blessing that what we have in the church is that one man can cannot come up with a new idea and lead the church away as it has happened in the past. So we have a process of check and balances, of verification, and that gives us a safety net, which is a blessing that we have. When people want to have their own ideas and therefore leave the church, it's very easy for one person by themselves to deviate from the truth, but we have to be careful with that. And so continuing, yeah, we see we all, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God, and we have to be united. You see, it's back to being one with God, being united. Verse seven then, But to each one of us, grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. To each one of us, through Christ's gift of giving his life, of dying for us, grace has been given to us. And that grace is the pardon, the redemption of our bodies. That's part of God's grace. Our God's grace is much more than just that. It's ongoing forgiveness and loving kindness and compassion towards us. But we, as it says here in verse seven, to each one of us, grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. The measure of Christ's gift is that he covered all our sins, and that's his gift for us. And then in verse 8, Therefore he says, When he ascended on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts to men. When Christ ascended to heaven, he led captivity captive. In other words, we are the sin, and that captivity of sin is now captive. We know more slaves of sin and Satan. So that captivity is now captive, and now we are slaves or servants or disciples of Christ, servants of God. And therefore, and then he says, and gave gifts to men. He gave additional gifts to you and I. Let's just look at some of those gifts that God gives us. First, let's look at Romans 5 verse 5. Romans 5 verse 5.

It says here, Now hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts. It was as a gift has been poured in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. God's love, God's outgoing concern, is given to us. It's not something that we naturally have. It's been given to us by God. God's given it to us, and we therefore have that gift. It's a gift of God's love that is given to us.

So love is a gift. God's love is a gift. Another example is the fruit of God's Holy Spirit, which is a gift. And let's look at Galatians chapter 5, because we received the gift of the Holy Spirit, and so with it comes not just love, but a whole lot of other attributes. And we read that in Galatians chapter 5 verse 22 and 23, but the fruit of the Spirit. In other words, the actual fruit, the characteristics of God's Holy Spirit in us are all these nine, let's call, characteristics. All these nine basic capabilities in us that God gives us. Gifts. He gives us godly love. He gives us inner joy in our hearts.

The joy that God gives us, it's a miracle, because there are so many problems around us.

But as we look around, we can still have inner joy, and we can have peace of mind. We can have peace of mind. That is a miracle. The world does not have peace of mind. There's so much depression and sadness in the world, but we, you and I, can have peace of mind. That's a gift.

Long suffering. That's another gift, because how many of us have huge, long, long trials, long continuing health issues, but we learn to be long suffering, to be patient with these trials and difficulties that are for a long period, that we may ask, why doesn't God stop it? Why doesn't God stop it? But it's God's help. His spiritual help helps us to be long suffering through these, but still showing kindness to others and act with good acts of goodness. We also, as a gift, we learn to be faithful. We learn to say yes, yes, and no, no. We are faithful. We commit and we say what we say, and we stick to it. And another gift, which is translated either in some versions as gentleness, in others as meekness, and it's a gentle, meek spirit. You know, it's a gentle, malleable, tame spirit. That comes from God, and it is such important because it builds on humility. As it builds on that, we learn to be teachable and malleable and tame. It's probably another good word to explain it. And then God gives us another gift of the Holy Spirit, which is self-control, which is a capability of us sticking to it and doing what we know we have to do. And so all these nine characteristics together represent the fruit, singular fruit of God's Holy Spirit. So we need to have them all. Now, I usually draw the analogy of a fruit, maybe a pineapple, maybe a peach. And for you to identify that a pineapple is a pineapple, you will have different characteristics to define a pineapple.

Likewise with a peach. Different sorts of characteristics. You need them all to define a peach or to define a pineapple. But not every peach and not every pineapple is mature. In other words, when you eat it, it does not have that full, lovely, rich taste of that fruit, because maybe it's not mature yet. But because of that, doesn't cease to be, for instance, a peach or a pineapple. And so we need to have all these characteristics to be or to have the fruit of God's Holy Spirit. But we need to also be growing in maturity over time. And this is a point that is emphasized in the next few verses, that we got to grow in maturity so that the fruit of God's Holy Spirit becomes one that is more pleasing to God. And so Christ gives us many gifts. He gave the gift of His life for our redemption. He gives us the gift of His Holy Spirit with all these attributes, these non-attributes. But in addition to that, there are gifts of the Holy Spirit. We can read in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 various gifts of the Holy Spirit. And they may be, for instance, wisdom, maybe knowledge, maybe faith, maybe the capability to prophesy, in other words, to speak God's truth in an encouraging way, a capability to discern attitudes of people, to discern, hey, there's something wrong there. That's a gift. Some people are very gifted in languages or in capability to translate, for instance, a sermon dynamically, like we are blessed to have somebody that translates the sermons dynamically online in Dallas to somebody that listens to them in Portuguese, and they via Zoom are able to listen to our sermons live in Portuguese language. That's a gift. Also in Romans, it describes additional gifts. In Romans 12 describes various other gifts, and so it describes, again, some of gifts of teaching, some of gifts of exhortation in verse eight, some of gifts of being able to lead, some of gifts of being merciful.

You see, so God gives us different gifts as He decides to give each person different gifts, and so what we have is when we receive God's Holy Spirit, it's like we receive this set of nine attributes described in Galatians 5.22. But in addition to that, He may give one person a specifically talent or ability or spiritual gift to be able to teach spiritual things in a clear way. Somebody else may have a gift or an ability to encourage others. And so in the Church, we may have brethren through their acts of service or through their speaking of uplifting and encouraged to be able to encourage others. Maybe it's just by sending cards to people that are ill, and that is a gift of encouragement. Those people that are ill, and when they receive that. And so God gives us various gifts and various talents. Some people may write in those cards words that you look at it and you say, wow, that really made my day. How much I appreciate that.

And so God gives us all these with one ultimate intent or purpose for us to be, as we mentioned earlier, to be full, full of God's nature. In other words, He gives these things to us so that we may have all the fullness of God. And so we see that, for instance, in 2 Peter chapter 1, 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 2 through 4. This is a very encouraging Scripture. 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 2 through 4. Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. So he's saying that God's goodness and graciousness and peace of mind just be added and multiplied to you as you learn and you get knowledge of who God is and His loving kindness that He asked for us and so that we can emulate Christ. And he says, because as His divine power, that's God's Holy Spirit, as God's Holy Spirit, He's divine power, has given to us all things, all things, characteristics that you and I need to life, in other words, eternal life, and to be godly, in other words, to be like God through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue by which, by which that means by God's power, have been given to us exceeding great and precious promises. So with the help of God's power, God's grace, what God is doing to us, we're receiving exceedingly great and precious promise. That's part of God's gifts, right? That through these, through the help that He gives us through His Holy Spirit, through the these things, because it says in verse 3, He's divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life. So these things that pertain to life help us to change so that we can be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. So God is helping us to be full of God's divine nature, as we read in Ephesians 3 verse 19 a little earlier. And so continuing now in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 8, no, I'll be part of verse 9, says, now this, He ascended. What does it mean? But that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth. So in verse 8 says, when He ascended on high, which means that He also first descended, you know, the Word emptied Himself and became a human being, and He humbled Himself that He died on the cross for us. And that means He descended right into the lower parts of the earth. In other words, He died that in the very grave, the lower parts of the earth. That's where He descended too. So now verse 9, He ascended. What does it mean? But that He also first descended into the lower part of the earth. In other words, He first died and then He ascended. You see, so continuing verse 10, He who descended is also the one who ascended far above all heavens, all the heavens, that He might fill all things. Jesus Christ is the one who has ascended and is far above all things. That is, He is given authority over all things. He sustains the whole universe and is the head of the church. That's who Christ is. Verse 11, and He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers.

And so what do we have here is another gift. Another gift from God to the church, because He gave to the church. He's talking about giving gifts to man, as we see in verse at the end of verse 8. You see, He is given as various gifts, and a gift is given to the church. He gave some to be leaders in the church to serve the church.

And as we see in 1 Corinthians 12 verse 18, when He talks about we all being members of His body, He puts God as set members into His body just as He pleased.

In other words, God puts us, you and I, in the body where He wants us to be, not necessarily where we want to be, because He asked some may want to be the apostle, but God didn't put them there. But God has put Psalms as pastors and teachers, some as elders, for what purpose? We're going to see just now, but we're going to see that in verse 12 and 13. But here is another gift. God has given us leaders in the church, ministers, for the benefit of the church to edify the church. The point here, another interesting point, is God gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some apostles and teachers. You see the word some, in other words, there's this definite article that is used in Greek. It is used before each one of these terms apostles, prophets, evangelists, but as far as pastors and teachers, it's only used once. Now, in Greek, there's a construct, a Greek construct, called the Granville Shop Rule. That is a grammatical principle in Koine Greek, in other words, the Greek language that was used in the New Testament, the commonly spoken Greek language used in the New Testament, Koine Greek. And this grammatical principle in that Greek language was named after Granville Shop, which was an 18th century English scholar. And this rule that this man, by studying Greek, identified, deals how certain Greek constructions in a sentence can indicate that two nouns refer to the same person or entity. So, yeah, we have two nouns. It says pastors and teachers.

And so, when two singular or personal non-profit nouns are joined by the word and, in Greek, chi, and the first noun as a article before it, in this case translated yah as some, but the second noun does not have the article some before it, in this case, then both nouns refer to the same person. And so, yah is some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. It's a pastor and teacher is referring, in this case, to the same individual. So, and that's what we have today. Men, as pastors, need to be teachers to serve the congregation because yah, we see in verse 12, and I want you to pay attention carefully to this yah in verse 12. Now, I'm reading it from the New King James Version. It says, for the equipping of the saints, for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. Now, if you happen to have also an old King James Version, it says slightly different. It says, for the perfecting of the saints, comma, which New King James Version does not have a comma there, but the King James Version asks, for the perfecting of the saints, comma, for the work of the ministry.

The New King James does not say, for the work of the ministry. The New King James just says, for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. Now, in the old King James, and now it's important to mention that in the original Greek, there was no punctuation. So, one has to to look at the actual structure in Greek, and those that are experts in it, they have looked at it.

And let's just summarize what the old King James Version gives the impression. The old King James Version gives the impression of three distinct functions of ordained ministry, and each one of those functions of ordained ministry begin with four, F-O-R, four, because it says, therefore, the perfecting of the saints, comma, four, the work of the ministry, comma, four, the edifying of the body of Christ. So, it gives the impression of three distinct functions of the ordained ministry, but that is not the actual structure in Greek. The actual structure in Greek is more accurately described as written in the New King James Version, because in New King James Version it says, for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry, no big a pardon, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. And so, what do we have? Is that their job, their one function of the ministry that was described in verse 11, the ministry, it says in verse 11, whoever they are, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, that ministry, their job is one function, which is to prepare the saints. In other words, to equip the saints, to prepare a people. Their job is to equip the saints, to prepare the people. This is for the equipping of the saints, right, for two purposes.

One, for the work of service or ministry, right, because it says for the work of ministry, in the words of the Akaneer service, the work of ministry is not to prepare them to be ministers, but it's to prepare to equip the saints, the members in God's church, for the work of service, and two, through that, to edify the body.

See, so Yah is, in the New King James version, in this case, it's a more accurate version of this verse. And so, putting this in summary, what I've just mentioned, God uses the ministry, as described in verse 11, for the purpose of equipping the membership for service.

In other words, to help the members to be better servants, in order to edify the body of Christ, which is the church.

So, in other words, the ministry's job is to prepare the saints, to prepare a people, as we put it in our logo, for the work of serving.

So, God has established various functions in the church for the perfecting of the saints. Verse 13, "'Til, you know, the job of the ministry is to help bring about, what, unity of the faith, till we all come to the unity of the faith. And so, a minister cannot bring unity of the faith by preaching his own ideas.' In other words, he can't bring unity of the faith by preaching contrary to what the church teaches, because that only causes confusion.

And so, a minister preaches, and look at the other, there's four things here.

Preaches, according, for all to come to the unity of the faith, number one, number two, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, so that we all come to the same knowledge and understanding of what Jesus Christ is and what we need to become. Three, then we come to become a perfect man so that we become complete or mature. For us to be complete or mature. Remember the example I gave earlier about the pineapple, the peach, and mature? We ought to reach a degree of maturity. It doesn't say to become sinless in this life. Now, obviously, we have to strive to be sinless, but the point here, the focus here, is for us to grow, for us to grow up to a perfect man, to maturity. And therefore, the process of conversion is a process of growth, development, maturity. And fourth is to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. And so we are to measure up to Christ, to be what He was like. We are to grow like our older brother.

Christ is perfect. He's our older brother, and that is the measure that we compare ourselves to. That's the stature that we are aiming to be.

And that's what the ministry should preach to help us, so that we come to the unit of faith, we come to the knowledge of the Son of God, we become complete as a perfect man, and that we reach, that we strive to reach the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

And now verse 14. Then, and here is another benefit of this, so that the brethren are not carried about by different doctrinal ideas and wins of doctrines that keep recycling themselves every decade or every 10 or 15 or 20 years that comes up with this thing, oh, this is a great idea. And those that have been around in the church for a long time, they say, there we go again. You know, with this idea, he's being recycled again by Satan. You know, so we should no longer be children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of man in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting.

Wow! No, no, Tia, that not all men therefore will be honest. Some will be tricking you to get you to follow them, to mislead you. And it says, cunning craftiness to deceive, to deceive. And who are they, Emmy lighting? Who is the deceiver? Just read Revelations 12 verse 9. Satan is the deceiver. He will deceive and he's deceiving the whole world. So as we grow, as the job of the ministry is to help the brethren to equip the saints for the work of serving so that we reach that unity of faith, the knowledge of Christ, to become a perfect man, the very measure of the fullness of Christ. And that way we're not going to be tossed around by all these little ideas that keep cropping up. Verse 15, but speaking the truth in love may grow up in all things into him who is the head Christ. Speaking the truth or telling the truth in love, the actual Greek for the speaking the truth is just one word, a letua, a letua, which is, in a sense, you could say, truffing or speaking the truth or being truthful in doctrine and actions and profession. We say the truth, yes, but do it in love, to build up, to edify, not to hurt other people. You know, some people say, oh well, I'm going to say the truth as it is. But how?

What do I say? Do I say it to build up with the right diplomacy and tact and care for love? That's what we're going to do. That is a very important point. By the way, the continuing verse now in verse 16, it says, from whom the whole body joined and knit together by what every joint supplies according to the effect of working by which every part does it share causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. You see, our body, physical body, is held together by joints, ligaments, muscles, bone, bones, flesh, and every part of the body does it share. For instance, it's like if you have a car, every part of the car has to be functioning for the car to be able to drive safely and orderly. You see, so a physical body, every part of the body has to be healthy and working well. Likewise, spiritually. You see, we need to be joined together by what every part of the body does to help each other. And so when that happens, God causes growth of the body, of the church. The church will grow, the local congregation will grow, and the Greek constructia is constantly joined together, is like a present continuous, constantly growing together. It's not just a one-time thing, but we are constantly in that process of being joined together, of striving to be joined together, of striving to be growing together. So if one of us drops out and maybe a person becomes an independent Christian, how can that person help the body to grow? We all have to do our part, and we do what we can supply. That's what it says, that we all join together by what every joint supplies. We all have to supply something. And so how is it that you and me and us, how do we help the church to grow? Are we doing our part for the church to grow, to help the Breve show loving kindness? And this brings us to the point of the vision of the church, the vision statement of the church, the vision statement of the church, which is taken from this very scripture, Ephesians 4 16 and also from Hebrews 2 verse 10. The vision statement of the church reads, a church led by God's only spirit, joined and knit together by what every member supplies, with all doing their share and growing love to fulfill God's great purpose for humanity to bring many children to glory.

If we are striving with these spiritual principles, if we are putting them before us, we as a church, as a congregation, as God's people, can expect to be effective in the work that God has given us. We can then expect to be a fruit for God's kingdom.

If we use these principles of Ephesians in our daily lives to edify the church in Godly love, we can expect God to be pleased with us.