Thursday: The Word: Revival’s Guardian and Safeguard
The Holy Spirit mightily moved through the teaching and preaching of the apostle Paul as he established the Christian church in Ephesus.
Image © James Work from GoodSalt.com
Ephesus was a city of approximately two hundred fifty thousand people. It was considered the market place of Asia. As ships brought their wares from throughout Asia, people flocked to Ephesus to buy fine silk, rare jewels, flavorful spices, hand-woven carpets, exquisite art objects, and exotic foods. It was also the center for the worship of the goddess Diana and the future home of the famed Celsus Library, with 12,000 volumes. The city had a magnificent amphitheater seating fifteen thousand people. It was used for massive concerts and theatrical productions. Sexual promiscuity was commonplace. If there ever was an unlikely place for Christianity to take root, grow and flourish-it was Ephesus.
Read Acts 20:27-32. What was Paul’s concern for the believers at Ephesus? What was his counsel to the church members in Ephesus? What role did he give to the Word of God?
Read 1 Peter 1:22-23; James 1:21-22; 1 John 2:14. Summarize the teachings of Peter, James, and John regarding the importance of the Bible in the life of each Christian? Especially notice the disciples’ teaching regarding the impact of the Bible in our spiritual lives.
What similarities do you see in all of the above texts regarding the role of the Word of God? Why, then, must the Word of God be central to spiritual revival, both on a personal and on a corporate level?
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The Word when believed is the seed of new life in the believer. Building for inheritence. If obeyed, flourishing in service.
If we truly allow God to lead and guide us through His Word, then and only then will we find peace and safety from the cares, burdens and perplexes this life will bring. We can only find this peace and safety by studying God's Word and actually applying what we've learned daily.
The thing is that we don't want to let the world go. We must have the world in one hand and God in the other. God will not over power us to give us His peace and safety. We must choose, it's all Christ or the World, we can't have both. Until we come to the realization that God is our only safeguard and guardian in this life, we will continue to go in circles, never moving forward in our Christian walk.
The beautiful thing about God is that He's so forgiving and to show His forgiveness, He forgives us over and over again for our sins and shortcomings. His Word is used to warn us of the coming days. According to John 9:4, we must work for the one who sent us, when night comes, no man can work. We are responsible for telling the world about the safety and security we find in the Word of God.
I remember when I was young I couldn't sleep without putting a Bible under my pillow. I just felt it gave me protection, even without reading it, but just knowing there is a Bible under my pillow made me feel safe. But is that enough? Unfortunately most people have become like that! We don't read the Word while we still can. We wait till we are sick and ask the pastor to place the bible on our chest and pray for us.The word of God does not diffuse into our heart. Its truths are impressed on us through prayerful reading. If the Bible is our guide, what kind of a walk are we having without consulting our Guide. If we have health, law and financial consultants who render their services upon payment, why not capitalise on the Word, our revival and reformation consultant, whose services are absolutely free of charge.
Brian, you are absolutely right. We tend to look to others that have been given talents to help us in certain areas of our lives, but we neglect the One who can do it all. How much more should we be in touch with the Counselor of all counselors!!! Amen my friend.
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You are right a lot of people the bible becomes their enemy bc they never read or bother but they always put it their bed or car bc it will protect them. People need to seek the word of God. In my culture, a few people do it bc they beleive it will cast out devil. I always tell them you have to know the word bc thr devil the bible also.
Indeed the Word of God is the guardian and safeguard in revival and reformation.
Paul spoke to the believers in Ephesus and he is also speaking to us today, more so that we are living at a time when so many churhes have flooded the entire world. It's even difficult to know which one is the true church of God when there are those who want to depend on the leading men for what the Bilbe teaches.
These are the wolves Paul talked about. These leading men would want to interpret the Bilble to suit and achieve their carnal desires.
If men and women in the church develop the habit and desire to know the truth and the truth only, the Lord will not them search the Scriptures in vain, He will illuminate the pages of the Holy writ to their understandating.
Let us use the Bible as the light our Lord left for us not to wallow in darkness and fall into the traps of these carnal professors.
May I add to say Satan is an expert at quoting scripture, placing his own interpretation upon passages, by which he hopes to cause us to stumble. We should study the Bible with humility of heart, never losing sight of our dependence upon God.
The word of God is the road map on this journey, which will lead us to the home which God has prepared for us. It tells us how we are to relate to everyone even our enemies. When we study the word prayerfully the spirit will guide us.
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That's true I definitely believe that the word of God is a map. Too often, we talk about but we dont practice it. For example, the Bible tells us keep your enemy close. We don't do it, we are too Holy to get close to our enemies. For example, they are a lot thing congress, state, county, city doing but we don't know bc we dont involve. Therefore, we are passing laws and regulations we don't know but those laws are effecting our beliefs.
The word is the lamp under our feet.Through the word we can be revived and safeguarded. May the good Lord grant unto us success in what ever we do..Amen
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God's word is our compass... this lif can be a hard and long journey, so why do we keep making it even harder, by walking in circles down the same sinful streets. Instead I prayer that we all read the word more. I pray that God inspires us to see that his Word is the foundation to everything that is right in our lives.
" . . . And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us . . . "
Do you ever come away puzzled about the teaching on an other topic when you are studying the current topic because something touched up on in the current topic seems on the surface to contradict the teaching on another topic? I am reading the last sentence in James 1:21 "... which is able to save your souls" NKJV. This sentence leaves the reader, in this case me, with impression that there is "I" and that there is "my soul". As is if "I" will continue to live while "my soul" will not be saved, but "will die" if "I" do not believe the Word of the Lord.
Wonder how other translations put it. Lets see...
ESV "...which is able to save your souls."
NLT "...for it has the power to save your souls."
HCSB "...which is able to save you."
KJV 1900 "...which is able to save your souls."
NIV "...which can save you"
NET "...which is able to save your souls"
GW "...This word can save you"
NASB "...which is able to save your souls."
Well, there you go. The Greek does use two words "your" and "psyche = doubt, soul, life, mind, heart".
How in the world does a translator translate "idioms" and therefor leave the reader in the other language with accurate impression of the writer's intention from the "The specific grammatical, syntactic, and structural character of a given language."? And we know that religious beliefs influence the structure of a language. Can we communicate without ambiguities?
[Edited]
I would like to reiterate to you this scripture; "Spiritual things are discern only by Spiritual minded ones, but to the carnal mind is foolishness." Let the light of Jesus shine forth.
Hi Neven,
I see that by comparing Bible versions, you discovered how many translations are possible for the original Hebrew or Greek. And, yes, translator bias enters into the final translation we read. But as we become more familiar with the Bible and learn to listen to the Spirit, we will recognize the more accurate translations.
As Mark Twain, an agnostic, said, "It ain't those parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand." (There is enough that is clear in the Bible for our instruction that we don't have to be too concerned about what is not so clear. )
In the beginning there were two alters, one accepted the other refused, there are two days of worship. The seventh and the first, one will be accepted.
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Man shall not live by bread alone. Today's study reminds me of the importance of studying God's word. No study no power, we may be able to quote some scriptures but that is not enough to fortify our souls from temptation and sin. Father strengthen me to spend more time in your word, that I may be able to resist the enemy through your Spirit. Amen
In today's lesson it is talking about the city Ephesus, which can also mean the world in which we live today. We do not have to look far to find the same things happening around us as in the city of Ephesus, it has even been brought into our homes through the medium devices of television and satellite, not to mention the computer.
Paul was not talking to those outside the church but those belonging, we are counseled to be overseers of each other, and it is only through the power of the Holy Spirit that we can succeed in this calling. We all should be taking a clear look at those around us within our own churches and reach out as Paul has suggested, but how do we do this? Only as we yield to the Holy Spirit through the reading of God's Word to us can we even begin to achieve all that He has asked of us.
Our Lord is the manifest in the word given to us. All we have as Christians is to believe n act according to what we've read. Put prayers first as Paul did. God help me 2 do as thy word commands, to walk 2 thy statutes.
The scriptures is really a safeguard and guardian to us. It introduces us to our Creator; it tells us how to relate to Him and our fellow men; it instructs us how to live a fulfilling life; it promotes wholesome living; it tells us how to be victorious; it caters to our eternal happiness; it acts as a litmus test for lives' challenges; and shows its power -"the pen is mightier than the sword." Incidentally, the Word is also a deemed a sword.