A series of homilies on Ephesians.
A homily is “a short talk on a religious or moral topic; a usually short sermon; a lecture or discourse on or of a biblical theme.”
I am sharing a verse-by-verse series of short messages on Ephesians (as well as other passages of Scripture) specifically targeted at reviving families and encouraging and exhorting husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, and children to do what God has commanded them to do, for if the church is to be revived and the country is to be awakened, the family must be revived first.
TEXT: Ephesians 4:1-3:
1 I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,
2 With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;
3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
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Nicky Cruz said, “We stink more of the world than we stink of of sackcloth and ashes. A lot of contemporary churches today would feel more at home in a movie house rather than a house of prayer; they are more afraid of holy living than of sinning; they know more about money than magnifying Christ in our bodies. They are so compromised that holiness and living a sin-free life is heresy to the modern church. The modern church is, quite simply, just the world with a Christian T-shirt on.”
Leonard Ravenhill said, “We’re living in an unprecedented day when evil is no longer evil. We’ve changed the terminology — iniquity is now infirmity; wickedness is now weakness; devilry is now deficiency.”
In their book, The Ten Greatest Revivals Ever, Elmer Towns and Douglas Porter share with us: “Infidelity was growing rapidly on American college campuses before the coming of revival, but the collegiate awakenings of that era are among the most dramatic stories of the awakening. Timothy Dwight, president of Yale, was the great champion of intellectual evangelical Christianity. Student revival movements swept across American college campuses, producing pastors, teachers, and missionaries for new ministries born out of the revival.”
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Now, Paul begins to tell us about the specific traits that should be a part of the life of one who is walking worthy of his calling in Christ. The first trait is “lowliness.” “Walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called with all lowliness…”
The word “lowliness” is translated from a very long word in the Greek. Here is what it means: “having a humble opinion of one’s self; a deep sense of one’s moral littleness; modesty, humility, lowliness of mind.”
Lowliness of mind was not something that was celebrated in the Greek culture that the Ephesians inhabited. In fact, it is not something that is celebrated too much in our own culture either. But it is a mark of a Christian who is walking worthy of his vocation and calling in Christ.
It ought to be easy for us to have lowliness of mind if we simply remember that we are sinners deserving of Hell. The very first sin we committed, no matter how small it might have seemed, was enough to alienate us from God forever. Instead, God sent Jesus to save us and make us a part of His family. The fact of the matter is that we are alive even when we don’t deserve it. We are saved even though we don’t deserve to be. We are on our way to Heaven even though we are not worthy of being there. If we keep these things in the front of our minds, it will be easy to have lowliness of mind.
J Vernon McGee shares the story of a group of people who went to see Beethoven’s home in Germany. After the tour guide had showed them Beethoven’s piano and had finished his lecture, he asked if any of them would like to come up and sit at the piano for a moment and play a chord or two. There was a sudden rush to the piano by all the people except a gray-haired gentleman with long, flowing hair. The guide finally asked him, “Wouldn’t you like to sit down at the piano and play a few notes?” The man answered, “No, I don’t feel worthy.” That man was Jan Pa-de-rew-ski, the great Polish statesman and pianist and the only man in the group who was really worthy to play at Beethoven’s piano.
J. Vernon McGee adds, “How often we as saints rush in and do things we have no gift for doing. We say we have difficulty in finding folk who will do the work of the church, but there is another extreme — folk who attempt to do things for which they have no gift. We need to walk in lowliness of mind.”
Lowliness of mind is simply not thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought to. Whatever value we have comes from our standing in Christ. We have nothing to be proud of except what Christ has done in us. Therefore, we should walk worthy of our calling by having lowliness of mind.
Let’s pray.
Now, if you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, please keep in mind that the Bible says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” Just pray and ask Him to come into your heart and He will. I will be sharing more on the matter of salvation in the next segment of our service which starts in about 5 minutes.
Revival Prayer List
PRAY FOR SPECIFIC FAMILIES
Philippians 4:6 says, “Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.”
— Frederick in Liberia
For him and his family to pass the traveling interview and to obtain their USA Visa next month
— Mmahessh
For You to save him and heal him
— Tiwania
Help her to find a Bible preaching church home, to keep the passion and desire to follow You
— Fred in Dallas, Texas
For You to bless his family, marriage, business and health; grant him victory over the devil’s obstacles, financial success and peace regarding his tithing; bless his mother with good health and success
— Caleah
That You would heal his daughter from her brain disease and strengthen him and his family throughout this situation.
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PRAY FOR CHURCH LEADERS
Paul said in Ephesians 6:18, “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.”
Leaders of the Church of the Nazarene
Stephane Tibi
Don & Evie Gardner
Adérito and Ester Ferreira
Mashangu and Remember Maluleka
Paul Mtambo
Daniel Gomis
David Allen
Jennifer Allen
Phil Carr
Monica Carr
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PRAY FOR GOVERNMENTAL LEADERS
1 Timothy 2:1-2 says, “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.”
WASHINGTON STATE LEGISLATURE
Vincent Buys
Michelle Caldier
Bruce Chandler
Frank Chopp
Judy Clibborn
Eileen Cody
Cary Condotta
Richard DeBolt
Tom Dent
Mary Dye
Daniel Whyte III has spoken in meetings across the United States and in over twenty-five foreign countries. He is the author of over forty books including the Essence Magazine, Dallas Morning News, and Amazon.com national bestseller, Letters to Young Black Men. He is also the president of Gospel Light Society International, a worldwide evangelistic ministry that reaches thousands with the Gospel each week, as well as president of Torch Ministries International, a Christian literature ministry.
He is heard by thousands each week on his radio broadcasts/podcasts, which include: The Prayer Motivator Devotional, The Prayer Motivator Minute, as well as Gospel Light Minute X, the Gospel Light Minute, the Sunday Evening Evangelistic Message, the Prophet Daniel’s Report, the Second Coming Watch Update and the Soul-Winning Motivator, among others.
He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Theology from Bethany Divinity College, a Bachelor’s degree in Religion from Texas Wesleyan University, a Master’s degree in Religion, a Master of Divinity degree, and a Master of Theology degree from Liberty University’s Rawlings School of Divinity (formerly Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary). He is currently a candidate for the Doctor of Ministry degree.
He has been married to the former Meriqua Althea Dixon, of Christiana, Jamaica since 1987. God has blessed their union with seven children.
BCNN1 WP 