Quote of the week:
“Be imitators of God.. and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us. Do not be drunk with strong drink, but be filled with the Spirit.” — Ephesians 5:1-2, 18
Dear friends,
I want to start this week by thanking all of you who responded to my little survey. I have made the adjustments according to your preference. For the majority of you, the change will be minimal. But, seeing we feel we should be utilizing the “blog” that Ethnos360 provides for our use, those who opted for a link, the link will send you to our “blog” where the full update will be posted.
As always, thanks for your valuable partnership.
David Watters
Prayer:
- Praise that Caleb and his friends did not get sick and were able to return to school on Saturday.
- Robin and I will be flying to Alaska on Tuesday for 2 weeks. We are still waiting on Robin’s negative Covid test, a prerequisite for traveling to Alaska. Pray that comes before we leave. Pray for an encouraging visit with our missionary friends up there.
- The bill for our repatriation flight back in March came this week. It was $500 more than what we anticipated per person. If any of you would like to give toward that need, let us know.
- At least 2 of our churches have had to go back to virtual church due to Covid cases in the church. Continue to pray, as I know you all are, that this pandemic will not hinder God’s Word from going forward.
News:
On Friday, Robin and I took a few minutes to tour a local fall tradition. Grandville MI, our neighboring community, has a contest with their businesses to help decorate their main street. They compete on the most unique scare crow. Check out the pictures below for a few of the fun scare crows.
Weekly Bible Study
“Be imitators of God.. and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us. Do not be drunk with strong drink, but be filled with the Spirit.” — Ephesians 5:1-2, 18
I have found in my Christian life that it’s easy to talk about “walking in the Spirit,” or being “filled with the Spirit,” “abiding in Christ,” etc, but I struggle sometimes really making those concepts practical in my daily experience. What does it really mean to abide? What does it really mean to be filled?
In my reading this week I read Ephesians 5-6. In these chapters the apostle Paul gets very practical. He starts chapter 5 by saying, “Be imitators of God and walk in love as Christ loved us.” He is challenging us to imitate what God is like. That was the very reason for which He created us, to imitate Him, to display His image. So, how do we do that? In Ephesians 5 Paul says, “Walk in love.”
How do couples who are “in love” walk? Can you tell? You can see it in their faces, in how they hold hands, in how they look at each other. They are “walking in love.” So, what does that mean between us and God?
In verse 8 of Ephesians 5 Paul says, “at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of the light.” As I think about walking in love with God, and be transferred from darkness to light, the picture of the woman who washed Jesus feet with her tears comes to mind. Remember how she comes into Simon’s house weeping. She was so overwhelmed with God’s love that she drenched Jesus feet with her tears and washed them with her hair. She was transferred from Darkness to light. She was so overwhelmed by God’s love that it controlled her.
Paul goes on in chapter 5:17-18 to say, “I want you to understand what the will of God is. Don’t be drunk with strong drink, but be filled (controlled) by the Spirit.”
Just like the woman who washed Jesus’ feet, she was “drunk” with love for Jesus, She was filled with love for Jesus. Be imitators of God, walking in love with God, so “in love” with God that our love for God is controls your actions. That’s how God’s love for us was! Jesus loved us so much He gave His life for us.
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