I have been waiting for this week and I am so excited it is finally here. When I studied this book for the first time, this lesson completely blew my mind. It changed the way I viewed my entire life. I pray the same thing happens for you this week!
Begin this week by praying (as we do every week). Ask the Lord to open up your mind and teach you. Ask Him to give you a head understanding and a heart understanding (understanding that changes the way you live).
Now, get out your Bible or your Observation Worksheets (just the scripture printed out on paper). Let's read all of Ephesians 4. Get out your colored pens or pencils and do some marking. Mark these words in verses 1-16: grace, body, faith, knowledge, according to, love, in Christ, time, walk, one, truth, unity.
Do you remember how to do paragraph divisions? When we start a new chapter we want to look at the chunks of Scripture. Look at each paragraph and look for a phrase or word that describes what is happening in that paragraph (in the text, DO NOT interpret scripture by summarizing). Here are your paragraph divisions: 1-6, 7-16, 17-24, 25-32.
Looking at 4:1, you notice the word therefore. We want to stop and see what it is therefore. Therefore is a term of conclusion, that means it is summing something up and building on it. What (from previous chapters) is this verse summing up? What (in this verse and others following) is it building upon?
Now we dive deep. Look up these words using Blue Letter Bible and write down everything you learn about them in your journal: walk, worthy, humility, gentleness, patience, showing tolerance.
It's cross reference time. Write down what you learn from each cross reference about the word or phrase.
Walking Worthy:
Roman 6:4
Colossians 1:10
1 Thessalonians 2:12
1 John 2:6
Humility/ Gentleness/ Patience/ Showing Tolerance:
Philippians 2:3
1 Peter 3:8
Galatians 5:22-23
Colossians 3:12-14
Now ask yourself (and write your answers in your journal): What is Paul urging the Ephesians to do in 4:1-3? Why does it matter? According to these verses what is your responsibility as a chid of God to maintain unity in the body of Christ? Come to Bible Study with your answers and be ready to discuss what you learned this week!
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