Dear Brothers and Sisters,

You are invited to come to the Wednesday evening prayer meeting and pray for the church (and other things -- 7:00 PM Wed., LHF time).

I'm back to Ephesians, after a brief (one-Wednesday) excursion to 1 Corinthians, to take up again where I left off two weeks ago, at Ephesians chapter 4 verse 4. Incidentally, in the message of two weeks ago I quoted the scripture from Ephesians but neglected to give the reference. For those of you who might not have figured it out, it was Eph. 4:1-3. The passage continues from verse 4 as follows:

"[4] There is one body and one Spirit -- just as you were called to one hope when you were called-- [5] one Lord, one faith, one baptism; [6] one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all."

"[7] But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. [8] This is why it says: 'When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men.'"

"[9] (What does 'he ascended' mean except that he also descended to the lower earthly regions? [10] He who descended is also the one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) [11] It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, [12] to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up [13] until we reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." (Eph. 4:4-13)

Verses 4 tells us that there is one body -- that is, that there is only one Church -- as opposed to many churches -- or even as opposed to two churches. There is one Church. All of the individual members of that one church are lead by only one Spirit -- the Holy Spirit of God, who called us into God's kingdom to be members of the one body with the certain hope of eternal life.

According to verse 5, we have one Lord Jesus Christ and one faith that he died for our sins and rose from the dead and that he is able to keep us safe for the day when he will come back for us so we will be with him forever. We have one baptism by which we are immersed into the one Father and into the one Son and into the one Holy Spirit, so that we may be "filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." (Eph. 3:29b) Our one God and Father is the only true God who is Creator and Lord over all the universe. He is over all, in all and through all (v6). In view of these things, how can we possibly be divided?

How can we be divided? But it seems that, somehow, we are divided. We have many denominations with various doctrines and practices. Even within denominations there are divisions and factions. We are certainly divided.

But this is how we will not be divided. Paul says that Jesus gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Jesus has provided what is necessary for us, God's people, to be prepared for works of service -- apostles, prophets, evangelists and pastors and teachers. We WILL be prepared for works of service. The result of our being prepared for works of service is that we, the Church, the body of Christ, will be built up until we reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. We will, in unity, trust Jesus. We will, in unity, know Jesus. And we, in unity, will become like Jesus, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

Don't we, even now, have among us apostles? (I'm using the broader sense of the word as it is used in the New Testament to mean "missionaries" -- people who plant churches. But even in the narrower sense of the word apostle, we have the words of the original apostles recorded for us in the New Testament. I've just quoted some of them.) We do have among us apostles and we have the words of the apostles. Don't we also, even now, have prophets and evangelists who proclaim the word of God and the message of the gospel? And don't we also have pastors and teachers to lead us in the direction we should go and to keep us from going astray? We do have people with these gifts among us, even in Living Hope Fellowship. LHF was planted by missionaries, some of whom are still among us. We also have gifts of prophecy, evangelism and pastoring and teaching.

So why isn't there unity? What's wrong? The answer, I think, is that nothing is wrong. We ARE being prepared. We ARE being built up. And we WILL reach unity in Christ. God has explained, through the apostle Paul, just how he is building us up and how he is making us like Christ. Do you believe he can do it? Do you believe he'll succeed? He will succeed. He is God. He is the one who sacrificed for us. He is the one who made a covenant with us through the blood of his own Son to redeem and sanctify us, his Church, as a pure and spotless bride. His will does not and cannot fail.

Come on Wednesday and pray for the Church. The Church is the overflowing abundance, the wealth beyond measure and the full and perfect nature of God who fulfills and completes everything in every way.

Grace and peace,
Dean Svoboda

PS: You can also bring you own prayer requests and pray for them with your brothers and sisters in Christ (i.e., with the Church). Bring your requests to God with thanksgiving and receive his peace.

PPS: Pass this invitation along to others in your household or to someone who doesn't have an e-mail address in the LHF directory