I couldn't go teach my class Sunday.  Had to get someone to do it for me.   I probably should have gone to the doctor last week, but it took all I had just to get out of bed.  I already take antibiotics every day.  Besides, I know what the doctor would say, "Bed rest and plenty of fluids."  Which I did.  It's a bummer.  My neighbors brought me soup today.  Becky brought me gumbo.   I'll try and eat some of it.  Back to the letter to the Ephesians....

Ephesians 4:8-10 is a passage that I hesitate to include because there is disagreement on it.  So I will just be honest and tell you what I think.  You can form your own opinion.  I have to back up a bit and include other scripture to explain where I'm coming from.

In Luke 16:19-30 we read the story of a rich man who died in sin, who had ignored a beggar named Lazarus--who sat at the rich man's gate and begged.  The rich man went to hell and Lazarus died and went to the place where Abraham was--which I believe was Paradise.  A great gulf was between the evil rich man and Lazarus so that the rich man couldn't cross to escape his torment.  Jesus spoke concerning this place to the thief on the cross and said, "This day will you be with me in Paradise."

I believe Paradise was a "holding place" for those who had trusted God.  Held until Christ rose.  Once the price for sin was paid, those held in Paradise rose from that place as evidenced in Matthew 27:52 "And the graves were opened and many bodies of the saints which slept arose and came out of the graves after his resurrection."  They couldn't go to heaven when they had died (as we now can) because the blood sacrifice of God's Lamb hadn't been paid.  They were "held" in Paradise.

Which brings us to the passage in Ephesians that says, "Now he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth...when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive...He that descended is the same as he that ascended up far above all heavens..."  I think that is exactly what Jesus did.  When He died, He went to Paradise to free those held there who had trusted God to save them--the thief on the cross went with Him.  Three days later all Hell broke loose and those who had given their hearts to God and believed in the coming Messiah were released from the graves.  Paradise is empty.  Hell is still full of the unrepentant waiting on the judgment.

I highly recommend that you don't get sick.  The worst part is the weakness. You are reduced to a mass of quivering jelly. That's pretty much where I am today.   Can't stand up without wooziness.  I'll spend the next couple of days getting back into the running.  One good thing, I lost 6 pounds.  And still haven't been able to eat anything.  Just hot tea.

Sunday, we start the book of Acts.  Luke wrote it.  It is the only history book in the New Testament.  It is Luke's record of everything that happened after  Jesus rose from the dead.  (Luke was a physician.  He always researches and gets things exactly right.)  It's an account of the early church,  their persecutions, how each of the disciples reacted, where they went, etc.  Interesting accounts of the events following the resurrection.  All about what real people did in a very real situation.

I am so glad to get out of the book of Leviticus.  I hope the "Powers that be," who decide what we will teach, will spare us from doing that book again.

I've been stumbling through the letter to the Ephesians for the last few weeks.  Trying to hit the highlights of this letter that Paul wrote.

Ephesians 4:4-6  "There is one body, one Spirit...one hope of your calling.  One Lord, one faith, one baptism.  One God and Father of all..."

You would think that we would have understood that verse by now, but no; we break ourselves up into denominations over minor differences of opinions about what the Bible says.  Each denomination arguing for their interpretation and letting that facet of their belief become center to their purpose.  Instead of working for unity, groups of people take one or two verses from the Bible and build a religious denomination on it.

Probably all of us should get back to the basics.  Jesus was God.  He came as a sacrifice for our sins.  He rose on the third day and makes intercession for us to God.  He is our peace.  We believe that, or we don't.  That's it.  All the rest of it is descriptive.  Praise God for his love for us that he was willing to do that.  Thing is, I don't get it.  Why would He do that?  I'm not worth it.  I bet you aren't either.

Came home from church last night sick.  Got so much worse I didn't sleep.  Been in bed all day, can't eat, etc...  Can't think either.

Yesterday for the first time since I moved to Edmond, I got in the car and drove to Oklahoma City for an appointment without using my GPS.  I knew where I was going and how to get there.  Yea!  It has taken me all this time to get comfortable with the highways in this area.  There are a lot more "angled" roads than there are in Tulsa.  Of course I've lived in the Tulsa area most of my life.

Navigation.  Some people don't read the Bible because they don't know how to navigate through it.  I would suggest you start in the Gospel of Luke or John, read through Acts and Romans and then read the rest of the short letters written by Paul, James, John and Peter--eliminating Revelation.  You would think that would be too much, but actually it's only a few pages.  If you hold your Bible up sideways and put your thumb between the New and Old Testaments, you will find that you are looking at less than a fifth of the pages in the Bible.  It's really really short.  Less than 1/4 inch wide.

My second suggestion would be that you underline passages that jump out at you.  I do my underlining in green when I memorize a verse.  But the rest of it is in pencil or pen.  Just get used to marking it.  I write in the margins as well--when I hear someone say something about a verse that I want to remember.

Skip the rest of the Bible for a later time.  If you get discouraged in your life, read some of the Psalms.  If you don't know what to do in a situation, read Proverbs.  Other than that, there isn't much you need to read when you are starting out.  But what  is there is powerful.

The Old Testament is for scholars who study prophecy and it's fulfillment in Jesus.  Which is important because it validates who He was. You can read all of that later.

In Ephesians 3:16-17 Paul gives us a reason to read.  "...to be strengthened...by his Spirit in the inner man...that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith..." so that you can know and comprehend the love of Christ.  Reading God's words gives us strength for times of trouble.  And lifts our Spirits.

If we believe in life after death, we would do ourselves a favor to learn about it.

My next door neighbor on the South is a retired minister.  He and his wife are really good to me.  If I have a problem, they seem to know what it is and take care of it.  Yesterday, my front exterior door wasn't catching exactly right.  Later--it was.  Dean fixed it.  He noticed it wasn't right and just did it without being asked.  His wife Jeanine had asked me over for tea--and while I was eating cake and drinking tea, my front door was restored.  They do things like that for me all the time.

Why?  Because they have a heart to help others.  I think they have adopted me.  God provides for our needs and He plopped me down in a perfectly, heavenly place to live.  My neighbors across the street are just as nice.  Every week Linda fixes beans and Mexican cornbread and sends me dinner.  She will send me something to eat other times during the week as well.

The other night, Linda and John were out of town and someone or something was in my back yard.  I called John--not knowing he wasn't home--and John immediately called a neighbor down the street.  Within a minute or two, this neighbor was knocking on my door with a strobe light and a gun--and proceeded to "case the joint."  All was well.

Why?  Because they all have hearts willing to help others.  Last night, Craig and Becky came by.  Craig set up my online banking account while he was here.  And cleaned the Koi pond filter.  And reset the timer on a display case in the hall--it has a light that I use as a nightlight.  My electricity was out last week and all the timers were "off."  He replaced my front porch lights that had burned out.  Becky brought me a box of anklets--she knows my feet get cold.

Why?  Because they have hearts to help me.  And others.  Becky is forever taking food to people she knows who are in need of some help.  She gets eggs from Pat to take to a friend who is sick and needs eggs that don't have all that antibiotic junk in them.  And Pat sends me fresh farm eggs as well.

Pat called this morning to see if I was ok.  Did I need anything?  Lisa calls every day between 5 and 5:30 as she is driving home from work to check on me.  Carolyn called last night to see if my sinus infection was better.  I am so blessed.  I am so grateful.  Family and friends are God's gifts.

We get together at Thanksgiving with our families.  And on Sunday, we get together with our other family--God's people.  We love our families.  Paul puts it this way: "...you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God...built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets--Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone..framed together, growing into a holy temple in the Lord." Ep.2:19-21  The first thing is the corner stone.  Then comes the foundation of the building.  Then you and me.

Those verses are a picture of a building built with stones.  I like to think of myself as the pebble on the South side six rows up from the bottom.  Holding my place with all the other pebbles, rocks and stones in the building.  Not very important, unless I fall--and then the stones around me start to crumble.  We are all important in God's building.  We hold it together.  We are his church.  His abode.

Jesus said to Peter, "Peter, you are a pebble, but upon this Stone (corner stone) I will build my church."  Some religious groups take that verse to say that Jesus built his church on Peter, but if you read Greek, you find the correct interpretation called Peter a pebble and Jesus the Stone.  Christ is the corner stone of the church, not Peter.  Peter is a pebble.

I built two houses from scratch in my lifetime.  The most important part of the house was the foundation.  I watched them dig the trenches and pour the concrete.  I opted for the deepest trenches and the most reliable concrete company to do this job.  The rest of the houses went up without a hitch because they were built on a solid foundation.

We finished the book of Leviticus Sunday.  It was really hard to teach.  But it ended with an easy theme.  It was a list of "If/then" statements.  Being a mathematician, If/then statements make sense to me.  It listed what God would do for us "if."  We have responsibilities.  And "if" we are faithful to do them, "then" God will bless us.  If you are His child, you will be blessed--if--.  You can't expect God's blessings if you aren't in line with his will.  The relationship will remain--you are his child.  But the fellowship will be broken.

The best thing about Thanksgiving is family.  Ours has a reunion every other year at Thanksgiving and everyone knows what food item they are supposed to bring.  We usually have between 28 and 40.  Never less than 25.  You think it is going to be chaos, but at the last minute, everyone puts what they brought on the table and there is a feast.  Two turkeys and a ham.  Becky always bakes 8 pies.  And makes crust from scratch which is heavenly.  Carolyn sent pecans from her tree for the pecan pie.  Fresh.  So good.  My job is to make dressing and giblet gravy for all those people.

I had people sleeping in all the beds and on the sofas last night.  So did Becky.  We both have four bedrooms, so that was a lot of people that stayed.  Fun.  I love it.  It's the best weekend of the year for me.  I get to have all my people interacting with each other.  And as long as I can keep the Democrats and the Republicans in different rooms, it stays peaceful.

And they all are Christians--for which I am eternally grateful.

I'll get back to writing on Monday when everyone here has gone home.

God bless you and yours.