God's Construction Workers

“Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.”
(Psa. 127:1)

“Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.”
(1 Corinthians 1:10)

I went by a construction site several times in the past three weeks and every time I passed by the site I saw the workers helping each other. Once I saw a worker carrying something that was too heavy for him and I watched as another worker took the other end and helped him carry it. I thought, “How tragic it is that Christians sometimes fail to carry the other end of a heavy load for another Christian”.

Sometimes pastors will ask the members of their congregations to do something and asks for volunteers. Usually the people that raise their hands are the ones who are already active in most of the projects of the church. I used to be guilty concerning this issue. When my pastor would ask for volunteers, I never raised my hand. May God forgive me for my lack of compassion.

The main reason I didn’t raise my hand was because I didn’t think I had any talents...so there wouldn’t be anything that I could do. One day, my pastor said, when he called for volunteers for a project in the kitchen, “Anybody can wash dishes and set tables”. It felt like somebody had plunged a sharp knife deep into my heart as the Holy Spirit convicted me of my lack of concern, obedience and compassion. I asked God to forgive me for being so selfish and disobedient.

However, it doesn’t matter if every person in the congregation works together on a project because it'll never succeed unless Jesus is the builder. We can’t do anything that will last...in our own strength. It takes Jesus working through us to effectively accomplish what He's called us to do. So many times we try to do things without Him and we fail every time. When will we ever learn that without Jesus, nothing is of any eternal value and is only temporary?

There's some churches that have the policy that if a person doesn’t attend that particular church and is a member of another church, they shouldn’t have anything to do with that person. That not only is not scriptural; it hurts Jesus and it breaks the heart of our precious Saviour. The Bible says “that there be no divisions among you”. When we get to Heaven, there won’t be different congregations, we'll be one family just as we are now.

We're brothers and sisters in Christ and it's time that we stop hurting people by rejecting them just because they go to another church. One day, we'll stand before a Holy God and give an account of the way we treated one another. How tragic it would be if we had to look away and hang our heads in shame because of the way we rejected somebody just because he or she wasn’t a member of our church.

Ephesians

"The greatest week in my life," said Charles Spurgeon, "was the week I read Paul's letter to the Ephesians fifty-six times."

Strange statement. In the light of it, one of two things is true. Either Spurgeon's mind was shallow, or the book of Ephesians is deeper than most of us have imagined.

To my knowledge, no one has dared to suggest that Charles Haddon Spurgeon was a slow learner. While still in his twenties, he pastored the largest congregation in London, England. It grew from five thousand to ten thousand people and became the center of religious activity for scores of other groups. Spurgeon himself was without question the most eloquent voice of his generation---maybe of all generations.

So we're left with the fact that Ephesians may have treasures great enough to tempt even the most casual reader to spend serious time with the book. Of course the Bible itself is more profound than most of us realize. Ancient scholars have said, "the Bible is an ocean of truth so deep that elephants must swim, but so simple that little lambs may wade in it."

Having said that, I still must say that Paul's letter to the Ephesians is unique. Many, if not all, of Paul's other letters were written to correct some error either of behavior or belief. Ephesians is different. It's a positive statement of the most exhilarating truths that had come to the Apostle's life.

It is both the most otherworldly and the most earthly of Paul's letters. It sees "castles in the sky" and then builds foundations under them. In a day when many Christians have neither castles nor foundations, Ephesians promises to be a rewarding study. Does the word "study" seem too threatening? It shouldn't. The Bible itself encourages a person to "study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" (2 Tim. 2:15). It may be that we lack the brilliance of Charles Spurgeon, who could find exciting secrets in each of his fifty-six readings of this letter, but it's certain that any of us can be challenged to give this amazing letter the opportunity to speak to us. Treasures await those who will.

Ah, treasure. Who doesn't dream of it? Hapless millions gamble their last dollar in hope of becoming a happy winner.

Acres of Diamonds, the story told by Russet Conwell, is too old to be read by today's youth and so old that it's forgotten by the aged. It tells simply of a man in Africa who sold his farm to start on a search for diamonds. He failed to find any. After a lifetime of searching, he threw himself into the ocean to end his frustrated life. The man to whom he sold his farm picked up a strange-looking rock that glistened in the sunlight. Taking it to a jeweler, he discovered that it was a diamond. His farm was full of them. In fact, the largest diamond mine in the world was on his land. This story keeps repeating itself in today's world.

Frank Garmon and Charlie Farmer, two friends of mine from Florida, like to go diving for lobsters on the southern coast. A year or so ago, they found a spot where the lobsters were plentiful. They marked the place by sighting some buildings on the shore and planned to return the next year. When they came to the spot (dreaming, of course, of the succulent lobster they would enjoy that evening), they found the area roped off and festooned with signs that said, "Keep Out."

Naturally the men were curious. They asked some sailors on the shore. "Last year we were free to dive and look for lobster here. What happened to change things?"

"Haven't you heard? This area-right where you men were looking for lobster---is the place where a number of Spanish ships were sunk. Millions of dollars worth of gold coins are being taken from these waters."

"Just think," Frank told me, "we were swimming all around that fortune in gold and all we saw were lobsters."

Makes you think, doesn't it?

When I began a serious and intense study of Paul's letter to the church at Ephesus---and, of course, to all of us as well---I felt like apologizing to God. I had looked at a few choice verses and had missed the "secrets" to which Paul kept promising to uncover. The Apostle hinted broadly enough. Words like mystery, hidden, and secret ought to have stirred my intellectual curiosity if not my spiritual hunger. But I simply let my mind slip into the ruts made by other sleepy intellects. I missed the treasure.

Inventive Faith "And when they could not come nigh unto Him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay." (Mark 2:4)

th is full of inventions. The house was full, a crowd blocked up the door, but faith found a way of getting at the Lord and placing the palsied man before Him. If we can't get sinners where Jesus is by ordinary methods, we must use extraordinary ones. It seems, according to Luke 5:19, that a tiling had to be removed, which would make dust and cause a measure of danger to those below, but where the case is very urgent we must not mind running some risks and shocking some proprieties. Jesus was there to heal, and therefore fall what might, faith ventured all so that the poor paralyzed man might have his sins forgiven. O that we had more daring faith among us! Let's seek it for ourselves and for our fellow-workers, and let's try today to perform some gallant act...for the love of souls and the glory of the Lord.

world's constantly inventing; genius serves all the purposes of human desire...can't faith invent too, and reach by some new means the outcasts who lie perishing around us? It was the presence of Jesus which excited victorious courage in the four bearers of the palsied man: isn't the Lord among us now? Have we seen His face for ourselves today? Have we felt His healing power in our own souls? If so, then through door, through window, or through roof, let's break through all impediments...labour to bring poor souls to Jesus. All means are good and decorous when faith and love are truly set on winning souls. If hunger for bread can break through stone walls, surely hunger for souls isn't to be hindered in its efforts. O Lord, make us quick to suggest methods of reaching Thy poor sin-sick ones, and bold to carry them out at all hazards.

Calm Down, Shut up and Quit Trippin'

Be still and know that I am God.
(Psalm 46:10)

So many times we make situations more than they are...due to our anxiety.

CALM DOWN ! God has your life under control; He knows how to handle even the seemingly complex situation with ease.

SHUT UP ! Stop having pity parties and talking about your business all the time; don't you know that the power of death and life is in the tongue! Stop speaking negative things into existence in your life and in others.

QUIT TRIPPIN' ! When you look at your situations through your eyes, you often read more into the situation than what is there. It's not as bad as you think if God is in your life; Stop over- analyzing your life.

INSTEAD...
Be Courageous 2 Timothy 1:7 - For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of Love, and of a sound mind.

Fear is not of God. Have the courage to step out on faith and do the seemingly impossible. Start your own business; go into the ministry; apply for that promotion; anything that you've been afraid to do and you know that God has called you to do - JUST DO IT!

Have Confidence Philippians 4:13 - I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.

Remember, "greater is He that's within you than he that is in the world." You have the power of the most High God working in you, and you have His Son steadily making intercession for you. Walk with your head up! You say you have low self-esteem; somebody told you that you'd never amount to anything; the devil is a liar! Know that you are somebodybecause Jesus said you are a child of The King!

Walk In Victory Romans 8:28 - And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.

God has already worked it out for you. It may not come the way you think it should come (or when you think it should), but remember - CALM DOWN, SHUT UP, AND QUIT TRIPPIN '! He's working it out for "YOUR" good (in His time).

Does anything else need to be said?

Walking In The Light

"If we walk in the light, as He is in the light."
(John 1:7)

As He is in the light! Can we ever attain to this? Shall we ever be able to walk as clearly in the light as He is...whom we call "Our Father," of whom it is written, "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all"? Certainly, this's the model which is set before us, for the Saviour Himself said, "Be ye perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect"; and although we may feel that we can never rival the perfection of God, yet we are to seek after it, and never to be satisfied until we attain to it. The youthful artist, as he grasps his early pencil, can hardly hope to equal Raphael or Michael Angelo, but still, if he didn't have a noble beau ideal before his mind, he'd only attain to something very mean and ordinary. But what's meant by the expression that the Christian's to walk in light as God is in the light? We conceive it to import likeness, but not degree. We're as truly in the light, we're as heartily in the light, we're as sincerely in the light, as honestly in the light, though we can't be there in the same measure.

I can't dwell in the sun, it's too bright a place for my residence, but I can walk in the light of the sun; and so, though I can't attain to that perfection of purity and truth which belongs to the Lord of hosts by nature as the infinitely good, yet I can set the Lord always before me, and strive, by the help of the indwelling Spirit, after conformity to His image. That famous old commentator, John Trapp, says, "We may be in the light as God is in the light for quality, but not for equality." We're to have the same light, and are as truly to have it and walk in it as God does, though, as for equality with God in His holiness and purity, that must be left until we cross the Jordan and enter into the perfection of the Most High. Mark that the blessings of sacred fellowship and perfect cleansing are bound up with walking in the light.

Encouraging Boldness

(Philippians 1:12-14)

The Philippians were troubled by Paul's imprisonment. He reassured them that circumstances can't defeat God's people. Paul has turned his prison into a revival center where Christ, through Paul, has converted the prison guards.

God's plan transcends obstacles. While one would doubt that God wanted Paul jailed, God turned the adversity to his divine purposes. Jailers and prisoners were saved.

Such activity encouraged boldness in other Christians who then proclaimed the gospel with more certainty and power. Revival broke out in many places.

Are we too quick to give up? Where is the gospel being proclaimed with power? How can we participate? Do we have friends and acquaintances who might listen if we told them about Christ? Are we willing to risk anything (such as embarrassment) for Christ?

Our First Priority

As Christians, our model placed prayer at the pinnacle of his priorities: "Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed". (Mark 1:35) Prayer to Jesus was not the after-thought; it was the forethought. Prayer was given the first place---that one activity that must be done before all else.

This is true in the life of every Christian. "We can do more than pray after we've prayed, but we can't do more than pray until we've prayed." Our work and warfare are spiritual, not carnal. The ministry we're called to do requires the anointing of the Holy Spirit, an anointing that can't be obtained in books, on cassettes, or through personal acquaintance with popular charismatic personalities. Someone has said, "God's work done with our strength never succeeds."

Prayer, real intercessory prayer, is never easy. It requires a decisive act of the will, our determining to experience the power of prayer. For some, it will require a rediscovery of what "praying through" means. We're not required to break through the will of God, for God desires our often coming to him. Praying through is necessary because of our calloused unconcern that tends to encapsulate us. Professional status, academic accomplishments, and popularity or prestige have a way of becoming barriers between us and prayer.

Yes, God's always willing to hear and answer our prayer when and if we're willing to pray through. Someone has said, "Praying, true praying, costs an outlay of serious attention and of time, which flesh and blood don't relish... Hurried devotions make weak faith, feeble convictions, questionable piety. To be little with God is to be little for God."

God's Mysterious Ways

"I'm not going to school today," I announced to my mother one morning of my freshman year in high school in Ownsboro, Kentucky. "Today is the last day to pay the fifty cents for my English workbook. I can't pay for it--- so I'm just not going."

"Yes, Sarah, you're going to school," said my mother. Mother ran a rescue mission strictly on faith. My minister father had died seven years previously.

Mother continued, "We're doing what God has led us to do and you know how he takes care of our needs. I don't have the money for you, but you must go on to school, Sarah. He'll take care of this need, too."

How do you talk back to such a saintly mother, I wondered. There was nothing I could say or do. I reluctantly---and very unwillingly---left for my two mile walk to school. How could I tell Miss Mobberley I still didn't have my workbook money?

Tears of frustration filled my eyes till I could barely see the railroad ties on which I was walking this cloudy, wet morning. Stopping to wipe my eyes, I looked down at the ground. "What is that?" I wondered. I saw something shiny, partly covered by mud from the recent rain.

I stooped down to see. I wiped mud off a shiny, new- looking fifty-cent piece. My workbook money! Just as mother had said--the Lord had provided for this need, too.

Turning Problems Into Opporunities!

Needless ta say, we have choice about how we're going to respond to difficulty when it comes our way. We can choose to ignore at least some of our problems and hope they'll go away. We can blame them on someone else and relieve ourselves of any responsibility. We can solve the pain by drugging ourselves into a haze. Or, we can face them, and grow from the experience.

Sometimes we want to know the why of our problems. But more important than the why is the what. What is it that makes this a problem? When we push all our feelings to the limit, what's left? Maybe it has to do with a sense of helplessness or the lack of control that emerges. Something happens and we feel uneasy because we question who's really in charge. That fosters another question: Who really does rule the problem?

If we're in charge, we can tap available resources. Other people have had similar problems; we can talk to them or read what they've written. We can learn confronting skills, if we need them. We can join a support group. We can become accountable to someone to evaluate our progress. We can call on professional help (a sign of strength, not weakness). We can use or rekindle our faith in God. A reservoir of wisdom is waiting to be tapped by faith. God's wisdom, says James, is "first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere"---and it's available.

It was Benjamin Franklin who said, "Those things that hurt, instruct." We can learn something from the problems we face. We can learn how we cope with situations and use some of the resources available to us.

Life at times seems full of problems, but it does go on. Let's accept that, painful as it may be. We (and we're the only ones who can) have to take the initiative to discipline ourselves to suffer through them and learn what we can, which in turn puts us that much more ahead when the next problem comes along.

Your Future Is In Your Past

"Have you lived here all your life?" a tourist asked a whiskered old man in front of a village store.

"Not yet," he answered.

Of course he hasn't. But neither have we. In fact, even if we're a sickly, aged, and decrepit shadow of a human being, we haven't yet lived all our life---eternity stretches ahead. Death may come, but that's not the end.

Insurance statistics may tell us how long we may expect to live and pay premiums, but no one can tell us how long life will last---no one except the person who gave us life---God.

At the other end of the spectrum, we pat a child on the head and, for want of any better conversational material, say, "And how old are you?"

The answer depends upon the maturity of the child. Younger children tend to give their age---"I'm three." As they grow older, they tend to express their ambitions, "I'm five, going on six."

Neither of these answers are correct. Mathematically, perhaps, they're satisfactory, but from the viewpoint of Paul, they're not only skimpy, but untrue.

Paul writes "He hath chosen us in him before the foundations of the world" (Eph. 1:4). He has "predestinated us unto the adoption of children." Predestination is a frightening word to many. It shouldn't be. Breaking it down, we find two principle parts: pre-meaning "beginning," and destination-meaning "end." It's simply one more alpha-omega in the Scriptures.

Whether or not the word predestination frightens us, or, possibly, comforts us more than it should, it's an uncommon word in our conversation and a common practice of our everyday life.

The end is always contained in the beginning. The timid bride, making her first cake presumes that she can do it. She prepares the eggs, flour, milk, and baking powder. She presents these strange ingredients to each other and preheats the oven. She then presides over the baking and awaits the destination-the cake.

When the cake comes out of the oven, she's not surprised when it turns out to be what she had predetermined it would be. Its destiny was set. The end was in the beginning. The omega in the alpha. She is, in a sense, a god in her kitchen. She is sovereign. She's a creator.

Every creative act follows that same pattern. An architect is not surprised when a house turns out to be as he pre- planned it. A composer's not surprised when his work turns out to be a song instead of a recipe for cabbage soup.

Since the believers in Ephesus were Gentiles-non-Jewish, that is---they would not have been familiar with the writings of David, the song-evangelist of the Old Testament. Had they been, they would have known about the predestination concept.

I am fearfully and wonderfully made...My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand. (Ps. 139:14-18).

We've learned from the observations of modern scientists... that the human mind is so powerful that it outshines any computer we can construct. If we indeed could make a computer that could do what the mind can do, it would have to be housed in a building one hundred stories high and as big as the state of Texas. (well, that was back in '72 when this was written).

Can you imagine that? Of course not. It seems infinite. But even Texas is not infinite---it only seems that way. God is. And that's why he can make infinite (endless) plans for us.

Naturally we can't see this. We can't even imagine this. We can't comprehend it even if there were someone clever enough to explain it to us. No wonder Paul prayed for us that "the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe" (Eph. 1:17-19).

Saturday...

Two stories, both as true as they are amazing, follow:

My friend, Joe Bryant, told me of an employee whom I shall, for the moment, call Sam. Obviously that's not his name, and when you hear his story, you'll know why I give him the protection of a fictitious name.

Sam was a good-hearted, hard worker. He drove a truck for Joe's plumbing business...just a good-hearted, hard- working truck driver who delivered merchandise and kept the contractors happy.

But Sam was not your ordinary blue-shirt worker, he had a romantic streak. He liked to put flowers on the desks of the women who worked in the office.

As I get the story, the women were embarrassed by this. There is, as you women know, one thing that's worse than not getting flowers from someone you like---it's getting flowers from someone you don't particularly like. Being snubbed didn't discourage Sam.

One day two well-dressed gentlemen showed up at Joe's warehouse. They asked for Sam. They didn't explain their mission, they simply asked for Sam the truck driver. When Sam appeared, they asked him his name---first and last. Then they asked his father's name. As soon as they had satisfied themselves that they had indeed found the man they were looking for, they explained their reason for seeking him.

"An uncle of yours died, leaving you some money. As a matter of fact, a substantial amount of money. And since you claim the name and can prove it, you now have six million dollars-tax free."

Sam kept on driving a truck for a while, but his acceptance level around the warehouse changed perceptibly. He quit sending flowers to get a little acceptance. He probably had more acceptance than he could handle from that time forward. He was, to use Paul's Ephesian phrase, "accepted in the beloved" (Eph. 1:6).

This modern story is simply a repetition of what Paul is describing. God is looking for you. A vast inheritance awaits you. You didn't earn it. You didn't even know about it. You don't even have to deserve it. In fact, there is nothing you can do to deserve it. You can simply open your eyes to the possibility---or more correctly, let God's spirit open your eyes---and claim it.

Of course, you have to establish your relationship to the one who "willed" all this for you. Then claim what's yours through God's grace. Deceptively simple? Yes, of course. It is simple, but deceptively so. Relationship is the secret ingredient and it's the one place where most of us miss the blessing. Living in relationship to God and to the rest of God's family are two sides of the same coin. It's not easy. Possible, but not easy. Not only is relationship the theme of my sharing, it's the theme of Paul's letter to the Ephesians. All of which leads me to say that the Bible is not a book to be understood and then obeyed; it is a book to be obeyed. Understanding may or may not come.

Recently, a Bible-publishing company wanted to publish a deluxe gift edition of the Scriptures. The directors were discussing the various types of leather that might enhance the appearance and elegance of the book. Should the cover be Morocco leather, eel skin, or some even more exotic leather? I suggest we put the Bible into shoe leather," suggested one director. Paul's letter to the Ephesians is a good place to start putting the scriptures into shoe leather---into our daily walk and practice.

Simply put, if you want to improve (1) your relationship with God, simply let God's spirit first of all convict you about (2) your relationships with people; then you should correct these relationships and confirm (3) the relation- ship you have with the called family of God, the church. A vast inheritance, one beyond your power to imagine, not to mention describe, awaits you. Knowing who you are in relation to God's predetermined plan of salvation is the first step in discovering what that plan is, and what your "inheritance in the saints is."

Sunday...

My second story, also true, doesn't need to conceal the real name of the hero. His name is Leslie. In Wichita, Kansas, I was invited to a chicken dinner, not an uncommon experience for a visiting preacher.

After a delicious meal, my hostess asked, "Would you like to hear our grandson play the violin?"

Friends, a violin expertly played makes the angels envious. The gateway of hell is serenaded by beginning students. I was not enthusiastic, but I was polite and, frankly, obligated.

"Yes, please," I said, smiling a thin smile.

"Leslie is going to play on a violin his grandfather made." My smile dimmed. An amateur solo on a homemade violin was not a joyful prospect. A handsome young man appeared. The instrument he proudly carried justified his pride; it was beautiful. He began to play a hymn, and I found myself entranced with the mellow music. When he finished, he said, "I played that for my grand- parents. They love that song. Now I will play one of my favorite pieces."

Not being a musician, I didn't recognize the impressive name of the music he was going to play, but it sounded like something I ought to have known if I were going to make any claim to culture. At any rate, it was magnificent. A difficult piece to play, but worth all the skill and effort it required.

When he finished playing it, I was too awed to applaud. Finally I asked. "How long have you been playing the violin?"

"I started taking lessons when I was five."

"Oh, that explains it," I said.

"Not really. I took lessons when I was five, but I never really learned to play well until last year."

"And last year?" I asked.

"I attend Wichita University and play in the philharmonic orchestra. I played second-chair violin. The first-chair violinist, the concert master, as they are called, was a girl. I envied her position. I wanted to play first-chair violin. I began a study of the concert masters of the world's best-known orchestras and discovered that ninety-five percent of them are Jewish.

"What could I do? I'm not Jewish. I'm Irish. Then I remembered a verse our pastor had pointed out. It's in Romans. 'For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God" (Rom. 2:28-29).

"So," Leslie continued, "if there's anything that makes Jewish people better violinists, I could claim whatever the inheritance is. I'm the seed of Abraham. I'm in the genetic line of all the great musicians, before and after David the psalmist. When I realized that, there was such a change in my playing that my teacher couldnt resist asking, 'What's happened to you?'

"I am now "first chair"...the concert master."

Hearing this story, I saw an entirely new dimension to the "inheritance of the saints." Paul apparently grasped this. Again and again he tells his Gentile friends that whatever there was that separated them from the covenant of promise, (see Eph. 2:12) that wall has been broken down by Christ. "He is our peace who hath made us both one" (2:14). Whatever strengths, abilities, promises, and powers resided in the apostles and prophets, we're building upon them. They are our strengths, our abilities, and our promises. We need to claim them. We need to affirm our relationship. Is this a mystery? Paul said it was.

The late Buckminster Fuller observed that this universe of ours is only a safe combination lock that's located on the inside.

Paul said the universe is a secret vault, with the combination "in Christ" (Eph. 3:6). Then he says that we are in Christ (see Eph. 3:14-17). Ten times he says, "in Christ" in the letter to the Ephesians.

Christ unlocks the mystery. He reveals the secret. And, if we despair of understanding, who Christ is, the Bible promises that the Holy Spirit will "reveal him."

The Spirit also will affirm our relationship to Christ.

One more warning: We can't be "in his person" while we're not "in his people." That's the theme of the rest of the Book of Ephesians. It's not difficult to relate to God through Christ. The place where we forfeit power is in broken relationships with people.

Restoring relationships must become the responsibility of every Christian. Togetherness was ever on the mind of E. Stanley Jones. One of his most pithy observations says that the church can't go much further than it is without first going deeper. Then he adds that it can't go deeper until it commits itself to going together. Jones is right.

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